Lammas Bedstraw

I walked to Hunsdon today in the faint hope that the meadow might not have been cut. Hunsdon Mead is one of the finest hay meadows in Britain and one of the few operating the ancient Lammas system, where grass and plants are allowed to flower and set seed before they are cut at the end of July.

The meadow had been cut and the hay is drying nicely. I lay on it whilst I was taking photographs and breathed deeply, inhaling its sweet smell. It contains the plant pictured, one of the bedstraw family. I have the yellow lady's bedstraw in my field and that smells of a cross between new mown hay and honey. It was used to stuff mattresses as it repels fleas. I hadn't seen a white before but knew immediately that it was a Galium.

Happy Lammas or Loaf Mass Day the traditional start of the harvest season.