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Squarrose Knapweed
Centaurea virgata Lam.
(formerly Centaurea squarrosa Willd.)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)
▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants
▲▼ closer view of flowers
▲▼ flowering stems
▲▼ closer view of inflorescences/flowers
▲▼ closer view of inflorescences/flowers
Centaurea virgata
Lam. (formerly
Centaura squarrosa
Willd.), Squarrose Knapweed:
(Bayer
Code:
CENSQ; US Code CEVI)
·
Simple perennial with stout rootstock native to Asia
·
Produces several, much-branched stems with rough hairs
·
Lower leaves are pinnately compound, gray-green and rough-textured, but
upper leaves lanceolate to linear and unlobed
·
Inflorescences are flower heads with 4-8 pinkish ray flowers
·
Bracts below the inflorescence are light green with tan, comb-like
spines along their edges, and bract tips point outward, away from the base of
the head
·
Bract arrangement is similar to
diffuse knapweed (Centaurea
diffusa), except bract tips hug the inflorescence base, and
diffuse knapweed flowers are usually white, flowering stem leaves may continue
as pinnately lobed, and diffuse knapweed is a biennial or short-lived perennial
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Posted 23 January 2019