"Oh, look! It's that woman with her ragworts again"

4th August 2024. A totally incomplete guide to the mysteries of plant names and plant naming...

To be honest, it was like a scene from an episode of 'The Two Ronnies', with me as Ronnie Corbett selling four candles and the pedestrian as Ronnie Barker trying to buy fork handles. (Incidentally, the handwritten script of that famous British scene was sold some years ago for £28,000 at the East Bristol Auctions.) In my impromptu scene, however, the confusion centred on a particular wildflower nestling in a bank on a stretch of the River Severn.

The prologue to this was me deep in thought, glancing from the photo gallery on my phone to a group of yellow flowers in the grass, trying to work out if they were marsh ragworts or not. Enter stage right, a loose-running barking dog and a sauntering owner. Putting myself back into the skin I had jumped out of and half-expecting an apology, I was surprised to hear the woman mumble something about ragworts.

Clearly a fellow amateur botanist, she then pointed to some flowers nearby and told me they were called ‘Millefeuille’ (or that’s what it sounded like – the cooks amongst you will know what this is). I had not heard of this species before (and am clearly not a cook) and was thus momentarily thrilled by the thought of adding another wildflower to my inventory. I asked which one she meant, and she pointed again – to the plant that I know as ‘Yarrow’. Now I was confused. So, I got my field guide out but could not find Millefeuille in the index. The conversation continued:

“Is it known by another name?” (me, being polite)

“Which book have you got?” (her, peering over my shoulder)

“I think it’s Yarrow” (me, flashing her the front cover and then hiding it)

“Yarrow has yellow flowers, I think” (speaking to herself)

Totally baffled look (me)

“Oh. Maybe, that’s Tansy” (her, lost in thought)

“Yes! Tansy has yellow flowers. There are some on the other side” (me, pointing)

“Is it Millefeuille?” (the woman asks her socially distanced husband)

“I dunno. You can just use Google apps these days” (his blasé response)

Swallowing slight impatience (me)

“Oh. Millefolium is another species name for Yarrow” (me, mentally slapping my forehead and privately thanking Wikipedia).

At which point, we parted company, each smugly ‘knowing’ that we were right. This wasn’t quite the end of our story though, because both couple and hound passed me a little while later when I was deeply ensconced in another ragwort. “Oh, look! It’s that woman with her ragworts again”, she remarked to her husband, before walking on.

For the record, I am not obsessed with ragworts. It’s just that there are quite a few of them to keep me busy and they each have their own little idiosyncrasies.

Fortunately, the afternoon continued without interruption, and I amused myself with several other things, including the identification of various water 'boatmen' species sculling and striding the length and breadth of the River Severn.

Water strider

Anyway. The long-winded point I am trying to make, is that it doesn’t take long for the novice wildflower explorer to be somewhat awed by the Latin names and multitude of common names attached to the plants encountered. (The common names are basically the easier ones to say and spell, whilst the two-part Latin names indicate the genus and the species. I could be more technical, but my A-Level biology is somewhat rusty.)  

I pride myself on my memory and enthusiasm but even I have my limits when it comes to learning names. The Royal Horticultural Society website, for instance, informs me that Yarrow has the Latin name Achillea millefolium, but can also be known by 14 other common names, including ‘Hundred-leaved Grass’, ‘Nosebleed’, ‘Savoury Tea’ and ‘Old Man’s Pepper’. Other wildflower birth certificates might be even longer or, mercifully, shorter. (As a random aside, a wonderfully poetic Latin name to remember is the one for Daisy, which is Bellis Perennis. Its possible etymology is rather lovely too, roughly equating to ‘pretty everlasting’).

So, with first-name terms in mind, I will now leave you with some notes on two of the plants that I saw today. Take good care and see you next week.

Yarrow: flowers can be seen between July and October and are a cute 4-6mm in size – generally white in colour but sometimes infused with pink. The plant grows in a variety of habitats, e.g., meadows, roadsides and lawns, and up to 40-80cm in height. A tough little fellow tolerating herbicides and drought conditions, Yarrow was previously regarded as a good luck and good health charm and used to stop nosebleeds by putting it up the person’s nose. Like Mugwort, the leaves have a pleasant smell, and the plant can be used for medicinal or edible purposes – providing this is in moderation and with the right person (cue disclaimer alert). It is toxic to animals like horses, cats and dogs and unpleasantly changes the flavour of milk when eaten by cows. In some cultures, however, Yarrow has been used to relieve toothache, head colds, pain and fever.

Marsh Ragwort: is a member of the daisy family and goes by the Latin name (Jacobaea aquatica), which gives us a nice clue as to where it likes to live, i.e., in watery areas - including riverbanks, marshes, ditches and damp grassland. The yellow flowerheads can be seen in July and August and may be 2-3cm in diameter (roughly the size of a 2p coin). They are loosely grouped together, and each head contains between 12 and 15 rays. As I know from personal experience, identification is tricky and not be achieved by sight of the flowers alone. Some distinguishing features, however, relate to its leaves and bracts. (Bracts, in case you were wondering, are modified leaves which help to protect the flowers). In the case of Marsh Ragwort, different to other ragworts, the tips of the bracts are not black. If you zoom in to the flowers on the left-hand side of my photo and look at the green part underneath the petals, you can see this for yourself. As for the leaves, these are a shiny dark green and deeply lobed, and the lobes tend to be bigger at the end than at their sides. Marsh Ragwort can be poisonous to people and animals but has been used in the past to treat problems associated with the respiratory and digestive systems.

References

BBC Bristol (2018) Two Ronnies ‘four candles’ script sells for £28,000. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-44327990

Classic British Comedy (2019) Four Candles – The Two Ronnies. https://www.facebook.com/ClassicBritishComedyUK/videos/507010483200867

NatureSpot (not dated, but I assume 2024) Marsh Ragwort - Jacobaea aquatica https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/marsh-ragwort

Neil Fletcher (2010) Pocket Nature. Wild Flowers. Dorling Kindersley Limited; London

Rachel Hamilton, Chris Gibson and Robert Still (2024) British and Irish Wildflowers and Plants. A Pocket Guide. Princetown University Press; Oxford

Sarah Raven (2011) Wild Flowers. Bloomsbury Publishing; Great Britain

The Royal Horticultural Society (2024) Achillea millefolium. https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/311/achillea-millefolium/details

The Wildlife Trusts (not dated, but I assume 2024) Yarrow. https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/yarrow

Wikipedia (2024) Achillea millefolium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achillea_millefolium

Wikipedia (2024) Bellis Perennis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellis_perennis#:~:text=Bellis%20perennis%20(%2Fˈb%C9%9B,lawn%20daisy%20or%20English%20daisy

Wild Flower Web (2024) Marsh Ragwort. http://www.wildflowerweb.co.uk/plant/397/marsh-ragwort#:~:text=They%20are%20deeply%20lobed%20and,bloom%20from%20July%20to%20September