Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: johnralphcarpenter on January 18, 2014, 08:08:56 PM
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Flowering today on a roadside verge in Hogben's Hill, North Downs, Kent, this looks like White Butterbur, Petasites albus. Flowering in January?
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Is it not winter heliotrope Petasites fragrans? White butterbur flowers tend to appear later in the spring and ahead of the leaves which are not as rounded as these. Both plants are invasive aliens which can swamp native species.
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Could well be, although it wasn't fragrant. Certainly invasive, it covers the road verge for some 100 yards.
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Winter heliotrope is even a pest in parts of the Dandenongs east of Melbourne where it can form an impenetrable verge along the roadside! I remember mistaking it for Colt's Foot and introducing it into my parents garden when I was a teenager - thank goodness it is susceptible to Glyphosate! :-[
I once saw a planting plan made by a "highly respected" landscaper for a friend's new garden in Williamstown, a bayside suburb, where she'd recommended using Petasites fragrans as a groundcover! :o
cheers
fermi
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British Rail were going to spray weed killer to get rid of the white butterbur's larger relative along the railway embankments in Falkirk, until an ecologist pointed out that perhaps the roots were helping to keep the embankments stable.
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Very wet and windy walk on the North Downs yesterday, but lots of snowdrops.
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Bluebell time is early here in Kent; Nooketts Wood near Goodnestone.
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Allium ursinum, wild garlic, growing in Loverswalk Wood, Goodnestone, Kent. Leaves make excellent soup, on the hob at the moment.
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Took a walk in the woods near Appledore, Kent yesterday. In Rushfield Wood the bluebells were magnificent.
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More...
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Bluebells really do give blue "haze" don't they. Perfect.
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Let's see if this works: video of bluebell wood - http://youtu.be/BpChNWGPQZY (http://youtu.be/BpChNWGPQZY)
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yup, that works just fine. 8)
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yup, that works just fine. 8)
Almost like being there ;D
cheers
fermi
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"The World, according to the best geographers, is divided into Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Romney Marsh".
(Rev. R Barham, writing as Thomas Ingoldsby, in The Ingoldsby Legends,1840s). Here is wild yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus) growing on The Marsh.
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The Uists are covered in this glorious species but a little way off flowering yet.
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Wallflowers growing in the wall of Beeston Castle, Cheshire.
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Found this Spindleberry, Euonymous europaeus, growing at the edge of a wood between Pluckley and Charing in Kent today. Much easier to recognise in the autumn with its distinctive pink fruit.
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Not a wildflower and not British, but there is a magnificent stand of three Sweet Chestnut trees, Castanea sativa, beside a footpath through an orchard between Pluckley and Little Chart. We walk here often and these trees are impressive whatever the season.
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Blackstonia perfoliata taken on July 2nd on a derelict industrial site. It was on a narrow piece of land sandwiched between the Manchester Ship Canal and the northern limit of the River Weaver Navigation with the Mersey estuary visible on the other side of the Ship Canal. I don't think this plant is found in Scotland, and I last saw it in the Pyrenees.
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According to Clapham, Tutin and Warburg (1951) Blackstonia perfoliata was found in Kirkcudbright.
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... It was on a narrow piece of land sandwiched between the Manchester Ship Canal and the northern limit of the River Weaver Navigation with the Mersey estuary visible on the other side of the Ship Canal. ...
Gosh, that brings back distant memories. I used to go birdwatching there and the nearby Frodsham Marsh. It was reckoned that if you fell in the Manchester Ship Canal, you would dissolve. ::)
Chris
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The machair is looking rather fine at the moment, with good colour across the cropped and fallow areas.
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Matt, that picture is "a picture" - so to speak! 8)
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Gosh, that brings back distant memories. I used to go birdwatching there and the nearby Frodsham Marsh. It was reckoned that if you fell in the Manchester Ship Canal, you would dissolve. ::)
Chris
Yes, Chris, I can quite believe it, but things have changed. I was talking to a lock keeper, and he said the Weaver Navigation was the 3rd most polluted river in Europe and the atmosphere too was one of the most polluted. There are still some chemical plants in place, but they have cleaned up their act. I was on a canal hotel boat holiday - we spent a night moored alongside the Frodsham marshes, - very rural and out of site of any industry.
