Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium

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It has been a long, hot summer. Today we have finally had some rain after weeks of drought, but we could do with a lot more.

Plants have been looking stressed and short grass has gone brown in many places but there have been some floral delights on recent bike rides, such as a nice patch of Harebells, Campanula rotundifolia, and some clumps of Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium.

Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium

Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium, on a south-facing roadside bank in East Norfolk, 17th August 2025.

When Orpine is in flower its tall stems of pink flowers stand out and dazzle. It looks too exotic to be growing on a roadside and resembles its near relative, Ice Plant (Hylotelephium spectabile), which is often grown in gardens (note 1).

Ice Plant is an introduction from south-east Asia but Orpine is a true British native and East Norfolk is one of its strongholds. (It’s a neophyte in Ireland and the Channel Islands.)

Orpine is a perennial herb that tends to form small but very persistent colonies. It dies back in winter and blends in with surrounding vegetation until it starts to flower (from July to September, usually peaking in mid to late August). I’ve only ever seen it on roadsides, on banks or beneath hedges, but it grows in scrub, on the borders of woods and on limestone pavements, as well as some ancient woodlands. In the latter it sometimes doesn’t flower.

Orpine distribution map from BSBI Online Atlas 2020

Hylotelephium telephium distribution map from BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020

Orpine, like Ice Plant, makes a good garden plant in well drained soil in full sun, where it will form a neat clump 0.5 – 1 metres (20 – 40 inches) tall and 0.1 – 0.5 metres (4 – 20 inches) across in two to five years. It is hardy down to -20 Celsius.

Orpine’s use as a garden plant means that the current distribution of Hylotelephium telephium includes naturalised colonies, usually near houses, as well as truly native plants. The BSBI Online Plant Atlas maps it without a status because “the native range in Britain is now hopelessly obscured by such escapes“.

Deer like to eat Orpine and this may be causing its decline in some areas. I’ve been told that Orpine is declining in Oxfordshire, for a variety of reasons: being eaten by deer, being shaded out by scrub and due to intensive cutting of roadside verges (note 2). But Jo from Norfolk Flora Group tells me she hasn’t noticed a decline in East Norfolk. Our road verges tend to be cut in May and Orpine will grow back and produce extra flowering stems (note 3).

Outside the British Isles, Hylotelephium telephium is native in most of Eurasia, with the exception of most of Scandinavia and parts of European Russia. It has been introduced into parts of Canada and the United States (note 4).

Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium

Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium, on a roadside north of Norwich. 22nd August 2025.

There are some great photos of Orpine on the Wild Flower Finder website.

Hylotelephium telephium is a member of the Crassulaceae, the Stonecrop family. Members of the family are well adapted for dry conditions and have succulent leaves and a a form of photosynthesis known as crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) that allows them to photosynthesise in the daytime and exchange gases during the cooler temperatures of the night, minimising water loss. Some members of the family also have hairy leaves to provide protection from strong sunlight.

Finding Orpine is always a treat.

It is not common enough to pick for food or medicine, unless you have an excess of the plant in your own garden. But according to the Plants For A Future website Orpine leaves are edible raw or cooked and the root is edible when cooked.

Medicinal uses for Orpine: “The whole plant is astringent and cytostatic. It is a popular remedy for diarrhoea, stimulates the kidneys and has a reputation in the treatment of cancer. A poultice of the crushed leaves has been used in the treatment of boils and carbuncles.”

In “The English Physitian” (1652), Nicholas Culpeper gave the following suggestions: “Outwardly, used with vinegar it clears the skin, inwardly taken, it helps gnawings of the stomach and bowels, ulcers in the lungs, bloody flux and Quinsy in the throat: for which last disease, it is inferior to none. Take not too much of it …” (note 5).

Orpine’s specific name, telephium, derives from Greek mythology. King Telephius was wounded in battle by Achilles and his wound wouldn’t heal until Achilles scraped pieces of his spear onto it.

