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CULTURAL AND WILD PLANTS
Cornflower. Legends, myths, symbolism, description, cultivation, methods of application
Directory / Cultivated and wild plants Content
Cornflower, Centaurea. Photos of the plant, basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism
Basic scientific information, legends, myths, symbolism Sort by: Cornflower (Centaurium) Family: Gentian (Gentianaceae) Origin: Europe, North Africa, West and Central Asia Area: It is widely distributed in temperate zones throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. Chemical composition: Cornflower acid, bitter glycosides, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, carotenoids, calcium, iron and other vitamins and minerals. Economic value: Cornflowers are widely used in cooking and medicine. They contain biologically active substances that can have a positive effect on the human body, such as improving digestion, strengthening the immune system, calming effect, etc. In addition, cornflowers are used as dyes, flavors and ornamental plants. Legends, myths, symbolism: In ancient Greek mythology, the cornflower was associated with the hero Centaur - a half-horse, half-man, who was depicted as a strong and fearless warrior. According to legend, the Centaur invented the cornflower blue drink, which helped him maintain his strength and stamina. The cornflower was also associated with the moon goddess and was used as a talisman to bring happiness and good luck.
Cornflower, Centaurea. Description, illustrations of the plant Cornflower. Legends, myths, history
Cornflower came to us from ancient times. During the excavations of the tomb of Tutankhamun, many items made of precious stones and gold were found. But a small wreath of cornflowers found in the sarcophagus shocked archaeologists. The flowers dried up, but retained their color and shape. The Latin name of this plant is associated with the centaur Chiron - the ancient Greek mythological hero - half-horse and half-man. He raised a young hero in the deep forest, hidden from the bloodthirsty ruler. The old centaur had the gift of healing, treated with ointments, herbal infusions, and one of his favorite plants was the centaurea - blue cornflower. He found that cornflower juice had the precious property of healing wounds. Possessing knowledge of the healing properties of many plants, with the help of a cornflower, he was able to recover from a wound inflicted on him by the poisoned arrow of Hercules. This was the reason for the name of the plant centaurea, which literally means "centaur". One of the ancient Roman legends says that this flower got its name in honor of a blue-eyed young man named Cyanus, who was struck by its beauty, collected these blue flowers and wove garlands and wreaths from them. The young man even dressed in blue clothes and did not leave the fields until all the cornflowers he loved were collected to a single one. A beautiful young man was once found dead in a grain field surrounded by cornflowers. Upon learning of this, the goddess Flora, for such constancy and as a sign of a special disposition towards him, turned the body of the young man into a cornflower, and all cornflowers began to be called cyanus (cyanus means blue). The origin of the Russian name of this plant is explained by an old folk belief. A long time ago, a beautiful mermaid fell in love with a handsome young plowman Vasily. The young man reciprocated her, but the lovers could not agree where they should live - on land or in water. The mermaid did not want to part with Vasily, so she turned him into a wild flower, which in its color resembled the cool blue of water. Since then, according to legend, every summer, when blue cornflowers bloom, mermaids weave wreaths from them and decorate their heads with them. Once the sky reproached the field for ingratitude: "Everything that inhabits the earth thanks me. Birds send me singing, flowers - fragrance and color, forests - a mysterious whisper, and only you do not express gratitude, although no one else, namely, I fill the roots cereals with rainwater and make the ears ripen. “I am grateful to you,” answered the field. “I decorate the arable land with ever-growing greenery, and in autumn I cover it with gold. I cannot express my gratitude in any other way. Help me, and I will shower you with caresses and talk about love.” "Well," the sky agreed, "if you can't go up to me, then I'll go down to you." A miracle happened instantly, magnificent blue flowers grew among the ears, similar in color to the sultry sky. Since then, the ears of cereals, with every breath of the breeze, bow to the messengers of heaven - cornflowers and whisper tender words to them. Since 1968 the blue cornflower has been the national flower of Estonia. In some European countries it is known under the name - German flower (a flower with a German character). The cornflower enjoyed and enjoys the greatest love and popularity among the Germans. It has become especially dear to them since it became the favorite flower of Emperor Wilhelm I and his mother, Queen Louise. Two holidays are associated with cornflowers among the Slavs: "an ear went to the field" - was celebrated when ears of corn appeared on the field and "birthday sheaf" - was held at the end of summer before harvesting. During the holiday, young girls and boys gathered on the outskirts of the village. They stood in two rows opposite each other, took hands, and a girl adorned with cornflowers and ribbons walked along their hands, as if on a bridge. The couples moved from the last rows to the first until the girl walked along their hands to the field. At the field, she descended to the ground, plucked several ears of corn and ran with them to the village, where her parents were waiting for her. The procession from the village to the cornfield was accompanied by singing: "The ear went to the cornfield, to white wheat, grow rye with oats, with wild grouse, with wheat for the summer." The holiday "birthday sheaf" was held at the end of summer, before harvesting bread. Women-hostesses went out with bread and salt to reap the fields. They knitted the first sheaf, decorated it with cornflowers and placed it in the red corner of the house. The first sheaf bore the name of the birthday man. The great Russian fabulist Ivan Andreevich Krylov was very fond of these flowers, and in his last will he asked to put cornflowers in his coffin. Author: Martyanova L.M.
