Beautiful cowslips. The name is a reminder of when grazing fields were full of their delicate yellow flower heads. Cowslips, once as common as buttercups would adorn garlands for May Day and be strewn on church paths for weddings. Cowslip wine was also popular. The number of local common names reflects it’s long cultural history: freckled face, golden drops, bunch of keys, fairies’ flower, lady’s fingers, milk maidens, key of heaven, herb Peter and fairy cups to name but a few!
Cowslips were in serious decline by the 1980’s with the onset of intensive farming and herbicide use. The good news is they are thriving again as wildflowers are being allowed back on our verges and in gardens. False oxlip, a primrose / cowslip hybrid is a similar, less delicate plant with flowers more clustered compared with the cowslips’s one sided droop
Cowslips are an important food plant for the Duke of Burgundy butterfly.
The first two photos are from Euridge, the next two Frank’s Wood (Catherine Truscott). The final one from Mike Roger shows them loving the Thickwood lane verge opposite Hall farm