Orpine has some other English names: Livelong, Life-everlasting, Live-forever, Frog’s-stomach, Harping Johnny, Midsummer-men (Midsummer Men), Orphan John and Witch’s Moneybags.

The first three names refer to the ability of the plant to sustain itself for a long period when uprooted or after being cut for decoration with the leaves kept on as both the leaves and the root are fleshy.

In “Flora Britannica” Richard Mabey explains that the name Midsummer Men comes from an obsolete custom of placing Orpine leaves indoors, in cracks in beams and joists. Sprigs of Orpine were placed in pairs (to represent two sweethearts) and the way they inclined away or apart was supposed to predict whether or not the romance would thrive. One of the pair would die if either sprig withered (note 6).

I haven’t been able to find an explanation for the other names, but presumably “Frog’s-stomach” and “Witch’s moneybags” describe the supposed shape of the plant’s shoots and/or roots. Please let me know if you have an explanation.

Notes

Note 1 – Hylotelephium spectabile is often known by its older scientific name of Sedum spectabile.

Note 2 – Judy Webb, in a comment on a post on BlueSky Social.

Note 3 – Thanks to Jo Parmenter for this information. The RHS recommends giving Orpine plants the “Chelsea chop”: “For bushy, compact plants, cut back the new stems by half in late May.”

Note 4 – There are at least four subspecies of Hylotelphium telephium:

  • Hylotelphium telephium ssp. fabaria Koch – West & Central Europe
  • Hylotelphium telephium ssp. maximum L. – Europe & W Asia
  • Hylotelphium telephium ssp. ruprechtii Jalas – North-east Europe
  • Hylotelphium telephium ssp. telephium – Central & East Europe, E Asia.

In the “New Flora of the British Isles“ (Fourth Edition, 2019), Clive Stace describes ssp fabaria as the common form in Britain, with the presence of ssp. telephium uncertain, at least as a native.

The NatureGate website says that Orpine is native by the south and south-west coasts of Finland but is introduced elsewhere.

Note 5 – Culpeper’s book is better known by its later title of “The Complete Herbal”.

Note 6 – Richard Mabey, pp 177 – 178, “Flora Britannica”. Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996.

Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare

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Gatekeeper butterfly on Wild Marjoram.

Gatekeeper butterfly on Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare).

I’m always cheered by the sight of a Gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus) and the most likely place for me to find one is on flowers of Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare. Numbers in the garden have been high this summer and fortunately Wild Marjoram, which they visit for nectar, is tolerant of droughts like the one we’re having this year and is in full flower at the moment (note 1). Wild Marjoram normally flowers from July to September, though it started in June this year.

Common Marjoram flowers

Close up of Wild Marjoram flowers

Wild Marjoram in the Garden

I first encountered Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare, in the garden, where it was one my Dad’s favourite plants. I’ve grown it ever since, in the garden and on the allotment. It’s very adaptable and thrives in sun or semi-shade on well-drained soils, whether chalk, sand or loam. It isn’t fussy about pH – soils can be alkaline, neutral or acid. It is also very hardy (down to -15 Celsius). Plants grow around 50 – 80 centimetres (20 – 30 inches) tall and form a  gradually spreading clump, gradually spreading by runners or stolons.

Wild Marjoram is woody but is a hardy perennial and dies back in winter, leaving the old stems. I cut these old stems off in early spring before the plant puts on its new season’s growth. I grow Wild Marjoram in borders with other hardy perennials; it also does well in a bed with other herbs or in a large pot. Plants can be divided easily when dormant and will often seed gently around the garden. The RHS website gives advice on growing Origanum vulgare.

Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) at the allotment.

Nurseries stock several varieties of Origanum vulgare and Wikipedia lists 54 species and hybrids of Origanum. I’ve used Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’ (with golden leaves) and Origanum ‘Hot and Spicy’ (shorter plants with a hotter, spicier taste) in community gardening projects but in my own garden I’m happy with the “normal” variety. Even this can vary in the shade of its flowers.

