Cornflower
Centaurea cyanus
Family: Asteraceae · Also called Bachelor's Button, Bluebottle, Bleuet (French), Centaurea hoffmanniana, Cyanus arvensis, Cyanus dentato-folius
Green & Fresh · Summer bloomer
The cornflower is Europe's truest blue, intense, saturated azure petals with a spiky, architectural form that once studded golden wheat fields across the continent. That blue is so pure and vivid that it became a color reference: 'cornflower blue' is a recognized shade in art, design, and gemology (sapphires are graded against it).
delicacy, refinement, hope in adversity
In the Victorian language of flowers, cornflower means “Delicacy and refinement”. Germany's national flower, Kaiser Wilhelm I chose it because his mother hid in a cornfield during Napoleon's invasion and wove cornflower wreaths to keep her children calm. France uses it as a remembrance symbol for veterans (like the British poppy). It was once so common in wheat fields that it was considered a weed; herbicides have made it rare in the wild.
Did You Know?
Cornflower blue is used as the standard reference for grading sapphire color, the finest sapphires are 'cornflower blue.' The flower produces its blue through a unique complex of anthocyanins and metal ions (iron and aluminum). Once so common it was a field weed, modern herbicides have made wild cornflowers rare enough to be conservation-listed in several European countries.
Cornfields (historically), meadows, roadsides, and waste ground
Cornflower is native to Europe. It naturally grows in cornfields (historically), meadows, roadsides, and waste ground.
Scent Profile
“A faint, clover-like sweetness, barely noticeable from individual flowers but contributing to the general meadow-scent when they grow among wheat and poppies in traditional cornfields.”
Quick Reference
- Scientific NameCentaurea cyanus
- FamilyAsteraceae
- Native ToEurope
- Bloom SeasonSummer
- LifespanAnnual
Cultural Significance
Germany's national flower, Kaiser Wilhelm I chose it because his mother hid in a cornfield during Napoleon's invasion and wove cornflower wreaths to keep her children calm. France uses it as a remembrance symbol for veterans (like the British poppy). It was once so common in wheat fields that it was considered a weed; herbicides have made it rare in the wild.