Common Name

Botanical Name

Flower Legend

BLUE WILD FLOWER GALLERY
PAGE MENU
Site Map of pages with content (o)

Introduction

FLOWER COLOUR Comparison Pages/NOTE Galleries under Wild Flower in the left hand Main Topic Menu Table

SEED COLOUR
(o)Seed 1
(o)Seed 2

Lists of:-
Edible Plant Parts.
Flower Legend.
Food for
Butterfly/Moth.

Flowering plants of Chalk and Limestone
Page 1
Page 2

Flowering plants of Acid Soil
Page 1

Habitat Lists:-
Approaching the
Coast (Coastal).
Broad-leaved
Woods.
Grassland - Acid, Neutral, Chalk.
Heaths and Moors.
Hedgerows and Verges.
Lakes, Canals and Rivers.
Marshes, Fens,
Bogs.
Old Buildings and Walls.
Pinewoods.
River Banks and
other Freshwater Margins.
Saltmarshes.
Sandy Shores and Dunes.
Shingle Beaches, Rocks and
Cliff Tops.
Other.

Number of Petals List:-
Without Petals. Other plants
without flowers.
1 Petal or
Composite of
many 1 Petal Flowers as Disc
or Ray Floret .
2 Petals.
3 Petals.
4 Petals.
5 Petals.
6 Petals.
Over 6 Petals.

Lists of:-
Pollinator.
Poisonous Parts.
Scented Flower, Foliage, Root.
Story of their Common Names.
Use for Flowering Plants

Non-Flowering Plants
Use for Non-Flowering Plants

See Explanation of Structure of this Website with User Guidelines to aid your use of this website.

WILDFLOWER INDEX
Botanical Name
Common Name

WILD FLOWER GALLERY
PAGE MENU
Site Map of pages with content (o)

Introduction
Poisonous Plants

INDEX LINK TO WILDFLOWER PLANT DESCRIPTION PAGE
a-h
i-p
q-z

BED PICTURES
(o)Bed

HABITAT TABLES
Flowers in
Acid Soil
Flowers in
Chalk Soil
Flowers in
Marine Soil
Flowers in
Neutral Soil
Ferns
Grasses
Rushes
Sedges

Flower Legends by M.C. Carey. Published by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd in 1929. This provides the information for the plants listed below.
 

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 1

(o)Adder's Tongue
Amaranth
(o)Arrow-Grass
(o)Arum
(o)Balsam
Bamboo
(o)Barberry
(o)Bedstraw
(o)Beech
(o)Bellflower
(o)Bindweed
(o)Birch
(o)Birds-Nest
(o)Birthwort
(o)Bogbean
(o)Bog Myrtle
(o)Borage
(o)Box
(o)Broomrape
(o)Buckthorn
(o)Buddleia
(o)Bur-reed
(o)Buttercup
(o)Butterwort
(o)Cornel (Dogwood)
(o)Crowberry
(o)Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 1
(o)Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 2
Cypress
(o)Daffodil
(o)Daisy
(o)Daisy Cudweeds
(o)Daisy Chamomiles
(o)Daisy Thistle
(o)Daisy Catsears (o)Daisy Hawkweeds
(o)Daisy Hawksbeards
(o)Daphne
(o)Diapensia
(o)Dock Bistorts
(o)Dock Sorrels

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 2

(o)ƒmoss
(o)Duckweed
(o)Eel-Grass
(o)Elm
(o)Filmy Fern
(o)Horsetail
(o)Polypody
Quillwort
(o)Royal Fern
(o)Figwort - Mulleins
(o)Figwort - Speedwells
(o)Flax
(o)Flowering-Rush
(o)Frog-bit
(o)Fumitory
(o)Gentian
(o)Geranium
(o)Glassworts
(o)Gooseberry
(o)Goosefoot
(o)Grass 1
(o)Grass 2
(o)Grass 3
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 1
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 2
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 3 (o)Hazel
(o)Heath
(o)Hemp
(o)Herb-Paris
(o)Holly
(o)Honeysuckle
(o)Horned-Pondweed
(o)Hornwort
(o)Iris
(o)Ivy
(o)Jacobs Ladder
(o)Lily
(o)Lily Garlic
(o)Lime
(o)Lobelia
(o)Loosestrife
(o)Mallow
(o)Maple
(o)Mares-tail
(o)Marsh Pennywort
(o)Melon (Gourd/Cucumber)
 

