Caring about our future

November - Bramble

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca - November

by Dr John

Rubus fruticosus - Bramble, Blackberry

Family - Rosaceae

Once upon a time, the long, arching stems of bramble were known as 'lawyers' because of the trouble escaping from them once you fell into their clutches.

The plant is described as a very prickly, prostrate to clambering, half-evergreen perennial, which in a season can grow 4m long stems.  Depending on the reference source, the bramble is said to have 450 to 2000 subspecies or microspecies, which may vary in fruit, leaf or flower - but the expertise to know the differences may require a 'degree in anoraks' as a starter!

My viewpoint is that the plant has evolved to be a phenomenon of survival and opportunism.  It can propagate by seed, cuttings, layering or tip-rooting and it inhabits almost every habitat in UK.  New stems may live for about two years but the projeny potential of one stem ensures rapid colonisation.  Its fast spread and growth can actually protect seedling trees from browsing by deer and goats and it provides food and habitat for a large number of insects and small and large mammals, as well as providing a bounty of fruit-for-free for many townsfolk.

In the past, the roots and the berries have been used as sources of orange and blue-purple dyes respectively.  Folk-lore abounds with charms, cures and songs about the bramble.  Indeed, the 'mulberry bush' of nursery rhyme fame may have actually been a mound of brambles.  There is the story of the cormorant, the bat and the bramble, who entered a partnership in wool dealing.  They had shares in a boat to carry the wool overseas, but the boat was wrecked.  As a result, the cormorant is always diving after the lost cargo, the bat owes money and hides from its creditors until dark, and the bramble makes up its losses by stealing wool from sheep.

Folklore suggests that the blackberries have no value after Michaelmas (29 September) because the Devil has had his claws on or has urinated on the fruit.  In scientific fact, it is the reduced pectin in the last fruits of the season that prevents the setting of jams or jellies.  Also, the damage to over-ripe fruit by mildews, and flesh-flies (Sarcophaga camearia) which dribble saliva on the drupes, which causes softening and rotting so that these late season 'freebies' are less than perect compared with the fruits of July and August.  Even in November, the ubiquitous brambles at Quin Bosca have remnant flowers and fruits, and leaves to feed to the goats.  Bramble can be a pain in the neck at times, but it does give so much value for a good part of the year.

October - Field Mushroom

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca - October

by Dr John

Agaricus campestris - Field Mushroom

Purists would correctly argue that mushrooms are not wild flowers.  Indeed, the collectable part above the ground is really the fruiting body of the underground mass of fungal strands or hyphae.  I trust that fellow smallholders will 'forgive' this deviation from true flowering plant articles.

The term 'field mushroom' is loose and includes several members of the Agaricus family.  Fungi grow their reproductive bodies under the influence of the right combination of temperature, humidity and growing medium.  Agaricus campestris and its relatives grow mainly on pasture and grassland and this can be altered by different livestock. 

At Quin Bosca, we find less mushrooms in the pigs' and horses' paddocks than in the meadows where the cattle and sheep graze.

If picking mushrooms earliy in the morning before they are struck by flies, always look for pink gills and absent sheaths.

Common field species include the 'blusher', Amanita rubescens, and the yellow-staining mushroom, Agaricus xanthodermis - and these can be mistaken without due care.  Both of these species contain poisons that tend to cause vomiting and colicky pains, although they are unlikely to be fatal.  If in any doubt about the species, simply cut the mushroom in half and discard any with white gills or that stain or bruise with a pink or yellow discoloration.  The yellow-stainer also has a distinctive smell of carbolic acid when cut across.

Although sometime difficult to identify precisely, field mushrooms do look like the 'ordinary' cultivated ones, Agaricus bisporus.

