Cornflower (redirected from Cornflowers)

cornflower, common herb (Centaurea cyanus) of the family Asteraceae (aster family). It is a garden flower in the United States but a weed in the grainfields of Europe. It is called bluebottle or bluet in England and bluebonnet in Scotland; in North America the cornflower shares with other plants the names ragged robin, bachelor's button, or ragged sailor. The long-stemmed blue heads of the flowers, having radiating bottle- or vase-shaped florets, yield a juice which, mixed with alum, has been used as a dye. Cornflowers are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Asterales, family Asteraceae.

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bachelor's button

 or cornflower

Herbaceous, hardy annual plant (Centaurea cyanus) of the composite family, having flower heads with blue, pink, or white rays. It is native to the Mediterranean region and widely cultivated in North America. A common garden plant, it often also appears as a weed.

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cornflower

a Eurasian herbaceous plant, Centaurea cyanus, with blue, purple, pink, or white flowers, formerly a common weed in cornfields: family Asteraceae (composites)

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Cornflower 

(Centaurea), a genus of herbaceous plants of the family Compositae. The inflorescences (calathides) have bristly receptacles and tubular, varicolored flowers (purple, pink, blue, yellow); the marginal ones are sexless, and if enlarged, are shaped like tubular funnels. There are over 550 species in Eurasia, tropical Africa, and North and South America (Chile), and there is one species in Australia. The greatest number of representatives are in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern countries. In the USSR there are approximately 180 species; widely distributed (except in the Far North) are the blue cornflower (C. cyanus) and the meadow cornflower (C. jacea). The blue cornflower is a weed but is also a nectariferous and medicinal plant. Some cornflowers are grown as decorative plants.

REFERENCE

Flora SSSR, [vol.] 28. Moscow-Leningrad, 1963.

M. E. KIRPICHNIKOV