Marjoram with darker flowers, at the allotment.

Wild Marjoram with darker flowers, at the allotment.

Origanum vulgare is a member of the Lamiaceae (Mint family), along with many other herbs. I’ve already written about some of them, including Water Mint (Mentha aquatica), Basil Thyme (Clinopodium acinos), White Deadnettle (Lamium album) and Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis).

The closely related Pot or Sweet Marjoram (Origanum majorana) is much less hardy plant and is best overwintered in the shelter of an unheated greenhouse, but it is “recommended in culinary circles for its flavour“.

Wild Marjoram in the Kitchen

Another name for Origanum vulgare is Oregano, from Spanish, Latin and ultimately the Greek “oros” (mountain) and “ganos” (joy), literally meaning “Joy of the Mountain”.

Many recipes call for oregano and it’s a very versatile herb which goes equally well with vegetables or meat. The flowers, leaves and stems are edible, though it is the leaves that are usually picked.

I use fresh Wild Marjoram leaves from the garden in Greek salad, a favourite lunch when homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers are in season. Otherwise, I tend to use the dried herb, which has a stronger taste. It partners well with spices such as chilli and cumin.

Wild Marjoram grown in southern Europe has a much stronger flavour than our homegrown leaves and dried oregano will usually contain leaves from southern European countries, such as Greece. Related species such as Origanum onites (Pot Marjoram) and Origanum majorana (Pot or Sweet Marjoram) may be used (note 2).

My friend and allotment neighbour Rosemary sometimes gives me a pot of oregano that had been gathered from Wild Marjoram harvested on a Greek hillside. It has a superb flavour.

Wild Origanum vulgare

Marjoram at Grimston Heath

Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) at Grimston Heath, Norfolk

Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare, is native to Europe, much of Asia and Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco in North Africa. It has been introduced into North America, New Zealand and parts of China.

In the British Isles it is a native (outside the Channel Islands). It is found in most 10km squares in England and Wales and gradually becomes scarcer in the west of Scotland and the west and north of Ireland.

Wild Marjoram grows on dry, infertile, calcareous soils. It can be found in grassland, hedge banks and scrub. It is a colonist of bare or sparsely vegetated ground, including quarries, pavements and road verges. It is also occasionally naturalised from gardens. In tougher growing conditions plants are usually less vigorous than ones grown in good garden soil.

Distribution of Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare)

Distribution of Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare). Image from 2020 BSBI Plant Atlas.

Stace also lists Pot Marjoram (Origanum majorana) as a rare casual growing in the British Isles (note 3).

Medicinal uses

The Plants for a Future website lists a number of medicinal uses for Origanum vulgare. These include aiding digestion, promoting menstruation, treating respiratory conditions and as an antiseptic (note 4). It is strongly sedative and should not be taken in large doses or be taken medicinally by pregnant women (except in small amounts as a herb in cooking).

Wild Marjoram for Wildlife

Wild Marjoram is a great source of nectar for insects, including the Gatekeepers I mentioned above.

It is a foodplant of the day-flying Mint Moth, Pyrausta aurata, which flutters around the plants in the sunshine.

We visited Ranscombe Farm in Kent in June and found Wild Marjoram with galls caused by the mite Aceria labiatiflorae. The flowers and leaves had become matted with a felt of white hairs.

Gall caused by the mite Aceria labiatiflorae, on Wild Marjoram.

Gall caused by the mite Aceria labiatiflorae, on Wild Marjoram.

I saw my first Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) on Wild Marjoram in our garden in Scotland and we’ve seen one in our garden this summer.

