Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver'

Lamium maculatum L. Lamiaceae Spotted deadnettle, spotted henbit. The cultivar 'Beacon Silver' originated in the garden of a customer of the horticulturist Beth Chatto and given to her in 1976 (Beth Chatto Gardens website, 2013). Herbaceous perennial. Distribution: Europe, western Asia. This is the Lamium foliis maculatis, Archangel with spotted leaves, of Parkinson (1640), drunk with wine 'for the obstructions and hardness of the spleene' and the flowers are 'thought good to make the heart merry, to drive away melancholy, and to quicken the spirits.' Mixed with Hog's lard it was used topically for the King's Evil [tuberculous lymph nodes in the neck] and for gout and sciatica. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.