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Brown Knapweed, Brown-Ray Knapweed
Centaurea jacea L.
Asteraceae (Aster Family)
▲ mature, flowering plant
▲▼ flowers and buds
▲ inflorescence bud
Centaurea jacea
L., Brown Knapweed:
(Bayer
Code:
CENJA; US Code CEJA)
·
Simple perennial with woody rootstock that grows 1-3 feet tall
·
Has pinkish-purple flowers (head inflorescences) at tips of branches
·
Bracts on the inflorescence are brown to reddish-brown with transparent margins
and tips; tips may split into lobes
·
Leaves are lanceolate and entire or with a few teeth, not deeply lobed as in
other knapweeds
·
Can distinguish from other knapweeds by the inflorescence bracts, which do not
have any or many spines along their edges, as do other knapweeds (spotted
knapweed, black knapweed)
·
Can be an aggressive weed, but so far not as invasive as spotted knapweed,
diffuse knapweed, russian knapweed, and others
·
The papery-edged, brown bracts distinguish brown
knapweed from the dark brown to purple-brown, tiny-tooth-edged bracts of
Greater Knapweed
(Centaurea
scabiosa),
Black Knapweed (Centaurea
nigra),
Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea
stoebe) and from the green-tan papery-edged,
non-spiny bracts of Russian
knapweed (Acroptilon
repens)
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Updated 19 January 2019