Cornflower Meaning: Delicacy to Victorians, Remembrance in France and a 3,300-Year-Old Wreath on Tutankhamun’s Coffin
Cornflower meaning: remembrance (France’s Bleuet de France), delicacy in Victorian dictionaries, a wreath on Tutankhamun’s coffin, Estonia’s national flower.
In short
- Cornflower meaning: remembrance in France (the Bleuet de France, sold on 11 November and 8 May) and delicacy in four Victorian-era flower dictionaries.
- A cornflower-type wreath lay on Tutankhamun’s coffin over 3,300 years ago.
- Estonia named it its national flower in 1968.
- Checked against: Griffith Institute, ONBF press kits, Eesti Pank, BSBI.
The cornflower means remembrance in France, delicacy in Victorian flower dictionaries, and it is a favourite of Prussia’s royal family and the national flower of Estonia. The cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), also called bachelor’s button or bluebottle, is the blue field flower behind the Bleuet de France, the French counterpart of the remembrance poppy. A cornflower-type garland lay on the coffin of Tutankhamun, Queen Louise of Prussia is said to have woven cornflower wreaths for her children in 1806, and Estonia made the plant its national flower in 1968. Modern guides add hope and love to that list. The older dictionaries say something narrower, with hope appearing in Flora’s Pocket Dictionary, in Tyas’s explanation and in a line of verse in the 1884 New York entry, and this guide keeps the two apart.
This page is part of our flower symbolism and meaning guide. Where sources disagree, such as on the date of the first Bleuet de France, the disagreement is shown rather than smoothed over.
What does the cornflower mean?
The cornflower means different things in different places, and each meaning rests on a different kind of evidence.
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| Meaning | Where | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Remembrance of those who died for France, and solidarity with veterans | France | Bleuet de France badge, sold on 11 November and 8 May (ONBF press kit) |
| Hope and life returning after the fighting | France | The Élysée’s page on the badge reads the flower this way |
| Delicacy | English-language flower dictionaries, 1869 to 1884 | Four printed dictionaries (see the bachelor’s button section) |
| Prussian royal favourite | Germany | Hohenzollern Castle audio guide and a Frankfurt Palmengarten article |
| National flower | Estonia | Chosen in 1968 (Eesti Pank) |
The takeaway is that remembrance is the best-documented living meaning, delicacy is the best-documented historical one, and hope appears mostly as a modern or official reading.
The oldest date on the timeline is a wreath and the newest is a national flower. French sources disagree on when the Bleuet de France itself began, which is why the card shows 1935, the year of the first nationwide sale.
A cornflower-type wreath on Tutankhamun’s coffin
The best-known ancient cornflower garland lay on the outer coffin of Tutankhamun, and the botanist who examined it named its flowers Centaurea depressa, another Centaurea species, not C. cyanus. The Griffith Institute at Oxford describes “a tiny garland of cornflowers and olive leaves, placed gently on the young king’s forehead on his outer coffin.” The olive leaves alternated between their green upper sides and silvery undersides. By the time the tomb team reached it the garland was too brittle to touch, so Harry Burton photographed it in 1925.
Leonard Boodle of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, identified the plants as “Leaves of olive (Olea Europaea, Linn.), and flowers of Centaurea depressa, Bieb. (Resembling Blue Cornflower)”. Howard Carter wrote that among the gold “there was nothing so touching as those few withered flowers.” The Griffith Institute says over 3,300 years separate that burial from today.
What the flowers meant to the people who laid them is not recorded. The Griffith Institute suggests the wreath may have been laid by priests or by the king’s widow as a personal farewell, and that is an interpretation, not a text. Two modern guides, SimplyBeyondHerbs and Symbol Sage, say the Egyptians read cornflowers as symbols of fertility and life, and neither cites an Egyptian source for it. Plantlife also notes that cornflowers were found in the tomb, which is accurate for the genus but glosses over the species.
