Wood Anemone:
Beautiful plants. I have some anemones, also called wind flowers, that bloom in
my spring garden.
From The Scots Herbal
by Tess Darwin
“A widespread plant of woods, also found on upland grassland
and moorland where it may be a relic indicating previous woodland cover. It
provided a safe refuge for fairies to
take their beauty sleep or shelter from rain, as the flower closes at night and
at the onset of wet weather.”
Blooms in spring. Note: Poisonous.
Contains a bitter oil that causes severe skin irritations and gastric
disturbances if ingested. Musky scent. Alternative name ‘Smell fox.’
For more on wood anemones: http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-flowers/white-flowers/wood-anemone/
Butterwort Family:
From The Scots Herbal by Tess Darwin
“This was a magical plant in the Scottish islands. People
who carried it were protected from witches; cows that had eaten it were immune
to elf-arrows. It was woven with other flowers into a magic hoop to place under
the milk pail and protect the milk from fairies. There is a story of a woman
keeping watch over a newborn baby to prevent fairies stealing it and leaving a
changeling—a sickly, fey fairy child—in its place. Two fairies came to the
cradle and could not take the child because its mother had eaten butter made
from milk of a cow that had eaten butterwort.”
From this informative site on Butterwort
(A carnivorous plant): http://www.plantlife.org.uk/scotland/wild_plants/plant_species_scotland/?ent=1220
“The striking triangular leaves,
with their rolled edges, appear in a star pattern at the base of this pretty
flower.”
The flowers are deep violet-blue with
a pointy funnel shape. Butterwort is widely distributed in Scotland, Wales, and
the north of England. It likes a damp habitat such as bogs, fens, wet heaths
and the crevices between rocks.
Butterworts main use medicinally is
for coughs, particularly whooping cough. The leaves are used to curdle milk in
order to make butter.
For more on butterwort and several other
moorland plants visit: http://www.cairngormsmoorlands.co.uk/moorland_herbalism.htm
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