Wood Sorrel

Wood Sorrel, Oxalis acetosella is one of my favourite spring flowers and I can remember where I saw it for the first time in deciduous woodland above the River Wye near Tintern. One of its traditional names in Dorset, Somerset and Wales, and indeed Europe, is Alleluia as it appears around Easter time when Alleluia was sung in triumph in churches. Grigson links this with it being seen with delight. Certainly agree!

It likes shady, well drained humus-rich soils. It often grows through moss on fallen logs. There is a school of thought that it is a strong indicator of ancient woodland (I came across a reference to this in the book I'm reading at the moment Julian Hoffman's Irreplaceable - highly recommended by the way) though it is found in hedgerows and conifer plantations too. 

The WildflowerFinder website (link below) is - not surprisingly- excellent on this plant. In subdued light the single flowers droop downwards and the trefoil leaves fold, pivoting about the fulcrum and folding along the mid-rib. I think that is happening here. The petals overlap.

In brighter conditions the flowers sit upright with both the petals and the trefoil leaves opened out. Even when the flowers are fully open the five petals are inwardly curved. The inner part of the petals have yellow markings which can be seen here along with the innermost sepal tube part being light green. There are five sepals, ten white stamens and five white styles with small stigmas. 

Below, in soft light, the leaves are partly opened. 

 

In the photo below a brief interlude of sunshine highlights the upright hairs on the leaf surface. The blogger's ever-patient husband took this photo which also shows the thickened node with a brown band about half-way up the flower stem. Probably best observed in this photo too is the mauve veining of the petals which is seen on the outer side as well as the inner.

The leaves have a sharp taste, and they were traditionally eaten as a spring salad, their sharpness taking the place of vinegar because they contain binoxalate of potash which is also present in rhubarb. In the early fifteenth century Wood Sorrel was cultivated in kitchen gardens. A sauce has been made of the leaves to be eaten with fish. Many of these traditions and recipes persist today in updated forms. It was used medicinally too but excess consumption was warned against especially for those with gout or rheumatism.

Both the botanical names refer to the acidity: oxalis: derived from Greek oxys meaning sour or acid and acetosella meaning vinegar salts.

Finally, some literary connections. Dorothy Wordsworth records in her Journal seeing it along with wood anemones, celandines, primroses, violets and daffodils. She and William were more entranced by the daffodils. Wrong move there? How about

I wandered lonely as a cloud ....when all at once I saw a host of white and mauve Fairy Bells; nodding, fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 

Worth a second thought, William! 

If you are having a busy day you might like to finish with another William, William Allingham, (1824-1889) an Irish poet, diarist and editor.

Out of the city, far away
With Spring today!
Where copses tufted with primrose 
Give me repose, 
Wood-sorrel and wild violet
Soothe my soul's fret. 

Acknowledgements

Grigson, An Englishman's Flora

Simon Harrap's Wildflowers

Irreplaceable, Julian Hoffman, published by Penguin

Websites include

https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/

http://botanical.com/

http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com/

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/wood-sorrel

https://romantic-circles.org/editions/poets/texts/dorothyjournals.html

https://libquotes.com/william-allingham/quote/lbj9w0s

Bluebells

The UK is home to about half of the world's bluebell population and in a Plantlife survey was voted people's favourite flower in England (and the UK as a whole although the Primrose came first in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.) It suggests water to many writers and Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote in his journal of "falls of sky-colour washing the brows and slacks of the ground with vein blue."

 

Hyacinthoides non-scripta has undergone a number of name changes. Linnaeus placed it in the genus Hyacinthus. In the early nineteenth century it was classified in the Scilla genus and known as Scilla nutans or nodding squills. The nodding description is appropriate. Then in the mid-nineteenth century it was  reclassified it under the label Endymion non-scriptus. In one version of the Greek myth Endymion was a youth who was put into an eternal sleep by Zeus. The link between the bluebell and Endymion isn't entirely clear but herbalists once said bluebells prevented nightmares..... But the fresh bluebell is poisonous: be warned!