Cornflower. Legends and traditions
If the poppy so decorates the grain fields of our south, then the cornflower is their beauty in the north. Charming blue, like the southern sky, this flower serves as a necessary accessory and faithful companion of the rye field and is almost never found anywhere else in the wild; and even if it did, it could serve as a sure indication that where it now grows, there was once a grain field or a road that led to it. Such a constant connection of cornflower with rye is explained by the fact that cornflower is not a native plant, but was brought to us along with rye, the homeland of which, as you know, is considered to be the western part of Asia adjacent to South Russia. As a result, he, like rye, was not known to either the ancient Egyptians or the ancient Greeks, especially in the early periods of the existence of Greece. Its first appearance in Europe, apparently, must be attributed to the time of Pliny the Elder, who lived from 37 to 79 AD. e., when rye in ancient Rome was considered to be such a cereal that you can eat only in case of extreme hunger. The same Pliny, who spoke of the cornflower as a flower used for weaving wreaths, reports that in the time of Alexander the Great it was not yet known in Greece. According to other sources, the cornflower came to Europe even later, only during the time of the Crusades, when another weed that always accompanies rye, cockle, was brought to us. But against the latter opinion - two ancient Roman legends, clearly showing that the cornflower was well known to the ancient Romans. One of them reports that this flower got its name (Cyanus) "cyanus" (scientific name - Centaurea cyanus, blue cornflower) on behalf of a beautiful young man who was so fascinated by its beauty that he devoted all his time to weaving garlands from it and wreaths. This young man never left the fields as long as at least one of his favorite cornflowers remained on them, and he always dressed in a dress of the same blue color that fascinated him so much. Flora was his favorite goddess, and of all her gifts, our flower was the gift that attracted the young man the most. He was subsequently found dead in a grain field, surrounded by cornflowers he had been picking. Then the goddess Flora, for his constancy and as a sign of her special disposition towards him, for his love for her, turned his body into a cornflower, and from that time on all cornflowers began to be called "cyanus". Another Roman legend explains the reason for the constant presence of cornflowers among the grain fields. When Ceres, the goddess of harvest and agriculture, once walked through the grain fields and rejoiced at the blessing and gratitude that humanity lavished on her for them, from the thick of the ears suddenly came the mournful voice of the cornflowers growing there: “O Ceres, why did you order us to grow among your grain fields? grains that cover the whole country with their luxurious ears? The son of the earth calculates only the amount of profit that your cereals will bring him, and does not honor us even with one favorable look! or let us grow somewhere separate, where we can get rid of the contemptuous glances of man. To this the goddess answered her dear flowers: “No, my dear children, I did not place you among the noisy ears of corn, so that you would bring any benefit to mankind; no, your purpose is much higher; than that which you assume and which man assumes: you must be shepherds among the great people - ears of corn. That is why you should not, like them, make noise and bend your burdened head to the ground, but, on the contrary, you should bloom freely and cheerfully and look like a pure image of quiet joy and firm faith, upwards, to the eternally blue sky - the seat of the deity. For the same reason, an azure pastoral robe was given to you, the colors of the firmament, to distinguish you as servants of heaven, sent to earth to preach faith to people, and fidelity to the gods. Have only patience, the day of harvest will come when all these ears will fall under the hand of reapers and reapers, and then you, who now seem both abandoned and lonely, will attract everyone's attention to yourself. The reapers will seek and tear you, and, having twisted wreaths out of you, they will decorate their heads with them, or, having tied bunches of you, they will pin them on their chests. These words calmed the offended cornflowers. Filled with gratitude, they fell silent and rejoiced at their eminent position and their high appointment. And so they continue to bloom, like lovely shepherds, in the midst of a surging sea of ears of corn, and tell people about the mercy and goodness of heaven. We also find a charming old legend about cornflowers in P. Mantegazza. Once the sky reproached the plants of one grain field with ingratitude. “Everything,” it said, “that inhabits the earth thanks me. Flowers send their fragrances to me, forests their mysterious whispers, birds their singing; only you stand as if petrified and stubbornly keep silent, although none other than I fills your roots with refreshing rain and makes the golden grains of your golden ears ripen." “We are not at all ungrateful,” the ears objected, “we adorn the earth, your child, with an ever-wavering and swaying sea of \uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbgreenery, but we cannot express our gratitude to you otherwise: there is no way to ascend to you; give it to us, and we will shower you with caresses and talk about our love for you." "Well," said the sky, "if you cannot ascend to me, then I will descend to you." And so the sky ordered the earth to grow wonderful blue flowers among the ears, pieces of himself. And since then, the stalks of cereals bend with every breath of the breeze towards these offspring of the blue sky, caressing them and whispering tender words of love to them.
