I came across these plants on the 25th July of this year, growing, or rather competing, with so much undergrowth. To get the photographs of the foliage and lower section of the stem, I had to clean all the vegetation surrounding it. It could be Centaurea calcitrapa, or Centaurea aspera but I am unsure whether it is one or the other or another species. Hope a member can help me with this one. Thanks in advance.
Hi Daniel, To be truthful I just don't know! It could be a Circium as the involucral bracts are very similar to Circium arvense! Daniel, I believe you are right; which Circium sp. I will refer to my volumes of Flora d'Italia. Now that it has been narrowed down to a specific genus it should be easy, I hope, to identify it. Should I find it I will let you know! A big thank you!
Back again Daniel, Circium arvensis is quite similar, the only difference is the involucral bracts, they are longer on C arvensis! However there are other similarities such as purple streaks running down from the upper section of the stem. It seems that this taxon can be very variable. Unfortunately I didn't take a photograph of the rear of the foliage!
