Gypsywort(Lycopus europaeus) Photo Kristian Peters — Fabelfroh 11:32, 3 December 2005 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Dear Readers, having written several hundred ‘Wednesday Weeds’ it’s always a delight when I find a new wild plant, as I did on Sunday in Coldfall Wood, North London. Gypsywort is a plant in the dead-nettle family, and at first glance you might well think that it’s our old favourite white dead-nettle. Look again, however! The leaves are deeply serated, the flowers grow in tight bunches around the stem, and the flowers are marked in red, thought to be a way of guiding pollinators to the rich nectar of the plant. Also, while white dead-nettle is largely a plant of disturbed soil, gypsywort favours damp conditions, like the wet woodland in Coldfall Wood.

The plant is also known as water horehound, and in North America (where it’s an introduced plant) you might know it as bugleweed. it certainly has a very upright, almost martial appearance. I could imagine one of the plants producing a trumpet and giving it a quick blow.

The leaves of gypsywort

What puzzles me a bit is that, although this is a common plant throughout the UK, I’ve never noticed it before. I was a bit worried that our wet woodland was losing its biodiversity (we’ve had a massive growth of stinging nettles this year, probably due to nitrates in the run-off that feeds the stream), but the yellow flag, bulrushes and marsh marigold have all done very well, and now this new plant. Fingers crossed for a revival!

Gypsywort flowers (Photo by Tico Bassie at https://www.flickr.com/photos/tico_bassie/2806141943/

Why gypsywort, though? The plant gives a black dye, and it was believed that it was used by travelling peoples, Romany and otherwise,  to darken their skin. Why they would do this is unclear, though one interpretation, from 1727, was that African people were thought to be the best fortune-tellers, and so darkening the skin would improve the credibility of people doing palm-reading or other prophetic activities. It shows that prejudice against this section of society has a long history.  However, gipsywort was also gathered and sold by travellers as a dye plant – it’s one of the few plants that produces a durable black dye, and as such was in great demand for dyeing mourning clothes.

Photo by Teunspaans in the Netherlands.

Medicinally, gypsywort has been used to treat anxiety, breast pain and overactive thyroid. Interestingly, it isn’t mentioned in Culpeper’s Herbal, but Mrs Grieve describes its uses as ‘astringent and sedative’.

As far as edibility goes, the root of the plant is described in numerous sources as a ‘famine food of last resort’. Nobody seems to be munching on those serrated leaves, not even caterpillars.

And now I am thinking that maybe I should look for some gypsywort for the side of my pond – I know that it grows locally, and that’s often the best indication of what will thrive. As I’ve said before, there’s little point (in my view anyway) in trying to grow plants that will only be lacklustre and unhappy in a damp, dark, heavy-soiled garden. My next problem will be where on earth to put it, as the hemp agrimony and meadowsweet do battle with the greater willowherb and purple loosestrife. Clearly I should be trying to re-wild a country estate rather than a North London back garden, but there we go! Let me know if you’ve come across this plant – I’m especially interested in how much of a pollinator-magnet it is (the RHS have it in their ‘perfect for pollinators’ section). And I will soon be back in Coldfall to have a closer look at those intriguing flowers.