Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)
Flowers: April to May. Height: 30cm (12in).
The bulb’s sticky sap made an ideal glue for fastening flight feathers to arrows fired by medieval archers as well as for bookbinding and starching ruffs. Other names include Cuckoo’s Boots, Wood Hyacinth, Lady’s Nightcap, Witches’ Thimbles and Fairy Flowers.
Medicinal: Used as a diuretic and to aid kidney function.
Magic & Myth: In medieval tales, when forests were seen as forbidding places, people believed that the bluebells would ring to summon fairies to their gatherings but death would come to any human who heard the bluebell ring. Some believed that by wearing a wreath made of the flowers, the wearer would be compelled to speak only the truth.
