Archive for August 21, 2009

Friday, August 21, 2009

Mysterious Cucubalus

Cucubalus baccifer in flower Detail from The Unicorn Is Killed and Brought to the Castle Cucubalus baccifer in fruit

Above, left to right: Berry-bearing catchfly (Cucubalus baccifer) flowering in a shady bed in Bonnefont Garden in July; a detail from the foreground of The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle showing the catchfly in flower and fruit behind the forelegs of a hunting dog; the shiny black fruits, which give the berry-bearing catchfly its name,??ripening in August.

Berry-bearing catchfly (Cucubalus baccifer) is a pretty, lax-stemmed little plant that scrambles over and through the hellebores, ferns, and other shade-loving plants growing in a small bed under the east wall of Bonnefont Garden. We would be hard put to find a home for it anywhere else in Bonnefont, which is organized by use, since we haven???t been able to document either any medieval medicinal applications or any magical or symbolic attributes associated with it. Read more »