Meadowsweet

The verges of Argyll are full of meadowsweet at the moment.

It is a very versatile plant and when I was a student working as a Ranger in the Country Park at Culzean, I would demonstrate that fact by crushing some of the flowers in my hand and letting those on the tour smell the broken petals and buds.

The scent is sharply antiseptic and indeed the heads used to be used for scouring milk churns in the Western Isles whilst during the First World War they were placed in poultices.