Greater Stitchwort

This pretty little thing is Greater Stitchwort or Star of Bethlehem and is in the carnation family. It's the only species in the genus Rabelera, having been reclassified in 2019. It grows in woodland, along roadside verges and in open fields. Sizewise it's just a bit bigger than a 5p. 

In A Modern Herbal (first pub 1931) the author Mrs M Grieve claimed it was rare then in Britain but abundant in woods near Bath and was sold under the name Bath asparagus, the stems with unfurled buds to be cooked as a  vegetable. It’s common now (but Mrs Grieve might have been wrong about its rarity in the ‘30s).

Other common names include: daddy's-shirt-buttons, poor-man's buttonhole, brassy buttons, star-of-Bethlehem, Star of Hungary, the Lesser Spanish Star, and snapdragon (because of the brittle stems). It was and is common throughout the ancient Middle East where the bulbs were cooked and dried for preserving. 

It's called stitchwort as it was thought to cure side stitch. It’s an important source of food for certain moth species. The end ☺️

Thanks to Miranda1008 for hosting WildflowerWeek.