Lousewort, Common Cow-wheat and Yellow Rattle

These three native plants are all root-hemiparasites meaning in simple terms they get some nutrients from the roots of other plants. Yellow Rattle feeds on grass roots thus weakening the grass and allowing the wildflowers more space to flourish.

Lousewort and Common Cow-wheat grow within a few hundred metres of each other on Beacon Hill near Monmouth. Yellow Rattle can be found in meadows and on local woodland rides.

Lousewort, Pedicularis sylvatica

This grows on the open heathland. Its name suggests a belief that the eating of it gave sheep lice, possibly transmitting them to humans. There is little evidence for this and it may well be a result of it growing on poor grazing land. It also has the names Honeysookies in Shetland, and Honeysuckle in Hampshire. The sweet nectar was enjoyed by children in particular by detaching the blooms and sucking them. (I've come across this tradition a few times so did a bit of research. Before sugar became generally available, and cheap, sweetness was a rare treat: hence the number of plants whose blooms were sucked for nectar.)

The corolla is between 2-2.5 cm long. The bloom is two lipped and pinkish-purple. The upper lip is erect and hooded at the tip with a terminal tooth and single tiny teeth to either side. The lower lip is flat and three lobed.

The flowers are on leafy spikes. It is very low growing and sprawling with intricately cut leaves. 

Common Cow-wheat, Melampyrum pratense

This is a woodland plant occurring soon after the open heathland ceases on Beacon Hill. Again a root- hemiparasite it grows in patches running away from the woodland ride. It has dark green spear-shaped leaves and 2-lipped tubular yellow flowers in pairs. Both flowers face the same way at the base of the leaf-like bracts. The upper lip forms a hood, the lower has three small teeth. It is an annual and the seeds are spread by ants which take them back to their nests. Since the ants usually carry them only a few yards the plant is seen as an indicator of ancient woodland. 

Folklore tradition suggests it might help with the conception of male children which could have given rise to the name Baby's Rattle in Somerset. The plant is enjoyed by cows and it was thought to produce a better quality butter.

Yellow Rattle, Rhinanthus minor

This plant I saw in a meadow but I have also seen it on woodland rides. It is erect, with yellow flowers. The upper lip is flattened and hooded with two tiny violet teeth on either side of the tip. The lower lip is three lobed. Leaves are stemless, prominently veined with coarse blunt teeth.

 

The name must come from the sound the seeds make in the inflated calyx that becomes brown and bladder like. On the day I walked through this meadow the rattle was evident, caused by the breeze and my footsteps. (A photobombing insect is allowed for good measure!) 

Folk names include Penny-grass in Somerset, Lancashire and Yorkshire, Rattlebags in Devon and Dorset and Fiddle-cases on the Isle of Wight.

Acknowledgements include Harrap's Wild Flowers, Stace 4, Grigson The Englishman's Flora, Richard Mabey Flora Britannica and for the Common Cow-wheat the Plantlife website  www.plantlife.org.uk

Bittersweet and Honeysuckle

Two native plants, the scrambler Bittersweet and the climber Honeysuckle common in hedgerows and woodland in the Wye Valley.

Bittersweet, Solanum dulcamara

Common names include reference to habitat, as in the Lancastrian name Robin-run-the-hedge; a probable perceived supernatural purpose in Witchflower and its appearance in Snake-flower: these last two names are used in Somerset. The name Bittersweet comes from the berries green in this photo, ripening through yellow to bright red later in the year, which first taste sweet then bitter.

The five purple petals set off the cone of yellow stamens.

Grigson relates how German physicians in the sixteenth century introduced the stalks into medicine which was then used to treat rheumatism, skin diseases and as a purgative. Garlands of Bittersweet were also used to protect against the effects of witchcraft in man and beasts.

Honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum

The stalkless flowers are unmistakable in whorls at the end of stems and are very fragrant especially in the evening when pollinating moths are attracted. There are five stamens, projecting from the corolla tube as does the single style. Leaves are opposite, oval and short stalked. I think all those features can be seen here.

The folklore is extensive. As ever the folk names reflect habit as in Bindweed, Woodbine and Bindwood, and shape as in Trumpet Flower: all these are Yorkshire names. Taste is reflected in Honeysuck and Suckles and the supernatural in Fairy Trumpets: all Somerset names.

