Centaurea calcitrapa

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Centaurea calcitrapa
Centaurea calcitrapa 001.jpg
Young plant
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Centaurea
Species:
C. calcitrapa
Binomial name
Centaurea calcitrapa
L.

Centaurea calcitrapa is a species of flowering plant known by several common names, including red star-thistle [1] and purple star thistle. It is native to Europe but is rarely found there, it is known across the globe as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. [2] [3] The species name calcitrapa comes from the word caltrop , a type of weapon covered in sharp spikes. [4] [5]

Contents

Description

This an annual or biennial plant growing erect to a maximum height of one [6] to 1.3 [4] metres.

The stems are hairless and grooved. [7]

It sometimes takes the shape of a mound, and it is finely to densely hairy to spiny. The leaves are dotted with resin glands. The lowermost may reach a length of 20 centimeters and are deeply cut into lobes. The inflorescence contains a few flower heads. Each is 1.5 to 2 centimeters long and oval in general shape. The phyllaries are green or straw-colored and tipped in tough, sharp yellow spines. The head contains many bright purple flowers. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long which lacks a pappus.

It flowers from July until September, and the seeds ripen from August to October.

The Red Star-thistle has been identified as a Priority Species by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. It is identified as 'vulnerable' by the UNIC and is listed as Nationally Rare in the UK Red Data Book. There is no national or Sussex BAP for this species.

Distribution

[8]

Native distribution

Introduced distribution

Uses

In western Crete, Greece a local variety called gourounaki (γουρουνάκι - little pig) has its leaves eaten boiled by the locals. [9] A south Italian variety of the species is also traditionally consumed by ethnic Albanians (Arbëreshë people) in the Vulture area (southern Italy). In the Arbëreshë communities in Lucania the young whorls of Centaurea calcitrapa are boiled and fried in mixtures with other weedy non cultivated greens. [10]

Control

Herbicides

Picloram + 2,4-D, low volatile ester 2,4-D, Dicamba, and Fluroxypyr + Aminopyralid are recommended for use in New South Wales, [11] and aminocyclopyrachlor + chlorsulfuron, aminopyralid, chlorsulfuron, clopyralid, clopyralid + 2,4-D, dicamba, diflufenzopyr + dicamba, picloram, and triclopyr + clopyralid for the Pacific Northwest of North America. [12]

Herbicide resistance

Picloram + 2,4-D, low volatile ester 2,4-D, Dicamba, and Fluroxypyr + Aminopyralid all carry a "moderate" risk of producing resistance in C. calcitrapa. [11]

Similar species

Related Research Articles

<i>Centaurea</i> Genus of flowering plants belonging to the daisy and sunflower family

Centaurea is a genus of over 700 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Members of the genus are found only north of the equator, mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere; the Middle East and surrounding regions are particularly species-rich. In the western United States, yellow starthistles are an invasive species. Around the year 1850, seeds from the plant had arrived to the state of California. It is believed that those seeds came from South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clopyralid</span> Chemical compound

Clopyralid is a selective herbicide used for control of broadleaf weeds, especially thistles and clovers. Clopyralid is in the picolinic acid family of herbicides, which also includes aminopyralid, picloram, triclopyr, and several less common herbicides. For control of creeping thistle, Cirsium arvense, a noxious, perennial weed, clopyralid is one of the few effective herbicides available. It is particularly damaging to peas, tomatoes, and sunflowers, and can render potatoes, lettuce, and spinach inedible. It does not affect grasses.

<i>Carduus nutans</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Carduus nutans, with the common names musk thistle, nodding thistle, and nodding plumeless thistle, is a biennial plant in the daisy and sunflower family Asteraceae. It is native to regions of Eurasia.

<i>Centaurea solstitialis</i> Species of flowering plant

Centaurea solstitialis, the yellow star-thistle, is a species of thorny plant in the genus Centaurea, which is part of the family Asteraceae. A winter annual, it is native to the Mediterranean Basin region and invasive in many other places. It is also known as golden starthistle, yellow cockspur and St. Barnaby's thistle.

Chaetorellia australis is a species of tephritid fruit fly known as the yellow starthistle peacock fly. It is used as an agent of biological pest control against the noxious weed yellow starthistle.

<i>Eustenopus villosus</i> Species of beetle

Eustenopus villosus is a species of true weevil known as the yellow starthistle hairy weevil. It is used as an agent of biological pest control against the noxious weed yellow starthistle.

<i>Larinus curtus</i> Species of beetle

Larinus curtus is a species of true weevil known as the yellow starthistle flower weevil. It is native to Southern Italy, Southern Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasuses. It is used as an agent of biological pest control against the noxious weed yellow starthistle in the United States.

