Cornflower
- HEX
- #6495ED
- RGB
- 100 149 237
- HSL
- 219° 79% 66%
- CMYK
- 58 37 0 7
Cornflower or Azure?
Softer and lighter than azure.
Culture
Cornflowers grew wild in grain fields, which the British call corn. In 1915 young French soldiers arrived at the front in new horizon-blue uniforms and were nicknamed bleuets, cornflowers. The flower became France's symbol of remembrance, the way the poppy is in Britain.
History
A small wreath of cornflowers and olive leaves lay on Tutankhamun's coffin. In Prussia, a legend said Queen Louise hid her children in a cornflower field while fleeing Napoleon; whatever its truth, her son Wilhelm I adopted the flower, and Germans called it the emperor's flower.
Language
Its Latin name, Centaurea cyanus, carries the same Greek root as cyan: kyanos, dark blue.
Kin
- Olive: Tutankhamun's wreath wove cornflowers with olive leaves
- Aqua: Cyanus and cyan share the Greek root kyanos
- Periwinkle: Another European flower that named a blue
- Sky blue: The horizon-blue uniforms that made the cornflower a war memorial
Sources
- Griffith Institute, Oxford, Tutankhamun archive, 'The funeral wreath of Tutankhamun'
- Wikipedia, 'Bleuet de France'
- Wikipedia, 'Centaurea cyanus'
Hex values are screen approximations. Every page lists its sources.