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 3

(o)Mesem-bryanthemum
(o)Mignonette
(o)Milkwort
(o)Mistletoe
(o)Moschatel
Naiad
(o)Nettle
(o)Nightshade
(o)Oleaster
(o)Olive
(o)Orchid 1
(o)Orchid 2
(o)Orchid 3
(o)Orchid 4
(o)Parnassus-Grass
(o)Peaflower
(o)Peaflower Clover 1
(o)Peaflower Clover 2
(o)Peaflower Clover 3
(o)Peaflower Vetches/Peas
Peony
(o)Periwinkle
Pillwort
Pine
(o)Pink 1
(o)Pink 2
Pipewort
(o)Pitcher-Plant
(o)Plantain
(o)Pondweed
(o)Poppy
(o)Primrose
(o)Purslane
Rannock Rush
(o)Reedmace
(o)Rockrose
(o)Rose 1
(o)Rose 2
(o)Rose 3
(o)Rose 4
(o)Rush
(o)Rush Woodrushes
(o)Saint Johns Wort
Saltmarsh Grasses
(o)Sandalwood
(o)Saxifrage
 

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 4

Seaheath
(o)Sea Lavender
(o)Sedge Rush-like
(o)Sedges Carex 1
(o)Sedges Carex 2
(o)Sedges Carex 3
(o)Sedges Carex 4
(o)Spindle-Tree
(o)Spurge
(o)Stonecrop
(o)Sundew
(o)Tamarisk
Tassel Pondweed
(o)Teasel
(o)Thyme 1
(o)Thyme 2
(o)Umbellifer 1
(o)Umbellifer 2
(o)Valerian
(o)Verbena
(o)Violet
(o)Water Fern
(o)Waterlily
(o)Water Milfoil
(o)Water Plantain
(o)Water Starwort
Waterwort
(o)Willow
(o)Willow-Herb
(o)Wintergreen
(o)Wood-Sorrel
(o)Yam
(o)Yew

See current Wildflower Common Name Index link Table for more wildflower of the UK common names together with their names in languages from America, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

See current Wildflower Botanical Name Index link table for wildflower of the United Kingdom (Great Britain) botanical names.

After clicking on the WILD FLOWER Common Name INDEX link to Wildflower Family Page; locate that Common name on that Wildflower Family Page, then

Click on Underlined Text in:-

Common Name to view that Plant Description Page
Botanical Name to link to Plant or Seed Supplier
Flowering Months to view photos
Habitat to view further Natural Habitat details and Botanical Society of the British Isles Distribution Map
 

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flower Legend

The Anemone

A Greek legend relates how once the gentle Zephyrus, who was said to produce flowers and fruits by the magic sweetness of his breath, made the fair Anemone his bride. She was a favourite nymph at the court of Chloris, and fairer and more graceful than any of the lovely band that formed that court of flowers round the goddess.
Chloris noticed the wind god's affection for her nymph, and was so jealous for his love that she was enraged and drove Anemone from her presence, forbidding her to return.
Anemone wandered sadly through the woods and groves followed by her sorrowing lover, who, as he said farewell, changed her into a star-like flower - "most delicate and fair" - and which to this day he loves to caress.
And the ancients said that every spring Zephyrus comes again to coax her with his sweet breath to open her petals, the
"Coy anemone that ne'er uncloses
Her lips until they are blown on by the wind."
But he only abandons her later to the rude caresses of his brother Boreas, who "unable to win her love, blights with his rude embraces her half unfolded charms".

The Arum Lily

It is said that when Joshua and Caleb were sent out by Moses to spy out the Promised Land of Canaan, Aaron gave them his rod to take with them. The story goes, that the spies, in proof of their report of a land "flowing with milk and honey", carried back a giant cluster of grapes, cut from vines at Eschol, borne between them on the rod, which they supported on their shoulders.
They laid their rich burden at the feet of Moses, and stuck the rod in the ground. T o the surprise of all, an arum sprang from the earth at its foot, a living symbol of the fruitfulness of the land to which they were adventuring. And to this day farmers are known to judge their harvests by watching for the size of the spadix of the arum in the spring.

On the deep green leaves of the arum are curious purple spots, and tradition tells that when Christ hung suffering on the Cross, and cried in agony: "Father, forgive them...," a bird was flying by. Hearing the cry of pain, it swerved in its flight, and perched on the Cross. Then, in pity for our Lord, it tried with its little beak to wrench the nails from His hands and feet, and its breast was soon red with the Blood flowing from the wounds. The crimson drops fell to the ground, and stained the leaves of an arum lily growing at the foot of the Cross, and those stains have been borne by the plant ever since.

