Full of grace: plants named after the Virgin Mary

Alchemilla is only one of a vast array of plants historically associated with the Blessed Virgin—there are more than 1,000, according to encyclopaedic lists, as, during the centuries of intense Catholicism, the holy lady was a regular contributor to local plant nomenclature. Her fingers, gloves, shoes, slippers, smocks and locks were popularly incorporated in regional and folk names. Bluebells were her thimbles. Cow parsley was her lace or needlework. Bindweed carried four Our Lady’s names, the wood anemone and cuckoo pint each bore five and the foxglove six. Topping the chart with nine names was spotted lungwort (Pulmonaria

officinalis), widely used in medieval times, together with wormwood, to combat the plague. Its white spots gave the plant the name Mary’s tears and other local names included Mary spilt the milk, Joseph and Mary and Jerusalem cowslip.

The first record of a ‘Mary flower’ is found in an English recipe of 1373, to ward off the bubonic plague, which had arrived in Weymouth, Dorset, from Gascony, France, in July 1348. The bloom was called St Mary’s gold. We know it as the marigold, one of the references to the Virgin we use commonly without a moment’s thought. Others have slipped into history. Verbascum was known as Our Lady’s blanket and Our Lady’s candle, reflecting the velvety nature of its leaves— the opposite of lady’s-mantle foliage—but Mary must have found herself in awkward company, because the plant was also known as beggar’s blanket and the stems, dipped in fat and used as candles, were called hag’s tapers, said to feature in witchcraft rituals and ceremonies to ward off sorcery. There’s worse ignominy, too. The plant, native to the Old World and Middle East, arrived in North America early in the 18th century: although it was soon considered invasive, its soft leaves earned it a favourable and even convenient reputation in the Midwest. Put politely, it was known as cowboy’s loo paper.