I want to write a love song to Ragwort,
so often despised and derided, endlessly at risk of eradication. I
have fallen out with several people over my high regard for Ragwort
as she is (unfairly) blamed for the deaths of horses & cattle. We
so often value creatures in whose eyes we can see our own
reflections, both literally and metaphorically, over the health of
our planet. Ragwort is one of many teachers inviting us to do better,
as are so many despised beings.
As for horses & cattle, proven cases
of Ragwort poisoning are rare. They will only eat fresh Ragwort if
starving due to our own neglect, and so it is dried Ragwort in hay
that is the real challenge, if a challenge there is. In this way,
again, Ragwort calls to us to be more mindful, more present, to slow
down. Instead of looking to ourselves, we fear her & try to wipe
her out. Indeed, she is one of five plants named as an 'injurious
weed' under the provisions of the Weeds Act 1959, which means that
the Government can require a landowner to prevent her spread.
Recently,
there has been petition
to have this act rescinded, although this was closed early due to
the General Election being called. The Government responded to the
petition by saying that they have no plans to rescind the Act at this
time, particularly as the Act doesn't call for the eradication of the
five listed 'injurious weeds'. However, I would reply that it is not
the Act itself but the message that it conveys which is injurious to
Ragwort and her sister plants (Broad-Leaved Dock, Curly Dock, Creeping Thistle, and Spear Thistle).
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| Growing on the shingle beach, Folkestone November 2019 |
Writer
Robert Macfarlane tells us that 'pharmakos' in Ancient Greek ritual
is a human scapegoat, exiled at a time of crisis in order to purify
the sins of a community. The related word 'pharmakon', from where we
get our word 'pharmacy', means both 'poison' and 'cure'. Ragwort is
one of our great scapegoats, like foxes, like Hogweed. We think of it
as poison but it holds within its golden petals so many cures. And
yet, here too, we find echoes of the crucified Christ, and so of the
crucified Earth. I wonder how many scapegoats we will need before we
begin to take back our power in thinking for ourselves?
A
native plant to the British Isles, Ragwort is a member of the daisy
family & considered one of the top nectar producing plants in our
land. Abundant on wasteland and waysides,she offers at least
seventy-seven insect species home & food, thirty of these relying
on her, & only her, for their survival. Ten are considered rare
or threatened. A further one hundred & seventeen insects,
including solitary bees, moths, & butterflies, use her as a
wayside hostelry as they travel between feeding or breeding sites.
She belongs, she denies no one, and she matters.
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| Growing in the edge places |
Once,
Ragwort was much used medicinally
by the people of the land as a cooling wash for burn or for inflamed
eyes. Her juice was also used to bathe sores & cancerous ulcers.
Hence, one of her folk names of 'Cakerwort'. A poultice of her leaves
was applied to bring relief in cases of rheumatism, sciatica, and
gout. She was also used as a gargle for sore throats. In Ancient
Greece it was used to make an aphrodisiac, known as 'Satyrion', and
the leaves and can be used to make a good green dye, with the flowers
producing yellow, brown, and orange hues.
No
doubt mindful of the many benefits of Ragwort, known in the Isle of
Mann as 'Cushag', to insect and human alike, the Manx poet, Josephine
Kermode, wrote;
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.
Other
than Cushag and Cankerwort, some of Ragwort's folk names are;
Stinking Willie, Benweed, St James-wort, Stinking Nanny/Ninny, Dog
Standard, Staggerwort, and Stammerwort. The penultimate name refers
to the old belief that Ragwort would 'cure the staggers in horses',
and presumably the last to a belief that the flower was a helpful
remedy for stammering.
I
love too a new name for Ragwort, Benyon's Delight, coined by Dusty
Gedge in 2011 in response to the wildly inaccurate comments by then
Government Minister with a responsibility for biodiversity, Richard
Benyon, who has a professed hatred for the herb. Oh, the irony! MP
for Newbury Mr Benyon wrote that, "I hate Ragwort. And I am on
the warpath for those who let this poisonous weed spread." His
Facebook post was accompanied by a photo of him pulling up Ragwort,
watched over by a benign cow. You can read more about why he was
wrong on the excellent Poison Garden website here.
