Rough star-thistle
Centaurea aspera
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
Traditional use
The lilac-pink knapweed of verges and sandy ground that flowers all summer and takes trampling, drought and salt. It is one of the few showy flowers you find on a roadside in August.
Where it grows
Roadsides and waste ground · Dunes and sand · Fields and pasture · Scrubland
Also known asrough centaury
In flower
How to tell it
Lilac-pink heads with larger, ray-like marginal florets. The head's bracts end in short spines grouped in a fan of three to five, which is the detail that identifies it. A rough plant to the touch.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
A bitter infusion of traditional use in the Peninsula. No food use.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.