Richard Mabey's weighty and brilliant Flora Britannica (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996) is my go to for anything to do with wild flowers. He also cites Coleridge as the populariser of 'forget-me-not'.
I must get a copy of the Mabey. I remember when it came out, my great aunt bought a copy for herself as a birthday present, on the instructions (she said) of her late husband in the spirit world
Good advice wherever it came from! I should add that Birds Britannica - which has Mabey's name on the cover despite the fact that his 'co-author' Mark Cocker wrote it all - is also a fantastic compendium of fact, folklore and anecdotes submitted by the 'general public'.
Yes, both are excellent; also Bugs Britannica. The first one in the series, Fauna Britannica, less so (for me, anyway). I don't think the format had been properly established, plus it includes pets and livestock, and feels as though it has a bit of a pro-'countryside pursuits' bent.
Monks tended to be brewers, and one (improbable) explanation of 'mugsworth' as a name is that the herb was used to flavour beer, served in mugs. I need to do more research.
I love this! It’s been years since my copy saw the light of day. Going to have to dig it out now. Highly recommend Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica, and Geoffrey Grigson’s The Englishman’s Flora.
Another nice thing is when common plant names preserve or encode something that's changed. Cranesbill (geranium) was named due to the similarity of the long, thin seed pods to crane's beaks, back before cranes became extinct here in the 16thC. Now they're being reintroduced, perhaps the old name will make sense to people again. I've just taken a photo of some seed pots but of course, you can't post pics to comments. Ah well.
Oh yes, this is lovely. And I love all the old names, though 'dog's cock' (cuckoo pint, which is ALREADY rude because pint = pintle = penis) might be a tough one to incorporate in verse.
There's definitely a dog's cock somewhere in a Craig Raine poem that I've read, although in that instance it is actually a dog's cock, rather than a wildflower
Excellent, Jeremy. And I am pleased that Sylvia Townsend Warner quoted (= made up, I assume) a traditional mugwort verse in her novel Lolly Willowes (1927):
'Nannie Quantrell placed much trust in the property of young nettles eaten as spring greens to clear the blood, quoting emphatically and rhythmically a rhyme her grandmother had taught her: “If they would eat nettles in March
Thank you.
Reading this was a lovely way to begin a sunny summer day in Aldeburgh.
I enjoyed this.
Richard Mabey's weighty and brilliant Flora Britannica (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996) is my go to for anything to do with wild flowers. He also cites Coleridge as the populariser of 'forget-me-not'.
I must get a copy of the Mabey. I remember when it came out, my great aunt bought a copy for herself as a birthday present, on the instructions (she said) of her late husband in the spirit world
Good advice wherever it came from! I should add that Birds Britannica - which has Mabey's name on the cover despite the fact that his 'co-author' Mark Cocker wrote it all - is also a fantastic compendium of fact, folklore and anecdotes submitted by the 'general public'.
As a fan of Mark Cocker’s single-author books, I am very tempted by this description!
Yes, both are excellent; also Bugs Britannica. The first one in the series, Fauna Britannica, less so (for me, anyway). I don't think the format had been properly established, plus it includes pets and livestock, and feels as though it has a bit of a pro-'countryside pursuits' bent.
So very tempted to write a mugwort poem after reading this.
Do it! You'll join the [checks notes] many other classics
In the meanwhile, I'll make do with Bill Griffiths' translation of the Nine Herbs Charm.
So, I made a delightful discovery, which is that the Irish name for mugworth is 'Mongach meisce', which translates as 'drunken monk'
That’s a funny one! Could it be to do with the ‘honeycomb’ smell (= mead…?)
Monks tended to be brewers, and one (improbable) explanation of 'mugsworth' as a name is that the herb was used to flavour beer, served in mugs. I need to do more research.
I love this! It’s been years since my copy saw the light of day. Going to have to dig it out now. Highly recommend Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica, and Geoffrey Grigson’s The Englishman’s Flora.
Another nice thing is when common plant names preserve or encode something that's changed. Cranesbill (geranium) was named due to the similarity of the long, thin seed pods to crane's beaks, back before cranes became extinct here in the 16thC. Now they're being reintroduced, perhaps the old name will make sense to people again. I've just taken a photo of some seed pots but of course, you can't post pics to comments. Ah well.
Oh yes, this is lovely. And I love all the old names, though 'dog's cock' (cuckoo pint, which is ALREADY rude because pint = pintle = penis) might be a tough one to incorporate in verse.
There's definitely a dog's cock somewhere in a Craig Raine poem that I've read, although in that instance it is actually a dog's cock, rather than a wildflower
Today is turning out to be full of surprises.
Sorry about that
Excellent, Jeremy. And I am pleased that Sylvia Townsend Warner quoted (= made up, I assume) a traditional mugwort verse in her novel Lolly Willowes (1927):
'Nannie Quantrell placed much trust in the property of young nettles eaten as spring greens to clear the blood, quoting emphatically and rhythmically a rhyme her grandmother had taught her: “If they would eat nettles in March
And drink mugwort in May,
So many fine young maidens
Would not go to the clay.”
Oh! So the 'traditional' rhyme may be STW's invention...? That lends weight to my feeling there was something a bit literary about it!
I had thought she made it up, but perhaps it is genuine. Best to avoid nettles in March to be on the safe side.