Common name: Cornflower
Centaurea cyanus L. APNI*
Description: Annual, rarely biennial to 80 cm high; stems erect, branched, ribbed; stems and leaves sparsely to densely cobwebby tomentose.
Lower leaves linear, 4–5 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, margins entire to toothed or pinnatifid; upper leaves linear to lanceolate, entire.
Heads solitary, terminal; heads ovoid-globose, 12–13 mm diam.; involucral bracts fringed with short scarious flat teeth, usually brownish. Florets mostly blue-violet or blue, rarely purple or white, the outer spreading; corolla non-glandular.
Achenes 3–4 mm, sparsely hairy; pappus 3–4 mm.
Flowering: spring.
Distribution and occurrence: Garden escape, in the Cooma area. Native of Europe.
NSW subdivisions: *ST
Text by L. Murray Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
|