Cupid's dart
Catananche caerulea
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The lilac-blue flower with petals cut at the tip and a dark centre, set on dry, silvery bracts as transparent as paper. It stays beautiful long after drying.
Fields and pasture · Scrubland · Uplands · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known asblue succory, cupidone
How to tell it
Solitary heads atop long slender stalks, two to three centimetres, lilac-blue, each petal cut into five teeth at the tip with a dark spot at the base. The bracts beneath are dry, shiny, silvery brown and translucent, crackling between the fingers. Narrow leaves in a rosette.
What it is confused with
Chicory
Cichorium intybus
Both are blue and from the same family. Chicory has flowers sitting along a stiff branched stem; cupid's dart has each flower atop a long slender stalk with dry papery bracts beneath.
What it is for
No use
It was used in dried arrangements because of the papery bracts, which keep shape and colour for years. The name comes from the plant having gone into Greek love potions, which is a reputation rather than a use.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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