Catananche caerulea
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| Catananche caerulea | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Tribe: | Cichorieae |
| Genus: | Catananche |
| Species: | C. caerulea |
| Binomial name | |
| Catananche caerulea L. |
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The showy violet-blue perennial flower of the aster family Catananche caerulea bears the common names Cupid's dart, blue cupidone, and cerverina. It is a garden flower and is often used in dried flower arrangements. The plant grows in clumps of narrow grey-green leaves, and later in the summer sends up long stems at the end of which bloom bright cornflower blue to lavender flowers with rectangular, fringed petals and deep purple centers. The closed buds are soft and silver and the bracts form a papery cup beneath the opened blossom.
It is native to the Mediterranean region. The flower was supposedly used by the ancient Greeks as a key ingredient in a love potion, hence the common name "Cupid's dart".
[edit] Cultivation
Catananche caerulea is a short lived perennial, but may reseed. It prefers full sun with good drainage. It is drought tolerant.
[edit] Sources
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