 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 BromeAnisantha sterilis, footpath to Devizes Rd. June 2021 kmoc |
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 (Garden) Angelica, Angelica archangelicain 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 capillarisin verge, Stratford Road. June 2021 kmoc |  Black Horehound, Balotta nigra ssp meridionalisBlack 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 |
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 DAME'S-VIOLET or SWEET ROCKET, HesperisThis 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 CampionWhite Campion, Silene latifolia, on slopes south of Old Sarum.
May 2021 |  Pink CampionPink 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 |
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