Centaurium erythraea Rafn

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Common names:

European centaury, common centaury

Synonyms:

Centaurium minus auct. non Moench; Centaurium umbellatum auct. non Gilib.; Erythraea centaurium of authors

Description:

Growth form:: Biennial herb,
Size:: 10 - 50 cm tall.
Stem: upright, and branched above.
Leaves: of two kinds: a basal rosette of small (less than 2 - 3 cm long), stalked leaves; and opposite, stalkless, longer (2 - 4 cm long), stem leaves. The leaves gradually narrow going up the stem, with the basal leaves being oblong or elliptic, the stem leaves being more lance-shaped, and the upper stem leaves being linear.
Inflorescence: of multiple, three-branched clusters at the ends of branches, with the entire inflorescence remaining flat across the top (false corymb). Each node of the inflorescence bears a pair of small linear bracts.
Flowers: stalkless (closely subtended by bracts), rose-pink, small (about 1 cm wide and long), radially symmetric, and long tubular with four or five spreading lobes.
Sepals: pinkish, tiny (3.5 - 5 mm long), inconspicuous (due to closely arranged bracts), fused into a tube, then separating into four or five, very narrow (less than 1 mm wide) lobes.
Petals: four or five, but fused into a 6 - 8 mm long tube, then separating into four or five, 4.5 - 5.5 mm long, somewhat oval, spreading, pinkish purple lobes, which are often whitish at the base.
Stamens: four or five, spirally twisted, and extending beyond the petal lobes, with which they alternate.
Pistil: with a single-chambered, superior ovary; a single style; and a more or less egg-shaped (not linear), very short stigma, which is less than half the length of the style.
Fruit: a single-chambered capsule.

Help:

Plant Glossary

Similar species:

Centaurium erythraea is very similar to C. pulchellum, but that species does not have basal rosette leaves, its flowers are on short stalks, and the petal lobes are narrower and shorter (only to 3.5 mm long).

Centaurium pulchellum

Flowering:

June to early September

Habitat and ecology:

Very rare in the Chicago Region, this species has only been recorded from two sandy sedge meadows in our furthest east counties. It could be expected in damp sands and waste places.

Regional occurrence:

non-native

Notes:

Etymology:

Centaurium comes from the Latin Centaurus, referring to the myth that its medicinal properties were discovered by the Centaur. Erythraea comes from the Greek erythros, meaning red.

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