The German poet Glaser says: "Blue cornflower! // You cheerfully nod your head // Among the ears to the reaper, // So that your blue flowers remind him of the sky..." The scientific name of the cornflower, as we mentioned above, is Centaurea cyanus. The first half of it is derived from the Greek mythological creature - the centaur, depicted as a horse with the body of a bearded man, carrying a lit torch in his hand. One of these centaurs, named Chiron, who was distinguished by his ability to heal with healing herbs, found that the juice of cornflower, especially Centaurea jacea, has a precious property to heal wounds, and he healed the wound inflicted by the poisoned arrow of Hercules. This was the reason for the name of the plant Centaurea. As for the second half of its name - "cyanus", it simply means "blue" in Latin, a color that is characteristic of our flower. This scientific name was given to cornflower only in the XNUMXth century, when the famous Swedish botanist K. Linnaeus for the first time put in order the entire botanical nomenclature and gave names to all plants known at that time, according to their distinctive features or historical data. Among the ancients, he was known under the general name "cyanus". (Carl Linnaeus (1707 - 1778), the great Swedish botanist, creator of the plant world system; first introduced binary nomenclature, according to which each plant has a name consisting of two words, the first designates the genus (rose, camellia, oak), and the second - the species (centifolia rose, Chinese camellia, pedunculate oak).) Cornflower has long been considered one of the best flowers for weaving wreaths, and therefore the demand for it since the XNUMXth century has been so great that some enterprising gardeners began to plant it in their gardens. Everyone especially liked its pure blue color. This color even prompted the mystics to depict it as a symbol of fidelity and constancy. However, some, due to the tendency of cornflower flowers to sometimes turn red or turn white, considered him, on the contrary, an example of inconstancy, and even in many manuals of that time “On the Meaning of Flowers” it was said about him: “He whose heart is impermanent, who himself does not know, Wherever he stops, and puts up with this kind of hesitation, let him wear cornflowers, since these flowers, being blue, cheerful and having the ability to turn into white, do not retain their basic color for a long time. Of all the peoples of Europe, the cornflower enjoyed and enjoys the greatest love and popularity among the Germans. It has become especially dear to them since it became the favorite flower of Emperor Wilhelm I and his mother, Queen Louise. About this we find the following story in the German magazine "Garden Houses": "As everyone knows, Emperor Wilhelm I always passionately loved flowers, and therefore on his birthday the entire table intended for gifts brought to him was constantly full of wonderful bouquets of luxurious flowers, which he always accepted with the greatest pleasure. At the same time, however, among the lush flowers of greenhouses and gardens, the humble cornflower, his favorite, reminding him of a sweet, albeit bitter past, was never to be forgotten.The preference he showed for this blue field flower was rooted in connection with his memory of his kind, unforgettable mother , Queen Louise, and two, in themselves very insignificant, cases related to the years of humiliation of Germany. These were difficult years, the times of the Napoleonic wars, when Bonaparte, having become the master of all Europe, cruelly took revenge on the German sovereigns who joined the coalition. Poor Queen Louise was forced to flee from Berlin and take refuge for two years (from 1806 to 1808) in Königsberg, spending summer and winter in a small estate located near the outpost. The seclusion of the dwelling, far from any political unrest, had a beneficial effect on the queen's broken nerves and helped her calm down a little. Here she walked with her children in a huge forest of hundred-year-old pines and tried to inspire them with those good beginnings, which subsequently made them cordial, responsive to the grief of others. And then one morning, when, walking, as always, with her son, who later became Emperor Wilhelm I, and her daughter, Princess Charlotte, who later became the Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (mother of Emperor Alexander II), she already wanted to return to her park, a peasant girl approached her, waiting for her at the gate with a whole basket of cornflowers, and offered to buy them. Wanting to please the children, especially the ten-year-old Princess Charlotte, who looked with the greatest surprise at the lovely blue flowers she had never seen before, the queen generously rewarded the saleswoman and took the cornflowers with her to the park. Sitting down on a bench here, the children began to sort out the flowers, and Princess Charlotte, with the help of her mother, tried to make a wreath out of them. Things quickly improved, and soon the wreath was ready. This success gladdened and agitated the naturally sickly girl so much that almost always her pale cheeks flushed with a bright blush and she perked up all over. When this wreath was put on her head, then all the other children were delighted, seeing how he went to her. In itself, this extremely modest joy that engulfed the children, however, poured deep consolation into the weary soul of Queen Louise, who had not seen even a glimmer of fun for a long time, and she felt in her, as it were, a harbinger of the imminent end of her suffering. Who could, of course, then have thought that this little girl, decorated with a wreath of cornflowers, would become the All-Russian Empress, and her