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Tag Archives: bramble flowers

The blackberry bramble

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by theresagreen in flower folklore, flower mythology, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

blackberry bramble, bramble flowers, bramble use in lip work basketry, importance of bramble flowers to insects, insects feeding on bramble flowers

Brambles have been flowering for a while now, but in the last couple of weeks they have reached a peak and many of the tangled shrubs are smothered with blossom. This is wonderful for insects that can gorge themselves on nectar without the need to expend energy flitting between different plants.

Bramble flower

Bramble flower

In the British Isles the term brambles is used to describe any rough,  tangled prickly shrub, but more specifically applies to the Blackberry bush –Rubus fruticosa.

A huge bramble smothered with blossoms

A huge bramble smothered with blossoms – Little Orme. Click for a larger picture-the bird is a Whitethroat

Bramble bushes have a distinctive growth form. They send up long, arching canes that do not flower or set fruit until the second year of growth. The shrub can easily become a nuisance in gardens, sending down its strong suckering roots amongst hedges and shrubs, but in the wild it has great importance for its conservation and wildlife value.

The flowers attract nectar-feeding butterflies, bees and hoverflies, and the leaves are important food plants for the larvae of several species of Lepidoptera.

A beautiful Tortoiseshell butterfly on bramble flowers

A beautiful Tortoiseshell butterfly on bramble flowers

Small skipper (male) on bramble flowers-Bryn Euryn

Small skipper (male) on bramble flowers-Bryn Euryn

6-Spot Burnet Moth on bramble flowers

6-Spot Burnet Moth on bramble flowers

Meadow Brown feeding on bramble

Meadow Brown nectaring on bramble

Common Carder Bee on bramble flowers

Common Carder Bee on bramble flowers

Bramble leaves usually have trifoliate or palmately-compound leaves. Old leaves often remain on the stems throughout the winter until new shoots are produced.

Eristalis basking on new leaves of bramble - rubus

April -Eristalis basking on new leaves of bramble

September - Bramble leaves

September – Bramble leaves

A ripe blackberry

A ripe blackberry

 

Bramble fruits are aggregate fruits and each small round berry is called a drupelet. The blackberry flower receptacle is elongate and part of the ripe fruit, making the blackberry an aggregate-accessory fruit.

22/8/11-Bluebottle fly on blackberries

22/8/11-Bluebottle fly on blackberries- a case for washing them before eating!

Traditional medicinal uses

A child afflicted with whooping, or chin-cough may have been passed through a  blackberry or bramble shoot that had rooted naturally at either end; this was a gesture symbolic of rebirth in a perfect state. Herefordshire this treatment was enhanced: the Lord’s Prayer was recited whilst the patient, eating bread and butter, was passed nine times under the bramble arch. Sometimes a rhyme was added:

                                        Under the briar and over the briar,                                                                                             I wish to leave the chincough here.

On the journey home the remains of the bread and butter were given to a passing animal or bird – “but never to a Christian”- and, as the bread was consumed, the cough would disappear. Other childhood diseases, rheumatism and boils were also cured with this procedure.

Another blackberry cure of repute was a burn lotion, made by floating 9 blackberry leaves in water from a holy well.

Mythology and legend

What is probably the earliest recorded parable is Jotham’s parable of “The trees choosing a King.” The first tree to be offered this distinction was the Olive, but the Olive was concerned with the business of producing oil, and so the Vine was approached. The Vine was too busy producing wine, and eventually the Bramble was requested to accept the offer, and the Bramble having nothing better to do, affably agreed.

Blackberries have multiple meanings across religious, ethnic and mythological realms. In all Celtic countries taboos attend the picking of blackberries; mid-Mediterranean folklore claims that Christ’s Crown of Thorns was made of blackberry runners.  The deep colour of the berries represents Christ’s blood. They have been used in Christian art to symbolize spiritual neglect or ignorance. 

In many English counties blackberries are never picked after Michaelmas Day on September 29th. Legend has it that the blackberry was once beautiful, but was cursed by Lucifer when he fell into the bush when he was forced out of heaven. Every September 30th, with the ripening and darkening of the berries, he is said to variously ‘wave his club over them’, ‘spit on them’, ‘curse them’ or ‘put his cloven hoof on them’.

Some folklore associates the blackberry with bad omens. European stories have claimed they are death fruits with ties to Wicca. They can also symbolize sorrow. In an old proverb they signify haste. A man is so excited to pick the berries that he jumps into the bush and the thorns cause him to lose his eyesight. He regains it, however, upon jumping back out of the bush.

Greek mythology contains a legend similar to this. When Bellerophon, a mortal, tries to ride Pegasus to Olympus, he falls and becomes blind and injured upon landing in a thorny bush. This is his punishment for trying to take the power of the gods. Therefore, the fruit also symbolizes arrogance.

Other Uses

Split bramble stems are traditionally used as binding material for straw in the production of lip work basketry, such as lip work chairs and bee skeps, and sometimes used to protect other fruits (strawberries).

