Remembering JFK with cornflowers

Species name: Centaurea cyanus

Common name: bachelor's button, cornflower

Location: picture 1 from HERE, picture 2 from HERE, picture 3 from HERE and picture 4 from HERE

Today is a rather special day in history, whether you're American or not, and this special day deserves its own special blog post. In case you aren't aware of the significance of today, it is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the former President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, in Texas. He was one of the most well-liked Presidents in US history, and will always be remembered as one of the great young minds that died far too young. With that said, let's see how well I can weave this into a blog about plants.

The cornflower, also called the bachelor's button or the common cornflower, is native to Europe where it historically grew like a weed. It prefers highly disturbed areas like prairies (historically, the sustaining life source of a prairie was fire which wipes out much of the herbaceous growth, allowing new species to colonize the area), which is why it can sometimes be seen growing alongside the Flander's poppy, as seen in the fourth image above (I thought that was rather fitting, since both flowers are now considered the flowers of remembrance depending on which continent and/or country you're from). Unfortunately for the cornflower, it also thrives as an agricultural weed since agricultural fields are, by default, highly disturbed areas. They are plowed every year which encourages weedy plants (or plants that can grow very quickly) to move in and colonize the area. Because of the intense amount of herbicides that are applied to agricultural fields, many of the once-ideal habitats for cornflowers are now being lost. This has led to the placement of the cornflower onto many endangered species lists across much of its native range (the population in the UK has gone from 264 sites to just 3 sites in 50 years; also a rather fitting time of measurement). Fortunately for the cornflower, it's not about to go extinct any time soon. It has been introduced as an ornamental species in North America, and parts of Africa and Asia where it is considered a naturalized species (locally invasive in some areas). In Australia it is a pest species. In fact, because of the planting of this species ornamentally it was recently featured near the top of the list of the top 100 species that have the potential to be brought back from the brink of extinction. With proper rehabilitation efforts and the protection of prairie habitats across Europe, this species could once again thrive.

There are also some locations where cornflowers are planted for agricultural purposes aside from seed generation for the ornamental flower trade. Cornflower "petals" (I'll get into this in a minute) are dried and often used as an additive in loose leaf teas to impart flavour and colour into some blends. The flavour is very subtle; so subtle I doubt you would even be able to pick up the taste. More often than not, cornflowers are added to loose teas just to make them look pretty in their package. And who isn't about to buy tea because it looks pretty?! I'll admit, I've been guilty of that on more than one occasion. Sometimes with successful results, but often with "BLAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!" results. That's also how I buy my wine. You'd think I would learn from these experiences...

The petals seen in the cornflower aren't really petals at all. The "flower" of a cornflower is a compound flower, or a flower head. Each one of the "petals" is called a ray floret, and each one of the dark purple wispy bits on the inside of the flower head is called a disc flower. This is the typical flower head (or inflorescence) structure of flowers in the aster or sunflower family.

Aside from being the flower of remembrance in the United Kingdom and much of the rest of Europe, cornflowers hold special meaning to JFK. Not only was blue his favourite colour, but on those days when he wore flowers on his lapel (which was quite often) they were always cornflowers. In fact, on the day his son, John F. Kennedy Jr., was married he had cornflowers pinned to his lapel and cornflowers were featured in the bridal bouquet and in every centrepiece as a symbol of remembrance for his father.

I often wonder what the world would be like today if people like JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. were still alive. Would gay marriage be an issue? Would it be a bigger issue than it is today? What about poverty and homelessness? Drug use? I guess it doesn't do much to hypothesize about how the world would be different, but instead try to make it different. Push the envelope to do better, to be better.

May you Rest In Peace, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963

President John F. Kennedy

JFK Jr. giving his father a final salute

The blueberry-like white aster

Species name: Symphyotrichum ericoides

Common name: white aster, heath aster

Location: Ontario

This species of aster is native to much of North America, from Canada all the way south to Mexico. It has been introduced as an ornamental plant around the world, and is sold as a popular garden plant. One of the common names, the heath aster, comes from the fact that the leaves are notably not aster-like; they are instead very thick and almost bristle-like, which is characteristic of the blueberry family (or Ericaceae). For Latin names, wherever you see the ending "-oides" at the end of a species epithet (the "second name" of a species), that means "looks like." Like most white flowers with yellow middles, with multiple ray florets and disc florets (i.e. anything that looks like a daisy), this plant used to be classified in the genus Aster until DNA analysis showed it was in a different genus.

The story of this plant being sold in nurseries for ornamental usage is a long and complicated one, and shows how important it is to be able to identify plants when you're landscaping a garden. This is by far the most common "small, daisy-like plant" sold in garden stores, carrying the name "white aster" or "heath aster." Unfortunately, very little of what is being sold is actually the correct species of plant. More commonly it's misidentified S. dumosum, S. lateriflorum, S. pilosum or S. racemosum. This isn't a real problem in Canada and the United States since all four of these other species are also native, but in Europe this could be a big problem since only two of these species, S. dumosum and S. pilosum, can become invasive. Always make sure you know what you're buying and try to identify the plant yourself if you can (if the plant is mature enough to identify!). This problem has apparently been occurring continuously since the mid-19th century!

