Centaurea melitensis L.  

A rough-hairy annual. Stems erect, up to 80 cm tall, generally branching on the upper parts. Basal leaves stalked, lanceolate, pinnatifid to sinuately-lobed; the upper leaves lanceolate, sessile, decurrent. Flower heads yellow, about 1 cm across, solitary or in terminal groups of 2 to 4. Ray florets absent. Florets glandular, about 1 cm long. Involucre up to 12 mm long, ovoid or cylindrical, with many rows of overlapping bracts. Bracts with a brown spiny apical appendage up to 1 cm long, which have up to 4 pairs of lateral spines on their lower half. Achenes up to 3 mm long, with a pinkish pappus of rough hairs about 3 mm long.