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What is Cupid's-dart?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

April 5, 2002

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Suggested Reading—>Click here.

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The Cupid's-dart (Catananche caerulea Linnaeus) [kat a nan' ke say ru' lee a] is native to the Mediterranean; a plant of the waste lands and mountains in southern Europe and

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northern Africa.

Gerard's Herbal (1633) has a wood-cut print of Cupid's-dart, but calls the plant Bucks-horne Gum-Succorie. He did not list this plant among the other gum-succories (Chicory tribe), but placed it among the bastard-woads or false dye-plants (Mustard family).

This is odd on his part for The Herbal is generally well-ordered with plants of similar physical characteristics listed together. Gerard gave no use for this gum-succorie, but he may have been offended by the historical use of this herb. He did mention that in older works the plant was called Catanance.

When Linnaeus named this plant under his rules of binomial nomenclature, he gave it the species epithet of caerulea meaning sky-blue for the color of the flowers. For the genus, he kept the ancient Greek designation--katananke. Kata meant down, against, or very and ananke meant force or necessity.

The ancient Greeks and Romans used Cupid's-dart in a philter (philtron)--a magic potion, love charm, or aphrodisiac. Cupid's-dart was said to make one fall completely in love. If Cupid was not willing to aid the affairs of the heart, katananke was.

The Garden Helper has a beautiful photograph of Cupid's-dart.

Click here to view the photograph

killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~

Suggested Reading:

What was love-in-idleness? What's in a Name? - March 12, 2004
What is a windflower of a bloody hue? What's in a Name? - February 15, 2002
What does peony have to do with poetry? What's in a Name? - May 2, 2003
Who was Ceres? What's in a Name? - April 16, 2004
What is the Greek legend of almonds and love? Herbal Folkore - September 1, 2003

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