Agrimonia eupatoria

This attractive plant, also a native weed, has large though ferny looking leaves and slender flowering spikes clad in small, rounded, golden yellow flower spikes during July and August. The calyx beneath each flower is covered in small bristled hairs, otherwise it is a softly hairy plant that is gently aromatic. The plant seeds itself by means of small hooked burrs that cling with fierce determination. At one time it was used as a remedy for haemorrhages when mixed with frogs and human blood. This preparation has been discontinued in modern medicine. Used in the wild garden it is attractive to bees and flies. It stands up to 60cm (2ft) high