Slip this in your sandals...

Saturday 10 October 2020

A local botanist is inviting islanders to join a walk that will mix folklore, science, myth and magic - and teach them what to pop in their sandals to protect them from fatigue.

Tina Hull will be unlocking such secrets on a wildflower walk around Beauport Headland tomorrow (Sunday 11 October) at 10:30.

Tina, who read botany and chemistry at Durham University, loves nothing more than “connecting people with plants through folklore” and introducing simple identification skills.

Among the plants Tina will be discussing along the walk will be ‘mugwort’ (artemisia vulgaris), “a plant you could easily walk past and hardly notice."

Pictured: Mugwort (artemisia vulgaris) will be one of the plants discussed during the walk.

“But once you know the folk uses of Mugwort, it becomes much more interesting,” Tina added. 

“It was used to flavour beer. It was placed in the sandals of Roman soldiers to protect them from weariness. 

"It is used in smudge sticks and moxa which a sort of incense used in Chinese medicine used to warm the energy up. It has been used to awaken our wildness! Know these things and you will always notice this plant.”

Mugwort is just one of the “fascinating plants” islanders will get to discover on the walk. Hosted by the National Trust for Jersey, the walk aims to combine plant identification, chemistry, folklore and magic.

The walk itself is a short stroll around the Beauport Headland, with Tina noting: “We don't walk very far, as we talk about lots of plants." 

“The plants are the main focus, [and] the walk is gentle but on uneven ground.”