At Quin Bosca, field mushrooms have appeared as early as July, but autumn is the usual time for gathering.  They can be used in any recipe that calls for cultivated mushrooms, but wild ones are considered to be fuller in flavour.  A simple and favoured cooking method involves frying unpeeled mushrooms for just three or four minutes in an open pan.  Any excessive water can be decanted off, or they may become limp and mushy.  Bacon fat is a traditional oil and the mushrooms should be fried within minutes of collection.  Soup takes a little longer - I would simmer the chopped caps and stems in seasoned goat mild for half an hour.  Liquidising in a blender results in a smooth, light soup which can be served warm or cold.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall describes Snail and Wild Mushroom Risotto:

'Add shell-less cooked snails ('French style'), which have been sauteed in butter, garlic and a little wine to a wild mushroom risotto a couple of minutes before the rice is fully cooked.'

Mmmm - delicious!!

September - Wild Teasel

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca - September

by Dr John

Dipsacus fullonum - Wild Teasel

Family - Dipsacadeae

In most mills, teasels were replaced by steel brushes in the nineteenth century.  Before that time, teasel was the teasing plant of the clothier and the common name arose from Old English - taesan, meaning to tease.

Although Wild Teasel is still used by wool spinners to card or separate the fibres in order to allow for strands of wool to be pulled out, it was actually Fuller's Teasel (Dipsacus sativus) that was most common in industrial use.  Fullers were craftsmen who cleaned and finished cloth in the tweed mills, and Fuller's Teasel is still a sub-species, that probably came from southern Europe. 

Today, it is still cultivated on the Somerset Levels. Fuller's Teasel has recurved outer spines, whereas the Wild Teasel's spines are straight.  The manufacturers of billiard table baze, however, find that the conical flower heads retain superiority over man-made brushes in raising the nap of the cloth.  The plant spines have a 'give' which allows a gentle skating over the surface of the material and does not cause tears if snagged.

Teasel is a tall biennial, growing up to three metres high.  It is branched and prickly on the stems, leaves and flower heads.  The flowers open from July to September, and the individual purple flowers are surrounded by small spiny sepals.  The whole cone of the compound flower head has stiff bracts cupping over the outside.  It is of little wonder that children have commonly pretended that the cones are tiny hedgehogs.

The flowers are fertilised by bees and produce a small seed inside brown, corky fruits.  These seeds are an important source of nutrition for flocks of goldfinches during the autumn and early winter months.  Teasels tend to grtwo in clusters in rough grassy, bushy and waste places.  They are often seen along roadside verges, standing starkly above even the tallest grasses.

The botanical name Dipsacus is derived from a Greek word meaning 'to thirst'.  The large leaves grow in pairs joined by a thin membrane at their bases.  In effect, this forms a cup with the stem passing through the centre.  Rainwater collects in the cups and this 'dew' has long ben held to have rejuvenating powers.  In the eighteenth century, teasel-water was believed to remove freckles and even today may still be used for bathing tire or itching eyes. 

Flying insects frequently drown in the water held in the leaf bases but there is no evidence that this is a source of nutrition for the plant.

August - Fleabane

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca - August

by Dr John

Pulicaria dysenterica - Fleabane / Harvest Flower (Cornwall) / Pig Daisy (Dorset) / Carmets (Devon)

Family - Compositae

'The smell', according to the 17th century herbalist Nicholas Culpepper, 'is supposed delightful to insects and the juice destructive to them, for they never leave it till the Season of their deaths'. 

Fleabane may well have been mixed with strewing herbs and grasses that were used to sweeten the household odours in medieval times during the summer.  The addition of fleabane was to act as an insecticide, especially for fleas that would be likely to hatch from pupae in August.

Dried fleabane was also hung or burned and the vapour was thought to drive away fleas, with its hints of chrysanthemum and carbolic soap.  Indeed, a close relative of fleabane has been used as a source of pyrethrum, the modern insecticide.

Fleabane is a perennial weed most commonly found in meadows, ditches, and damp hedge banks. 

The small, wrinkled leaves feel downy and soft but the neat, marigold-like flowers have be criticised for being a 'dirty' yellow in comparison with the brightness of buttercups and corn marigolds.  However, the Romans are said to have prized it more highly and used it to make wreaths.

