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Flora Britannica Episodes

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  1. YEW

    20/20 Prog 19 of 19:YEW:A tree vastly older than we are,an ancient religeous symbol,the elder statesman of the British flora.

  2. WATERLILY

    19/20 PROG 6 OF 19:WATERLILY:A beautiful plant with an odd and prosaic use - a cure for baldness

  3. THISTLE

    18/20 THISTLE: a spiky, persistent weed - but why did it become a symbol for a whole nation?

  4. SYCAMORE

    17/20 SYCAMORE: responsible for sticky cars in summer and the wrong sort of leaves on the line!

  5. ST JOHN'S WORT

    16/20 Prog 9 of 19:St JOHN'S WORT:A weed that was used in medieval times supposedly to increase the power of the sun - and now a cure for modern ills?

  6. ROSEBAY WILLOWHERB

    15/20 Prog 5 of 19:ROSEBAY WILLOWHERB:An elegant garden plant that has become a weed.It's appearance in 1941 on London bombsites symbolised victory over ruin

  7. POPPY

    14/20 The poppy - symbol of memory and war, and once believed to bring thunderstorms.

  8. PANSY

    13/20 Prog 8 of 19:THE PANSY: An unassuming wild plant that has been taken into the heart of the modern garden.

  9. OXFORD RAGWORT

    12/20 Programme about the Oxford ragwort, a plant introduced from Italy which has spread itself widely following railway lines.

  10. IVY

    11/20 Prog 16 of 19:IVY:The classic Victorian gothic.Smothering,clinging,a plant of ruin and desolation. But a gothic plant with a practical streak

  11. HENBANE

    10/20 Prog 11 of 19:HENBANE:The most sinister of wildflowers, and the most misused Henbane was used by Dr Crippin.

  12. HAWTHORN

    9/20 Prog 15 of 19:HAWTHORN:May blossom heralds the arrival of spring, but the Hawthorn is the most strongly superstitious of all British flora

  13. FOXGLOVE

    8/20 Prog 10 of 19:FOXGLOVE:A whimsical name that was given to a highly poisonous highly effective drug-producing plant, that is still a vital part of medicine

  14. ELM

    7/20 Prog 13 of 19:ELM:An elegy for a tree which has largely vanished from the British Countryside due to the effects of Dutch Elm Disease.

  15. DOG ROSE

    6/20 Prog 7 of 19:THE DOG ROSE.A wildflower that has been overshadowed by garden hybrids and given an ugly name.The floral cinderella,a much loved flower.

  16. DANDELION

    5/20 Prog 14 of 19:DANDELION:The wild and the genteel;the gardeners weed that was once made into dainty sandwiches for the tea-tables of Victorian gentry

  17. DAISY

    4/20

  18. BUTTERFLY-BUSH

    3/20 Prog 2 of 19:THE BUTTERFLY-BUSH:An oriental exotic the buddleja has become a common British weed but echos of it's oriental past still remain.

  19. BRAMBLE

    2/20 Prog 12 of 19:BRAMBLE:A grasping, common weed, but the last wild harvest of the hedgerow, the last myth of country life.

  20. BLUEBELL

    1/20 Prog 18 of 19:BLUEBELL:The colour and scent of late spring woodland, the master carpeter, Britain's great floral spectacular