208 THE LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
GENUS XXXIX. 
CENTAUREA, Lin. THE CENTAURY. 
Lin. Syst. SYNGENESIA FRUSTRANEA. 
Generic Chailicter. — Involucral scales various. Corollas of the ray large, sterile, or hermaphrodite. Achenia compressed. Pappns composed 
of subfiliform bristles, scabrous, usually in many series ; mncr series small and somewhat connivent. A very polymorphous genus. 
Description, &c. — This genus is weii known from the English weeds, Knapweed, Bluebottle, and Star- 
Thistle, which belong to it. The flowers are all very striking in their forms, though they diflPer widely from each 
other. The name of Centaurea is said to have been given to this genus because one of the species was used in 
medicine by the centaur Chiron. 
1.— CENTAUREA CYANUS, Lin. THE CORN-BLUEBOTTLE 
EsoRAViNGS.— Eng. Bot. t. 277 ! 2nd. edit., vol. 6, t. 1188 ; and 
OMT fig. 8, in Plate 33. 
Specific Character. — Stem erect, branched, tomentose, as well as 
the leaves. Leaves linear, sessile, quite entire, lower ones the broadest. 
toothed, or pinnatifid. 
Varieties. — These are very numerous ; but those most generally 
grown in gardens are the lilac, fig. 5, the pink, fig. 6, and the dark 
purple, ^^. 7, all in plate 33. 
Description, &c. — The beauty of this flower is so great that it is in common cultivation in gardens, 
notwithstanding its frequency in our corn-fields. " No artificial colour," observes Sir J. E. Smith, " can equal the 
brilliancy of the blue of the outer florets of the Cyanus." It may be sown at any season ; but generally February 
or March is preferred, or the seeds are sown in autumn and the plants are left to stand through the vdnter. 
2.— CENTAUREA CROCODYLIUM, Lin. THE CROCODYLIUM, OR BLUSH-CENTAURY, 
Engraving. — Our^^r. 1, in Plate 33. I almost glabrous, pinnatifid ; outer lobe larger than the rest, in the 
Specific Character. — Stem erect, sparingly branched. Leaves | lower leaves ovate, in the upper ones oblong or linear. 
Description, &c. — A curious and beautiful plant, not now so much cultivated as it ought to be. It is a 
native of the Levant, and was introduced in 1777. The name is in the seed-catalogue of Forrest and Black, at 
Kensington, and we have seen magnificent specimens of the plant growing in the Hammersmith Nursery. 
3.— CENTAUREA AMERICANA. THE AMERICAN CENTAURY. 
Synonymes. — C. Nuttallii, Sprengt ; C. grandiflora, Sease et Moc. ; 
Plectocephalus americanus, D. Don. 
Engraving. — Swt, Brit. Flow. Gard. 2nd ser. t. 51. 
Specific Character. — Leaves oblong, membraneous, undivided. 
Peduncles ventricose at the apex. Outer involucral scales about a 
third of the length of their a])pend.iges. 
Description, &c. — A very splendid and singular plant, having a large star-like flower. The ray flowers 
are lilac, and those of the disk nearly white. It is a native of the Arkansas territory, where it was discovered by 
Nuttall. It was introduced in 1823 ; and seeds may be procured at all the seed-shops. The seeds should be 
sown in March, or they may be raised on a hot-bed, and planted out in the beginning of April. The flower is 
very large and showy, and it is not suitable for a small garden. 
4.— CENTAUREA DEPRESSA, Bieb. THE PROSTRATE CENTAURY. 
SvKoNYME. — C. pjgmjca, Hoffm. simple and erect ; clothed with white tomcntum, as well as the leaves. 
Engraving. — Bot. Mag. t. 3662. 
Specific Character. — Stem branched from the base, declinate, or 
Cauline leaves oblong, sessile, quite entire, lower ones a little toothed. 
Umbilicus of the fruit bearded. Pappus equal in length. 
Description, &c In the shape of the flower, this species strongly resembles the common corn-bluebottle of 
the fields ; but its colours are far more brilliant, and its stems are not above six or eight inches long. The whole 
plant is covered with a white down. It is a native of Iberia and Persia, and seeds of it were sent to England by 
Dr. Fischer, early in the spring of 1838. It flowered in August the same year, in the Glasgow Botanic Garden, 
in the open border, and may consequently be considered quite hardy. Seeds are not yet common in the seed-shops. 
