Parish Magazine God’s Acre Content – May 2026

Here we go gathering nuts in May…

One of the joys of exploring a churchyard, chapel yard or cemetery can be the small, unobtrusive plants that you may find. Pignut is one of these. This plant has light, feathery leaves, looking like those found on a carrot top and you may find a near carpet of them in an old churchyard in the spring. It flowers in April and May, producing small, white flowers in clusters that are known as umbels. In fact, Pignut is a member of the umbellifer family, the same plant family as the more familiar carrot, cow parsley and fennel, but unlike its relatives, it is small, the leaves low to the ground and the flower on an upright stem of about 30cm.  

Pignut has several names referring to the dark brown tubers found on its roots. Ground-nut, Cat-nut, Earth-nut, Earth-chestnut and the less obvious Jog-journals. Pignuts were dug up and eaten raw or cooked, when they taste like parsnips.

Pignut is a plant of undisturbed, flowery grassland which is often found within burial grounds as burial grounds, unlike surrounding the surrounding landscape, have seen little change, consistent management and are relatively chemical free. Pignut is also found within woodland, in glades and sunnier spots. Again, burial grounds suit it well, having a mosaic light and shade creating different habitats.

So what of the nursery rhyme, Here we go gathering nuts in May, on a cold and frosty morning? Pignut leaves wither and disappear in late spring and, although the flowering stem with seedheads remains visible, the lack of leaves make Pignut plants hard to spot. The time of year to gather them is May, as opposed to other kinds of nut which are harvested in autumn. Another interpretation of the nursery rhyme is that it is a corruption of Here we go gathering knots of May, May being another name for Hawthorn. A knot is an old name for a bunch of flowers and Hawthorn flowers in April when frosts are more likely to occur so that makes sense of the cold and frosty morning.

We would love to know which churchyards, chapel yards and cemeteries contain pignut, in part because this unobtrusive little plant is indicative of species-rich grassland, a habitat which has declined by a staggering 97% since the 1930s. Please take a photograph using the iNaturalist app if you are a smart phone user. If not, use a field guide to check the identification, then send us an email.

All the best,

Harriet Carty
Diocesan Churchyard Environmental Advisor

www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk  – individuals and groups in the diocese receive 20% members discount on all CfGA materials. Use the discount code diomem22