Corn Poppies Grow in Wheat Fields

Posted by Georgene A. Bramlage Jul 29, 2006

Corn poppies, corn cackles, corn chamomile, cornflower, and corn marigold are the traditional corn weed plants to which Shakespeare alluded. They routinely invaded cultivated European grain fields before the introduction of weed controls.

Corn is the European term applied to grain species and varieties which are members of the Poaceae (grass family) whose seed grains are ground for flour. Corn, in the European sense, includes Triticum (wheat), Hordeum (barley) and Avena (oats).

Zea maize, American sweet corn and cattle feed, originated in Mexico and northern Central America and is a relative newcomer to the worldwide agricultural scene. This corn has nothing to do with the common names of what most landscape gardeners now consider traditional natural garden or meadow plants.

Here are the scientific names and web links for the five most common corn weeds:

• Papaver rhoeas, corn poppy
• Agrostemma githago, corn cackle
• Anthemis arvensis, corn chamomile
• Centaurea cyanus, cornflower, and
• Chrysanthemum segetum / Xanthophthalmum segetum, corn marigold.

The now deceased Christopher Lloyd cites East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden, East Ruston, Norwich in Norfolk, England in his book Meadows, 2004 as being ...one of the most effective deliberate cornfield displays he has ever seen.

If you know of any great cornfield scenes or natural meadows, please let me know at:landscaping@suite101.com

© Text by Georgene A. Bramlage, July 29, 2006. Reproduction without permission prohibited.