The Blackthorn

Two blackthorn trees, are, in France, inseparably connected with the life of St. Patrick.
The story goes that the saint was on his way to join St. Martin one Christmas time when it was bitterly cold, and snow lay on the ground. Tired with his long day's walk, he came to a river and sat down to rest under a thorn tree that stood gaunt and bare, its black branches outlined against the snow.
As he rose to go on his way, the thorn burst into full bloom in his honour, and was covered by a mantle of tiny snoe-like flowers.
St. Patrick blessed the blackthorn, and crossed the river on his cloak, to come again to rest under another tree growing opposite its fellow on the further side. This also blossomed in his honour, and from that time onwards the 2 thorns have never ceased to bloom at Christmas time in memory of the saint and his journey.

The Bladder Campion

Bladder Campion is
Silene vulgaris

Pink family

Owls, as everyone knows, are reputed to be very wise birds, which is, no doubt, due to the fact that long ages ago they were under the special protection of the goddess of wisdom, Minerva, who kept them as pets and was escorted by them wherever she went.
Her owls were particularly fond of flies, and as they seldom flew abroad by day the goddess found t difficult to catch enough flies for their needs.
Finding that she could not spare the time herself to capture the insects, she called to her a small boy named Campion, and told him to spend his days in catching flies for her hungry flight of owls, amply rewarding him for his services.
Every morning the little boy would wander out into the fields carrying a big bladder bag on the end of a long stick, into which he would put all the flies he could catch, and in the evening he would return to be greeted by the sound of soft brown wings, as the great birds came for their supper.
But Campion was a lazy fellow. He soon tired of his task, and on the hot sunny days would creep into the shade of a tree, and sleep through the long afternoons, while the flies and gnats buzzed safely over his head. The owls grumbled and hooted at their meagre rations, and grew so thin that Minerva noticed their plight, and questioned Campion closely about their food. The boy hung his head and looked so guilty that the goddess suspected what was happening, and warned him that if he did not mend his ways and keep her birds well fed, he would be severely punished.
Time went on, but Campion did no better, and the owls grew thinner and thinner. Then the goddess descended in her wrath, and in a fit of anger turned Campion into a flower, and sent him for ever on to bare hillside, there forlornly to wave his empty bladder in which no flies were now to be imprisoned.

The Broom and the Juniper

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was flying from the wrath of Herod with the Holy Child in her arms.
With Josepth walking beside her, she rode upon a donkey in the hurried flight into Egypt, casting anxious looks backwards for fear of pursuit.
They were encamped for the night, too weary to go on longer without rest; as Mary was crossing an open pathway, she was suddenly alarmed, and thought she heard the sound of soldiers close by. She at once took refuge behind a bush of broom growing near, and whose leaves would have concealed her, but the treacherous plant gave out such a crackling that it would have attracted notice from anyone, even from a passer-by who was not on the look out for the escaping travellers.
The holy Mother looked round in terror, and a juniper tree seeing her distress opened wide its branches under which she crept with the little Jesus. As she did so, the juniper quietly closed behind her, and she was safely hidden from any who should pass by.
So the broom for ever after has need to remember the cause of its humble employment of sweeping, which today it suffers, and in token of further disgrace it was chosen by witches who ride through the clouds upon it at night.

The Campanula or Canterbury Bell

The true Campanula was supposed to resemble an ancient mirror, for it was said that Venus once possessed a mirror which added to the beauty of everything that was reflected in it. There came a day when she missed her treasure, and it was found by a rough shepherd, who was so enchanted by the reflection of is own countenance, that he stood lost in admiration gazing into the mirror as if in a dream.
Cupid, who was looking for the glass, at last discovered the old man, and partly amused and partly annoyed that Venus's precious belonging should be handled by a mere herdsman, snatched it suddenly out of his fingers, so that it fell to earth, and the man was left lamenting.
But the mirror, being divine, left its mark on the grass where it had lain, for there sprang up a carpet of flowers to be afterwards known to men as campanulas, or Venus's looking-glass.

