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National Invasive Species Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Terrestrial Invasives
  3. Terrestrial Plants
  4. Russian Knapweed

Russian Knapweed

Scientific Name

Rhaponticum repens (L.) Hidalgo (ITIS)

Common Name

Russian knapweed, Turkestan thistle, creeping knapweed, mountain bluet, Russian cornflower, hardheads

Synonym

Centaurea repens (L.), Acroptilon repens (L.) DC. (ITIS)

Native To

Eurasia (Zouhar 2001)

Date of U.S. Introduction

Early 1900s (Zouhar 2001)

Means of Introduction

Accidentally as a seed contaminant (Zouhar 2001)

Impact

Crowds out native species and desirable forage; toxic to horses (Zouhar 2001)

Russian knapweed

Russian knapweed, plants

Credit

Photo by Norman E. Rees; USDA, Agricultural Research Service

Source
Invasive.org.

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Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Videos

Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

View All Russian Knapweed Resources
Council or Task Force
Partnership
Federal Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Professional
Citations

  • Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Rhaponticum repens. [Accessed Sep 10, 2014].

  • Zouhar, K.L. 2001. Acroptilon repens. In: Fire Effects Information System. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.