The Exmoor Society Quiz no 8 – The Answers 1. Digitalis, used for treating heart conditions. The dosage is critical – too much and it can stop the heart! Consequently, it’s said of foxglove that it can both ‘raise the dead and kill the living’. It is poisonous to human and some animals and has diuretic properties.
The origins of the name foxglove are unclear, but can be traced all the way back to the Anglo-Saxon period. The mottled markings on the inside of the bell-shaped flowers were once thought to be fairies’ handprints, the corollas being given by the fairies for foxes to wear on their feet to provide magic silence of movement. More likely is that foxgloves grow in places where foxes live and roam and the ‘glove’ part of the name is simply due to the flowers looking like glove fingers.
2. The first is bell heather, Erica cinerea, the second is Ling, Calluna vulgaris. Bell heather is the first to flower, usually from July onwards, with dark purple-pink bell-shaped flowers formed up the stem and short dark green needle-like leaves in whorls of three. Ling has a flowering time of August onwards with delicate pink flowers occurring loosely along the coarse, woody stems and short narrow leaves in rows. In days gone by, ling heather was often used to stuff bedding. In fact, the species was introduced to North America thanks to the heather beds that Scottish Highland settlers brought with them. Heather beetle larvae (and to a lesser extent the adult beetles) feed on the leaves of heather plants, stripping them bare and damaging the health of the heather. Recently the heather beetle populations have expanded enormously and this has been instrumental in driving the change from heather to grass dominated moorland. Purple moor-grass, Molinia caerulea, is taking over in many areas of the moor. 3. There are three types of gorse – Common (Ulex europaeus), which flowers between January and June; Western (Ulex gallii), which flowers in late summer and autumn; and Dwarf (Ulex minor), flowering later still. Consequently, one type of gorse or another is almost always in flower, hence the old country phrase: "When gorse is out of blossom, kissing's out of fashion".
Gorse has a robust growing habit and needs to be managed accordingly. It provides nesting and refuge benefits to birds such as Dartford Warblers, stonechats, linnets and yellowhammers and is an important source of nectar with a number of scarce invertebrates dependent on its early and late flowers. Gorse is a member of the pea family and has a scent reminiscent of coconut.
Traditionally, Common gorse was regularly collected from common land for a number of purposes: it provided fuel for firing bread ovens; was used as fodder for livestock; was bound to make floor and chimney brushes; and was used as a colourant for painting Easter Eggs. However, there were a number of restrictions on its collection; for example, in Oxfordshire, only the amount that could be carried on the back could be cut for fuel!
4. The English or Common bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) is threatened by the Spanish bluebell, a non-native species with widespread distribution over much of the UK, thought to have been accidently introduced into the wild from gardens. This species can hybridise with our native bluebell changing native population genetics. Both the Spanish bluebell and the hybrids are displacing native bluebells in their natural range.
The main differences between a Spanish bluebell and an English bluebell are that on the Spanish flower, the bells are all around the stem, not just on one side (which gives the English bluebell its drooping stature.) The leaves are wider and bigger. The petals of each bell open wider and flare at the ends rather than curl, as the English ones do. The native bluebell has a sweet, cool perfume and white pollen, the Spanish no perfume and blue pollen. Our native bluebell has many folk names - wild hyacinth, wood bell, bell bottle, Cuckoo’s Boots, Wood Hyacinth, Lady’s Nightcap and Witches’ Thimbles. They are protected by law, take 5-7 years to establish colonies and can take years to recover after the leaves have been crushed by footfall.
5. February is the month for which the violet is the birth flower. There are between 400 and 500 species of violets, which span dozens of countries across the world. The Ancient Greeks used violets in their wines, foods and medicines, as far back as 500 B.C., if not earlier and they actually loved the flower so much that it became the symbol of Athens. The flowers and leaves are edible; the leaves have high levels of vitamins A and C and can be used in salads or cooked as greens. The flowers can be made into jellies, candied, or tossed into a salad. However violet roots and seeds can cause nausea. The common dog-violet grows in the wild and is found in a variety of habitats including woodland, hedgerows, grassland, heath and old pasture. Unlike the Sweet Violet, it has no perfume but its small blue flowers are a joy to see between April and June. It is very important for several fritillary butterflies, including the Small pearl-bordered, the pearl-bordered and the silver-washed fritillaries, because they lay their eggs on it.