Honeysuckle was an important plant in averting evil powers on May Day and took care of milk, butter and the cows. The plant was sometimes unpopular with woodsmen as it constricted the growth of young trees and it could constrict more than trees.... There is a very threatening story in the ballad of Willie's Lady when a witch tried to prevent a birth by a ' bush o' woodbine ' being planted between the witch's home and the lady's. Don't worry - happy ending as the shrub was removed. 

As this is published on Twitter's #FolkloreThursday there is a strong folklore element. I hope you have found it interesting. I plan to post again on Sunday when the tone might be more botanical!

As ever thanks to Harrap's Wildflowers, Stace 4, Grigson The Englishman's Flora and Mabey Flora Britannica.

Biting Stonecrop and Ground-elder

Biting Stonecrop, Sedum acre

A common native, of the Crassulaceae family, this blazes in mats along a dry stone wall in Cleddon near Monmouth at the moment. It grows where there is almost no soil. A succulent, it has small clusters of 5 petalled flowers.

It is the alternate, overlapping leaves which are bright green that give it its name as they have a hot, peppery, biting taste.

Richard Mabey in Flora Britannica says it has "the longest and most cryptic vernacular name of any British plant, 'welcome-home-husband-though-never-so-drunk'." I leave that with you....

Ground-elder, Aegopodium podagraria

This member of the Apiaceae family grows in abundance in the Cleddon lanes. Probably introduced  to Britain in the Roman period it is so notorious as a garden weed one of its folk names in Northern Ireland is Garden Plague. In Oxfordshire it was called Jump-about which may refer to its propensity to spread and form patches or the fact that it was used as a treatment for gout. In Wiltshire it has the name Gout-weed. Grigson in The Englishman's Flora tells that the leaves can be boiled like spinach and are spicy.

The leaves are divided into large oval leaflets. Stems are round but ridged.

Stamens are purple tipped and individual petals are heart-shaped.

These common plants, only a few hundred yards apart in Cleddon, benefit from the varied terrain: a sunny meadow wall and a shady lane.

Acknowledgements as usual to Harrap's Wild Flowers, Stace 4, Grigson The Englishman's Flora, and this time, in addition, Wild Flower Finder website which has great pictures and detailed info.  http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/

Thanks for visiting this blog. I am very new to blogging and would welcome advice and feedback. Thank you those who have already helped. I am planning to focus on Beacon Hill heathland plants soon along with climbers more generally found in the Wye Valley.

Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, Greater Bird's-foot-trefoil, Meadow Vetchling

All these plants are native, found near Monmouth and are in the Fabaceae family.

Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, Lotus corniculatus

Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, Lotus corniculatus is a very common wild flower with over 70 folk names recorded in Grigson's Englishman's Flora. They refer to the shape of the flower as in Grandmother's Slippers (Hampshire), Lady's Boots (Devon) and the seed pods which resemble birds' feet as in Bird's Claws (Devon), Dead Man's Fingers (Hampshire) and Devil's Claws (Somerset). It will be noted that as with so many folk names there are positive and negative names. Many names are neutral, however, especially those concerned with colour: Rosy Morn and Eggs-and-bacon (Somerset).

The flowers, of course, are yellow to orange, sometimes streaked red, and in clusters at the end of long stalks. Importantly, the stems are solid. This one was in a hill top meadow.

Greater Bird's-foot-trefoil, Lotus pedunculatus

I noticed this plant sprawling near a stream on a wet woodland ride. The stems are much longer than in the Common Bird's-foot-trefoil. The calyx teeth curve out and down in the bud with the upper two calyx teeth straight or curling outwards. The flower lacks the red tones. This plant is quite hairy.

 

Very importantly the lower stems are hollow. Thanks must go to @Barbus59 who posted Greater Bird's-foot-trefoil on Twitter a few days ago with this ID tip. Without this information, I certainly wouldn't have investigated.

Meadow Vetchling, Lathyrus pratensis

A plant that comes with some great folk names: Mouse Pea in Donegal and Old Granny's Slipper-sloppers in Dorset.

