Wildflower Quiz

Reproduced from the Stanmer Preservation Society 1994 Bulletin
(scroll down for Answers…)

1. What was Lords and Ladies, or Cuckoo-Pint (ARUM MACULATUM), used for in Elizabethan times?
2. Why was the Great Plantain (PLANTAGO MAJOR) called ‘way bread’?
3. Do Field Poppies (PAPAVAR RHOEAS) have nectar?
4. For what purpose is the plant Comfrey (SYMPHYTUM OFFICINALE) still used in some country
districts?
5. What does Sweet Cicely (MYRRHIS ODORATA) smell of if you crush it?
6. Why was Herb Bennet (GEUMURBANUM) so called?
7. Why was the Foxglove (DIGITALI PURPUREA) given its Latin name?
8. When was the Oxford Ragwort (SENECIO SQUALIDUS) introduced into this country and where did
it come from?
9.What is the French name for the Common Mallow (MALVA SYLVESTRIS) and what use is Mallow
put to?
10. Since early times Yarrow (ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM) has been used in medicine – for what
purpose?
11. Why was the Scarlet Pimpernel (ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS) called the poor man’s weather glass?

ANSWERS TO WILDFLOWER QUIZ
1. The thick tuberous root was used as a source of starch to stiffen the fine collars and ruffs used
then.
2. Because it needs little depth of soil and often grows close to the tarmac of the road, and on
ground where nothing else can grow.
3. No, but beetles, flies and bumble and honey bees all visit them for pollen.
4. As a poultice.
5. Aniseed.
6. In Medieval times it was considered to be a holy plant, and known as the blessed herb, hence its
name, herb Bennet (from benediction, a blessing).
7. People used to think that the fairies fitted foxglove bells to the paws of foxes so that they could
move silently to catch their prey, and from the association of ‘glove’, ‘finger’ or ‘digit’ came the
name Digitalis in 1542.
8. It is a native of Sicily, and was first recorded on walls here in 1795.
9. The French call the Mallow ‘Mauve’, a word we use to describe its colour. The root of the related
Marsh Mallow (ALTHEA HIRSUTA) is used in medicine and to make sweets.
10. It is an ointment to cure wounds, prevent baldness, and for toothache.
11. Because it opens early on warm, sunny days, and stays open until 2 or 3 if the weather holds, but closes as soon as the temperature falls or cold or cloudy weather arrives.