06-June Downland & Wetland Magic

Attractive flowers you are likely to encounter now include yellowort Blackstonia perfoliata, small scabious Scabiosa columbaria, agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria, mignonette Reseda lutea, hardhead Centaurea nigra as well as thyme Thymus praecox, ladies bedstraw Galium verum, crosswort Cruciata laevipes and fairy flax Linum carthaticum. The latter species is typical of many downland flowers, having small leaves and flowers to avoid water loss and deep roots to collect water. The leaves of this flax used to be steeped in wine and then left on embers overnight, the resulting mulled wine then being used as a purgative.

Beside paths and on hillsides the large blue flowers of the perennial cornflower Centaurea montana occasionally stand out as well as the first St John’s worts Hypericum spp., and eyebrights Euphrasia spp. Rarer plants worth looking out for include bastard toadflax Thesium humifusum, clary Salvia verbenaca, sainfoin Onobrychis viciifolia, dropwort Filipendula vulgaris and lesser broomrape Orobanche minor.

Where rabbits are grazing and the turf is short, the small, powder pink flowers of centaury Centaurea erythraea can also be common. The ‘centaur’ concerned was Chiron, who was known to have used the plant to cure himself after being wounded by an arrowhead dipped in the Hydra’s blood. The flowers are only open on fine days and even then only in the afternoon. Its bitter leaves were once a constituent of the Duke of Portland’s Gout powder, an old cure that surprisingly was administered with wine.

On downs such as Farthing Down and nearby Happy Valley there are good stands of yellow rattle Rhinanthus minor and also the much rarer narrow-leaved rattle R. serotinus. These plants get their name from the sound made by the seeds in their capsules when the plant is shaken. Traditionally this sound announced it was time to bring the hay in. The plants themselves are semi-parasites, getting water and minerals from the roots of nearby grasses. The seeds used to be collected and dropped into eyes to cure cataracts.

Waterside Plants

When seen en masse in slow moving rivers such and the river Darent water crowfoots are among the most attractive sights of the month. Unfortunately, there are several different types of these floating white and yellow buttercups that are notoriously difficult to separate.

First you have to look at their leaves, of which there are two different types. Those underwater are thread-like in appearance and those above water flat, roundish, often dissected and more typical of other buttercups. If the leaves out of water are generally roundish and well divided this could well indicate common water crowfoot Ranunculus aquatilis. Less divided and more kidney-shaped floating leaves and it could be the pond water crowfoot R. peltatus. More shamrock-shaped leaves could indicate the brackish water crowfoot R. baudotii which is usually found near the Thames. Where there are no surface leaves, just long trailing green filaments in the water then it is likely to be the river water crowfoot R. fluitans and if the filaments are on the short side perhaps the stream water crowfoot R. penicillatus. Where there are no surface leaves at all, just those underwater arranged a little like the spokes of a bicycle wheel, you might be looking at the fan-leaved water crowfoot R. circinatus. If both the flowers and the submerged leaves are a little on the small side this could indicate the three-leaved water crowfoot R. trichophyllus. Add to all this water crowfoots are naturally variable and it might be just worth enjoying any sheets of flowers you come across.

Waterside plants were collected in the past for many different purposes e.g. gypsywort Lycopus europaeus, now in flower, was used to stain the face darker in order to look a more convincing fortune-teller. Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria was used as a strewing herb in large houses but also used to flavour the mead that was drunk there.