Frothy, flat-topped pink flower clusters on tall reddish stems in damp ground, with hemp-like three-lobed leaves, visited by tortoiseshells and red admirals
Hemp-agrimony - Eupatorium cannabinum.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Hemp-agrimony
Native · perennial, flowers July to September · fens, damp woodland, riverbanks
Eupatorium cannabinum — Asteraceae
Hemp-agrimony is a tall, bushy plant of damp places with frothy, flat-topped clusters of tiny pinkish flowers, often nicknamed 'raspberries and cream'. Its three-lobed leaves look like hemp's, and its genus honours Mithridates Eupator, but it is neither hemp nor an agrimony. It is a magnet for butterflies in late summer.
How to spot them
- ▸Dense, flat-topped, frothy clusters of tiny pale pink or dull mauve flower heads, each of 5-6 florets
- ▸Tall (to 1.5 m), reddish, downy stems
- ▸Leaves in opposite pairs, each divided into 3 (sometimes 5) toothed lobes like hemp
- ▸Damp ground: fens, ditches, marsh edges, wet woodland and riverbanks
- ▸Look-alikes: common valerian has pinnate leaves and paler flowers; true agrimony has yellow spikes
How to know it
Its leaves resemble those of cannabis and its name suggests a yellow-flowered relative, yet it is related to neither
Hemp-agrimony - Cannabis is in the hemp family; agrimony is a rose.
Its genus commemorates Mithridates Eupator, King of Pontus, who supposedly used it as an antidote
Hemp-agrimony - Eupatorium.
A garden nickname describes the flowers' colouring: 'raspberries and cream'
Hemp-agrimony - Wildlife Trusts.
A late-summer nectar source attracting small tortoiseshell and red admiral butterflies, and hosting a plume moth
Hemp-agrimony.
Snap a stem and it gives off a pleasant aroma; the plant grows tall in fens and by streams, most common in Wales and southern England
Hemp-agrimony.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Asteraceae, despite looking nothing like a daisy - each tiny head has only about 5 florets
- •Wildlife Trusts: flowers July to September; up to 1.5 m; also called 'raspberries and cream'
- •Unrelated to hemp (Cannabis) or agrimony (Agrimonia, a rose family plant); named for leaf resemblance
- •Eupatorium honours Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus
- •Small tortoiseshell and red admiral are among the butterflies it attracts (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Hemp-agrimony plume moth, Adaina microdactyla, feeds on it
- •Native, and the only British member of its genus
- •Grows in damp grassland, fens, wet woodland and along streams
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Hemp-agrimony