Stratford sub Castle Village Website

Flora - with a view

"A weed is a plant in the wrong place, or too much of it in the right place."

All images and descriptions - Kerry O'Connor

Gromwell (image 1 of 2) Along the hedge line of the old Sarum City walls, with the village in the background, is this perennial from the Borage family. It is GROMWELL, Lithospermum officinale. The fruits or nutlets start brown but now in December are white, they give it an alternative name, European stoneseed and have been used to stimulate labour and, being grit hard, to treat bladder stones according to the doctrine of signatures. A tea can be made from the leaves. Image: Kerry O'Connor Dec 2021	Gromwell (image 2 of 2) Image: Kerry O'Connor Dec 2021 Editor's note: The doctrine of signatures (mentioned in the description for image 1 of 2), dating from 16th century Dioscorides and Galen, states that herbs resembling various parts of the body can be used by herbalists to treat ailments of those body parts. It is today considered to be pseudoscience and has led to many deaths. You have been warned! Click the link for further details.	Barren Brome Anisantha sterilis, footpath to Devizes Rd. June 2021 kmoc
Musk Thistle, Carduus nutans This is the food plant for the migrant Painted Lady butterfly caterpillar. Apart from nectar for pollinators each flower can produce over a thousand seeds for finches. It's not a weed for any of these creatures, only us. Camp Down June 2021 kmoc	Dropwort, Filipendula vulgaris A member of the rose family. Camp Down. June 2021 kmoc	Meadow Miscellany Salad Burnet, a member of the Rose family, and Four Grasses in the Right to Roam meadow Camp Down June 2021 kmoc
Pyramidal Orchid in the churchyard. All you have to do is NOT MOW! June 2021 kmoc	Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis in the verge of the road to Little Durnford June 2020 Kerry O'Connor	Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis, in the triangular field north of Hudson's Field and with the cathedral in the distance. June 2019
(Garden) Angelica, Angelica archangelica in verge, road to Avon Farm. Only those confident in umbellifer identification should try to candy stems by boiling them in sugary syrup The tall spikes are Goat's Beard. June 2021 kmoc	(Smooth) Hawk's Beard , Crepis capillaris in verge, Stratford Road. June 2021 kmoc	Black Horehound, Balotta nigra ssp meridionalis Black because parts can turn purple to black, and it is related to the White Horehound. Hore means hoar means downy white hairs, hound means hune means plant, so it is the black white plant. In verge, road to Avon Farm. June 2021 kmoc
Mill Lane Torch Lit Procession These Red Hot Pokers (Kniphofia) or torch lilies are in bloom at Stratford Motors, Mill Lane, formerly a site of a village smithy. June 2021, kmoc	Star of Bethlehem Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) is a Mediterranean lily and a garden escapee here. The flowers close for the night and morning and cloudy days showing green stripes on the undersides of the tepals, and open in sunny afternoons to reveal the white star.	Star of Bethlehem (closed) Shown here closed, opening and (left) open. The Avenue between Little Durnford Manor and Keeper’s Cottage, May 2021 kmoc
DAME'S-VIOLET or SWEET ROCKET, Hesperis This Cabbage family member grows leaves in its first year, flowers from white to lilac to deep purple in its second and dies in its third. It is at its most fragrant in the evening, Hespera was a Greek nymph who tended the setting sun and evening light. Opposite The Rings, Phillips Lane. May 2021 kmoc	White Campion White Campion, Silene latifolia, on slopes south of Old Sarum. May 2021	Pink Campion Pink Campion next to Watermead, Mill Lane. It s a hybrid, Silene x hampaena, between white (Silene latifolia) and red (S. dioica) campion. June 2021 kmoc
Common Chickweed Common Chickweed, Stellaria media, in fields below Devizes Rd. May 2021	White Comfrey, Symphytum orientale. White Compfrey, Symphytum orientale (centre of photo) is a garden escapee that flowers about a month later and has whiter flowers than common comfrey. It likes river banks so is happy here at Stratford Bridge in bloom September 2020 Image: Kerry O'Connor	Dog Rose Rosa canina - on the track from Shepherd's Cottage to Old Sarum (seen in the distance) June 2020 Kerry O'Connor
Greater Knapweed Centurea scabiosa - on Old looking towards New Sarum June 2020 Kerry O'Connor	Poppies Papaver rhoeas at Leisure Centre car park June 2020 Kerry O'Connor	Wild Turnip Wild Turnip, Brassica rapa, on Old looking down on New Sarum. It is grown for the root vegetable or seed oil. May 2020
Bird's Foot trefoil Bird's-foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, on Old looking down on New Sarum. It is a member of the Pea family and the yellow and orange flowers give it the common name of Eggs and Bacon. May 2020	Salad Burnet Salad Burnet, Poterium sanguisorba, on Old looking down on New Sarum. It is a member of the Rose family and leaves and flowers are edible. May 2020	Rock rose Rock rose, Helianthemum nummularium, on Old looking down on New Sarum. It is an evergreen shrub, not a rose and the five petal flowers close at night. May 2020
