• Home
  • about
  • about the photographs
  • Rhos-on-Sea
    • St.Trillo’s Chapel
  • Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve
  • Bryn Pydew Nature Reserve
  • Mynydd Marian
  • Coed Pwllycrochan Wood
  • Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve
    • Grey Seals in North Wales
  • Great Orme
  • Llanddwyn Island & Newborough Warren
  • The Wales Coast Path
  • Wildflowers of Coastal Paths, Cliffs and Dunes

everyday nature trails

everyday nature trails

Tag Archives: medicinal uses of plants

Hogweed days

12 Friday Jul 2013

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

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

comma, cow parsnip, heracleum sphondylium, hogweed, medicinal uses of hogweed, medicinal uses of plants, Rose Chafer, small tortoiseshell

The most significant nectar provider for a whole host of insects at the moment is Hogweed, or Cow Parsnip if you prefer. In common with many species of wildflowers it seems to be having a bumper season and is flowering profusely in a lot of locations. The photographs here were mostly taken in the last couple of weeks, either in the Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve on the Little Orme or on Bryn Euryn. 

Hogweed, Cow Parsnip – Heracleum sphondylium  

Family: Carrot; Umbelliferae Habitat: Rough grassland verges, light woodland. The most usual late autumn umbellifer in flower.

Flowering:  (May) June – September Seeds: Winged Height: averages 50–120 cms (20–47 in), can reach 2 metres (6 ft 7 in)

Hogweed is an herbaceous perennial or sometimes biennial plant, native to Europe and Asia. It is an umbelliferous plant, in the same group as plants such as fennel, cow parsley and ground elder.

Hogweed-Heracleum spondylium

Hogweed-Heracleum spondylium

etymology

The common name of Hogweed refers to the characteristic pig-like smell of the flowers. The genus name Heracleum derives from the Greek “herákleion” and refers to the mythologic hero Heracles, who is reputed to have used the plant medicinally. The species name sphondylium, meaning “vertebrae”, refers to the shape of the segmented stem.

The leaves are large and can reach 50 cms (20 in) in length. They are pinnate, hairy and serrated, divided into 3-5 lobed segments.

Hogweed leaves

Hogweed leaves

A snail tucked into hogweed stems

A snail tucked into hogweed stems

The roots of the plant are large, rhizomatous and reddish in colour. The stem is hollow and striated with bristly hairs.

The flowers are  white, sometimes pinkish and each has 5 petals. They are arranged in large umbels of up to 20 cm of diameter with 15 to 30 rays. The peripheral flowers having a radial symmetry.

The inflorescence of a Hogweed plant

The inflorescence of a Hogweed plant

The hogweed is one of a number of plants that have foregone the use of a sweet scent to attract pollinating insects. The plant has adopted the more unusual strategy of mimicking the scent of pigs, not that noticeable to us, but to flies it is like a magnet and flies are the main pollinators of this plant.

A tachinid fly nectaring on hogweed

A tachinid fly nectaring on hogweed

The small fruits are flattened and winged, elliptical to rounded in shape and glabrous (smooth, free from hair or down) up to 1 cm long. The seed dispersal is by wind.

Hogweed seedhead

Hogweed seedhead

1/9/12 - Hogweed seeds

1/9/12 – Hogweed seed cases

traditional medicinal and culinery uses

Common hogweed was once employed in medicine, although its use has been long out of favour. Long ago the seeds were boiled in oil that was then recommended for application to running sores and to treat the rash associated with shingles. Culpeper recommended a decoction of the seeds to be applied to running ears.

Hogweed shoots have  a high vitamin C content and the plant is still eaten in some places. The young shoots are collected early in the season and the  tender young stems, cut into pieces about 15cm long may be boiled in salted water for about 15 minutes, then drained and served with butter. Apparently they make an ideal accompaniment to meat dishes.

(WARNING!  This family of plants contains many poisonous species and correct identification is essential before even thinking about eating them.)

hogweed and insects

Although its main pollinators are flies, many insects of other species can be seen helping them out whilst helping themselves to the nectar. It is not uncommon to see numbers of insects vying for a space on the same hogweed flowerhead.

