Hardy perennial, growing 1 - 3 ft (30 - 92 cm) high. Member of the Daisy family. A good meadow plant, with large, purple-red flowers and deeply-divided leaves. Flowers June to September.
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Hardy perennial, growing 1 - 3 ft (30 - 92 cm) high. Member of the Daisy family. A good meadow plant, with large, purple-red flowers and deeply-divided leaves. Flowers June to September.
Found naturally on chalky grassland, hedgerows, roadsides and wasteland. Found throughout England but rarer in Scotland and Ireland. Butterflies and bees love it, and goldfinches enjoy the seeds. Food plant of the Skipper, Chalkhill Blue, Adonis Blue, Brimstone, Dark Green Fritillary, Meadow Brown and Marbled White moths. Also popular with Essex Skipper, , Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, Small Skipper, Silver Spotted Skipper, Common Blue, Painted Lady, Peacock, Common Silverwashed Fritillary, Grayling and Ringlet butterflies.
Greater Knapweed flowers used to be eaten for curing digestive disorders and a wound ointment was made from the whole plant.
The seedheads are attractive and worth keeping for a while before cutting down the stems to ground level in autumn.
Plant out early autumn or late winter. Divide plant every three years. Tolerant of drought conditions.
Rarely, Greater Knapweed becomes host to the parasitic Knapweed broomrape.
*This sheet is provided for information only and is in no way a prescription for use. Please seek the advice of a qualified herbalist before using*