Centaurea alba

The leaves, spiny in other centaurea species, are in this plant whitish and hairy. Deeply divided into elongated lobes at least in the plants' lower part, becoming entire towards the top. The "flowers" (actually pseudanthium inflorescences) are pink-red in colour. Each pseudanthium sits atop a cup- or basket-like cluster of scaly bracts, hence the name "basketflowers". C. alba has whitish bracts with a dark apendices.