EVEN though we have lots of warm summer days to come, there are already some signs that autumn is coming. Fruits are ripening and none is more beautiful than the berries of lord and ladies.
These fruits are not actually lethal but they are poisonous and we should stick to the rule that nothing should be eaten unless we are sure of what it is.
No plant has more local names than lords and ladies and the list of more than 100 includes priest in the pulpit, arrowroot, snake berries, cuckoo pint and in Lancashire 'priesties'.
In Cumbria, where I was born, the name was red hot poker and this is a perfect description.
The most common name, however, is starchwort, and its roots were once dug up, dried and crushed, to produce the starch used in laundry work.
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