Centaurea aspera   Rough Star-thistle C DDD I

Centaurea aspera flower Centaurea aspera with leaves

We fairly easily found this on rough land next to the sea wall on Guernsey not far from the orchid fields but the really large numbers were on Jersey where it has been naturalised in the dunes since 1839. There is loads of it here and it is a very good looking plant. I've given this plant a high difficulty rating because you can only find readily it on the Channel Islands although it has in the past been recorded from a few coastal sites in south Wales, the Sefton coast and around London.

LHS: Torteval, Guernsey 19th June 2004 RHS St. Ouens Dunes, Jersey 21st June 2004

Added on September 5th 2004, amended January 18th 2005, updated 25th November 2008, updated 11th March 2010, updated 16th March 2013

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