Small Copper on Wild Marjoram

Small Copper butterfly on Wild Marjoram

Notes

Note 1 – The Gatekeeper butterfly is found in the southern half of Great Britain and in the extreme south of Ireland, though recent years have seen a few sightings in Scotland. They are common here in Norfolk and during July and early August I usually see several of  them every time I visit the allotment or go out into the garden. The adult butterflies are fond of flowers, especially Wild Marjoram. The larvae feed on grasses, mainly bents (Agrostis spp.), fescues (Festuca spp.) and meadow-grasses (Poa spp.).

When I grew up in Scotland Gatekeepers were an exotic southern butterfly (as were Brimstones, Commas and Holly Blues). I still remember seeing my first Gatekeeper, in August 1982 on Anglesey, on a visit to see my grandmother.

Origanum vulgare has a long, deep root run and very numerous, long root hairs, which allow it to tolerate prolonged periods of drought, though it’s best to water newly established or transplanted plants.

Note 2 – According to Deni Bown in the “Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses”. (Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995.), commercially available dried oregano can also come from other plants, including Mexican Oregano (Lippia graveolens), Lippia palmeri and Za’atar (Origanum syriacum).

But in 2015 it was revealed that one in four (19 out of 78) commercial samples of dried oregano contained added ingredients, most commonly myrtle and olive leaves.

Note 3 – Clive Stace, “New Flora of the British Isles“, Fourth Edition (2019).

Note 4 – Over 60 different compounds have been identified from Origanum vulgare, primarily carvacrol and thymol. Both carvacrol and thymol have antiseptic properties.

Goldilocks Buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus

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Buttercups are one of the delights of spring, yet I haven’t written about them in the fourteen years I’ve been writing this blog.

It’s time to make amends, so this month’s blog post is about Goldilocks Buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus.

Goldilocks buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus

Goldilocks buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus. (There are a couple of Lesser Celandine flowers too.) Late April 2025.

Where to find Goldilocks

Ranunculus auricomus,is a perennial herb. It is a calcicole, a plant that thrives in lime rich soil (chalk, limestone and other basic, often clay soils). It avoids very acid and very dry sites. While usually known as Goldilocks Buttercup, one of its other English names is Wood Buttercup and it can often be found growing in woodlands.

Goldilocks Buttercup also grows on road verges, in churchyards and amongst scrub. It sometimes grows in old meadows too, and in more upland habitat provided there is some shelter such as on ledges or amongst boulders.

I don’t see Goldilocks Buttercup very often. In previous years I’ve found it in woods and churchyards but this spring my sightings were all from road verges here in Norfolk, often in large patches, while out on a bike ride.

There are records of Ranunculus auricomus from many parts of the British Isles:

Distribution of Goldilocks Buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus

Distribution of Goldilocks Buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus. Image from 2020 BSBI Plant Atlas.

Further afield, Ranunculus auricomus is native to northern Europe and western Asia, approximately from latitudes 43 to 71 degrees and from western Ireland to the Ural Mountains. In Iceland it is quite rare and has a coastal distribution. It is also found in Alaska and the Western United States.

In the British Isles Goldilocks Buttercup appears to be both a weak competitor and intolerant of grazing or cutting.

In much of Scandinavia, Ranunculus auricomus has a wider habitat range than in the British Isles. It is not dependant on basic soils and can be found in meadows and grazed pastures, even on screes and in snow beds in mountainous country. It even grows as a weed in cultivated and disturbed ground.

Goldilocks Spotting

Goldilocks Buttercup is often the first buttercup to flower. Flowering starts in early April and is usually at its peak by early May and finished by June (note 2). The rootstock of Ranunculus auricomus overwinters with a bud at or just beneath the soil surface, ready to grow very early in the spring, with a head start on other buttercups.

Once you know what to look for, Ranunculus auricomus is very distinctive. Its flowers are a typical, shiny golden yellow but the flowers often look a bit tatty, with one or more missing or deformed petals.

Goldilocks buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus

Goldilocks buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus, on a Norfolk road verge. Early May 2023.

