22-05-2025
Bloom time for spurge, the plant once used to catch fish
Among the nectar-rich, summer blossoms one tree stands out in May sunshine… whitethorn. I've lost count of the number of people remarking about its profusion and the way it dominates the countryside this year, seemingly more than ever.
In places like the Beara and Dingle peninsulas, it overshadows many other plants. But, fuchsia, always associated with these magnificently scenic areas, should now be about to reassert itself.
In Celtic mythology, the whitethorn was hugely valued. It was deemed to have properties that could cleanse the heart of negativity and also stimulate love and forgiveness.
Travelling around the Cork-Kerry border countryside by the Blackwater the other day, the road between the neighbouring villages of Rathmore and Knocknagree felt like an avenue of whitethorn.
This tree, we're told, does well in warm sunshine and when it stands alone in otherwise unsheltered areas. Its white leaves, sometimes blushed with delicate pink, should decorate the countryside well into June.
Practically, the prickly thorns make for good fencing and hedging. Whitethorn also provides food for many insects and caterpillars; nectar and pollen for bees and flies, and nesting sites for birds.
It features prominently in folklore and was used to decorate the Maypole in ancient Bealtaine celebrations.
Whitethorn branch — this native tree is looking glorious at this time of year
It was regarded as bad luck to bring whitethorn into a home as it might result in illness, or death, in a family. Lone whitethorn trees are sometimes seen in fields, or ring forts, and there's a custom among farmers not to interfere with them in any way.
They were thought to signify places where fairies assembled after dark, playing sweet music from the 'otherworld'.
The National Schools Folklore Collection from the late 1930s gathered some of the stories about these trees which were widely believed in many parts of Ireland.
One concerned an old bush in the village of Roundfield, in County Galway, where the belief was that if anyone dared cut it down they would die, according to one pupil, Julia Coffey, who got the story from a local man, John Killeen.
Grimly, Julia went on: 'One day, a man went out to cut it and a he heard a lot of little men dancing under the tree and he cut it and fell dead."
Irish Spurge (Euphorbia hyberna) is in full bloom in the woods at the moment. This plant is one of the so-called Luisitanian species which are found almost exclusively in SW Ireland and northern Iberia. #wildflowerhour — Glengarriff Woods NR (@GlengarriffWood) April 14, 2019
Another plant readers have been telling us about is Irish spurge, seen in many parts of the south-west on roadsides and shady woodland. Its Irish name, 'bainne caoin', most likely comes from the milky sap which oozes out when the stem is broken.
The sap is said to be poisonous and there's a tradition of placing the yellow and green-flowered plant in river water, thereby making fish float to the surface and easy to catch.
The Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve, in West Cork, reports Irish splurge to be prominent in the woodland floor this summer.
