Balm of the Warrior's Wounds
/Hypericum androsaemum or Tutsan s a member of the St John’s wort family. It’s a medicinal plant, used to heal wounds and burns, as an anti-septic and also as an anti-depressant, so has some colourful names like “Balm of the Warrior’s Wounds” and “Sweet Amber”. The name Tutsan sounds superficially Asian, but it is in fact a native plant found wild, mostly in the west of UK, with the name coming from the French “toute-sain”, literally all heal This example was found growing up between the cracks in the paving out the front of the house - which is definitely a Pathclear-free zone, and a as a result by late summer a riot of weeds. Tutsan is a common garden shrub as well, so probably this one arrived courtesy of a bird-dropped seed from a neighbouring garden.
For some reason I missed Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) off the list, but this is also a native hedgerow plant and I have a couple of clumps of it in the garden. They are there mostly for the scent and the insects, but this is another plant known for medicinal uses, including to treat respiratory and intestinal infections.
