Devil's Bit Scabious / Djævelsbid

Succisa pratensis



Devil's bit is common in Denmark, it grows especially in poor and sandy acidophilus with low pH, where it does well among grasses and other perennials and bushes. It is also found in bog-meadows and pastures, in moist heaths and calcareous fens. It is well suited  as a garden perennial for a "wild garden look"  - and is a valuable bee-plant since it is blooming from June into October. . 
It is the main foodplant of the Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia), a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP). The butterfly lays its eggs in large batches and the caterpillars live as a group inside a conspicuous silken web. As both plant and invertebrates are rare, their survival relies on careful management of sites containing these species.

It is distributed throughout the British Isles, western and central Europe, extending eastwards into central Asia. It is absent from eastern Asia and North America.



The bluish or purple flowers are gathered in semicircular heads. The fruits are winged nuts which are spread by the wind. The root of the plant is a short, vertical or a little angled rootstock. Its unlobed leaves distinguish it from  Field Scabious  - and it is distinguished from Greater Knapweed by opposite pairs of leaves contrary to Geater Knapweed's alternate pairs.

Folklore 
The legend about its name is told in various tales. The short black root was in folk tales bitten off by the devil, angry at the plant's ability to cure these ailments, in anger against the Virgin Mary, or as part of some 'devilish plot'. The plant is easy to pull up, if you want to see the off-bitten root.Gerard tells us: "'The greater part of the root seemeth to be bitten away; old fantastick charmers report that the divel did bite it for envie, because it is an herbe that hath so many good vertues and it is so beneficial to mankinde". The legend referred to by Gerard tells how the devil found it in Paradise, but envying the good it might do to the human race, bit away a part of the root to destroy the plant, in spite of which it still flourishes, but with a stumped root. The legend seems to have been very widely spread, for the plant bears this name, not only in England but also on the Continent.


Folk Medicine

Devil's bit Scabious is an old medicinal herb, known since the 4th century. The plant is still used for its diaphoretic, demulcent and febrifuge properties, the whole herb being collected in September and dried. It makes a useful tea for coughs, fevers and internal inflammation. The remedy is generally given in combination with others, the infusion being given in wineglassful doses at frequent intervals.
Species of scabious were used to treat Scabies, and other afflictions of the skin including sores caused by the Bubonic plague.The word scabies comes from the Latin word for "scratch" (scabere).
The root was used against boils, coughs and eye-inflammations The crushed root was used as a cover on shingles. A wine decoction from root and flowers and destilled water was used against diseases.like breast abscesses, cough, and inward diseases. A decoction from the plant against clotted blood and plague.


Culpepper assigned it many uses, saying that the root boiled in wine and drunk was very powerful against the plague and all pestilential diseases, and fevers and poison and bites of venomous creatures, and that "it helpeth also all that are inwardly bruised or outwardly by falls or blows, dissolving the clotted blood,"' the herb or root bruised and outwardly applied, taking away black and blue marks on the skin. He considered "'the decoction of the herb very effectual as a gargle for swollen throat and tonsils, and that the root powdered and taken in drink expels worms."

The root was written into the Pharmacopoeia in 1772.

Livestock
A horse with worm was given decoction from the root. The plant is astringent and the vet used it for cleansing and healing wounds in the horse's hoof. A special cure was to hang the root around the horse's neck in order to heal keratitis = eye infection

Witchcraft
The root was part of a brandy-extraction for humans and livestock, who were being depraved by witchcraft. It was also used in other magic means against witchcraft in cattle, accidents during butter churning, for sick pigs etc. The root was given to horses if there was witchcraft in the stable.


Superstition
Together with other roots like asafoetida, coral stone and a magic formula it was put under the bed sheets against a broken marriage promise, caused by evil people.

Dyeing:
Decoction of the fresh herb dyes wool and yarn green, from the dried herb yellow. The root gives a yellow dye;  the leaves dye green, and they dye black with ferrous sulphate.

At the Faroe islands Devil's bit is used for dyeing green.

photo Tustrup, Djursland, August 2015: grethe bachmann
 Source: Brøndegaard, folk og flora, bd. 4 and Djævelsbid,wikipedia.