The Carnation

To this day the family of Ronsecco in Italy displays the device of a carnation in its armorial bearings, in memory of the Countess Margherita Ronsecco and her lover.
It was in the time of the Crusades that the fair Margherita loved a chivalrous and handsome knight, Orlando, and the date was indeed fixed for the marriage when the call through the land bidding all brave men arm for a Crusade against the Saracen, and so deliver Christ's Holy Tomb.
Orlando, though distracted with grief, never for a moment thought of failing in his duty, and Margherita would not have had him stay.
"Farewell," she cried, "be true to me and do not forget."
"Never while I draw breath," was his answer, and he claimed from her the flower she wore in her bosom, and vowed that he would wear it as a talisman next his heart.
I tears she fastened the flower, a white carnation, in his breastplate, and he rode away.
Years after there came a strange horseman to seek admittance at the great Ronsecco gates. He brought news of Orlando, who had fallen at the hand of the Saracen foe, and he carried with him 2 relics for Margherita, a shining lock of her lover's hair, and a withered flower. An arrow had pierced Orlando's breast and the little silken bag in which he kept the talisman, so that his blood had dyed both a deep crimson.
The maiden kept the relics as her dearest treasure, and seeing some tiny seed pods on the flower's stalk, planted them in a pot, watching and weeping over them daya after day.
To her joy in due time green shoots appeared above the mould, and strong healthy plants grew and flourished, and bore flowers; but the carnations as they opened were not the same as the original flower, but had only an outer rim of white, the centre marked by deep crimson petals, as if blood had stained them.
Then Margherita knew that God had wrought this miracle in token of His love for loyalty and courage and true faith in man, and the head of the house of Ronsecco chose to have a red and white carnation on his coat of arms.
The Countess Margherita never married. She loved her flowers, tended them faithfully, and died leaving the carnations as a gift to her sisters, and bidding them never give away a bloom to anyone except to the men to whom they were betrothed.
So the plant was treasured as an heirloom, and cuttings taen from it only increased in each generation according to the number of maidens, for every daughter of the house was given a plant of this famous red and white carnation at her birth.
And from this custom the legend grew up that whenever a maiden of the Ronsecco family was destined to die unmarried, so certainly would the flower wither and die, and if one of them lost her honour or gave the flower to a lover unworthy of her, her carnation would be found blighted over-night.

The Christmas Rose

Known as the "Rose of Love", the Christmas roses first bloomed in the gardens of heaven, and were watched over by the angels. At the fall, the earth was covered with snow, and not one flower so carefully tended by Adam and Eve was to be seen.
The angels wept over this scene of desolation, and pleaded with the Almighty to allow them to carry at least one flower to mankind, in token of His love and mercy.
God listened to their prayers and gave them leave to take their special favourite, "the pure celestial flower", to their stricken world.
On the night when the shepherds left their flocks and followed the Star to the stable in Bethlehem, a young peasant girl, sister of 2 of the shepherds, went with them.
But when they reeached the inn, and she saw the crowd pressing round the door, where the Wise Men and their caravans had arrived to lay their gifts before the Holy Child, she drew back, and did not dare push her way through after her brothers, because her hands were empty and she had no gift to offer.
After a while she turned away weeping, and went back towards the lonely hills, until on the edge of the desert she found the flocks.
But suddenly the light of the stars was dimmed, and an angel appeared to her in a blaze of light, and spoke to her.
"Child, why do you carry sorrow in your heart?" he asked.
And the girl answered: "Because I carry no joy to the Child of Bethlehem."
The angel bent low and smiled at her, and brushed his wing tips over the snow-covered ground. There beneath bloomed a carpet of Christmas roses. Then he vanished from her sight, and the girl sank on her knees with a cry of joy and wonder. She filled her arms with the flowers, and hastened to return to Bethlehem, where the crowds thronged even more densely than before. But the people made way for her, and looked with amazement at the armful of lovely flowers she carried on that winter night.
At last she reached the stable and timidly drew near to the manger. The Wise Men were rising from their knees, surrounded by the gold and jewels and precious gifts they had brought the Christ, but when the Babe saw the Christmas roses, he stretched out His little hands for them, and smiled as the shepherd girl heaped them around Him, and even to this day the delicate flowers are flushed with ratitude.
And the angels were watching in Heaven, and Gabriel said: " For evermore roses of Christmastide must solitude endure, and cold, and winter days, but they have and shall always share the Christ Child's blessing".