A pair of soldier beetles mating, a green shield bug, a small black beetle and a fly of some sort all on one small flowerhead, oh and there's a spider's web

A pair of soldier beetles mating, a green shield bug, a small black beetle and a fly of some sort all on one small flowerhead, oh and there’s a spider’s web

30/6/13-Small Tortoiseshell on hogweed-Little Orme

30/6/13-Small Tortoiseshell on hogweed-Little Orme

30/6/13-Bumblebee on Hogweed flowers, Little Orme

30/6/13-Bumblebee-Bombus hortorium on Hogweed flowers, Little Orme

30/6/12-Greenbottle fly on hogweed - Little Orme

30/6/12-Greenbottle fly on hogweed – Little Orme

At Bryn Euryn the first insect I spotted on Hogweed flowers was a Comma butterfly. It was looking a bit worse for wear, faded and with chunks missing from its wings,but is a first tick for a sighting of this species this year.

8/7/13 -Comma butterfly

8/7/13 -Comma butterfly

There were also a number of soldier beetles, greenbottle flies, bumblebees and hoverflies there. I thought I’d taken a picture of a honeybee too, but taking a closer look at the photograph I realised the insect had only two wings. I don’t know for sure what it is, more research  needed, but most probably a hoverfly ; an Eristalis species. Interestingly in respect of honeybees, a loved this observation on Adventure’s in Beeland’s blog  whats flowering now: early july   ” They (honeybees) appear to get very little pollen from these flowers, but instead swish their proboscis enthusiastically about in the nectar like a watercolour artist swirling their brush.” I’ll envisage that now, if I chance upon a honeybee on hogweed…

Probably a hoverfly an Eristalis species

Probably a hoverfly an Eristalis species

A 7-spot ladybird heading up a hogweed stem - there's prey up there - greenfly aphids

A 7-spot ladybird heading up a hogweed stem – there’s prey up there – greenfly aphids

One of my favourite photographs of an insect on hogweed is this one of a Rose Chafer, taken somewhere along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path.

2/7/08-Rose Chafer on Hogweed - Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

2/7/08-Rose Chafer on Hogweed – Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

Picture from Naturespot: Graham Calow - Sapcote - 26 April 2012

There is an insect that I am aware of but haven’t noticed yet, actually named  for the plant; the Hogweed picture-wing fly. It is a small picture-winged fly Euleia heraclei. Also known as the Celery fly, it is a species of tephritid or fruit fly and is a pest of celery and parsnips, where it damages the vegetables by leaf mining. Males display on the upper surfaces of leaves on sunny days during May and mating takes place when a female arrives.  In Britain, the species is distributed widely across southern and central England; in Wales records are mainly near the coast. (The picture is taken from one of my favourite ID sites http://www.naturespot.org.uk/)

53.308051 -3.749941

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Elder Tree

04 Thursday Jul 2013

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

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

elder flowers, elder tree, elder tree mythology and folklore, elderberries, medicinal uses of plants, sambucus niger

Elder blossom is prolific this year, summoning attention to the small shrubby trees that for most of the year just blend quietly into their surroundings. But no matter its appearance, the Elder is not at all what it seems to be and this common inhabitant of our woods, hedgerows and waysides is steeped to the tips of its twigs in ancient magic, rich and mysterious mythology and legend. Throughout history its character has been portrayed with ambivalence : kindly and beneficent one the one hand, spiteful and malevolent on the other.

The Elder tree

Scientific name: Sambucus niger Family: Adoxaceae (reclassified from Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle) Height: to 10m; deciduous Flowering: Early Summer: Native to Great Britain & Ireland

Elder tree in full blossom - Little Orme

Elder tree in full blossom – Little Orme

Leaves are a dull green, compound in shape, usually 5-7 leaflets are unstalked and arranged in opposite pairs with a single leaf at the end. The leaf edges are serrated or toothed.  The leaves are poisonous too. The purplish leaf buds have spiky scales which likens them to a pineapple in shape. The berries are poisonous eaten raw.

Elder blossom and leaves

Elder blossom and leaves

Folklore & Mythology

” English summer begins with elder flowers  and ends with elder berries”

In the Celtic lunar calendar, or Ogham calender, which ascribes a tree and a letter to each month, Elder is the tree of the thirteenth month and is known as Ruis and signifies the letter R. Standing at Samhain which is the end of the cycle of the agricultural year and a new beginning, Elder brings a message of transformation, change and spiritual renewal.

