Centaurea pinardii, Boiss.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 300

219. C. pinardii Boiss. , Diagn. Pl. Or. Nov. 1(4): 17 (1844).

Annual. Stem 8-20 cm, erect or procumbent, simple or sparingly branched, unwinged. Leaves grey-tomentose; lower obovate or oblanceolate, undivided or lyrately pinnatisect, shortly petiolate; upper linear-oblong, entire or subdentate, attenuate at base. Involucre c. 10 mm in diameter, ovoid; appendages broadly decurrent, dark brown; fimbriae slightly longer than the width of margin, silvery. Inner florets purple; outer bluish-violet. Achenes c. 3 mm; pappus absent. Cultivated fields and stony hillsides. C. part of Balkan peninsula. Bu Gr Ju.

C. mentiens Czerep. , Not. Syst. (Leningrad) 20: 397 (1960), from dry grasslands in Greece, differs from 219 in its longer stem 20-30 cm, larger, more sparsely tomentose leaves, and larger capitula and bracts. Its status requires further investigation.