Lip work is a technique where wheat straw is made into coils or ropes and then bound into shape with strips of bramble. In addition to tall backed chairs which protected the occupant from draughts, beehives, corn measures, baskets and trays were made. The photograph of the beautiful traditional straw skep beehive below is from the website of Martin Newton, a present-day maker of lip work basketry pieces.  http://www.martinatnewton.com/page2.htm

A traditional lip work bee skep

A traditional lip work bee skep

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Summer on the woodland edge

16 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

aphantopus hyperantus, bramble flowers, dark brown butterfly with rings on its wings, dark red flowers with leaves like nettle, hedge woundwort, Pyramidal Orchid, Ringlet, wildflowers of Bryn Euryn

I almost always begin my walks within this site with a meander around the edge of the grassy area in front of the car park, both of which are located on the bottom of what was once a quarry. The old excavations have left the small field sheltered by limestone ‘cliffs’ on two sides and it is bordered on all sides with trees, mostly ash and sycamore. Along one long side there is a border of mixed shrubby and herbaceous vegetation creating a stretch of my favourite habitat; woodland edge.

The wildflowers that grow here are not spectacular and tend towards the robust end of the plant spectrum, but they support a diverse number of insect species so are great hunting grounds for the likes of me, armed with a camera. There’s plenty of hogweed here, already featured in the last post, then there are nettles, dock, the sticky green cleavers or goosegrass and new this month, the magenta spikes of Hedge, or Wood Woundwort. It often grows in the company of nettles and having similar leaves it blends in with them until the flowers show; the photograph below shows both plants.

Hedge or Wood Woundwort

Hedge or Wood Woundwort-Stachys sylvatica growing amongst stinging nettles

Growing in hedgerows, on woodland edges, roadside verges and various shady places, Hedge Woundwort is not a particularly stand-out plant as far as its looks are concerned. A member of the mint family, Labiateae, it has a distinct aroma, one of those that is hard to describe, but which most wildflower guides refer to as ‘unpleasant, particularly when crushed or bruised’. I must have a strangely developed sense of smell; maybe as a result of working with essential oils, but I don’t find it offensive at all.

A brown-lipped snail was hiding under a dock leaf

A brown-lipped snail was hiding under a dock leaf

Brambles are often a component plant of the woodland edge flora. They are  flowering now too and are also sought after by a wide variety of insects.

Bramble flower

Bramble flower

From the field I walked up the steps following the ‘woodland trail’, making a diversion around the border of another meadow area. I stopped at a spot where there were several brown butterflies fluttering around amongst the long grass and shrubbery. My first assumption was that they were Meadow Browns as I’m used to seeing them throughout most of the site at this time of year, but stopping to watch properly I realised that although there were Meadow Browns there, most were actually Ringlets.

A Meadow Brown nectaring on bramble flower

A Meadow Brown nectaring on bramble flower

The Ringlets were very mobile and fluttering around mainly within the stems of the long grass, as they characteristically do. On the occasions when one paused in its circuiting to take nectar from bramble flowers or to rest low down on a leaf or grass stem, the insect would either be obscured by grass stems or disturbed by the dive-bombing of another butterfly or a bee. I waited patiently for ages, just watching them until I got the opportunity to grab a shot of one on bramble leaf. It posed nicely, but turned out to have chunks missing from its wings, poor thing.

Ringlet with damaged wings

Ringlet with damaged wings

I wasn’t giving up now though, and standing around in the warm sunshine in this peaceful spot, surrounded by lush greenery and time to watch the insect world go by was not exactly a hardship. Every now and then the butterflies disappeared from view for a few minutes, most probably touring another part of their territory, but while waiting there were other insects to watch. One particularly interesting performance was provided by three hoverflies. The two smaller ones were hovering around and bothering the larger one on the bramble flower; two males competing for the attention of a female who eventually got tired of them and saw them both off. The hoverflies are of a small Eristalis species, but the photographs aren’t good enough to determine which one.

Two male and one female eristalis hoverflies

Two male and one female eristalis hoverflies

Two male hoverflies expressing interest in a female

Two male hoverflies expressing interest in a female

Another chance of a Ringlet arose, this time a perfect subject, but a bit further away and hiding its head and body behind the bramble’s stamens. I got the ring pattern this time though.

Ringlet - Aphantopus hyperantus

Ringlet – Aphantopus hyperantus

Standing around in the direct sun was starting to get uncomfortable, so I left the Ringlets to their chasing to find a bit of shade. As luck would have it I soon came upon more of them and one posed beautifully on a bramble leaf in the dappled shade of an oak tree.

Ringlet resting with wings open

Ringlet resting with wings open

Ringlet – Aphantopus hyperantus

The rings on the hindwings give this butterfly its common name and make it unmistakeable when seen at rest. The uppersides are a uniform chocolate brown that distinguish this butterfly from the closely-related Meadow Brown that can often be found flying within the same areas. A newly-emerged adult Ringlet is a surprisingly beautiful insect, the velvety wings providing a striking contrast with the delicate white fringes found on the wing edges. The dark colouring also allows this butterfly to quickly warm up – this butterfly being one of the few that flies on overcast days.

14/7/13-Meadow Brown-Bryn Euryn

The Meadow Brown also has a dark brown upperside, but eyespots are ringed with orange

Dog Roses-another shrub often found on a woodland edge

Dog Rose – another shrub often found on a woodland edge

Walking out into what is effectively a large clearing in the woodland I came upon another two butterflies, one a rather faded female Common Blue, the other a much fresher Small Heath.

Female Common Blue

Female Common Blue

Small Heath

Small Heath

A surprise find here and a pretty note on which to end this section of my walk was a single Pyramidal Orchid, the first one I’ve seen here on Bryn Euryn.

Pyramidal Orchid

Pyramidal Orchid

 

53.308051 -3.749941

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‘But it is the common species that keep the living world ticking over and provide most of our experiences of wildlife, and I would argue that maintaining the abundance of these is as important a conservation priority as maintaining the existence of rarities’. Richard Mabey

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