Elder acquired ill repute from its traditional use, and subsequent cursing, as the wood of the Cross upon which Christ was crucified and then as the tree from which Judas Iscariot hanged himself.  It became an emblem of death, trouble and sorrow. But Elder’s sinister reputation  is far older than Christianity and is thought to have sprung from ancient and now forgotten animistic beliefs.

In German and Scandinavian lore, the tree was inhabited by the Elder Mother (Hyldemöer)  or Lady Elder, whose permission must be sought before the tree was even touched, let alone cut. In order to make use of the magical power of the tree, the correct prayers and offerings would have to be made otherwise Hyldemöer would take her revenge.

Elder is not for burning

To burn elder wood brought death and disaster and ‘raised the devil’. It was never used as firewood or burned by hedgers after it had been cut. In the Fens the tree was never touched after dark. If elder twigs were added to a fire, it showed its displeasure by going out. In North Staffordshire to burn elder ” brings the Old Lad (the devil) on top of the chimney”. Food cooked over an elder-wood fire, should you be foolish enough to light one, would not be fit to eat.

Elder tree with cliff of the Little Orme in the background

Elder tree with cliff of the Little Orme in the background

The Witch’s Tree

It is said that a witch can turn herself into an elder tree and its wood is used for the making of magic wands. (The most powerful wand in the realms of the  Harry Potter novels is a wand made of sambucus known as the “Elder Wand”.) In Ireland witches rode elder sticks, not broomsticks. A story was told in the village of Syresham in Northamptonshire, (which as a matter of interest to me, is very near where I was born and lived as a child), about a man who cut a stick for his son from an elder tree: he was horrified to see that the tree bled. On their way home they met a neighbour, a woman reputed to be a witch. Around her arm was a freshly blood-stained bandage…  Witches conjured rough weather by stirring a bucket of water with an elder twig.

Frothy elderflowers

Frothy elderflowers

The scent of the white elder flowers was said to poison anyone foolish enough to fall asleep beneath the tree. Sitting under, or more riskily sleeping under, an elder at midsummer was said to enable one to see the faeries,  or even see them going to their midsummer feast. The danger then was of being transported into the Underworld and not being able to escape. Elder is certainly associated with a spirit being, or Queen who is a guardian of the Underworld, where faeries and spirits of the dead reside.

Counter-charms

Elder trees were planted by houses to protect them from lightning and evil spirits and promoted fertility. A lucky self-sown elder should be given a place to grow.  Welsh housewives made stencilled patterns around elder leaves on newly washed and whitened kitchen floors to keep witches away. Elder was often planted in graveyards and crosses of elder used to be placed on new graves: a flourishing elder showed that the dead were happy and, more importantly, would not walk.

Elder berries collected on St.John’s Eve, which is just before Midsummer, saved their possessor from witchcraft and awarded magic powers.

Traditional medicine

Elder has traditionally played a part in a myriad of  cures. According to Coles in Adam and Eden (1656):

“There is hardly a Disease from the Head to the Foot but it cures. It is profitable for the Headache, for Ravings and Wakings, Hypocondriack and Melancholly, the Falling-sickness, Catarrhes, Deafnesse, Faintnesse and Feacours.”

In Shropshire, a necklace of elder would be hung around the neck of a patient afflicted with Whooping Cough. In Somerset warts were treated by cutting a leaf with a number of slits corresponding to the number of the patient’s warts; the leaf was rubbed over the afflictions and buried. As the leaf decayed, the warts vanished. In Cambridgeshire an elder twig was chewed for toothache and then stuck into a wall with the message “Depart the evil spirit”. In Gloucestershire it was carried to ward off rheumatism.

Elder has been used medicinally for hundreds of years and it continues to play a part in modern herbal medicine. The berries and flowers are  the safest parts of the tree to use (the bark can be highly purgative and the leaves toxic in the wrong dosage). Modern research in recent years has corroborated Elder’s reputation as a flu remedy, revealing that a constituent in Elder berries surrounds the flu virus and stops it invading our cells, while boosting the immune-system. The berries are also a good source of Vitamin C.

