Parnassia palustris Grass-of-Parnassus C DD N
Mathias de L'Obel who after practising medicine in Belgium became Royal Botanist to James 1st in England, called this plant Gramen Parnassii: Grass of Parnassus - the grass of the holy mountain of Parnassus. It isn't a grass of course but it is as beautiful as its name suggests, with clusters of veined white flowers. It is a flower of the North and has been chosen as the County plant of Sutherland where you can find it on roadside verges.
Common in the north of England and Scotland, P. palustris becomes rarer as you go south. It is hardly known from the south of England. In Ireland it is a central and western plant mostly.
|
| Parnassia palustris Grass-of-Parnassus |
LHS: Dune Slacks, Sefton coast 23rd July 2005 RHS:Newborough Warren, Anglesey 18th August 2004
Added on January 30th 2005, updated 21st February 2011