The flowers are quite small on P. vulgaris but can be plentiful. This is the sort of plant you notice when you've paused to rest on a sunny hillside in late spring or early summer. When I first noticed it on the valley slopes in Cressbrookdale, I found a pale blue one like this. Then I found a pink one and wondered to my colleagues if it was another sub species. Then I found a purple one, a mauve one and a white one. This glorious little plant can be all of these colours and various shades in between and it is still the same plant.
The English name comes from an interpretation of the writings of Pedanius Discorides a botanist in Nero's army who wrote much about the uses of plants. He wrote that this plant was believed to make milk more abundant although he didn't say whether he meant the milk from nursing mothers or cow's milk. So in the days of herbal medicine milkwort was prescribed for nursing mothers.
In Galway they believed that faries made lather from the roots and leaves of this plant hence its Irish name Fairy Soap.
Great Orme 17th May 2004
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Added on December 5th 2004