Culinary Uses 

Elder berries are poisonous if eaten raw

Elder berries are poisonous if eaten raw

Elder has a great deal of human uses over history, mostly for food and drink. Elderflower cordial and ‘champagne’ is made from the flowers which can also be dipped in batter and fried as ‘fritters’. The berries are used to make rich wine.

Other Uses

Washing her face in dew gathered from elderflowers was believed to enhance and preserve a woman’s youthful beauty, and derivatives of elder continue to be used in skin cleansers and eye lotions.

It is thought that the name elder comes the Anglo-saxon ‘aeld’ meaning fire because the hollow stems could be used to blow air into the centre of a fire like bellows. When I was a child we picked straight pieces of elder twig, removed the pith from the centre and used the hollowed tubes as pea shooters. By the same principle, wood from the elder tree lends itself well to the making of whistles, pipes, chanters and other musical instruments, as the soft pithy core is easily removed to create hollow pipes of a pale, hard, easily-polished wood.  Hollowed elderberry twigs have traditionally been used as spiles to tap maple trees for syrup.

Wood from the elder tree lends itself well to the making of whistles, pipes, chanters and other musical instruments, as the branches contain a soft pithy core which is easily removed to create hollow pipes of a pale, hard, easily-polished wood.

The pith of elder has been used by watchmakers for cleaning tools before intricate work.

The elder is not a common tree across the Scottish Highlands, but despite its relative scarcity, the parts of the tree used for dying were important to the Harris tweed industry, with blue and purple dyes being derived from the berries, yellow and green from the leaves and grey and black from the bark.

Uses for wildlife

The berries are a very valuable food resource for many birds.  Elders are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Brown-tail, Buff Ermine, Dot Moth, Emperor Moth, the Engrailed, Swallow-tailed Moth and the V-pug.

Dead elder wood is the preferred habitat of the mushroom Auricularia auricula-judae, also known as “Judas’ ear fungus”.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Like this:

Like Loading...

Meadowsweet

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

filipendula ulmaria, flower folklore, mabinogion, meadowsweet, meadowsweet folklore, medicinal uses of plants

Meadowsweet–Filipendula ulmaria; also known as Queen of the Meadow, Lady of the Meadow, Dollof, Bridewort.; Welsh – Brenhines y Weirglodd  

Meadowsweet growing on the sea side of the railway embankment, Colwyn Bay

Family:Rosaceae. Flowering: Late June to September.Distribution: Throughout the British Isles and Western Europe. Habitat: A wide variety of damp places- fens, marshy meadows, stream and riversides, wet rock ledges in mountain areas, but not in very acid bogs.

Meadowsweet

Meadowsweet is a perennial herb, has stems up to 120cm tall often reddish-tinged and dark green pinnate leaves. It bears delicate, graceful, creamy-white flowers that are tiny at 4-6mm across, but gathered in large numbers in dense irregularly-formed branched frothy ‘cymes’ or ‘corymbs’ at the stem apices. Leaves are dark green, pinnate, with deeply toothed ovate leaflets, pairs of larger ones (up to 8cm long) alternate up the leaf-stalk with pairs of tiny ones (1-4mm long). The terminal leaflet is usually 3-lobed.

Meadowsweet leaves wet with rain

Etymology

The name ulmaria means “elmlike”. There is no visual resemblance to the elm tree (Ulmus) in any way, but in common with the bark of the  slippery elm (Ulmus rubra) meadowsweet contains salicylic acid, which has long been used as a painkiller, and this may be the source of the name. The generic name, Filipendula, derives from filum, meaning “thread” and pendulus, meaning “hanging.” This is thought to describe the root tubers that hang characteristically on the genus, on fibrous roots.

Importance to insects

Meadowsweet  is moderately attractive to bees, including bumblebees. The plants play host to numbers of  aphids, leafhoppers, mites and caterpillars, so in turn is very attractive to predator insects and spiders,  including both crab and jumping spiders; soldier beetles that eat aphids and other insects; plant bugs that prey on leaf beetles; ladybirds and ichneumonid wasps, parasitic wasps that prey on beetles and caterpillars.

