Thanks to all the members of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland who responded to the Folk Flora flyer which was distributed with a recent mailing.  The enthusiastic response has been great, and we hope that when the book eventually appears it will be worthy of everyone’s expectations.

A recurring theme in the responses is ‘most of which I know you probably know already’, so I’m only sending information which might be new.  Since the Flora aims to give some idea of the distribution of folk beliefs and customs this is rather akin to saying ‘I’ve already recorded Bellis perennis and Urtica dioica this year, so I don’t need to record them again’ – something which we’re sure no botanical recorder would ever do!  So please keep the information flowing in; nothing is too common to be ignored.

Also material has been accumulating since the early 1980s when there were still people whose memories stretched back to before World War I.  Since people tend to regard their memories to be of greater interest and importance as they get older we have a mass of material dating from 1910-1950, but comparatively little since then, and very little dating from later than 1990.  So any more recent material would be greatly appreciated.

Image:  Bellis perennis, daisy, cloisters of Peterborough Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, January 2016.