Cornflower is an attractive, tall annual with a much branched stem and hairy, grey-green leaves. Easily its most distinctive feature is its large intensely blue ‘flowers’, which in common with other members of the daisy family (Asteraceae) are in fact a compound head of many small flowers. The edge of the head consists of large clear blue flowers and the middle of small purplish ones. Flowering occurs from June to August and is followed by the seeds which are similar in size to cereal grain but crowned with a brush of short bristles.