CENTAUREA MELITENSIS

Family:- COMPOSITAE

Common Name:- Cockspur star-thistle

Synonyms:- Calcitrapa melitensis, Triplocentron melitense.

Meaning:- Centaurea (Gr) Centaur, Centauros. The centaur Chiron was cured of a

hoof wound with this plant.

Melitensis (L) From Malta, Maltese.

General description:- Annual or biennial.

Stem:-

1) Up to 80 cm, erect, winged above, sparingly branched from the middle.

Leaves:-

1) Green, crispate-puberulent, margin scabrid.

4) Lower, lanceolate, lyrate-pinnatifid to sinuately lobed.

5) Upper, lanceolate.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula solitary or in groups of 2-3.

2) Involucre 8-12 mm diam, ovoid-globose.

3) Bracts glabrous or puberulent, veinless.

4) Appendages not decurrent, short, with patent apical spine 5-8 mm and 1-3

remote.

5) Short lateral spines on each side.

6) Florets yellow, glandular, the outer patent.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes c. 2·5 mm.

2) Pappus as long as achene.

Key features:-

1) Leaves with arachnoid indumentum or crispate-puberulent and greenish.

2) Florets glandular.

3) Pappus as long as the achene.

4) Stem up to 80 cm.

5) Involucre glabrous or puberulent.

6) Apical spine of appendages 5-8 mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Open grassy coastal habitats, fallow fields and dry open shrubby

vegetation. 0-100 m.

Distribution:- Not reliably recorded from mainland Greece, confirmed only from the

Milos island Group. Widespread, but scattered in the Mediterranean area. Rare on

Crete, known only from Gavdos and an area around Ierapetra.

Flowering time:- Mid-Apr to mid-June.

Photos by:- Courtesy of Wiki-Commons