Cowslip

[poliphilo]

I didn't ask Matthew to mow round the clumps of wildflowers but he did anyway- which is good. We have a lot of cowslip this year, but only (in any quantity) in the lawn; I don't know where it comes from; possibly out of a seed packet; I'm not good at remembering all the things I've scattered.

According to Wikipedia cowslip is an old country word for cow dung (and there was I thinking it related to the other end of the animal) and was applied to the flower because of its liking for muck. Other common names- still according to Wikipedia- are cuy lippe, herb peter, paigle, peggle, key flower, key of heaven, fairy cups, petty mulleins, crewel, buckles, palsywort, and plumrocks. Common? I've never come across any of them before. Most of them are prettier or quainter than cowslip- but I don't suppose there's any way people can be persuaded to start talking about herb peter or crewel. Names stick. Besides cowslip is in Shakespeare.

The botanical name is primula veris.

Comments

[oakmouse]

So that's what "peggles" are! I've seen a (Victorian era, I think?) recipe for peggles wine but it just called for peggles with no explanation or translation. All I could tell is that they were some kind of flowers, and this was well before the internet so I couldn't go look it up at the time. Thank you for solving a minor mystery!

(Also, great picture. The flowers are beautiful, and I like the effect of photographing the entire flowerhead, withered blossoms and all. Nice balance.)

[poliphilo]

Glad to be of assistance :)

I wonder how much of the plant you use to make wine: just the flowerheads, do you think?

[oakmouse]

The recipe specified picking the blossoms from the flowerheads and using those (ie the blossoms). It was a really simple recipe, very similar to elderflower fizz --- water, flowers, sugar, yeast, and IIRC lemon peel. (Not positive about the lemon peel, though. I was reading a long list of beverage recipes and might have mentally slid the lemon peel from the elderflower fizz to the peggles wine.)