Slender yellow spikes of small five-petalled flowers on hairy, deeply veined pinnate leaves; the fruits are hooked burrs that cling to passing clothing and fur
Agrimony, Agrimonia eupatoria.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Agrimony
Native · flowers Jun–Aug · grassy places, verges and hedgerows
Agrimonia eupatoria — Rosaceae
A hairy perennial of dry grassland, verges and hedgebanks, with long slender spikes of small, five-petalled yellow flowers. After flowering it forms burr-like fruits armed with tiny hooked bristles that catch on clothing and animal fur, which is why it is known as 'sticklewort' and 'cockle bur'. It has a very long history as a medicinal herb, and is not related to hemp-agrimony.
How to spot them
- ▸Long, slender, wand-like spikes, up to about 50 cm or more, of small five-petalled yellow flowers opening from the bottom up
- ▸Deeply veined, pinnate, hairy leaves with large and small leaflets alternating, and toothed edges
- ▸Bell- or top-shaped fruits ringed with hooked bristles, deeply grooved, that cling like burrs
- ▸Fragrant agrimony (Agrimonia procera) is a taller, more robust plant of similar habitats with scented crushed leaves; its fruits are less deeply grooved and the lower bristles are reflexed
- ▸Hemp-agrimony is an unrelated tall plant of damp places with fluffy pinkish flower heads and lobed, hemp-like leaves
How to know it
Known as 'sticklewort', 'beggar's lice' and 'church steeples', it spreads its seeds by means of hooked bristles on its fruits
Agrimony (RHS lists these names).
Its species name recalls Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontus, said to have been the first to use it medicinally
Agrimonia eupatoria — agrimony.
A long medicinal history dating back to Pliny and Dioscorides gives this rose-family herb its association with magic and healing
Agrimony.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Rosaceae, the rose family — not related to hemp-agrimony, which is in the daisy family, Asteraceae
- •RHS describes it as a hairy perennial with deeply veined pinnate leaves and flower spikes up to 50 cm of star-shaped, five-petalled yellow flowers from June to August
- •The RHS lists other names: beggar's lice, beggar's ticks, church steeples, clot bur, cockle bur, sticklewort
- •Fruits are bell- or top-shaped and armed with stiff bristles hooked at the tip: burrs that hitch a ride on animal coats and clothing
- •BSBI: fragrant agrimony (A. procera) is scented when crushed; the two species are easily separated in fruit, but in leaf need close inspection of glands and hairs
- •A. eupatoria has a very long history as a medicinal herb with magical properties, dating back to Pliny and Dioscorides (as recorded by BSBI)
- •Grows on neutral and basic soils in grassland, verges and hedgerows
- •The 'eupatoria' honours Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus, traditionally credited with discovering its healing use
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Sources
- Royal Horticultural Society — Agrimonia eupatoria (agrimony)
- Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland — Agrimony identification