CENTAUREA SPRUNERI subsp. GUICCIARDII

Family:- COMPOSITAE/Subgen. LOPHOLOMA/Sect. CARDUIFORMES

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Centaurea guicciardii, Colymbada guicciardii.

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

hoof wound with this plant.

Spruneri (L) Possibly for Wilhelm von Spruner, German botanist

(1805-1874)

Guicciardii (L) For Jacops Guicciard, who collected plants in Greece.

Plant:- Perennial plant, with erect stems.

Stems:-

1) 30-50 cm, erect, branched above.

Leaves:-

1) Scabrid, arachnoid-lanate; basal lyrate-pinnatifid with oblong to suborbicular,

lobed segments, green at anthesis; upper entire.

Flowers:-

1) Involucre 15-20 mm diam, ovoid; bracts glabrous.

2) Appendages semilunate, yellowish-brown, the apical spine brownish and clearly

set off from the pale greenish phyllary 20-30 mm.

3) Florets pink to purple, the outer longer than the inner.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes c. 3 mm, puberulent.

2) Pappus 3 times as long as achene.

Key features:-

1) Involucre 15-20 mm in diam.

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Habitat:- Dry grassland, open scrub and fallow fields. 0-700(-1300) m.

Distribution:- Probably endemic to the Ionian Islands, Peloponnisos, W mainland

Greece and Cretan. On Crete confined to the area east of the Psiloritis massif.

Flowering time:- Late May to early Aug.

Photos by:- Marinos Gogolos

Status:-

Conservation status (for threatened species): Rare (R) according to IUCN 1997

Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/1981