Closer up:

Goldilocks buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus

Goldilocks buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus. The flowers often have one or more missing or deformed petals.

Leaves at the the base of the plant the leaves are palmately and deeply lobed and slightly resemble those of Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus acris). Higher up, whorls of leaves clasp the flowering stems. The plant grows up to 40cm (16 inches) tall.

There are good photographs on the Wild Flower Finder, Pete’s Walks, Wildflowers of Ireland and Nature Spot websites. Mike Crewe’s Flora of East Anglia website has excellent photographs that compare different species of Ranunculus.

Here is the fruit, similar to many other buttercups, a cluster of smooth achenes with short hairs and curved or hooked beaks:

Goldilocks buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus

Fruit of Goldilocks Buttercup, Ranunculus auricomus.

Ranunculaceae and ranunculin

Ranunculus auricomus is a member of the Ranunculaceae (Buttercup or Crowfoot family), as are our other species of buttercup (Ranunculus). Stace’s Flora lists 30 species of Ranunculus in the British Isles and another dozen hybrids (note 1) and there are around 600 species of Ranunculus worldwide.

Previously, I’ve written about several other members of the Ranunculaceae on this blog, including Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa), Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) and Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna).

Many members of the Ranunculaceae contain the compound ranunculin, which is broken down enzymically when plant tissue is damaged into protoanemonin, which has an acrid taste and can cause a range of unpleasant symptoms including blistering of the skin and, when eaten in quantity, nausea, vomiting, liver damage and paralysis. Cooking or drying plants as straw breaks down the protoanemonin and makes it harmless.

Goldilocks Buttercup is a bit of an oddity. It lacks the acrid taste of other buttercups, suggesting it contains little or no ranunculin. This makes it more vulnerable to browsing than other buttercups.

Not a single species

Ranunculus auricomus is actually a collection of microspecies (also known as agamospecies), much like Dandelions (Taraxacum sp.) and Brambles (Rubus fruitcosus s.l.). The plants can reproduce sexually but they also reproduce by apomixis, where  pollination must take place for seed to form but there is no actual fertilisation. This results in offspring that are clones of the mother plant.

For convenience, we lump the plants together as Ranunculus auricomus but several hundred microspecies of Ranunculus auricomus have been described from the Continent and the 200 or so microspecies found in the British Isles are probably different from these (note 1). These differences presumably explain different habitat requirements.

Much work needs to be done to distinguish microspecies and their preferences. Individual colonies with particular characteristics could be lost due to climate change or destruction of habitat without us knowing.

What’s in a name?

Goldilocks Buttercup’s specific name, auricomus, means “golden hair” (from a compound of aurum meaning gold and coma meaning hair of the head). “Goldilocks” has been used to describe a person with bright yellow or golden hair since the mid-15th century and has been used as a name for buttercups since the 1570s.

There doesn’t seem to be any direct link between the plant and the well known children’s fairy tale, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. The fairy tale is an old one, first published in written form by Robert Southey in 1837. Earlier versions of the story feature the bears but the intruder who eats their porridge is an old woman. Goldilocks makes her first appearance in twelve years later, when writer Joseph Cundall changed the old woman into a little girl in his book Treasury of Pleasure Books for Young Children.

In Latin, rana is a frog and Ranunculus means “little frog”, perhaps because many buttercups prefer wetter habitats. (So I suppose the Ranunculaceae is the family of little frogs.)

All in all it’s a good excuse to include a photograph of one of our garden residents:

Common Frog, Rana temporaria

A little frog. (Common Frog, Rana temporaria.) Photograph by Vanna Bartlett.

Notes

Note 1 – The Fourth Edition of Clive Stace’s “New Flora of the British Isles“ (2019).

Note 2 – It’s all weather dependant but the sequence tends to start with Goldilocks Buttercup, followed by Bulbous (R. bulbosus), then Meadow (R. acris) and finally Creeping Buttercup (R. repens).