Washington Flora Checklist
A Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Washington State
Hosted by the University of Washington Herbarium

 

Checklist » Asteraceae » Centaurea trichocephala

Centaurea trichocephala Bieb. ex Willd. [FNA19]
Asteraceae
featherhead knapweed

Origin: Introduced

Voucher:WS

Notes: FNA19: "A population of Centaurea trichocephala M. Bieberstein ex Willdenow (featherhead or hairy-head knapweed) was found in the late 1970s in a degraded pasture in eastern Washington (B. F. Roché and C. T. Roché 1991). A weed-control program was instituted, and the plants were successfully eradicated. Although it is apparently not established anywhere in North America, C. trichocephala is listed as a noxious weed in Oregon. These plants resemble C. phrygia in having elongate, pectinate-fringed phyllary appendages. In C. trichocephala the linear-filiform, featherlike appendages are much narrower than the phyllary bodies. Plants of the species spread by horizontal roots. According to Roché and Roché, C. trichocephala is apparently self-sterile; the Oregon plants spread clonally and formed no seeds."

Literature:
» Wagenitz, G. 1975. Centaurea L., pp. 465-585, in Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, vol. 5, P.H. Davis, ed. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.

Taxon treatment authored by Peter F. Zika; last updated 12/11/2009 by David Giblin
Synonyms
(none)




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