Centaurea melitensis |
Centaurea calcitrapa |
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croix de malte, Maltese knapweed, Maltese star thistle or centaury, Maltese star-thistle, Napa thistle, tocalote |
caltrops, centaurée chausse-trappe, chausse-trappe, purple knapweed, purple star-thistle, red star-thistle |
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Habit | Annuals, 10–100 cm, herbage loosely gray-tomentose and villous with jointed multicellular hairs, sometimes minutely scabrous, minutely resin-gland-dotted. | Annuals, biennials, or short-lived perennials, 20–100 cm. |
Stems | 1–few, few–many branched distally. |
1–several, often forming rounded mounds, puberulent to loosely tomentose. |
Leaves | basal and proximal cauline petiolate or tapering to base, usually absent at anthesis, blades oblong to oblanceolate, 2–15 cm, margins entire to dentate or pinnately lobed; cauline long-decurrent, blades linear to oblong or oblanceolate, 1–5 cm, entire or dentate. |
puberulent to loosely gray-tomentose, becoming ± glabrous, minutely resin-gland-dotted; proximal leaves petiolate, blades 10–20 cm, 1–3 times pinnately dissected, rosette with central cluster of spines; mid sessile, not decurrent, blades ovate, usually less than 10 cm, narrowly lobed; distal blades linear to oblong, entire to shallowly lobed. |
Involucres | ovoid, 10–15 mm, loosely cobwebby-tomentose or becoming glabrous. |
ovoid, 15–20 × 6–8 mm. |
Florets | many; corollas yellow, those of sterile florets 10–12 mm, slender, inconspicuous, those of fertile florets 10–12 mm. |
25–40; corollas purple, all ± equal, 15–24 mm; sterile corollas slender. |
Inner phyllaries | appendages entire, acute or spine-tipped. |
appendages truncate, spineless. |
Heads | disciform, 1–few at branch tips, borne singly or in open leafy corymbiform arrays, sometimes clustered in distal axils, sessile or pedunculate. |
disciform, borne singly or in leafy cymiform arrays, sessile or short-pedunculate. |
Cypselae | dull white or light brown, ca. 2.5 mm, finely hairy; pappi of many white, unequal, stiff bristles 2.5–3 mm. |
white or brown-streaked, 2.5–3.4 mm, glabrous; pappi 0. |
Principal | phyllaries: bodies ± stramineous, ovate, appendages purplish, spiny-fringed at base, each tipped by slender spine 5–10 mm. |
phyllaries: bodies greenish or stramineous, ovate, scarious-margined, appendages stramineous, spiny fringed at base, each tipped by a stout spreading spine 10–25 mm. |
2n | = 24. |
= 20. |
Centaurea melitensis |
Centaurea calcitrapa |
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Phenology | Flowering mostly spring–summer (Apr–Jul). | Flowering summer–autumn (Jun–Nov). |
Habitat | Roadsides, fields, pine-oak woodlands, chaparral, agricultural areas | Pastures, fields, roadsides |
Elevation | 0–1500 m (0–4900 ft) | 0–1700 m (0–5600 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AZ; CA; GA; ID; IL; MA; MO; MS; NJ; NM; NV; OR; PA; TX; UT; WA; WI; BC; Mexico (Baja California); Europe; Asia; Africa [Widely introduced]
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AL; AZ; CA; DC; FL; GA; IA; IL; MA; MD; NJ; NM; NY; OR; PA; UT; VA; WA; ON; Europe; Africa
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Discussion | Centaurea melitensis is native to the Mediterranean region. It is listed as a noxious weed in New Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Centaurea calcitrapa is native to southern Europe and northern Africa. It is listed as a noxious weed in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. These plants are unpalatable and increase on rangelands as more desirable forage plants are consumed. Dense stands are impenetrable because of the vicious spines on the mature involucres. Centaurea ×pouzinii de Candolle, an apparently stabilized hybrid between Centaurea aspera (2n = 22) and C. calcitrapa (2n = 20), has been reported from California. A chromosome count of 2n = 42 has been reported from California material of this nothospecies (A. M. Powell et al. 1974). Centaurea ×pouzinii can be distinguished from C. calcitrapa by its shorter spines and by cypselae with a short pappus. Reports of C. calcitrapoides Linnaeus from North America are apparently based on this hybrid. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 193. | FNA vol. 19, p. 191. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Centaurea | Asteraceae > tribe Cardueae > Centaurea |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 917. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 917. (1753) |
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