young brother standing next to her would become the first emperor of united Germany? But a presentiment creeps into us somehow by itself and in some inexplicable way makes us foresee the future sometimes hidden from us. Here, too, as if overwhelmed by some incomprehensible surge of joy, Queen Louise drew her children to her chest and kissed them tightly, and the cornflower itself has since become both for her and for Princess Charlotte a favorite, a harbinger of a new bright future. ". On another occasion - this was during the flight of the Prussian royal court to Memel - the royal family had to stop in the middle of the road due to the fact that the wheel of the carriage broke from accelerated driving. Not knowing what to do, Queen Louise, waiting for the carriage to be repaired, sat down with the children on the edge of the road just near the grain field. The children complained of fatigue and severe hunger. Wanting to somehow cheer them up, the queen began to tear cornflowers and weave a wreath out of them; while large tears rolled down her cheeks. Noticing this, her second son, Wilhelm (later the German emperor), who was distinguished by a very soft heart and strong love for his mother, began to console and hug her. Touched by this love, the queen smiled, cheered up and, laughing, put a wreath of cornflowers on her son's head. Soon help arrived, the crew was fixed, and the royal family safely escaped capture. Both of these cases, no matter how insignificant they were, were, in the midst of difficult trials, like glimpses of distant happiness, and therefore remained forever memorable both for Emperor Wilhelm and for the rest of the royal family. Finally, there is a third story among the people about the connection of the now reigning German house with cornflowers. They say that at one court ball given involuntarily by the unfortunate royal couple to Emperor Napoleon and his generals, Queen Louise appeared without any precious jewelry, only with a wreath of cornflowers on her head. And when the French began to make jokes about this, the queen remarked: “Yes, gentlemen, all our precious things have been partly plundered, partly sold, in order to help the needs of our devastated country in any way; and our fields have been so trampled by you that even a wild flower is now a rarity.” The winners could not find what to answer to this, and fell silent. Many years passed, and Queen Louise's premonitions came true. Cornflower did not deceive her. The royal family, which was in exile and oppression, was restored in its rights, and Princess Charlotte, having married Emperor Nicholas I, from a small, insignificant princess became, as we have already said, a powerful All-Russian Empress. And so, when the empress, many years later, once passed through Koenigsberg, the inhabitants of this city, wanting to please her and remind her of the time lived in its vicinity, arranged for her a solemn meeting, in which cornflowers played an outstanding role. At the head of the procession that came to greet her were young girls dressed in white, with wreaths of cornflowers on their heads and with baskets of these flowers in their hands. All the buildings of the city were decorated with wreaths and garlands of cornflowers, all the monuments were entwined with them, and even all the poles of the banners hung on the houses were decorated with them. The most beautiful of the girls brought her a wonderful basket of these flowers, and the rest threw cornflowers on the ground and littered her path with them. The Empress was moved to tears by this cordial reception and expressed her deep gratitude for the fact that the people of Koenigsberg chose a cornflower so dear to her for her meeting.
About the happy omen of the cornflower for the royal Prussian house, we find the following note in the notebook of the crown prince. Friedrich Wilhelm, which he led during the war with Austria in 1866. In this book, when describing the battle of Nachod, it says: “Colonel Valker drew my attention to the cornflowers growing around us. I picked one of them and took it with me for my wife. This seemed to me a good omen and should be attributed to those numerous cases in which the meaning of this flower was expressed for us. As a result of all the above, this flower, beloved by Emperor Wilhelm I, has become in the struggle that has flared up in recent years in Bohemia for the predominance of languages, the flower of the German party and is considered a symbol of German views. And therefore, even wearing it in a buttonhole excites hatred in the Czechs, and in the German-Bohemian magazines, offensive and even insulting attacks on all those who wear cornflowers are constantly coming across. (Bohemia is the official name of the Czech Republic within Austria-Hungary, where it was a part until 1918) But this flower also plays a political role in Belgium and France: in the first it is the emblem of freedom, in the second - anti-Semitism. In Belgium, miners often adorn themselves with it on strike days, and freethinkers on days of struggle against the clerical party, and in France, anti-Semites on the days of their meetings. With cornflowers there are a lot of beliefs in Germany. Due to the fact that the stem and the cup of cornflower are covered with whitish, hairlike strands of fungi, in Pomerania the peasants believe that the bread will mold if you keep cornflowers in the rooms. On the other hand, here the water decoction of these flowers is considered an excellent remedy for inflammation of the eyes. However, the infusion of these flowers in snow water was considered in the past the main remedy for reinforcing the eyes even by the French Medical Academy and was called "casse-lunettes" (breaking glasses), since it was assumed that