Centaurium spicatum

Slender, erect annual or biennial, 1-4 dm, simple or branched above; basal rosette caducous; cauline lvs sessile, lance-elliptic, 1-3 cm, narrowed at base; stem and closely ascending branches prolonged into interrupted, spike-like cymes 5-10 cm, each node normally with one sessile fl opposite an erect linear bract; fls pink to nearly white; cal 9-11 mm, distended over the ovary; cor-tube slightly (2 mm) surpassing the cal; cor-lobes 4-5 mm; 2n=22. Native of s. Eur., intr. here and there from Mass. to Va. July, Aug.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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