#WyrtWednesday

Common Restharrow or Rhinoceros-wort, with its glorious pink horn, for the last #wyrtwednesday of 2019. #makeupawortname

Knotted Pearlwort, Sagina nodosa, being pointed at during the Ainsdale #BBDO "How to point at wildflowers" workshop. Look carefully and you will see that expert pointer @botanicalmartin, who was leading the workshop, is simultaneously pointing at two plants. #wyrtwednesday

After some discussion we decided this was Hybrid Woundwort, Stachys x ambigua, the hybid between Hedge and Marsh Woundwort, growing on the banks of the Thames. First time I have knowingly seen this. #wyrtwednesday

Saw-wort, Serratula tinctoria, for #wyrtwednesday. Gerard wrote that the leaves are "somewhat snipt about the edges like a sawe". It has been used as a dye plant (yellow) and was "woonderfully commended to be most singular for wounds, ruptures, burstings, hernies and such like".

Bog Stitchwort, Stellaria alsine, at @SurreyWT Thundry Meadows for #wyrtwednesday. So tiny I only spotted it when I bent down to look at something else.

Harebell, or Blawort, for #wyrtwednesday. Harebell is the flower of witches, used by them as thimbles while making their flying ointments, or even to transform themselves into hares.

Nettle-leaved Bellflower, aka Throatwort, due to its use as a treatment for severe sore throat and tonsillitis. #wyrtwednesday

Greater Spearwort in a pond at @WildGardenCtr. I love seeing this big cheery buttercup. #wyrtwednesday

Yellow-wort for #wyrtwednesday. This was the yellow Centaury of early botanists and apothecaries. "In Diseases of the Blood, use the red Centaury; if of the Choler*, use the yellow". (Culpepper) * one of the four bodily...

Gypsywort (being photobombed by Water Figwort) at Keston Ponds for #wyrtwednesday. Its sap yields a black dye which was once used to dye fabrics. It is also said that gypsies and fortune tellers used the sap to darken their skin to make them look more exotic and mysterious. 🔮

Soapwort on a Croydon road verge for #wyrtwednesday. The liquid produced by boiling the crushed leaves in water then straining will produce a lather. According to Grigson, in the Swiss Alps sheep were washed with a mixture of the leaves and roots and water before they were shorn.

Marsh Woundwort #wyrtwednesday. In Woundwort, the infamous sixteenth century botanist and herbalist John Gerard felt he had discovered an all-heal. Amongst other things he applied Marsh Woundwort to gentlemen grievously wounded in Elizabethan brawls. #wyrtwednesday

Squinancywort or Quinsywort. Squinancy is the quinsy, inflammation of the throat, and Squinancywort was used to make an astringent gargle. #wyrtwednesday

It's got a square stalk, it's a St John's-wort, it's Square-stalked St John's-wort of course. #wyrtwednesday.

A tiny wort, Thyme-leaved Sandwort, on an ant hill on Roundshaw Downs for #wyrtwednesday.

Agrimony aka Stickwort or Sticklewort. It was one of the fifty-seven herbs in the Anglo-saxon 'Holy Salve' against goblins, evil and poisons. The Anglo-saxons also made a snake-bite salve out of Agrimony, Bistort and Plantain. #wyrtwednesday

Mugwort, the Mater Herbarum or Mother of Herbs, with Croydon in the background, for #wyrtwednesday. A medical & magical herb, one of its many uses was to prevent weariness in travel. Roman soldiers were known to put mugwort in their sandals to keep their feet from getting tired.

Two colours of Selfheal, Prunella vulgaris. Called Brownwort in Somerset, "from its being supposed to cure the disease called in German 'die braune' - a kind of quinsy". (From Vickery's Folk Flora.) #wyrtwednesday

Nipplewort for #wyrtwednesday. According to Vickery's Folk Flora, in 1777 the priest and botanist Rev John Lightfoot said "In some parts of England the common people boil them as greens, but they have a bitter and not agreeable taste".

Dropwort for #wyrtwednesday. Dropwort is known in folk medicine to have anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic and diuretic properties.

Bittersweet aka Felonwort, from its use in curing infections of the finger called whitlows (Latin furnculi). From Vickery's Folk Flora. #wyrtwednesday

Water Figwort, beside the River Wandle (a tributary of the Thames) in Beddington Park. A stinking herb that was used to treat stinking sores and ulcers, and also wounds and bruises. Was known as Water Betony because its leaves are similar to those of Betony. #wyrtwednesday

#wyrtwednesday. Duh!

Two dinky wee worts for #wyrtwednesday. Three-nerved Sandwort and Thyme-leaved Sandwort.