Woodlife

Sunny intervals with outbursts of rain. Max Temp: 20°C (68°F), Min Temp: 12°C (53°F), Wind Direction: SSW, Wind Speed: 22mph, Visibility: good, Pressure: 1002mb, Humidity: 68%, Pollution: low, Sunrise: 04:42BST, Sunset: 21:21BST

I was working away last week. How I hate being away from home and the woods! I couldn’t wait to get back. Despite the rain, I was up and running in the woods for a few hours yesterday and today.

I’ve really been getting into wildflowers lately. A couple of weeks ago I found a scarce Sulphur clover in the area. Big pats on the back from Essex wildlife trust and even English nature have been informed. Still all subject to confirmation of course. Unfortunately there was only one single plant in the area and I ate it! ONLY JOKING! Our local wildlife group have cut away the area hoping more will grow.

Spurred on by this success, I decided to scour the local area, make a list of plants and try and see what value they are to the Bushcrafter. I’m actually trying to do another video (my first ‘talkie’-how I hate the sound of my voice) based on wildflower use around my area and this should be ready soon.

While doing a bit of research I came across this theory. You might have heard it, but I certainly haven’t until now. It’s called the Doctrine of Signatures. It goes something like this (in simple terms):

“…every plant bears an outward sign that of its value to mankind…”

It’s difficult to tell where this originates from as there is conflicting information. It possibly stems from the ancient Chinese who were great herbalists but there are also references to Native Americans. In the Christian version, it’s said the Creator had so set his mark upon Creation. In Europe the greatest exponent was a bloke who kindly changed his name from Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim to Paracelsus.

I’ve been quite fascinated with this and set out to look at a couple of plants on today’s excursion (despite the rain). St John’s wort and Selfheal, both of which are abundant just outside of my woods at the moment, were the subject of my study.

The top petal of the Selfheal from side on looks similar to the shape of a bill hook, which of course was, and still is, popular in England for trimming hedgerows and making wooden fences. This was the main cause of wounds in the medieval farming community and hence the plant gained a reputation as the healer of wounds.

Perforate St John’s-wort on the other hand bears no resemblance to any instrument, tool or part of the body; however the medieval herbalists noted that the leaves had tiny perforations in the leaves. These perforations were said to be puncture wounds caused in battle, thus they were used to cure wounds of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in the Crusades.

Do they work in a medicinal sense? Well, Selfheal’s Latin name is Prunella vulagaris; prunella eminating from the German, Brunella, which means sore throat and an infusion is sometimes made into a gargle or mouthwash for laryngytis. A lot of proprietary drugs are made from St John’s-wort. Long-term use relieves depression and migraine (sounds dodgy!) and as lint, the plant is indeed often used to heal cuts and bruises (source: Launert’s Edible and Medicinal plants of Britain and Northen Europe). So there we have it. One pretty accurate, and one not so far off. Good old Paracelsus.

For the record, other flowers in the area I noted were:
Tufted vetch, Thistle, Teasel, White clover, Tormentil, Cinqfoil, Scarlet pimpernel, Bee orchid, Selfheal, Perforate St John’s-wort, White and Red Campion, Common comfrey, Arum lily (green berries at the moment), Ragwort (with Cinnabar moth caterpillars feeding voraciously), Cramp-ball fungus, Unknown umbellifers, Restharrow and even some ripe blackberries.

Thanks for the visit and see you next time.

Pablo.