Centaurium Hill

Centauries

5 species in Aust. (1 endemic, 4 naturalized); all states and territories

Erect, glabrous, annual herbs up to 50 cm high, with slender quadrangular stems. Leaves sessile; the lowest often forming a basal rosette. Flowers in cymose panicles or corymbs. Calyx 4–5-lobed. Corolla red or pink, with a cylindrical tube and 5 spreading lobes. Stamens inserted in the throat of the corolla tube. Ovary 1-locular; stigma ± 2-lobed. Capsule narrow-oblong, enclosed in the persistent calyx or slightly exceeding it.