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According to Clapham, Tutin and Warburg (1951) Blackstonia perfoliata was found in Kirkcudbright.
Not according to the 1997 edition of Stace, Anthony. Another wild flower bitten the dust in the intervening years North of the border maybe? Can anyone confirm?
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Is this any help?
Hectad map of Blackstonia perfoliata (Yellow-wort) in GB and Ireland
http://www.bsbimaps.org.uk/atlas/map_page.php?spid=243.0 (http://www.bsbimaps.org.uk/atlas/map_page.php?spid=243.0)
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Thanks, Maggi, - it looks as though we have lost it. And I see that a single blue dot (2010) possibly marks the spot of the ones I found near the Mersey estuary. They were plenty in that one small area. Also in the same spot were lots of Centaurium, - I would like to think C. littorale as we were close to the estuary, but I didn't have my flower book, and couldn't remember the distinguishing features to differentiate it from the more common C. erythraea.
Matt, - I love your machair picture.
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Bentham and Hooker (my 1947 edition was revised in 1924) says "in Britain, limited to England, where it is local, also in Ireland".
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Read Andy Byfield's latest blog, on orchids seeding and the menace of early verge cutting here (http://loveplantlife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/114-million-orchids-in-slipstreams-of.html?utm_content=buffer78fa0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)
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Orchid seen near Tenterden, Kent last month; Orchis purpurea possibly?
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Spotted this hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium with two umbels in full flower during a dog walk on 27 December 2014.
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John, I have only just found this thread. I think your orchid is common spotted, sorry.
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Marsh pea, lathyrus palustris, img 3420. An exotic orchid? Large-flowered hemp-nettle, galeopsis speciosa img 3285.
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Img 3996, if only it was an alpine, but what is it? Img 2597, greater bladderwort, utricularia vulgaris.
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img 3996 Cymbalaria muralis - Ivy-leaved Toadflax
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changing the name of this thread ....
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Right Maggi, I will have to try harder.
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To me seeing the first flowers of Ranunculus Ficaria, Lesser Celandine is a sure sign that spring is here. These are growing on a grass verge near the house, in a week or so the grass verge will be a mass of golden goblets. Sorry about the flowery talk, ive taken a leaf out of Carol klein's flowery talk book.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7652/16331646684_5aab7d0fec.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qTaXzf)image (https://flic.kr/p/qTaXzf) by johnstephen29 (https://www.flickr.com/people/126223196@N05/), on Flickr
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8755/16767802389_9c52142097.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rxHntc)image (https://flic.kr/p/rxHntc) by johnstephen29 (https://www.flickr.com/people/126223196@N05/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7632/16333933653_7c31a0862f.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qTnFpK)image (https://flic.kr/p/qTnFpK) by johnstephen29 (https://www.flickr.com/people/126223196@N05/), on Flickr
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OK John, no more flowery talk. This plants common name is corpse flower. It was thought to grow from buried bodies.
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Should be OK for nutrients then ;)
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I'll try and control myself Ian ;)
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Hello John, if you have joined my list of enemies you will be at the end of a long list. ;D
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Oh right are you that unpopular Ian? ;D
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On the way back from town yesterday I noticed that Cochlearia danica is flowering along the central reservation of the dual carriageway. It is so tiny there is just a mat of colour not noticeable as a plant unless you are stuck in slow moving traffic which is when I discovered it many years ago. When I was in Gothenburg 3 years ago I noticed their salt tolerant plant along the dual carriageways is Armeria maritima which is much showier.
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Not flowers but ferns, growing in oak woodland near Loch Lomond.
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wild flowers in the garden, and in fact everywhere around now Ranunuculus ficaria is flowering.
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Bluebells, bluebells, bluebells..... The pictures do not convey the full spectacle.
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and more bluebells...
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Ralph, thank you so much for your pictures.
The bluebells are simply great.
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A wonderful stand of Primula veris above the east portal of Britain's highest and longest canal tunnel at Standedge in Yourkshire. Taken a week ago.
