Downy-rose

 

There are two varieties of downy-rose that are commonly found in woods, hedgerows and scrubland in England and Wales. These are the harsh downy-rose (Rosa tormentosa) and the soft downy-rose (Rosa mollis). The terms harsh and soft refer to the texture of the leaves, and the fine downy growth on the leaflets gives the plant its name.

The downy-rose is an open shrub having long slender stems that bear numerous pink or white flowers. It grows to between 36 and 72 inches (90-180 cms) high. The flowers appear on long stalks in June and July.

The arching stems of the harsh downy-rose have leaves that are pale green when young. The thorns are slightly curved. The soft downy-rose is straight-branched with grey-green young leaves and has straight thorns.

Like many wild roses, the downy-rose is frequently attacked by a species of wasp called the gall-wasp. The gall-wasp punctures the plant and deposits its eggs, producing on the stem a tufted growth called a gall which is caused by the larvae feeding on the stem. On downy-roses such galls are bright red and, as a result, have been called “robin’s pin-cushions”.

© John Welford

Dog rose

 

The dog rose (Rosa canina) is the ancestor of the cultivated garden rose and has been a symbol of the British monarchy and England itself ever since it was adopted by King Henry VII as his official emblem, the “Tudor rose”.

However, the use of the word ‘dog’ to describe a plant usually implies that it is something of no worth, and that does sound very strange in this case.

One possible explanation is that the ancient Greeks believed that the roots of the plant could cure a man who had been bitten by a mad dog. The Romans adopted the name Rosa canina and that translates to English directly as dog rose. The name has therefore stuck.

The dog rose is common in hedgerows and scrubland throughout England and Wales although rare in Scotland. It is a climbing plant with arching stems that can grow up to 12 feet (280cm) long. The stems bear strongly hooked thorns and each leaf has two or three pairs of toothed leaflets.

The plant flowers in June and July with the light pink flowers being flat with large petals. The fruits, known as hips, are oval and smooth.

Whatever the dog rose’s supposed usefulness in curing the bites of rabid dogs, the syrup made from rose hips is rich in vitamin C.

© John Welford

Burnet rose

 

The burnet rose (Rosa pimpinellifolia) is found throughout Great Britain on downland, heaths and dunes, especially near the sea. For many years, varieties of this flower have been popular garden plants. Its rootstock suckers freely, spreading vigorously underground from the main root in producing new flowering stems at a distance from it. A single hybrid rapidly fills out into a dense bush covering a large area, which makes the plant popular with gardeners.

Botanists once called the burnet rose Rosa spinosissima, which means ‘the spiniest rose’ due to the large number of thorns. Another characteristic, unique among wild roses, is the purple black swelling or ‘hip’ that forms on the end of the flower stalk after fertilisation. All other wild rose hips are red or scarlet.

The burnet rose is an upright, spiny, bushy plant that grows to between 6 and 24 inches (15-60 cm) in height. The stem has many spines and bristles. The leaves are hairless, and each leaf has seven to nine small, toothed leaflets.

The plant flowers between May and July. The flowers are solitary with woody styles. They are creamy-white and sometimes splashed with pink. The fruits are round, with a crown of long sepals.

Both the common and the scientific names of the burnet rose derived from the close resemblance of its leaves to those of the burnet-saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga), which is a member of the parsley family.

© John Welford

 

Great burnet

 

Great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) is a plant that is found on damp grasslands in central England and Wales.

The plant grows from 12 to 36 inches (32-90 cm) high and it flowers between June and September. The stems are upright and hairless. The leaves are composed of paired rows of toothed leaflets.

The flowers of this plant are bisexual, in that each flower has both male and female parts that produce abundant nectar for insect pollination. Each flower-head has an oblong outline. The fruit has four wings.

People who studied herbs in the past believed in what was known as the doctrine of signatures – this meant that plants advertised their medicinal powers by outward signs. In the case of great burnet, the dark crimson flower-heads suggested blood, and for centuries the plant was used to staunch wounds and as a remedy for internal bleeding.

In more recent times, a root of great burnet, if freshly dug up and peeled, was applied to burns to relieve the pain and encourage healing. This reputation is preserved in the botanical name, the first part of which means blood-absorbing.

Great burnet is not as common as it once was due to the increased efficiency of British farming.

Salad burnet, which can indeed be eaten in salads, is related to great burnet but is much smaller having male only flowers in the lower part of the head, which flower first, while the female and bisexual flowers, which are higher up the head, open later. This is a common device used by wind-pollinated plants to avoid self-fertilisation.

