Every Wednesday, I hope to find a new ‘weed’ to investigate. My only criterion will be that I will not have deliberately planted the subject of our inquiry. Who knows what we will find…..
Dear Readers, I was flabbergasted when I found these flowers last week. I was in Whittington Park, just off Holloway Road, and decided to take a detour past an area which has been planted up to encourage sparrows. From a distance, I could see a faint blue glow amongst the dead and dying foliage.
This is not to say, however, that cornflower was not something of a pest in the cornfields of old. When grain was harvested by sickle the tough stems were said to blunt the blade, hence one of the plant’s many alternative names, ‘Hurt-sickle’. Even the poet John Clare wrote of the cornflower as ‘troubling the cornfields with their destroying beauty’. It was clear that, as Mabey says, it would soon ‘get its comeuppance’. In today’s search for ever higher productivity, there seems to be no place for a plant which interferes with return on investment.
Another alternative name for the plant is ‘Bachelor’s Button’ – it was said that if a flower placed in a button hole survived, the young man wearing it would marry his current sweetheart. It’s also said that bringing the plant indoors will make bread turn mouldy.
In ‘Flora Britannica’, Richard Mabey tells of how, on the 50th Anniversary of VE Day, world leaders laid posies of their national flowers around a large globe. Posies of cornflowers were laid by representatives from France, Germany, Estonia, Belarus and Czechia, an indication of how well-loved this ‘weed’ is across its whole range.
It is no wonder that a plant so vivid should have a variety of medicinal uses. It has a long history in the treatment of tired and sore eyes: cornflower was considered to be the tincture of choice for blue eyes, while greater plantain was better for brown eyes. It was considered efficacious against the poison of scorpions, and the juice was said by Culpeper to ‘quickly solder up the lips’ of a wound. It was also considered to be good for mouth ulcers and sores.
Incidentally, the genus name of the plant, Centaurea, comes from the belief that the centaur Chiron taught mankind the benefit of healing wildflowers (when he wasn’t teaching Achilles, Ajax, Peleus, Hercules and practically every other hero of the classical world).
It will come as no surprise to learn that cornflowers have featured in the work of many artists, what with that spectacular colour and all. So, here is ‘Cornflowers’ by Sergei Ivanovich Osipov, a rather splendid still life painted in 1976.
And here is Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Wheatfield with Cornflowers’, painted in 1890
But, to return to young men and cornflowers, here is Van Gogh’s ‘Portrait of a Young Man with Cornflower’. I love the mischievousness of this, and the way that the young man’s eyes echo the colour of the flower.
But I would like to end with a portrait by the Russian artist Alexey Venetsianov. I knew nothing about him prior to finding this painting, but was intrigued to learn that while painting peasants and people of ‘the lower orders’ was something that artists often did when they were looking for a romanic and picturesque subject, Venetsianov went out of his way to teach people from poor backgrounds to paint. When he was given the title of ‘Court Painter’ by Tsar Nicholas I, Venetsianov used the salary that he obtained to ensure that tuition at his art school was practically free. He even had some students who were serfs, which was unheard of at the time, when such people were considered as little more than beasts of burden. So, here is his painting ‘Peasant Girl with Cornflowers’, in honour of his generous spirit and his good heart.
Photo Credits
Photo One – By Rillke, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16045597
Photo Two – By Sergei Ivanovich Osipov – С. В. Иванов, http://www.leningradartist.com/7oci10b.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9928224
All other photos copyright Vivienne Palmer. Free to use and share non-commercially, but please attribute and link back to the blog, thank you!
Lovely post of a lovely flower!
Thanks Anne!
Hi, love all your emails, any chance of a book in the future? All best wishes Evadne
Sent from my iPad
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Hi Evadne, several people have been asking me about the possibility of a book…I will see what I can do, and thank you for your feedback, best wishes Bugwoman
Another wonderful post, thank you for posting. Seems pretty late for this flower to be out … would be little chance of it flowering up here in Cumbria where there has been a fair amount of snow the last week!
Hi Harriet, yes I was very surprised too. We haven’t seen a single snowflake so far here in London, so I guess the cornflowers seized their chance for a modest spot of flowering.
what a treasure trove of delights. thank you. it reminds me of happy times in Egypt when the museum tour guide spoke of “lapis lazuli eyes” .
Lovely, Rose, yes they remind me of lapis lazuli too….
Another wonderful post, especially with the accompanying art works. Quite often many of the plants and flowers you talk about jar memories of having grown up with them. Can the exquisite cornflower, which I’m sure was one of my favorite sightings, have made it all the way to upstate New York?
Hi Katya, yes indeed! According to Wikipedia (that source of all information 🙂 ) it’s naturalised throughout North America. I imagine it arrived with the grain that the first European settlers would have brought with them, in much the same way as it made the crossing from mainland Europe to the UK….
I love it that you give us so much to look at and think about – bring on that book! And the way the photos bring out the blue of the cornflower is wonderful.
Thanks Rosni3! Much appreciated….
One of my favourite flowers, the blue colouring rivalled only by the Chicory flower.
The last painting is lovely, you can see the staining on her hands from the flowers.
Cornflowers are beautiful, but I’ve learned many new things about them today, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, Andrea!
Hi
I think I have some wild growing in my drive extremely hairy. I am not a Gardner but they are extremely hairy, I am trying to help them putting them in water?
I will send you a photo!
Lesley🍀❤️
Hi Lesley, yep, do send me a photo!
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