Centaurea cyanus L.

Garden Cornflower; Bachelor's Buttons

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Bachelor's Buttons is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to Europe. In Alabama in can be found in the northern two-thirds of the state. Bachelor's Buttons grows on roadsides, in fields and pastures, and along railroads. It is an annual with a taproot. Stems are 1-3 feet in height, erect, branched above the middle, and loosely tomentose, giving them a gray or whitish appearance. Leaves are alternate, petiolate (lower) or sessile (upper), linear lanceolate in outline, and lobed or unlobed. The leaves are loosely gray-tomentose. Flowers are produced in long peduncled heads. The heads are arranged in cymes. The outer phyllaries have thin and papery toothed margins. The heads contain 25-35 blue, white, pink, or purple ray flowers. The outer flowers are larger than the inner and sterile. The corolla is funnel-form with 6 spreading lobes. Four of the lobes are larger than the other two. The fruit is an achene with pappus composed of unequal stiff bristles. Bachelor's Buttons is commonly cultivated as an ornamental, especially for cut flowers. It is often included in wildflower seed mixes and will re-seed. Bachelor's Buttons grows well in average soils and full sun. Seed should be planted outdoors in the autumn.—A. Diamond

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Not Native

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