Eyebright

The first part of the day was bright and sunny with some wonderful cloud formations. Unfortunately I was driving to Milton Keynes, and then occupied with recording quadrats in a wonderfully flower-rich hay-meadow which has now been surrounded by a housing estate. I didn't take my camera as I was working with someone else and didn't want any distractions. Of course by the time I arrived home, the sun had been replaced by grey clouds and a stiff breeze had developed.

I took the dogs to Castor Hanglands again, but the lack of sunshine meant that the only insects out were ringlets, which seem to be indifferent to cloudy weather. The flat grey light can be quite good for flower photography, so I tried taking a few macros of low-growing species, in sheltered situations. My favourite was this portrait of an eyebright. I love the combination of the pure white two-lipped corolla, adorned with a splash of yellow and delicate purple honey guides. It's very easy to overlook the beauty of this species, as the flower is less than five millimetres in size.

Eyebright grows in a variety of habitats, mostly with fairly infertile soils. It copes with these by being a semi-parasite, relying for part of its nourishment on the roots of other plants. Above ground, it appears to be a perfectly normal plant, with normal flowers and bright green leaves - the leaves of fully parasitic plants are almost devoid of green colouring matter - but below the surface, suckers from its roots spread round and lie on the rootlets of the grass plants among which it grows. Where they are in contact, tiny nodules form and send absorption cells into the grass rootlets. The grass preyed upon does not, however, suffer very much, as the cells only penetrate a slight distance.

It's quite closely related to foxglove and has also been used as a medicinal herb, for the treatment of eye complaints. It is probable that the belief in its value as an eye medicine originated in the old Doctrine of Signatures, for as an old writer points out-
'the purple and yellow spots and stripes which are upon the flowers of the Eyebright doth very much resemble the diseases of the eye, as bloodshot, etc., by which signature it hath been found out that this herb is effectual for the curing of the same.'

A recipe for 'An Excellent Water to Clear the Sight' is described by Culpeper as follows:
'Take of Fennel, Eyebright, Roses, white Celandine, Vervain and Rue, of each a handful, the liver of a Goat chopt small, infuse them well in Eyebright Water, then distil them in an alembic, and you shall have a water will clear the sight beyond comparison.' I think I'll give this one a miss!