Rhaponticum repens

Russian knapweed

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Russian knapweed is a naturalized perennial found in California's interior regions, excluding the wettest northwestern and driest Great Basin areas, in fields and roadsides at elevations below 2,250 meters. Flowering from May to September, this plant produces pale purple to pink flowers in flat-topped or panicle-like clusters with distinctive heads 10 to 14 millimeters wide. Growing with ascending branches 30 to 100 centimeters tall, it initially appears cobwebby-hairy but becomes increasingly glabrous with age. Its lower leaves are 4 to 10 centimeters long, linear to oblanceolate, with 1 to 2 pinnate lobes, while upper leaves become progressively narrower and smaller. The plant produces small fruits with deciduous pappus bristles that are 6 to 10 millimeters long and barbed at the base.

Habitat: Fields, roadsides

Bloom period: May-Sep

Elevation: < 2250 m

Bioregions: CA (exc wettest NW, driest GB)

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