Queen Louise of Prussia and the cornflower
The cornflower became a Prussian and German emblem through a story about Queen Louise and her son Wilhelm. The Hohenzollern Castle audio guide tells it this way: after Prussia’s defeat at Jena and Auerstedt in 1806, Louise fled with her children to East Prussia, a carriage wheel broke, and while the journey was interrupted she and the children picked cornflowers in a field and wove them into wreaths. Wilhelm never forgot that moment, and the cornflower later became his favourite flower.
A Palmengarten article by Schubert and Steinecke gives the same scene: Wilhelm was nine, the wheel broke, the family stopped at the edge of a field, and Louise passed the time braiding cornflower wreaths. Many modern guides add that Louise hid her children in the field and that the wreaths kept them from crying. The castle and Palmengarten accounts say only that the wheel broke and the family waited; neither mentions hiding. Both are retellings, and we found no letter or memoir from 1806 that describes the scene.
The later history is better documented. Palmengarten reports that in 1871, as newly proclaimed emperor, Wilhelm set a bunch of cornflowers on his mother’s grave before going to war, and that on some occasions his followers wore cornflowers in their buttonholes. After the First World War a nationalist and monarchist women’s association, the Bund Königin Luise, took the cornflower as its emblem until the Nazis dissolved it in 1934. The same article says various groups still use the cornflower for naturalness, clarity, freedom or hope, and it describes the colour as the “preußischblau” of Prussian uniforms. Austria-Forum adds that Wilhelm proclaimed the cornflower the “German flower” in memory of his mother; we found that in no other source.
Austria: a cornflower with a political history
In Austria the cornflower carries a heavier meaning than in Germany. Austria-Forum calls it Otto von Bismarck’s favourite flower and the symbol of Georg von Schönerer’s pan-German movement, and says that when the Nazi party and swastika were banned in Austria, “illegal” Nazis often wore it as a substitute sign. It also reports a 1997 Constitutional Court ruling that the broadcaster ORF could point out that the cornflower had been a symbol of the illegal Nazis.
Falter reports that Freedom Party (FPÖ) politicians wore cornflowers at the opening of parliament in 2006, which drew heavy criticism, and that a cornflower is not on Austria’s list of banned symbols. That is why a cornflower in a lapel can read very differently in Vienna than in Paris.
Bleuet de France: the French remembrance flower
The Bleuet de France is France’s flower of remembrance: a cornflower badge sold every 11 November and 8 May to fund help for veterans, wards of the nation and wounded soldiers. The Oeuvre Nationale du Bleuet de France has been run by the national veterans’ office, ONACVG, since 1991, and the 2014 press kit dates the second collection day, 8 May, to 1957. Plantlife puts the comparison simply: in France cornflowers are worn much as poppies are worn in Britain. Our poppy meaning guide covers the Commonwealth flower.
Why the cornflower
The 2012 and 2013 press kits give two reasons. The flower is blue like the French flag and like the new uniform of young soldiers, and it is a wild flower able to come back on battlefields, as the British poppy does. The Élysée says it was the only flower then growing on the battlefields, a sign of hope and of life resuming after the fighting. The Military Heritage of Ireland Trust, summarising a French Embassy booklet, adds that the front-line soldiers called fresh conscripts in their new blue uniforms bleuets.
When it began: four official kits, two answers
Two nurses at the Invalides, Charlotte Malleterre and Suzanne Lenhardt (spelled Leenhardt in some kits), had wounded men make fabric cornflowers for work and a small income. The dates are where the sources split, even inside the same publisher’s output.
| Event | 2012 and 2013 press kits | 2014 and 2015 press kits |
|---|---|---|
| First fabric cornflowers | 1916 | 1918 |
| First workshop at the Invalides | 1925 | 1925 |
| First street sale authorised in Paris | 1929 | 11 November 1934 (about 128,000 flowers) |
| Sale authorised across France | 11 November 1935 | 1935 |
| 8 May added as a second day | 1957 | 1957 |
The four kits (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) agree on 1925, 1935 and 1957 and disagree on the first fabric flowers (1916 or 1918) and the first Paris sale (1929 or 1934). English-language pages usually give 1916, and the Élysée says only that the nurses created it after the First World War. This guide uses 1935, the date every kit shares, as the start of the nationwide remembrance sale.
