In the heat of the day to the garden I strode
Seeking calm in the umbrous domain of the toad
But there in the shade of a giant cardoon
Wide-eyed and perspiring lay Mrs Ravoon.

cardoon, n. A composite plant (Cynara Cardunculus), closely allied to the Artichoke; a native of the south of Europe and north of Africa, and cultivated in kitchen-gardens, esp. on the continent*, for the fleshy stalks of the inner leaves, which are made tender by blanching.
The cardoon was prob. first cultivated in Northern France in the 16th or ? end of 15th c.; it is mentioned by Parkinson (Paradisus 1629) under the name of Carduus esculentus (Edible Thistle), and is said in Treas. Bot. to have been first cultivated in England in 1656.