The leaves are cut into a single pair of leaflets, lanceolate and sharply pointed. It is scrambling here through use of tendrils along the edge of a woodland ride.The stipules can just be seen and are large and leaf-like. 

The stems are square but not winged.

I am going to try to organise more wildflower blog posts into family or habitat groups but it does depend on what I find! Serendipity. However common they are, I think they are all beautiful and with natives in particular, I like to think of people seeing and appreciating these plants throughout the centuries.

Acknowledgements

Harrap's Wild Flowers, Stace 4, Grigson The Englishman's Flora, Richard Mabey Flora Britannica

Dog-rose and Field-rose

I am pleased to blog on these two natives during British Flowers Week 2020. 

The Dog-rose is very common in the lane-sides and hedgerows of the Monmouth area whereas the Field-rose is only fairly common. This is an extremely complex genus, with its own Facebook group dedicated to the finer points of ID and hybridisation. It should be noted that the name Dog-rose is used to describe a group of many hybrids and is used to represent the group. 

Dog-rose, Rosa canina

When I first started research on the wild rose, I was surprised to find there was limited folklore, possibly because roses have been so long cultivated. The local names include, for the plant, Cat-rose in Cheshire and Briar-rose in Northumberland. There were many names for the fruit including Pixie Pears in Devon, Cat-jugs in Yorkshire and Soldiers in Kent. Children liked to put the seeds down each others' necks to cause itching hence the seed names Ticklers and Tickling Tommies in Devon. As usual Grigson's The Englishman's Flora is my source here.

Notwithstanding this at first apparent lack of folklore, one of the best ways of identifying roses in the canina group is through the sepals and I came across this folk-riddle in Richard Mabey's Flora Britannica.  

On a summer's day, in sultry weather,

Five brethren were born together.

Two had beards and two had none

And the other had but half a one.

 

Mabey explains that the brethren are the five sepals, two of which are whiskered on both sides, two quite smooth and the fifth whiskered on one side only. Harrap's Wild Flowers refers to sepals being lobed, spreading at first then turning down against the hip and falling before it ripens. 

Which description do you prefer?

 

Prickles are strongly curved and stems long and arching. The flowers vary from pink to white. These are a very pale pink.

 

Stigmas are in a small conical tuft.

What has been used in folklore medicine is the Robin's Pincushion or Bedeguar Gall, as seen below. Produced by the Bedeguar Gall Wasp on the Dog-rose, this is caused by a group of larvae each living in its own cell within the gall. These 'briar balls' were powdered and sold by apothecaries against worms and colic. They were also worn around the neck as an amulet against whooping cough. I spotted this small one in a nearby hedgebank.

The name Dog-rose appears in Gerard's Herbal, first published in 1597, to distinguish the wild rose from the garden roses. He writes of the fruit being used as food making "most pleasant meates and banketting dishes, as Tartes and such like". 

In WW2 the hips of wild roses became really important as a source of Vitamin C. It had been known since the 1930s that wild hips had a higher proportion of the vitamin than any other common fruit or vegetable. In 1941 the Ministry of Health started a scheme for voluntary collection and processing into rosehip syrup. By the end of the war the annual harvest was over 450 tons. Collectors, often children, were paid 3d a pound and some made quite significant sums of money. Collecting for National Rose Hip Syrup went on until the early 1950s.

Field-rose, Rosa arvensis

This plant was trailing over bracken and other vegetation on a local woodland ride. The flowers are always creamy white with the projecting style fused into a slender, hairless pin like column. The anthers are conspicuous and golden.

The stems are wine-red on the sunlit upper side and contrastingly green below. They have slender curved prickles.

 

I hope you have found this blog interesting. I plan to post more more on native plants in a few days. 

Acknowledgements are due to Harrap's Wild Flowers, Stace 4, Richard Mabey Flora Britannica, Grigson An Englishman's Flora and the website of NatureSpot. Thank you.

Lesser Stitchwort, Common Knapweed and Eyebright

All of these were in the same meadow near Monmouth.

Lesser Stitchwort, Stellaria graminea

I found this on a meadow pathway. The main ID feature for me is the five petals split almost to the base.

The petals are very variable in size. Bracts, thin and papery in texture, are whitish with a green midrib.

