KILDARE WILDLIFE WATCH: Lords and ladies prefer to stay in the shade

The berries of Lords-and-ladies (Cluas chaoin as Gaeilge) are now present in your community. Lords-and-ladies is a native wildflower.

In early spring the arrow shaped glossy green leaves appear. The flower is protected by a pale green hooded shaped spathe which is petal like and designed to protect the flower.

The flower of Lords-and-ladies is a club shaped purple spike below which is where you will find the male and female flowers.

This wildflower grows in grassy verges, hedgerows and woodlands preferring shady areas to open areas in direct sunlight.

At this time of year berries borne on a spike are visible emerging first as yellow in colour before changing to bright red.

It is really important to note that all parts of this plant are poisonous.

You may also know this wildflower as Cuckoo-pint or translating its Irish name into English, Narrow-ear.

According to the Ask About Ireland website, the roots of Lords-and-ladies are potato shaped and were once boiled to make a pudding for ill people.

The starch from the root was also said to have been used in the 16th century to stiffen ruffs.

A ruff was a cloth item of clothing worn around a persons neck.

The idea behind wearing a ruff was to protect your clothing from being soiled, it was said the ruff was easier to wash and change then the jackets, shirts or dresses worn in those times.

However the use of starch from the roots for Lords-and-ladies was only used for a short time as those that wore ruffs stiffened with this starch suffered painful rash and blisters.

While children have not gone back to school yet I don’t know if you have noticed some autumn leaves already falling to the ground?

This is apparently is a defensive mechanism used by trees during times of water shortage.

Trees loose mositure through their leaves in a process known as transpiration by dropping some leaves it helps the tree to conserve water.

Don’t forget if you come across a wildlife species that you would like help identifying I would be happy to help, contact me at bogs@ipcc.ie, at the Bog of Allen Nature Centre.