Centaurea (f02r) Bachelor's Button

["Dana F. Scott" <dfscott@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Please discard the previous transmittal of this e-Mail which was sent
unfinished by mistake.)

Except for the lack of darkly checkered bracts Centaurea cyanus
(Bachelor's Button, Cornflower; Florence Llavender) is a very appealing
match of the plant in  f02r. The flowers and leaves are similar and C.
cyanus is also a well known herbal. Deni Bown writes in "The Encylopedia
of Herbs & Their Uses" (A dorling Kindersley Book, New York, N.Y.,
p.104) the following concerning Centaurea:

    "There are some 450 species of annuals, biennials, perennials, and
subshrubs in this genus, which occurs in Mediterranean
regions, Eurasia, N America, and Australia; C. cyanus is found in
cornfields and waste places in Europe and western Asia.
Various species are grown as ornamentals for their brightly colored,
thistle-like  flowers. Centaurea is named after the
legendary centaur, Chiron, known for his knowledge of herbs, who first
revealed the healing properties of knapweed."

I can imagine the appeal of Centaurea to the VMS author when one
understands something of the history of the immortal
centaur Chiron, who was in utter pain after being apparently
accidentally wounded by Hercules' arrow which had been dipped
in poison.

Greek Mythology:
http://www.math.utk.edu/~vasili/GR_link/Greek_myth/centaur.html

Photo:
http://www.daisyparadise.fsnet.co.uk/daisyA-Z/A-C/centaurea%20cyanus.htm

http://www.daisyparadise.fsnet.co.uk/moredaisies/centaurea.htm
http://www.kconline.com/tg/uraniwa/Centaurea.html
http://www.apa.umontreal.ca/gadrat/c/Centaurea/cyanus/96072803.jpg
http://www.apa.umontreal.ca/gadrat/c/Centaurea/cyanus/96072802.jpg
http://www.apa.umontreal.ca/gadrat/c/Centaurea/cyanus/96072804.jpg
http://www.cernyseed.cz/cent.cyan.htm
http://www.flogaus-faust.de/photo/centcyan.jpg
http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~mygarden/centcy.jpg
http://www.earthlygoods.com/wildflowers/cornflower.html
http://www.viarural.com.ar/viarural.com.ar/agricultura/malezas/centaurea-cyanus01.htm

Description:
http://www.blue-tea.com/cyanus.html
http://www.gardenguides.com/flowers/annuals/bachelor.htm
http://hg.women.com/homeandgarden/plants/centcyan.htm
http://pages.infinit.net/mel3/centaurea.html
http://www.fleurs-des-champs.com/fic/fiches/f59.htm
http://www.floristikwissen.de/home/bot/c/cent_cya.htm
http://www.desert-tropicals.com/en_francais/Plants/Asteraceae/Centaurea_cyanus.html



Spanish: (interesting; used for inflamation of the eyes; compare to
Belladonna?)
http://lanaturaleza.hypermart.net/aciano.htm
http://planeta.terra.com.br/saude/plantasmedicinais/pm/centcyan.htm

Illustration:
http://www.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/biologie/b_online/thome/band4/tafel_134_small.jpg

http://www.pre1900prints.com/Botanical/CentaureaCyanus1848.htm
http://www.ipk-gatersleben.de/~ochsmann/centaurea/images/Tafel_595_01.jpg

Regards,
Dana