Cornflower or Perennial cornflower: how to tell them apart?
Cornflower and Perennial cornflower look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.
⚡ The quick answer
Cornflower
Centaurea cyanus
Perennial cornflower
Centaurea montana
Perennial cornflower is a robust perennial with large, bright blue, solitary flowers at the top of whitish-hairy stems, whereas cornflower is a slimmer annual of cornfields, with smaller flowers and slender, branched stems.
🍃 Leaves
Narrow, linear, slightly woolly
Ovate-lanceolate, grey-green, downy
🌸 Flowers
Intense bright blue, flower head with spreading outer florets
Large bright blue flower heads with a purple centre, slender-tipped petals
🍎 Fruits
Achenes topped with a small pappus
Achenes topped with a pappus
🪵 Bark
Annual herbaceous plant with an upright stem, branched in the upper part.
Basal clump, upright, little-branched stems
📏 Size
30 to 80 cm
30 to 60 cm tall
🗺️ Habitat
Cultivated fields, waste ground, roadsides
Mountain meadows, borders, gardens, cool soils
⚠️ Toxicity
The flowers are traditionally used and may be eaten in small quantities (culinary decoration); do not present the whole species as edible.
No known toxicity.
🔎 And from the Perennial cornflower side
Perennial cornflower is a robust perennial with large, bright blue, solitary flowers at the top of whitish-hairy stems, whereas cornflower is a slimmer annual of cornfields, with smaller flowers and slender, branched stems.
🌿 Go further
Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.