Flora of North America species comparison

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Centaurium tenuiflorum

June centaury, slender centaury
Habit Herbs annual, 2–75(–90) cm.
Stems

usually 1, simple or branching above or near middle or occasionally with few, slender branches from base.
Leaves

rosette of basal leaves present or absent at flowering but not forming well-developed rosette;

blade obovate to oblong, 15–25 × 3–15 mm, apex rounded to obtuse;

cauline blades obovate to elliptic-oblong, ovate, or lanceolate (proximal) to narrowly lanceolate (distal), 10–30(–42) × 2–9(–18) mm, apex obtuse (proximal) to acute.
Inflorescences

dense, ± corymboid, dichasial cymes;

flowers sessile or occasionally on pedicels to 2 mm.
Flowers

calyx 5–9(–11) mm;

corolla 8–14(–17) mm, lobes (1–)2–4.5 mm;

anthers 0.7–1.7 mm;

stigmas elliptic.
Seeds

yellowish to reddish brown.
2n

 = 40.

Centaurium tenuiflorum
Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Along streams, edges of marshes, seasonally damp meadows, bluffs, and road­sides.
Elevation 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CA; LA; MS; OK; OR; TX; Eurasia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in West Indies, South America, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pending the availability of a more satisfactory classification, the name Centaurium tenuiflorum is used here in a broad sense. According to G. Mansion et al. (2005), C. tenuiflorum in the broad sense includes a diploid entity, C. tenuiflorum subsp. acutiflorum (Schott) L. Zeltner [sometimes treated as C. acutiflorum (H. W. Schott) Druce]; a probable autotetraploid, C. tenuiflorum subsp. tenuiflorum; and an unnamed entity believed to be an allotetraploid derivative of diploid C. tenuiflorum × C. erythraea. The first two are native in Europe and not known from North America. The entity that has become naturalized outside its native range, including the flora area, is the allotetraploid.

Centaurium tenuiflorum has often been assumed to be native in California and has incorrectly been called C. floribundum (Bentham) B. L. Robinson or C. muehlenbergii (Grisebach) W. F. Wight ex Piper (J. S. Pringle 2010b). Those names are correctly associated with Zeltnera muehlenbergii.

Exceptional plants of Centaurium tenuiflorum are more diffusely branched and have longer primary branches than is usual. In the most extreme cases, the plants may be branched from near the base, with large numbers of flowers borne in noncorymboid, witch’s-broomlike inflorescences. These plants may represent the results of injuries, virus infections, or unusual environmental conditions.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Gentianaceae > Centaurium
Sibling taxa
C. erythraea, C. pulchellum
Synonyms Erythraea tenuiflora
Name authority (Hoffmannsegg & Link) Fritsch: Mitt. Naturwiss. Vereins Univ. Wien, n. s. 5: 97. (1907) — (as Centaurion)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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