COMPOUND FLOWERS 159 



cured, at what time as having eutcitaiued Hercules in his cabin, he would 

 needs be handling and tampering with the weapons of his said guest so long, 

 until one of the arrows light upon his foot, and wounded him dangerously." 

 In some places there grows a larger form, with heads three inches across, 

 whose inner florets are edged with pink, and the outer florets pure white. 



4. Corn Bluebottle (C. ajanus). — Scales of the involucre closely pressed, 

 with a brown-toothed margin ; leaves narrow, lanceolate, entire, the lower- 

 most toothed or pinnatifid ; pappus downy ; root annual. This flower, 

 arrayed in the most brilliant blue tint, waves among the ripening corn from 

 the end of June till the reaper lays it low in August. It is one of our 

 prettiest wild flowers, and has a stem two or three feet high, covered with a 

 cottony down, which also invests the under surface of its leaves. 



The poetic fable which tells that the youth Cyanus spent hours in the 

 cornfields, wove its blossoms into garlands, and admired them above all 

 other.s, accounts for its specific name ; and many a country child yet sits by 

 the side of the waving corn, binding this flower into its nosegay. The 

 German ladies often place it in their hair, and they give it many pet names ; 

 while the gardener has brought it from the field to the garden-bed, and by 

 his care and skill increased the number of its florets, and sometimes varied 

 their hue. It looks well in the flower-border, though never so pleasing as 

 when growing among the golden ears, with the poppy and scabious for its 

 companions. It is pre-eminently the Cornflower, and either this or some 

 nearly allied species decks the corn-fields throughout Europe. It is known 

 in Germany as the Kornblume ; in France, as the Bluet ; in Italy, as the 

 Ciano ; and it is the Aciano azuleio of the Spaniards. It has in this country 

 many pretty and expressive rustic names. Dr. Turner, who ^\T0te in 1564, 

 calls it Blewblawe, as well as Blewbottle ; and it is still the Corn Bluebottle 

 of our country people, probably because of the vase-like form of its outer 

 florets. Gerarde calls it also Hurt-sickle ; and he tells us that it was often 

 sown in the gardens, and by " cunning looking to doth oftentimes become 

 of other colours, and also double." Dr. Turner also says, "Some herbalists 

 call it Baptistecula or Blaptisecida, because it hurteth sikles, which were called 

 of olde writers Seculce." In Scotland it is now termed Blue-bonnet. We have 

 often heard it called Blue-cap in Kent, and the Northamptonshire peasant 

 calls it so. 



" From the first time the Spring's young thrills are born, 



And golden catkins deck the sallow tree, 

 Till Summer's Blue-caps blossom mid the corn, 



And Autumn's ragwort yellows o'er the lee, 

 I roam'd the fields about, a happy child, 



And bound my posies up with rushy ties, 

 And laugh'd and mutter'd o'er my visions wild, 



Bred in the brain of pleasure's ecstasies." 



A very beautiful blue colour, almost equal to ultramarine, may bo pro- 

 cured from our Corn-flower, by picking out the central florets, which are 

 of deeper blue, and by pounding them, while quite fresh, in a glass or marble 

 mortar, so as to obtain the juice ; a small quantity of alum should then be 

 mixed with it, and it is fit for use. If a paler blue should be required, the 

 outer florets should be taken. It will stain linen of a rich azure tint. 



