1870 Centaurea cyanus L.

This species is considered to originate from SE. Europe. From there it has spread with agriculture as a weed to several parts of the world, for instance S. Africa, C., S. and E. Asia, N. and S. America, Australia and New Zealand. The species has today a discontinuous circumpolar distribution (Hultén, Circumpol. Il, p. 220 and map 211).