Green Hairstreak/ Grøn Busksommerfugl

photo: stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk

 Callophrys rubi

Green Hairstreak is an early butterfly species. They might be seen already at the end of March, the flight time usually extend until the end of June, sometimes they were seen in July and early August, but they usually flies from late April until mid June in one generation and overwinters as a cocoon upon the surface of the soil. The genus name Callophrys is a Greek word meaning "beautiful eyebrows", while the species Latin name rubi derives from Rubus, one of the hostplants. This butterfly is often called rubi among butterfly collectors.


Callophrys rubi is found in most of Europe, from the Arctic Ocean till the south of Spain. Outside Europe from North Africa till Sibiria. 


Wingspan: 22-27 mm. It is easily recognized because of its small size, quick flight and the green underside. The green colour of the underside varies from golden green till grass green or verdigris green, and the white spots can form an almost continuous line or lack completely.  The upperside of the wing is a uniform dull brown with two paler patches on the male's forewings made up of scent scales. The Green Hairstreak is almost always seen with folded wings and therefore you can usually only see the pretty green underside.


Early butterfly collectors thought that the only foodplant was Bramble (blackberry), Rubus fruticosus, but as its habits became better understood the list grew and will probably continue to do so. Depending on the habitat it will use: Common Rock Rose (Helianthemum nummularium), Bird's Foot-Trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus), Gorse (Ulex europaeus), Broom (Cytisus scoparius), Dyer's Greenweed (Genista tinctoria), Bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus), Dogwood ( Cornus sanguinea), Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), Cross-leaved heather (Erica tetralix) and Bramble. The larva is also recorded as feeding on Birch (Betula), Raspberry (Rubus idaeus), Bird vetch (Vicia cracca), Zigzag clover (Trifolium medium), Common heather (Calluna vulgaris), Spiraea, Siberian pea tree (Caragana), Sweetvetch (Hedysarum) and Hawthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) in different parts of its range. The wide range of foodplants means that this butterfly is able to use a wide range of habitats including chalk downland, heathland, moorland and clearings in woodland.  It is present in wetlands as well as on poor dry meadows, at an elevation of about 0–2,300 metres.



 
The eggs are laid singly. The caterpillars are not known to be tended by ants like some lycid larvae but the pupae, which are formed at ground level, emit squeaks which attract ants and it is thought that ants will always bury any that are found. The whistling squeaks can be heard by humans. Green Hairstreaks overwinter as pupae and are univoltine, having one generation of adult butterflies per year.  The larvae is ab. 15 mm long. It is green yellow and has short light hairs, the larvae itself seems transparent. Upon its back it has two rows of yellow spots and a yellow stripe upon the side.


The flight is lightning fast and restless, but even in flight the green colour is visible. The butterflies however spend much of the time resting upon leaves of small birch trees and other low trees or bushes, where the males maintain territories. The resting places of the males are maintained through most of the flight time, but they are used by many other various butterflies, since each male only use the resting place for an hour or two. In cool sunshine the species rest with its side tilted towards the sun - it looks like the butterfly lies upon its side and it is seen upon willow catkins, various composites, marsh daisy and other flowers, but it is not especially seeking nectare. The Green Hairstreak is very shy and fast, and you'll have to be more than good to follow its flight with the eyes if it gets scared and flies up. It often comes back to the same spot after a short flight. That's worth to remember if you want to take a photo!

In Denmark: 

The Green Hairstreak (DK: Grøn Busksommerfugl)  is impossible to confuse with any other Danish butterfly. The green colour is very marked and the black and white stripes of the tentacles and the legs are very distinct. The backwing has a little tip. 
The fodderplant of the larvae in Denmark: The larvae may live upon a number of low bushes, but it seems to prefer bog bilberry ( Vaccinium uliginosum), cranberry (Oxycoccus palustris) alder buckthorn  (Frangula alnus), broom (Sorothamnus scoparius) and blackberry  (Rubus fruticosus )lotus corniculatus birds' foot trefoil. the geeen hairsteak is spread and common in Jutland, but  rare on the Isles and not existing at Bornholm.It's habitat are various pandscapes from dry hills and pastures with broom till heaths and heath moors or peat bogs. On the Isles the species are mostly found in peat bogs and raised bogs.



