9:00am Monday 22nd June 2009
IT is fair to say that most of us inherit at least some of our family traits, whether through a complicated genetic code, or simply via the examples set by parents in our formative years.
Both my wife and I, and virtually all the members of our respective families, have inherited a love of nature and gardens and, while our various plots cover the range from small and easily manageable to large and rambling, we each admire and show interest in the other’s efforts.
Family visits at this time of year always include a tour of the garden and discussion on the current season’s successes and failures.
As I have mentioned before, our garden falls into the dishevelled but wildlifefriendly category, though it does include a productive vegetable plot and a few proper flower beds. These are by no means formal, but do include a modest collection of geraniums, a plant which sits comfortably in its surroundings.
They have the advantage of getting on with their job of flowering for long periods with little help from me, being attractive to bees, and of adding bright splashes of “happy together” colours wherever they are planted.
It’s worth explaining, at this point, that the plants I refer to are the true geraniums developed from the Cranesbill family, rather than the pelargoniums so widely used these days in garden tubs and decorative beds. Though the latter, originally from South Africa, are not winter hardy in the UK, geraniums can safely be left in place all year round, and will, so long as they do not get waterlogged, happily burst into life each spring.
Part of the plant’s attraction, for me, is the fact that many of the garden varieties have been developed from their British wild cousins, and it is obvious that the popular Johnson’s Blue and the Meadow Cranesbill are closely related.
Indeed, it is suggested that reverse cross pollination has occurred, and that the wild flower, in some areas, is becoming more showy as a result. Many of the pink garden varieties appear to be just slightly larger and more productive versions of other Cranesbills which proliferate in various habitats across the UK.
The name geranium is derived from geranos, the Greek word for crane, and is based upon the beak-like shape of the seed pod of many of the species, which springs open to disperse its contents over the surrounding area when ripe.
Though the flowers of many are not particularly scented, several do bear a resinous smelling sap, which some find attractive but others quite the opposite.
Among the geraniums in our garden, I always allow a little space for one of our common wild varieties, the Herb Robert. This is often destroyed by gardeners as a weed, but closer examination shows it to be a pretty little pink flowered plant with delicate leaves which turn red when growing in dry conditions.
Its sap has an acrid odour, which led to it being widely known as Stinking Bob, and though it had numerous other local names, particularly in the West Country, I can find none for Herefordshire. I do, however, like its Shropshire alias, where it was known as Squinter Pip.
There are several theories on how it got its botanical name, which include an association with Robert, Duke of Normandy, to whom an 11th century medical treatise was dedicated, but I favour the simpler explanation based on the Latin ruber, for red, which could apply to both its flowers and foliage.
It is also one of the plants which found use under the medieval doctrine of signatures, which suggested that a plant’s form or colour signified its purpose, in this case, for the treatment of blood disorders and to staunch the flow of blood from a wound.
Whether it met those expectations I do not know, but I have serious doubts about the medicinal use of one of its close relatives.
Old herbal remedies show that powdered Dove’s Foot Cranesbill, mixed with the ground remains of several oven dried slugs, was prescribed as a cure for ruptures. I rather fancy that the quantity of wine in which it was administered would have proved far more effective in alleviating the symptoms than its basic ingredients.
JOHN WESLEY
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