Centaurium sp.

Centaury at Tennent, ACT

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Identification history

	Centaurium sp.	6 Aug 2015	BettyDonWood
	Centaurium erythraea	5 Aug 2015	KenT

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2 comments

BettyDonWood wrote:

6 Aug 2015

This may be Centaurium tenuiflorum, Centaurium erythraea usually still has a basal rosette basal of leaves at flowering. The corolla lobes of the flower are 5-6 mm long, and the calyx is usually 4-6 mm long, less than two-thirds the length of the corolla tube. In Centaurium tenuiflorum the basal rosette always withers early. The corolla lobes of the flower are 3-5 mm long, and the calyx is usually 6-8 mm long, usually at least two-thirds the length of the corolla tube.

KenT wrote:

6 Aug 2015

Thanks Betty, this one gave me a lot of problems in coming up with a suggested name. The plants seemed to be fairly mature at least 40 cm tall and the basal leaves and the leaves on the lower stem had not persisted which points to Centaurium tenuiflorum. Based on the photo I judged the length of the sepals to be about one half the length of the corolla tube hence Centaurium erythraea. I then made the possibly dubious assumption that flower characters were the more reliable ones to use. Perhaps this should not be identified any further then Centaurium sp.

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