thanks to it, diseased eyes are so strengthened that they do not have more need for glasses. Eye treatment with cornflower blue water is also practiced by our Russian healers. (In scientific medicine, blue cornflower is used only as a mild diuretic. In folk medicine, this plant is used as a choleretic, diuretic and diaphoretic: for dropsy, jaundice, inflammation of the kidneys and bladder, and colds. Decoctions of marginal flowers are used as eye lotions .) Further, it is believed that the cornflower plant, uprooted from the earth on the day of the feast of Corpus Christi, stops bleeding from the nose, if held in the hand until it warms up. In autumn, according to the number of seeds found in the fruit of the cornflower, it is considered possible to conclude the price of bread next year. "How many seeds, - they say, - in the fruit of a cornflower, how many thalers or pennies will bring a measure of rye." In some places in Germany, cornflowers are also used to intimidate children so that they do not walk through the grain fields and trample on the rye. “If you tear cornflowers,” they say, “the rye goat will grab you and kill you with its horns.” Instead of a goat, the role of a scarecrow is sometimes played by a rye wolf. This belief comes from the Middle Ages, and in Frankfurt am Main in 1343, according to Mangardt, there was even a house on Vasilkova Street, which was called the "rye wolf". As a result, sometimes the cornflower itself in the villages is called a goat (Ziegenbock) and is considered the personification of some kind of field goblin or demon. This goblin, according to their belief, sits in a cornflower and, when they reap bread, attacks lazy workers and women, striking them with a disease. And therefore, when peasant girls go to reap for the first time, they are warned: "Beware that the rye goat does not hit you!" And if any of them gets sick from fever or fatigue, then they say: "This rye goat hit her." Almost the same belief exists in some provinces of France. Only there the place of the goat is taken by the wolf, and therefore they say about lazy workers and working women that a wolf has sat in them. In former times, cornflowers were used to produce a beautiful blue dye, very similar to ultramarine. To do this, they took not reed, circumferential cornflower flowers, but tubular ones located in the middle of the flower, the color of which is darker, and, putting them in a marble mortar, squeezed juice out of them with a pestle and added alum to it, and then everything was poured into a clean vessel and stored in it before use. From reed flowers, they made a paler blue paint. Now this paint has fallen into disuse, but vinegar is made from cornflowers. How it is prepared I do not know, but I know that it is one of the most common cheap varieties of vinegar sold in greengrocers and markets. In conclusion, I will say that the Russian name for this flower "cornflower" came, according to one Ukrainian legend, on behalf of one young guy, the only son of his mother, Vasil, who was bewitched, as if, and killed by a mermaid. Carried away by her in the field, he turned into a blue flower, reminiscent of deep water in its color. This belief, as de Gubernatis believes, originates in Byzantium, and bears a strong resemblance to the Sicilian belief about the basil flower (Ocimum), whose vernacular name no doubt derives from the same root. There, the brothers of the beautiful Izbetta kill a young man with whom she is in love. Izbetta hides his severed head under a pot of basil, and when they take that head from her as well, she takes care of the basil, confident that the soul of her lover has moved into it. Here, young Vasil dies in the arms of a mermaid, and his soul moves into a flower, which from that time begins to bear his name. Author: Zolotnitsky N.
Blue cornflower, Centaurea cyanus L. Botanical description, habitat and habitats, chemical composition, use in medicine and industry
Synonyms: hair, patchwork, blue flower, blue. An annual plant of the Asteraceae family (Compositae). Stem erect, branched, up to 80 cm in height, with alternate lanceolate leaves. Marginal flowers in baskets are funnel-shaped blue, middle flowers are tubular purple. The fruit is an oblong ovoid achene with a tuft. Blooms from May to August. Range and habitats. It grows throughout Eastern Europe, in the Caucasus. It is a weed plant of rye fields and other plants (wheat, flax, alfalfa). Chemical composition. The flowers contain flavone glycoside centaurein, blue anthocyanin glycoside protocyanin, essential oil, bitter, tannins, saponins, mineral salts, diglucosides of cyanidin and pelargonidin, as well as derivatives of phenol and flavones - apigenin, luteolin, quercetin and kaempferol . Application in medicine. Cornflower flowers increase diuresis, enhance bile secretion and have antimicrobial properties. Cornflower flowers are used for edema associated with kidney disease, as well as for diseases of the urinary tract (nephritis, nephronephritis, cystitis, urethritis), for diseases of the liver and biliary tract. Assign in the form of infusions 1:10 and liquid extracts in 40% alcohol 1:10. Infusion of cornflower. A teaspoon of dried cornflower flowers is poured with boiling water, insisted without boiling for 20 minutes, cooled, filtered. Apply 2 tablespoons 3 times a day for 15-20 minutes before meals. Cornflower flowers are often used in combination with other diuretic and antimicrobial agents (bearberry leaves, antibiotics, kidney tea). Other uses. Good honey plant, provides bees with nectar and pollen. Honey is greenish-yellow, thick, with a pleasant light almond smell and sometimes with a bitter taste. Plants produce nectar even in significant drought. Authors: Turova A.D., Sapozhnikova E.N.