Fleabane's generic name has been given because of its perceived use and pulex is Latin for flea.  The species name relates to the old herbal use against dysentry, but i can find no recent records of fleabane's present standing.  it remains a fairly common plant of lowland England, with neither real use nor ornament and really seems to grow, flower and seed without harm or intrusion at Quin Bosca Farm

July - Foxglove

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca - July

by Dr John

Digitalis purpurea - Common Foxglove / Dead Men's Bells / Fairy Thimbles / Bloody Fingers

Family - Plantaginaceae

Digitalis is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous biennials, perennials and shrubs that was traditionally placed in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. Due to new genetic research, it has now been placed in the much enlarged family Plantaginaceae. The genus is native to Europe, western and central Asia and northwestern Africa. 

At Quin Bosca, Foxgloves, being the taller plants, line the paddocks with their blowsy purple flowers, and mingle with many other varieties of plant.  If we had a mission statement it would be to claim the use of grazing animals to improve the spectrum of wildlife on our land.

The term digitalis is also used for preparations containing cardiac glycosides(useful albeit somewhat dangerous steroids) particularly digoxin, extracted from plants of this genus.

Digitalis means "finger-like", and refers to the ease which a flower of Digitalis purpurea can be fitted over a human fingertip. "Foxglove" has a similar origin, seen as a suitable glove for a fairy, the word being a corruption of "folk's glove", referring to the fairy folk.

The flowers are produced on a tall spike, are tubular, and vary in colour with species, from purple to pink, white and yellow.

The best-known species is the Common Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea. It is a biennial, often grown as an ornamental plant due to its showy flowers, that range in colour from purples through to whites, with variable marks and spotting. The first year of growth produces only the long, basal leaves, while in the second year the erect leafy stem 0.5-2.5 m tall develops.

The plantlife at Quin Bosca provides a source of sustenance to a wide range of other living creatures.  The larvae of the Foxglove Pug moth can be seen here feeding on the flowers of Digitalis purpurea.

The flowers are not the only attraction, however, the succulent leaves also make a fine meal for other Lepidoptera species such as the Lesser Yellow Underwing.

June - Common Fumitory

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca - June

by Dr John

Fumaria officianalis - Common Fumitory / Earth Smoke / Wax Dolls (Somerset, Kent, Yorks)

Family - Papaveraceae (previously Fumariaceae)

In their Dictionary of Plant Names, Britten and Holland wrote of this plant: 'a smell of fumosity, a look of fumosity and an effect of fumosity'.  The name Fumitory is derived from the Latin fumus terrae - 'smoke of the earth'.  Even in the twelfth century, it was considered that the plant generated itself spontaneously, appearing from a distance like wisps of smoke.  Pulling up a fumitory plant causes the roots to release an acrid, gaseous smell similar to that of nitric acid; the spread of the bluish-green foliage over bare ground can mimic dispersing smoke and sap from the plant can cause the eyes to water as mluch as if you were standing in the smoke from a fire.  These analogies with smoke sem to have been around since early Greek times.

Common Fumitory is an annual plant of disturbed ground and, although the flowers have adequate nectaries, it does seem as though insects shun the nectar and fumitories are self-fertile.  The slender, pinnate leaves tend to flop over the ground but the flower spikes with twenty or more dark pink-tipped flowers are presented more stiffly upright.

Fumitory produces farly large, globe-shaped nutlet fruits, each containg a single seed.  It is said to be a favourite food of one of our most plasant summer migrant birds, the turtle dove Streptopelia turtur.

Although the plant is fairly inconspicuous, it does seem to be treated with affection in folklore.  A poet of the Stockholm Medical Manuscript (circa 1400) wrote:  'Fumiter is erbe, I say, That springeth in April and May, In field, in town, in yard and gate, Their land is fat and good in state'.

