Wig knapweed

Centaurea phrygia, wig knapweed, is a perennial herb in the family Asteraceae native to central, eastern, and northern Europe, ranging into western Siberia, where it grows in mesic to moist meadows, hay-fields, mountain pastures, forest margins, and along streams. Plants grow 30–80 cm tall from a short, woody rootstock, with sparsely branched, slightly ridged, hairy stems. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 5–15 cm long, mostly entire or remotely toothed, slightly rough to the touch, and gradually reduced upward; the lower leaves taper to a winged petiole while the upper leaves are sessile. The diagnostic feature is the involucre of the solitary, terminal flower head: the green phyllaries each bear a long, dark brown to blackish, deeply fringed and recurved appendage, giving the unopened head a shaggy or wig-like appearance, hence the common name. The heads are 3–4 cm across with rosy-purple tubular florets, the outer ones often enlarged and ray-like. The fruit is a small achene with a short pappus.