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Drosera rotundifolia at Hothfield National Nature Reserve in Kent.
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Have you seen them in flower, Ralph? They're charming ;)
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No Trond, must look out for that.
A couple more from Hothfield National Nature Reserve: Ornithogalum umbellatum, I think, and Aquilegia vulgaris.
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Are these garden escapees Ralph, rather than natives?
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According to The Hamlyn Guide to Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe, Ornithogalum umbellatum is found in "grassy areas. Local in England, more so in Wales and Scotland. Prefers porous loamy soil and rich in nutrients in light or semi-shady locations."
Aquilegia vulgaris, Columbine, is found in "damp woodland, fens, wet meadows; native and naturalized; local and rare."
Whether the Hothfield plants are native, naturalized or garden escapees, I know not.
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Very interesting. It reminds me how islands further out in the Atlantic have progressively smaller floras.
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Is Ornithogalum umbellatum a synonym for O. angustifolium?
Ornithogalum is found naturalized in Norway too. I remember it as a weed in light sandy soil and on rocky outcrops in my grandma's summer garden. I have some in my garden now. Both names have been used for the Norwegian plants. They are old garden plants at the south and southwest coast and probably ballast plants as well.
They're not yet in flower now so this is from another year.
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I thought this was just a clump of grass in an utility area of the garden (where I store bags of compost etc.), until my wife spotted the flowers. Lathyrus sylvestris, I believe, possible var. angustifolia.
Not L. syvestris, but L. nissolia - see replies below.
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Hi Ralph, I'm not sure that your plant has the 'winged' stems of L. sylvestris? Could it be the grass vetchling, L. nissolia? The first time I saw this plant was in a meadow sward where it was difficult to identify the vegetative plants that the flowers were attached to, so grass-like are they.
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Could well be, Matt. L. sylvestris was my best guess, but L. nissolia looks more likely. Any idea how rare/common it is?
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More on L. nissolia. Neither of my wildflower field guides mentions it, but (my hero) Richard Mabey does in his Flora Britannica: " Grass Vetchling, Lathyrus nissolia, is a great favourite with botanists, perhaps because of its unpredictable occurrence and the difficulty of finding it amongst the long grass that its foliage resembles. It is a medium-tall annual cropping up on old pastures, rough waysides and marshland edges. It has one or two brilliant crimson flowers on long stalks, so Geoffrey Grigson coined for it the name 'crimson shoe'".
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In The Wild Flower Key, Rose states:
Grass Vetchling L. nissolia, resembles a grass superficially when not in fl but lf-base does not enclose stem. Erect, hairless ann, 20-30 cm, with lvs composed of phyllodes (broad, grasslike midribs only) with no lflts; stipules tiny at base, tendrils abs[ent]. Fls bright crimson-red, 15 cm, erect, 1-2 together on long stalks; pod 30-50 x 2-3 mm, straight, hairless, pale brown when ripe. S Eng: Devon to Lincs o-vla [occasional - very locally abundant] especially near sea in SE; r [rare] scattered elsewhere; Ire abs; gsld, scrub on ± basic, heavy soils. Fl 5-7 [May-July]
This is actually my favourite native grassland plant. I've seen it in a cattle-grazed pasture on heavy clay soil overlying chalk close to the Thames Estuary in Essex.
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I love it when plants just arrive in the garden of their own accord (well, most of them). This has appeared in a half barrel full of water loving iris. ID please!
ID suggested 18th June: Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Common spotted Orchid).