© John Welford

Charlock

Charlock (Sinapis arvensis) has long been a bane of arable farmers as it is a persistent weed that chokes spring-sown crops. Although modern farmers can control it by using weed-killers, it can still be seen growing vigorously on field margins, roadsides and abandoned land across Great Britain and elsewhere.

Charlock grows to 18 inches (45 centimetres) in height. The thick, hairy stems bear unlobed leaves that are large at the base of the stem and smaller higher up. The bright yellow flowers, which appear between May and July, are notable for having sepals that spread out horizontally below the petals. The seed pods are cylindrical, sticking out from the stem, with the seeds forming in two separate rows, one on each side of the pod.

A single charlock plant can produce hundreds of seeds. Not only does this make it difficult to control the plant, but the seeds are extremely long-lived. It is not unknown for a farmer to plough up a long-established pasture and find that it soon turns into a sea of yellow, due to buried charlock seeds, maybe as much as 50 years old and dating from the field’s previous use as a cornfield, being brought close to the surface where they can germinate.

Charlock has been used for food in past centuries, being boiled as a vegetable.

 

© John Welford

Lady's mantle

Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris) grows all over the British Isles, apart from the Channel Islands.

The plant grows to about 18 inches (45 cms) high, with some stems growing upright while others sprawl along the ground. Each leaf has up to 11 toothed lobes.

Lady’s mantle flowers from June to September, the flowers being unusual in having no petals, only sepals in two rings of four. The hairy fruits ripen in loose clusters.

The plant exhibits an unusual feature called guttation. When humidity is high and water cannot be lost from the leaves as vapour, lady’s mantle forces the water out through its “breathing holes”. This gives the impression of large drops of dew which are not found on neighboring plants.

This phenomenon gave rise in medieval times to the notion that this “dew” was “celestial water” that had magical properties. Alchemists would collect it at dawn in the hope of using it in their experiments aimed at turning base metals into gold. One wonders why they kept on trying, given that every experiment must have been a dismal failure!

This usage is the reason behind the botanical name of the plant.

The name “lady’s mantle” has a different origin, in that it is supposedly dedicated to the Virgin Mary. That has led to the plant being used to treat women’s ailments. One notable past use was to help middle-aged women to restore their breasts to the shape and pertness they once had. Did this work? Presumably enough people must have thought so, otherwise the usage would surely not have entered folklore as it clearly did.

© John Welford

Parsley piert

Parsley piert (Aphanes arvensis) grows on arable land and wasteland throughout the British Isles. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with parsley. The name is a corruption of the French “perce-pierre”, which means “stone piercer”.

Parsely piert is a sprawling plant that grows to no more than 8 inches (20 cms) high. The leaves, which grow on short stalks, have three segments that are lobed at the tip.

It flowers from April to September, the tiny flowers being green and having no petals but only sepals. The fruits are oval in shape.

Because the plant often grows in stony ground it was often assumed that it had broken through solid rock to reach the surface, hence the name. However, this is simply not true. This belief led to the notion that a medicine made from parsley piert would break up gallstones and kidney stones. One has to assume that any cures were purely coincidental!

Anther medicinal use in former times was to treat intestinal complaints. This led to the alternative names of “colicwort” and “bowel-hive-grass” (hive is another word for inflammation).

© John Welford

Wood avens

Wood avens (Geum urbanum) is found throughout the British Isles in shady places with damp, fertile soil. It is an upright, hairy plant that grows to a height of between 12 and 24 inches (30-60 cms).

Some leaves grow on stalks rising directly from the base, each bearing two or three pairs of leaflets of unequal size. The upper leaves that grow from the stem of the plant have three lobes.

The yellow flowers, which appear from June to August, are upright with turned-back sepals and spreading petals. The seeds are hooked and spread by being caught in the fur and feathers of passing animals and birds, as well as the clothing of human passers-by.

Wood avens has a remarkable mythology attached to it. It was thought to have an association with St Benedict, who founded the Benedictine order of monks. An alternative name is herb bennet.

This belief gave rise to notions that the plant had mystical or magical powers. A medical treatise of 1491 stated that “if a man carries the root around with him, no venomous beast can touch him”. It was also thought that hanging wood avens over one’s doorway would prevent the Devil from crossing the threshold!

Apart from these remarkable supposed powers, the roots of wood avens, which have a delicate clove-like smell, have been used as a fly repellent and for flavouring.

© John Welford

Agrimony

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

Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is the plant from which the much-loved domestic strawberry was cultivated in the 18^th 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

Tormentil

Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) grows widely in Great Britain, preferring light acid soil.

