Thursday 30 March 2023



 Always a pleasure to see Lungworts (Pulnonaria officinalis). The flowers morph through exquisite hues of pink and blue. Where the common name ends in "wort" and/or the Latin name includes "officinalis" the plant in question was believed to have some medicinal or herbal use. 
 In the case of Pulmonaria species this probably related to the Mediaeval 'Doctrine of Signatures'. By that reckoning plants resembled parts of the body they could cure. The speckled leaves of Pulmonaria resemble an afflicted lung hence Lungwort.