Historical and Traditional uses 

Meadowsweet has a long history of use by humans. Traces of it have been found with the cremated remains of three people and at least one animal in a Bronze Age cairn at Fan Foel, located in Carmarthenshire, West Wales. It is thought that this may have been either from a honey-based mead or flavoured ale placed with food as nourishment for the passed ones onward journey, or that the plant had been placed on the grave as a scented flower. The whole plant has a pleasant taste and flavour, and was venerated by the Druids for flavouring mead. It is still used for this purpose in some Scandinavian varieties of mead. It has also been used to flavour wine, beer, and many vinegars. The flowers can be added to stewed fruit and jams, imparting a subtle almond flavour.

When it was customary to strew floors with rushes and herbs, both to give warmth underfoot and to overcome smells and infections, Meadowsweet was a favoured choice as the leaves are aromatic as well as the flowers, and was reputedly the favourite herb of Queen Elizabeth 1 for that purpose.

A natural black dye can be obtained from the roots.

Folklore

There is some fascinating folklore based around this plant. In some parts of the country it was believed that the heavy scent of the flowers had the power to induce a deep sleep from which a person would never wake. Its sweetness, perhaps not unexpectedly, made it unlucky to bring indoors, and redolent with death; possibly linked to its use as ‘grave’ flower.

The old custom of strewing at weddings gave rise to the alternative name of “bridewort”; the flowers were also used in bridal garlands. Cynics maintained that the plant symbolised courtship and matrimony because of the changing scent of the flower before and after bruising!

In Welsh Mythology, according to the Mabinogion, Gwydion and Math created a woman out of oak blossom, broom, and meadowsweet and named her Blodeuwedd (“flower face”).

Another valued attribute of the plant was that if it was laid on water on St.John’s Day, (most probably June 24th, Midsummer’s Day), it would reveal a thief; a woman if the plant floated, a man if it sank.

Medicinal uses

Meadowsweet has many medicinal properties and a long history as a healing herb. This plant contains the chemicals used to make aspirin, a small section of root, when chewed is a good natural remedy for relieving headaches.The whole plant is a traditional remedy for an acidic stomach.

Chemical constituents include salicylic acid, flavone glycosides, essential oils, and tannins.

Importantly, in 1897, Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin, derived from the species, which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally acetylsalicylic acid, was named “aspirin” by Hoffman’s employer Bayer AG after the old botanical name for meadowsweet, Spiraea ulmaria. This gave rise to the class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Like this:

Like Loading...

Rosebay willowherb

18 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by theresagreen in Nature, nature photography, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

bombweed, epilobium angustifolium, fireweed, late summer wildflowers, medicinal uses of plants, rosebay willowherb, wildflowers of railway embankments

Stands of this glorious, showy plant may begin flowering as early as June, but are at their best now, gracing the margins of woodland, bogs, railway embankments and roadsides from June to September. A member of the Onagraceae family, Rosebay willowherb is native to the British Isles ; it is a vigorous perennial and can reach a height of almost 2 metres.

Rosebay Willowherb – Epilobium angustifolium  Other common names  include Fireweed, Bombweed and Ranting Widow. In Welsh it is Helyglys hardd.

Rosebay Willowherb was voted the County flower of London in 2002 following a poll by the wild plant conservation charity Plantlife.

 

Rosebay Willowherb

The flowers are slightly unequal, notched and have 4 deep pink/purple petals, 15-25mm across that grow up a long spike

A hairy plant, it has oblong to lanceolate, coarsely toothed leaves. In autumn the downy seedpods split into four and release long plumes of featherweight hairs, which in warm dry conditions open up like parachutes, carrying the attached tiny light seeds great distances; each plant is capable of producing up to 80,000 seeds.

The flowers are a very good source of nectar for bees. Bee keepers sometimes move hives to newly opened forestry land where the plant is quick to colonize.

Etymology

The species name angustifolium is quite straightforward, simply made  up of the Latin words angusti meaning ‘narrow’, and folium meaning ‘leaf’.

Nowadays Rosebay Willowherb is widespread and common across the British Isles, but as little as a century ago Rosebay Willowherb was a relatively scarce woodland plant and up until the mid-eighteenth century most writers seemed to consider it a garden plant which occasionally escaped into the wild. The first authoritative wild records are all from rocky or riverside sites.

