Centaurea

Distribution Map: Based on vouchered plant specimens from wild populations. Cultivated occurrences are not mapped. View county names by placing the cursor over the map.

Contains 3 accepted taxa overall.

Family:	ASTERACEAE
Genus:	Centaurea L.
Common Name:	KNAPWEED
Genus Notes:	The Cyanus group is usually treated as part of Centaurea (Borsic et al. 2011; Hilpold et al. 2014), although its elevation to generic rank is sometimes used.
Specimen:	View USF Herbarium specimens of this genus

Classification

Division
Class
Sub Class
Order	ASTERALES
Family	ASTERACEAE
Genus	*Centaurea*

Citation

Citation	CENTAUREA Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 909. 1753, nom. cons.
Basionym:	**
Type:	TYPE: Centaurea paniculata Linnaeus, typ. cons.

** Not applicable or data not available.

Species

Scientific Name	Common Name	Herbarium Specimens	Photos
Centaurea benedicta	BLESSED THISTLE
Centaurea cyanus	GARDEN CORNFLOWER
Centaurea stoebe subsp. micranthos	SPOTTED KNAPWEED

Identification Key

Genus Synonyms

Synonym	Full Citation	Type
Acosta	Acosta Adanson, Fam. Pl. 2: 117, 512. 1763.	TYPE: Centaurea spinosa Linnaeus
Acrocentron	Acrocentron Cassini, in Cuvier, Dict. Sci. Nat. 44: 37. 1826.	TYPE: Centaurea collina Linnaeus
Acrolophus	Acrolophus Cassini, in Cuvier, Dict. Sci. Nat. 50: 247, 253. 1827.	TYPE: Non designatus.
Acroptilon	Acroptilon Cassini, in Cuvier, Dict. Sci. Nat. 50: 464. 1827.	TYPE: Non designatus.
Aegialophila	Aegialophila Boissier & Heldreibh ex Boissier, Diagn. Pl. Orient. 2(10): 105. 1849.	TYPE: Aegialophila pumila (Linnaeus) Boissier (Centaurea pumila Linnaeus) Lectotypified by Pfeiffer, Nomencl. Bot. 1: 62. 1873.

+ Expand All

For more information, contact: Richard Wunderlin or Bruce Hansen, Alan Franck, or Karla Alvarado

Web Development: USF Water Institute

A member of the University of South Florida family of PlantAtlas.org websites

Citation Information:

Wunderlin, R. P., B. F. Hansen, A. R. Franck, and F. B. Essig. 2024. Atlas of Florida Plants (http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/). [S. M. Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), USF Water Institute.] Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.

Search Help

Select the criterion by which you wish to search (Scientific name, Genus, Family, etc.) and enter that information into the provided field.

Hint: Correct spelling is necessary for desired results, but because this function is a string search the full name need not be entered. Any correct part of a taxon name can be entered and a choice of the correct one made from the small list of resulting matches.

For example, matching the full name exactly in a Scientific Name search for Piptochaetium avenacioides may be difficult, but strings of either tium aven or avenaci or m avenac or pipto will all result in very small lists of matches. The intended name can then be chosen from any of those lists. Usually, the last letter (or two) of a given genus, a space, and the first few correct letters of the specific epithet will provide a sufficiently short list containing the desired taxon.

A similar example in a Common Name search is Virginia snakeroot. Searching using "snake root" will yield no results due to the extra space, but searching "snake" will generate a short list of plants with the word "snake" in the common name. Furthermore, a search of "Virginia snake" or even "nia snak" yields one result: Virginia snakeroot.

If, after following the above advice, then difficulties are still encountered please use the "browse" feature.

Definition: Vouchered Specimen

A voucher specimen is a pressed and thoroughly dried plant sample deposited in a herbarium, and is intended to be a permanent record supporting research purposes. A voucher may be a record of a plant's occurrence in a particular area, or a specific example of a plant used in a scientific investigation.

Proper vouchers display all the necessary attributes for complete identification of the plant, and are to be accompanied by accurate locality, habitat, collection time, and collector data.

Only plant populations vouchered by specimens deposited in Index Herbariorum http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/ recognized herbaria are represented on this map.