Cornflower  (Centaurea cyanus)

Learn about the scientific name of this species and how it fits into the tree of life at Nature Navigator.

Description

The attractive flowers of the cornflower are a bright celebratory blue, distinctive enough to have given its name to a colour. The narrow grey-green leaves, no more than five millimetres wide, grow alternatively up the stem. The closed, emerging flower heads resemble other members of the knapweed family to which the cornflower is closely related.

In the early years of the twentieth century, cornflowers were common in Britain and, together with red poppies and white-flowering Mayweed, must have made a patriotic sight across parts of the countryside.

left