An ancient remedy for kidney stones, ruptures and the like, the dried plant was to be taken with a glass of wine. This is totally unproven unlike some ancient herbal remedies so there are no redeeming features for this unglamorous, prostrate, green plant with tiny, greenish yellowy flowers. It is supposed to be rare even on Guernsey but we did find it in other places than L'Ancresse. It's probably not rare though - it's just such a boring little plant that no-one looks for it.
The other sub-species ssp subciliata lives on Jersey and is a Channel Islands endemic - thank goodness we didn't know where it was.
Guernsey, L'Ancresse Common 19th June 2004
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Amended on January 27th 2005