The humble yarrow, purple knapweed, field scabious, thistles with bright purple heads, and St. John's wort with its clean-cut stars of burnished gold and its pellucid veins, form a natural border along the hedge, where wild clematis or traveller's joy entwines its rough leaf stalks round the young hazel branches and among the pink roses of the bramble.
"A Cotswold Village"
J. Arthur Gibbs
291 knapweed, the Lesser .
"Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure"
William Thomas Fernie
In Bucks young women make use of this knapweed for love divination:- "They pull the little blossom threads From out the Knotweed's button beads, And put the husk with many a smile In their white bosoms for a while; Then, if they guess aright, the swain Their love's sweet fancies try to gain, 'Tis said that ere it lies an hour 'Twill blossom with a second flower."
"Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure"
William Thomas Fernie