CENTAURE A. 
H 
from the u aifl they are centaurs, though women all above. 
Shakefpeare. —The idea of a centaur has no more falfehood 
in it 'than the name centaur. Locke.-. —See Centauri, p, 28. 
The archer in the zodiac : 
The chearlefs empire of the dry 
To Capricorn the centaur archer yields. Thomfon. 
CENTAURE'A, f. [from Ka Centaur ; ftip- 
pofed to be fo named from Chiron, who cured Hercules’s 
foot with it, which had been wounded by a poifoned ar¬ 
row'.] In botany, Cen taury, Blue-bottle, Knap¬ 
weed, Sic. a genus of the clafs fyngenefia, order poly- 
garnia fmftranea, natural order of compound flowers. 
T he generic characters are—Calyx : common imbricate, 
roundifh ; fcales often varioufly terminated. Corolla : 
compound flofcnlous, difform ; corollules hermaphrodite, 
very many in the dilk; females fewer, larger, lax, in the 
ray. Proper.of the hermaphrodite monopetalous; tube 
filiform; border ventricofe, oblong, eredt, terminated by 
five divifiotvs which are linear, eredt. Of the females 
monopetalous, funnel-form; tube (lender, gradually en¬ 
larged, recurved ; border oblong, oblique, unequally di¬ 
vided. Stamina: in the hermaphrodites, filaments five, 
capillary, very fhort; antheras cylindric, tubular, length 
of the corollule. Piftillum: in the hermaphrodites, germ 
final 1; ftyle filiform, length of the ftantens ; ftigma yery 
obtufe, projedting in a point which in many is bifid : in 
the females, germ very fmall; fiyle fcarce any ; ftigma 
none. Pericarpium: none; calyx unchanged, converging. 
Seeds : in the hermaphrodites folitary ; down or egret in 
rt.ioft plumofe or pilofe; in the females none. Recep- 
tacnlum : briftly.— EJ'ential CharaBer. Receptaculum 
brillly; down Ample; corolla of the ray funnel-form, 
longer, irregular. 
Species. 1 . Jaceas: calyxes even, unarmed. 1. Cen¬ 
taurea crupina, black-feeded centaury, or bearded creeper: 
Rales lanceolate; leaves pinnate, ferrate, lubciliate. Stem 
ftriated, three feet high, almoft quite Ample. Native of 
the South of France, Piedmont, Tufeany, and the Le¬ 
vant; annual ; cultivated in 1640. 
i. Centaurea mofehata, or purple fweet centaury, or 
fweet fultan : calyxes round!(h, fmooth ; fcales ovate ; 
leaves lyrate-toothed. This fort is annual, and has been 
many years propagated in the Englifli gardens, under the 
title of fultan flower, or fweet fultan. It was brought 
from the Levant, where it grows naturally in arable land 
among the corn. This fends up a round channelled ftalk 
near three feet high, which divides into many branches, 
with jagged leaves, of a pale green, fmooth, and clofe to 
the branches. From the fide of the branches come out 
iong naked peduncles, each fuftaining a fingle head of 
flowers, which have a very ftrong odour, fo as to be otfen- 
five to many people, but to others very grateful ; they 
are purple, white, or flefli, colour. There is alfo a va¬ 
riety with Aftular flowers, and another with fringed flow¬ 
ers ; but tliefe degenerate in a few years, however care¬ 
fully the feeds may be faved. Native of Perfia, and cul¬ 
tivated in 1-629. It came to us firft from Conftantinople. 
3. Centaurea crucifolia: fcales lanceolate ; leaves lan¬ 
ceolate, fomewhat toothed. Root annual; item a foot 
high, furrowed, rough with hairs ; branches eredf, many, 
from top to bottom. 
4. Centaurea Lippii, or Egyptian centaury : fcales mu- 
cronate ; leaves lubdecurrent, lyrate-toothed. This, ac¬ 
cording to Linnaeus, bears fome refemblance to the blue¬ 
bottle, No. 15. Native of Egypt, between Alexandria 
and Rofetta. Cultivated in 1759 by Mr. Miller, who 
received the feeds from Juflieu, and he had them from 
Dr. Lippi at Grand Cairo. 
5. Centaurea Alnina, or Alpine centanry : fcales ovate- 
obtufe; leaves pinnated, fmooth, quite entire, the odd 
leaflet ferrated. Root perennial, (Hiking deep into the 
ground, and fending out a great number of long, fmooth, 
pinnate leaves, of a glaucous hue ; ftems near four feet 
high, dividing at top into many branches, having (mall 
leaves on them of the fame form with the lower; each 
flem is terminated by a fingle head of yellow flowers, 
which come out in June and July, and in dry (eafons per. 
fed! their feeds in autumn. It grows naturally upon the 
Alps in Italy ; and was cultivated in 1640. 
