The Blue Cornflower was first introduced from the Mediterranean area as a garden plant, but it soon escaped into the wild, and now it can be found alongside dusty roads, in open dry areas, and even at river estuaries where I found the ones on this page.
The stems are stiff and erect, hairy and branched, they can reach heights of 1 meter. The basal leaves are lance-shaped, and the underside of the leaves is woolly and white. The stem leaves are smaller and more narrow. At the ends of the stems are one to several flowers. The flowers of the Blue Cornflower are comprised of a large purple ray flower surrounded by blue ribbon-like petals. The flowers are mostly blue and purple but can be white, pink, or dark blue. They are beautiful flowers to see.
This Cornflower plant has not been used as medicine for a long time, though the plant had been used for centuries, mostly for eyes and eyesight problems.
The flower does have strong antiseptic properties and can be used for cuts, scrapes, and bruising of the skin. It is also used by herbalists as a remedy for conjunctivitis, eye swelling, puffiness, and pain in the eyes. To use on wounds, simply rub the cut end of a cornflower stem on the affected area. For an eyewash, you first make tea from the flowers and stems, then soak a cloth and use it as a compress.
You can use it to heal skin problems like acne, just boil the flowers and stems and then put a towel over your head and cover the bowl with the towel, after 15 minutes you can wash your face and believe me, you will feel a big difference.