It grows up to 20 inches high, the upper leaves having three leaflets and two leafy stipules.

The flowering stems grow from a rosette of leaves that often wither before the flowers appear, which is between May and October.

The yellow flowers, which look a bit like those of buttercups, have four sepals and four petals. They produce a nectar that attracts insects, but the plant can also self-pollinate.

Each flower produces up to twenty fruits in a small solid receptacle.

Tormentil was used medicinally in past ages. In a book published in 1616 a powder made from tormentil roots was recommended as a cure for toothache.

The plant was also used as a source of red dye and its highly astringent roots could serve as alternative to oak bark in the tanning of hides.

© John Welford

Silverweed

Silverweed (Potentilla anserine)  is a variety of cinquefoil that has the more usual yellow flowers, and its silvery leaves are divided into up to 12 leaflets.

It was an important crop plant in earlier times before the introduction of potatoes. The starchy roots were eaten raw, baked or boiled, or ground down to make porridge or bread.

Traditional names for silverweed include “bread and butter”, “bread and cheese” and “seventh bread”.

It also had medicinal uses, being used to treat mouth ulcers, sore throats and internal bleeding.

© John Welford

Marsh cinquefoil

Marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris), as the name suggests, grows in wet places such as bogs and peat. It is more common in northern areas of the British Isles than further south. In the Isle of Man it has the name “bog strawberry”.

Cinquefoil is French for “five-leaved”, although this refers to the arrangement of leaflets within a single leaf.

Marsh cinquefoil grows to between 6 and 18 inches high. A creeping underground stem produces upright stems on which grow the largish leaves, divided into five leaflets as mentioned above.

The plant flowers from May to July, the flowers being reddish in colour, which is unusual for cinquefoils in that most varieties have yellow flowers. The flower sepals are much longer than the petals. The fruits are carried in a spongy receptacle.

©John Welford

Narrow-leaved everlasting pea

Narrow-leaved everlasting pea (Lathyrus sylvestris) is found in scattered locations throughout the British Isles in hedges, thickets and woods. It is often found on railway embankments. It was originally a cultivated plant that was grown in gardens for its showy flowers, but it ‘escaped’ into the wild and gardeners are now more likely to grow the related sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) which has been developed to display many shades of colour, as well as being scented.

The narrow-leaved everlasting pea is a scrambling plant that climbs up other plants, such as blackberries, by means of the branched tendrils at the ends of its leaves. It grows up to 80 inches (200 cms) high. The stems have prominent broad ‘wings’.

Narrow-leaved everlasting pea flowers from June to August. The stalk bearing the flower-head is usually longer than the leaves and carries anything from three to eight flowers, which are either pink or white.

The smooth pods are 2-3 inches (5-9 cms) long and contain up to 14 seeds each.

The name ‘everlasting’ refers to the fact that the plant is a perennial, as opposed to the true pea which is an annual.

© John Welford

Meadowsweet

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) is common throughout the British Isles, being found in damp parts of woods and meadows as well as marshes and fens.

It is an upright plant, growing to between 24 and 48 inches (60-120 cms) high. Its lower leaves have up to five pairs of leaflets, with a lobed leaflet at the tip. The leaves are green above and white and hairy below. Pairs of small leaflets separate the bigger ones.

Meadowsweet flowers between June and August. Each flower has five sepals, bent back, and five petals. The many stamens are clearly noticeable as they project outwards. The fruits form twisted spirals.

Meadowsweet seems to be well named in that it grows in meadows and has a sweet smell. However, the name is a corruption of “medesweet”, so given because in earlier times it was used to flavour mead, an alcoholic drink made from fermented honey.

Queen Elizabeth I was known to appreciate the smell of meadowsweet and instructed that it be used to mask domestic smells, this being done by covering floors with freshly cut blooms.

However, an alternative name in Yorkshire is “courtship and matrimony”, which refers not only to the heady small of the flowers but the sharper scent of the leaves when crushed, which therefore represented the reality of marriage!

Another use of meadowsweet in past times was, as an infusion, to relieve pain and calm fevers. The sap of meadowsweet stems contains chemicals that are of the same group as salicylic acid, which is an ingredient of aspirin.

© John Welford

Meadow vetchling

Meadow vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis) is a common plant that grows throughout the British Isles in grassy place and also in hedges and on banks such as railway embankments, where it forms large clumps.

Meadow vetchling is a nitrogen fixer, so it is a welcome plant on grass meadows. It also contributes to the nutritional value of pastures and hay crops, due to being relatively rich in protein, especially in its seeds.

