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flowers

Bird’s-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)

The birds-foot-trefoil is a common flowering plant that has, over the years, amassed a host of common names; names like “lady’s shoes and stockings”, “crow-toes”, “lady’s slipper”, “bacon and eggs”, and “God-Almighty’s thumb and finger”. In all it has been attributed more than 70 different names, most of them related….

Wild about wildflowers

It’s an incontrovertible fact that when wildlife flies, jumps, crawls, slithers, swims, grunts or shrieks it is generally a lot more noticeable than when it doesn’t. Things that just sit there, by and large, go unnoticed. As a survival strategy that’s probably no bad thing, but it’s also a shame,….

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum)

Herb Robert is pretty little pink-flowering herb that frequents ditches, walls, hedgerows and woodland all over Ireland. According to the “doctrine of signatures” widely adopted in the middle ages a plant with curative properties would reveal its divine purpose through its appearance. Because the foliage of Herb Robert turns a….

Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

There’s nothing quite like walking into an Irish woodland in spring and being greeted by a vibrant carpet of flowering bluebells. One of Ireland’s most familiar and striking wild flowers, bluebells are found all over the country. A display of the flowers en-masse is breath-taking: a true wild phenomenon. The….