That
Ragwort is known as 'St James-wort' (or herb) is intriguing. There
are several possibilities for the St James to which this refers. One
is the brother of Jesus, a leader of the early Church, although I can
find no reason for Ragwort to be associated with him. One writer
suggests that Ragwort's fluffy white seedheads are reminiscent of St
James's white beard, although this seems rather tenuous even though
the plant's former Latin name was 'Senecio Jacobaea' or 'Old Man
James' (my woeful Latin translation skills notwithstanding).
Rather,
it seems more likely that Ragwort is the herb of James, son of
Zebedee, or St James the Great, who, again ironically, is the patron
saint of vetenarians, equestrians, blacksmiths, and pharmacists,
although there seems to be no particular reasn why. He also watches
over those suffering from arthritis & rheumatism, both of which
were once said to have been relieved by the medicine of Ragwort. It
is to the shrine of St James the Great that the Camino de Santiago,
or Way of St James, pilgrimage route leads. This was one of the most
important Christian pilgrimage paths in the late Middle Ages and I
like to think that its edges are graced by the shining petals of
Ragwort. St James' Feast Day is on July 25th when Ragwort is at the
height of her flowering. It feels relevant too to note that both the
St Jameses were martyred, as Ragwort so often is too; a martyr to us
seeking to deflect blame for our own behaviour to the beings of the
wild.
During
the long, hot summer of 2018, I was blessed to live closely with
Ragwort when she came to live in proliferation in the hedgehermitage
garden. She not only filled the air with sweet honey scent ~ who knew
that she smelled so gorgeous ~ but taught me much about shame,
maintaining boundaries without excluding, endless generosity in the
face of condemnation, and how to endure scapegoating with grace &
an ever open heart. All important medicines in these times.
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| Loving my first sniff of Ragwort for the year, 2019 |
I
have watched Ragwort plants offer one another space to grow,
sheltering other green beings through the long, parched summer,
providing pollen, and sometimes dozing places, for bees when other
flowers had succumbed to drought. It was incredibly noticeable that
wherever the Ragwort was growing was a vibrant green, not just of Ragwort but of the other plants and grasses growing with them, where the rest of
the garden was dry and brown. My husband informed me that, when
he did need to uproot an occasional Ragwort plant, her roots were
providing a home to all manner of invertebrates and were alive with life (which he carefully found new homes for). It seems, that where
we are repelled, beings with more wisdom are drawn to her.
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| Ragwort in the Seabrook Valley, Summer 2019 |
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| 2018's Herring Gull chick sits amongst the Ragwort |
She
has been less abundant this year, although I have particularly
noticed her growing determinedly on the shingle beach here. I was pleased to be told that her growth has a two yearly cycle so I hope to be
surrounded by Ragwort next year. I miss her when she's gone. Through
the winter I will watch over the prayer of her roots until she comes
again in the early summer. I am grateful and in awe of her spirit of
hospitality and kindness, to both indigenous beings and migrants
alike, and in the face of condemnation and risk to her own wellbeing when many of us would become stone-hearted and cold.
She is an example to us all. I look forward to her return.
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| Ragwort seedheads |
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| Mr Radical Honey clearing (some of) the Ragwort for winter |
Notes:
* Vannin Veg Veen is Manx for dear little Isle of Man
References:
Ragwort Advocacy ~
An excellent resource for Ragwort facts can be found here ~ http://ragwort-hysteria.blogspot.com/
and there is much reason to be found here http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/jacobaea_vulgaris.htm
and, especially, here in regard to the demonisation of Ragwort http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/blog/blog160911.htm
Ragwort info ~
Ragwort as medicine ~
On St James ~
Absolutely fascinating and so enlightening! I have tried before to persuade the farmer who takes care of the fields I look out on to have a different approach to Ragwort without success. Now I have some good evidence... thank you.
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