It is a scrambling plant that produces weak, spindly stems up to 48 inches (120 cms) in length. These gain support from other plants by virtue of tendrils at the leaf tips. Leaf-like stipules grow at the base of the leaf stalks, which are square in cross-section.

Despite having a small, forked tendril on each leaf, meadow vetchling is not a great climber.

Meadow vetchling flowers from May to August, with five to twelve yellow flowers being carried on stalks that are longer than the leaves. The flowers are visited mainly by bumble bees, which have tongues that are long enough to reach the nectar at the bottom of the long flower tubes.

The seed pods look flattened when ripe and sometimes are covered with fine hairs.

The plant also spreads due to its creeping, underground rootstock. These throw up a profusion of sharply angled stems.

Folk names for meadow vetchling include “lady`s slippers” and “old granny’s slipper-sloppers”, these names referring to the shape of the flowers. Another name, “yellow tare-tine”, makes use of an old name for vetch, namely “tare”, although this should not be confused with the word for weed that appears in the Authorised Version of the New Testament.

© John Welford

Common vetch

Common vetch (Vicia sativa) grows in grassy places and tilled ground throughout Great Britain, although it only lives up to its name in south-eastern England. It is an introduction from continental Europe, where various hybrids have been used for cattle food. 

There are two varieties of common vetch found in Great Britain, one with slender stems and narrow leaflets and the other with taller, stouter stems and broader leaflets. It was this second variety that was cultivated in Great Britain in the 18th century so that its seeds could be used for pigeon food. 

Common vetch can be distinguished from other types of vetch found in Britain because it usually has a pair of flowers and two black-blotched stipules at the base of each leaf. 

The stems of common vetch straggle along the ground or climb by means of tendrils on the leaves, which have four to eight pairs of leaflets. The plant grows up to 48 inches (120 cm) high. 

Common vetch flowers from May to September. The flowers are purple in colour. The pods are smooth or slightly hairy and contain between four and twelve seeds. 

© John Welford

Tufted vetch

Tufted vetch (Vicia cracca) is a common plant of grassland and hedgerows throughout much of Great Britain. Indeed, its tall spikes of up to 40 purple/blue flowers make it one of the more distinctive hedgerow plants. 

Tufted vetch is also sometimes used as a garden plant to provide a display of colour in late summer. This is despite its close relationship to the “hairy tare” (Vicia hirsuta) that is the “tare sown among the wheat” in the parable told by Jesus in Matthew chapter 13.

Tufted vetch climbs by means of branched tendrils that are similar to those used by other members of the pea family. The leaves have between 12 and 30 leaflets. The flowering spikes grow on stalks that are up to 80 inches (200 cms) long. Flowering is between June and August.

The sepals join in a tube that covers nearly half the flower. The seed pods are smooth and square-ended. They each contain up to six seeds.

© John Welford

Bush vetch

Bush vetch (Vicia sepium) is common throughout the British Isles, growing in grassy places, as a garden weed and in hedges. It is a sprawling plant that covers other plants and twines its tendrils around them. 

There are around 150 species of vetch, and they include the highly cultivated Vicia faba, otherwise known as the broad bean. There is evidence that cultivated vetches were planted from Iron Age times. 

However, bush vetch is of no use to humans other than as fodder for animals. 

Bush vetch can climb up to 40 inches (100 cms) off the ground. Each leaf has five to nine pairs of leaflets and a branching tendril. The short-stalked flowerhead has up to six blooms, which appear from May to August. The sepals are joined to form a tube. The nectar is particularly attractive to bumblebees. The seeds form in pods which go black when the seeds are ripe.

© John Welford

Purple milk-vetch

Purple milk-vetch (Astragalus danicus) is found throughout Europe from the Alps to Russia, but in Britain it is mostly found on the eastern side of the country, from the Chilterns to Scotland. It is especially common in the Breckland area of Norfolk. 

The habitat of purple milk-vetch is chalk and limestone soils, and also sandy areas including dunes.

The “milk” element of the name comes from the old belief that eating the plant increased the milk yield of goats, although there is no real evidence to support this notion. The plant has no food value to humans.

Purple milk-vetch has upright stems and many leaflets that are covered with soft whitish hairs. The plant grows up to 14 inches (36 cms) high.

Several purplish flowers are carried on each stem, well above the leaves, the flowers looking at first sight like those of clover. Sepals are joined at the base in a tube covered with short blackish hairs. 

The plant flowers from May to July, after which seed pods form that contain six or seven seeds.

© John Welford