Centaurea cyanus, L.

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 : 300-301

220. C. cyanus L. , Sp. Pl. 911 (1753).

Annual, rarely biennial. Stem 20-80 cm, erect, branched. Leaves fioccose beneath, glabrescent and green; lower lanceolate, entire, remotely dentate or lyrately pinnatisect with 1-3 linear or lanceolate segments on each side, acute, petiolate; upper linear-lanceolate, entire. Involucre 12-13 mm in diameter, ovoid-globose; appendages narrowly (0-3 mm) decurrent, brown; fimbriae c. 1 mm, silvery. Inner florets bluish-violet; outer dark blue, rarely white or purple. Achenes 3 -5-4 mm; pappus 3-4 mm. 2zi = 24. Native in dry, open habitats in S.E. Europe and Sicilia', naturalized in cornfields almost throughout Europe, but now very rare or only casual in Br

Hb Rs (E) and perhaps other regions. Al Bu Gr *Ju Si Tu [Au Be Br Co Cz Da Fe Ga Ge Hb He Ho Hs Hu It Lu No Po Rm Rs (N, B, C, W, K, E) Sa Su].

C. hortorum Pau , Not. Bot. Fl. Esp. 1: 12 (1887), described from cultivated material from Spain, with procumbent stems, very small capitula and the pappus twice as long as the achene, is probably a monstrous variant of 220.