According to the ancient "Doctine of Signatures" the Cornflower's brilliant blue, star-like flowers indicated that they were good for the eyes.
Though some might label the Doctrine of Signatures philosophy as "silly nonsense", the age-old wisdom proved to be correct in the case of Centaurea cyanus. Extracts of the flower heads have indeed been found to possess mild anti-inflammatory and astringent properties, and continue to be used in modern phytotherapy to relieve minor eye inflammation.
In addition, recent pharmacological studies have confirmed the anti-inflammatory properties of Centaurea cyanus, believed to be due to the presence of polysaccharides (mainly galacturonic acid, arabinose, glucose, rhamnose and galactose) in its flower heads(1).
Skin Care Benefits: Astringent, Soothing, Anti-inflammatory
(1) "Anti-inflammatory and immunological effects of Centaurea cyanus flower-heads", Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 68, Issues 1-3, December 1999, Pages 235-241
D Brown, "Encyclopedia of Herbs", Dorling Kindersley Publishing Inc., 2005
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