The following are extracts from Richard Mabey’s  Flora Britannica:

In Northumberland in 1769, rosebay could be found ‘Among the rocks and bushes under the Roman wall on the west side of Shewing-sheels, and by the Crag Lake. … It is introduced into some of our gardens under the name of French willow; but being a great runner, it makes a better figure in its more confined situation among the rocks, than under culture…. It is reputed a scarce plant. In Hertfordshire, in the 1840s, it was described as ‘rare’ in woods on a moist sandy soil, and in osier beds. Other noted botanists of the time, including the author of  ‘Flowers of the Field (1853), the Revd C A Johns made similar reports.

But by 1867, the Worcester botanist, Edwin Lees, had begun to notice a change in its habits: ‘Quite recently the Rosebay Willow-herb has become numerous in several parts of the Vale of Severn, and promises to spread, incited to take possession of new-made roads and embankments. I have observed it by the side of a diverted road near Shatterford, and in the cutting of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, near Croome Perry Wood.’

‘Fireweed’ or ‘Bombweed’

During the First World War (1914-18), populations of rosebay exploded, especially where extensive woodland had been felled (and often burned) to supply timber for the woar effort. In World War 11, there was a second wave of expansion. Rosebay relishes areas where there have been fires, and the summer after the bombing raids of 1940, the ruins of London’s homes and shops were covered with sheets of rosebay stretching, according to some popular reports, as far as the eye could see and generating the popular name ‘bombweed’.

In Gloucestershire there were mixed feelings about the plant. In 1948 the new county flora edited by H.J. Riddelsdell says:

‘This species has  spread with great vigour since about 1914 owing to the clearing of woods…. The seed is easily carried, of course, and the railway has been a great agent in its spread. Beautiful as the plant is in its flowering season, when it is in seed it creates desolation and ugliness over the whole of its area.’

Flowers, seedpods & seedheads

Traditional Medicinal uses

The roots may be peeled, pounded gently and used as a poultice for skin damage such as burns, sores, swellings, boils and other similar afflictions.

An infusion of the leaves, drunk as a tea act as a tonic for the whole system, helping digestion and inflammation, but take moderately as  they are also an effective laxative.

The dried pith may be dried and powdered and applied to the hands and face for protection against the cold.

Practical uses

In autumn the downy seed hairs can be used as fast lighting tinder (similar to thistle down), very effective with flint and striker. Make sure you have a secondary tinder ready as the down burns away quickly.

The down has been used to stuff mattresses and mixed with cotton or fur to produce warm clothing.

The fibre from the outer stem is used as a material for making cords.

 

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Like this:

Like Loading...

Conwy Mountain

19 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by theresagreen in Nature, nature photography, Snowdonia National Park, wildflowers

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

bell heather, bog asphodel, Conwy mountain, erica cinerea, foxglove, heather in bloom, heathland, medicinal uses of plants, plants poisonous to animals

Conwy Mountain is beautiful now, it’s rocky cliffs and crags are coloured and softened with masses of pink/purple heather and the lower slopes are clothed with a mantle of ferny green bracken.

Heather softens the rocky limestone cliffs of the mountain

Heather is mixed with gorse which is just beginning to open its flowers

Bell Heather- Erica cinerea

Erica cinerea – Bell heather, is a species of heather that is native to western and central Europe. It is a low shrub growing to 15–60 centimetres (5.9–24 in) tall, with fine needle-like leaves 4–8 millimetres (0.16–0.31 in) long arranged in whorls of three.

The plant’s common name is taken from its pink/purple bell-shaped flowers that are 4–7 millimetres (0.16–0.28 in) long, and produced during mid to late summer.

This species occurs mainly on dry heaths where the soil is acidic or peaty; it tends not to be found in wetter places, where it is likely to be replaced by the similar-looking Cross-leaved Heath, Erica tetralix. Its growth is not as large or dense as that of common heather or ling.

PRACTICAL USES

Bell heather has been used extensively over centuries in a wide variety of ways, including use as bedding material for both livestock and people. Bundles of the dried stems have been used to make brooms and to thatch roofs; it has been burnt as fuel, wound into ropes and used to repair holes in tracks and roads.

TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USES

Heather has a long history of  use in traditional or folk medicine. In particular it is a good urinary antiseptic and diuretic, disinfecting the urinary tract and mildly increasing urine production.

