Spring Flowers and Their Uses - Culinary and Medicinal

 

A couple of miles down river from The Old Corn Mill lies the village of Great Broughton where a footpath leads down to the river. There, you can walk along the banks and then take another footpath back into the village. It's not far, less than a mile, but when I walked it, during the week, I counted no less than 24 different flowers. Here is a sample of them and some notes on their uses.

Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum)

Native to the western USA and Canada, this plant was introduced to the UK in 1826 by the Scottish botanist, David Douglas (he of the Douglas Fir). The berries are edible, and if you like aromatics in your gin, try infusing a handful of flowers in your bog standard supermarket gin.

Wood Anemone (Anemonides nemorosa)

A pretty little European plant with, as far as I am aware, no culinary nor medicinal properties whatsoever. Hoverflies, however, love it.

Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis)

Like other cardamines (see below) the leaves and roots are edible and this particular species was once used as a substitute for watercress. It is also one of the food plants of the Orange Tip butterfly.

Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna)

Bulbs and young leaves are edible but MUST BE COOKED, as with all plants in the buttercup family, it contains the toxin protoanemonin which can anything from nausea to hepatitis. Strangely, up here in Cumbria, people used to use it for cleaning their teeth.

Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

Not an ivy at all, despite its name, but part of the mint family. The leaves can be used to enliven salads. Traditionally used for eye inflammations, tinnitus and indigestion, it was also used in the brewing of ale before the introduction of hops to make beer, as well as a substitute for rennet in cheese making. Use as a herb in place of mint or thyme.

Green Alkanet (Penteglottis sempervirens)

Part of the borage family and not to be confused with Dyer's Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria), who's roots produce a reddish dye and is used in Indian cookery (Ratan jot) to colour dishes such as Rogan Josh.

Wood Dock (Rumex sanguineus)

Not in flower yet, but the young leaves can be used in salads in place of the stronger tasting, but less attractive, sorrel. They contain oxalic acid and should not be eaten in large quantities.

Bittercresses (Cardamine spp.)

Part of the mustard family, the roots and leaves of most species are edible raw and have been used to treat stomach ailments in years gone by. See also, Cuckooflower, above.

Dog's Mercury (Mercuralis perennis)

Beware of this one – it belongs in the poison cupboard, and it can be lethal if eaten. It looks very similar to edible amaranths and goosefoots.

Grape Hyacinth (Muscari sp.)

A pretty little plant of no culinary or medicinal use as far as I am aware.

Red Campion (Silene dioica)

The leaves can be used in salads, soups and stews and the flowers, along with orange, lemon, barley and sugar, are used to make Red Campion wine.

Common Daisy (Bellis perennis)

One of the most overlooked culinary plants as it is so common. The leaves have a somewhat bitter aftertaste but the flowers are used (frosted) in cake decoration, or to pretty up a salad. You can make tea with them and the young buds can be pickled like capers.

I love Italian food, but for one thing: every mouthful is the same. Half a pizza and a side salad uplifted with wild ingredients is a healthier and cheaper alternative and the lightness of the salad helps the stodgier pizza go down a treat. This salad includes a bed of Wood Dock, a few Rocket leaves from the herb garden and a sprinkling of Daisy buds from the grass outside The Old Corn Mill where I live. A nice glass of Country Wine (see Steve's Wild Kitchen) and you're all set.

This is the point where I usually suggest a few books to add to your nature library. This time I am only going to suggest (and recommend) one: Forage In Spring by Robin Harford. Robin is one of the country's foremost foragers and you can find a lot of free information on his site https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/ . Click on the book cover to look inside.

All of the books featured on my posts are now available to view, by category, on one page: Build Your Own Nature Library

Build Your Own Nature Library

All the best,

Steve

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Series 14 Springtime in Cumbria

 

Welcome to a new series of The Crete and Cumbria Nature Blog. Still in Cumbria, thanks to the necessary travel restrictions still in place, but I'm not complaining. Cumbria is a wonderful place to spend the Springtime. So, let's celebrate by looking out for the first signs of Spring, such as newborn lambs, primroses bursting through last years fallen leaves, trees and woody shrubs budding and flowering, and insects pollinating the plants as their blooms burst forth.

Continuing our railway theme from last week's imaginary trip on The Cockermouth Circle Line, our journey today starts at Keswick station and follows the old railway line towards Threlkeld. The line, which used to link Penrith to Cockermouth, was axed in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, and is now a tarmacadamed walk/cycle track suitable for wheelchair users. Just listen to Spring beginning around the station with this symphony of birdsong.

The River Greta (which means stony stream in Old Norse) will be our constant companion on this walk, as it zigzags back and forth across our trail. There's a Woodpigeon down there, collecting sticks for what he laughingly thinks of as a nest. Whereas some birds construct intricate structures of grass, moss, wool and other materials, pigeons just seem to launch twigs at a tree and see what sticks. How their eggs and chicks remain aloft is one of nature's great mysteries.

There are ponds along the side of the trail, with Marsh Marigolds bursting forth. These are predominantly insect pollinated and have an unusual method of seed dispersal. When the seeds have matured they are surrounded by a 'splash cup'. When a raindrop hits the splash cup the seeds are bouced out. They are also surrounded by a spongy lifejacket so they simply float away from the parent plant. Like their relatives, the Lesser Celandine, which we have been seeing a lot of in recent weeks, their leaves are edible when cooked but poisonous when raw. (see Longlands Lake). And clumped together on the bottom of the pond we have frogspawn. You can tell that it's frogspawn and not toadspawn because of the way it clumps together; toads lay their spawn in long strings.