The Chrysanthemum

When the Magi, following the star in the East, that guided them to Bethlehem, reached the village, they were puzzled to find no signs of rejoicing in the streets. All was silent, and the people were going about their business as usual, in spite of the many caravans that had journeyed in from far for the tax.
Night was falling, and they made their way along the narrow streets where no sounds of music or dancing could be heard proclaiming a great event. As the camels wound along, one behind the other, the great men searched for the chosen spot in vain, when suddenly the word to halt was given by King Malcher, and the caravan stood still.
"Here is the place," he cried, "I have found a flower whose petals are rayed like the star which we have followed, and which is at this moment hanging over our heads".
They all looked up at the strange star blazing in the sky, and then down at the flower that Malcher bent to pick, and as he did so the door of the stable by his side opened of its own accord, and they went in.
There they found the Holy Child lying in a manger, and into His outstretched hand Malcher placed the stem of the chrysanthemum flower, and the tall men knelt before the Child, to them the newborn King, and who held as sceptre the pure white winter flower, shaped like the Heavenly Star which had guided them to His side.

The Clematis

The Cossacks were once at war with the Tartars, and finding themselves greatly outnumbered were about to turn and flee.
But at this time the old Cossack leader spurred hir horse forward and struck his forehead with a charmed pike. At that moment arose a wild tempest which whirled the cowardly Cossacks into the air like so many leaves: it blew them into fragments and their dust mingled with that of their nemies.
From that dust is sad to have sprung the clematis flower. But the souls of the Cossacks were so troubled, knowing that their bones were lying amongst those of the Tartars, that they besought the Saints in Heaven to spread the flowers of the clematis or tziganka into the Ukraine.
Their prayer was granted, and it came to be a popular superstition in Little Russia, that if only every man would hand a spray of tziganka from his belt, the dead Cossacks who fell so strangely in that great battle would come again to life.

The Cornflower

The classic name of the cornflower is Cyanus, after the Greek youth who worshipped Chloris, the goddess of flowers and spring, with the most touching devotion.
Day and night he knelt at her shrine, only leaving it to gather cornflowers in the fields to lay in masses at her feet, so that, as he thought, her eyes might rest on the blue of the sky below her as well as on the real blue of the heavens above.
One morning Cyanus was found dead, lying in his favourite field of corn, with half-finished garlands of cornflowers at his side, and in pity for his devotion, the goddess called the flower after his name.

The Cowslip
(Keys, Our Lady's Keys, Keys-of-heaven, Herb Peter, St Peter's-wort, Peter's-keys, Fairy-cups)

Primula veris

Primrose Family
 

In Norse legend, and later in Christian fable, the cowslip is connected with the symbol of the keys, obviously owing to the appearance of the flower itself, which looks so like a bunch of yellow keys hanging fromits s;lender stalk.
The "key legend" that comes from the North relates that the cowslip was the special flower of Freia, the goddess of Spring, who is also known as the Key Virgin from the key she carried in her crown.
Every thousandth cowslip was supposed to be a key flower, and if picked and held against a rock, a secret door would open and discover to the lucky adventurer a glimpse of the Enchanted Land.
There could be seen great jars covered with cowslips and full of the most precious gifts, gold, jewels, and exquisite stuffs and precious stones. The holder of the magic cowslip may enter in and carry off the treasure, but if he drops the key flower in his efforts to hold more than he can bear away, he will find himself again on the grass of the meadow outside, and the door of the Enchanted Land will be barred agaist him for ever.
This Norse legend has come down through Christian days in an altered form, though the key symbolism remains. St. Peter's Herb, or Herb Peter as it is called in some parts of the country, takes its name thus:
Once upon a time St Peter heard it whispered in Heaven that men were gaining admittance through some back and secret entrance, and escaping his vigilant eye at the great main door, where he stands for ever as Keeper of the Gate.
This so agitated him that he let fall his heavy bunch of keys, and these fell to earth. But where they fell sprang up a golden flower - the keys of Heaven - and to this day the golden cowslips bear witness to the truth of this story.

The Crocus

A Greek legend tells of the spring crocus that once there lived a youth named Krokos, who loved Smilax, a young shepherdess on earth. By this he offended the gods, who changed him into a flower which even to this day

"Heralds the spring, young waking love declares
And everywhere the name of crocus bears."

The saffron crocus which does not bloom till the autumn was for a long time said to be the monopoly of the Rajah of Cashmere, by reason of its famous dye. In the days of Edward III an Englishman disguised as a pilgrim travelled through India, and when he reached the northern frontiers stole a bulb of the precious plant at the risk of his life, and hid it in a hollow staff which he had carried with him for the purpose. Eventually he returned to England, and reached his home at Walden, in Essex, and planted it in his garden. Such a wealth of flowers sprang from that single bulb, that ever since that year the village has been known as Saffron Walden.

