Centaurea americana American Basket Flower Seed
Star Thistle, Shaving Brush seed
(sen-TAR-ee-uh  am-er-ih-KAH-nuh) or cen-TAW-ree-ah
Easyliving Native Perennial Wildflowers
Native Wild Flower Seeds & Plants for Home Landscaping & Prairie Restorations

Centaurea americana American Basket Flower, Star Thistle picture Habitat Bloom Period Color Height inches Moisture Plant Spacing Lifespan
Centaurea americana American Basket Flower, Star Thistle picture sun to light shade June/July Lavender 24 to 60 dry to average Annual

  Centaurea americana Basket Flower pictureCentaurea americana American Basket Flower, Star Thistle photo by cj

For other wildflowers visit the wildflower seed list , to order copy the orderform or 
email questions, comments, and orders to john@easywildflowers.com  
 We accept payment by check or money order & through PayPal
Centaurea americana seed
Basket Flower seed

approximate
number of seeds

approximate coverage
in square feet

1 packet -  $2.50 + shipping

 150

1 ounce -  $5.00 

1 pound -  $30.00

      Centaurea americana has several common names including American Basket Flower, Star Thistle, Sweet Sultan, & Shaving Brush.  Before the flower of Centaurea americana is fully open it resembles an old fashioned shaving brush, the area below the petals looks like a miniature basket.  This annual plant is not prickly but derives the name Star-Thistle from the resemblance of the flowers to those of the true thistles. It reaches a height of about 2 feet and produces light green, narrow-lanceolate leaves and flat heads of fragrant lavender and white, composite flowers.  American Basket Flower blooms in June and July, sometimes with favorable conditions blooming a second time in August.  
   Centaurea americana Basket Flower has very hard seeds, seed germination may be improved by hard scarification (rub with coarse sandpaper)before planting.  Native Centaurea americana plants occur naturally in rocky open woods, glades, bald knobs, roadsides and along railroads from Missouri and Kansas to Louisiana and west to Texas, Arizona, and Mexico; introduced in Illinois and eastward.  
The map below shows areas where annual wildflower Centaurea americana grows wild but it can be planted and will grow over most of the US.  

Centaurea americana
Basket Flower

 Arizona
Arkansas
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas 		 Missouri
New Mexico
New York
Oklahoma		 Rhode Island
South Carolina
Texas
Wisconsin

State Distributional Map for CEAM2

Use the chart below for shipping charges on Centaurea americana, Basket Flowerflower seeds, to order copy the order form or email questions, comments & orders to john@easywildflowers.com 

The minimum seed order amount is $10, this can be a combination of different seeds.

subtotal for flower seeds 

shipping charge for seeds
seed orders up to  $20.00    =    $3.00 shipping
$20.01 - $50.00    =    $4.00 shipping
$50.01-$100.00    =    $5.00 shipping

over $100.00    =    5 % of subtotal

Home    wildflower seed list   wildflower book list  Potted Plant List
  growing and propagating info   invasive plants list   flower photographs 
  your comments   order form   search form   table of contents  

Easyliving Wildflowers
PO Box  522
Willow Springs,  Mo.  65793
phone-fax 417-469-2611 
We accept payment by check or money order & through PayPal

Plant distribution map complements of USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1
  (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Centaurea americana American Basket Flower, Star Thistle picture

American basket-flower grows 18 to 60 inches tall and is a showy native annual with a stout leafy much-branched stem and lavender-pink filamentous flower heads with cream-colored centers. Centaurea americana flower heads are 3 to 5 in. wide and are subtended by fringed bracts. The plant looks similar to the thistles but lacks their prickly characteristics.  Basket Flower blooms attract butterflies and it's seeds are a winter food for dove and quail.

The name basket flower refers to the stiff straw-colored bracts just beneath the flower head which are divided at the tip into long sharp teeth.  American Basket Flower has a sweet honey fragrance and makes brilliant cut flowers.  This is a showy easily cultivated wildflower

American Basketflower, is native throughout most of North America. American Basketflower gets it’s name from the underneath side of the inflorescence because it has a basket weave pattern on it and the flowerbuds.

The pink petals look somewhat like a thistle with a cream colored center. The large blooms are 3 to 5" in diameter and are held from May until June. The plant can reach 5-6' tall and has rough 4" long lance-shaped leaves.