Cornflower. Interesting plant facts
Cornflower: on the left - large-headed cornflower; right - cornflower macrocephalus Once the sky reproached the field for ingratitude: “Everything that inhabits the earth thanks me. Birds send me singing, flowers - fragrance and color, forests - a mysterious whisper, and only you do not express gratitude, although no one else, namely, I fill the roots of cereals rainwater and make the ears ripen." “I am grateful to you,” answered the field, “I decorate the arable land with ever-wavering greenery, and in autumn I cover it with gold. I cannot express my gratitude in any other way. Help me, and I will shower you with caresses and talk about love.” "Well," the sky agreed, "if you can't go up to me, then I'll go down to you." A miracle happened instantly, magnificent blue flowers grew among the ears, similar in color to the sultry sky. Since then, the ears of cereals, with every breath of the breeze, bow to the messengers of heaven - cornflowers and whisper tender words to them. Such is the legend born in Rus'. Something similar to it, but of a completely different content, tells the Ukrainian legend S. Ivchenko in the book "Entertaining Botany". “Evening was approaching. Struggling with his last strength, the tired horse trudged along. And the young handsome guy Vasily seemed to have not worked since early morning. He easily and confidently stepped along the furrow, as if playing with the handrails of the plow. How not to look at such a young man? Leaving all his troubles, admiring handsome plowman mermaid. From afar, huddled behind the reeds, she followed him intact from the very morning, and when Vasily, having finished his work, approached the river to wash, could not stand it and appeared before him in all its glory. They loved each other. In everything they had complete agreement, only they could not agree on where it would be better for them to live together. The mermaid called Vasily to her native element, and he firmly stood his ground: we will settle by the arable land. They got really tired of arguing. Finally, realizing that the unyielding Vasily would never obey her insistence, the mermaid decided on the last extreme: she turned him into a modest blue flower. More than once, watching how raindrops, gathering in streams, merge into rivers, she hoped that the blue flower - Vasily - would eventually come to her house. "However, her expectations were not justified, the cornflower clings tightly to its native arable land. Cornflower "centaurs" came from the ancient Greek mythical creature Centaurus, who healed the wounds inflicted by Hercules with the juice of cornflower. And in ancient Rome, the cornflower was called cyanus (cyanus means blue), in honor of the blue-eyed young man who collected these blue flowers for wreaths and garlands. Cornflower is brought to us along with rye and has always been a constant companion of the rye field. True, now, fighting weeds, we do not always let these flowers into the fields. Meanwhile, science has proven that if one cornflower seed is added to a hundred rye seeds, the rye will grow better. However, a large number of cornflower seeds can inhibit cereals. Two festivities are associated with cornflowers among the Slavs: "an ear went to the field" and "a birthday sheaf." The first was celebrated when ears appeared on the field. During this holiday, young girls and boys gathered on the outskirts of the village. They stood in two rows opposite each other, took hands, and a girl adorned with cornflowers and ribbons walked along their hands, as if on a bridge. The couples moved from the last rows to the first until the girl walked along their hands to the field. At the cornfield, she descended to the ground, plucked several ears of corn and ran with them to the village, where her parents were waiting. The holiday "birthday sheaf" was held at the end of summer, before harvesting bread. Women-hostesses went out with bread and salt to reap the fields. They knitted the first sheaf, decorated it with cornflowers and put it in the red corner of the house. The first sheaf was called the birthday man. Pale blue or blue cornflowers are beautiful in the golden sea of ears. People have long revered a bright blue flower with jagged edges. The image of a cornflower is a favorite decor element of weavers and embroiderers. It is sung in many Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian songs. Cornflower was very popular among the Germans. Some hundred years ago, at the most magnificent feasts, among other flowers, there was always a cornflower. In Sweden, a Nenok of cornflowers is included in the image of the state emblem. In Belgium, miners pinned cornflowers to their blouses during strikes. In 1937, Valery Chkalov, going on a flight across the North Pole to America, took cornflowers into the cockpit of the plane and, as a sign of goodwill, offered them to the first Americans who met him. ... Cornflower came to us from ancient times. During the excavations of the tomb of Tutankhamun, many items made of precious stones and gold were found. But a small wreath of cornflowers found in the sarcophagus shocked archaeologists. The flowers dried up, but retained their color and shape. Perhaps - these were the favorite flowers of the pharaoh and the grieving wife brought them to her deceased husband. The great Russian fabulist Ivan Andreevich Krylov was very fond of these flowers, and in his last will he asked to put cornflowers in his coffin. Cornflower is not only a constant companion of rye and wheat, it has also adapted to ripen simultaneously with them, and it is incredibly difficult to weed out its seeds from cereal grains. Every spring, with cereal grains, it again falls into arable land, and by autumn it sways merrily in the golden ocean of bread. In the calendar festivities of Ukrainians, in some ceremonies, the flowers of mint-leaved basil are widely used, as cornflowers are called there.
