Saturday 4 August 2018

4 August: Bluebells

Carpets of bluebells are a common sight in the woods in spring, but are a distant memory by August. However, the Bluebell is today's flower in ancient almanacs because it is dedicated to St Dominic, whose feast day is today.


Bluebells
  1. About half of the world's bluebells grow in the United Kingdom. They are relatively rare anywhere else. They are associated with ancient woodlands – they grow well there because other, competing plants find it hard to grow because of the thick foliage of the trees.
  2. They belong to the Hyacinth family and were given the Latin name Hyacinthoides non-scripta by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. Non-scripta means "unlettered" or "unmarked", to distinguish bluebells from hyacinths. Common names for the bluebell include English bluebell, wild hyacinth, wood bell, bell bottle, Cuckoo’s Boots, Wood Hyacinth, Lady’s Nightcap and Witches’ Thimbles.
  3. The British Bluebell is a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, making it illegal to uproot them and to trade the wild bulbs or seeds. Doing so will result in a heavy fine. The reasons for this include the fact that if a bluebell is trampled on it takes years to recover – in fact it may not recover at all because damage to the leaves can mean it can no longer photosynthesise. Bluebell colonies take a long time to establish - around 5-7 years from seed to flower. They are also under threat from a competing species, the Spanish Bluebell, which the Victorians introduced as a garden plant. It now grows in the wild and crossbreeds with the British native bluebell. Spanish bluebells are pale in colour and have no scent.
  4. The sap of bluebells is sticky and has been used in the past to bind pages into the spines of books, and also to stick flight feathers to arrows.
  5. The bulbs were used in Elizabethan times to make starch to stiffen the large ruffs they wore around their necks.
  6. The folklore associated with bluebells includes the myth that if a person hears a bluebell ring, they will soon die. Bluebells would be rung to call fairies to a convention. Another myth is that carpets of bluebells are woven with fairy spells, which could lure and trap people, especially children, while walking through the woods. Also, if you wear a wreath of them you'll be compelled to tell the truth.
  7. In the language of flowers, bluebells represent humility, gratitude, constancy and everlasting love.
  8. People love bluebells. In a 2015 poll, English people voted bluebells the favourite flower of England. Emily Brontë, author of Wuthering Heights, wrote a poem about them (see below). If you want to know where you can go to find them come the spring, visit https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/, enter your town in the search box and it will give you a list of bluebell woods near you.
  9. Bluebells are poisonous, because they have about 15 biologically active compounds to defend themselves from animals and insect pests. However, some of these compounds are similar to those used to fight HIV and cancer. Scientists are looking into how they could be used in medicine.
  10. A stylised bluebell is used as the logo for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland.

The Bluebell is the sweetest flower
That waves in summer air:
Its blossoms have the mightiest power
To soothe my spirit’s care.

There is a spell in purple heath
Too wildly, sadly dear;
The violet has a fragrant breath,
But fragrance will not cheer,

The trees are bare, the sun is cold,
And seldom, seldom seen;
The heavens have lost their zone of gold,
And earth her robe of green.

Emily Brontë



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