Cornower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornower

Cornower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Centaurea cyanus (Cornower, Bachelors button, Bluebottle, Boutonniere ower, Hurtsickle, Cyani ower) is a small annual owering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe. "Cornower" is also erroneously used for chicory, and more correctly for a few other Centaurea species; to distinguish C. cyanus from these it is sometimes called Common Cornower. It may also be referred to as basketower, though the term properly refers to the Plectocephalus group of Centaurea, which is probably a distinct genus. It is an annual plant growing to 16-35 inches tall, with grey-green branched stems. The leaves are lanceolate, 14 cm long. The owers are most commonly an intense blue colour, produced in owerheads (capitula) 1.53 cm diameter, with a ring of a few large, spreading ray orets surrounding a central cluster of disc orets. The blue [1] pigment is protocyanin, which in roses is red.

Centaurea cyanus

Scientic classication Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Asterids

Order: Asterales In the past it often grew as a weed in crop elds, hence its name (elds growing grains such as wheat, barley, Family: Asteraceae rye, or oats are sometimes known as corn elds in the Tribe: Cynareae UK). It is now endangered in its native habitat by Genus: Centaurea agricultural intensication, particularly over-use of herbicides, destroying its habitat; in the United Kingdom Species: C. cyanus it has declined from 264 sites to just 3 sites in the last 50 Binomial name years.[2] In reaction to this, the conservation charity Plantlife named it as one of 101 species it would actively Centaurea cyanus [3] It is also, work to bring 'Back from the Brink'. L. however, through introduction as an ornamental plant in gardens and a seed contaminant in crop seeds, now naturalised in many other parts of the world, including North America and parts of Australia.

Contents Cultivation
1 Cultivation It is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens, where several cultivars have been 2 Folklore and symbolism selected with varying pastel colours, including pink and purple. Centaurea is also 3 Trivia grown for the cutower industry in Canada for use by orists. The most common colour 4 Cornowers in paintings variety for this use is a doubled blue variety such as 'Blue Boy' or 'Blue Diadem'. White, 5 See also pink, lavender and black (actually a very dark maroon) are also used but less commonly. 6 References It is also occasionally used as a culinary ornament. Cornowers have been used and 7 External links prized historically for their blue pigment. Cornowers are often used as an ingredient in

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Cornower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornower

some tea blends and tisanes,[4] and is famous in the Lady Grey blend of Twinings. Wild cornower oral water is produced in Provence, France. It is obtained by steam distillation which can be used as a natural mild astringent and antiseptic to prevent eye infections as well as an alcohol-free natural toner. A relative, Centaurea montana, is a perennial plant which is also cultivated as a garden plant. Cornowers germinate quickly after planting.Also the cornower is well known as the ocial ower of France. Light requirements: full sun. Water requirements: high-average water daily. Soil pH requirements: neutral (6.6-7.5) to mildly alkaline (7.6-7.8). It owers from June until August.
[5]

Dried Cornower as used in tisane & tea blends

The cornower is considered a benecial weed, and its edible ower can be used to add colour to salads.

Folklore and symbolism

In folklore, cornowers were worn by young men in love; if the ower faded too quickly, it was taken as a sign that [6] the man's love was not returned. In herbalism, a decoction of cornower is eective in [7] treating conjunctivitis, and as a wash for tired eyes. The blue cornower has been the national ower of Estonia since 1968 and symbolizes daily bread to Estonians. It is also the symbol of the Estonian political party, People's Union, the Finnish political party, National Coalition Party, and the Swedish political party, Liberal People's Party, and has since the dawn of the 20th century been a symbol for social liberalism there. [citation needed] It is the ocial ower of the Swedish province of stergtland. The blue cornower is also one of the national owers of Germany. This is partly due to the story that when Queen Louise of Prussia was eeing Berlin and pursued by Napoleon's forces, she hid her children in a eld of cornowers and kept them quiet by weaving wreaths for them from the owers. The ower thus became identied with Prussia, not least because it was the same color as the Prussian military uniform. After the unication of Germany in 1871, it went on to became a symbol of the country as a whole. For this reason, in Austria the blue
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Flowering shoot of

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Cornower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornower

cornower is a political symbol for pan-German and rightist ideas. Members of the Freedom Party wore it at the opening of [citation needed] the Austrian parliament in 2005.

