Irish wildflowers BSBI map

Greater Knapweed, Centaurea scabiosa, Minscoth mhor
Photographs: the Burren, Co. Clare

Greater Knapweed
Centaurea scabiosa
Mínscoth mhór
Family: Asteraceae

Flowering time: July-August. Perennial. Native.

The large pink-purple flowers have enlarged outer florets and green bracts with a blackish apex. Leaves are deeply pinnate with lanceolate segments and the erect stems are branched and grooved.

Calcareous grassland, roadsides, scrubland and un-stable sea-cliffs. Scattered distribution but most frequent in western Ireland

Similar: The rayed form of Common Knapweed, C. nigra var. radiata has blackish-brown bracts and grows on acidic ground.

Greater Knapweed, Centaurea scabiosa, Minscoth mhor

Greater Knapweed, Centaurea scabiosa, Minscoth mhor
Greater Knapweed, Centaurea scabiosa, Minscoth mhor

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