Traveller's Joy | Plant Information

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Ranunculales

Family:

Ranunculaceae (Buttercup)

Also in this family:

Adderstongue Spearwort, Alpine Meadow-rue, Balkan Anemone, Baneberry, Blue Anemone, Brackish Water Crowfoot, Bulbous Buttercup, Celery-leaved Buttercup, Chalk-stream Water Crowfoot, Columbine, Common Meadow-rue, Common Water Crowfoot, Corn Buttercup, Creeping Buttercup, Creeping Spearwort, Fan-leaved Water Crowfoot, Globeflower, Goldilocks Buttercup, Greater Spearwort, Green Hellebore, Hairy Buttercup, Hybrid Monkshood, Hybrid Spearwort, Hybrid Water Crowfoot, Ivy-leaved Crowfoot, Larkspur, Lesser Celandine, Lesser Meadow-rue, Lesser Spearwort, Love-in-a-Mist, Marsh Marigold, Meadow Buttercup, Monkshood, Mountain Clematis, Mousetail, New Forest Crowfoot, Pasque Flower, Pheasant's Eye, Pond Water Crowfoot, River Water Crowfoot, Rough-fruited Buttercup, Round-leaved Crowfoot, Small-flowered Buttercup, St. Martin's Buttercup, Stinking Hellebore, Thread-leaved Water Crowfoot, Three-lobed Crowfoot, Virgin's Bower, Winter Aconite, Wolfsbane, Wood Anemone, Yellow Anemone

Type:

Deciduous shrub

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

30 metres spread

Habitats:

Grassland, hedgerows, riverbanks, roadsides, sand dunes, scrub, seaside, wasteland, woodland.

Flower:

White, 4 petals

Greyish-white plumes which give the plant it's alternative common name of 'Old Man's Beard'.

Fruit:

An achene. The fruits have long, woolly white appendages attached. These persist throughout the winter.

Leaves:

Our only climber with opposite, pinnate leaves. Sometimes the leaflets are toothed. Individual leaflets can reach as much as 10cm in length. Deciduous.

Aroma:

Slightly pungent.

Other Names:

Beggar's Plant, Bind-with, Biting Clematis, Boy's Bacca, Devil's Twine, Father Christmas, Hedge Vine, Lady's Bower, Love, Maiden's Hair, Maiden's Honesty, Old Man, Old Man's Beard, Smoke Weed, Smoke Wood, Smoking Cane, Virgin's Bower, White Vine, Wild Clematis.

Frequency (UK):

Common

Similar Species:

Virgin's Bower