Guy Procter, Editor

Miles walked this month: 112

Back to school

I’ve been trying to learn the names of more plants – something, like juggling, I have a natural inability to do. I’ve found it helps if I can somehow link a plant to a quotable fact – like this pyramidal orchid, which I hope to remember by learning that its tuber (or bulb) can be dried and ground to make a sweet, restorative hot drink popular in Turkey and Greece.

And I hope I’ll remember the pretty red clover by recalling that: it is loved by bees; its leaves are edible and can be used to garnish any dish; its flowers can be made into a jelly or herbal tea; it’s also brilliant at nitrogen fixation, which makes for protein-rich growth able to support a wide range of grazing wildlife, and it’s also the national flower of Denmark – all of which, you’d think, would make it stick.

An organic horror story

I was boning up on my milk thistle ID when I learned something that’s haunting me. Don’t eat it if you’re a cow – because it breaks down in ruminants’ stomachs to nitrite which binds to the haemoglobin in the blood, reducing its ability to carry oxygen, effectively suffocating you from the inside out!

Note to self: Help remember things by piggy-backing on your desire to share interesting facts.