Family |
Asteraceae
Centaurea pallescens
Delile
Centaurea pallescens Delile
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CCCIV nº 1; 1983)
Life-form & habit: Diffusely branched annual, 40–60 cm tall, decumbent or ascending.
Leaves: Thin-textured, somewhat pruinose and papillose; basal leaves forming a rosette, 2–3 times pinnatifid with narrow lobes; upper cauline leaves linear, irregularly dentate or lobed.
Inflorescence & flowers: Capitula ovoid-conical, 15 × 8–10 mm, solitary, subsessile or borne on short peduncles.
Bracts: Involucral bracts coriaceous, pale yellowish with narrow white margins, ending in a yellowish, canaliculate terminal spine (~4–6 mm) with 2–3 pairs of short lateral spines; uppermost bracts scarious and spineless.
Flowers: Pale yellow; marginal florets not radiant.
Fruit: Achenes glabrous, striate; pappus about equal in length to the achene.
Phenology: Flowers from April to July.
Habitat & elevation: Fallow ground, roadsides, open degraded woodland.
Lebanese distribution: Ct. Khaldé, Bir Hassan, Beirut, Ras Chekka.
Syrian distribution: Ct. Amrith, Tartous; A.L. Mayssaloun, Saïdnaya, east of Ouadi el-Qarn; Sud. Quneitra; J.D. Chaba‘a, Soueida; Sy. between Aleppo and Hama.
Native range: Egypt, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Yemen. (KEW)
Introduced into: France, Norway. (KEW)