The Daisy

Bellis perennis

Daisy - Cudweeds Family

Once upon a time the daisy was the flower that noble spirits chiefly chose when after death they took the form of a flower and bloomed on earth.
For once the golden Belus, queen of the woodland, was playing with her sister nymphs in the forest when twilight fell, and the sun began to sink like a red ball behind the trees.
The nymphs came out to dance together in an open glade, and one of the fair Belides dancing with her lover looked so fresh and exquisite that Vertumnus, the garden deity of Spring, was fascinated by her. He flew down upon them, but her lover jealous, stood between her and the god, and the nymph herself was so alarmed by the intruder that she turned herself into a daisy flower.

When the fiingers of Death are laid gently upon the heart of a tiny baby, and it is carried by the angels back to God, the little creatures long to console their mothers left behind on earth to mourn for them. So the babies scatter new and lovely flowers down from the heavens, as a memory of the dead and to cheer the living.
One day, Malvinia, who had just lost her infant son, was weeping amongst her maidens. Suddenly one of them came to her and said: "Look, look, Malvinia, raise your eyes! We have seen your baby. He smiled to us out of a rainbow-tinted cloud, and stretching out his hand from the the star-girt bed, a harvest of new flowers shed. See here is one, a golden centre, and a wreath of silver leaves round it tinged with crimson!"
So Malvinia looked up, and there swaying in the breeze that swept over the meadow, she saw a host of the little white flowers, like children playing amongst the green grasses.
And she was comforted.

The Dandelion

The word dandelion is a corruption of dent de lion, less by reason of the shape of its leaves, as has been suggested, than because the lion was once the symbol of the sun.
A legend of the North American Indians tells that Shawondasee, the south wind, still sighs for love of a maiden with golden hair whom he once saw in the spring.
The south wind is lazy, and he loves to lie and sleep in the shade of the magnolia trees, filling his lungs with the scent of their heavy blossoms, and breathing it out again until the perfume drifts far over the fields.
One day, as Shawondasee lay half dreaming on a soft spring morning, he saw a little way off, a slim girl standing in the sunshine, which lit up her yellow head of hair. Ife he had not been so idle and lazy he would have called her to him, but he let the moments slip by until dusk crept over the prairie. The next day he eagerly looked again for the maiden, and she was still there, more beautiful than ever, and this went on for some time, the south wind always on the look out for her, yet never bestirring himself to speak to her.
There came a morning when there was a strange look about the figure he so anxiously sought. He looked again, almost roused to action, and looked yet a third time. A woman was indeed standing where the girl had been, but how different she seemed! The glory of her golden hair had vanished and instead was a head of softest grey, borne on old and shrunken shoulders.
"Alas, alas," cried Shawondasee, " I see what has happened. It is the hand of my brother, the north wind, which has been here in the night. He has touched her head and whitened it with his frost."
And Shawondasee in his sadness sighed such a mighty sigh that the breath of it reached the figure, and in a moment her white hair scattered like a cloud from her head, and floated away on the wind, and was gone.
Others with golden heads like that first maiden's come and go, and the sun lights them up on the prairie with his bright beams, but in spring the south wind sighs for the girl of the yellow hair as he first saw her.

The Edelweiss

There is a legend which tells of an angel who, tiring of her heavenly home, besought to be allowed to return to earth, even though she should suffer sorrow and misfortune there again.
She was allowed to resume her mortal shape, but she had forgotten how tragic were the woes of mankind, with its ceaseless fret of discontent and poverty, crime and disease and pain, and she fled in despair to the mountains of Switzerland, far from the world upon which she could then look down in pity.
Possesssing the soul of an angel she was wondrously beautiful, and she was upon one occasion seen by a bold climber, and from that day men sought for her year by year in her icy seclusion, where in vain she tried to hide in crevice and crack from them, and once having seen her they ineviably and hopelessly loved her for ever.
She was kind to them all, but cold as the snows that surrounded her, and at last in desperation her lovers prayed to God that as they could not make her love them nor possess her, she might be taken from their sight into Heaven, so that they might escape the agony of longing that they suffered loving her.
The prayers of the lovers were granted, and the angel was received again into Heaven, leaving her human heart to bloosom on the heights in the form of the flower of edelweiss, in memory of her short life on the mountain tops.