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→ View My Garden CalendarEstonia’s national flower
Estonia’s national flower is the cornflower, chosen in 1968. Eesti Pank says the blue Centaurea cyanus was chosen that year, and it issued a two-euro coin for the flower on 21 May 2024, with one million coins minted. An Eesti Loodus editor’s column from 2018 adds that the choice was made alongside the barn swallow on the initiative of Jaan Eilart, chairman of the Estonian Nature Conservation Society, and that in occupied Estonia it looked in hindsight like a bold step, because the blue-black-white colour combination was banned.
Palmengarten reports that at the 17th Estonian Song Festival in 1969 the Soviet authorities treated blue cornflower decorations as a symbol against communism and ordered the flowers dyed red so that they would pass as red carnations. It also says girls in Estonia wear cornflower wreaths at summer festivals. That dyeing story comes from one source in our research.
Cornflower meaning by country
Of the four countries in this table (Austria, with a very different history, has its own section above), France is the one with a remembrance flower on a fixed calendar, while the others tie the cornflower to a monarch, a national symbol or a farm field.
| Country | What it stands for | Main basis | Caveat |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | Remembrance and solidarity with veterans and war victims | Bleuet de France, sold nationwide for 11 November from 1935 | Start given as 1916 or 1918 in different kits |
| Germany | Prussian royal favourite, linked to Queen Louise and Wilhelm I | Hohenzollern Castle, Palmengarten | The 1806 scene is a retelling; the “German flower” proclamation is from one source |
| Estonia | National flower, chosen in 1968 under Soviet rule | Eesti Pank, Eesti Loodus | The 1969 dyed-red story is from one source |
| United Kingdom | Arable wildflower that is also grown as a garden annual; “delicacy” in Victorian dictionaries | Plantlife, BSBI, RHS, 19th-century dictionaries | Plantlife explains the French use by comparison with the UK poppy |
Bachelor’s button is a name given to about 30 plants, the cornflower among them, and the courtship lore attached to it appears more in recent popular guides than in the old dictionaries. Plant-Lore, adapting Roy Vickery’s folklore research, says the name has been given to approximately 30 plants and was applied to the cornflower in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and the USA.
What the Victorian-era dictionaries say
Four dictionaries give the cornflower or bluebottle the same meaning, delicacy, and none of them gives it remembrance. Only one links hope to the bachelor’s button.
| Book | Entry | Meaning given |
|---|---|---|
| Greenaway, Language of Flowers | Bluebottle (Centaury); Corn Bottle; Bachelor’s Buttons | Delicacy; Delicacy; Celibacy |
| Tyas, 1869 | The Blue Bottle (Centaurea Cyanus) | Delicacy |
| New York dictionary, 1884 | Cornflower | Delicacy |
| Flora’s Pocket Dictionary, 1870 | Cornflower (Bluebottle); Bachelor’s Button in the index of meanings | Delicacy; “Hope in love” |
Tyas explains the choice with the myth of Cyanus, a youth who wove wreaths of field flowers and was found dead among the blue bottles he had gathered; the goddess Flora turned him into the flower. He calls it the emblem of the delicacy of a devotion “feeding upon hope” that does not expect to be rewarded. Folkard’s 1884 Plant Lore tells the same myth and adds a Russian legend of a young man named Basil lured into the fields by a nymph and turned into the flower, and Grieve says the Latin name Cyanus came from a young devotee of Flora. These are myths retold, not records.
