Lamb's ear

Claire and Frank are walking down the street with Mrs. Baird after visiting the pub, with Frank swishing a stick through the roadside weeds - which Claire identifies in her thoughts: lamb's ear, cinquefoil, and sweet broom .... this post will be about lamb's ear!

In the book, versus the televised version, Frank and Claire are in Inverness near Beltane, not Samhain, thus why flowers are just beginning to bloom!

Stachys byzantina

Also known as woolly hedgenettle and synonymous with Stachys olympica and Stachys lanata

Grown often in children's gardens for it is easy to grow and fun to touch. It is often used as an edging plant in gardens. The flowers are pollinator-friendly (big plus!) so use this as an opportunity to teach children how to be around bees harmoniously. If you yourself do not know how, ask a local beekeeper or send me a message. I'm a beekeeper who is allergic to bees, yet I can walk through my hives without a bee suit on without fear.

This soft little plant combats Staphylococcus aureus. (That's the dreaded staph infection, y'all!) Even to that which is resistant to vancomycin. S. byzantina is quite useful against gram positive bacteria which is comforting since so many are becoming resistant to man-made drugs. This is likely due to singling out constituents rather than using the whole plant as nature intended in which multiple constituents work harmoniously together making a complete "drug" where man-made drugs are incomplete. This leaves open the door for infectious diseases to become resistant. Thankfully, when these missing constituents are used in the form they were intended, they tend to overcome the resistant varieties.

S. byzantina is anti-microbial seeing as how it's properties include being anti-bacterial, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory. For these reasons, the fuzzy leaves make good wound bandaging when needed. They tend to help blood clot faster on top of being absorbent like a bandage.

Other uses listed by Fig & Honey include: infusing bruised leaves to make an eye wash for pink eye and sties; a tea, which apparently has a slight pineapple flavor, for sore throats and mouths, diarrhea, fevers, internal bleeding, and weakness in the liver and heart; bruised leaves (to release juices) can be put on bee stings, hemorroids, and used postpartum to reduce swelling.

Young, tender leaves may be eaten raw in a salad or may be lightly steamed as greens.

A camping tip: leaves may be used instead of toilet paper and dried leaves can be used as fire tinder! Suburban Stoneage found some pretty unique uses for our sweet little plant. This one seems to be another in which it's invasiveness may come in handy simply due to how much one can use it for! I know I'll be giving it a go for cleaning my chicken waterers.

S. byzantina is a perennial herb, considered an evergreen even though it may 'die back' some in the winter, in which new growth is regenerated from the crown. Flowering takes place in late-spring/early summer with small purple flowers on a stalk.

If you have problems with deer or rabbits, you'll be happy to hear that according to The Spruce, S. byzantina is deer-resistant and the flowers are rabbit-proof!