Most Symphyotrichum species are hardy, and resistant to infections. The exception, however, is when the plants are planted in close proximity with other plant species, and planted where the soil can not dry out fully between waterings. The roots of this plant (and the stem at soil level) are very susceptible to fungal infections, but this problem is all but eliminated when the plant is on its own in a sunny area. Something to keep in mind if you're going to be landscaping a garden in the spring.

The Achilles flower: common yarrow

Species name: Achillea millefolium

Common name: Yarrow

Location: Ontario

The common yarrow plant (the real yarrow; not the plant masquerading around as a yarrow with the common name "golden yarrow") is native to the Northern Hemisphere, with most subspecies native to North America. Since I have no idea what subspecies this is, I'll just give the plant the benefit of the doubt and say it's native. Even if it wasn't truly native, it would be close enough! Most common yarrow plants have either white or pink flowers, and yellow flowers would be considered incredibly unusual (and traditionally would only be one or two flowers in a sea of either white or pink). Since we as human beings like variety in our flower gardens, we have exploited the natural mutations in the yarrow population for yellow flowers, and created varieties and cultivars with varying shades of yellow flowers. The ones found in nature, however, are always either white or pink; if you see a yellow yarrow you know it's a garden escape. This isn't necessarily a bad thing depending on the variety or cultivar; as long as there wasn't too much "modification" that was done in the breeding process, all of the genes in the native population that were for disease resistance, etc., would still be in the cultivated population. In general, the longer a plant has been in domestication the poorer the competitor it is back in its native range. If you think about the challenges domesticated corn must have in reproducing, or whether or not a Yorkie dog would survive in the wild on its own, you can see how this generally holds up with domesticated species. Due to the shape of the florets within each inflorescence, the shape of each inflorescence appears to be a 5-petaled flower. This actually isn't the case, and this plant is in the sunflower family or the Asteraceae. Each inflorescence contains 4 to 5 ray florets (the ones that look like petals), and many disc florets.

Yarrow has a long history of being used as a medicinal plant; in fact, the Latin name Achillea refers to Achilles who apparently carried it with him into battles to treat the wounds of his soldiers (where one of the common names of this plant comes from; soldier's woundwort). It has been used as a diaphoretic (a chemical or group of chemicals that cause sweating; this was a very popular treatment for various "blood disorders" in ancient times), an astringent (would be very effective against facial acne since it has a relatively concentrated amount of salicylic acid in the leaves and roots), a tonic, and a stimulant. The essential oils from the flowers were extracted using the steam distillation process and used as an anti-inflammatory agent. Depending on the expert herbalist and the disorder, it was also used to either prevent bleeding or promote it. The Navajo also used it to relieve the pain associated with toothache. These are only a few of the reported medical uses of yarrow; for a complete list you can read about it on the Wikipedia page HERE.

A word of caution if you have yarrow in your garden or come in contact with it in the wild: there are some people who experience a violent skin reaction to contact with the leaf juices from broken yarrow leaves, and sometimes with the unbroken leaves themselves. This skin rash is photosensitive so is made worse by the sun, if skin irritation wasn't enough for you. There is also the reported effect that it can cause impotence in male mice, although no evidence has shown this effect is translated in humans. It's probably better to be safe then sorry with this plant; unless you know you don't show sensitivity to the plant, it's probably best to wear gardening gloves when handling it.

I hasta have this Shasta Daisy!

Species name: Leucanthemum x superbum

Common name: Shasta daisy

Location: Ontario

The Shasta daisy is a common garden plant that's a special hybrid cultivar (in this case, probably the most common cultivar which is 'Becky') created through traditional breeding for larger flowers. Most members of the Leucanthemum genus are native to Europe and northern Asia, and this hybrid is no exception. Where it has been planted in North America it has taken off, spreading readily into prairie habitats and becoming an invasive weed. You can find this species (and both of the plants from which the hybrid is created, L. lacustre and L. maxiumum, as well as the oxeye daisy or L. vulgare) on the noxious weed list of many provinces in Canada and many states in the USA. Each "flower" of the daisy isn't actually a flower at all; it's a group of flowers (an inflorescence). Each yellow dot of the disc part of the inflorescence is a flower itself, called a disc floret. Each white "petal" of the inflorescence is also a flower, called a ray floret.

Interestingly enough, this flower has a terrible odor. That fact in and of itself isn't all that interesting, since many plants have terrible odors. The interesting fact is that this flower is still so popular not just as a landscaping plant, but also as a plant used in flower arrangements. Most people wouldn't think of taking the odor at the bottom of a dirty garbage can and rubbing it all over carnations to make their arrangement smell nicer, so the fact that these flowers are used at all is somewhat mind-boggling. Also interesting is that some people seem not to be bothered by the smell. There's probably some sort of genetic basis to that, but I'm not sure if it has been investigated at any length.

Aside from its obvious ornamental use, this plant also has an interesting culinary use in some areas in Europe. When the flower bud appears on the plant but has not yet opened, they can be picked and pickled in a manner similar to capers (or cucumber pickles for that matter) and used in much the same way. Since I absolutely detest the smell of these flowers, I sure hope the pickling could cover the odor!