The Forget-Me-Not

Following from Stories 1-3 in Story of their Common Name here is
Story 4 -
One golden morning after the Creation, an angel was found weeping outside the close-barred gates of Eden. He had fallen from grace through the sin of loving a daughter of Earth, whom he had seen as she sat on the river bank, entwining her hair with flowers of the blue forget-me-not.He was not permitted by God to rise again to the heavenly heights until the maiden he loved should have sown the whole world over with the seeds of the flowers she wore, and for this reason he was weeping over the hardness of his sentence.
However, he took heart, and leaving the unyielding gates behind him, departed to tell the Earth daughter what was decreed.
So forthwith they set out to travel far and wide over the world, planting the tiny seeds as they went.
Years later, their task accomplished, together they entered Paradise, and like her lover the angel, the maiden became immortal, as the earth below blossomed into a carpet of little blue flowers; "For," said the Keeper of the Gate, " your love is greater than your wish for life."

Story 5 -
After the battle of Waterloo, a tiny plant sprang up all over the field, spreading a blue carpet over the scarred and desolate plain. The flowers came from the seed of a small spray carried next his heart by a young Englishman who fell in the fight. Surely a fitting memory of one who gave his life for his country, and for her who had given him the token.
 

The Geranium

In the East the geranium almost reaches the proportions of a tree, and there it was first created.
For once when the prophet Mahomet had washed his shirt, he threw it over a plant of mallow in the sun to dry. It was not long in drying, but even in that short time a marvellous change took place in the mallow, which was transformed by contact with the sacred garment into a tall and lovely plant, covered with bright scarlet flowers, its leaves giving out an exquisite scent.
The mallow had become a geranium, the first ever seen on earth, in honour of the virtues of the Prophet.

The Heliotrope

Apollo, the sun god, loved a king's daughter - the fair Leukothea. But Clytia, to spite her rival and to gain Apollo's favour, went to the king and told him of the secret meetings of the lovers, which so enraged him that he buried the luckless Leukothea alive, and so ended her brief and happy life.
Apollo, saddened, returned to the heavens and never even cast one glance in the direction of Clytia, who, realising the harm she had done by her cruel deed, fell to the ground in misery of remorse, and lay there for 9 long days watching the sun god pass in his chariot, and praying to him for a look of pity.
But Apoolo would not heed her cry.
At last the gods had mercy on her, and changed her into the flower of heliotrope. And thus she still lies, looking towards the sun with half-averted eye, as if hoping for the forgiveness of Apollo.

The Hyacinth

The Iris

The Jasmine

The Lavender

The Leek

The Lily of the Valley

The Red Lily

The Water Lily

The White Lily

The Marigold

The Narcissus

The Pansy

The Plantain

The Poppy

The Primrose
(Butter-rose)

Primula vulgaris

Primrose Family

The Rose

The Dog Rose

The Moss Rose

The Red Rose

Rose Thorns

St. Elizabeth and the Roses

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Scarlet Pimpernel is
Anagallis arvensis

Primrose family

The Shamrock

The Snowdrop

The Thistle

The Tulip

The Violet

The Wallflower

The Blue Mountain Anemone

Blue Mountain Anemone is
Anemone apennina

Anemone apennina at Dresden, Botanical Garden(Saxony, Germany).By Olaf Leillinger, via Wikimedia Commons

Buttercup family

There are a number of explanations for the name, but the most popular account relates to Anemona, a nymph at the court of the goddess Flora. The sage declared that Zephyros, the god of the west wind, had fallen in love with Anemona. Jealous Flora turned her into a flower so that Zephyros could only kiss her petals and that’s why the flower always opens out completely when it blooms – she’s inviting her lover.

Main Topic Menu Table

Topic
Case Studies
Companion Planting
Garden Construction
Garden Design
Garden Maintenance
Glossary
Home
Library
Offbeat Glossary
Plants
Soil
Tool Shed
Useful Data

Topic - Plant Photo Galleries
Aquatic
Bamboo
Bedding
Bulb
Climber

Colour Wheel

Conifer
Deciduous Shrub
Deciduous Tree
Evergreen Perennial
Evergreen Shrub
Evergreen Tree
Fern
Grass
Hedging
Herbaceous Perennial
Herb
Odds and Sods
Rhododendron
Rose
Soft Fruit
Top Fruit
Vegetable

Wild Flower
with its
flower colour page,
space,
Site Map page in its flower colour
NOTE Gallery
...Blue Note
...Brown Note
...Cream Note
...Green Note
...Mauve Note
...Multi-Cols Note
...Orange Note
...Pink A-G Note
...Pink H-Z Note
...Purple Note
...Red Note
...White A-D Note
...White E-P Note
...White Q-Z Note
...Yellow A-G Note
...Yellow H-Z Note
...Shrub/Tree Note
There are 180 families in the Wildflowers of the UK and they have been split up into 22 Galleries to allow space for up to 100 plants per gallery.

