Abstract
Centaurea Linnaeus (1753: 909) (Asteraceae) is a widely distributed genus from the Mediterranean region to southwest Asia which includes approximately 250 species (Susanna & Garcia-Jacas 2009). It contains annual, biennial and perennial herbs, less often shrubs, with usually unarmed leaves and very variable scarious or spiny bract appendages that represent the first trait used for systematics within the genus.