Common Knapweed, Centaurea nigra

Common in this meadow and very popular with pollinators is this native plant from the Asteraceae family. Most of the folk names come from the hard knob-like heads, the toughness of the plant and the bottle shaped involucre: Loggerheads in Somerset, Shaving Brush in Shropshire and Tarbottle in Oxfordshire. 

The name Bachelor's Buttons in Ireland came from the romantic idea that when a girl put inside her blouse a flower head from which she had removed all the open florets, if within an hour some more opened, love was not far away and would come from the right person!

The thistle-like reddish-purple flowers grow singly at the top of the stem. The bracts form a globular head below the florets, with the flower stalk immediately below that distinctly swollen. The leaf is strap-shaped.

Eyebright, Euphrasia spp

This plant, from the Orobanchaceae family, varies a lot in stature. There are according to Harrap's Wild Flowers 18 closely related species and 71 wild hybrids. This one is tiny, compact and abundant here. The corolla is two lipped with the lower lip split into three notched lobes.

 

As with so many folk remedies the shape and colour of the flower suggested its use: to brighten the eye and cure any disease in it. Grigson in The Englishman's  Flora says it was used for these purposes from the Middle Ages. Coles in 1657 wrote "purple and yellow spots and stripes very much resemble diseases of the eye, as bloodshot, etc." 

This brings me to Day 158 of #365DaysofBotany. Lockdown meant I could no longer post daily as I started going out only a couple of times a week and eventually I had used most of the wild flowers in the garden. I am posting seven plants seen within the week, each week, keeping to the spirit of what I set out to do. Always interested in plants through the ages, I have included history and folklore. 

 

Thank you very much for reading it and all the likes and retweets. Very much appreciated! 

Common Figwort, Hogweed, Slender St John's Wort annd Tutsan

Common Figwort, Scrophularia nodosa

A native plant of the Scrophulariaceae or Figwort family, Harrap's Wild Flowers says it's fairly common. I've seen three small sites of it within a 5 mile radius in my part of the Lower Wye Valley. As with most native plants it has a range of local names including Stinking Roger in Cheshire referring to its smell but its healing qualities seem recorded in Cut-finger in Surrey and Poor Man's Salve in Devon. Grigson in An Englishman's Flora calls it ugly- with which  I would disagree- but also records the name Fairies' Beds in Dorset. It long persisted in folk medicine for ulcers, worms, cancer, the itch and red faces.

It grows in damp woodland and is very like Water Figwort but @AngelikaHTCG has a good tip for telling them apart: the stems of Water Figwort look as though they have been pinched for extra sharp edges on the wings.  Common Figwort stems are not winged or only slightly so.

@Barbus59 offers advice on the leaves of Water Figwort which have rounded bases and little ears at base. The leaves of Common are squared off and nettle like.

Thank you both! The Twitter wildflower community is always very helpful.

 

Hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium 

Truly abundant in grassy places this, I think, is an underrated native plant. Insects love it and I rarely see this umbellifer from the Apiaceae family without a visitor. The notched petals are unequal in size and vary from white to pink. The leaves are cut into 2-3 pairs of large, irregular leaflets.

It was used as a food for pigs hence the name but it was also known as Cow Parsnip. The scientific name is worth a note. It was named for Heracles because of its height, to 180cm in summer sometimes more. (NB Giant Hogweed is the huge one, up to 6m and an introduction, not native.) Linnaeus described it in 1753 using the term sphondylium meaning vertebrate and referring to the shape of the segmented stem.

Slender St John's-wort, Hypericum pulchrum 

I saw this on the heathland  bordering Cleddon Bog where it is locally common. Delicate and attractive it has reddish buds because the yellow petals are tinged red below. The main ID feature is the leaves: oval, blunt at the tip and with a heart shaped stem-clasping base. They can just be seen here.

Tutsan, Hypericum androsaemum

This member of the Hypericaceae family, also a native, is much more familiar. This one is in my garden and is one of half a dozen or so that have self-seeded or been bird-seeded here. Leaves oval, the petals are equal to or shorter than sepals. It has black berries in the Autumn which give rise to one of its folk names in Cornwall: Devil's Berries. Most of the names come from the south-west where the plant is very frequent.  As so often the plant has a good reputation too. The leaves were applied to grazes and wounds. The dried leaves were put between the pages of prayer books and bibles.

