Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)
Flowers: June to September. Height: 60cm (24in).
Also known as Day’s Eye, this plant relates the flower to an eye. The Oxeye Daisy was originally dedicated to Diana, the goddess of the moon and called Moonpenny. In Christianity the flower was associated with Mary Magdalen and called Maudelyn or Maudlin Daisy after her. Also called Bruisewort, Dog Daisy, Horse Daisy and Marguerite, the latter name is an historical reference to Margaret of Anjou who used Oxeye daisies as her emblem when she left her home in Anjou to marry Henry VI (1445) and become Queen of England. Henry’s rule was disputed, creating the War of the Roses and Margaret led Lancastrian troops in her husband’s defense, her emblem the Oxeye daisy flying on all her banners. The sayings ‘white as a daisy’ and ‘fresh as a daisy’ may have originated as a compliment in medieval England, when a pale complexion and a clean face represented wealth (as laborers were likely to be tanned and dirty).
Medicinal: It was well-regarded for treating bruises. Nicolas Culpeper’s Complete Herbal (1653) referred to it as “a wound herb of good respect, often used in those drinks and salves that are for wounds, either inward or outward’ . . . and “very fitting to be kept both in oils, ointments, plasters and syrups”. He also recorded that the leaves were bruised and applied to reduce swellings, and that “a decoction thereof, with wall-wort and agrimony, and places fomented or bathed therewith warm, giveth great ease in palsy, sciatica or gout”.
Doctrine of Signatures: It was believed that as the plant looked like an eye, it was used to treat eye problems.
