Star thistle

Family: Asteraceae
Scientific name: Centaurea calcitrapa
Description: Plant Form: Annual or biennial shrubby herb. Size: Up to 1 m tall. Stem: Branching, whitish to pale-green, hairy when young becoming more sparse with age. Leaves: Up to 25 cm long initially in rosette, smaller above. Lance shaped, dark green and deeply divided. Woolly when young, becoming less hairy with age. Rough textured. Flowers: Tightly packed purple or pinkish white in stalkless thistle-like heads. Surrounded by greenish to brownish bracts with long sharp spines. Fruit and Seeds: Whitish or greyish seeds with brownish blotches or streaks. Egg-shaped, smooth and scaly. With parachuting hairs which are shed. Habitat: Pastures, cropping land, roadsides, grasslands, open woodlands, waste land. Distinguishing Features: Distth - nguished from other Knapweeds (Centaurea species) by having purple flowers in combination with long spines on the bracts surrounding the flower. Also distinguished by having smooth rather than bristled or hairy seeds. Weed Status: Priority Weed Weed Type: Environmental, Agricultural Lifeform: Herbaceous

Example images for this weed