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Today at Flanders Moss near Thornhill, west of Stirling:
1. Erica tetralix - Cross leaved heath
2. Drosera rotundifolia - round leaved sundew
3 & 4 Vaccinium oxycoccus - Cranberry
5. Habitat
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Bulb Log 26 -2015 This week in nature -Scottish wildflowers from the SRGC 2015 "Golspie Expedition "
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2015Jul011435747890BULB_LOG_2615comp.pdf (http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2015Jul011435747890BULB_LOG_2615comp.pdf)
Video supplement to Bulb Log 26 - Primula scotica http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2015Jul011435747890BULB_LOG_2615comp.pdf (http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2015Jul011435747890BULB_LOG_2615comp.pdf)
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Today at Flanders Moss near Thornhill, west of Stirling:
1. Erica tetralix - Cross leaved heath
2. Drosera rotundifolia - round leaved sundew
3 & 4 Vaccinium oxycoccus - Cranberry
5. Habitat
Oh my, that is definitely an area which I would call " boggy-boggy, sink-sink" - which was my childhood description of such wet, marshy areas. ::) My Mum had told me at some point - keep out of there - it's a bog, you'll sink" - so boggy-boggy, sink-sink such places became! :)
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I would be looking for large heath butterflies. 8)
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Anthony, I only saw a fleeting glimpse of one butterfly despite it being a hot sunny day. Maggi, you needn't sink here, there is a circular board walk. There was one section where you could go "off piste" as it were, with stepping stones and warnings not to go off them. You felt much more in tune with the Moss on this, but yes, it also brought home the dangers of disregarding the warnings.
A few more pics:
1, 2 &3. Taken from the information boards. The tall 5m. post in No 2 shows the height of the peat 200 years ago before it was removed to create farming land. In No. 4 the stripes are where former drainage channels have been filled in as part of the restoration of the Moss.
I have since discovered but not yet been to Blawhorn Moss, here in W. Lothian. It is smaller than Flanders Moss, but has the largest area of original habitat of all the Mosses, i.e. not drained for "improvement" and turned into farming land.
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Patrick is doing a lot of field surveys this week and yesterday discovered this perfectly double form of Ranunculus acris.
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The ungrazed parts of the machair are quite spectacular now. This was taken at the weekend on a visit to Berneray.
Main flowers visible:
Charlock (Sinapis arvensis)
Long-headed Poppy (Papaver dubium)
White Clover (Trifolium repens)
Sea Mayweed (Tripleurospermum maritimum)
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Lovely, Matt - the Machair is one of my favourite habitats.
I have just been sent a link to a couple of items on orchids from the BBC website which will interest Forumists:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33652194 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33652194)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-33607289 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-33607289)
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Anthony, there have been many large heath here. They are about over now though.
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On Tiptree heath, I found this little one. Its Polygala serpyllifolia. It has colonized where the parish council has cut down all the Gorse Bushes.
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Some shots of an interesting form of Anthyllis vulneraria (kidney vetch) that grows on and near the dunes on Anglesey, N Wales. I collected some seed last year and here is the result. It has sort of buff-coloured flowers that develop this attractive reddish-pink flush.
Tristan
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Here are some plants (alpines even!) that grow near us on the edge of Snowdonia
[attach=1]
Parsley fern, Cryptogramma crispa
[attach=2]
Stagshorn Clubmoss, Lycopodium clavatum
[attach=3]
[attach=4]
Common butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris
Tristan
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An especially nice little natural " rock garden" in the Parsley fern, Cryptogramma crispa, photo.
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Not as natural as you might think Maggi! It's a stable scree created by spoil from the former slate quarry at Moel Tryfan (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Rhosgadfan,+Caernarfon,+Gwynedd+LL54/@53.0849393,-4.2145011,1989m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4865a6834b01fdc1:0x1593e9b89ebc38b4?hl=en) (don't know if you saw the BBC series Snowdonia 1890, but this was set around this quarry).
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Ha Ha! So, "man-made" then! I have not seen the programme you mention.
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Round leaved sundew with flower, not open due to rain. On local patch today.
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Cephalanthera longifolia, narrow leaved helleborine.
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I need a better camera! Went for a walk yesterday on the White Cliffs between Dover and Folkestone, taking advantage of the absence of Operation Stack, at least for the time being. The first part of the walk from Capel Le Ferne involved a steep zigzag descent into the temperate jungle that is the Folkestone Warren, a large undercliff area densely wooded and rich in plant species, including a Buddleja forest. Parts of The Warren are a huge natural fernery, seemingly liking the jumble of loose chalk that passes for soil. See http://www.whitecliffscountryside.org.uk/index.php?id_sec=1132&id_sub=1132. (http://www.whitecliffscountryside.org.uk/index.php?id_sec=1132&id_sub=1132.)
