Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) may sound like some sort of
disease but is in fact a common wildflower that grows over most of Great
Britain, being found in field margins, hedgerows and on roadsides.
In ancient times this plant was widely used for medicinal
purposes, being thought to be a remedy for liver complaints, poor eyesight,
memory loss and even snakebite!
The plant was formerly thought to have magical qualities in
southwest England, being known as fairy’s wand or fairy’s rod. To counter this
trend, the Church renamed it Aaron’s rod.
Another former use of agrimony was as a dye plant for wool,
with a strong yellow colour being produced.
The stems of agrimony, which are upright, unbranched and
hairy, grow to between 12 and 24 inches high (30-60 cms).
The plant flowers between June and August, producing spikes
that bear numerous yellow star-shaped flowers with notched petals. These
flowers, which have a scent reminiscent of apricots, attract bees and flies.
The fruits have a ring of hooks around the upper edge that
are caught by passing animals which therefore help to distribute the seeds.
© John Welford
Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is the plant from which the
much-loved domestic strawberry was cultivated in the 18th century.
The so-called Alpine strawberry, which has smaller fruits than those of garden
strawberries, is closer to the original wild form.
True wild strawberries grow in Great Britain in woods and on
grassland, especially on chalky soil. Some plants that are found growing wild
are actually descended from cultivated plants the seeds of which “escaped”.
The name strawberry has nothing to do with any notion of
straw being used to provide a bed for the berries and protect them from slug
damage. The name goes back to Anglo-Saxon times – before the year 1000 – which
was long before the plants were cultivated. In the Anglo-Saxon form of English,
one meaning of the word straw referred to small particles of chaff, which could
be taken to indicate the scattering of pips on the surface of the fruit.
Another meaning is to strew across the ground, which is what the plant does
with its creepers.
The upper leaves of the wild strawberry have long stalks and
three leaflets that are bright green on top and pale underneath. The lower
leaves form a rosette. The plant can grow to anything between 2 and 12 inches
in height (5-30 cms). nk!
Flowering is from April to July. The fleshy fruit, which
turns red when ripe, is known as an achene. This is equivalent to the central
part of a raspberry, to which the seed-containing fruits are attached, but in
the case of the strawberry the seeds are on the outside of the fruiting body
and not contained within.
Strawberries also reproduce by sending out runners to form
new plants.
© John Welford
