1. Common centaury (Centaurium erythraea) – this plant was used as a ‘nerve calmer‘ – by drinking an infusion of the leaves and flowers [St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, September 1992].

2. Centaury (presumably C. erythraea): As a boy on holiday at Towyn, Merioneth, c.1915?, I watched an old lady gathering a large bunch of this on the sand dunes, and was informed that this was to make ‘tonic‘ [Charlbury, Oxfordshire, February 1991].

Image: Stonegate, East Sussex; July 2015