Wreath of artificial cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) placed on the monument to Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929),  in Buckingham Palace Road, London.  The French general Foch who served as Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War.

Like poppies (Papaver rhoeas), cornflowers thrived on land devastated during the First World War, and as early as 1916 tissue-paper cornflowers were being produced and sold to raise money to supplement the income of injured service men.  From 1935 the French goverment has officially supported the sale of cornflowers – bluets – for Remembrance Day.

Photograph taken 13 November 2019.