THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Cornflower

Lisa Karen Miller

The archeologists who were exploring King Tutankhamen’s tomb were surprised to find among all the golden treasures an intact wreath made out of cornflowers.  

Long before King Tutankhamen, the cornflower appears in Greek mythology. When Chiron was attacked with an arrow, he was then cured with the flower’s powerful nectar.  Thus began its association with protection and healing.  

 If the blossoms are soaked in boiling water, then placed on a person’s eyelids, they can alleviate puffiness and redness.  

This once wild plant is native to Europe and was given its name for its rampant proliferation in cornfields. The seeds thrive in the same conditions as corn: open, sunny fields with moderately dry soil. Eventually, over-use of herbicides in cornfields throughout Europe and the United States meant that cornflowers no longer reseeded themselves naturally.

Cornflowers are sometimes referred to by their nickname, Bachelor’s Button, due to an old practice when men wore a cornflower in a buttonhole, indicating they were ready for courting. This traditional symbol of love and devotion is often worn by the groom and his best man.

Its blossoms sometimes were carried in the pocket, and success in love was indicated by their retaining or losing their freshness.  

Called Bluet in England and Bluebonnet in Scotland, in North America cornflowers are sometimes called Ragged Robin because of the shaggy petals. One of the few truly blue flowers that are edible, they have a sweet, slightly cucumber-like taste.

The cornflower is the national flower of Estonia and a symbol for social liberalism for the Swedish National Party. The flower also plays a role in German history, thanks to Queen Luis of Prussia. She is said to have hidden her children in a field of cornflowers when she fled Berlin.

The story is told that she kept them quiet by asking them to weave wreaths made from the flowers. To honor her courage and resourcefulness, cornflower blue was adopted for the uniforms of the Prussian army.

In France, the cornflower is a common symbol for veterans of World War I to wear, as a reminder of the 1918 Armistice.

In the Christmas plum pudding, if a man got the button charm, he was destined to remain unmarried forever – he would have to sew on his own buttons.  A woman suffered the same fate if she received a thimble – the traditional symbol of spinsterhood, though originally it signified thrift.

          Here’s hoping you get the coin (wealth) or the wishbone (luck) in your slice of pudding.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller