Carthamus tinctorius L. (SW-As.?) – A regular but always ephemeral alien. Probably first recorded on levelled soil in Wasmuel in 1893. Much increasing from the 1950’s onwards (see for instance Lambinon 1957) and now seen most years. By far most records are from dumps and are obviously associated with birdseed. Furthermore seen along road verges, in port areas or in cities (where birds are fed). In 2011 also recorded on the gravelly banks of river Maas near Lanaken.
Carthamus tinctorius (safflower) is an important component in commercial birdseed mixtures (Hanson & Mason 1985) which largely explains its occurrences as an alien in Belgium. The species is also introduced as an oilseed crop.
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Selected literature:
Delucchi G. (2002) Sobre la presencia de una nueva especie adventicia de Carthamus (Asteraceae, Cardueae) en la Argentina. Hickenia 3: 129-131. [available online at: http://www.darwin.edu.ar/Vol3/h3_34.pdf]
Hanelt P. (1961) Zur Kenntnis von Carthamus tinctorius L. Kulturpflanze 9: 114-145.
Hanson C.G. & Mason J.L. (1985) Bird seed aliens in Britain. Watsonia 15: 237-252. [available online at: http://archive.bsbi.org.uk/Wats15p237.pdf]
Lambinon J. (1957) Contribution à l’étude de la flore adventice de Belgique. I. adventices rares ou nouvelles pour la Belgique. Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belg. 89: 85-100.
Lemel I. (1982) Något om safflor Carthamus tinctorius. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 76: 155-157.
Pearl S.A. & Burke J.M. (2014) Genetic diversity in Carthamus tinctorius (Asteraceae; safflower), an underutilized oilseed crop. Am. J. Bot. 101(10): 1640-1650. [available online at: http://www.amjbot.org/content/101/10/1640.long]
Singh V. & Nimbkar N. (2006) Chapter 6. Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.). In: Singh R.J. (ed.), Genetic Resources, Chromosome engineering, and crop improvement, vol. 3. CRC Press: 167-194. [available online at: http://www.nariphaltan.org/nari/pdf_files/safflowerbook.pdf]
Verloove F. & Vandenberghe C. (1994) Nieuwe en interessante graan- en veevoederadventieven voor de Belgische en Noordfranse flora, hoofdzakelijk in 1993. Dumortiera 58-59: 44-59. [available online at: http://alienplantsbelgium.be/sites/alienplantsbelgium.be/files/dum58-59p...
Weiss E.A. (1983) Safflower. In: Weiss E.A. (ed.), Oilseed crops. London, Longman: 216-281.