Centaurea jacea brown knapweed  Asteraceae  CEJA*; Bx, pb (DeCandido 2001); Q, j (Stalter and Lamont. 2002); R (DeCandido 2001); 

Centaurea jacea. US Fish and Wildlife Service's Region Two Inventory and Monitoring Program and the National Park Service's Southwest Network Collaborative. Seinet. swbiodiversity.org. (Accessed 5/2014).

Centaurea jacea. US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Region Two Inventory and Monitoring Program and the National Park Service’s Southwest Network Collaborative. Seinet. swbiodiversity.org. (Accessed 5/2014).

Centaurea jacea is a perennial herb, 30-80 cm tall.

Leaves of winter rosette stalked, variable, 1.5-4 cm wide, stem leaves alternate, lance-shaped, sometimes toothed or lobed, becoming smaller upward.

Flowers pink-purple, all tubular, the outer ones longer, ray-like, bracteate base 1.2-1.8 cm long and wide, bracts wide, tips with brown, irregularly fringed appendage with a pale margin, June-Sept.

Fruit dry, 1-seeded, crowned by short bristles.

Wetland status: UPL.

Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent.

Origin: Europe.

Habitat: Open, weedy sites.