Eyebright and Crow-Garlic

Eyebright (Euphrasia)

Colour photograph of the Eyebright (Euphrasia) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. Eyebright is a distinctive small herb, partly parasitic on other plant roots, which is found amidst the shorter dune grasses. Its erect purplish stems branch from the base to a height of 10-30 cm. Leaves are small, oval and a shiny dark green. They are unstalked, sharply toothed, and in opposite pairs on the lower stem and alternately near the stem top. Four pointed green sepals clasp the flower tube which opens into a two-lipped white or violet flower with a distinctive yellow throat. The upper hooded lip is 2-lobed and the lower lip opens out into three deeply indented spreading lobes. As its name implies, eyebright was used in folk medicine for treatment of eye ailments. Flowers: July-Sept.

By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Eyebright (Euphrasia)
By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Eyebright (Euphrasia)

Colour photograph of the Eyebright (Euphrasia) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. Eyebright is a distinctive small herb, partly parasitic on other plant roots, which is found amidst the shorter dune grasses. Its erect purplish stems branch from the base to a height of 10-30 cm. Leaves are small, oval and a shiny dark green. They are unstalked, sharply toothed, and in opposite pairs on the lower stem and alternately near the stem top. Four pointed green sepals clasp the flower tube which opens into a two-lipped white or violet flower with a distinctive yellow throat. The upper hooded lip is 2-lobed and the lower lip opens out into three deeply indented spreading lobes. As its name implies, eyebright was used in folk medicine for treatment of eye ailments. Flowers: July-Sept.

By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Enlarge image

EYEBRIGHT (Euphrasia)

Eyebright is a distinctive small herb, partly parasitic on other plant roots, which is found amidst the shorter dune grasses. Its erect purplish stems branch from the base to a height of 10-30 cm.
 

Leaves are small, oval and a shiny dark green. They are unstalked, sharply toothed, and in opposite pairs on the lower stem and alternately near the stem top.
 

Four pointed green sepals clasp the flower tube, which opens into a two-lipped white or violet flower with a distinctive yellow throat. The upper hooded lip is 2-lobed and the lower lip opens out into three deeply indented spreading lobes.
 

As its name implies, eyebright was used in folk medicine for treatment of eye ailments.
 

Flowers: July-Sept.

Crow Garlic (Allium vineale)

Colour photograph of the Crow Garlic (Allium vineale) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. A marvelously futuristic looking plant, crow garlic can be found growing in the very tall duneland grasses adjoining the golf course fencerow. The erect slender stem, up to 80 cm high, is sheathed by a few slender but hollow long leaves. A single papery spathe surrounds the umbel of purple bulbils. There may be a few pink or greenish-white flowers, but often these are suppressed and there is only the head of bulbils with the bulb-tipped long stems protruding at wierd angles from the umbel. There is an unmistakable smell of garlic from the plant, which was used in old Irish medicine as a cure for rheumatism. Flowers: June-July

By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Crow Garlic (Allium vineale)
By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Crow Garlic (Allium vineale)

Colour photograph of the Crow Garlic (Allium vineale) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. A marvelously futuristic looking plant, crow garlic can be found growing in the very tall duneland grasses adjoining the golf course fencerow. The erect slender stem, up to 80 cm high, is sheathed by a few slender but hollow long leaves. A single papery spathe surrounds the umbel of purple bulbils. There may be a few pink or greenish-white flowers, but often these are suppressed and there is only the head of bulbils with the bulb-tipped long stems protruding at wierd angles from the umbel. There is an unmistakable smell of garlic from the plant, which was used in old Irish medicine as a cure for rheumatism. Flowers: June-July

By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Enlarge image

CROW GARLIC (Allium vineale)

A marvelously futuristic looking plant, crow garlic can be found growing in the very tall duneland grasses adjoining the golf course fencerow.
 

The erect slender stem, up to 80 cm high, is sheathed by a few slender but hollow long leaves. A single papery spathe surrounds the umbel of purple bulbils.
 

There may be a few pink or greenish-white flowers, but often these are suppressed and there is only the head of bulbils with the bulb-tipped long stems protruding at weird angles from the umbel.
 

There is an unmistakable smell of garlic from the plant, which was used in old Irish medicine as a cure for rheumatism.
 

Flowers: June-July

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