Genji, in his poem, names the murasaki or purple gromwell, because its color resembles the color of the wisteria (in Japanese, fuji) thereby obliquely referring to Fujitsubo, "the Lady of the Wisteria Court", a woman he is violently in love with for the first part of the novel.
Two nationally rare plants occur at Rodney Stoke: Purple Gromwell (Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum) and the endemic Whitebeam (Sorbus anglica).