Centaurea melitensis

Malta Knapweed (Centaurea melitensis )

The Malta knapweed (Centaurea melitensis ) is a plant of the genus Centaurea (Centaurea ) in the sunflower family ( Asteraceae).

Features

The Malta knapweed is an upright, one-to two -year-old plant, which reaches stature heights of 30 to 60 centimeters. It is green, rauhaarig, branched above and has winged stems. The basal leaves have a length of up to 8 inches, are pinnatisect and have on each side 4 to 5 sections. The stem leaves are less divided, amplexicaul and have a run-down reason.

The flower heads are two of us, individually or in hanks up to fifth at the ends of branches arranged. At the base or in the lower half of the stem are often located axillary baskets with cleistogamous flowers. The casing is bulb -shaped and up to 9 millimeters wide. The Hüllschuppen are arranged dachziegelig and have at the head of a powerful, up to 12 millimeters long spine on each side, 2-6 shorter spines are present. The flowers are all tubular, fünfzipflig and yellow. The outer flowers are sterile and enlarged, the inner fertile and small. The fruit is an achene to 2.5 millimeters long.

The Malta knapweed has a chromosome number of 2n = 24

Flowering time is from April to August.

Occurrence

The natural distribution of Malta Knapweed extends across the Mediterranean with gaps in the east and northeast. Fickle deposits are found in Central and Western Europe. But she was abducted in regions with a Mediterranean or sub-tropical climates worldwide. It grows on wasteland and roadsides.

Documents

• Ehrentraud Bayer, Karl Peter Buttler, Xaver Finkenzeller, Jürke Grey: plants of the Mediterranean region ( = Steinbach nature guide 17. ). Mosaic, Munich, 1987, ISBN 3-570-01347-2, page 224