Hound's-tongue Hound's-tongue (Cynoglossum officinale) is a member of the borage family that gets its names (common and Genus) from the roughness of the leaves. The beetroot red flowers usually face downward and never fully open which does nothing to help photography. It has an unpleasant smell and can be poisonous to grazing livestock. Seen here on the western slopes of Old Sarum with Dean Farm in the distance and Avon Farm in the far distance. Image: Kerry O'Connor May 2020	Rosy Garlic on the verge opposite Tybalt Allium roseum (Rosy Garlic) growing in the verge here opposite Tybalt is an edible (flowers raw, leaves and bulb raw or cooked) garden escapee loved by butterflies but hated by squirrel and deer. Image: Kerry O'Connor May 2020	Bluebells over Old Sarum With the spire of Salisbury Cathedral on the skyline, this starts a new season of images April 2020
Teasel Dipsacus fullonum has been used for a blue dye and as a comb to clean and raise a nap on wool. July 2019	St John's Wort Hypericum can be used to treat depression but can interfere with many conventional drugs, making some reach toxic levels eg serotonin reuptake inhibitors anti depressants, whilst rendering others less effective eg the contraceptive pill. Old Sarum July 2019	Purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria likes damp places. Its name comes from its leaves that are like willow (Salix) and turn red in autumn (Greek, bloody, lythron). It is nectar rich attracting longer tongued insects. On the banks of the Avon July 2019
Rough Hawkbit Leontodon hispidus by Old Sarum Cathedral maybe a weed to us but it is nectar rich for bees. July 2019	Golden Rod (Canadian) Solidago canadensis on Old Sarum. Poisonous but useful for dyes. July 2019	Common (yellow) Toadflax Linaria vulgaris, also known as wild snapdragon, is not a true flax. Can be used for a yellow dye. The flowers were thought to resemble a toad or toad's mouth. Their lower lip has an orange line to guide bees in to land. Only larger bees with longer tongues will get in to reach the nectar. (Cathedral in the background) July 2019
Betony Stachys officinalis, belongs to the mint (dead nettle) family and was used in churchyards and before that by the Romans to ward off evil spirits and gives a yellow / green dye. Gradidge Lane July 2019	Soapwort Saponaria officinalis has vespertine flowers ie they open in the evening and leaves with three prominent veins. It is poisonous but leaves and roots can be boiled to produce soap, which was used by woollen mills. July 2019	Wild Carrot Daucus carota on Old Sarum. July 2019
Wild Carrot Daucus carota. The roots are white. The orange cultivars were selectively bred by the Dutch in the 17th Century as a tuber tribute to their ruling House of Orange (Nassau). When William (III) and Mary (II) came to England "gloriously" orange carrots followed. The initial N has moved from a Naranj to aN orange as has the snake from a Nadder from to aN adder over centuries of use. July 2019	Queen Anne's Lace After William came Anne (of the 2015 film the Favourite) who supposedly pricked her thumb lace-making. Wild carrot has a single red to purple central blooded flower from that prick amongst all the white and the flower is known as Queen Anne's Lace. July 2019	Collage Collage of the 3 previous wild carrot images. July 2019
Eyebright Euphrasia officinalis, is semi-parasitic on grasses but without causing them apparent harm. July 2019	Yarrow Achillea millefolium, is loved by some birds for lining nests, it may reduce parasites. Achilles used it for healing wounds. Deep roots means it's drought resistant, it needs to be this summer. The flowers vary from white through pale to deep pink and the leaves when crushed give an aromatic smell. July 2019	Scabious on Old Sarum The three scabious flowers shown all belong to the same family but different genera. The field scabious has four petals, the others five. Field is taller than and has a hairier stem than small. The Devil’s bit (top) roots look shortened as though bitten off, who else bites things underground? Old Sarum July 2019
Field Scabious Knautia arvensis. Old Sarum (cathedral spire on the skyline) July 2019	Dark Mullein Verbascum nigrun has purple hairs on the stamens. Edible biennial. Name from German for King’s candle. Eaten by the Mullein moth caterpillar. Old Sarum July 2019	Knapweed Broomrape Orobanche has no leaves and no chlorophyll, it cannot photosynthesise and so is entirely parasitic on its host, Knapweed. Old Sarum July 2019
Knapweed Broomrape Orobanche Knapweed with its parasite Broomrape July 2019	Small Scabious Scabiosa columbaria Old Sarum July 2019	Harebell Campanula rotundifolia l flowers have stems so thin they seem to float above the grass. Unopened the five petals flower is dark blue, becoming lighter as it opens. Old Sarum July 2019
Goat's Beard Tragapogon pratensis Yellow flowers close around mid day hence another name of jack go to bed at noon. The globular seed head looks like but is much bigger than a dandelion. Old Sarum July 2019	Rosebay Willowherb Epilobium angustifolium will quickly colonise ground after a fire, so is called fireweed July 2019	Hemp Agrimony Eupatorium cannabinum is a perennial herb of the Daisy family, it is neither hemp nor agrimony, its leaves resemble hemp July 2019
Lady's Bedstraw Galium verum, has been used to stuff mattresses and colour Double Gloucester cheese July 2019	Willow & Meadowsweet Meadowsweet in foreground and Willow in background, both a source of salicylate used in the production of aspirin - more information https://www.stratfordsubcastle.org.uk/avon-valley-reserve-walk-july-2019	White Campion Silene latifolia, can cross with red to give pink. A clove like scent at night attracts moths. Silenus was a Greek woodland god. The roots can be used as soap. May 2019.