Scientific name: Centaurea scabiosa L.
Description
Habit: Perennial, to 1.2 m high.
Leaves: Alternate, deeply lobed with lanceolate segments.
Flowers: Purple, flower-heads 30-50 mm across; involucral bracts with a deeply toothed apical portion; florets all tubular, outer ones sometimes much larger and without stamens or style; receptacle with bristles.
Fruits: An achene, pappus of short, stiff, scaly bristles, or rarely absent.
Habitat: Meadows, rough grazing, roadsides, walls, rocky ground.
Distribution: Occasional to frequent on the limestone, elsewhere on the calcareous sands and limestone walls.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No