This native British wildflower may well be the ‘common weed of gardens, arable fields and waste places’ that my Flora Britannica describes, but I’ve only found it once, earlier this week, in my local area, despite there being plenty of those suitable habitats. This is Common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis), which also goes by the vernacular names of Earth smoke and Red-tipped-web. Flora Britannica goes on to explain:
Both scientific and English names stem from the Latin Fumus terrae – ‘smoke of the earth’. The delicate, grey-green leaves do have a slightly smoky appearance, enough to persuade one seventeenth-century herbalist that ‘it appeareth to those that behold it at a distance, as if the ground were all of a smoak’.
just goes to show how much more abundant wildflowers were in the 18th century. the ground was covered in this plant in those days but you wouldn’t see that now. just like you don’t see clouds of butterflies anymore.
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I sometimes wish we could turn back the clock. 🙂
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I don’t think I have seen it either.
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Maybe it’s not as common as botanists think it is. Must check the records database. Thanks, Susan.
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