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Family Compositae / Asteraceae
Coral flower
Centaurea cyanus L.
GARDEN CORNFLOWER
Che lun huo

Scientific names Common names
Centaurea cyanus L. Coral flower (Engl.)
Centaurea segetum HILL Bachelor buttons (Engl.)
Centaurea pulchra DC. Blue bottle (Engl.)
Leucacantha cyanus (L.) Nieuwl. & Lunell Blue cornflower (Engl.)
Shi che ju (Chin.) Boutonniere flower (Engl.)
  Garden cornflower (Engl.)
  Che lun huo (Chin.)

Other vernacular names
CHINESE: Lan fu rong.
FRENCH: Bluet, Centauree bleue.
GERMAN: Kornblume.
ITALIAN: Fiordaliso.
RUSSIAN: Vasiljok sinij, Vasiljok posevnoj.

Botany
Coral flower is an annual ground herb growing up to 50 centimeters tall. Stems are slender and wiry. Lower leaves are pinnately dissected, the upper leaves linear, covered with grayish, short hairs. Inflorescence heads are ovoid, 3 centimeters across. Flowers are blue to purple, pink to red, or cream to white. Fruit is an achene.

Distribution
- A cosmopolitan weed.
- Cultivated in Baguio City.
- Ornamental cultivation for its intense blue flowers.
- Native to the Mediterranean.

Constituents
- Phytochemical study yielded flavonoid aglycons (quercetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetic, apigenin, luteolin, hispidulin) and their glycosides, and caffeic, chlorogenic, neochlorogenic, and isochlorogenic acids from the epigeal parts. Ten amino acids were also identified.
- Study of flowers for phenolic compounds yielded phenilpropanic substances, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and tannnins.
(12)

Properties
- Anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic.
- Dried flowers considered antipruritic, antitussive, astringent, weakly diuretic, emmenagogue, ophthalmic, mildly purgative, and tonic.

Parts used
Flowers, leaves seeds.

Uses

Culinary
- Blue cornflower has been used to flavor tea.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- Externally, blue cornflower used as anti-inflammatory and astringent herb for ocular inflammation and as skin cleanser.
- Eye wash from blossoms use for conjunctivitis, also to relieve eye strain and puffy eyes.
- Infusion of blue blossoms used as curative and calming for nervous disorders.
- Infusion taken as bitter tonic and stimulant; also to improve digestion.
- Seeds used as mid laxative for children.
- Leaves used to create a cleansing facial steam for dry sensitive skin.
- Leaf decoction used as antirheumatic.
Others
- Ornamental: Blue flowers retain colors well, a favorite in flower arrangements.


Studies
Epoxylignans / Seeds:
Study yielded epoxylignans, berchemol (1) and lariciresinol 4-O-b-d-glucopyranoside (2) in the seeds of C. cyanus. (4)
Anti-Inflammatory: Preliminary studies have shown anti-inflammatory properties. Blue cornflower reduced the recurrence of urinary tract stones in one clinical trial.
Phenolic Compounds / Flower Colors: Study investigated the phenolic compound content and pharmacologic effects of different colors of flowers. Phytochemical testing yielded phenilpropanic substances, flavonoids, anthocyanins and tannins. Results showed anthocyanins, the main metabolites that confer phamacologic effects to C. cyanus, to be more concentrated in the red flowers (4-5 times more than in blue inflorescences). Other phenolic compounds were higher in the red flowers.
Gastroprotective: Qualitative studies on tinctures and crude aqueous, ethanol, and acetone extracts yielded gastroprotective compounds: quercetin, apigenin, and caffeic acid derivatives. Pharmacologic studies on rats with stress-induced ulcer showed high effectiveness of C. cyanus based vegetal products, even greater than the reference drug. (7)
Weed with Medical Features: Report made a case for Centaurea cyanus as a weed that should not be totally destroyed, but maintained at a low level of negative influence over agricultural cultures, protected, and even cultivated for medical purposes. (8)
Cornflower Honey / Antibacterial / Digital Dermatitis: Study defined markers for floral origin: lumichrome (18.8–43.5 mg/kg), 7-carboxylumichrome, (Z/E)-3-oxo-retro-α-ionol, and 3-oxo-α-ionol - to distinguish cornflower honey from other unifloral honeys. Cow's hoof disease (digital dermatitis) treated with cornflower honey showed significant faster healing than control group without treatment. (9)
Anthocyanin in Blue Flowers: The anthocyanin was reported as cyanidin 3,5-diglucoside, namely cyanin. Study showed the major anthocyanin in blue cornflower is not cyanin but cyanidin 3-succinyl glucoside 5-glucoside, presently called centaurocyanin. It is not considered that this anthocyanin forms the blue complex pigment protocyanin. (10)
Anti-Inflammatory / Immunological Effects / Flowerheads: Different pharmacological experiments (inhibition of carrageenan, zymosan, and croton oil-induced edemas, inhibition of plasma hemolytic activity, induction of anaphylatoxin activity) showed polysaccharides extracted from C. cyanus flower-heads had anti-inflammatory activity and interfered with complement. (11)
Anti-Leukemic: Study evaluated the in vitro cytotoxic properties of ethanol extracts of six selected Asteraceae species, including Centaurea cyanus on J-45.01 human acute T leukemia cell line. All samples showed antileukemic properties and induced cell death via apoptosis. The activity correlated with total polyphenolic content. The highest IC50 value characterized the inflorescences of Centaurea cyanus (0.77 mg/mL). (13)