The gummy sap from the bulb was used as a starchy glue in bookbinding. It was so toxic it prevented certain insects attacking the binding. It was also used to stiffen Elizabethan ruffs and for attaching feathers (fletchings) to arrow shafts.

The name Linnaeus chose for the genus refers to the myth of Hyacinthus a young man beloved by both Apollo and Zephyrus. He was killed by a discus thrown by Apollo which was blown off course by Zephyrus. Apollo, devastated by the death, swore to make him immortal by turning him into a delicate blue flower. The plant sprang up from his blood and Apollo inscribed it 'Ai, Ai' meaning 'alas' to express his grief. The botanical name Hyacinthoides non-scripta refers to the UK bluebells as having no inscription. I expect it will change again now I've learnt to spell it without checking!

While on the subject of myth there are many associations between fairies and bluebells. Once upon a time fairies were mysterious, unpredictable and rarely benevolent. Bluebell perfume was believed to bring a human under fairy influence. Fairies rang bluebells to announce their gatherings. If a person heard the rings it was a warning of death coming soon. Humans would ring these bells at their peril to summon the fairies. In the eighteenth century fairies began to lose this malevolent reputation and gradually became the subject of children's story books.

The greatest impact of the bluebell could be argued to be the sight of it spreading in the woods; the "darkest, lushest blue-bell bed" which Keats used as an image in his poem Endymion. The same work opens with the line"A thing of beauty is a joy forever:". Keats knew a thing or two....

However, to start looking at the botanical detail.... 

The flower spike of Hyacinthoides non-scripta is one-sided and droops at the tip. The flowers with individual stalks hang downwards and each is made of six tepals. There are pairs of narrow linear-lanceolate blue bracts peeling away from where the flower stalk meets the main stem. The lower bract is larger than the upper. I find these bracts particularly graceful. 

There can be as many as twenty bells on one inflorescence.  

There are three inner and three outer tepals which form a parallel-sided tube. They curve back strongly at their ends (giving rise to some of the folk names eg Crake-feet ie crows' feet). Six stamens bear white or cream pollen and there is a honey-like scent. The perfume which attracts pollinators into the woods is said to have 35 components. The curved stems may be suffused with blue, masking the chlorophyll.  

These are the ID points that identify the English (UK) Bluebell rather than the H.x massartiana which is the cross between between naturalised H. hispanica and H. non-scripta. It is this one found most commonly naturalised. Any of the following characteristics indicate some degree of hybridisation: upright stems, no scent, conical bell shaped flowers with open tips, blue pollen. It is a threat to the native plant.

The leaves of the English Bluebell are narrow. There are no stem leaves, only basal; they are strap-shaped, long, keeled and narrow. They taper slightly over their length but abruptly at the end. One here has pierced and carried aloft one of last autumn's leaves. I always like to see this.

Although bluebells are associated with ancient woodland where their growth is largely undisturbed and they can take advantage of the light before the leaf canopy grows, they can also be found in open areas, hedgerows and meadows. Experts now think that any decline of bluebells is more to do with trampling of the leaves (which are then unable to feed the bulbs)  than removal of blooms, the seeds which would otherwise fall to the ground in autumn to be buried in leaf litter. Picking is now, however, discouraged. It takes five years for a seed to mature into a bulb capable of producing flowers.  

Habitat destruction can also be a threat. Botanists believe the native bluebell may be most under threat from vigorous H. x massartiana the hybrid of the English and the naturalised Spanish one, Hyacinthoides hispanica, introduced to gardens by 1683. The Hybrid Bluebell is fertile and able to form a complete range of intermediates. Small populations such as those in my garden have hybridised. I have only found the true native in the Wye valley woods. Research continues.

Gillian Clarke, who was National Poet of Wales between 2008 -2016, and who always gives generously of her time to students and readers, has granted permission for me to quote from her poem 'Bluebells'. I can't think of a better way to draw this celebration of bluebells to a close.

Which came first? Scent or heartburst of blues?
Cerulean, indigo, sky, a breath of rain,
sunlight between stems of sessile oaks

before the wood breaks leaf, when trees first feel
a quickening in their roots -the shift and stir 
of bulbs swelling beneath the earth.

