8 April 2020

Centaurea aeolica is a shrub of the Asteraceae (or Compositae) family, 30-40 cm tall and with white-tomentose leaves. The flowers (June-July) are pinkish to purple and gathered into capitula, which are the characteristic inflorescence of the family. The small fruits show a feathery appendage (pappus) that favours wind dissemination.

This plant usually grows in rocky habitats next to the sea and is endemic to the volcanic islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The subspecies C. aeolica aeolica, is present in the Aeolian archipelago (Sicily) and is characterised by deeply divided greenish-grey lower leaves.

The subspecies C. aeolica pandataria is found only in Ventotene (known as Pandataria in Roman times). The lower leaves are grey-tomentose and entire or partly divided.

Centaurea aeolica subsp. pandataria grows on coastal cliffs, walls and ruins, and in some areas is threatened by alien plant species, such as the invasive Hottentot fig (Carpobrotus sp.).

Centaurea aeolica Guss. ex Lojac subsp. pandataria

Photo: Gianluca Nicolella