Creeping Jenny – as its common name implies, is a vigorous prostrate mat-forming plant with broadly oval leaves paired against the stem, often with glands.  It has attractive cup-shaped yellow flowers and makes a good evergreen ground cover as well as surviving in damp areas of lawn. It spreads indefinitely by stem rooting, like bramble. It was first recorded very early by Turner in 1548.1.  Common names include moneywort and herb twopence – referring (as does the Latin species name) to its coin-like leaves.
 
Culpeper considered “Moneywort is singularly good to stay all fluxes in man or woman, whether they be lasks (diarrhoea), bloody-fluxes (dysentery), bleeding inwardly or outwardly, or the weakness of the stomach that is given to casting”.2.  It isn’t used today.
 
As well as in borders and lawns, creeping Jenny’s evergreen trailing habit makes it an excellent plant for perennial hanging baskets. The cultivar “aurea” has the RHS’s prestigious Award of Garden Merit.
 
It seems to support only three invertebrate species, a mite an aphid and the sawfly Monostegia abdominalis which is more commonly seen on the closely related (but very different looking) yellow loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris.3.
 
References
 
1.  Pearman, D. (2017). The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland, A compilation of the first records for 1670 species and aggregates, covering Great Britain, Ireland, The Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland. p266
 
2.  Culpeper’s Complete Herbal ed. Steven Foster (2019) Sterling New York p.158-9
 
3.  See the biological Record Centre database  
 
 
 
Page written by Camilla Lambrick, compiled by Steve Head
Creeping Jenny Lysimachia nummularia
 
Family: Primulaceae Primrose family
Perennial to 10 cm tall, spreading
Flowering – June – August
Soil  - moist soils, neutral
Sun  -  Full sun or partial shade
 
Creeping Jenny Lysimachia nummularia
 
Family: Primulaceae Primrose family
Perennial to 10 cm tall, spreading
Flowering – June – August
Soil  - moist soils, neutral
Sun  -  Full sun or partial shade
 
Creeping Jenny – as its common name implies, is a vigorous prostrate mat-forming plant with broadly oval leaves paired against the stem, often with glands.  It has attractive cup-shaped yellow flowers and makes a good evergreen ground cover as well as surviving in damp areas of lawn. It spreads indefinitely by stem rooting, like bramble. It was first recorded very early by Turner in 1548.1.  Common names include moneywort and herb twopence – referring (as does the Latin species name) to its coin-like leaves.
 
Culpeper considered “Moneywort is singularly good to stay all fluxes in man or woman, whether they be lasks (diarrhoea), bloody-fluxes (dysentery), bleeding inwardly or outwardly, or the weakness of the stomach that is given to casting”.2.  It isn’t used today.
 
As well as in borders and lawns, creeping Jenny’s evergreen trailing habit makes it an excellent plant for perennial hanging baskets. The cultivar “aurea” has the RHS’s prestigious Award of Garden Merit.
 
It seems to support only three invertebrate species, a mite an aphid and the sawfly Monostegia abdominalis which is more commonly seen on the closely related (but very different looking) yellow loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris.3.
 
References
 
1.  Pearman, D. (2017). The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland, A compilation of the first records for 1670 species and aggregates, covering Great Britain, Ireland, The Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland. p266
 
2.  Culpeper’s Complete Herbal ed. Steven Foster (2019) Sterling New York p.158-9
 
3.  See the biological Record Centre database http://www.brc.ac.uk/dbif/hostsresults.aspx?hostid=3263
 
 
 
 
Page written by Camilla Lambrick, compiled by Steve Head
Creeping Jenny – as its common name implies, is a vigorous prostrate mat-forming plant with broadly oval leaves paired against the stem, often with glands.  It has attractive cup-shaped yellow flowers and makes a good evergreen ground cover as well as surviving in damp areas of lawn. It spreads indefinitely by stem rooting, like bramble. It was first recorded very early by Turner in 1548.1.  Common names include moneywort and herb twopence – referring (as does the Latin species name) to its coin-like leaves.
 
Culpeper considered “Moneywort is singularly good to stay all fluxes in man or woman, whether they be lasks (diarrhoea), bloody-fluxes (dysentery), bleeding inwardly or outwardly, or the weakness of the stomach that is given to casting”.2.  It isn’t used today.
 
As well as in borders and lawns, creeping Jenny’s evergreen trailing habit makes it an excellent plant for perennial hanging baskets. The cultivar “aurea” has the RHS’s prestigious Award of Garden Merit.
 
It seems to support only three invertebrate species, a mite an aphid and the sawfly Monostegia abdominalis which is more commonly seen on the closely related (but very different looking) yellow loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris.3.
 
References
 
1.  Pearman, D. (2017). The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland, A compilation of the first records for 1670 species and aggregates, covering Great Britain, Ireland, The Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland. p266
 
2.  Culpeper’s Complete Herbal ed. Steven Foster (2019) Sterling New York p.158-9
 
3.  See the biological Record Centre database 
 
 
 
Page written by Camilla Lambrick, compiled by Steve Head
           Garden Wildplants
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