Goodness, Readers, I am thoroughly enjoying this book by Peter Marren – ‘The Devil’s Garden: The World’s Most Sinister Plants and Fungi’. He manages to keep the reader entertained whilst imparting a lot of science, folklore etc, and I thought that over the next few days I’d share some of the titbits from the book.

First up, Herb Robert.

Such a sweet little plant, hidden away in dark, damp corners! As Marren points out, all over Europe the plant is known  as some variation of ‘Robert’s Plant’ – in France it’s ‘Herbe à Robert’; in Germany it’s Ruprechtskraut, and in Italy it’s Erba Roberta. Marren looks at the history, and explains that the plant is named for Robin Goodfellow, or, as those of us who have seen Midsummer Night’s Dream three times in the past six months would know, Puck.

Robin Goodfellow was a house elf, a mischievous and vindictive sprite who, according to Shakespeare

‘…frights the maidens of the village, 
Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern, 
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn, 
And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm (froth)
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm’ (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II)

But why did Herb Robert come to be associated with this little devil? First of all, like Puck, it’s associated with houses. Secondly, its pink colour reminds us of the red faces of the devils in medieval paintings. The plant is hairy, and devils often have hairy legs. If you crush the leaves, it smells like burning tyres, or mice, or like the halitosis that the devil is supposed to have. Finally, the seed-pods look like the heads of long-beaked birds.

So, poor old Herb Robert was seen as the floral counterpart of the king of the house elves, which seems a little unfair for such a delicate little plant. But hey ho.

White Herb Robert – doesn’t look very devilish tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I’ll share the details of the World Stinging Nettle Eating Championship. You’re welcome!