Of beards and men

Covered with frothy, creamy flowers in summer, wild clematis-or old man's beard-makes for good strong baskets, as well as providing a feast for pollinators and caterpillars

- Ian Morton

OPINION was always divided. Some saw the wild climber known as old man’s beard as the Devil’s plant, because it sought to choke others. The ‘old man’ was Satan himself and regional names for it included Devil’s guts, Devil’s twine and hag rope. Early Christians, however, said the plant had sheltered the Holy Family on their flight into Egypt, variously referring to it as virgin’s bower, lady’s bower, maiden’s hair and shepherd’s delight. Most famously, perhaps, it was known as traveller’s joy, a name quoted by John Gerard in his 1597 Herball, where he enthused that ‘it maketh in winter a goodly shew, covering the hedges white all over with his feather-like tops’.

A member of the Ranunculaceae family— and hence an unlikely relative of the buttercup —our wild clematis occurs naturally on hedgerows south of a line stretching roughly from the Humber to the Mersey, although it has crept or been introduced further north here and there. It is the most vigorous of climbers, said to grow seven times faster than ivy, its leafy stalks entwining whatever they encounter and producing vines up to 100ft long. These can reach a height of 40ft where supporting foliage allows and will re-root where the extremities loll back to the ground. And there is no denying the splendour of the display: ‘These plants… are esteemed only for pleasure by reason of the goodly shadow which they make with their thick bushing and climbing, as also for the beauty of the flowers and the pleasant scent or savour of the same,’ wrote Gerard.