'3 3 .
C E N T A U R E A Scabiofa.
Greater Knapweed.
S T N G E N E S I A Polygamia frujlranea.
G e n . C h a r . Receptacle briftly. Seed-wing Ample. Corolla
of the radius funnel-fhaped, irregular, longer
than thofe o f the ditk.
S p e c . C h a r . Scales o f the calyx fringed. Leaves pin-
natifid, their fegments lanceolate.
S y n . Centaurea Scabiofa. Linn. Sp. PI. 1291. HudJ. FI.
An. 376. With. Bot. Arr. 945. Relh. Cant. 326.
Jacea major. Rail Syn. 198.
T h e root is perennial. Stem about two feet high, ere&,
alternately branched, leafy, bearing at the end of each branch
a folitary flower, the fcales of whofe calyx are triangular, acute,
and ciliated or rather pe&inated in the margin.
The greater knapweed grows throughout England, more
rarely in Scotland, in the borders of fields, in meadows, by
road-fides, and fometimes among corn, flowering in July and
Auguft. Ray fays the flowers are fometimes white. We do
not know of its being applied to any ceconomical ufe. Small
birds eat the feeds in winter. The permanent calyx in time
becomes reflexed, and is very confpicupus at a diftance, being
of a molt beautiful filvery hue.