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Brown Knapweed
Centaurea jacea
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Alien species
Brown Knapweed is a sturdy, long‑lived wildflower with showy pink‑purple heads on upright stems 30–80 cm tall. You’ll see it in open, dryish places such as meadows, pastures, roadsides and field margins.
Did you know?
- A favourite of bees and butterflies well into late summer.
- Each flower head sits in a brown, scaly cup, which gives the plant its English name.
About the species
Identification
Upright plant with a tough root, 30–80 cm tall. Stems are a bit rough and branch near the top. Leaves dull green to greyish with short hairs: lower leaves on short stalks, broad and slightly toothed or shallowly lobed; upper leaves narrow, without stalks and sometimes seeming to run a little down the stem. Each stem usually carries single, large, pink‑purple heads 3–4.5 cm across. The base of each head is a brown, shiny, scaly cup. Seeds are pale and lack a fluffy tuft. Compare with Black Knapweed, which has darker cups with long, comb‑like fringes. Flowers in Finland in July–August.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
meadow
Flowering
Jul–Aug
About the habitat
Grows in dry to moderately dry grasslands, embankments and open slopes, pastures, field edges, shores and ditches, roadsides and other disturbed ground. Common in southern Finland and Åland, becoming rarer northwards.
Sources
Photo: Uoaei1, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Centaurea jacea 01.JPG
Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Kulttuuriympäristöt: niityt, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39904
Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Nåtön biologinen asema, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39904
Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39904
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahdekaunokki
