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Brownray knapweed

Centaurea jacea
Aster family (Asteraceae)


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Centaurea jacea, brown knapweed or brownray knapweed, is a species of herbaceous perennial plants in the genus Centaurea native to dry meadows and open woodland throughout Europe.

In Britain and America, it is often found as a hybrid of black knapweed, Centaurea nigra. Unlike the black knapweed, the flower heads always look as if they are rayed, forming a more open star rather than a brush-like tuft.

Distribution

Brown knapweed is native to Europe, extending to West Siberia and Caucasus. It has been introduced in North America, where it is often considered an invasive species, particularly in the northeastern United States and Canada.

Description

Habit

Plant up to 20-100 cm tall.

Stem

Single or branched, straight erect, angular and rough.

Leaves

Stem leaves gathered in a rosette, single, ovate to lanceolate, often pinnately-arched, petioled. Stem leaves sedentary, entire-edged with a tapered base.

Flowers

Collected in baskets set singly at the top of the stems, 2-6 cm wide. The basket has a perianth 1-2 cm long, egg-shaped. The leaves of the sheath are rounded, entire-edged, or crested, pale to brown in color. Flowers are tubular, purple-purple, occasionally white. Marginal flowers larger, fertile with a distinctly bipinnate corolla, inner flowers hermaphrodite. The stamens push the anthers upward under the touch of an insect, making it easier for them to carry pollen. Flowering occurs from June to October.

Fruits

Shiny achenes, inverted ovate, about 3 mm long.

References

External links

  • Media related to Centaurea jacea at Wikimedia Commons



Where?

Family(46)

WWW info


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Brownray knapweed
Knoopkruid
Wiesen-Flockenblume
Tête de moineau
Fiordaliso stoppione
Centaurea jacea [L.]
Centaurea jacea [L.]



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