Tags
British wildflowers, Common figwort, Scrophularia nodosa, Vicia sylvatica, Wood vetch, woodland plants, woodland wildflowers
These new-to-me plant finds served as a welcome reminder that I should vary my walking routes more often, as I spotted both along a woodland path I don’t often wander.
This first plant is Common figwort (Scrophularia nodosa). Richard Mabey, in Flora Britannica, explains the name: ‘The “fig” in figwort is an old word for piles [haemorrhoids], which both the globular red flower-buds and the root-protuberances were thought to resemble. Figwort was recommended for piles and also for the tubercular swellings of scrofula, “the King’s Evil”.’
Common figwort is a rare plant locally so I returned to the site during last Friday’s walk, hoping for another look and better photos, but I was both dismayed and angered to find that the Woodland Trust’s maintenance team had been through shortly before I got to the location, and their overly aggressive strimming of the path’s edges had destroyed the plant. Sadly, this is just the latest in a series of issues I have noted with the Woodland Trust’s mismanagement of this glorious ancient woodland.
Fortunately, the Wood vetch (Vicia sylvatica) had not been affected, probably because it was scrambling along a backward-sloping bank so out of the strimmers’ line of attack. At a glance, this vetch’s flowers look white but a closer look reveals the delicate beauty of their fine purple lines.
earthstar 
I was happy to share in your flower find, but sorry to read they were strimmed. It might be worth writing to the Woodland Trust. I contacted them recently about an access path that is impassable due to nettles and brambles. The lady there seemed very responsive, although I am not sure whether the path has been cleared from her answer, I am hopeful. It’s not far off, so I can check.
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Hi Susan. I’ve had quite a long email exchange with the Woodland Trust about issues at this woodland – over-jealous flailing that destroyed White-letter hairstreak larvae; hard mowing that took out a colony of Orange-tip caterpillars & low-growing flowers like clover and bird’s-foot trefoil at peak insect time; cutting down healthy trees to make a space for a forest school when areas of dead trees (ash dieback) could’ve been used; clearing undergrowth below one of the oldest oaks in the ancient woodland for another forest school area (and hanging a highly flammable bright pink parachute from the oak’s branches)…. None of the Trust’s answers was helpful or showed any indication that they understood the woodland environment. It’s sad and disappointing, as you would expect an environmental charity to show respect for the natural world.
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That’s a great pity. I should have read between the lines that you would already have been in touch. Oversight of so many scattered patches of woodland must stretch resources and local contractors will vary but you would hope that having local people report back on the issues will help long term, even if it feels frustrating. I hadn’t heard of our wood until recently. It is small, mainly young trees, boggy in places and very lonely to walk in because of issues with access.
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Sorry for the delay in responding. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here: a site manager covering too large an area and so not familiar enough with what he’s in charge of, and using contractors who work to a calendar timetable rather than the local environmental, climate and wildlife conditions. It’s a lethal combination for our flora and fauna.
I rather like the sound of your lonely wood. 🙂
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Both flowers so beautiful, I hadn’t heard of either. X Hope the figwort reappears next Summer.
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Thanks, Shazza. I hope so too. 🙂
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