In the part of Horsham where I live there's an ongoing project to rewild as many of the green spaces as possible no matter what their size. I've made a conscious decision to really pay attention to what I'm seeing when I'm out walking. There have been several butterflies and some really beautiful wild Spring flowers. Although the butterflies may not play ball, thankfully the latter are stationary so I have a chance to capture their magnificence and it enriches my experience while I'm out.
Green Alkanet aka Evergreen Bugloss. It's related to Forget-me-nots, borage and comfrey. It was believed to be helpful for healing wounds or snake bites and the root can be used both as a coffee substitute or you can extract a red dye from it which was used by weavers and cloth-makers. Alkanet apparently is derived from the Arabic for henna and the plant is thought to have originated in the Mediterranean.
Wood anemone aka Windflower, European Thimble Weed and Smell Fox because of its sharp musky scent. Anemone comes from the Greek God Anemos who sent the Spring flowers before him. It's the county flower of Middlesex and a symbol of good luck if you carry some about your person. Fairies were believed to hide in them and close up the flowers to protect themselves from the rain.
Cowslip aka Plumrocks, Fairy Cups and St Peter's keys supposedly from the look of the flowers to the bunch of keys that he carelessly dropped. These were traditionally picked on May day to decorate the boughs and bushes that those celebrating would have carried with them. It's a very fragrant flower [smells slightly of apricot] and many years ago it was regularly made into a country wine.
Ground Ivy aka Run-away Robin, Creeping Charlie, Devil's Candlesticks and in Sussex Lion's Mouth. Its other name of Alehoof alludes to its use by the Saxons to flavour and clarify their ale before hops were favoured. It smells of blackcurrant [and tom cat!] and is a good remedy for nettle bites. It was believed to be a protection against sorcery and milkmaids would wear it to stop the cows from being enchanted when they milked them.
Lesser Celandine is part of the buttercup family and is not to be confused with Greater Celandine which confusingly is not related as it's part of the poppy group. It's claimed that it was Wordsworth's favourite wild flower, but maybe it might not have appealed so much had its main name been Pilewort [relating to its use for treating haemorrhoids]. Other country names relating to its sunny yellow colour are Goldy Knob and Golden Guineas.
This final one is, of course, Forget-me-nots. If you've got to the end of this post without losing the will to live you might be relieved to hear that I've already covered this little wonder in an earlier post here
https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/search?q=forget-me-nots. I figured that there was no point in covering old ground😁
Weirdly for the second time in as many weeks I found myself accompanied by another friendly feline guide who showed me round the redundant Victorian graveyard which was one of my hunting grounds. I hardly ever encounter cats when I'm exploring let alone ones which are hellbent on having a cuddle and come over of their own volition. Life's funny how it works sometimes isn't it.
Arilx
