Plume knapweed

Centaurea nervosa, the plume knapweed, is a perennial herb of the aster family native to the alpine and subalpine meadows of the central and southern European mountain ranges, including the Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines and Balkan mountains. It often grows on calcareous or neutral mountain pastures between about 1500 and 2500 m elevation. Plants form low clumps with a short, stout rootstock and produce one or a few erect, simple, unbranched stems 15-40 cm tall. The leaves are elongate-lanceolate, undivided, hairy, and entire to weakly toothed, with basal leaves stalked and stem leaves clasping. Each stem terminates in a single, large flower head 3-5 cm across. The deep rose-purple to violet disc florets are surrounded by an involucre of bracts that bear long, pectinate-pinnate, plume-like dark-brown to blackish appendages, giving the head a striking shaggy appearance.