Yellow is the colour of happiness, optimism,
enlightenment, creativity, hope, cheerfulness, sunshine … and the quintessential
colour of Spring.
Yellow is also the most luminous in the colour
spectrum – the colour that most easily catches our eye and the eyes of bees so it’s
no surprise that yellow is the most common flower colour. Here in Cheshire, after my first
experience of a British winter in thirty years, I have been spellbound by the
coming of Spring, and both charmed and uplifted by the yellow wildflowers
everywhere. Here are some I’ve seen.
Cowslip (Primula veris)
How
many common names can one small plant have? Well, the Cowslip boasts of this
numerous and delightful collection: fairy cup, galligaskins, gaskins, herb
Peter, key flower, keyword, lady's bunch of keys, lady's candlestick, lady's
keys, lady's seal, luck flower, paggles, paigle, paiglewort, palseywort, paralysis,
petty mullein, primerole, primet, and St Peter's wort.
As
you can probably tell from its appearance, the Cowslip is related to the
Primrose. It has close associations with English folklore and traditions, including being scattered on church paths for
weddings and beautifying garlands for May Day celebrations.
And, if you
remember your high school English lessons on Shakespeare, Cowslip flowers were
the bodyguards of Titania, the Fairy Queen, in A Midsummer
Night’s Dream (Act 1, Scene 1).
Primrose (Primula vulgaris)
Primroses
are one of the first Spring flowers, blooming as early as December when the
weather is mild and continuing on until May. The Primrose was, supposedly, the
favourite flower of former British Prime Minster Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81)
and so was used as the emblem for the Primrose League, an organisation founded a
couple of years after Disraeli’s death and active until the 1990s, whose
purpose was to promote the ideals of the Conservative Party throughout Britain.
I can’t quite imagine Britain’s
current Prime Minster, David Cameron, wearing a Primrose flower in his buttonhole!
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
Though it looks a little like a dandelion,
Coltsfoot is actually a member of the sunflower family. It is favoured by herbalists as its leaves and flowers apparently make an effective cough remedy. However,
it has been found to cause problems with the liver so long-term use is definitely
not wise.
This is another wildflower with a multitude of common names, including tash plant, ass’s foot, bull’s foot, butterbur, coughwort,
farfara, foal’s foot, foalswort, horse foot and winter heliotrope. It seems that all those references to ‘foot’
result from the fact that the leaves are a similar shape to animal hooves.
Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus)
Most
of the Daffodils I’ve seen brightening the lane and roadside verges in Cheshire
have been purposely planted there but occasionally I’ve come across small
clumps of these golden blooms in more remote spots, in small woodlands or
areas of rough scrub. These are the more precious Wild Daffodils – their pale
yellow petals and darker yellow trumpets give them away.
The website for Kew, the Royal Botanic Gardens, reports that the Daffodil’s Latin name Narcissus refers to the figure of the same name in Greek mythology.
Narcissus fell in love with his reflection in a pool of water and ‘The nodding head of the Daffodil is said to represent
Narcissus bending down and gazing at his reflection’.
Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)
Everyone
associates poet extraordinaire William Wordsworth with daffodils – ‘I wandered
lonely as a cloud …’ – but Wordsworth’s favourite flower was, in fact, the
Lesser Celandine, as witnessed by the bloom carved on his memorial plaque at
the Church of St
Oswald in Grasmere.
I’m
not sure what ailments Wordsworth suffered from but perhaps he favoured the
Lesser Celandine because it has long been considered a treatment for
haemorrhoids, hence its old English name of Pilewort. According to the Ancient Greek physician Galen, sniffing a mixture of the juice of the roots with honey
was also good for clearing the head of ‘foul and filthy humours’, though I wouldn’t recommend sniffing anything
that also cured piles!
Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon)
The
Yellow Archangel I’ve seen is flowering early this year – it doesn’t usually
flower till May and June. There is also a variety of Lamiastrum with variegated leaves, which has been labelled a noxious weed due to
its over-zealous invasiveness and should be avoided at all costs – it will
sprout from the smallest snippet and has been shown to spread easily from the
garden to wilderness areas.
Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)
As
its name implies, this wildflower likes the dampness of marshes, fens, ditches
and the wetter areas of woodland. According to Wikipedia, it ‘is probably one
of the most ancient native plants, surviving the glaciations and flourishing
after the last retreat of the ice in a landscape inundated with glacial
meltwaters.’
The
Marsh Marigold is commonly known as Kingcup – its Latin name Caltha comes from the Greek word for
goblet and its large golden cup-shaped flowers certainly look glorious enough
to adorn the table of a king.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Perhaps my favourite yellow wildflower – some might
call it a weed – is the humble Dandelion. In places, its flowers are so profuse
that the ground appears to be carpeted in yellow.
Not only is it cheerful to behold, it is also a
wonderfully useful plant. As it is a good source of beta-carotene, is rich in
Vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins and also high in protein, the Dandelion has
been used for thousands of years to improve
the functioning of the liver, the gallbladder, and the urinary and digestive systems.
And, although I’ve never tried it, dandelion is also widely used to make wine.
So, the next time you’re tempted to eradicate these ‘weeds’ from your lawn or
garden, think again – and, instead, make use of Nature’s bounty.
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