Cupidone

I’ve long liked this flower for its brilliant blue petals supported by silvery bracts, nodding on the end of tall graceful stems. Its scientific name is Catananche caerulea, and while it’s not rare it’s still not on every vineyard margin, so it’s always a thrill to see it. This example was in a large clump in the garrigue on the outskirts of Montpellier.

I have a particular reason for posting this image due to the associations of the flower. In fact, I’ve been waiting a while for a suitable moment. The plant was named katanankhe by the Greek physician Dioscorides (c. 40-90 AD), author of the massively influential textbook De Materia Medica. The name was latinised to catanance, but owes its use to the meaning ‘spell-binding, magic’, because it was used in the preparation of love-potions. Hence of course the name Cupidone, which is the same in English and French.

So this seems a good opportunity to say that I’ve started a new relationship – in fact it’s been going for a few months, and that I’m very happy about it. If I refer on Blip to M, that is she. Of course it is always in my mind that I lost Teleri (Chaiselongue) almost a year ago, and the mixture of emotions is strong, and curious. Life, love, and memory go on, inseparably. This isn’t the place to say any more than that.

I can add a footnote on the plant: in the Midi it’s also called Cigalou ( Occitan for cicada), because if you rub the shiny bracts they make a sound like that of the cicada. M and I heard the first one here on 6th June.