National Ragwort Day

Ragwort is a national treasure and should be celebrated. It’s a gloriously cheerful plant of the most intense yellow and green. It’s a vital part of our natural world and part of the complex relationships which result in the diversity of life in this country.

Ragwort - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Ragwort is the victim of superstitious, unscientific nonsense peddled by people with a profound fear of nature. I propose that we have a National Ragwort Day to celebrate it. Who’s with me?

2 Responses to "National Ragwort Day"

Elisabeth Sidler says:

14 September, 2022 at 7:38 pm

Me!
Such a beautiful plant!
“Ragwort thou humble flower with tattered leaves
I love to see thee come and litter gold…
Thy waste of shining blossoms richly shields
The sun tanned sward in splendid hues that burn
So bright and glaring that the very light
Of the rich sunshine doth to paleness turn
And seems but very shadows in thy sight.”
John Clare (1793–1864)

Called Cushag in Manx, it is the Island’s national flower. After a legend, King Godfrey IV. († 1095) chose the flower ad his emblem, as each of it’s “twelve ” petals
represents one of the twelve islands of his kingdom: Isle of Man, Isle of Arran, Isle of Bute, Islay, Jura, Isle of Mull, Iona, Eigg, Rùm, Skye, Raasay.
Only – the flower normally has 13 “petals”, which again are really single flowers by themselves.
(Translated from a German book of healing plants).
The Manx poet Josephine Kermode (1852–1937) wrote a poem about the Cushag, mentioning the problematic character of the plant, as it does contain a very dangerous poison:

“Now, the Cushag, we know, must never grow,
Where the farmer’s work is done.
But along the rills, in the heart of the hills,
The Cushag may shine like the sun.
Where the golden flowers,
Have fairy powers,
To gladden our hearts with their grace.
And in Vannin Veg Veen,
In the valleys green,
The Cushags have still a place.”

Reply
1. David @ the HALL of EINAR says:
  
  19 September, 2022 at 12:08 am
  
  Thanks Elisabeth. It’s great to see the poetry it’s inspired.
  
  Reply

National Ragwort Day

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