PINION was always divided. Some saw the wild climber known as old man’s beard as the Devil’s plant, because it sought to choke others. The ‘old man’ was Satan himself and regional names for it included Devil’s guts, Devil’s twine and hag rope. Early Christians, however, said the plant had sheltered the Holy Family on their flight into Egypt, variously referring to it as virgin’s bower, lady’s bower, maiden’s hair and shepherd’s delight. Most famously, perhaps, it was known as traveller’s joy, a name quoted by John Gerard in his 1597, where he enthused that ‘it maketh in winter a goodly shew, covering the hedges white
