Adoxa moschatellina, or moschatel, also goes
by the common name town hall clock. Other
names for this native British wildflower are
five-faced bishop, muskroot, tuberous crowfoot
and hollowroot. All of the names describe
various aspects of the plant’s appearance, but
“town hall clock” captures the way the cube-
shaped, pale-yellow-green flower clusters rise
up on slender stems in early spring. According
to Sarah Raven, in her book “Wild Flowers,”
four faces of the flower are “arranged as if on
the surface of a cube, the fifth facing upwards.”
The aroma of the flowers is musky, or like “elder
blossom with a bit of almond.” Though the name
town hall clock suggests something tall and
conspicuous, the flowers of the plant are subtle
and can easily be overlooked. In fact, the genus
name Adoxa means “without glory,” a reference to
the unshowy blooms.
We may never know how Astrantia major, or
greater masterwort, acquired two of its more
unusual common names: melancholy gentle-
man and Hattie’s pincushion. It is easy to see
how the flower clusters held in each bract catch
the light like so many bright pins in a cushion—
but Hattie’s identity is a mystery. According
to R. C. A. Prior, in his 1879 book, “On the
Popular Names of British Plants,” Astrantia is
called melancholy gentleman “for its sad colour,”
but it’s also possible to imagine how the plant’s
flowerheads, drooping under the weight of rain,
might seem a little sad as well. m
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bergen, Fanny B. “Popular American plant names.” “The
Journal of American Folklore,” Vol. 5, No. 17 (Apr. –
Jun., 1892), pp. 89–106. https://www.jstor.org/stable/
pdf/533542.pdf (accessed online 1/11/19)
Briand, C. H. “The common persimmon (Diospyros
virginiana L.): The history of an underutilized fruit tree
(16th-19th centuries).” “Huntia” 12(1), 2005. http://
faculty.salisbury.edu/~chbriand/pdfs/huntia05.pdf
(accessed online 1/11/19).
Farjon, Aljos. “Pines: Drawing and Descriptions of the Genus
Pinus.” Brill, 2005.
Hunter, Melvin. “Racist relics: an ugly blight on our botani-
cal nomenclature,” in “The Scientist,” November 1991.
https://www.the-scientist.com/opinion-old/racist-relics-
an-ugly-blight-on-our-botanical-nomenclature-60358
(accessed online 1/11/19).
Jacobson, Arthur Lee. “Trees of Seattle.” 2006.
Jepson, Willis. “A Flora of California.” Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1909.
Moerman, Daniel E. “Native American Ethnobotany.”
Portland: Timber Press, 1998.
Prior, R. C. A. “On the Popular Names of British Plants.”
Kessinger Publishing, 1879.
Raven, Sarah. “Wild Flowers.” Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012.
Strike, Sandra. “Ethnobotany of the California Indians,”
Volume 2. Koeltz Scientific Publishing, 1994.
R ebecca A lexander is the manager of Reference
and Technical Services at the Miller Library,
located in the UW Botanic Gardens’ Center
for Urban Horticulture (3501 NE 41st Street,
Seattle). She is also a contributing editor to the
“Bulletin.”
Astrantia
the melancholy gentleman
veined in green chagrin
wears a tattered collar
that lets the wind come in
it courses down his corridors
and plays him like a mournful flute
his rain-drenched head bends down so low
it meets him at his roots
—Rebecca Alexander
Elegant patterns of spaces and views
that unfold over time.
Landscape Architecture
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