Mediterranean Hartwort

Description:

Pretty white flowers about 15 cm high, with umbellate clusters and within each cluster the outer petals are much larger.

Habitat:

This plant growing on the roadside, but widespread in cultivated areas.

Notes:

According to Hellmut Baumann in "Greek Wildflowers', Dioscorides indicated that those who suffered from kidney troubles were cured by an infusion of the stems in sweet wine drunk for ten days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tordylium says that the leaves are used as a vegetable in Greece.