Source: Dagsommerfugle i Danmark, Michael Stoltze, 1998; Danmarks insekter 2012.

photo Gammel Ry, 24. maj 2009: grethe bachmann
photo Kongsø hede, April 2006: stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk

Orange Tip/ Aurora Butterfly

Orange tip/ Aurora
Anthocharis cardamines

The Orange Tip flies from late April until late June and overwinters as a cocoon in low vegetation. It is named Orange tip because of the male's bright orange tips to his forewings. The males are a common sight in spring flying along hedgerows and damp meadows in search of the more reclusive female which lacks the orange and is often mistaken for one of the other 'White' butterflies. The female is - while resting - recognized by its large round spot on the forewing and the grey-black pointed forewing. Both sexes have upon the underside a moss-green marbling, which actually consists of a mix of yellow, black, grey and white scales. The male is able to hide his orange tips by tucking the forewings behind the hindwings at rest.

The wing span is 37-47 mm. The middle spot of the forewing varies in size and the border between the male's orange and white wing colour can differ, relative to the middle spot.

The flight is lively and jumpy. The females often rest for a long time in the vegetation, while the males patrol the terrain and only sit briefly on the plants or suck nectare.

The Orange tip is found across Europe, and eastwards into temperate Asia as far as Japan. The past 30 years has seen a rapid increase in the range of the Orange Tip in the UK, particularly in Scotland and Ireland, probably in response to climate change.

Orange tip, underside.

The habitats are flowery and often moist places with crucifers, like damp pastures and meadows. The Orange tip also lives in more dry pastures, along forest roads and glades and in residential districts - and along riverbanks, ditches, fens, country lanes. 

Both sexes are attracted especially to cruciferous where the female later place the eggs. The caterpillar's fodderplants are siliques from the Cuckoo flower (Cardamines pratensis), Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata),  Mouse-ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), Rock cress (Arabis), Tower cress, (Turritis glabra) and many other cruciferous.


The eggs are white to begin with but change to a bright orange after a few days before darkening off just before hatching. Because the larvae feed almost exclusively on the flowers and developing seedpods there is rarely enough food to support more than one larva per plant. If two larvae meet one will often be eaten by the other to eliminate its competitor. Newly hatched larvae will also eat unhatched eggs for the same reason. To stop eggs from being laid on plants already laid on the female leaves a pheromone to deter future females from laying.

Pupation occurs in early summer in scrubby vegetation near the foodplant, where they stay to emerge the following spring. Recent research suggests that the emergence of the butterfly may be delayed for as much as two years, thus insuring the species against unfavourable conditions in a given season.



In Denmark:
The Orange Tip (DK: Aurora)  is spread and few in numbers in West Jutland, but else widespread and common in the rest of the country. The species have spread and been more common in many places during the latest years because of the nitrate-tolerant Garlic mustard, which has replaced the Cuckoo flower as the most important host plant. .


Source: Michael Stoltze, Dagsommerfugle i Danmark, Gyldendal 1998.  Videnskab.dk, 2012.

photo Egtved, 9. May 2009: grethe bachmann
photo Skaade May 1999: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk 

Large Blue/ Sortplettet Blåfugl

Maculinea arion

Wing span 33-41 mm. Looks like the female of Alcon Blue, but is known for its size, shining blue colour, the black wing-spots and the strong markings on the underside. The spots on the upperside may varie and sometimes lack completely.

Its flying time is in July. The habitat is warm heaths, dunes and pastures. It overwinters as a half-grown caterpillar in nests of the ant species Myrmica sabuleti. The fodderplants of the caterpillar are flower heads of thyme (Thymus) or marjoram (Origanum). When little the caterpillar falls to the ground and is found by an ant, who carries it down in its underground nest. The caterpillar produces a sweet secretion for the ants, while it is eating their eggs and larvaes. The caterpillar transforms into a butterfly in the ant-nest and crawls out from the entrance-hole without any attacks from the ants.