Each plant named in each of the Wildflower Family Pages may have a link to:-

its Plant Description Page in its Common Name in one of those Wildflower Plant Galleries and will have links

to external sites to purchase the plant or seed in its Botanical Name,

to see photos in its Flowering Months and

to read habitat details in its Habitat Column.

Topic - Wildlife on Plant Photo Gallery
Butterfly

.

Wild Flower Family Page

(the families within "The Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers" by David McClintock & R.S.R. Fitter, Published in 1956 are not in Common Name alphabetical order and neither are the common names of the plants detailed within each family. These families within that book will have their details described as shown in the next column starting from page 1 in February 2017 until all the families have been completed on page 307.

This may take a few months of my time before I get to the Adder's Tongue Family on page 307.

The information in the above book is back-referenced to the respective page in "Flora of the British Isles" by A.R. Clapham of University of Sheffield,
T.G. Tutin of University College, Leicester and
E.F. Warburg of University of Oxford printed by Cambridge at the University Press in 1952 for each plant in all the families)

followed by

No. of Plants of that Family

that have a row with their details in their flower colour in this central data table;

and then

the relevant entries in the Habitat Index Pages and other charact-eristics in other Index Pages in the Page Menu / Index Table on the right
(with over-flow in another table below the flower colour in the central data table and then onto
contin-uation pages)

within this gallery

Adder's Tongue

Amaranth

Arrow-Grass

Arum

Balsam

Bamboo

Barberry 2

Bedstraw

Beech

Bellflower

Bindweed

Birch

Birds-Nest

Birthwort

Bogbean

Bog Myrtle

Borage

Box

Broomrape

Buckthorn

Buddleia

Bur-reed

Buttercup 45

Butterwort

Cornel (Dogwood)

Crowberry

Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 1

Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 2

Cypress

Daffodil

Daisy

Daisy Cudweeds

Daisy Chamomiles

Daisy Thistle

Daisy Catsears

Daisy Hawkweeds

Daisy Hawksbeards

Daphne

Diapensia

Dock Bistorts

Dock Sorrels

Clubmoss

Duckweed

Eel-Grass

Elm

Filmy Fern

Horsetail

Polypody

Quillwort

Royal Fern

Figwort - Mulleins

Figwort - Speedwells

Flax

Flowering-Rush

Frog-bit

Fumitory 3

Gentian

Geranium

Glassworts

Gooseberry

Goosefoot

Grass 1

Grass 2

Grass 3

Grass Soft Bromes 1

Grass Soft Bromes 2

Grass Soft Bromes 3

Hazel

Heath

Hemp

Herb-Paris

Holly

Honeysuckle

Horned-Pondweed

Hornwort 2

Iris

Ivy

Jacobs Ladder

Lily

Lily Garlic

Lime

Lobelia

Loosestrife

Mallow

Maple

Mares-tail

Marsh Pennywort

Melon (Gourd/Cucumber)

Mesem-bryanthemum

Mignonette

Milkwort

Mistletoe

Moschatel

Naiad

Nettle

Nightshade

Oleaster

Olive

Orchid 1

Orchid 2

Orchid 3

Orchid 4

Parnassus-Grass

Peaflower

Peaflower Clover 1

Peaflower Clover 2

Peaflower Clover 3

Peaflower Vetches/Peas

Peony 1

Periwinkle

Pillwort

Pine

Pink 1

Pink 2

Pipewort

Pitcher-Plant

Plantain

Pondweed

Poppy 9

Primrose

Purslane

Rannock Rush

Reedmace

Rockrose

Rose 1

Rose 2

Rose 3

Rose 4

Rush

Rush Woodrushes

Saint Johns Wort

Saltmarsh Grasses

Sandalwood

Saxifrage

Seaheath

Sea Lavender

Sedge Rush-like

Sedges Carex 1

Sedges Carex 2

Sedges Carex 3

Sedges Carex 4

Spindle-Tree

Spurge

Stonecrop

Sundew

Tamarisk

Tassel Pondweed

Teasel

Thyme 1

Thyme 2

Umbellifer 1

Umbellifer 2

Valerian

Verbena

Violet

Water Fern

Waterlily 3

Water Milfoil

Water Plantain

Water Starwort

Waterwort

Willow

Willow-Herb

Wintergreen

Wood-Sorrel

Yam

Yew

Total 65