Acknowledgements 

Mabey Flora Britannica

Fiona Stafford The Brief Life of Flowers

Simon Harrap's Wild Flowers

Stace 4

Bluebells, by Gillian Clarke, published by Carcanet Press 2012 in the volume Ice

Web pages included

https://www.bbowt.org.uk/blog/kate-titford/how-tell-native-bluebell-rest

https://www.first-nature.com/flowers/hyacinthoides-non-scripta.php

https://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/B/Bluebell/Bluebell.htm

https://cronodon.com/NatureTech/Spring.html

http://irishhedgerows.weebly.com/flora.html

https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/bluebell

https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/bluebe60.html

Primrose

The Primrose, Primula vulgaris grows throughout my Wye Valley garden. It only seems to need moisture and some light. Wordsworth wrote in The Primrose of the Rock that "to the rock the root adheres in every fibre true."  and that it was "A lasting link in Nature's chain." I give you here the closest I have to a rock: a root thriving in a dry stone wall in said garden! A primrose plant can last for between 15-25 years.

It is a strong plant and can withstand extensive picking. In Devon from the early 1900s thousands were picked and dispatched as gifts to customers of paper mills. The custom was discontinued seventy or so years later in the face of public concern but studies showed little evidence that picking blooms (provided not all were taken) constituted a threat. Habitat changes resulting from land being drained, sprayed or shaded out were significant threats, however. In my own garden a spreading magnolia tree has shaded out the primroses that once grew below it. Luckily there are plenty of other spots for primroses to thrive.

The structure and pollination of the plant were investigated by Darwin who worked quietly on it while controversy raged over his book The Origin of Species. He established the meaning of the structure of the two forms: pin-eyed and thrum-eyed. Apparently nothing in his scientific life had given him more satisfaction than "making out the meaning of the structure of these plants".

This is the pin-eyed form. The pinhead-like stigma is visible in the throat of the flower and the shorter  stamens are hidden below in the tube. 

Below is the thrum-eyed bloom. The anthers here are higher than the stigma. I was pleased to read an explanation of this term as it is not obvious unless you are familiar with the weaving term for a fringe of loose threads left on the loom after the handwoven cloth has been cut away! Thrum is sometimes also used to refer to a mop head. Understanding dawns as the description is apt!

An early butterfly like the Brimstone, long-tongued early bumble bees like the Garden Bumblebee, and also the Dark-edged Bee-fly can feed on primroses using their long proboscises.The thrum-eyed flower will pollinate the pin-eyed and vice versa because of the mutually advantageous arrangements of anthers, stamens and stigmas at different heights. It was Charles Darwin who first explained this compatibility. 

If an insect with a long proboscis visits a pin-eyed flower and reaches for the nectar at the base of the floral tube, then pollen will rub off on its proboscis. If this insect then moves on to a thrum-eyed flower this pollen is at the right height to rub off on the stigma of the thrum-eye bloom. While there, the insect's head will in turn become covered with pollen from the thrum-eyed plant.

When this insect returns to a pin-eyed flower then the pollen on its head will be at the correct height to rub off on the stigma of the pin-eye plant. I am grateful cronodon.com for putting this in simple language for me! Link below to this rather good website.

It doesn't end there! The seed formed has a fleshy protein-rich lump on it which ants like. They take the seeds back to the nest, eat the protein and then deposit the seeds outside the nest. This goes some way to explaining why I have so many primroses near my old fashioned compost heaps in which ants love to nest! 

The Primrose, Prima rosa or first rose, has been loved through the centuries. Chaucer compares a lovely woman to a primrose (in Middle English, a prymerole). John Clare accurately observes it "starting up between Dead matted leaves of oak and ash". It was Disraeli's favourite flower and Queen Victoria sent him regular posies from Osborne House and finally a circlet of them for his cortege in 1881.

Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote of the returning primrose every year: 

As sure as what is most sure, sure as that spring primroses

Shall new-dapple next year, sure as to-morrow morning, 

Amongst come-back-again things, things with a revival, things with a recovery.... 

A message of hope perhaps, across the centuries, in our uncertain times.

