The Great Willowherb or 'Epilobium
Hirsutum' is a wildflower of the genus Epilobium in the family
'Onigracea'. Whilst Great Willowherb is it's most common name,
it also have a variety of local names such as 'apple pie',
'cherry pie' and 'codlins and cream' (codlins being a small
sour cooking apple which were boiled in milk and eaten with
cream).
The Great
Willowherb flowers for 2 months of the year in July and
August, and is commonly found in damp ground, such as
riversides, grasslands, ditches and woodland clearings. The
flowers have a rosy colour and the stigma's are creamy white,
and it is this colour combination which is believed to have
led to some of the common names the plant has. The leaves and
stems are very woolly, referred to by the specific latin term
'hirsutum' which means hairy.
Whilst the
leaves of the Great Willowherb have been used as an
astringent, there have been reports of violent poisoning, with
epileptic-like convulsions, The leaves of the closely related
'Rose Bay Willowherb' however have been used as a substitute
and adulterant of Tea. Though no longer so employed in
England, the leaves of both this species and of the Great
Hairy Willow-herb (E. hirsutum, Linn.) are largely used in
Russia, under the name of Kaporie Tea.
This photo was captured a mile or
so south of Titchfield on the old canal path which runs
alongside this previously navigable stretch of the River Meon.
Until the late 17th century, Titchfield was a significant
port, until trade moved to neighbouring Southampton and
Portsmouth as the navigation, which had been opened in 1611
began to silt up and restrict the passage of ships. When the
canal was constructed, the outfall of the River Meon to the
sea was dammed, creating the wetlands that now form Titchfield
Haven Nature Reserve. |
