Ragged-robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) grows throughout Great
Britain in damp woodland, marshes and meadows.
It has tall slender flowering stems and shorter ones that do
not bear flowers. The maximum height of the plant is 30 inches (76
centimetres). The narrow leaves grow in pairs at intervals up the stem.
The flowers, which appear in May and June, are usually bright
pink but occasionally white. Each petal is split into four streamer-like
segments that give the plant its name. The reddish-brown sepals form a tube below
the petals.
Like many wild flowers, ragged-robin has been known by other
names in the past. The species name “flos-cuculi” is Latin for “cuckoo flower”
which probably relates to the fact that ragged-robin is often seen to bear
“cuckoo spit”, which is a foamy substance deposited by the nymph of the froghopper
beetle.
Another name is “bachelor’s buttons”, although this is by no
means a unique name for this plant, as there are several other wild flowers to
which the ancient custom in question applies. Way back in the 16th
century it was the custom for country girls to gather buds of ragged-robin,
give each of them the name of a local lad, and tuck them into their aprons.
Whichever bud opened first would tell them which of the likely candidates would
be their future husband.
A third name, again not unique to ragged-robin, was “thunder
flower”, because children believed that picking the flowers would cause thunder
to rumble!
© John Welford
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