In herbal use, the whole plant is described as a bitter tonic herb with mild diuretic and laxative properties.  Used internally, it has treated bilious colic, migraine of digestive distrubance and dermatitis.  A syrup made from fumitory juice mixed with the syrup of damask roses, peach blossoms or senna was a standby for almost anyone with hypochondriacal melancholia (A Modern Herbal, 1931).  Despite the sap's irritation of the eyes, an extract of fumtory has been used to treat conjunctivitis.

May - Native Irises

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca - May

by Dr John

Native Irises - Iris pseudacorus - Yellow Flag / Iris foetidissima - Stinking Iris

These irises are commonly known collectively as Gladdons in many parts of UK.  Gladdon and Gladwyn are Old English words for sword - a reference to the blade-like character of the leaves.  The iris flower was adopted in the eleventh century by Louis VII in the Fleur de Lys, which he wore during his crusades agains the Saracens, 'lys' being a corruption of Louis.  By the nineteenth century, the yellow iris was featured in many Englihs poets' inspirations, owing to the wonderful brightness of its petals.

The native irises are, of course, related to the multi-coloured garden flowers (iris is Greek for 'rainbow'), and, typically, the show quality of the garden plants is used to describe the flower characteristics in the whole group:

'Falls' - the three out petals that give the spreading appearance

'Standards' - the three more or less erect and twisting inner petals

'Crests' - again three in number, these are the petal-like stigmas bearing female reproductive parts.

The flower buds emerge from a sheath or 'spathe' and the seeds are contained in three compartmented fibrous capsules.  The seeds of the Stinking Iris are bright orange and are very noticeable as the old flower stems stand out above the evergreen leaves throughout the autumn.  It is the smell of these crushed leaves that give the somehwat unjust epithet of 'stinking'. 

Usually the flowering time of these two irises is for perhaps just a fortnight in May.  the Yellow Flag is the commonest native iris and usually prefers damp, even marshy sites and has a tolerance of salt.  It is generally widespread throughout UK. 

Once upon a time, its swollen rootstocks or rhizomes were used as  a source of black dye or ink and the roasted seeds have provided a coffee-like substitute.  In France, the Yellow Flag is a special herb of St John's Eve and it is the Irish tradition to hang bunches of the flowers outside doors on the Feast of Corpus Christi.  It is considered to be apotropaic, having the power to avert evil.  The roots of the Stinking Iris have been used since medieval times as a purgative, usually being taken in ale after boiling or steeping.

April - Cuckooflower

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca

by Dr John

Cardamine pratensis - Cuckooflower (Cornwall, Devon) / Lady's Smock (Somerset) / Milk Maids (Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire)

Family: Cruciferae

Cuckooflower is said to be the 'approved' name for this common perennial plant of damp grassland, roadsides, ditches and riverbanks.  The flowering begins just before the arrival of migrating cuckoos in mid to late April.  However, at least a dozen or so other spring plants coincide their flowering with cuckoo-call and accurate predictors are not the sole property of any one.

Although rarely used for herbal or medicinal purposes, the peppery leaves may be added to salads in place of watercress, Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum, another cruciferae cousin.  The flowers range in colour from lilac-pink to wite and a double-flowered form is more common in Cornwall and Devon than anywhere else in UK.

The rosette of divided leaves may be quite unnoticed in spring grassland, but the flowers, with their characteristic four petals are present up to 60cm hgih and may seem to appear overnight, giving a glorious display of flowering unision.

Medieval English folklore about the cuckooflower ranged from associations with amorous wenches and milkmaids who were coarsely referred to as 'smocks', the maids' aprons, and then Christianised to be associated with the Virgin Mary.  Perhaps there were allusions in the name to what went on in springtime meadows and I wonder if smallholders have a tradition to live up to here!!

In Europe, the folklore was less well-favoured to the plant.  Austrians considered that anyone picking the flowers would subsequently be bitten by an Adder and Germans feared that their houses would be struck by lightning if these 'storm flowers' were brought indoors.  Certainly, in France it was not a plant to be included in May day garlands. 

