Typhoo Tea - Wild Flowers in their Families
Issued in 1937 in the UK, the Wild Flowers in their Families 25-card (2nd series) set of Typhoo tea cards features a genus of wildflowers with labeled drawings and descriptions for each flower. The colorful flowers and weeds are shown on a pale yellow background. The back of each card features an advertisement for the “Coronation Year” Fountain Pen. The first Wild Flowers in their Families series was issued in 1936, featuring a pale blue background. Both sets of wildflower cards served as reference guides for flowers and quickly became collector’s items.
No. 1 – CONIFER FAMILY (Coniferae)
Juniper: locally plentiful on dry soils; leaves stiff and sharp pointed; used in making gin. Scotch Fir: wild in the highland forests of Scotland, planted and self-sown in England; needle-leaves in pairs. Yew: in woods on limestone soils; commonly found in churchyards.
No. 5 – MALLOW FAMILY (Malvaceae)
Common Mallow: common in waste places on all kinds of soils in England, rarer to absent in Scotland. Musk Mallow: bushy places and hedgerows; most abundant in the south-west and absent in northern Scotland; flowers delicate pink, rarely white. Dwarf Mallow: a low-growing plant on waste places; flowers pale mauve.
No. 16 – DEADNETTLE FAMILY (Labiatae)
Bugle: common in damp woodland; creeps by long runners; flowers blue, pink, or white. Hedge Woundwort: nasty smelling plant of hedges and woodland; leaves softly hairy. Self-Heal: found in short pastures and on heaths. Wood Sage: common in sandy and stony places in the open or in scrub; rootstock long and creeping.
No. 18 – PERISCARIA FAMILY (Polygonaceae)
Sorrel: a common plant of poor pastures, also found on mountains; male and female flowers on different plants. Spotted Persicaria: annual weed abundant on waste land; leaves with central dark blotch. Curled Dock: found in waste places and on sea shores; leaves with wavy margins. Bindweed: common twining weed of cultivated land.
No. 24 – IRIS FAMILY (Iridaceae)
Yellow Flag: abundant in wet meadows and marshes; drooping sepals either entirely yellow or with prominent purplish veins; seeds brownish. Gladdon: chiefly in copses and hedgerows, commoner in the west of England, only naturalized in parts of Scotland; with disagreeable odour on bruising; seeds orange-red.