Centaurea melitensis
Maltese Cockspur, Cockspur Thistle at Calwell, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Centaurea melitensis | MichaelMulvaney | 8 Dec 2017 | |
| Centaurea solstitialis | BettyDonWood | 7 Dec 2017 | |
| Centaurea melitensis | MichaelBedingfield | 25 Jan 2016 | |
| Unverified | MichaelBedingfield | 25 Jan 2016 |
Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.
Significant sighting
MichaelBedingfield noted:
27 Jan 2016
According to records held within the Atlas of Living Australia, which includes all herbarium records, this plant has not been recorded in the ACT since 1956, 60 years ago. Michael Mulvaney suspects it is one that climate change may favour in the ACT given that it is pretty common on the south-west slopes. He thinks it is worth raising awareness of it, since it is similar to the Saffron Thistle and might be overlooked.
User's notes
On the north-east slopes of Tuggeranong Hill.
6 comments
25 Jan 2016
I must admit I was too quick off the mark. The flower is OK but not the leaves. I will have another look at it. Another undo went wrong.
26 Jan 2016
Centaurea melitensis has not been recorded in the ACT since 1956 so I think the Herbarium would be pleased to get a specimen.
7 Dec 2017
The spines are far too long and robust to be melitensis, which has fine spines under 5 mm long.
8 Dec 2017
A search on C. melitensis photos shows plants with identical spines. I will have to take a look at my specimen of C. solstitialis for comparison.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.102833-35.448333
- Altitude 751.2m
- Maps Tuggeranong Hill
- Places Calwell, ACT
Sighting information
- 4 - 15 Abundance
- 23 Nov 2015 08:06 PM Recorded on
- MichaelBedingfield Recorded by
Collections
- Significant Plants Daisies MichaelBedingfield Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Centaurea melitensis
Species information
- Centaurea melitensis Scientific name
- Maltese Cockspur, Cockspur Thistle Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Exotic
- Minor weed or pest
- 403m to 820.87m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Seasonal activity
-
In flower
JFMAMJJASOND
Record quality
Quality score
6 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes