Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Centaurea jacea
FAMILY
Asteraceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Check out EDDMapS.org to see where this has been reported.
Read more about Brown Knapweed at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Centaurea jacea
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)
Centaurea jacea
COMMON NAME:
Brown Knapweed
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_ceja_001_lvd
)
Otto Wilhelm Thome who_tafel_133_small
Flora von Deutschland Osterreich und der Schweiz (1885).
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Janus (Jan) Kops, Flora Batava wik_centaurea_jacea_v1
An illustration from Kops' Flora Batava, in the public domain.
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Janus (Jan) Kops, Flora Batava wik_centaurea_jacea_v19
An illustration from Kops' Flora Batava, in the public domain.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Centaurea jacea
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Centaurea jacea
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Centaurea jacea
3384
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Roadsides, disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora
Non-native: Europe
Rare in NC (increasing rapidly in VA)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal & alternate
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Disc: Pinkish-purple
Rays: Lavender/ Purplish
Inferior ovary
Bisexual, fertile (peripheral florets sterile)
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Invasive Plants, Guide to Identification, Impacts and Control (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2007) p290
- Wildflowers in the Field and Forest: Northeastern US (Clemants & Gracie, 2006) p024
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p186
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".