GeoGraph - photograph every grid square

Aaron's Rod, Verbascum thapsus, near Brownstone Battery

Aaron's rod, like so many wild plants, has been used for practical purposes. The fluffy layer of the leaves was scraped off and made into candle wicks. It had the folk names of "candlewick plant" and "high taper" and the whole stem was sometimes burned as a flare at country social occasions. Most parts of the plant are poisonous, but the flowers were used as a medicine.

It is a striking plant and here it dominates its neighbours in the cleared scrubland by the coastal path.