SYNGENESIA— POL.-FRUSTRAN. Centaurea. 4G7 



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

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

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

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

 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 129!. Willd. v. 3. 2296. Fl. Br. 911. 



Engl. Bot. v.l.t. 56. Hook. Scot. 249. 

 Cyanus n. 186. Hall. Hist. r. 1 . 81 . 

 Jacea major. Raii Syii. 198. Ger. Em. 727./. 

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

 Scabiosa major. Matth. Valgr.v, 2. 318. f. Camer. Epit. 7\0.f. 



Dalech.Hist. 1066./. 

 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 dark green, 

 slightly hairy on both sides, rough-edged, deeply an d 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^ore/s large, each with 5 

 deep, long and narrow segments. Ca?^j;-scaZcs green and some- 

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

 fringed with fine parallel teeth, or bristles pale at the ends. 

 Seeds crowned with 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 An- 

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

 and took for C. intyhacea of Lamarck and DeCandoUe. It has 

 deeply and narrowly divided foliage, the radical leaves being 

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

 riety as I presume, on the authority of Dr. Hooker, gathered in 

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

 the radical'ones very large. Tiiis was taken by its discoverer 

 for C. coiiacea, mild. Sp. PL v. 3. 2296, which it may probably 

 be, as Willdenow says the latter is but too near akin to C. Sca- 

 biosa. Several exotic species of Centaurea may be observed to 

 vary extremely in the breadth and subdivision of their leaves. 



2 H 2 



