Common Centaury

Common Centaury has small, pink, five-petalled flowers, with each plant having up to fifty flowers per plant. It has a rosette of leaves at the base of the stem and opposite pairs up the stem.

Common Centaury is a low-growing plant. It flowers from May through to September and can be found growing in a variety of areas like, heathland, grassland, sand dunes, woodland rides, open scrub, quarries, clifftops and road verges.

The Common Centaury flowers close when the sky becomes overcast or when the weather is damp.

It gets its name from the centaur Chiron. According to legend, Chiron discovered its healing powers and cured himself from the effects of a poisoned arrow.

Common Centaury can be found throughout Britain, but scarcer in Scotland.