Buttercups and Daisies

Buttercups and Daisies being native plants provide us with traditions and botanical analysis stretching back centuries.

Creeping Buttercup, Ranunculus repens 

Identified by spreading sepals and a grooved flower stalk this has been the subject of a study which tries to assess the age of meadows by counting the number of R. repens with petals in excess of 5 in each 100 specimens.  This one, with many others,was on a woodland ride in the Wye Valley last week.

You may find the following link interesting. I first found out about this in 2017 when I found a 13 petalled flower on the same ancient woodland ride.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2729631/

This is the flower!

This final Creeping Buttercup, again with more than 5 petals, is in my garden which 40 years ago was, I believe, an old meadow within an orchard. I'm doing my best to keep this area natural!

Grigson, in The Englishman's Flora, says that a Somerset name for buttercups is Gildcap which leads me to recent research by Cambridge University into the reflective nature of the flower. Pigments in the petals absorb blue - green light, leaving mostly yellow light reflected out. The smooth surface of the petals reflects but air gaps within the petals effectively double the gloss. This glow gives us not just the children's game "Do you like butter?" but attracts pollinators. Also the Guardian reported that solar energy is collected in the cup, warming the flower to make it more attractive to pollinators.

Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris

This Buttercup is taller than the others, the flower stalk is smooth and the sepals spread.

The name Buttercup seems to have been late into general use perhaps not before the middle of the eighteenth century. Gerard used Butter-flower in 1597 for R. acris and R. repens.

Daisy, Bellis perennis 

I have saved this plant until now for #365DaysofBotany to celebrate Plantlife's #NoMowMay.  I have hundreds in the garden supporting pollinators. The English name comes from the Old English dages-eage meaning day's eye and referring to its opening and closing with the sun.

It has a long history of being a healing herb,  called Bone-flower in the North of England. Fiona Stafford in The Brief Life of Flowers recalls Chaucer's words which describe it as filled with "vertue and of alle honour". He saw the flower as an emblem of the perfect woman and devoted wife.

Oxeye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare 

The name I knew as a child, Moon Daisy, is more authentic as an English name than Oxeye which only began in the sixteenth century. It too has a long history as a healing herb. Boiled up and drunk it was believed to ease asthma and could either be applied or drunk to heal wounds and ulcers. It was believed on the continent that to hang it on the house guarded against lightning. English names like Thunder Daisy suggest we believed the same.

I have it in my meadow area and love the way it turns towards the sun, especially in the late afternoon as here.

Four plants take the total to #365DaysofBotany Day 143. I hope the history and folklore of these familiar plants is as interesting to you as it is to me. It is also a  small opportunity also to celebrate #NoMowMay