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Having battled through the dense undergrowth for a mile or so we then ascended another very steep zigzag path back to the top of the cliffs and the main footpath between Folkestone and Dover. In part this follows a cycle route called the Chalk and Channel Way. We walked along the top of Abbots Cliff for a way before retracing out steps to Capel Le Ferne. Lots of plants here too, most of which I could identify - masses of Restharrow, Oregano, etc etc, but we found one single lone clump of something which puzzled us. And this is where I get to the bit about needing a better camera. Damned autofocus. So here are two out of focus pictures of the mystery plant. Around 5cm high, flowers bright pink with prominent yellow anthers, around 1cm across, cluster of flowers surrounded by yet to open deep pink bullet shaped buds, leave lanceolate and opposite, tightly gripping stem. My best guess is Centaurium species. Anyone have any suggestions?
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How lush the growth is in your first two photos there, Ralph - lovely.
I'd plump for Centaurium erythraea - but I'm not sure about the species.
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Either Centaurium erythraea or littoralis I think.
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Confess not sure about differences between C. erythraea and Centaurium littorale :-\
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Just found that Centaurium pulchellum is found in that part of Kent
http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/Kent%27s%20Wildlife%20Book.pdf (http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/Kent%27s%20Wildlife%20Book.pdf)
re C. pulchellum ... " It differs from Centaurium erythraea by lacking basal rosette of leaves and by having a developed peduncle below the flowers."
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Just a few snaps from recent outings on the Uists.
First some wildflowers seen on a hike up Eaval, North Uist a couple of weeks ago:
Anagallis tenella
Thymus polytrichus
Solidago virgaurea
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And from Berneray this weekend:
Ophioglossum (probably O. vulgatum)
Coeloglossum viride - later than I've ever known them to flower
Daucus carota - with a very attractive dark pink flush
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Hello Matt, a good photo of A. tenella. I have never seen it or must have overlooked it when not in flower.
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Hello Matt, a good photo of A. tenella. I have never seen it or must have overlooked it when not in flower.
Hi Ian and Matt
I think Anagallis tenella is having a particularly good flowering year. I don't recall seeing a better display.
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I have to agree with Chris. A. tenella likes our climate/habitats here but it is clearly it is enjoying our especially wet "summer" this year. It is easily overlooked when not in flower, the leaves are tiny and the whole plant is totally prostrate.
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The late flowering season that the UK has experienced this year is still evident. In 2007 when I first encountered the helleborines on Almond bing between Linlithgow and Falkirk, they were well past their best on August 13. I have visited the site for the last 3 years and found the same.
This year Ann (treasurer of the Stirling Group) and I went there on August 9 and they were only in bud. Dactylorhiza fuchsii (common spotted orchid) though, was looking good whereas in previous years it has been OTT by this date. We went again today, and the helleborines were just at their peak. We also explored a part of the bing I hadn’t covered before and found Pyrola media rosettes in profusion. The sparse flowers were well past as one would expect by now.
1 & 2 Epipactis helleborine (I think the brown leaves might have been scent marked by a fox as they didn’t look like natural ageing to me)
3 & 4 Dark and pale E. helleborine.
5. Pyrola media
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Maureen, I wonder if they are all E. helleborine. I know that species is variable but there may be others there as well.
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Epipactis dunensis for comparison to the smaller ones Maureen. There are others reported from your area as well.
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Maureen, I wonder if they are all E. helleborine. I know that species is variable but there may be others there as well.
Ian,- when I visited in 2007, there was a study going on with individually marked plants. This was when E. youngiana was thought to be a separate species, but it has since been demoted to a 'var'. (A news item appeared at the time: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7081306.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7081306.stm) ) The funding for the research was withdrawn as a result. I understood that just because a plant was pale flowered, that it did not necessarily mean it was E. youngiana or as it has now become - E. helleborine v. youngiana. The pic you show is more like I remember the description of youngiana to be.
