Wildflower Walk by Matthew Wafer (Rang 4)

On the 11th May 2023 3rd and 4th classes went on a wildflower walk in Cahore with a specialist named Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh. Our principal Mr. Madden and teachers Ms. O’ Meara, Ms. Rooney and Ms. Byrne accompanied us. 

We met at the car park at Cahore South beach at nine am. The first flower we looked at was the blackberry flower. Aedín told us that in Inis Meáin they have a secret word for it, the word is ‘puiteachaí’ (pronounced pwitch-a-key). This is called so because of its squishy texture. People would also pull up the plant and carve a pipe out of the roots to smoke. They would also make the center of a sliotar with the roots! 

Next, we went on a bit further and saw a bluebell. She told us that in the olden days they would open the bluebell and a gooey liquid would come out and people used it as glue as it was really sticky. They would use it

for book binders and even longer ago they used it for the tip and bottom of an arrow. 

After that, we saw wild roses. She said they were called dog roses. She said that there were only two types of roses in the wild. 

Then I was used as an experiment to cure a nettle sting on my leg that I had gotten when I had accidentally walked through a patch of nettles. I chewed a leaf from a flower called a soldier, spat it out and rubbed it on my nettle sting. She said that they were better than doc leaves to cure nettle stings. I waited five minutes and the nettle sting disappeared, to my amazement it actually worked! 

Around halfway through the morning, we ventured into a field just off the cliff walk, we then saw the cuckoo flower. There is a story behind the cuckoo flower, the 

story is that whenever the cuckoo bird would start singing the cuckoo flower would bloom. Another story is that Holy Mary would get up early and pick these

flowers to make a shirt. That is why this flower is also called ‘Léine Mhuire’. 

After that we went into a corner of the field. She gave us something to eat. It was a white flower called three cornered leek and it tasted delicious! She told us the way to identify whether it is a three cornered leek or not is that the stem on a three cornered leek has three corners. 

Five minutes later, she told us about the hawthorn flower. The story goes that people would never bring it into their house because it was believed someone in the family would die soon after. She also told us that flies love the hawthorn plant because there is a chemical in hawthorn that emits a rotting meat scent which the flies can smell. 

After she left we ate our lunch on the rocks at the pier and saw people swimming in the sea. Then we walked back to school and saw lots of beautiful flowers on the way!

It was a really fun and cultural day. I hope she comes again!