1. As a child in the countryside of Cheshire I heard the name Jenny Greenteeth given to the bright green water plant that lies on the surface of stagnant ponds (the minute leaves are rather like tiny teeth) and imagine that if one fell into the pond, the green scum-like plant would close over one’s head, thus Jenny (or Jinny) Greenteeth had ‘got you’! [Great Meols, Cheshire, November 1980].

Images:  main, Spon Lane Bridge, Smethwick, West Midlands, September 2015; inset, drawing by Margaret Tebbs, 1983.