Danewort or Dwarf Elder

A return visit to Kincardine Kirkyard where yesterday we had read a reference to a Dwarf Elder. The species is uncommon on Speyside but it is said that the wife of the 5th Baron of Kincardine wanted to be buried in the soil of her native Lochaber. Soil was duly imported and is said to have contained seeds of Dwarf elder which germinated and grew in the Kirkyard. Deceptively Dwarf Elder, also known as Danewort (Sambucus ebulus) is not a woody shrub but a frothy perennial species which can grow to as much as two metres in a single summer. The plant was commonly used to cure a host of ailments and for dying both hair and cloth. The name Danewort arose in the 15th century from a belief that the plant sprang from the blood of slaughtered Danes.
There are two large clumps in the Kirkyard. One by the gate grows around a exceedingly gnarled and ancient looking laburnum tree - see extra.

This was followed by a walk over the Moor where there were many species of flowers- including, dog roses, mats of thyme, eyebright, Bell heather, cross leaved heath, Lady's and heath bedstraw and the first bluebells. In a particularly boggy area there were lesser sundew and the bright yellow spikes of bog asphodel flowers amongst the sphagnum. We also saw a solitary small heath butterfly.

A very satisfying tally.