**Acknowledgements**

The authors acknowledge FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology for the award of PhD grants to Teresa Brás (SFRH/BD/110969/2015). This work was supported by the Program Alentejo 2020, through the European Fund for Regional Development under the scope of ValBioTecCynara—Economic Valorization of Cardoon (*Cynara cardunculus*): Study of natural variability and biotechnological applications (ALT20-03-0145-FEDER-000038). This work was also funded through FCT under the Project UID/AGR/00115/2013, to ICAAM.
