Wood Anemone - Signs of Ancient Times

The Wood Anemone, otherwise known as Thimbleweed or Windflower and goes by the scientific name of Anemone nemorosa, aswell as many other names. It's one of those wild native plants to the UK that we really don't hear much about but it has a long standing history in our folklore, especially localised folklore around the UK.

 

The Windflower is an absolute beauty of a plant and covers woodland areas like a blanket. This is a plant that shows up as a sign of spring coming and is one that tends to be over looked.

 

It was said that the presence of the Wood Anemone was a reflection of ancient woods being around (although most of the uk was woodland 1000's upon 1000's of years ago and we do have alot of woodlands dating back to that time). Ironically,the photo of the wildflowers I have taken for this post, are in a woodlands that date back 2000 years and are local to myself.

 

In plantlore, the Windflower was crushed into a poultice and placed across the forehead, to aid in ridding of headaches. It was not a plant you could consume. 

 

But what is in a name? The Windflower name of the Anemone is said to come from The name "anemone", which derives from the Greek word "anemos," in turn meaning "wind," and this is why this flower is referred to as the windflower.  

 

There are other stories of the Greek wind god Zephyr, who was said to be in love with a nymph named Anemone, and Chloris, Zephyrs's wife found out, it was said that she banished the nymph and turned her into a flower, the Windflower we know as Anemone.

 

Other Hellenic stories tell that of the Goddess Aphrodite, In Roman times is also Venus the anemone is said to have been created by the goddess Venus who sprinkled nectar on the blood of her dead lover, Adonis. 

 

But back to English Folklore......the Wood Anemone is said to be a symbol of good luck, longevity, prosperity and warding off from malevolent spirits. Allowing the Windflower to carpet your woodlands like little midnight stars, was believed to help the fairfolk stay hidden and take shelter from rain and windy climates. 

 

in more localised belief, not only does the presence of this little star-like flower indicate of lore ancient woodlands, it's also believe to indicate the presence of fair folk too.

 

Lets look at the Ancient woodlands relationship. The Anemone relies on rhizomes (root systems) that seeds to grow and will grow up yo 2.5cm's a year when left alone. To seed they rely on the rhizome, which can take up to 5 years for seedlings to establish and grow. When we take this into account and you see a carpet of Windflowers of say half a meter in a patch, that has likely taken the flower 20 years to grow. Imagine a blanket of 5-6 meters or more.......how long that would have taken. So this is why the Wood Anemone is an indicator of it being around ancient woodlands.

 

This plant has also earned the name Thunderbolt and it was believed by picking this plant, you would attract Thunder. It also had the nickname of Devil's bite but the only information surrounding that is the irritation the plant's sap can cause when picking it.

 

This is a plant that represents luck, protection, warding, courage, prosperity and attractio, 8t was hung over doorways to protect the homes from witches but also to ward off evil spirits. However in an ironically turn of events, it was also used by English folk practitioners to ward off negative types and to keep localised fairfolk happy and at bay. 

 

A cunning little plant, wouldn't you say ??

Love Josephine 700627