Websailor's Wacky Wildlife World
Created | Updated May 13, 2009
A quirky look at wildlife. To be taken with a pinch of
salt, but with more than a grain of truth!
Clocks and chains
No, this article is not about our industrial heritage, but about our childhood memories which are so different from those that present day children will cherish. It also looks at the way we know the price of everything but the value of nothing.
Our lawns and grass verges are covered with dandelions and daisies at the moment and a cheering sight they are, though many people have only one thought— to destroy them. Children are missing out on the simple pleasures of the past, such as telling the time by a dandelion ‘clock’ by blowing the seeds off the dandelion seed head, where the number of puffs needed denotes the hour.
There is perhaps a little more to the use of the word ‘clock’ in that the flowers open in the early morning, closing in the evening, and were said to tell a shepherd the time, though I would have thought sunrise and sunset would have done the job just as well.
I noted the truth of another saying the other day when a previously fluffy round ball of dandelion seeds closed up against the oncoming rain, forecasting it with some accuracy. Previously in my garden the full round globes were good and ready for the strong winds we experienced, and it was wise to keep our mouths shut as the air filled with their floating seeds.
Finding out whether ‘he loves me or loves me not’ by pulling the petals off a daisy one by one was a spring occupation enjoyed by many little girls, as was making daisy chains, and adorning themselves with necklaces and bracelets of flowers. Medieval ladies made daisy chains for their knights to wear at tournaments, in defence of their honour, or in battle.
Another childhood game was putting a buttercup under your chin to test whether you liked butter! Strange, our gullibility, as we believed the tales our parents told us. It was also believed at one time that the yellow of butter came from cows eating buttercups, yet they won’t touch the unpleasant tasting flowers!
Recent research into species loss at the University of Santa Barbara has shown that losing a unique grassland flower like the buttercup would have a greater impact on the ecosystem than losing a daisy or sunflower. The latter two flowers are closely related and if one was lost the other could help to fill the void. Not so with the humble buttercup. So perhaps we should treat this ‘weed’ with more respect.
It is sad that most children no longer have that connection with nature, or that innocence of outlook that we once took for granted. Perhaps, however, we should have taken more notice of some of the tales that our parents told us, because many of them hold true today, and if observed could improve the health of our bodies and that of our finances too.
The name Dandelion, Taraxacum Officinale comes from dent de lion, an old French word meaning lion’s tooth, prompted by the jagged edged leaves. The old tale, that picking dandelions will cause a child to wet the bed, is true in a sense. It was called Pissenlit in French and ‘piss-a-beds’ in old English, an expression which Nicholas Culpepper called vulgar!
There is much truth in it however, as the dandelion is a good diuretic, with none of the side effects of modern day tablets. It also has an excellent bactericidal effect and many other protective properties. Dandelion tea is a gentle diuretic, and a mild laxative, and the leaves are excellent (well washed) in a salad, provided you are sure they have not been subjected to weed killer. Roasted dandelion roots made a good coffee substitute during the war too.
The brilliant yellow dandelion flowers are much loved by bees and give plenty of pollen and nectar, which is why we should allow them some space in our gardens, with the bee population in such dire straits. Small birds love dandelion seeds, another reason for giving them a chance to survive. After all their first flush is but a short season, though they will flower on through the summer in most places. The health benefits for people are legion and my rabbits certainly thrived on them. I don’t believe that they have an aphrodisiac effect though!
The flowers are used in wine making. I can well remember visiting an aged relative in the country and being coaxed to try her dandelion wine. Being only a child I hadn’t the wit to refuse, as it would have been deemed bad manners, but it was a potent drink and I have little recollection of the rest of the day!
I think at that stage I would have much preferred my favourite soft drink of the day, dandelion and burdock , though at the time I had no idea of the amazing health benefits produced by dandelion coupled with burdock.
Incidentally the stuff sold as ‘pop’ in recent years bears little relationship whatever to the real thing in taste or efficacy. Discussing this with my other half during a break in writing, he told me that back home in Yorkshire when he was ‘a lad’, a neighbour would brew up dandelion and burdock cordial in the copper wash boiler (used for washing the family clothes and bedding and all manner of other jobs!) and sell it to children for a penny a bottle (bring your own bottle). There were no health and safety ‘czars’ then, but I doubt anyone suffered any ill effects, in view of all the benefits accrued from this potent combination of natural herbs.
The smiley little daisies , Bellis perennis or Day’s-eye as they were once known, sprinkle the grass with sparkling flowers in spite of all our efforts, and have uses to the gardener that might not be appreciated immediately. Hoverflies, those black and yellow striped ‘wasp like’ insects, love daisies and, in return for the use of a patch of daisies, will pollinate flowers and eat aphids and other pests that decimate fruit and vegetables. A saving on insecticides and weedkillers I think. Oh, and contrary to popular belief, they don’t sting.
The daisy has also been used medicinally, for applying to wounds, and for treating swellings and bruises. It has also been known as a cure for toothache (wish I’d known that!) mouth ulcers, bronchitis and rheumatism.
If the saying ‘when you can put your foot on seven daisies summer is come’ were true our summer would be here now but it is still chilly.
I find it strange that we are happy to pay out huge sums of our hard earned cash for pills and potions, which may or may not cure our problems, and often have severe side effects, when the cure for many of our ills lies in our gardens and fields, for free. I read somewhere that the plant remedy for anything that ails you will appear naturally in your garden. Whether true or not, I remember being shocked to find that for many years I had feverfew growing in my garden, a well known remedy for the severe migraines I suffered. It disappeared when the worst of my migraines abated.
Warning: many herbs react badly with orthodox medicines and should never be taken without seeking advice first.
Culpepper (1616-1654) said in his ‘Complete Herbal’ at the end of his entry on dandelions:
“You see here what virtues this common herb hath, and that is the reason the French and Dutch so often eat them in the spring; and now if you look a little farther, you may see plainly without a pair of spectacles, that foreign physicians are not so selfish as ours are, but more communicative of the virtues of plants to people.”
Certainly the Chinese have studied the dandelion scientifically for longer than any other culture, and use it to cure or relieve many ills. What a pity we are so slow to follow in Culpepper’s footsteps, even after nearly three hundred and seventy years. It seems we never learn from history, and continue to destroy the very medicines put here to help us.
Writing this has awakened many happy childhood memories, and I have learnt much. I hope you have too.
So, when you mow and battle against these ‘intruders’ in your beautiful garden spare a thought for their proper place in nature, and the good job they will do for you, given the chance.
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