52 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



and horse-hoe husbandry/' It is sometimes called " blue- 

 bonnet " or " blue-cap " provincially, and in Scotland it is 

 the " blawort." The Irish peasant calls it " gormon," the 

 Welshman the "crammenog yr yd." In Germany its 

 name is similar to our best-known English name it is the 

 "korn-blume/' while in France it is known as the "blavelle/' 

 " blaverolle/' or ' ' bluet." In Italy its name has the same 

 signification as the English name hurt-sickle. By some 

 mediaeval writers it is termed the Flos frumentorumfru- 

 mentum being the Latin word for corn. The meaning of 

 the generic name we have already dwelt on, when speaking 

 of the knapweed, another plant of the genus. The specific 

 name, cyanns, is Greek in its origin, and refers to its 

 beautiful colour. We also find a classical myth of one 

 Cyanus, a devotee of Flora, and admirer in a general way 

 of familiar wild flowers, whose chief occupation seems to 

 have been to weave for the goddess garlands of this and 

 other corn-flowers. Bauhin called our plant the Cyanus 

 segetnm, the " blue-flower that appears in the corn-fields/* 

 a sufficiently appropriate name. 