Basil - cornflower grows wild in subtropical and tropical countries, in Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria. It is specially bred in vegetable gardens and gardens because, when dried, it emits a strong spicy smell and is used as a fragrant fumigating agent in Ukraine on traditional calendar holidays. In the last century, ceremonial wreaths were woven from its stems. Basil also appears in summer Kupala poetry. N. Kostomarov, on the basis of Ukrainian folk literature, interpreted basil as a symbol of "lovely friendliness." ...Cornflowers, hairs, cornflowers look at us with blue eyes either from ears of rye or wheat, or splashing like lakes on the silk carpets of lawns, or pleasing the eyes in the flower beds, emphasizing the multi-colored plants on the lawns. However, the blue-eyed handsome man does not always have blue flowers. In the world flora, there are about seven hundred species of cornflowers, among which there are cornflowers with pink, purple, purple, white and even yellow flowers. But whatever the color and smell of cornflowers, they are always attractive and loved. And that is why they are a popular element of ornament in folk embroideries, where craftswomen depict them together with ears of rye. The villagers who left the village for one reason or another find it very difficult to endure separation from nature. This sadness-longing was perfectly expressed in the poem "Slutsk weavers" by the Belarusian poet Maxim Bogdanovich: "... And thoughts rush to the expanse - // To where the shoots turn green, // Where cornflowers bloom, // Where the waters sparkle with silver // Between mountains of a broken river, // Where the edge of a gray forest is visible... // And, forgetting, a hand weaves // Instead of a Persian pattern // A pattern of a native cornflower". Many artists have dedicated paintings to cornflowers. Suffice it to recall Igor Grabar's painting "Cornflowers", where, against the backdrop of a hot afternoon, two friends recall their youth in front of a huge armful of cornflowers. The picture of the Belarusian artist Nella Schastnaya is also unforgettable, in which a young boy and a girl in the ocean of cornflowers found their happiness, and the cornflowers themselves, with tender participation and insight, seem to help prolong family joy and well-being. The cornflower has its secrets, and one of them is the spread of its seeds. They crawl. At the top of a smooth, very shiny cornflower achene, resembling a rye grain in shape, there is a small tuft of white hairs. To an ignorant person it may seem that the tuft serves as a parachute for the flight of the seed, like a dandelion. But it's not. The crest of a cornflower is the main organ for the movement of achenes, with its help they "crawl". When wet, it contracts, and when dry, it lengthens. The hairs of the tuft have notches directed in one direction, with which they rest against the unevenness of the soil. With the reduction or lengthening of cornflowers, the achene moves. Author: Krasikov S.
Cornflower blue. Description of the plant, area, cultivation, application
It grows everywhere in crops of winter and spring cereals, especially rye, wheat, often found among flax, alfalfa, clover, in glades, near shrubs, along roads. An annual or biennial plant 30-100 cm high. The roots are taproot, straight, branched. The lower leaves are petiolate, dying off by the time of flowering, the upper and middle sessile, pubescent with thin felt. Blooms from May to August. At the ends of the branches and branches are single flowers collected in baskets. Marginal flowers up to 2 cm long, asexual, blue, internal - tubular, up to 1 cm long, bisexual, purple. Fresh flowers of low odor, dried - odorless. Occasionally, flowers are white, pink, red. The fruits are ovoid achenes with tufts at the top, ripen in August. Flowers contain bitter glycosides, vitamins, flavonoids, carotene, traces of alkaloids, essential oil, tannins, dyes, saponins, mineral salts. For household purposes, from the flowers you can get a permanent blue and blue dye for woolen fabrics. The flowers and seeds of blue cornflower are used in nutrition. Flowers are added to the first, second courses, gravies, sauces. Powder from the seeds serves as a seasoning for soups, borscht, gravy to meat, fish. Cornflower seed powder. Clean the seeds from impurities, dry, grind in a coffee grinder. Add the powder to salads, first and second courses, sauces, gravies. Cornflower salad. Cucumber grass, hare cabbage, dandelion leaves blanched, cut, add cornflower powder, salt, mix. Season the salad with sour cream, or mayonnaise, or vegetable oil, sprinkle with dill and parsley. 50 g of hare cabbage, 100 g of cucumber grass, 50 g of dandelion leaves, 10 g of cornflower powder, 25 g of sour cream (or mayonnaise, or sunflower oil), salt, dill and parsley. Borscht with cornflower. Boil chopped beets, carrots, potatoes, cabbage in meat broth or water. 5 minutes before readiness, add browned onions with tomato sauce, dried cornflower flowers, salt. Before serving, put hard-boiled egg slices, sour cream, dill and parsley into bowls. 500 ml of broth, 50 g of beets, 30 g of carrots, 100 g of cabbage, 50 g of potatoes, 75 g of onions, 20 g of dried cornflower flowers, 1 egg, 25 g of sour cream, salt, dill and parsley. Shchi with cornflower. Boil chopped potatoes, parsley root, carrots, onions, sorrel in meat broth. 5 minutes before readiness, add dried cornflower flowers, salt. Before serving, put hard-boiled egg slices, sour cream, dill and parsley into bowls. 500 ml of broth, 50 g of potatoes, 50 g of carrots, 15 g of parsley root, 25 g of onion, 150 g of sorrel, 20 g of dried cornflower flowers, 1 egg, 50 g of sour cream, salt, dill and parsley. Pork in sauce with cornflower. Sprinkle pieces of low-fat pork with pepper, salt, fry in hot fat, add browned onions, sour cream and tomato sauce with cornflower, bring to a boil and keep covered for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with dill and parsley before serving. To prepare creamy tomato sauce with cornflower, grind the dried flour, pour into boiling sour cream with broth, mix thoroughly, add salt, pepper, browned tomato sauce, chopped dried cornflower flowers and boil for 3-5 minutes. 