The flight of Large Blue is unsettled and low, but can also be quick, high and goal-oriented, if it is scared. It suns itself in bushes and often seeks nectare at thyme, sheepsbit scabious etc.

Large Blue was almost extinct after 1950. Since 1990 seen only in one spot at Møen and a couple of spots in North Jutland. Listed.

Protection of the species: the locality must not be fertilized, and the vegetation has to be kept low by a suitable management. Any intervention in order to protect the species demands the assistance of specialists.

photo 2007 Høvblege, Møn: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan Foto

Common Chicory/Almindelig Cikorie

Cichorium intybus



Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a bushperennial plant with blue, lavender, or occasionally white flowers.It grows as a wild plant on roadsides in its native Europe and in North America and Australia where it has become naturalized. Common chicory is also known as Blue Daisy, Blue Sailors, Coffee Weed, France endive etc. The cultivated forms are grown for their leaves , or for the roots , which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. Some beer brewers use roasted chicory to add flavor to their stouts.

Chicory is also the common name in the US and in France for curly endive (Cichorium endivia). There is considerable confusion between Cichorium endivia and Cichorium intybus.

Culinary: Chicory was used as a salad plant since ancient times, first by the Egyptians, then by the Greeks and the Romans, and it was imported to Denmark by the monks; in Denmark is only found the imported medicinal herb Cichorium intybus, common chicory. Chicorium intybus is not common in Danish kitchen gardens, but it is considered an indispensable salad plant to Italy and France. The flowers are eatable and decorative in a salad with their fine blue colour. Shots of Common chicory, which has grown in darkness, are in Denmark sold in late autumn as Julesalat (Christmas salad).

Medicinal: Since ancient times chicory was used against liver, kidney and bilious diseases, dropsy, consumption, bubonic plague, gout, haemorrhoids, indigestion, melancholy and hypochondria. Already Plinius recommended it as a means against indigestion. A dekokt of the flowers was used as an eyewash.The medieval physician Henrik Smid recommended the herb to treat the eyebrows or else they could fall off. Chicory was also considered an aphrodisiac and used against poisoning.

Medicine today: Tea of flowers and dried leaves are good in stomach, liver and spleen problems and for haemorrhoids. Chicory root extract is high in inulin and used as a high-fiber dietary supplement. Dekokt of the herb is appetizing, good for the stomach and the bile.

Caution: If allergic to ragweed or other members of the Compositae family approach use of chickory with caution. In rare cases contact with the fresh plant can cause allergic skin reactions.

Coffee substitute: In the Napoleonic Era in France, chicory frequently appeared as either an adulterant in coffee or a coffee substitute; this practice also became common in the United States and the United Kingdom, in England (and Denmark) during the second world war and in Camp coffee, a coffee and chicory essence, which has been on sale since 1885. In the United States chicory root has long been used as a substitute for coffee in prisons.

Superstition: A young girl was sitting by the road, crying because her lover had disappeared, and where her tears fell, the chicory grew up. If a girl (Eastern Europe) had chicory in her boots and put the chicory in a pair of man's trousers under her pillow, she would see her husband-to- be. A legend tells about a girl ,who denied to give Christ something to drink, and as a punishment she had to stand by the road in the shape of a chicory. A variation of the legend: The pretty blue flowers of Chicory turn and follow the sun - and a German legend tells that Chicory is a transformed virgin, who was left by her boyfriend. She is now standing in the roadside looking for her lover, turning her head in order to look for him. The plant's German name wegwarte means 'she who waits by the road.' Chicory was believed to be able to open locked doors, according to European folklore.

