SYNGENESIA— POL.-FRUSTRAN. Centaurea. 467 



dius, are commonly raised, amongst other hardy annuals, in 

 flower-gardens. They have no scent. The wild flowers aftord 

 a blue for painting in water-colours, the expressed juice requi- 

 ring only to be mixed with cold alum water. The separate^ore^ 

 in Engl. Bot. coloured with this, by way of experiment, has now 

 stood well for 30 years. 



4. C. Scabiosa. Greater Knapweed. 



Calyx-scales ovate, fringed, somewhat downy. Leaves pin- 

 natifid ; segments lanceolate, roughish, partly toothed. 



C. Scabiosa. Linn. Sp. PL 1291. mihl v. 3. 2296. Fl. ^r. 91 1. 



Engl Bot, v.l.f. 50. Hook. Scot. 249. 

 Cyanus n. 18G. Hall. Hist. t;. 1. 81. 

 Jacea major. Raii Syn. 198. Ger. Em. 727. f. 

 J. nigra laciniata. Moris, v. 3. 140. sect 7. t. 28. f. 10. 

 Scabiosa major. Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 318./. Camer. Epit. 710./. 



Dalech.Hist. lOGG./. 

 Matfellon. Petiv. H. Brit. t. 22. f. 7. 



In the borders and ridges of corn fields, and by way sides, com- 

 mon. 



Perennial. July, August. 



Root rather woody. Stem about 2 feet high, erect, branched, an- 

 gular, furrowed, leafy, smooth to the touch. Leaves darkgi-een, 

 slightly hairy on both sides, rough-edged, deeply and very variously 

 pinnatifid, the segments acute, unequal, sometimes ovate, some- 

 times lanceolate, and in the latter case more toothed or sharply 

 serrated. Fl. terminal, stalked, solitary, large and handsome, 

 crimson, rarely white ; their radiant ^/Zor<?/6- large, each with 5 

 deep, long and narrow segments. Calyx-scales green and some- 

 what downy in their lower half, bhick and triangular above, 

 fringed with fine parallel teeth, or bristles |)ale at the ends. 

 Seeds crowned witli many reddish bristles. The calyx becomes 

 reflexed after the seeds are blown away, and is rendered con- 

 spicuous by the shining silvery hue of its inside, 



A variety was gathered on dry banks, near the sea coast of ;\n- 

 gus-shire, by the late Mr. G. Don, which lie thought distinct, 

 and took forV'. intyhacca of Lamarck' and DeCandolle. It has 

 decj)ly and narrowly divided foliage, the radical leaves being 

 interruptedly pinnate, but has no specific mark. Anotlier va- 

 riety jis I presume, on the authority of Dr. Hooker, gatliered in 

 Scotland by Mr. David Don, has the leaves less deeply divided ; 

 the radical ones very large. This was taken by its discoverer 

 for i . coriaren, H'illd. Sp. PI. v. 3. 229(), which it may |)robably 

 be, as W^illdenow says the latter is but too near akin to ('. Sea- 

 biosa. Several exotic s])ecies of Centaurea may be observed to 

 vary extremelv in the breadth and subdivision of their leaves. 



2 n 2 