Four plants, three plant families, attendant folklore and history. I hope you have found it interesting.  More in #Wildflowerhour at the weekend.

Common Valerian, Common Spotted Orchid and Red Clover

Common Valerian, Valeriana officinalis

Harrap's Wild Flowers says this native is fairly frequent and I know of two sites. This tall plant I saw on the path near Cleddon Bog earlier in the week in tight bud. A return visit saw it in full flower and showing the three stamens of each tiny bloom. All the leaves are cut into leaflets.

According to Grigson in The Englishman's Flora local names reflect its healing attributes: All-heal in Somerset, Cut-finger leaf in Wiltshire and also the liking cats have for the dry root in the name Cat-trail in Yorkshire; so much so it was used to trap them. Remember that the next time your cat disappears before a trip to the vet's! It is still popular as a herb that calms the mind.

Common Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza fuchsii

A few yards along from the Common Valerian is another common native beauty: the Common Spotted Orchid. The leaves are marked with dark spots and bars. The flower's lip is always deeply cut into 3 more or less equal lobes.

Red Clover, Trifolium pratense 

The third native plant of this post is very common and identifiable as Red Clover by the flower head being more or less stalkless with a pair of leaves immediately below. The leaves are hairy on upper and lower surfaces.

Grigson reports that Red and White Clover were distinguishing terms before 1066. Meadow clovers were, rather surprisingly, considered to be grasses that happened to have flowers! Gerard calls Trifolium pratense "three-leafed grass". Three-in-one clover leaves were lucky and four-leaved, of course, luckier still. 

Local names often reflect the practice of breaking off flowers and sucking out the sweet nectar. In Somerset, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire amongst other counties Red Clover was called Honeysuck. Confusingly to the modern botanist, the name Honeysuckle was also used in Hertfordshire, Yorkshire and Donegal.

Here ends another week of #365DaysofBotany.  Another instalment should be posted on Thursday.  

Bramble, Guelder Rose, Wall Speedwell and Brooklime

All these plants are native and found in the Lower Wye Valley. 

Bramble, Rubus fruticosus agg.

Blackberry seeds have been found in the stomachs of Neolithic man, from fruit eaten and enjoyed 8,000 years ago. I like to think of people walking the same ground as I do and looking forward to the August - September crop, an essential then not a fun forage. 

There are 334 microspecies of this familiar plant which are notoriously difficult to identify. There is a Facebook group dedicated to exploring the finer points of ID. Here I content myself with leaves having 3, 5 or 7 leaflets, and there being 5 petals either white or pink with numerous carpels and stamens.

Guelder Rose, Viburnum opulus

Local names include the Wild Pincushion-tree in Warwickshire and Traveller's Joy in Northern Ireland. The outer flowers are sterile, lacking both stigma and stamens and surround the smaller fertile ones. The calyx of the smaller flower has 5 tiny teeth, the corolla is divided into 5 petals and there are 5 stamens with creamy yellow anthers which can be seen here.

Wall Speedwell, Veronica arvensis

What identifies this plant for me is its upright habit with tiny almost stalkless bright blue flowers that only open in full sun. This plant is on a path in my back garden and only gets late afternoon sun. The plant is hairy, with oval -triangular leaves.

Brooklime, Veronica beccabunga 

The name of this plant is easy for me to remember and I found out from Grigson's Englishman's Flora, that the local in Shetland name Bekkabung has links with Old Norse: bekkr meaning brook and bung meaning plant. It was used in salads and Gerard recommended its use against scurvy.

I found patches of this on a walk near Cleddon Bog. Leaves with shallow, blunt teeth are short stalked and the flowers in slender spikes grow in pairs from the leaf axils.

The family name Veronica intrigued me and a little Googling revealed it to be from St Veronica who, Christian tradition has it, wiped Christ's face on the way to the crucifixion with her veil which then received the imprint of his face. The flower to some resembled the imprint. Linnaeus gave this family the name Veronicaceae in his classification system as it was already in common use throughout Europe.

I hope you have enjoyed this blend of history, folklore and botany for #365DaysofBotany.