Centaurea moschata Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 909. 1753.

Herbs 30-50 cm tall, annual or biennial. Stem solitary, branched or unbranched; stem and branches sparsely cobwebby floccose. Leaves glabrous or sparsely floccose. Lower stem leaves petiolate; leaf blade spatulate to elliptic, 6-7 × 1.5-2 cm, base attenuate, margin serrulate, apex obtuse to acute. Middle and upper stem leaves shortly petiolate; leaf blade elliptic to narrowly elliptic, lyrately pinnatipartite. Uppermost leaves sessile or subsessile, margin serrulate. Involucre ovoid, 1.2-2 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 3 or 4 rows, sparsely villous; outer phyllaries ovate, ca. 4 × 1.8 mm; middle phyllaries ovate to broadly ovate, 5-10 × 3-7 mm; inner phyllaries spatulate-elliptic to broadly linear, ca. 10 × 3-4 mm, with ovate to orbicular apical appendage. Corolla purple, 10-20-cleft, white villous; corolla of marginal florets much longer than inner ones. Achene brown, cylindric, ca. 5 mm, densely white villous. Pappus ca. 5 mm, rarely absent. 2n = 32.

Amberboa moschata is also grown as a garden ornamental.

Naturalized in Gansu [native to SW Asia].