Blog Archive

Wednesday 6 September 2017

A cure for a "naughty liver" lies herein.

It's that time of the year again. Open Studios at Lewisham Arthouse. (30th September/1st October 2017).  I have been working hard in the studio over the summer.  Will be showing some monoprint drawings of wildflowers I have watched from Spring and through summer.

This is Jack-by-the-Hedge/Hedge garlic/Poor man's mustard/garlic mustard.  Take your pick.  Alliara petiolata
Indeed, the crushed leaves taste rather like Garlic and mustard.  Amazing!  

I think it's rather a pretty plant.  It starts as small heart shaped leaves and grows quite tall, so that in summer it grows to over a metre with groups of tiny, white, four petalled flowers growing from the top of the flower spike. When the flowers finish they leave thin, green pods containing the seeds.

The plant can be made into a poultice for treating cuts and wounds and is also used in medicines as an anti-asthmatic, antiseptic and can treat worms and bronchial complaints. 


My second drawing is of Agrimony.  (Agrimonia eupatoria)  A pretty yellow spire of flowers.  Bright and joyful in the summer.  (A type of person according to Bach's flower remedies.  The sort that hides their tears with a smile.  I think there was a song written about them once).  In the autumn the flowers give way to seed pods that have tiny hooks.  Walk past it in a cardigan and you'll be an unwitting carrier of this plant, taking it far and wide.  



In Saxon times, this was lauded as a plant to heal warts and snake bites!  Yes another plant for snake bites.  In the times of Chaucer it was mixed with mugwort for a bad back and "alle" manner of "woundes".  In fact it's an all round good sort.  It has been said to cure jaundice and other liver complaints.  I found a blog that quotes someone called Gerard who says "A decoction of the leaves is good for them that have naughty livers".  I must do more research.  I'm sure I know people who have "naughty" livers.









Ribwort Plantain grows beautifully in the meadow at Roots and Shoots.  I include a photograph of a print I have made, but would like to write more about this plant on another occasion.  Tbc.
























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