Knapweed - Pink Wildflowers
Knapweed is a perennial wildflower with lovely purple flowers - looks somewhat like a thistle but has no spikes. It can be seen all over The Western Isles, Scotland and indeed throughout the UK. It really is a pretty wildflower.
Member of Daisy Family
It is a plant of rough grassland, hedgebanks, road verges and open woods. Knapweed is a member of the daisy family. It is a native species to Europe but has spread to North America.
Butterflies Love Knapweed
Butterflies also love it and very few plants will attract more than this one. The leaves are grey-green, lance-shaped and hairy
Flowers June - September
Knapweed grows to the height of 1 - 2 ft. It is usually in flower in June, continuing late in the autumn, and even when there are frosts it prevails.
Produces Not a purple Dye - but a Yellow Dye
Despite its purple flower, it is actually yellow that is the most typical colour of dye that knapweed produces.
Perennial Thistle Like - No Spines
Common knapweed or 'hardheads' is an upright perennial plant which looks somewhat like a thistle but has no spines.
Knapweed Leaves Attract Insects
The leaves are grey-green, lance-shaped and hairy
Dark flowerheads with pink-purple flowers appear on branched stems from June to September.
The leaves are very attractive to insects including hoverflies, bumble bees and a range of day-flying moths.
Alternative Name - Hardhead
The purple-magenta flowers project, thistle-like, from a flower head that resembles a small bristly pineapple and gives the plant its alternative name of Hardhead.
Insects Love Knapweed
The flowers are a pretty purple colour and a favourite among Bees and butterflies, hoverflies, bumble bees and a range of day-flying moths
Medicinal Uses
Has had medicinal uses as a diuretic & tonic, and wound healer. In Chaucer's day it was called Matfellon, and it was one of the ingredients of the ointments for wounds and the pestilence.
Lovely Meadow Plant - Wet and Dry Ground
No meadow would be complete without a sprinkling of the dark heads of Knapweed in summer. It grows along every wayside, and is found on hills and dry pastures in great abundance, being addicted to both wet and dry ground.
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