Availability
Wild-crafted.
Cultivated.

March 2013
Last Updated November 2014

IMAGE SOURCE: Centaurea cyanus L. (1753) Sp. pl.: 911. / Knapweeds (Centaurea L. and some related genera) in North America / Centaurea
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Line drawing / Centaurea cyanus L. - garden cornflower / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Vol. 3: 557. / USDA
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: Photos / Flower closeup / Leo Michels / Public Domain / Click on image to go to source page / altervista

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Centaurea cyanus / Chinese names / Catalogue of Life, China
(2)
Centaurea cyanus / Common names / Knapweeds (Centaurea L. and some related genera) in North America
(3)
Phytochemical study of Centaurea cyanus / V. I. Litvinenko, V. N. Bubenchikova / Chemistry of Natural Compounds, November 1988, Volume 24, Issue 6, pp 672-674 (Kursk State Medical Institute. Translated from Khimiya Prirodynkh Soedinenii, No. 6, pp. 792–795, November–December, 1988.)
(4)
Epoxylignans from the seeds of Centaurea cyanus (Asteraceae) / Shoeb, M.; Jaspars, M.; MacManus, S.M.; Majinda, R.R.T.; Sarker, S.D. /
(5)
Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) / Natural Standard
(6)
PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF CENTAUREA CYANUS L. / TATIANA CHIRU / Scientific Papers, USAMV Bucharest, Series A, Vol. LII, 2009
(7)
Vegetal extracts with gastroprotective activity. Part. I. Extracts obtained from Centaurea cyanus L. raw material / LUCIA PIRVU, COPREAN DRAGOMIR, STELIAN SCHIOPU, SVETLANA COLCERU MIHUL/ Romanian Biotechnological Letters Vol.17, No.2, 2012
(8)
CENTAUREA CYANUS L. - A WEED WITH MEDICAL FEATURES / GH. ŞUŞU*, TATIANA CHIRU** /
Scientific Papers, USAMV Bucharest, Series A, Vol. LII, 2009, ISSN 1222-5339
(9)
Floral Markers of Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) Honey and Its Peroxide Antibacterial Activity for an Alternative Treatment of Digital Dermatitis / Stefanie Oelschlaegel *, Laura Pieper, Rudolf Staufenbiel, Margit Gruner, Linda Zeippert, Bernd Pieper , Isabelle Koelling-Speer, and Karl Speer * / J. Agric. Food Chem., 2012, 60 (47), pp 11811–11820 / DOI: 10.1021/jf303699t
(10)
The anthocyanin in blue flowers of Centaurea cyanus / Kôsaku Takeda, Satoko Tominaga / Journal of Plant Research (impact factor: 1.75). 11/1983; 96(4):359-363. / DOI:10.1007/BF02488180
(11)
Anti-inflammatory and immunological effects of Centaurea cyanus flowerheads / Nancy Garbacki, Vincent Gloaguen, Jacques Damas, Patricia Bodart, Luc Angenot / Journal of Ethnopharmacology , vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 235-241, 1999 / DOI: 10.1016/S0378-8741(99)00112-9
(12)
PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF CENTAUREA CYANUS L./ TATIANA CHIRU / Scientific Papers, USAMV Bucharest, Series A, Vol. LII, 2009, ISSN 1222-5339
(13)
CYTOTOXIC EFFECT OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS FROM ASTERACEAE FAMILY ON J-45.01 LEUKEMIC CELL LINE ñ PILOT STUDY / MAGDALENAWEGIERA*, HELENA D.SMOLARZ, MARCIN JEDRUCH, MAGDALENA KORCZAK and KAMILA KOPRON / Acta Poloniae Pharmaceutica ñ Drug Research, Vol. 69 No. 2 pp. 263ñ268, 2012

It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page.

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