An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Spotted Knapweed

Scientific Name

Centaurea stoebe L. subsp. micranthos (Gugler) Hayek (ITIS)

Common Name

Spotted knapweed

Synonym

Centaurea biebersteinii DC., Centaurea maculosa auct. non Lam. (ITIS)

Native To

Europe (Zouhar 2001)

Date of U.S. Introduction

Late 1800s (Zouhar 2001)

Means of Introduction

Accidentally through contaminated seed or ballast (Zouhar 2001)

Impact

Crowds out native species and forage for livestock (Zouhar 2001)

Spotted knapweed
Image use policy

Spotted knapweed, flowers

Credit

USDA APHIS PPQ, Oxford, North Carolina

Find more images

Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Videos

Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

Council or Task Force
Partnership
Federal Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Professional
Citations
  • Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Centaurea stoebe ssp. micranthos. [Accessed Sep 25, 2023].

  • Zouhar, K. 2001. Centaurea maculosa. In: Fire Effects Information System. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.