With a very wet start to September here in our corner of Gloucestershire, we were glad to have clear skies for our first-Saturday-of-the-month herb walk.
The meeting point was the post box at Cam Tesco, familiar enough to most locally, unlike our actual destination: Rackleaze Nature Reserve. Unsurprisingly there was a ‘I don’t know Rackleaze’ comment from the group. It is a haven worth discovering.
Plant allies
We were spotting plant allies even before we got to the nature reserve – plantain, dandelion, chickweed. Though pavements don’t make enticing places to gather herbs, it’s good to see the tenacity of some plants – these tough thrivers often have properties we can benefit from.
Quick shout-out to Cam Post Office as we pass their planted tubs helping green the area, one of them had a very useful herb in it: lavender.
Turning down the path alongside Winterbotham Hall there are the delicate purple and yellow flowers of atropine – cheering to see, but not to consume as it’s a member of nightshade family (Woody nightshade, Solanum dulcamara). Always be cautious around that tribe.
Within the reserve there’s another tribe to look out for – the umbellifers, collectively named for their ‘umbrella-like’ panicles of flowers, now sculptural seed heads. These are tricksy for anyone foraging because they range from the delectable wild carrot and sweet cicely, through edible cow parsley (with its strongly cinnamon-like flavoured seeds, tried by the brave among us) to the big hog weeds that aren’t edible. Close studying of the leaf shape, the shape of the seed head and coloration of the stem are helpful in telling these apart, and a good field book or knowledgeable guide are recommended.
Step inside
Larger trees define and shape the area. Their solidity, grace and steadfastness are good for the soul. They have a calming effect. Already our pace had slowed, our breathing steadied, and nature had begun to seep in.
The ‘guardian’ tree at the start of the reserve is a beautiful multi-stemmed birch, perhaps an indication that this had once been managed land with coppicing causing the tree to re-birth time and time again. Birch is considered the ‘mother of the forest’ (a counterpart to oak’s role as father), her roots nourish everything else.
She was an appropriate introduction to a space where we would also find willow and meadowsweet – all three salicylic providers. They all contain the compound salicin, which helps relieve pain and reduce inflammation. It’s this property that’s been extracted by modern day chemists to create the helpful drug we know as asprin.
Meadowsweet is beautifully aromatic and a popular ingredient used by artisan gin makers – wouldn’t it be great to have a gin that also helps remedy the headache of a hang over! Many herbs have traditional uses in brewing and distilling. We also found the rusty-coloured leaves of docks. The root of this plant is diuretic, with a bitter flavour and would be added to beer. It also has traditional use as a dye plant, able to produce a variety of colours – yellows, rust and tan from the younger leaves to dark brown, khaki and pink with older leaves. The roots can also be used for dying and produce a dark olive-yellow colour.
Come free
Perhaps the most prominent plant in this nature reserve is comfrey (Symphytum officianale). It is carefully managed so it doesn’t completely take over. The leaves that are cut off can be used to make ‘comfrey tea’ – not one for your tea pot, but something to be made in a big vessel (like an old bath) as a food for plants. Pack your vessel with leaves, cover them with water, then put a lid on it and leave for about six weeks, long enough for the leaves to go to mush and a strong rotting smell to develop (don’t make my mistake of doing this under the kitchen window, chose a distant part of the garden or allotment if you can). Once ready, strain it off and then use it diluted about 1:10 as a weekly feed for your garden plants.
In summer you’d probably notice the white, blue and pink tubular flowers on comfrey. These are really attractive to bees too. The flowers are edible, looking pretty on a salad, but the leaves are not recommended. They are a plant dogs will naturally gravitate towards if they need to make themselves sick. Comfrey does have great medicinal benefit for us due to its allantoid content which speeds the formation of new cells. The name comfrey is a corruption from ‘con firma’ alluding to the help it brings to bones. Its latin name Sypmphytum also makes this allusion as it’s derived from the Greek symphoyo (to unite). Common names for comfrey include knit bone and boneset. All helping us to remember that comfrey is a good plant to turn to when needing to fix a broken bone. The structural appearance of the leaves is another clue to their usefulness. Leaves can be gathered and dried so they can be stored ready for use. The dried leaves can then either be made into a salve (with oils and beeswax), good for treating bruises, pulled muscles, fractures and sprains, or applied as a poultice (by soaking the leaves in hot water) and applying to a wound to soothe the pain. In Yorkshire, miners’ knees were treated in this way with repeated applications until swelling had gone down enough for them to be able to return to work.
Berries, haws, sloes and ‘toes
With the turn from summer into autumn, berries are much in evidence. Rain has helped create a bumper crop this year. Along with the blackberries, there are a few sloes tucked within the hedgerow, among the long spikes of the blackthorn and plenty of red haws on the hawthorn, prompting recollections of a peppery-flavoured chutney they featured in. We catch the jammy scent of elderberry even before seeing them. Viv also pointed out the cornus berries – luscious, round and black but not for eating. Elderberries aren’t great straight from the tree – they should be cooked before we consume them and add them to jams, wine or an elderberry rob (an elixir to guard against colds and winter aches).
Higher up among the branches hung mistletoe, much revered plant of the Druids because it was seen to exist in that liminal space between heaven and earth, green through the winter despite having no roots to the ground. It’s one of the plants, along with yew and the thuja conifer, that have provided constituents for modern cancer treatments. Whether as a natural treatment, or as inspiration for pharmacological solutions, we are continually learning, or re-learning, the many ways in which plants can support our health.
Weeds with purpose
Beyond the old Dursley Donkey track line we stepped over the stile from the nature reserve into the field where more herbal delights awaited. Pineapple weed, aka mayweed, is quite plentiful around here. It does actually smell of pineapple, making us wonder if there perhaps esters or other fragrance compounds shared across the two species. There are recipes that use pineapple weed, for example using it to flavour jelly, but perhaps better look for plants further away from the footpath to gather for any culinary purpose.
A clump of chamomile was visible in the next field, a favourite for teas and calming balms, and with it some cheerful yellow fleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica – its deterrent use clear from the common name (bruised leaves emit a smell that repels fleas and other insects), and its medical use indicated in the latin name (to treat dysentery).
Magic!
Returning back through the nature reserve we were delighted to find a little village of toadstools, almost as if they’d popped up as soon as our backs were turned! A sign of nature’s ability to beautifully manage decay and renew.
But there was one more magical treat in store for us … a small patch of SJW, St John’s Wort, Hypericum perforatum. Its starry yellow flowers now given way to glossy, brown, egg-shaped seed pods. Likened to ‘bleeding’, the plant oozes red hypericin from its crushed flowers, contributing to the belief that it has power to dispel evil spirits, as suggested in its latin name ‘hypericum’ meaning ‘over an apparition’. The ‘perforatum’ part of its name refers to its pierced leaves – hold one to the light and you’ll see the tiny holes that hold its oil. Hypericum tincture and oil are considered two of the Great Remedies, healing even for deep or painful wounds, and notably the best cure for depression known to mankind.
We certainly ended the walk feeling pretty happy and uplifted by everything we’d seen in just an hour’s stroll around a small corner of Cam.
If you’d like to join a herb walk, they happen on the first Saturday of every month. The starting point differs each time, depending on what’s in season for us to look at. You can check details in the calendar, or get a reminder in your inbox at the beginning of the month by signing up to the Cotswold Herb Centre newsletter.
Find out more about the Rackleaze nature reserve on the Cam Parish Council site or the Stroud Valleys Project site.
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