Centaurea aspera

Centaurea aspera L. (SW-Eur.) – A very rare and ephemeral alien. Apparently first documented in 1872 from Bousval without further details. Recorded in sea dunes between Koksijde and De Panne (Oosthoek) in 1950 and between De Panne and Sint Idesbald in the 1980’s (one clone persisting for many years but doubtlessly gone now). All coastal records are from more or less ruderalized, sandy places and most likely originate from nearby, well-established populations north of Dunkerque in France. In the latter locality Centaurea aspera is present since several decades now (e.g. Berton 1964) and is slightly spreading further north. A future naturalization in coastal areas around De Panne is very likely.
Centaurea aspera is a troublesome weed in some parts of the world, for instance in Australia (e.g.: http://www.hear.org/gcw/species/centaurea_aspera/).

Selected literature:


Berton A. (1964) Données sur l'évolution de la flore dans la région du Nord. Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 111: 157-189. [available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00378941.1964.10838423]

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith