Centaurea calcitrapa

Divaricately branched erect annual or biennial, to 1 m high. Basal leaves short-lived, petiolate, oblanceolate, to 20 cm long and 5 cm wide, deeply pinnatisect with toothed lobes, pubescent or woolly when young, glandular; cauline leaves sessile, scabrous, the lower ones lanceolate, 2–8 cm long, 1–3 cm wide, pinnatifid to lyrate, the upper ones linear to narrow-lanceolate, 2–4 mm wide, entire. Capitula solitary, ovoid-cylindric, 6–10 mm diam.; sterile capitulum produced at centre of basal leaves before flowering-stem develops; involucre 10–15 mm long; intermediate bracts ovate, glabrous, terminal appendage with a straight spine 10–30 mm long and 1–3 pairs of smaller spines; inner bracts shorter, terminal appendage broad, scarious. Corolla 15–20 mm long, pale purple, rarely pink or white. Cypselas 2–4 mm long, whitish, streaked or blotched brown, glabrous; pappus absent. Flowers mainly Nov.–Apr.