6. Centaurea centaurium, or great centaury : fcaleS 
ovate; leaves pinnated ; leaflets ferrated, dectirrent. This 
has a ftrong perennial root like the foregoing fort; and a 
great number of long pinnate leaves, of a lucid green, 
ipreading wide on every fide, proceed from it. The pe¬ 
duncles are (lender, but very (tiff, and divide at top into 
many (mailer peduncles; tliefe, together with the ftalks, 
rile five or fix feet high, having at each joint one fmall 
pinnate leaf of the fame form with the others ; each of 
the peduncles is terminated by a fingle head of purple 
flowers, conliderably longer than the calyx. They come 
out in July, and in very warm feafons produce ripe feeds 
in England. It grows naturally on the mountains of.Italy, 
Spain, and Tartary; and was cultivated in 1596 by Ge- 
rarde. This is fuppofed to be the triftia centaurea of 
Lucretius, and the graveolentia centaurea of Virgil, re¬ 
commended by the latter in diforders of the bees. 
II. Cyani: with the fcales of the calyx ferrate-ciliated. 
7. Centaurea Phrygia, or Auftrian centaury : calyxes 
recurvc-plumofe ; leaves undivided, oblong, fcabrous. 
Stem fomewhat (lirubby, upright, from eight or ten inches 
to a cubit in height; at the end of the flem and each 
branch a fingle large flower, with a fmall leaf or two at 
the bafe. Native of Germany, Auftria, and Swjflerland. 
Haller has two varieties, one loftier in Germany, and the 
other about eighteen inches high, in the Swifs alps ; cul¬ 
tivated in 1727 by Mr. Miller. 
8. Centaurea capillata, or feathered centaury : calyxes 
recurve-plumofe; bottom leaves pinnated, toothed, up¬ 
per lanceolate. Stem four or five feet high, angular, 
hard, branching ; root-leaves with four or five pairs of 
pinnas; flem-leaves (imply pinnate; uppermoft tongue- 
(haped, Ample. Native of Spain and Siberia. 
9. Centaurea uniflora, or one-flowered centaury: calyxes 
recurve-plumofe; leaves lanceolate, fomewhat toothed, 
tomentofe ; a palm or foot in height. Native of the South 
of Europe. 
10. Centaurea linifolia, or flax-leaved centaury: calyxes 
recurve-plumole ; leaves linear, (battered. Stem a palm 
in height, often decumbent, branching from the bottom, 
furrowed angular, rough with ft iff hairs ; leaves entire, 
rugged, much crowded, near two inches in length, a line 
or a line and halt in breadth, ending in a very (harp point; 
thofe next the root dilated at tl.e bafe, and half ftem- 
clafping ; flower protected with from three to fix leaves, 
twice its length. It varies with fhorter thickilh leaves, 
fcarcely ciliate, and an almoft fimple eredtifh ftem. Na¬ 
tive of Spain and Italy; perennial. 
11. Centaurea pettinata: calyxes recurve-plumofe; 
leaves lyrate, toothletted; branch-leaves lanceolate, quite 
entire. Native of Spain, South of-France, and Silefia. 
12. Centaurea nigra, or black centaury, or knapweed : 
calyxes ciliate, with the little fcale ovate; cilias capillary, 
eredt; leaves lyrate, angular; flowers flofcular. Stem 
from two to three feet io height, angular, fcored, (lightly 
downy, often tinged with purple. Dillenius obferves a 
that Parkinfon’s figure only agrees with our Englifli plant. 
It has many provincial names, as knap-weed, kp.op-vveed, 
knob-weed, horfe-knops, all from knob or nob , a head ; 
alfo hard-heads, hard-irons, and matfellon ; in Scotland, 
horfe-knot. It is found in Germany, Auftria, France, &c. 
With 11s in England it is a bad weed in meadows and paf- 
tures; being a harfh ftubborn plant, feldom touched by 
cattle either green or in hay, and being with difficulty ex¬ 
tirpated. Linnams marks it as biennial/but our plant is 
perennial, and increafes muclvby the.root. 
13. Centaurea pullata : calyxes ciliate, vertical, leafy; 
leaves lyrate, toothed, obtufe. It is a low plant; native 
of the South of France, Spain, and the Levant. Miller 
fays the feeds were Cent him from Portugal by Robert 
Moore, Elq. and that it is biennial ; flowers in June and 
July, and tiie feeds ripen in the autumn. 
14. Centaurea 