Literature: The chicory flower is often seen as inspiration for the Romantic concept of the Blue flower. The chicory plant is one of the earliest cited in recorded literature. Horace mentions it in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: "Me pascunt olivae, me cichorea, memalvae" ("As for me, olives, endives, and mallows provide sustenance")Lord Monboddo describes the plant in 1779 as the "chicoree", which the French cultivate as a pot herb.
Fodder: Chicory is well known for its toxicity to internal parasites. Studies indicate that ingestion of chicory by farm animals results in reduction of worm burdens,which has prompted its widespread use as a forage supplement. Research results from 2005 also showed that the taste and smell of boar disappears in the slaughtered pigs, if they had chicory in their fodder before slaughtering.

Source: Annemette Olesen, Danske Klosterurter, 2001

Snaps:
Use the root or the flowers, fresh or dried. Pour with neutral snaps and let it draw for some weeks. Filter and thin according to taste.

photo ⓒ Gl. Rye August 2007: grethe bachmann

Bird's Foot Trefoil/Kællingetand

Lotus corniculatus



Lotus corniculatus, Bird's-Foot Trefoil is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it grows in most of Europe and also in Denmark, where its Danish name Kællingetand means "Old Woman's Tooth". It is a perennial herbaceous plant, similar in appearance to some clovers. The name Bird's Foot Trefoil refers to the appearance of the seed pods on their stalk. It can survive fairly close grazing, trampling and mowing and is most often found in sandy soils. It flowers from June until September.It is also known in cultivation in North America as Birdfoot Deervetch. It has become an invasive species in some regions of North America and Australia.

The plant has many common English names in Britain, but they are now mostly out of use. The names were often connected with the yellow and orange colour of the flowers, fx "eggs and bacon" or "butter and eggs". A double flowered variety is grown as an ornamental plant. It is used in agriculture as a forage plant. In the beginning of the 1800s it was cultivated at a farm in Mid Jutland, but was given up and first cultivated again from the 1880s. The plant was mentioned in 1910 as the only one, which could replace the red clover, and in perennial grass fields it was indispensable. But many farmers did not acknowledge this.

The plant is an important nectar source for many insects and is also used as a larval food plant by many species opf lepidoptera such as Six-spot Burnet.

Fresh Birds Foot Trefoil contains cyanogenic glycosides and is thus poisonous to humans.

The plant is one of the few flowers in the language of flowers that has a negative connotation, symbolizing revenge or retribution.

In folk medicine Birds Foot was dried and put on snaps or in tea, this was used as a stomach medicine. The roots were used as a blood cleansing remedy.

The plant gives a fine yellow in yarn dyeing.

Source: Folk og Flora, Dansk Etnobotanik 3, V.J.Brøndegaard

photo ⓒ Stigsholm Sø 24. May 2009: grethe bachmann

Sainfoin /Esparsette

Onobrychis viciifolia

Høvblege, Møn , at calcareous soil.

Sainfoin is a very attractive wild flower with pinnate leaves and dense spikes of pretty pink flowers with darker veins. Onobrychis means "devoured by donkeys" from Ancient Greek ónos (donkey) and brýkein ("to eat greedily"), referring to sainfoin's good properties as a forage plant for large mammalian herbivores. Sainfoin is derived from Old French sain foin = healthy hay.

In northern European languages that have been less influenced by French the plants' name usually derives from esparceto, the Provencal term for the similar-looking and closely related sweetvetches (Hedysarum). Examples: Danish esparsette, Dutch esparcette, German sparsette, Russian espartset (Эспарцет) and Swedish esparsett.

Sainfoins are Eurasian perennial herbs of the legume family. About 150 species of sainfoins are presently known. The flora Europaea lists 23 species of Onobrychis; the main centre of diversity extends from Central Asia to Iran. Onobrychis viciifolia is naturalized throughout many countries in Europe and North american grasslands on calcareous soils. Sanfoins are mostly subtropical plants, but their range extends throughout Europe as far north as southern Sweden.These plants grow on grassland, agricultural land and wasteland.

These highly nutritious plants were an important forage for heavy working horses in agriculture, and are still an excellent source of nectar for honey production as well as pollen for bee food. Onobrychis species are used as food plants by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species.


Høvblege, Møn, a hillside with lots and lots of various flowers.