Cornower. I. Disk-oret in vertical section.

It was also the favourite ower of Louise's son Kaiser Wilhelm I. Because of its ties to royalty, authors such as Theodor Fontane have used it symbolically, often sarcastically, to comment on the social and political climate of the [citation needed] time. The cornower is also often seen as an inspiration for the German Romantic symbol of [citation needed] the Blue Flower. Due to its traditional association with Germany, the cornower has been made the ocial symbol of the annual German-American Steuben Parade. In France the Bleuet de France is the symbol of the 11th November 1918 armistice and, as such, a common symbol for veterans (especially the now defunct poilus of World War [8] I), similar to the Remembrance poppies worn in the United Kingdom and in Canada. The cornower is also the symbol for motor neurone disease and amyotrophic lateral [9] sclerosis. Cornowers are sometimes worn by Old Harrovians.

Trivia
It was the favorite ower of John F. Kennedy and was worn by his son, John F. Kennedy, Jr. at his wedding in tribute to his father.[10] Cornowers were also used in the funeral wreath made for Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Cornowers in paintings

Sergei Osipov. Cornowers. 1976

Igor Grabar. Group portrait with cornowers. 1914

See also
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Cornower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornower

Cornower blue

References
1. ^ Shiono M, Matsugaki N, Takeda K (2005). "Structure of the blue cornower pigment". Nature 436 (7052): 791. doi:10.1038/436791a (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2F436791a) . PMID 16094358 (//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16094358) . 2. ^ "Action plan for Centaurea cyanus" (http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=198) . Ukbap.org.uk. http://www.ukbap.org.uk/UKPlans.aspx?ID=198. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 3. ^ Gopher Systems Ltd, Pewsey, Wiltshire, UK - Web Design & Development in Southern England. "Plantlife website" (http://www.plantlife.org.uk/index.html) . Plantlife.org.uk. http://www.plantlife.org.uk/index.html. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 4. ^ [1] (http://www.teahaus-annarbor.com/teaherbal.html) 5. ^ Rose, Francis (1981). The Wild Flower Key. Frederick Warne & Co. pp. 386387. ISBN 0-7232-2419-6. 6. ^ Howard, Michael. Traditional Folk Remedies (Century, 1987), p.126 7. ^ Howard, Michael. Traditional Folk Remedies (Century, 1987), p. 127 8. ^ "Le Bleuet de France - Page d'accueil" (http://www.bleuetdefrance.fr/) . Bleuetdefrance.fr. http://www.bleuetdefrance.fr/. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 9. ^ "The Cornower - an ALS symbol" (http://www.als.ca/cornower.aspx) . Als.ca. 2004-05-31. http://www.als.ca/cornower.aspx. Retrieved 2009-11-05. 10. ^ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20142438,00.html

External links
Flora Europaea: Centaurea cyanus (http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin /nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Centaurea& SPECIES_XREF=cyanus&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK=) UK Biodiversity Action Plan: Centaurea cyanus (http://www.ukbap.org.uk /UKPlans.aspx?ID=198) Plantlife dossier and brieng sheet for Centaurea cyanus (http://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/plantlife-saving-species-under-our-care-centaureacyanus.htm) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cornower& oldid=522570961" Categories: Centaurea Flora of Estonia Flora of the United Kingdom Garden plants of Europe Garden plants of North America National symbols of Estonia Flora of Michigan Invasive plant species in Oregon This page was last modied on 12 November 2012 at 01:48. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prot organization.

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