Knautia gracilis is quite similar to Knautia arvensis, but it has smaller flowers and rarely dissected leaves. Its main distribution area is in Central and Eastern France, it has been described according to a specimen from Bitche. If there is pure Knautia gracilis available in Germany, then most likely in the Southern Palatinate, see the photos from Bad Bergzabern. Near Erndtebrück at the Rothaar mountains I saw a relative homogeneous population, too. At two locations in Northern Rhineland-Palatinate near Nonnweiler and near Allenbach, there are few Knautia gracilis available, but they are associated with Knautia arvensis, and there are more plants with intermediate characteristics; at these two locations, relatively few Knautia plants grow at all. In the Rhön I couldn't find any Knautia gracilis on the Wasserkuppe, and at the Schwabenhimmel below the Heidelstein between thousands of Knautia arvensis only very few plants, that could be called Knautia gracilis.