CENTAUREA CROCODY LIUM. 
BLUSH CENTAURY. 
Class. Order. 
SVNGENESIA. FRI'STRANEA . 
Natural Order. 
COMPOSITE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced' 1 
Levant. 
18 inches. 
July, Aug. 
Annual. 
in 1777. 
No. 431. 
The Greek kentauros, signifying centaur, is 
the admitted origin of our word Centaurea. Cro- 
codylium is said to have been applied to this plant 
from some fancied resemblance of the spines of its 
calyx to the claws of a crocodile. 
The genus Centaurea is very extensive, contain- 
ing upwards of a hundred and fifty species of hardy 
plants, from all quarters of the globe. They seem 
to have been turned to very little account, either in 
medicine, the arts, agriculture, or domestic econo- 
my ; — with one exception, noticed in Sir J. E. Smith’s 
English Flora. The expressed juice of the corolla 
of the Centaurea cyanus, or Corn Blue-bottle, a com- 
mon weed of our fields, mixed with cold alum water, 
affords a good blue colour for drawing. This, how- 
ever, is not singular, for we have used the blue petals 
of several plants with success, and recommend the 
experiment to the curious among our readers. 
The Centaurea crocodylium, as an annual plant, 
affords a pleasing variety in the borders, continues 
long to produce its delicate pink flowers, and does 
not become straggling and obtrusive. It requires 
only usual treatment. 
Hort. Kew. 2, v. 5, 161. 
