Asteraceae

Centaurea solstitialis

Common Names: St Barnaby’s thistle

Plant Form: Annual or biennial herb. Size: Up to 1 m tall. Stem: Several branching hairy greyish, with prominent wings running along. Lacking spines. Leaves: Rosette leaves are spear shaped and deeply divided up to 20 cm long. Greyish to bluish-green. Higher up leaves are smaller and typically club-shaped with toothed edges. Each has prominent veins. Flowers: Yellow, solitary at the end of branched stems. Thistle-like with rows of yellow spines on the bracts surrounding the flower. Fruit and Seeds: Inner and outer seeds. Inner seeds are beige to grey with a circle of parachuting hairs. Outer seeds are dark brown, mottled and with only a few small bristly hairs if any. Habitat: Roadsides, agricultural land, wasteland.