London Pride Saxifraga x urbium
The rockery in the Physic Garden is a relatively new development, and some of the species have been chosen for their ability to fill it out quickly, as they can cope with its shallow soils and shade: it is located under our huge Sycamore. Thriving happily in this situation alongside the ferns and sempervivums is London Pride, Saxifraga x urbium, once a feature of many cottage gardens but now considered ‘old-fashioned’. Its hardiness may be one of its most useful features in the rockery, but it is ornamental in miniature: its thin stems bear many delicate pale pink flowers above a thick evergreen rosette of scallop-edged leaves.
London Pride is a cultivated hybrid of two European wild saxifrages (clue: the x in its botanical name). The two parents are Saxifraga spathularis, found in western Europe from Ireland to Spain, and Saxifraga umbrosa, a native of the central Pyrenees mountains. Their offspring is famous not so much for its fragile beauty, but for its ability to survive in unpromising environments and even thrive on neglect. It was said to be one of the first flowers to colonise bomb-sites after the London Blitz (1940-41), although this was not the origin of its common name, which had been known since at least 1700. Other common names, some of which are also used for other saxifrages, include St Patrick’s Cabbage, Whimsey, Prattling Parnell, and ‘Look up and Kiss me’.
There are about 440 Saxifraga species across the world, growing in widely diverse habitats, including the Arctic tundra and Mediterranean islands. All saxifrages, though they may tolerate full sun and also drought, generally prefer shade, and thin soils, so most of them are found in mountainous regions, growing on gravelly or rocky soils in sheltered places.
In the garden London Pride is easy to propagate – simply pull up one of the thick rosettes with root attached (known as a stolon or runner) and put it where you want it to spread. It will cope when you forget to water it, it is rarely affected by pests and diseases, it will survive the worst winter – and produce a flurry of flowers just when you’d forgotten it was there.
Medicinal Uses
The botanical name Saxifraga derives ultimately from two Latin words, saxum (stone or rock) and frangere (to break). Dioscorides, a Greek doctor who published a medical textbook in the first century AD, used the term to describe a plant we now know as Saxifraga granulata, which has kidney-shaped leaves and small stone-like nodules in the roots. From his era, and into medieval times, there was a belief that the appearance of plants indicated their medicinal properties, so it was prescribed for kidney stones. (This belief came to be termed ‘Doctrine of Signatures’). However, I have been unable to find a reputable source for any other medicinal uses.
NOTE: Frequent website mentions of herbal remedies based on Pimpinella saxifraga or Burnet Saxifrage are misleading: the plant they refer to is neither a Burnet nor a Saxifrage!
Myth and Magic
Perhaps the Doctrine of Signatures belongs here? Try this link for more information: https://healthyhildegard.com
And although this isn’t a myth, it’s a nice story:
William Walsham How, a Victorian bishop, hymn-writer and poet, was also a keen naturalist with an interest in British Flora. He wrote several poems about specific flowers, including a rebuke to this one for having the sin of pride. He was then told that the name was because Londoners were proud of it, so he wrote a second poem in apology, that ends “Oh, humble Pride! Thy just revenge forego, And in my London garden come and blow.”
Acknowledgments – thanks to the following for much information
https://Rhs.org.uk
https://Thepinkwheelbarrow.com
https://alpinegardensociety.net
Wikimedia commons for the image on the plant finder page
