Cowslip, Primula veris

I am drawn to investigate the wild flowers as their delicate beauty attracts me and I’m fascinated by their former medicinal uses.

The cowslip’s name is derived from cow’s dribble or dung - how revolting and peculiar for such a dainty flower!

An alternative is Key flower, as the pendants ressemble a bunch of keys, and comes from Old Norse mythology whereby the keys were to the virgin Freya’s treasure palace. This idea was adapted as the flowers became known as Keys of Heaven, Herb Peter or Our Lady’s Keys.

Wine or syrup made from the yellow corollas was commonly used as a sedative, to calm the nerves, for dizziness, for headaches and to treat palsy, which gave it one further name: Palsy wort.