I hope you have found the blog interesting. Both Mabey and Stafford have researched the history and botany of this flower extensively.  

Acknowledgements

Mabey Flora Britannica

Fiona Stafford The Brief Life of Flowers

Simon Harrap's Wild Flowers

Stace 4

Websites included

http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20150421-the-true-primrose-displays

http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/primrose.htm

http://lifeonanoxfordlawn.blogspot.com/2007/02/primrose-primula-vulgaris.html

https://cronodon.com/NatureTech/primulaceae

Lesser Celandine

Lesser Celandine, Ficaria verna is perhaps at its peak at the moment. More than 200 years ago Gilbert White noted that the average first flowering around Selborne, Hampshire was 21 February.  I saw my first before Christmas and in the Wye Valley it was well in flower on sunny banks in January. 

The name celandine derives from the Greek chelidon, a swallow. There may have been a confusion with the Greater Celandine, no relation and a member of the Poppy family, which begins to flower in May, but perhaps it was named as just a hopeful sign of spring.

Wordsworth certainly saw it as a welcome sign of Spring and wrote three poems about it. He wrote of its  "glittering countenance" and there is now the science to explain this. I am indebted to the resources in the Researchgate pdf (link below) for explaining in terms I think I could understand why this flower and buttercups glitter.

The petals have a thin epidermis filled with yellow carotenoid pigments and deeper layers containing starch granules. The epidermis acts as a film which reflects light and the starch layer enhances the brilliance, the two combined creating a gloss effect. 

The effect attracts pollinators, including queen bumblebees searching for early nectar. Pollen beetles mainly visit to eat the pollen but assist with pollination. The Lesser Celandine plant group does not entirely rely on insects for reproduction, however. This subject is complicated. I hope I can cover it by saying there are some subspecies that produce bulbils in the leaf axils.  These scatter across habitats, rapidly colonising. Some gardeners warn about unwittingly spreading them while weeding them out. What? Unwittingly spread?

In addition, the root tubers can create new plants and colonise disturbed soil in woodland tracks, ditch banks. Here they stretch for miles on the banks of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal near Abergavenny. 

Given the ways this plant can spread it is no surprise that it is so abundant.

While on the subject of roots and tubers it was noted by ancient herbalists that the tubers resembled piles. It was used to treat them and it was given the name Pilewort. The Doctrine Of Signatures, created in the 17th and 18th centuries by commercial herbalists, endorsed this traditional remedy and promoted it as a treatment for haemorrhoids. The Doctrine decreed that all plants had been signed by the Creator with a physical clue to their medicinal qualities. Marketing is not a modern phenomenon!

Moving swiftly on! 

Leaves are heart-shaped, glossy, veined and usually patterned in light and dark green. The flower is solitary. There are numerous stamens. Eight to ten petals are most typical though I found examples of between seven and twelve last year. I have seen mostly eight this year and here is an eleven. 

However, as the FirstNature website says petal counting is a sad hobby I'll move swiftly on again!

There are usually three oval sepals and the reverse of petals, often shaded green or purplish, is shown as they close for night or in bad weather.

The flowers often fade to whitish as they age.

Wordsworth considered the Lesser Celandine his favourite flower. Listing, and perhaps passing over pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies, primroses and violets he wrote three poems about it. I quote a few lines from To a Small Celandine (1802,1807)

There is a flower that shall be mine, 

'T is the little Celandine.....

Spring is coming, thou art come!...

I will sing, as doth behove,

Hymns in praise of what I love.

Man of good taste, Wordsworth. The final note is sad, however. He wanted the "Little, humble Celandine " carved on his tombstone. He got the blousy Greater Celandine. Stonemason wasn't a botanist!

As ever thanks for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it and it brought a smile to your face.

Acknowledgements

Richard Mabey Flora Britannica

Harrap's Wild Flowers

Stace 4

Wild Flower Key Rose

Online research included

https://www.first-nature.com/

https://www.researchgate.net/

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/celandine-the-delicate-flower-harbinger-of-spring-which-wordsworth-thought-more-beautiful-than-daffodils-212412

https://Wildflowerfinder.org.uk