Bachelor's button

Description:

Centaurea cyanus is an annual plant growing to 16-35 inches tall, with grey-green branched stems. The leaves are lanceolate, 1–4 cm long. The flowers are most commonly an intense blue colour, produced in flowerheads 1.5–3 cm diameter, with a ring of a few large, spreading ray florets surrounding a central cluster of disc florets. The blue pigment is protocyanin, which in roses is red. In the past it often grew as a weed in crop fields, but is now endangered in its native habitat by agricultural intensification, particularly over-use of herbicides, destroying its habitat. In the United Kingdom it has declined from 264 sites to just 3 sites in the last 50 years.

Habitat:

Centaurea cyanus is a plant of arable fields and sandy loam soil. It was often found growing in association with corn marigold Chrysanthemum segetum.

Notes:

Photo 2 & 3 also shows a green lacewing. Spotted in Nieuwe Rande in rural area of Deventer, Holland. (sources:see reference)