The documented love custom is divination by cornflower. The 1884 New York dictionary says the petals “are used for divination,” and Folkard lists the centaury or bluet and bachelor’s buttons among plants consulted “for the most part by rustic maidens in affairs of the heart.”
The better-known story, that a young man wore a cornflower in his buttonhole and that a quick fade meant his love was not returned, is told by a 2015 school blog, Symbol Sage and SimplyBeyondHerbs, and none of them gives an early source. The 2015 blog also says Victorian women wore the flower to show they were single, which reverses who wore it. Present it as tradition. The one fading reading with a stated basis is in Palmengarten: because the blue bleaches as the flowers age, the cornflower was seen as a sign of changeability.
Why the cornflower became rare in the fields that named it
The cornflower became scarce in British fields because seed cleaning and herbicides removed it from cereal crops, and it now grows mostly as a casual from wildflower seed mixes. The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland says it has been in Britain since the Iron Age, was a serious weed of cereals until seed cleaning caused a rapid decline, and fell faster once large-scale inorganic herbicides arrived in the 1950s. Its range began to recover in the 1980s because wildflower seed mixtures include it.
Plantlife reports the same decline and says recovery began in the late 1980s, particularly on unsprayed set-aside land. The BSBI describes the plant as an archaeophyte, an ancient introduction, which fits the 1884 New York dictionary’s remark that it was probably brought from the East with imported grain. The BSBI lists it as Least Concern on the Great Britain Red List, Critically Endangered on the Welsh Red List, and it also sits on England’s NERC Section 41 list. The Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service adds that true native populations are rare and ecologically distinct from the ornamental strains in wildflower mixes, with Breckland holding some of the most important remaining ones.
Germany shows a similar pattern. Palmengarten says herbicides, better seed cleaning and over-fertilising have made the cornflower rare in places, while populations have recovered somewhat on organic farms and unsprayed field margins. The old name Hurtsickle, which Grieve explains, records the plant’s tough stems blunting reapers’ sickles in the hand-reaping days. The name Cornflower itself refers to “corn” as grain, Plantlife explains.
From meaning to garden: growing cornflowers
The cornflower is a simple annual to sow, and the Royal Horticultural Society describes it as an annual to 75 cm with solitary deep blue flowerheads 3–4 cm across and violet-blue inner florets, flowering in late spring and summer. It wants full sun and well-drained loam or sand, and tolerates acid, neutral or alkaline soil. The RHS lists bachelor’s buttons, bluebottle and hurtsickle among its other names.
Our how to grow bachelor’s buttons guide covers sowing, spacing and cutting for the vase, and our list of true blue flowers shows how it compares with other blues. Another blue flower tied to remembrance is covered in our forget-me-not meaning guide. If you plan to wear or give a cornflower, the useful rule is the one this guide keeps repeating: in France it is a remembrance badge, in Austria it can be a political sign, and elsewhere it is mostly a bright field flower.
Cornflower meaning FAQ
What does a cornflower symbolize?
The cornflower symbolizes remembrance in France through the Bleuet de France and delicacy in four Victorian-era flower dictionaries. It was also the favourite flower of Queen Louise of Prussia and her son Wilhelm I, and it is Estonia’s national flower. Modern guides add hope and love, and Flora’s Pocket Dictionary of 1870 lists “Hope in love” against bachelor’s button.
What is the Bleuet de France?
The Bleuet de France is the French flower of remembrance, a cornflower badge sold on 11 November and 8 May for veterans, wards of the nation and wounded soldiers. French press kits agree on a national sale from 1935 and disagree on the first fabric cornflowers (1916 or 1918).
Bachelor’s button is a name given to about 30 plants, including the cornflower in some English regions and the USA. The usual explanation, that young men wore it in the buttonhole when courting, is told as folklore by recent guides without an early source.
Was the flower in Tutankhamun’s tomb a cornflower?
