Flower and leaves. Photo: JC Schou, Denmark

Plants. Photo: Richard Spellenberg, California, USA

Leaf. Photo: John Hilty, Illinois, USA

Common Name

Safflower

Family

Asteraceae

Notes

Introduced annual forb to about 1m tall. Leaves alternating up the stems, 2-12cm long, about 7-40mm wide, flat, hairless, the edges entire or spiny, wavy. Flower heads spiny, broadly oval, with many yellow, orange, or reddish ‘petals’. Flowers single at the ends of the stems.

Description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 721

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Carthamus~tinctorius