( 35 .) 
CENTAURE'A* * 
Linnean Class and Order. Syngene'sia, Polyga'mia, Frus- 
tra'nta f. 
Natural Order. Compo'sit/f,. Tribe, Cynaroce'phalte. Juss. 
— Lind. Syn. pp. 140 & 152.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. ofBot. pp. 197 
& 200. — Synanthe're^e. Tribe, Cynaroce'phala:. — Rich, by 
Macgillv. pp. 454 & 455. 
Gen. Char. Involucrum ( common calyx J roundish, imbri- 
cated (tiled), with closely converging scales (bracteae), which are 
scarious (skinny), or spiny in various ways. Corolla compound: 
Florets all tubular, of two kinds ; those of the disk perfect, regular, 
with five equal spreading segments, an oblong limb, and a slender 
tube ; those of the ray fewer, with the rudiments of a pistil only, 
not perfecting seed, spreading, often wanting, funnel-shaped, with 
five or more unequal segments. Filaments, in the florets of the 
disk only, hair-like, very short. Anthers united into a cylindrical 
tube. Germen small, oblong. Style thread-shaped, about the 
length of the stamens. Stigma blunt, often cleft, prominent The 
florets of the Ray have only the rudiments of a germen, with scarcely 
any style or stigma. Seeds in the disk only, various in shape. 
Calyx ( pappus , or seed-down J generally short, bristly, or feathery, 
in some wanting. Receptacle bristly. — Distinguished by the bristly 
receptacle, the feathery or hair-like seed-down, and by the florets of 
the ray being funnel-shaped, dilated, irregular, and longer than 
those of the disk. 
Seven species British. 
CENTAURE'A CYA'NUS. Corn Blue-bottle. Corn-flower. 
Knapweed. 
Spec. Char. Scales of the Involucrum serrated. Leaves strap- 
spear-shaped, entire ; the lower ones toothed towards the base. 
Eng. Hot. t. 277. — Curt. FI. Lond. — Martyn’s FI. Rust. t. 111. — Sm. FI. 
Br. v. ii. p. 911. — Eng. FI. v. iii. p. 466. — With. (7th ed.) v. iii. p.958. — Lind. 
Syn. p. 155. — Hook. Br. FI. p. 368. — Sibth. FI. Oxon. p. 260. — Abbot’s FI. 
Bedf. p. 187. — Purt. Mid. FI. v. ii. p. 413. — Relh. FI. Cant. (3rd edit.) p. 
353. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 249. — Grev. F). Edin. p. 183. — Walk. FI. of Oxf. p. 
249. — Cya'nus, Ray’s Syn. p. 198. — Cya'nus vulga'ris, John. Gerarde, 732. 
Localities. — In corn-fields. — Commonin most parts of England. Frequent 
in Scotland. Dr. Hooker. — In Ireland, but rather rare. Mr. Mackay. 
Fig. 1. Involucrum, or common Calyx. — Fig. 2. A Floret of the Disk. — 
F’ig. 3. A Floret of the Ray. — Fig. 4. The Stamens and Pistil, showing the 
five separated filaments, the combined Anthers, and the prominent cloven 
Stigma.— Fig. 5. The Style and Stigma. — Fig. 6. The bristly Receptacle. — 
Fig. 7. A Seed. — Figs. 4 and 5 highly magnified. 
* From the Centaur, Chiron, who is said to have cured himself with this 
plant of a wound he received in the foot from Hercules. 
t The third order of the class Syngene'sia of the Linnean System. It con- 
tains all those compound flowers which have the florets of the disk perfect, that 
is, with both stamens and a pistil, and which produce seed; and the florets of 
the ray neuter, that is, having neither stamens nor pistil, or only the rudiments 
of a pistil, and producing no seed. Of this order, Centaure'a is the only 
British example. 
