Centaurea jacea subsp. jacea

Brown knapweed, Brown Knapweed

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Brown knapweed is a naturalized perennial found in northern Coast Ranges and Cascade Range in grasslands, disturbed places, and montane forest at elevations of 150 to 1,100 meters. Flowering from August to October, this plant produces light brown to purple flowers in radiant heads with scarious phyllary tips that are concave and sometimes coarsely dentate. Growing with multiple stems that can spread across grassland areas, it develops clusters of distinctive flower heads with complex layered appendages. Its leaves vary from basal to stem-level, typically lance-shaped with slightly serrated edges that blend into the surrounding grassland vegetation. The flower heads feature disk flowers approximately 15 to 22 millimeters long with delicate white or tan pappus bristles barely extending half a millimeter from the flower base.

Habitat: Grassland, disturbed places, montane forest

Bloom period: Aug-Oct

Elevation: 150-1100 m

Bioregions: NCoRO, CaR

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.