Jul 122015
This pretty yellow flower grows abundantly in the dunes adjacent to Connemara’s beaches. I have photographed it at the Coral beach near Carraroe, and at Fountainhill near Claddaghduff, as well as in the Connemara National Park. All of the bedstraws (most of which are white), have a pleasant smell like newly-mown hay, and were once used to stuff mattresses. Legend has it that Lady’s bedstraw was used in the mattress of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, which is how it got its name as well as its colour!