Cupid Dart Catananche caerulea

LATIN NAME: Catananche caerulea

COMMON NAME: Cupid Dart

LATIN NAME: Catananche caerulea

COMMON NAME: Cupid Dart

The cupid dart holds its papery, blue heads on the wiry stems, and the fringed, cornflower-like flowers open over the narrow leaves. The upright, clump-forming, short-lived perennial plant carries the narrow, linear, grey-green leaves and the solitary, papery, bright-blue, fringed, cornflower-like flower heads on the long, wiry stems through the summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the dry border, drawing the bees. The flowers have a long record as the fine, lasting cut and dried flowers of the old gardens, and the plant is a fine, historic presence of the dry border. It is a plant of the open, sunny, sharp-draining ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The cupid dart is a curious subject of the plant science, and the papery heads keep showing up in the work on the everlasting flowers. The way the solitary, papery, bright-blue, fringed flower heads hold their colour on the wiry stems has been studied steadily, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the everlasting flowers, the dried-flower crops and the members of the daisy family. The narrow leaves and the clump-forming habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the cupid dart is a regular subject of the work on the papery heads of the dry world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The cupid dart is a fine, bright plant of the dry border and the cut-flower patch. The solitary, papery, bright-blue, fringed, cornflower-like flower heads open through the summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the dry border, drawing the bees, and the stems come to the vases and the dried arrangements of the old tables, holding the colour for the months. The plant stands the heat, the drought and the poor ground with the ease, and it is one of the fine choices for the dry border, the cut-flower patch and the study collection. It has been written about in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the papery heads and the lasting ways, and it is a fine, bright plant of the open, sunny, sharp-draining garden.

Give the young plants the sharp-draining soil and the open, sunny spot, and the heads will come in the first summer.

Give the young plants the sharp-draining soil and the open, sunny spot, and the heads will come in the first summer.

To grow the cupid dart from seed, sow the small, bristly seeds across the surface of the gritty pot and press them in, keep the pot in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings come through within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the sharp-draining ground, the papery heads will rise through the summer.

lavender blue