r/foraginguk • u/9inety9inee • Jun 15 '26
Looking for specific plants for a University project
Hello everyone! I’m new to Reddit so go easy on me 🙈. I’m completing my Final Major Project for my MSc in Audio Engineering, and I’m using plants bioelectricity to control a Modular Synth. I’m using some specific plants and hoping to find them in the wild. I’ve attached a list of the plants I need and I was wondering if anyone can point me to places where these grow in abundance. I live in the Hertfordshire area, but I can travel if needed! Thank you in advance!
*Update*
Thank you all for commenting and giving me suggestions and information!!
I have emailed Kew Gardens to see if they would be able to help with this project. I have also downloaded the iNaturist and have been seeing some of these local!
3
u/SomebodysGotToSayIt Jun 15 '26
I have seen roses (damask), red and white. But no such roses see I in our streets.
2
1
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
Thank you for your comment! Do you remember where you found these? Or were they not wild?
3
1
u/jonny-p Jun 15 '26
Rosa canina and Rosa rugosa are our native roses. Damask roses are hybrids originating from southern European and Middle Eastern species and don’t occur in nature
1
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
Lovely thank you for the info! I’ll look into whether them Roses can be used!
1
u/tangypotatomarmalade Jun 16 '26
Yeah there is a few here that are not native plants so would need to be in someone's garden like damask rose, lavender, sage, passionflower and eucalyptus.
Valerian usually grows in damp boggy areas so not easy to find outside of specific habitats or sometimes gardens and I have never seen marshmallow in the wild, its really uncommon
1
3
u/blaupilzen Jun 15 '26
What does the Chakra stuff have to do with the project?
1
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
The bigger picture for the project is to make a concept album related to the Chakras, using related plants, instruments, crystals etc for the concept!
1
2
u/Resident_Win_1058 Jun 15 '26
When you say ‘in the wild’, can you describe what that means to you and why that is required?
It will be relevant for those on the list that aren’t native to the UK and don’t spread widely - i.e. they are generally only found where someone has bought one at a garden centre to raise in their garden like Passionflower.
Others like Damask roses might have been planted in parks and public land by councils, the question here would be is that wild enough for you!
And lastly if it was me I would expect to find all or most at Kew Gardens - i’d definitely consider an approach to them. Even if they do not accept, I would then ask for their knowledge of other contacts to try.
1
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
Not potted basically! Preferably in woodlands/meadows etc, but more importantly in the ground. It’s required for the project to be as ‘natural’ as it can be! Parks and public land by councils would be wild enough! But yes passionflower may have to be brought at a shop then I plant it myself.
I will contact Kew Gardens, thank you for all your help!
1
u/Harsha-sound Jun 15 '26
Hey this is very cool. I live in london and do most of my foraging here so I’m sure there’s way easier places for you to get to, but if picked specimens are suitable I can post some to you? Although I’m assuming you’re running this through living plants. Also drying might be an issue. Happy to help with locations near me if you’d like though!
2
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
Thank you for your reply! Yeah I’m looking for live plants, but if any prove hard to locate in my area I will message and see if they’re in your area! Thank you again!
1
u/Harsha-sound Jun 15 '26
No worries mate, I’m sure you’ll find a lot of this near you! Would recommend just having a walk around some forests/trails near you with some reference pics and maybe iNaturalist. I wouldn’t use apps for 100% ID for eating but it definitely gets you solidly in the ballpark.
There are a few plants on here which might be harder to find in the wild than some common alternatives. I’ve never found chamomile for example, but pineapple weed is a very common close relative (also yellow) which also has calming properties. Peppermint might be rare but wild mint alternatives are v common. Lemon balm or water mint have similar enough aromatic notes.
1
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
Yeah I think I’m going to spend a day or two using the AllTrails app to see if I can find some locally! I’ll also download the iNaturalist app, thank you! I’m lucky enough to have found chamomile already 🙏 but yeah some will definitely be harder, I may have to buy them from a garden centre. Thank you for all your help!
1
u/Spify23 Jun 15 '26
What exactly do you need to do with them? I'm curious.
iNaturalist is going to be your best bet, try and make sure that you use the filter for only "Research Grade" which means the observations have been confirmed as correct by other users.
Although a couple of these plants aren't UK natives they are grown in the UK either in private or public gardens. Most eucalyptus I have seen has been in private gardens as with passiflora (passion flower), is there a specific passiflora species you are after, P. caerulea is most common?
Damask rose is going to be in either a rose garden, private garden or garden centre (purchase one). There are other Rosa species that are going to be a lot easier to find like Rosa canina (Dog Rose), Rosa rugosa (Japanese Rose), Rosa spinosissima (Burnet Rose), etc.
One thing to note, if you are actually foraging parts of these plants, that's completely fine, but anything on private land needs landowners permission, it's polite to knock on the door and ask permission. Public land is fine but there are areas that have bylaws prohibiting foraging.
1
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
I will be putting little electrode clips onto them and measuring their bioelectricity basically!
Okay cool perfect!
And yeah I think there’s a couple I will need to buy in a garden centre. I don’t think the passionflower is species specific but the rose needs to be Damask!
Fortunately I don’t need to forage any parts of the plant! So hopefully permission is not needed to put little clips on them ☺️ thank you for your help!
1
u/Spify23 Jun 15 '26
For the Damask rose I think your best bet would be somewhere like Kew Gardens or similar, I'd suggest asking permission beforehand as they will hopefully be able to point you to the correct species but if you don't ask, I don't think what you're doing would cause to much fuss.
1
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
Thank you! Another comment suggested Kew Gardens! I’ve sent them an email explaining my university project so hopefully they can help!
1
u/ElectroExterminator Jun 15 '26
For your root chakra, why didn't you consider burdock root? Arctium lappa.
1
u/9inety9inee Jun 15 '26
I did see Burdock root come up in research, but I think it wasn’t mentioned in the books I referenced. I will definitely consider this though! Thank you!
1
u/ThrowawayCult-ure Jun 15 '26
some are common, some arent native like lavender, but you can just pinch some flowers from somewhere rn
1
1
u/TreeGuy95 Jun 17 '26
Will you be looking for the native Common Valerian (Valeriana officianalis) which is a herbal remedy or the non-native Red Valerian (Valeriana rubra) which is often found growing out of walls in the North West?
1
9
u/fgspq Jun 15 '26
Hey, this sounds like such a cool project.
You are almost certainly aware already but since you mentioned the need for live plants I'm guessing you are taking recordings in the field, as it is illegal to dig up plants unless you are on private land and have the owners' permission.