March - Lesser Celandine

Flower of the Month at Quin Bosca

by Dr John

Ranunculus ficaria - Lesser Celandine / Brighteye (Devon) / Butterchops (Somerset)

Well!!  A flower that is associated with both weather and bodily function - what more could English botanists want?

In Dorset, a local name for this perennial member of the buttercup family was once 'Spring messenger'.  It is, indeed, one of the very first woodland flowers of the year.  It can be found carpeting the ground in sheltered, damp and semi-shaded sites, with a broad and refreshing splash of gold.  The flower, which may be up to six inches high, responds to good weather and opens and shuts according to the degree of light and the termperature of the air.

William Wordsworth wrote a whole poem devoted to this flower, and it begins:

'There is a flower, the lesser Celandine, That shrinks, like many more, from the cold and rain, And, the first moment that the sun may shine, Bright as the sun himself, 'tis out again.'  (William Wordsworth)

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the 'Doctrine of Signatures' was developed by commercial herbalists who ascribed medicinal uses for plants according to their physical appearances.  The lesser celandine was called Pileworth or Figwort, because its clusters of root tubers signatured for piles (haemerrhoids) or 'figs'.  Juice from the tubers was mixed with wine or even the patient's urine and this was bathed on the offending haemerrhoids.

Lesser celandine was a medicinal herb that seems to have had benefit as one of three plans successfully used to treat scrofula, the so-called 'King's evil'.  More pleasantly, however, it was also suggested that the root tubers resembled cows' teats and the petals suggested butter.  In the Highlands and Islands, lesser celandine was an important herb of St Torranan or St Ternan, the missionary of Uist.  The plant was gathered while reciting Gaelic charms and clusters of four bulbs, like the four teats of a cow, were then hung in the byre in order to produce better cream in the udder.

Propagation of lesser celandine is by seed or root tuber.  After flowering, the fruiting heads contain numerous fruits, each with a single seed.  The root tubers are reasonably brittle and are easily broken off the root cluster, even by birds scratching in the woodland undergrowth.

February - Lungwort

Flower of the month at Quin Bosca

by Dr John

February: Pulmonaria officinalis

Lungwort / Jerusalem Clowslip / Virgin Mary / Soldiers and Sailors / Mary-spilt-the-milk

Family: Boraginaceae

The Lungwort is a member of the Borage family that includes comfreys (Symphytum sp), forget-me-nots (Mysotis sp), as well as borage (Borago officanalis) itself.  It is an early-flowering, perennial garden plant that was brought in from continental Europe, although two rare lungworts are native to England.  It is widely naturalised in woods and hedge banks which afford the necessary humus-rich, deep soils in shaded or semi-shaded habitats.  In Cornwall, the lungwort may flower a month earlier than in many other parts of UK.

Lungwort has many local names throughout Britain.  Some of the names, such as Soldiers and Sailors, refer to the variation in colours of the flowers that start as a deep pink and gradually change to blue - even on the same flower stalk. 

Folklore in Europe holds that it was the Virgin Mary's tears or drops of her milk that fell on the leaves, causing them to be spotted.

The name 'lungwort' itself dates back to the days of sympathetic magic, when the blotched leaves were seen as 'signing' the plant for ulcerated and diseased lungs.

Propagation of the lungwort is typical of this group of plants.  The large seeds or nutlets simply fall to the ground around the parent plant, causing a close grouping of new plants, rather than being spread more distantly.  In this way, the plants become localised in suitable sites but gardeners can easily split the plants and transplant them to other places.

Lungwort is generally evergreen.  The larger, older leaves of the previous year are replaced by new growth of fresh leaves as the flower stalks appear in late winter.  After flowering finishes in March, the new leaves then enlarge, and the plant has developed a niche that affords photosynthesis at relatively low light levels - be this in winter or while squeezed under vigorous annual plants that tend to grow taller to capture the main summer sunlight.