Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 116
A Nature Book Reader
BERNARD SCHOFIELD
Bernard Schofield co-founded The Country Bizarre magazine
The Englishman’s Flora by Geoffrey Grigson
As a young lad with an
obsessional interest in
nature and the countryside,
I had developed a keen
appreciation of wild flowers
and was very proud of my
knowledge of both common
and Latin names. So it came
as a big surprise when, on
visiting my aunt who lived
in rural Devon, she referred
to the foxgloves growing
wild at the end of her country
garden as Lady’s Fingers.
That had to be wrong, and
I told her so. Unfortunately
I was the ignorant one, and
then it became an on going
fascination discovering local
common names around
the country for all the wild
flowers I knew and loved.
Many years later I came
across a copy of Geoffrey
Grigson’s wonderful book
The Englishman’s Flora
which catalogues a veritable
116
treasure trove of common
names to many of our
native flowers , together
with endless fascinating
information regarding their
folk history, distribution and
habitat. Did you know , for
instance, that among over
a hundred common names
listed for the ubiquitous
Foxglove, in Yorkshire they
were called Poppycock
and in Somerset , Bunch of
Grapes. Or that in Wiltshire,
Bluebells were known as
Griggles, but in Derby
were affectionately named
Cuckoo’s Stockings. So many
charming, evocative names
– Baa Lambs (White Clover);
Mournful Bells of Sodom
(Snakes Head Fritillary);
Lucky Moon (Pennywort)
– all endlessly inventive,
whimsical, poetical, and yet
intrinsically a natural part of
the old rural culture.
