This new wildflower comes courtesy of a local birding pal who also likes to botanise. This is Black horehound (Ballota nigra), which my Flora Britannica says is also known as Stinking Roger. It doesn’t explain where the name Roger comes from but I can understand the ‘stinking’ – I rubbed the leaves and was left with a nasty pong on my fingers.

Interestingly, when I googled ‘Stinking Roger’, I found that name applied to several different plants all around the world. Roger obviously has a reputation! Also, an entry in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary gave three other vernacular names: Black archangel, Fetid horehound, and Stinking horehound.

Despite its smell, Black horehound is a pretty enough perennial, a frequenter of path edges and waste ground, with lovely pinkish flowers arranged in whorls around the stem.