After the gift of the common name of Phycellia as Fiddleneck our homework was to bring names of plants – and guess what they were. Jack by the hedge the example.
Here’s a link I found to some of the story behind
Before the professional standardisation of botanical terminology in the 18th and 19th centuries, England was full of such plant names, boasting a huge regional diversity. Some, such as Old Man’s Beard, are still in widespread use, but many are not, and it is the Latin terms which are largely used in scientific circles. Yet these names are colourful and funny and curious, and deserve to be remembered.
Mares fart – Ragwort
Bacon and Eggs
Shoes and Stockings
Fingers and Thumbs -all bird’s-foot-trefoil
Rags and Tatters – common mallow
Lords and Ladies – Cockoo pint
Billy’s Buttons – Pycnosorus globosus
Cockoo spit
Flannel Bush
Foxglove – Digitalis
As rough as Oxes tongue
Jack go to bed at Noon – Meadow salsify
Ragged Robin
Old Mans Beard
Some of us created Hepaxomes – leaf bashing with mallet
Some of us bent hazel, repairing the Elders Bender
Half term this week, we will meet next week, June 6th.
Kinda Elders in the woods 