A Migrant Weed A belated query and criticism reaches me
about the willow-herb that has this last season, and even today, decorated blitzed areas in London and other towns. What should the flower be called, rosebay, or willow herb or French willow or what? That sound if old-fashioned botanist (who has never been wholly supplanted) Anne Pratt, adopting estab- lished custom, made " willow-herb " the generic word, equivalent to the Latin Epilobium, which embraces nine or ten species. Three only of these concern the general public: the greater willow-herb or Codlins-and- cream found in damp places, the small willow-herb which is a garden weed, and the rosebay willow-herb, called in America the fire-weed. It reads strangely in both Anne Pratt and Bentham and Hooker that thi pretty weed is " rare." Since these standard books were written it has multiplied inordinately in town and country, thanks in part to the well winged seed, in part to the running roots which ensure its,increa wherever it finds a lodging. What a lovely weed it is!
Previous page
