Fringed Pink
The Blue-topped Cow-weed is a plant of Europe’s forests, growing in mild inland regions, but not in Britain. It is found in rather dry but nutrient-rich woodlands, in thickets, and above all in forest margins.
It is also considered a Eurasian steppe plant, occurring in forest margins and thermophilous groves. At higher elevations it grows in Alpine meadows up to the sub-Alpine belt. It has a large range extending from Spain and Norway in the west, to Japan in the east, but its distribution is random. In Britain it is only grown in gardens.
The other pinks – and there are more than 250 species – are likewise Old World plants, most of them growing in the Mediterranean region. Only the Fringed Pink, however, is fond of damp which is doubtless the reason for its occurrence in forests. D. caryophyllus of southern Europe is the predecessor of the large-flowered cultivated carnations of today.
In some places Blue-topped Cow-weed was known as a black or blackening herb. It was said that rye tainted by the seed of this plant gave bread a bluish or black colour. Perhaps, too, its seed was used intentionally to darken bread. The drying stems of this herb turn black as they wither.
Blue-topped Cow-weed is an annual herb, approximately 10-50 cm high, with an erect branching stem and opposite undivided, sessile leaves. The yellow flowers are borne in loose one-sided terminal racemes from June until September. The lips form an acute angle. Practically all cow-weeds have attractively coloured bracts, particularly on the upper part of the stem. Those of the Blue-topped Cow-weed are a striking bluish violet and serve to attract insects.
Lowland forest forms of the Fringed Pink flower from June until September, while those growing at higher elevations blossom in July and August. The fruit is a unicapsular four-toothed capsule.