It was a cornflower relative. A Kew botanist identified the garland’s flowers as Centaurea depressa, resembling blue cornflower, not Centaurea cyanus.
What is Estonia’s national flower?
Estonia’s national flower is the cornflower, chosen in 1968, according to Eesti Pank, which put it on a two-euro coin in May 2024.
Is the cornflower rare?
In British fields it is far scarcer than it once was. The BSBI says it was a serious cereal weed until seed cleaning and herbicides cut it back, and it now grows mostly as a casual from wildflower mixes. It is Least Concern on the Great Britain Red List and Critically Endangered in Wales.
Why is the cornflower a political symbol in Austria?
Austria-Forum says it was the symbol of Schönerer’s pan-German movement and a substitute sign for illegal Nazis, and Falter reports that Freedom Party politicians wore it in parliament in 2006. Falter also says it is not on Austria’s list of banned symbols.
Sources
- Griffith Institute, University of Oxford. Preserving a Fragile Memory: The Funeral Wreath of Tutankhamun (D. Rosenow, 12 December 2025). Tutankhamun Spatial Archive
- Burg Hohenzollern. Audio guide, station 10: The King’s Living Room. museum.com
- Schubert, P. and Steinecke, H. Die Kornblume – Lieblingsblume der Preußen. Palmengarten (Frankfurt), Goethe University library journal platform
- Austria-Forum. Symbole: Blume (section on the cornflower). Graz University of Technology
- Horaczek, N. Kornblume, Edelweiß oder blaue Distel? Falter, 17 October 2024
- Préfecture du Val-d’Oise. Le Bleuet de France, dossier de presse, 11 novembre 2012 (Oeuvre Nationale du Bleuet de France)
- Préfecture du Val-d’Oise. Le Bleuet de France, dossier de presse, novembre 2013 (Oeuvre Nationale du Bleuet de France)
- Préfecture du Val-d’Oise. Le Bleuet de France, dossier de presse, octobre 2014 (Oeuvre Nationale du Bleuet de France)
- Préfecture du Val-d’Oise. Le Bleuet de France, dossier de presse, mai 2015 (Oeuvre Nationale du Bleuet de France)
- Élysée. Portons le Bleuet de France! (6 November 2020)
- Military Heritage of Ireland Trust. The Bluet de France (3 February 2017, based on a French Embassy booklet)
- Plantlife. Cornflower, Centaurea cyanus
- Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Centaurea cyanus L. (Cornflower), species page
- Suffolk Biodiversity Information Service. Cornflower, Centaurea cyanus
- Eesti Pank. Eesti Pank is issuing a two-euro coin on 21 May dedicated to the Estonian national flower, the cornflower (14 May 2024)
- Eesti Loodus, February 2018 (editor’s column on national symbols, in Estonian). Loodusajakiri
- Greenaway, K. Language of Flowers. George Routledge and Sons (Project Gutenberg ebook 31591)
- Tyas, R. The Language of Flowers: or, Floral Emblems of Thoughts, Feelings, and Sentiments. George Routledge and Sons, 1869. Internet Archive
- The Language of Flowers, Including Floral Poetry. R. Worthington, New York, 1884 (not Greenaway’s book). Internet Archive
- Flora’s Pocket Dictionary: A Lexicon of the Language and Sentiment of Flowers. Porter and Coates, Philadelphia, 1870. Internet Archive
- Folkard, R. Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1884. Internet Archive
- Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal: Cornflower. Botanical.com
- Royal Horticultural Society. Centaurea cyanus (cornflower), plant profile
- Plant-Lore. Bachelor’s buttons (adapted from R. Vickery, Garlands, Conkers and Mother-die, 2010)
- KLC School of Design (West Dean). Daydream in Blue: The Cornflower (6 June 2015)
- SimplyBeyondHerbs. Cornflower Meaning and Symbolism: Ultimate Guide
- Symbol Sage. Cornflowers: Exploring Their Symbolic and Cultural Significance
