page_title: Catananche caerulea
section_title: Etymology
hierarchical_section_title: Catananche caerulea / Etymology
caption_attribution_description: This is a plate from The Botanical Magazine, Volume 9.
context_page_description: Catananche caerulea, Cupid's dart, is a greyish green perennial herbaceous plant with a basal leaf rosette and conspicuous blue-purple or sometimes white flowerheads, belonging to the daisy family. It is a popular garden plant and is often used in dried flower arrangements.
  It is native to the Mediterranean region. The flower was supposedly used by the ancient Greeks as a key ingredient in a love potion, hence the common name "Cupid's dart".
context_section_description: The simple translation of the root words from the Greek κατάνάγκη (katanagkē), itself a contraction of κατά (kata), "down" and άνάγκη (anagkē), "force", is "compulsion", which is suggested to refer to the use of this plant in love potions, and is reflected in the vernacular name Cupid's dart. The species epithet caerulea is the Latin for "(heavenly) blue".
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