Cornflower

Cornflower is an annual flowering plant of the family Asteraceae, native to Europe, which grew so freely as a weed among cereal crops that it took their name. It stands from twenty centimetres to a metre tall on branched, grey-green stems with narrow leaves, and through the summer it opens ragged heads of florets, usually an intense blue from the pigment protocyanin and now and then purple or white. Heavy use of herbicides has made it endangered across much of its native range, and in the United Kingdom it has shrunk to a handful of sites, though it has naturalised in North America and parts of Australia. The petals are edible, used to colour food and to garnish salads and desserts, and some blends of Lady Grey tea include them. The genus takes its name from the Greek for centaur, and Kynes relates that Chiron was said to have healed a poisoned arrow wound with it. Much of its lore concerns love. In Switzerland two young buds were picked and worn, and a romance was judged shared or one-sided by whether both opened; elsewhere the petals were plucked one at a time to test a lover's loyalty. Cunningham records it worn on the breast to win a man's love, or carried in a pocket, where its wilting or staying fresh foretells how a courtship will go. Since 1969 it has been the national flower of Estonia.