Knapweed Unveiled: Nature's Resilient Marvel

Common knapweed is a remarkable wildflower! Its bright purple flowers and unique shape really catch the eye in any landscape. Every time I spot this tough plant, it truly inspires me. I find myself diving into new ideas for my paintings, experimenting with different colours and textures.

When we talk about wildflowers that show resilience, common knapweed really stands out. In this blog, I want to look at the interesting background of this tough little flower, share some interesting stories about it, and explain how its beauty and resilience has inspired my art.

Knapweed at Clattinger Farm Meadows, Wiltshire

What Is a Common Knapweed?

Common Knapweed is a perennial plant native to the UK, commonly found in grasslands, meadows, and wastelands. It can grow up to about 70 cm tall. The name comes from the Middle English word 'knopweed', which refers to its hard brown flower buds that look like little knobs.

You can tell Common Knapweed apart from Greater Knapweed by a few features - it is usually shorter, has long, simple leaves instead of lobed ones, its flower buds are not round, and it has a flower head that is only made up of disc florets with similarly sized petals.

In terms of its scientific classification, Common Knapweed belongs to the Asteraceae family, which is the daisy family. The genus name, 'Centaurea', tells us it is a type of Knapweed, and the species name 'nigra' translates to 'black'.

This plant is especially valuable for pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hoverflies. It produces a lot of nectar, attracting various butterflies, including the Brimstone and Common Blue. Plus, it is a food source for caterpillars of the Black-Veined and Scarce Forester moths.

The History of The Common Knapweed

Knapweed is a wildflower found throughout Britain in meadows and grassy areas, especially along road verges and hedgebanks. You can see it blooming from June to September.

There is a folklore about Common Knapweed - if a young woman picks a flower, removes the open blooms, and keeps it in her blouse for an hour, she might see her future husband if the closed blooms open up. Young women used to believe in this myth and gave this extraordinary flower a lot of power in the past.

In addition, Common Knapweed or Centaurea Nigra is also known by local names like Bachelor’s Buttons and Blue Bottle, referring to its tough, knobby heads. Historically, it has been used to treat cuts and bruises.

Island Blues, 100×100cms

Knapweed and Bees

Bees have a special bond with the knapweed. Since this flower comes in a fascinating colour, bees can easily spot it. However, we do not perceive it the same way! While some flowers might look similar to us, bees can easily tell them apart. And that is the case with the knapweed.

To be more specific, both humans and bees perceive colour in a similar way since they rely on three colours to form their understanding of the visual world. For us, those colours are red, blue, and green. Our eyes have special receptors for each of these hues, but there is a certain area called the fovea that has a lot of red receptors. While it does have green receptors, too, it completely lacks blue ones. This is where the sharpest images form in our vision and is crucial for spotting things like ripe fruits among green leaves.

When it comes to bees, these delicate insects see a different colour spectrum. They have receptors for ultraviolet, blue, and green. Although they can perceive some reddish wavelengths like yellow and orange, they do not have a receptor for red, meaning that what looks vividly red to us is basically invisible to them. Bees can see blue-green, blue, violet, and something called "bee purple," which is a mix of yellow and ultraviolet light.

Suspended 100×100cms

How I Paint Knapweed

Cloud Watching 2024, 100×120 cms

I love painting Knapweed! I enjoy the structure of the flower heads and the variations in colour. I often include the tough vertical stems to give a defined vertical in the painting…but not always! I prefer painting them as they are opening and closing rather than in full sun. To hint at the magical quality of the colour I layer a number of purples Liquitex Deep Violet, Manganese Violet and a hint of iridescent violet.

To learn more about this wildflower series, check my other blog posts and to see how I have painted them recently there are some on my available work page.

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