In message , Peter B
writes

I have tried Eryngium and can find nothing quite like my plant. With
me in Italy was a fantastic botanist (he could sort out all the 49
species of Orchid we found there and the rest, no problem) and this was
the only one to stump him. He felt it was possibly an Asteracea. I
will suggest he looks in the Umbellifers.

I wasn't going to argue with Eryngium, but if you think that it isn't
you could try Dipsacaceae or perhaps Adoxaceae.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley