June 20, 2026
HORSE-KNOT
The flowers of the Horse-knot Centaurea nigra are also called Hard-heads and Iron-Heads, from the resemblance of the knotted involucre to an old weapon called Loggerhead, which consisted of a ball of iron fixed to a long handle, the precursor of the life-preserver, and the origin of the expression “coming to loggerheads.”
In the Northern Counties, the following rite is frequently observed by young people as a divination:—Let a youth or maiden pull from its stalk the flower of the Horse-Knot, cut the tops of the stamens with a pair of scissors, and lay the flower by in a secret place, where no human eye can see it. Let him (or her) think through the day, and dream through the night, of the beloved one: then, on looking at the flower the next day, if the stamens have shot out, the anxious sweetheart may expect success in love; but if not, disappointment. (See Centaury).