Drink in the panorama of vibrant colour
What can be more beautiful than a meadow, wildflowers and lofty grasses swaying gently in a summer breeze, meadow buttercups dotting the panorama with splashes of yellow, the scarlet of the common poppy shouting for attention while the oxeye daisies stand high, displaying their familiar heads of white and yellow. Below the taller species, white
clover flowers are buzzing with bees as they collect nectar. The soft blue flowers of field scabious, the mauve heads of knapweed, all jostle for space in nature’s stunning patchwork quilt.
Damp meadows, bogs and fens are also havens for a different array of plants. They need to be more tolerant of the conditions they live in, adapting to the challenges posed. One such species is our native yellow iris – often referred to as flags. They need to have their feet in damp soil, along ditches and lakesides where they stand tall, bearing large blooms in clusters of twos and threes. Another plant of damp places, bog asphodel displays stunning, star-shaped yellow flowers in late summer, the entire plant turning to a bronzey-orange hue in autumn. Close by, the wispy, silky heads of bog cotton shiver and shake, white speckles peppering the landscape. One of the best looking wetland plants is
bogbean. This species holds it heads of pink-white flowers well above the waterline. Each flower has five or six petals that are fringed with long white hairs and are a real joy to examine through a hand-lens.
Many of our native flowering plants have more to offer than pure beauty, frequently being referred to as ingredients in herbal, and sometimes more modern, medicines. For example, old Irish folklore relating to the
yellow Iris tells us that it was used to cure rheumatism and to treat sore lips. The early-flowering Colt’s-foot, a plant found on waste ground and verges, has yellow flowerheads that brighten a winter’s day. Its scientific name is Tussilago farfara, from ‘Tussere’ meaning to cough, so it is no surprise to learn that it was used for throat problems and asthma. And in springtime our hedgerows sparkle with the white flowers of blackthorn. In our folklore, its leaves were stewed, the resulting liquid deemed to be a remedy for summer fever and indigestion. Many more remedies have been obtained from wildflowers but perhaps it is best to leave that aspect to the professionals and simply enjoy their beauty.
‘Many have more to offer than pure beauty’