Centaurea apiculata, Ledeb.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 268

55. C. apiculata Ledeb. , Ind. Sem. Horti Dorpat., Suppl. 3 (1824).

Stems branched above. Leaves with arachnoid indumentum or glabrous, more or less scabrid, pinnatifid. Involucre 10-20 mm in diameter, ovoid-globose; bracts ovate, not covered by appendages; appendages 0-5-2 mm, triangular, blackish, narrowly and sometimes indistinctly decurrent, with up to 12 fimbriae on each side, the apex mucronulate or with a spine up to 5 mm; inner bracts with suborbicular, brown appendages about as long as the bracts. Achenes hairy. Dry places. S.E. Europe, extending northwards to Hungary and to c. 55° N. in E.C. Russia. Al Bu Hu Ju Rm Rs (C, W, K, E) Tu.

1 Appendages with apical spine 3-5 mm, with 8-12 fimbriae 1-2

mm on each side; florets purple, the outer distinctly longer than the inner (b) subsp. spinulosa 1 Appendages mucronate or with apical spine up to 2 mm, with few, indistinct fimbriae not more than 1 mm on each side, sometimes absent; florets pink, the outer slightly longer than the inner

2 Bracts thin, not appressed; appendages very narrowly but distinctly decurrent, the fimbriae c. 1 mm (a) subsp. apiculata 2 Bracts coriaceous, firmly appressed; appendages not or very narrowly decurrent, the fimbriae 0-0-5 mm (c) subsp. adpressa