Part used : flowers
Uses : Particularly used for urinary infections.
Antiseptic, Cholagogue, Depurative, Diaphoretic, Diuretic, Expectorant, Sedative, Vasoconstrictor

Heather and gorse shrubbery accented by spikes of foxgloves

Foxgloves that have flowered prolifically this year are still bearing flowers at the tips of their elongated stems.

Foxgloves open their flowers starting with those at the lower end of the stem, which continues to lengthen.

The heather-covered rocky slopes give way to bracken at their base. Grasses and other plants surround the pool creating a rich tapestry of lush vegetation

The large mountain pool is currently full to overflowing and the ground for some distance around it is soft and boggy, with large pools of surface water covering the walking tracks. On what would have been the edge of the pool a few weeks ago, I was excited to spot some spikes of Bog Asphodel. I wanted to get a photograph of  them of course, but they were now surrounded by water and very boggy mud. I managed to get fairly close to them, but as there was no way I was going to kneel to put myself on a level with them, the resulting picture is not as clear as I would have liked, but you get the general impression.

Bog Asphodel –

Bog Asphodel – Narthecium ossifragum

A fascinating and unusual plant that grows in short wet grassland on acid soils, Bog Asphodel has bright yellow flowers with six narrow widely-spaced petals and six long stamens that are surrounded by yellow hairs, like a miniature bottle-brush, with a prominent orange anther on top.

There were just a few flowers to be found here, but in other places where the appropriate habitat occurs, during July and August carpets of the deep orange yellow flowers may be seen, to be replaced later in September by a carpet of orange and russet-brown as the flowers fruit.

Despite the plant’s English name, it is not particularly closely related to the true asphodels. The Latin name means “weak bone”, and refers to a traditional belief that eating the plant caused sheep to develop brittle bones.

In Northern climes it was once used a yellow hair dye and as a cheap substitute for saffron.

Bog Asphodel may be poisonous to both sheep and cattle, although not all stands of the plant are toxic, and the toxicity may be the side effect of the plant’s response to a fungal infection. However, affected plants , if ingested, cause serious kidney problems and a photosensitive disorder which is variously called ‘alveld’ (elf-fire), in Norway; ‘saut’ in Cumbria; and ‘plochteach’, ‘yellowses’ and ‘head greet’ in Scotland that are brought about by tri-saccaride saponins, ‘narcethin’ being the major one. 

Waxcaps

A real surprise was to find this little collection of mushrooms, which I’m fairly sure from mushroom forages in Spain, are Chanterelle’s, but not sure enough to risk picking them!

Spear Thistle – Cirsium vulgare

And finally, thistles.

Cotton Thistle – Onopordum acanthium

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Like this:

Like Loading...
Follow everyday nature trails on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

MOST RECENT POSTS

  • Wintergreens January 17, 2021
  • The Wilds behind the Sea Wall August 18, 2020
  • Midsummer Hillside July 15, 2020
  • Midsummer Woods July 5, 2020
  • Tiny Tree-top Dancers May 3, 2020
  • The Birds and the Bee-flies April 6, 2020

OLDER POSTS

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR?

SPECIES COLLECTIONS & IDs

The following are my species collections & ids and a work in progress I hope to be able to keep adding to.

BIRDS

SIGHTINGS LISTS BY AREA/HABITAT

BUTTERFLIES

Butterfly collection & id

BUMBLEBEES

Buff-tailed bumblebee

Bumblebee collection & id

HOVERFLIES

Hoverfly collection & id

BEETLES FOUND ON FLOWERS incl. Ladybirds

Click for more beetles

MY WILDFLOWER BLOG: where the wildflowers are

Snowdrop

Snowdrop

Winter Heliotrope

Winter Heliotrope

MY SPANISH BLOG: nightingale trails

The Walk of the Monarch Butterfly-Sendero de la Mariposa Monarca

The Walk of the Monarch Butterfly-Sendero de la Mariposa Monarca

Wildflowers and Nightingales

Wildflowers and Nightingales
Follow everyday nature trails on WordPress.com

Social

  • View teresamaygreen’s profile on Twitter

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 345 other followers

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    <span>%d</span> bloggers like this: