A Gift of the Moors
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4 4 ◆ 1 1 BOTANY – COLTSFOOT & BUTTERBUR 0 5 0 5 2 2 ◆ TRIBUTE – DEREK STATHAM 1 1 G G ◆ THE LIFE OF LEWIS (LOUIS) HUNTON 1 N 1 N I I ◆ R NORTH YORK MOORS HARVEST MOUSE SURVEY R P P S ◆ S REMEMBERING ALFRED WAINWRIGHT E E ◆ THE HARE – ANIMAL LORE AND LEGEND ◆ U U ESK ENERGY UPDATE ◆ EVENTS – SUMMER 2014 S S ◆ CROSSWORD S S ◆ HAWKMOTH – NATURE NOTES I I ) ) A A S S M M Y Y N N R R ( ( N N O O I I O O T T A A I I C C O O O O S S S S A A S S R R M M O O O O M M E E E E R R I I H H H H S S K K R T R T O O Y Y H H F F T T R R O O N N O O E E H H T T F F E E O O E E N N C C I I Z Z I I A A G G A A O M O M E E H H V T V T NYMA – TO PROTECT AND ENHANCE THE CHARACTERISTIC BEAUTY OF THE NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS BOTANY COLTSFOOT & BUTTERBUR OLTSFOOT (Tussilago farfara) and Butterbur Scorched and dried leaves have been recommended as a salt (Petasites hybridus) are two of our earliest spring substitute, while together with the leaves of nettle, dandelion and flowers, closely related, in the family Asteraceae, and hops they have been used to make a beer, ‘cleats’. The yellow shCaring the characteristic of their flowers appearing well before flowers make a good early wine while the pappus of the seeds was their leaves giving them the old name ‘filius ante patrem’ or ‘son used to stuff pillows and mattresses, goldfinches still using them to before father’. The related winter heliotrope (P. fragrans) , a garden line their nests! The woolly undersides of the leaves were scraped escapee, though flowering at a similar time has both flowers and to collect a ‘felt’ that was soaked in saltpetre and used in leaves and is sweetly scented. tinderboxes before the advent of matches. A truly useful plant. COLTSFOOT BUTTERBUR Coltsfoot is the more widespread and better known and Butterbur is less commonly encountered, but where it does grow, recognised. It is perennial and is fairly common on any bare, open it forms very large patches, shading out other vegetation. Like and sparsely vegetated ground on a variety of soils from clay to coltsfoot, it spreads by long thick underground stems and is usually sand; on roadsides, waste places, stream found in damp places, marshy meadows banks, cliffs, woodland edges, landslips, and wet road and by the sides of streams. It shingle banks, dunes and railway is a perennial but unlike coltsfoot is embankments. It is a pioneer, coloniser dioecious, the male and female flowers and stabiliser with its network of long being on separate plants, the female being underground stems, needing the sunshine much rarer. The pink to red composite and avoiding competition. flowers appear from March to May and are From these underground stems many borne on stout, hollow stems in dense reddish scaly stems arise from February to terminal spikes of around fifty individual April, topped by solitary yellow, flowers, followed by the typical ‘clock’ seed composite, dandelion-like flowers, with head on any female flowers. The huge heart strap-like spreading ray florets. These shaped, toothed leaves appear after the mature into downy heads of seeds with a flowers and can grow up to one metre feathery pappus, which are wind dispersed. across. They have a white felty down when It is only then that the leaves start young though this soon disappears but appearing. These are round to heart Photo: Nan Sykes gives it its Latin name petasites from the shaped, shallowly lobed and toothed, white and woolly at first with Greek ‘petasos’ , a sunshade or broad brimmed felt shepherds’ hat. the upper surfaces becoming smooth and a lighter green as they They are certainly large enough to be used as a emergency rain or mature. Due to this difference in the time of appearance of flowers sun hat and were used as a cool wrap for butter before the and leaves, it was once thought to be two separate species. availability of greaseproof paper or polythene, giving the plant bits common name. WHAT’S IN A NAME? The name coltsfoot or horsefoot or assfoot refers to the leaf shape MEDICINAL USES while the Latin tussilago is from tussis a cough and agere to drive The butterbur has not been recorded as positively or consistently away, relating to its age old use as a cough medicine. Farfara, as a food or medicine as coltsfoot, but in the past the rhizome has meaning floury, describes the appearance of the underside of the been recommended for a wide range of complaints. It is reputed leaf. to have antispasmodic and astringent properties, is anti- inflammatory, antihistamine and pain relieving, being used as a CULINARY & MEDICINAL USES poultice for leprosy, plague sores, deep ulcers, sprains, swollen Although the young coltsfoot leaves and the flowers can be eaten joints and to reduce the bleeding in swollen veins. Internally it was in salads or fried in batter and have been used as an animal fodder, used for menstrual and migraine pains, stomach upsets and hay it is for their use in medicinal preparations that they are most fever, as a heart stimulant and diuretic for fevers and urinary useful and well known. The flowers and leaves can be made into problems as well as for killing intestinal worms. These varied tea, syrup, candy or rock as a remedy for all bronchial complaints, treatments have all been mentioned in older herbals while the use coughs, including whooping cough, asthma, sore throats, of butterbur to alleviate medical conditions such as hay fever and laryngitis, bronchitis etc., the true cough dispeller. It loosens and migraine has been investigated more recently. helps expel mucus from the lungs and throat while soothing, protecting and healing the mucus membranes. Surprisingly the HARBINGERS OF SPRING leaves were also smoked as a cure for asthma, dry coughs and Coltsfoot and Butterbur, two plants that welcome us into spring, chronic bronchitis and may have had an antihistamine action. often overlooked except where growing in profusion on cliffs or They were the main ingredient of herbal tobacco. river banks, taking the chance to catch the early sunshine to flower However, the leaves contain small traces of the same alkaloid as before their dense leaves cover the ground to prevent other plants comfrey and it may not be wise to use the herb for long periods of from growing where they have colonised but at the same time time. The leaves can also be used as a poultice, usually pounded providing bees with a welcome early feast. ◆ with honey, for inflammations, ulcers, rashes and swellings or as a Anne Press facial lotion for boils, acne, spots and puffiness. 2 VOICE OF THE MOORS – SPRING 2014 CONTENTS BOTANY PAGE 2 COLSTFOOT & BUTTERBUR PAGE 4 CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD NYMA TRIBUTE PAGE 5 Founded 1985 DEREK STATHAM 1937 –2014. NYMA PRESIDENT 2000 –2014 Registered Charity No. 517639 ALUM & AMMOMITES PAGE 6 Officers of the Association THE LIFE OF LEWIS (LOUIS) HUNTON 1814 –1838 Vice Presidents Professor Allan Patmore WILDLIFE Ron Foster MBE PAGE 8 NORTH YORK MOORS HARVEST MOUSE SURVEY Chairman Tom Chadwick TRIBUTE Vice Chairman PAGE 9 George Winn-Darley DOCTOR ELIZABETH COLBOURN Council Members Ruth Chambers QUOTQBLE QUOTES Phil Collier PAGE 10 Albert Elliot REMEMBERING ALFRED WAINWRIGHT David Moore Elaine Wisdom ANIMAL LORE & LEGEND PAGE 11 Co-opted Council Members THE HARE Janet Cochrane Anne Glass RENEWABLE ENERGY Association Treasurer PAGE 13 Brian Pearce WHITBY ESK ENERGY UPDATE MARCH 2014 4 Normanby Road Ormesby, Middlesbrough EVENTS TS7 9NS PAGE 13 [email protected] THE ESK VALLEY WALK – SUMMER 2014 Temporary Secretary Sue Chadwick AMANUENSIS PAGE 14 4 Station Road CRYPTIC CROSSWORD N o 64 Castleton, Whitby YO21 2EG Tel. 01287 660195 email: HAWKMOTH PAGE 15 [email protected] NATURE NOTES Membership Secretary Gerald King 5 Cleveland View, Faceby Middlesbrough, TS9 7DE Tel. 01642 701051 Notice of the ‘Voice of the Moors’ articles to: North Yorkshire Moors Association Albert Elliot Piper House, 54 Church Street, 2014 Castleton, Whitby, YO21 2EL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Tel. 01287 660137 AGM will commence at 2pm on email: [email protected] Saturday 14 June, Danby Lodge Moors Centre Guest Speaker, Ruth Chambers. Topic - Threatened Landscapes Ruth Chambers served as Deputy Chief Executive for the Campaign for National Parks (CNP) and Public Policy Specialist with wide experience of ‘Voice of the Moors’ Design & Production working with public bodies and charities including Royal Society of Wildlife Basement Press Trusts; RSPB; Natural England; The Ramblers Association; National Parks, The Old Parsonage, Glaisdale, England and Wales. Whitby, North Yorks YO21 2PL Tel. 01947 897945 www.basementpress.com A short walk has been arranged, starting from the Centre at 11am to Tilley’s Printed by Ten for commemorative tree-planting and returning at c. 12.30pm. Camphill Press www.camphillpress.co.uk All welcome! Lunch can be taken at the Woolly Cafe Articles appearing in Voice of the Moors convey the Front Cover: New-born lambs with mother at North End Farm, Danby Head authors’ personal views, Back Cover: The Curlew returns to the Moors beliefs and opinions and are not necessarily those of the North Yorkshire Moors Association. www.north-yorkshire-moors.org.uk VOICE OF THE MOORS – SPRING 2014 3 CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD DEREK STATHAM, NYMA PRESIDENT NYMA have known for some time that York Potash was considering an alternative method of transporting the th ADLY, DEREK DIED ON January 13 and we have lost polyhalite to Teesside by an underground conveyor belt.