You'll have noticed that all the bridges, the tunnel and much of the infrastructure on this trail are brand new. In 2015, Storm Desmond produced such a torrent of water that all the old railway bridges were destroyed. Seeing the river so calm and peaceful today, it's hard to imagine the scale of the flood that could have wreaked such havoc. It took five years to repair the damage and the trail was only reopened at the end of last year. I've included a few pictures of fungi and lichens, not because they are signs of Spring, for they are with us all the year round. I just didn't want them to feel left out.

We also have caterpillars crawling about and this one features in my new series on Steve's Nature Plus called Minibeast Monday in which I tell you a little bit more about the insects and other creepy-crawlies that appear in my blog posts. Much of the information is taken from The Quick Guide To Creepy-Crawlies which tells you who is related to whom, how to identify them in their various stages of life, and plenty of other interesting facts (like whether they are likely to bite or sting you). Everyone tells me that it's a very interesting and informative book but modesty precludes me from agreeing with them wholeheartedly. I still refer to it when I come across something I've never seen before.

I'll leave you with this beautiful picture of the River Greta flowing through the Lakeland pastures with a little Grey Wagtail bobbing around on the boulders. See you through the week on Steve's Nature Plus.

Happy Springtime,

Steve

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Crete Nature Almanack 2018 – Early Spring

Today, March 20^th, sees the arrival of the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere (or the Autumn Equinox in the southern) where the daylight hours equal the night time hours; twelve of each. Here in Crete the weather is starting to warm up, hitting the 30C mark on some days and nothing could be pleasanter than to bask on the terrace of the Sxedia (The Raft), looking out over Ierapetra with the last vestiges of snow on the Dhikti Mountains in the background. It is also a lovely place for us to sit and chat about the things to look out for in early Spring so pull up a chair and we'll begin.

Flowers

There are so many now that it is difficult to pick out any particular one but how do you know what they all are? Rushing for a field guide is all very well so long as you know to which family they belong (after all there are 93 to choose from here on Crete). To help you out a bit more than 25% of Cretan flowers fall into just four families and here's a quick guide to recognising them. Compositae (or Asteraceae): Represented by daisies, dandelions and thistles, the head of each plant is composed of many small florets often arranged in a central disk with a ray of dissimilar florets surrounding them. Leguminosae (or Fabaceae): Represented by peas, clovers and lupins, their flowers have a distinctive shape (although in the case of clovers you may need a hand lens to discern that each flower head is composed of many tiny flowers) and they all have fruits (legumes) that split into two lengthways like a pea pod. Caryophyllaceae: Represented by pinks and catchflies, these are flowers with 5 petals, very often subdivided and they have tough, coarse stems and leaves. Check out the mallow family (Malvaceae) too as they have very similar characteristics but there are fewer of them. Umbelliferae (Apiaceae): Represented by carrots, fennel and parsley these have very distinctive flower heads like the spokes of an umbrella. For a full illustrated guide to all the families see Steve Lenton's excellent on line guide Cretan Flora.

Insects

Rosemary beetles mating

With all these flowers about it is no surprise that the insects are up and about too and it's a great time to watch what they are doing. Are they young grubs crawling around trying to get as much food inside them as soon as possible? What are they eating? (Often a clue to species identification). Or are they nymphs, often very different to their adult colouration? Worth keeping if you can feed them to watch their development. Maybe they are adults, mating or laying their eggs. Which plant are they laying their eggs upon? There is so much more to entomology than simply attaching a label to a specimen. Insect lives are fascinating.

Birds

Fallen blackbird nest

The Spring migration is now beginning for many birds so look out for species flying north from subSaharan Africa to mainland Europe. We also have many resident birds here on Crete and as the insect levels increase, for many it is the nesting season. Check out what they are collecting by way of nesting materials: twigs, grasses, mosses, lichens, mud, spittle, wool. All are grist to the mill for different bird species. Our ravens for instance will be using an interlaced arrangement of sticks, lined with grass and wool  up on a rock ledge (if they're ready yet - follow the blog to see how they're getting on) whereas the chaffinch builds a very neat round nest of moss, lichens, wool, feathers and hair felted together in a bush or in the fork of a tree. On the other hand the skylark makes a very simple grass nest directly upon the ground. (The nest in the photo had fallen to the ground – obviously you don't go plucking them from the trees and bushes. The birdies might get a bit miffed!)

Quadrupeds

Stone marten

Hares, mice, weasels, martens and badgers continue to be shy and elusive but there's a beter chance of seeing them now as they too become emboldened by the urge to mate. Hedgehogs too will have emerged from hibernation. In the herpetological world listen for the frog and toad chorus after dusk and try to pick out the rising brrrrip of the green Toad and the manic chirruping of the European Tree Frog.

Green Toad call from BioLib.cz

Tree Frog Call from BioLib.cz

The Extra Bit

The other great thing about spring in Crete is that it is the start of the barbecue season. I celebrated last night with slow cooked bream over rosemary with cheesy beans and baked potato. If you want a rundown on preparation, timings etc. I'm experimenting with a new idea for a cook book which you can see here.

See you next week for more wanderings in the hills and valleys of east Crete and we'll see how much of the above that we can observe. Happy Springtime.

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Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE