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Perennial Centaury
Centaurium scilloides
Centaurium scilloides, also known as perennial centaury, is a flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae. It is native to Atlantic Europe (England, western France and the northwestern Iberian Peninsula) and the Azores. Plants from the Azores have white flowers (as opposed to pink) and are genetically different with some treating it as a different species.
From the article Centaurium scilloides on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
It is a perennial, herbaceous species, growing to a maximum height of 15 centimetres (5.9 in).
Range & habitat
Centaurium scilloides is found on coastal cliffs and dunes grassland. It grows all along the Atlantic coast of Europe.
Wikipedia: “Habitat and distribution”
At the table
In Japan, C. scilloides, is popularly used for decoration purposes. It is used as a border in rock gardens and grows in pots and on verandas.
Wikipedia: “Uses”
In human culture
The species has been in cultivation in Britain since being introduced probably from the Azores by William Aiton in 1777. In 1781, Carl Linnaeus the Younger described the species as Gentiana scilloides, after F. Masson returned with a specieman from Azores. Before its extinction in England in 1967, Centaurium scilloides was abundant in Cornwall, S.W. England where it was recorded from two settlements Porthgwarra and St Levan between 1952–1967. It survived in Pembrokeshire, Wales where it grows in Newport since its discovery there in 1918. In 2012, the species was recorded from the Azores, but was proven to be of different species.
Wikipedia: “History”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Centaurium scilloides in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 245745.