Dusty miller
Centaurea cineraria L.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 56 cm
- wide
- 33 cm
Asteraceae
Formerly Acosta cineraria, Jacea cineraria, Menomphalus cineraria, Staebe cineraria
When it flowers
JFMAMJJASOND
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
PetsNo pet-safety information yet
PeopleNo safety information yet
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Perennial or subshrubKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- SubtropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- ItalyKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension full, part; RHS full
- Height
- 51 cm to 61 cmRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension 6–24 in; RHS 0.5–1 m
- Spread
- 30 cm to 36 cmRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension 12–14 in; RHS 0.1–0.5 m
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- Yellow, purpleRead from NC State Extension and RHS, not yet checked: its sources are splitTied: no reading has a majority of the 2 sources, so all are kept for a person to settle. Sources differ: NC State Extension yellow; RHS purple
- Coldest it survives
- -8.6 °C (USDA zone 8b)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension -12.2 °C; RHS -5 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (1)
- French
- centaurée cendrée
Where this comes from
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3D model: Centaurea cineraria (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.