<i>Centaurea iberica</i> Species of flowering plant

Centaurea iberica, the Iberian knapweed or Iberian star-thistle, is a species of Centaurea. It is native to southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia. It is known elsewhere as an introduced species and a noxious weed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aminopyralid</span> Chemical compound

Aminopyralid is a selective herbicide used for control of broadleaf weeds, especially thistles and clovers. It is in the picolinic acid family of herbicides, which also includes clopyralid, picloram, triclopyr, and several less common herbicides. It was first registered for use in 2005, in the USA under the brand name "Milestone" and later under various names starting with "Grazon". In the UK it is sold under the brand names Banish, Forefront, Halcyon, Pharaoh, Pro-Banish, Runway, Synero, and Upfront.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Oak Ranch Reserve</span> Part of the University of California Natural Reserve System

The Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, a unit of the University of California Natural Reserve System, is an ecological reserve and biological field station in Santa Clara County, California. It is located on 3,260 acres (13.2 km2) in the Diablo Range, northwest of Mount Hamilton, at 1,500 ft (460 m) elevation.

<i>Centaurea nigra</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Centaurea nigra is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names lesser knapweed, common knapweed and black knapweed. A local vernacular name is hardheads.

<i>Puccinia jaceae <span style="font-style:normal;">var.</span> solstitialis</i>

Puccinia jaceae var. solstitialis is a species of fungus in the Pucciniaceae family. It is a plant pathogen that causes rust. Native to Eurasia, it is the first fungal pathogen approved in the United States as a biological control agent to curb the growth of the invasive weed yellow starthistle.

Larinus filiformis is a species of true weevil found in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

Chaetorellia succinea is a species of tephritid fruit fly that was accidentally released in 1991 into the United States and had since become one of the major biological pest controls against the noxious weed yellow starthistle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aminocyclopyrachlor</span> Chemical compound

Aminocyclopyrachlor is a selective, low-toxicity herbicide that provides pre- and post-emergent control of broadleaf weeds, woody species, vines and grasses on several non-food use sites, such as rights of way, wildlife management areas, recreational areas, turf/lawns, golf courses and sod farms. It was conditionally registered as Imprelis by DuPont in August 2010, and first used in Fall 2010. The chemical is a systemic herbicide and acts by disrupting gene expression. This causes undifferentiated cell division and elongation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chlorsulfuron</span> ALS inhibitor herbicide

Chlorsulfuron is an ALS inhibitor herbicide, and is a sulfonylurea compound. It was discovered by George Levitt in February 1976 while working at DuPont, which was the patent assignee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meadow knapweed</span> Species of flowering plant

Meadow knapweed is a fertile hybrid between black knapweed and brown knapweed. It is also known by the common names of hybrid knapweed or protean knapweed. The taxonomic status of the species is uncertain, and meadow knapweed has been variously described as different species. The Flora of North America refers to meadow knapweed as the nothospecies Centaurea × moncktonii.

References

  1. ↑ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. ↑ "Centaurea calcitrapa". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Centaurea genus part 1". California Department of Food and Agriculture. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  4. 1 2 "University of California Cooperative Extension". Ucce.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2013-01-14.
  5. ↑ Pitcairn, Michael J.; Young, James A.; Clements, Charlie D.; Balciunas, JOE (2002). "Purple Starthistle (Centaurea calcitrapa) Seed Germination1". Weed Technology. 16 (2): 452. doi:10.1614/0890-037X(2002)016[0452:PSCCSG]2.0.CO;2. ISSN   0890-037X.
  6. ↑ "Jepson Manual Treatment". Ucjeps.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2013-01-14.
  7. ↑ Rose, Francis (1981). The Wild Flower Key. Frederick Warne & Co. pp. 386–387. ISBN   0-7232-2419-6.
  8. ↑ "Centaurea calcitrapa L. - Plants of the World Online". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  9. ↑ Κλεόνικος Γ. Σταυριδάκης [Kleonikos G. Stavridakis] (2006). Η Άγρια βρώσιμη χλωρίδα της Κρήτης[Wild edible plants of Crete]. Rethymnon Crete. ISBN   960-631-179-1.
  10. ↑ A. Pieroni, V. Janiak, C. M. Dürr, S. Lüdeke, E. Trachsel and M. Heinrich: In vitro Antioxidant Activity of Non-cultivated Vegetables of Ethnic Albanians in Southern Italy, Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, The School of Pharmacy, University of London 29-39 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, UK; PHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH, 16, 467–473 (2002) Archived July 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  11. 1 2 "Star thistle (Centaurea calcitrapa)". NSW WeedWise, Department of Primary Industries, New South Wales, Australia . Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  12. ↑ "Starthistle, yellow (Centaurea solstitialis), purple (Centaurea calcitrapa), and Iberian (Centaurea iberica)". Pacific Northwest Pest Management Handbooks. Pacific Northwest Extension (Oregon, Washington, Idaho). 2015-11-10. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
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