Sainfoin was probably from the middle of the 1700s cultivated in Denmark but it never had a large distribution. It was said that sainfoin when used as a fodder for the cattle increased the milk yield and made oxen fat, but horses must have it mixed with other fodder "or else they will grow too fat". It was tested as a fodder in several places with unsatisfying results - but then it was cultivated as an ornamental plant. Not until 1875 the sainfoin became popular and considered a good fodder for cattle in general, since it had a larger nutritional value than clover and lucerne. The milk gets bluish if the cows eat sainfoin.

The birth of Jesus in a humble stable has given ample opportunity for several legends. While the tired parents slept, Jesus was placed in a manger filled with sainfoin. When they awoke they were astonished to find that the dry hay had blossomed, and the baby was surrounded by its beautiful red flowers. Ever since sainfoin has been known as Holy Hay.

In George Orwell's "Coming Up for Air", travelling salesman George Bowling regularly reminisces about the smell of sainfoin in his father's seed shop in Lower Binfield.

photo ⓒ Høvblege, Møn June 2007: grethe bachmannn.

Agrimony/Agermåne

Agrimonia eupatoria


Agrimony is native for Denmark. It grows along roadsides, wasteland, hedges and banks. Its natural habitat is woods and fields, but it takes to cultivation easily. Both the yellow flowers and the notched leaves give off a faint characteristic lemony scent when crushed.

In Greek Agrimone means ' to heal the eyes' and the Greeks used the plant to treat ailments affecting the eyes. The Anglo Saxons used the plant for snake bites and treatment for wounds. It contains tannin and bitter substance plus ethereal oil. It was used for leather tanning and dyeing. The whole plant yields a yellow dye.

The medicinal use of Agrimony in Denmark goes probably back to the Viking period, since its fruits were found in the Oseberg ship. It was a common used medicinal plant in monastery gardens. Monks and physicians used it for many ailments: liver and gallblatter disease, inflammation of the urinary system, compress for wounds and other skin damage, and as gargling water for inflammation in mouth and throat.

Folkmedicine
In the 1400s: the seeds were eaten as a protection against various diseases, they seeds were cruched and mixed with honey and goat's milk rubbed against headache, the leaves were used in compresses against fever and lung diseases, the juice from the plant in stomach trouble , warts were rubbed with the plant crushed in vinegar, a "blue eye" was treated with agrimony and egg white, etc.
Christiern Pedersen in 1533: the plant juice mixed with destilled water from Rumex to drink against the plague, winedecoct against malaria, juice against snake bite.
Henrik Smid 1546: destilled water from the plant stops cough, good for patients with malaria, kill intestinal worms.
Simon Paulli 1648: the doctors gave a syrup or a decoct of agrimony for a blocked up liver, the plant mixed in a herbal extract against syphilis, cooked with the root of alant used for bathing frost-bites in hands and feet.

Agrimony was also used as a tea or mixed in herbal teas.

Dried agrimony hung in beer prevents it from getting sour. The plant was also used in fodder for sheep.



Today
Agrimony is not commonly used today, but has its place in traditional herbal medicine. It is frequently used in alternative medicine as a herbal mouthwash and a gargle ingredient and is applied externally in the form of a lotion to minor sores and ulcers.
Caution: this is an astringent herb, do not use if constipated. Do not use internally during pregnancy without discussing with your obstetrician.

Folklore
Witches used it in spells to dispel negative energies and to ward off hexes. Agrimony was said to cause deep sleep. When placed beneath a man's head this sleep would last until it was removed. This passage is from an old English medical manuscript:

'If it be leyd under mann's heed
He shal sleepyn as he were deed;
He shal never drede ne wakyn
Till fro under his heed it be takyn.'

It was also said that the Anglo Saxons included Agrimony in charms and dubious preparations of blood and pounded frogs.

Snaps
Dried spikes are poured over with a neutral snaps (in bottle or jar). Drawing time is about one week, then filter it and let it draw for some time. Thin your drink according to your taste.

Source: V.J. Brøndegaard, Folk og Flora, Dansk Etnobotanik 3, 1979
photo ⓒ : grethe bachmann