500 g pork, 75 g onion, 30 g fat, pepper, salt, dill and parsley. For the sauce: 250 g sour cream, 25 g wheat flour, 40 g butter, 250 ml broth, 50 g tomato puree, 20 g cornflower, salt, pepper to taste. Fish stewed with cornflower. Salt the prepared pieces of fresh fish, breaded in flour, fry in vegetable oil, put dried cornflower flowers, onions, bay leaves, peppers, mayonnaise or sour cream and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle the fish with dill and parsley before serving. 250 g fish, 30 g flour, 75 g vegetable oil, 150 g sour cream or mayonnaise, 50 g onion, 20 g dried cornflower flowers, pepper, bay leaf, salt to taste, dill and parsley. Beetroot stewed with cornflower. Boil the beets until tender, peel, grate on a coarse grater. Fry flour in butter until golden brown, add prepared beets, dried cornflower flowers, citric acid, a little water, mix and simmer over low heat for 5-10 minutes. 250 g beets, 50 g flour, 30 g vegetable oil, 20 g dried cornflower flowers, citric acid, salt to taste. In folk medicine, flowers and seeds of blue cornflower are used. They have a choleretic, diuretic, analgesic, antispasmodic, wound healing, anti-inflammatory, mild laxative effect. Infusion of cornflower flowers. Infuse 10 g of flowers in 200 ml of boiling water for 1 hour, strain. Drink 50 ml 3 times a day for coughs, whooping cough, diseases of the kidneys, bladder, liver, biliary tract, pancreas, gastritis, colitis with constipation, palpitations, night blindness. Use for lotions for conjunctivitis. Infusion of diuretic collection with cornflower. Mix 1 part cornflower flowers, 3 parts bearberry leaves, 1 part licorice roots. Infuse 20 g of the mixture in 200 ml of boiling water for 4 hours, strain. Take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day for inflammatory diseases of the kidneys, bladder. Contraindications have not been established. The process of harvesting cornflower is laborious. In July - August, flower baskets with fully bloomed flowers are plucked or cut off. Then, marginal, crown-shaped corollas of blue flowers are carefully pulled out of the baskets, without capturing the inner tubular ones. The admixture of the latter is allowed in dried raw materials no more than 40%. The collected flowers are immediately spread in a thin layer on paper or cloth bedding. Dry in the shade so that the flowers do not discolor, in a well-ventilated area. Properly dried raw materials are bright blue, odorless, bitter, tart taste. Store in boxes lined with thick paper or in cloth bags in a well-ventilated area. Shelf life up to 2 years. Authors: Alekseychik N.I., Vasanko V.A.
Cornflower. Legends, the birthplace of the plant, the history of distribution
Once upon a time, a Greek legend says, centaurs lived on Earth - half horses, half people. The wisest among them was Chiron, who became famous for his great knowledge in medicine. Once a fierce battle broke out, and a poisoned arrow shot by the enemy severely wounded Chiron. But the wise centaur did not die. He managed to find a plant that helped heal the wound. Centaurs are fictional creatures. But the plant that rescued Chiron actually exists. Botanists even called him a centaur. But we are more familiar with another name - cornflower. Everyone saw it, of course. Especially a lot of cornflowers on a rye field. Here, as if on purpose, they were sown to decorate the yellow bread. But nobody planted cornflowers. They themselves came to the field. After all, these are weeds that need to be declared a decisive fight. And yet the cornflower is not only a weed. No wonder the legend mentions him. True, he is not able to heal severe wounds, like the one that Chiron received. But the cornflower really has medicinal power. Its blue inflorescences help cure colds and eye diseases. And people learned to make blue paint from cornflower blue flowers. So the cornflower is treated differently. In the grain field, they seek to get rid of it. And in other places - where he does not interfere with cultivated plants - he is always welcome. Author: Osipov N.F.
Cornflower. Application in cosmetology
Cornflower petals are mixed with chopped nettle leaves (1: 1), poured with water (it should cover the mixture) and boiled over moderate heat for 10 minutes. The cooled broth is filtered, a tablespoon of potato starch or unsalted fresh mashed potatoes is added and used for nourishing and cleansing face and neck masks The mask is washed off with warm water without soap, the skin is dried with a terry towel and lubricated with a nourishing cream. When expanding the pores of the skin of the face, meadow cornflower is the best remedy. A decoction is prepared from the petals: two handfuls of petals are taken for 0,5 liters of water and boiled for 10 minutes. The decoction is used as a lotion, used for lotions for rashes and acne. Meadow cornflower grass juice, mixed with butter or sour cream, internal goose fat, is the best remedy for chapping of lips, hands, linden. In cosmetic practice, meadow cornflower juice is added to emollient creams. Crushed seeds remove warts. Author: Reva M.L.
Cornflower, Centaurea. Recipes for use in traditional medicine and cosmetology
Ethnoscience:
Cosmetology:
Attention! Before use, consult with a specialist!
Cornflower, Centaurea. Tips for growing, harvesting and storing
Cornflower, or centauria (Centaurea) is a genus of plants from the Aster family, including about 500 species that grow in temperate and subtropical regions of the world. Tips for growing, harvesting and storing cornflower: Cultivation:
Workpiece:
Storage:
Cornflowers are beautiful and useful plants that can be used to decorate the garden and make tea. However, before using cornflower as a medicine, you should consult your doctor.
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