Join me on a deep dive into cornflower meaning and symbolism, where they you’ll find, among other virtues, love, hope, and remembrance. Let’s discover the fascinating mythology that surrounds these beautiful flowers.
I have fond memories of cornflowers from my childhood. My cousin and I would pick blue flowers along the edges of the field and carry them to my grandmother’s grave. The meadow was full of them then. After a while, the cornflowers disappeared from my life, only to re-emerge a few years later in the cornfield next to our house, which they brightened up with their beautiful soft blue colors. Recently, I discovered that you can even grow them at home when I spotted them by chance in my friend’s garden.
At some point I developed a deeper interest in cornflowers, and therefore I wanted to go deeper into the symbols and meanings associated with them. What they represent in various cultures, and discover the hidden messages they convey.
What are Cornflowers?
Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), with other common names such as bachelor’s button, bluebottle, or gogglebuster, is an annual flowering plant from the family Asteraceae, native to Europe. These wildflowers used to grow as a weed in grain fields, giving them the name “cornflower.” Unfortunately, its natural habitat is now at risk due to the increased use of herbicides, the destruction of field-edges or the demise of traditional crop rotations. Despite this, Centaurea cyanus has spread to other regions worldwide, including North America and parts of Australia. The genus Centaurea was derived from the Greek word “kentauros”, which means “centaur”.
The term “bachelor’s button” is derived from the button-like appearance of the plant’s inflorescence. Alternatively, it might have originated from the Victorian-era custom where young, eligible bachelors would adorn their buttonholes with cornflowers.
The cornflower plants reach heights of 30–90 cm (1–3 feet) and feature slender, gray-green leaves. They generate blue, pink, or white paper flower heads surrounded by bracts. These blue flowers that begin with the letter C, are attractive to butterflies and some people often describe them as miniature carnations.
Cornflower meaning and symbolism
Hope for Love
Cornflowers symbolize love, or the hope for love.
There is a belief that people seeking their soulmates should place dried cornflowers in an amulet to draw a lover.
According to an English tradition, young women adorned themselves with cornflowers as a sign of readiness for marriage. Concealing the flower beneath an apron indicated that a young woman already had someone in her heart.
Delicacy and Timidity
In the language of flowers, the cornflower is also a symbol of delicacy and timidity, signifying that a message carries a pure, innocent, or delicate intention.
Celibacy and Reliability
Historically, cornflowers, also known as bachelor’s buttons, have been worn by men in love to indicate they were single and interested in a romantic relationship. There was a belief that if the flower faded quickly, it was a sign that the love might not be reciprocated.
Cornflowers also symbolize celibacy or being unmarried in certain situations, often for religious reasons. Even though the flower’s meaning is connected to single individuals, it can also represent a sense of general blessedness.
Fertility and Life
In ancient Egypt, cornflowers were symbolic of fertility and life. They appear in various forms of ancient artifacts, representing their association with these positive aspects of life.
Healing and Medicinal Symbolism
In Greek mythology, centaurs, from which the scientific name Centaurea is derived, were associated with healing. Cornflowers, as part of this symbolism, were believed to be medicinal plants that the centaur Chiron used to heal wounds.
Remembrance
In France, the bleuet de France symbolizes the armistice on November 11, 1918 and is a common symbol of memory for, and solidarity with, veterans, victims of war, widows, and orphans, especially those from World War I. (1) It’s similar to the Remembrance poppies worn in the United Kingdom and Canada, serving as a symbol of remembrance for those who sacrificed so much during times of war.
Like the poppy, the cornflower grew in war-torn lands where constant shelling occurred on the Western Front. These flowers were often the only signs of life and the only splashes of color in the muddy trenches.
The meaning of cornflowers in Greek mythology
The plant’s scientific name, Centaurea, comes from a mythical creature called a centaur, which is half-man and half-horse in Greek stories. People also link cornflowers with Chiron, a wise centaur known for his medical knowledge. According to Greek legend, Chiron used cornflowers to heal wounds of Achilles from poisoned arrows dipped in the blood of the Hydra, Hydra being a water-snake-like creature.
Cornflowers in Russian mythology
According to Russian legend, a young man, Vassili, was lured onto a cornfield and metamorphosed into a cornflower by a possessive nymph called Russalka. In Russian, the word Vassili is etymologically linked to the local name of the cornflower, Basilek (the flower of Basil).
Blue flowers in Germanic mythology
In European history, cornflowers played a significant role. During the Napoleonic Wars, Queen Louise of Prussia hid her children in a field of cornflowers to escape Napoleon’s army. She even made wreaths from the flowers to keep her children from crying. Queen Louise’s son, Wilhelm, later became the king of Prussia and the emperor of Germany. In honor of his mother, he chose the cornflower as the country’s national emblem.
The symbolism of cornflowers during history
Victorian era of floriography
Cornflowers, also known as bachelor’s buttons, became linked with staying single (celibacy), which might be why unmarried men often wore them in their buttonholes. Wearing these flowers signaled that they were eligible for marriage. Because of this, bachelor’s buttons have also come to represent love and are now a popular choice for flowers in men’s wedding boutonnieres.
Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, cornflowers represented fertility and life. Artistic representations of these flowers have been discovered on walls, floors, pottery, and jewelry dating back to the Stone Age, around 4 millennia B.C.E.
Along with poppies and olive branches, cornflowers were found in tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt. It is believed that placing cornflowers on graves at this time would aid in the revival of the departed.
Modern era
The blue cornflower has been the national flower of Estonia since 1969 and symbolizes daily bread to Estonians.
Corn flower was also adopted by Germany as a symbol of the military (like in France). After the unification of Germany in 1871, it went on to become a symbol of the country as a whole.
In addition, it has became an official flower of political parties like the Estonian Conservative People’s Party, Austrian Freedom Party, Finnish National Coalition Party or Liberal People’s Party of Sweden.
Cornflowers in art
Cornflowers make notable appearances in historical paintings by renowned artists, including Vincent van Gogh’s “Wheat Field with Cornflowers” from 1890, Isaac Levitan’s “Cornflowers” from 1894, Igor Grabar’s “Group Portrait with Cornflowers” from 1914, and Sergei Osipov’s “Cornflowers” from 1976. Additionally, the Ukrainian stamp set “Ukrainian Flowers” (2000) features cornflowers in garlands, as depicted by artist Kateryna Shtanko.
Uses of Cornflowers
In food
Cornflower blossoms are edible and popular for their bright color and distinct taste to decorate desserts or drinks like Lady Grey Tea.
Pigment
The intense blue cornflower petals contain protocyanin, an anthocyanin pigment (also found in roses)used as a natural additive in food products like yogurts.
Ornamental
People often use cornflowers as ornamental plants to beautify gardens with their varieties of ray florets featuring blue, white, purple, pink, or black petals. They cut them up to their third leaves to encourage the plant to produce more blooms. This method is called deadheading.
herbalism and modern medicine
In medicine, the flower heads contain compounds with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, beneficial for treating minor ocular inflammations. In modern herbal medicine, cornflowers have tonic, stimulant and emmenagogue properties.
Cornflowers also contribute to phytoremediation, helping to clean soils contaminated with lead when paired with specific fungi and bacteria.
