Dear Pioneer February 2011

Welcome to our February e-bulletin. After a cold, hard winter the Wild About Plants team thought we

would take a warm look at the romantic connotations of our wild plants which have long been linked

with love, romance and the emotions. Our guest writer Stephanie Barons takes us on a romantic tour

through the Yorkshire countryside (see below), a rich landscape which inspired the Brontës to write

their iconic novels, whilst also introducing us to ‘floriography’ (the language of flowers), love potions

and wild plants according to Shakespeare!

Our new anthology of poems is now up and running, visit www.wildaboutplants.org.uk/parish/words/

for inspiration and to add a poem of your own. Thank you to Anne Smith of Poets Anonymous, who

reminds us why we are glad spring is round the corner.

Katie Cameron, editor.

The beauty of Yorkshire Charlotte Brontë once said of her sister Emily “My sister Emily loved the moors. Flowers brighter than the rose bloomed in the blackest

of the heath for her; out of a sullen hollow in a livid hill-side her mind could make an Eden.” Visit the Yorkshire Dales to see heathland plants such as heather which colours the landscape with different species flowering at

slightly different times of the year. Bog plants such as sphagnum moss and the wool-like

heads of hare’s-tail cotton grass and common cotton grass, thrive in the wetter areas . You might also find bog asphodel and bogbean. The Yorkshire Dales National Park provides some fabulous information on wild plants on their website, have a look before going to

visit: www.yorkshiredales.org.uk

Events in Yorkshire and elsewhere Foxglove Covert Local Nature Reserve at Catterick in Yorkshire is

holding two events to explore local plants, food and medicine. Meanwhile, Plantlife is jointly running some fenland events in Suffolk. Visit www.wildaboutplants.org.uk/events for more information and for a list of all our events this year.

Snow — again (extract) Now you have been here Snow, for a few days, You are no longer magical; You are thick and heavy in the garden Weighing the trees down And covering optimistic bulbs.

Anne Smith

Bog asphodel Narthecium ossifragum

The North York Moors National Park also has some fabulous sites of importance for wild plants. The Levisham Estate is a place where you can wander at will and are likely to see different varieties of heather in summer including bell and ling heather. August is also a good time for berries — look out for “bil”, “cow” and the lesser known “crow”.

Hole of Horcum, Levisham Estate

Heathers

Heathers are low lying shrubs that flower in late summer through to late autumn and early winter and are a feature of heathland and moors through out the UK. Look out for them later in the year when their pink and purple hues enrich the landscape. Here are some of the types of heathers that Brontë’s Heathcliff may have come across whilst on the moors.

4) Bell heather (Erica cinerea) The flowers appear in scattered groups, unlike the cross-leaved heath, and the leaves are in ‘three’s’, dark green and hairless.

3) Cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix) Can be found in wet heath and mires, often with carnivorous sundews. The flowers usually appear in a tight one-sided cluster.

1) Ling heather (Calluna vulgaris) Interesting because the leaves are clustered in a different way to other heathers, with unstalked tight rows of four leaves.

5) Cornish heath (Erica vagans) Heathcliff won’t have seen this heather as it is rare, only growing in Cornwall. The tips are usually leafy.

Did you know that? In days gone by, heather

was often used to stuff bedding? In fact, the species was introduced to North America thanks to the heather beds that Scottish Highland settlers brought with them.

Heather is the county

flower of Staffordshire? Visit the Plantlife website to find out your county flower: http:/www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/county_flowers/

2) Dorset heath (Erica ciliaris) is usually taller than other heathers and yes it can be found in Dorset, but otherwise is found in small areas of South West England.

If you are reading this bulletin electronically, why not zoom in on the photos for a close up view!

1)

3)

2)

5)

4)

© Laurie Campbell

Illustrations reproduced by permission of Philip’s from Guide to Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, Bob Gibbons and Peter Brough, 2008

Can you tell your wild roses apart? There are subtle differences that our

‘3 of a kind’ guide can help you to spot

Sweet-briar (Rosa rubiginosa) Where: Found in woods, hedges and grassy areas. Quite

Spiky and bristly stems

Fruit has sepals

Flowers are deep-pink

Dog-rose (Rosa canina) Where: Can be found in hedgerows and scrub especially in the South

Red, oval or rounded fruit

Hairless stem with large curved prickles

Burnet rose (Rosa spinossima) Where: Quite localised in the UK and often appearing on heaths, dunes, grasslands.

Lots of bristles on stem

Purplish, round fruit

Did you know?

Subtle and secret messages can be passed through the sending or receiving of different blooms — this is known as floriography. Across history, several cultures have used flowers to send messages, sometimes referred to as a 'Persian Selam' - a coded bouquet to reveal feelings of love or attraction. The Victorians developed the language of flowers and by choosing their bouquets carefully, established a secret language that enabled them to communicate feelings that the propriety of the times would not allow!

And here are some plants we do not love! Don't be fooled by their heart shaped leaves - Japanese knotweed, giant knotweed and a cross (hybrid) between the two are invasive plants that cause havoc in our lives and the countryside. Plantlife is working with others to try and limit the damaging impact of invasive plants. For more information please visit: http://www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/invasive_plants/

Love potions have been themes in folklore, mythology and fiction from ancient Mesopotamia to Harry Potter, supposedly making people feel love or deep affection. Ingredients in potions include basil, bergamot, jasmine, lavender and the hearts of wild pink roses. But be warned, if you are thinking about concocting your own love potion it can also lead to misery such as it did in Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde opera...

AN

SWER

S: 1 Shakespeare, Rom

eo and Juliet, 2. Emily Brontë 3. Shakespeare, Sonnet 130 4. R

obbie Burns

And finally…

Elizabethans, including the most famous bard, Shakespeare often used roses to symbolise love in their poetry. We’ve put together some of his and other’s lines that refer to roses and other wild plants to express love — can you guess who wrote each quote? 1. ‘What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.’ 2. ‘Love is like the wild rose-briar; Friendship like the holly-tree. The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms, But which will bloom most constantly?’ 3. ‘I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks…’ 4. 'O my Luve’s like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June...'

Bluebell - constancy and everlasting Honeysuckle - devoted love Daisy — innocence and modesty