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Hello Maureen, there is more to defining an orchid to a group than one attribute, flower colour, leaf shape etc. as you will know. I was told that a group of botanists visited a site and took one look at a bed of Epipactis and pronounced them as E. helleborine. One of the group had spent a lot of time studying the species and stayed behind to look more closely. He said that quite a few of the plants were in fact E. dunensis. The plant I posted was given a cursory glance by me and identified as E. helleborine, the "normal" local species. The leaves looked different, narrower than E. helleborine and not arranged spirally up the stem. E. helleborine is quite variable. This still did not make me think it was anything other. It was not in flower at the time of finding. Something kept telling me to look the following year and I asked the person studying the species to have a look. He measured each flower with a micrometer, looked at the pollinia, the flower lip etc. before he would commit to a final decision. It just shows what we may be missing because we are told "you don,t get that there." The maxim is "wildlife can,t read." We found northern marsh orchids where they should not be, we are "too far south." Good hunting.
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Ian - you are right - the plants haven't read the books. There is so much variation within a species that whether this is broken down further depends on whether you are a 'lumper' or a 'splitter'. Either way, I don't have enough botanical knowledge to comment further.
I looked out the pics I took in 2007 which at the time I had down as E. youngiana. They look quite different certainly from E. helleborine. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the whole plant - for a start only the lower flower had opened at that stage and my attempt at the whole plant was lost in the background.
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Hello Maureen, I am not a very good photographer, although I have been photographing wild flowers for 40 years. I find that if a plant is tall it may be better to take two photos. One of the flowering stem and another of the lower stem. It might be better to take a ground sheet and lie down with the camera on its side. Using a tripod is useful. If seen you get some strange looks from the public. As for the naming of "difficult" species, I wonder if we are just taking a snapshot of evolution and the plant will become something else in the next 100 years? I prefer to "lump" plants because it is the easier option. The only exception is if a site survey is the intention. In that case a definite ID is required so that a repeat survey has the correct information to relate back to. Most wildlife recording is done by "amateurs" whose records are infrequently published. Sites, such as the Forum, give people the chance to pass their findings on.
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Looking back to spring, img 1000083 spring squill. img 100086 early purple orchids and a pink form of mountain everlasting. img 1000282 is herb paris.
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A useful site for photographs of UK wild flowers is Britishwildflowers.co.uk
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Some wild flowers still in bloom. img. 1000729, scottish primrose. img. 1000673, pale butterwort. img. 1000761, autumn gentian (Gentianella amarella). img. 1000596, basil thyme.
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Ajuga pyramidalis img. 1000237.
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The woods are coming to life. A walk in Ham Street Woods yesterday (a National Nature Reserve) revealed the first wood anemones and lots of primroses.
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Hello John, the sun is out so it is time for the less adventurous to be out and about. Good to see the anemones in flower. "If winter comes, can spring be far behind," Shelley.
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No wind anemones or primroses in flower here yet. It has been cold until last Friday. But you give me hope!
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Male flowers of bog myrtle in flower today on the local patch img.1010175.
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Something to get stuck into? Drosera rotundifolia img. 3561. Keeled garlic, Allium carinatum img. 3922. A garden worthy plant? Trifolium medium img. 4224.
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. . . .
A garden worthy plant? Trifolium medium img. 4224.
Yes, it is! I have planted it at our mountain cabin ;)
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Four of our wintergreens img. 1339 is common wintergreen, Pyrola minor. Intermediate wintergreen, P. media img. 09 206. Round leaved wintergreen, P. rotundifolia img. 2825. Toothed wintergreen, Orthilia secunda img. 297.
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Great sundew, Drosera anglica and Round leaved sundew, D. rotundifolia img. 0009.
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Helleborus foetidus in a local wood img. 0004.
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A compositae but which one img. 3971. Greater hay rattle, Rhinanthus angustifolius img. 09 012.
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A compositae but which one img. 3971. Greater hay rattle, Rhinanthus angustifolius img. 09 012.
Erigeron acer/acris maybe.
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Right Hoy, E acer it is.
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I had time to make a few stops on my way home from the Edinburgh Show, the last of which was to The Storr on Trotternish, Skye. I had seen Saxifraga oppositifolia growing there (in a range of niches - rock crevices, scree and turf - some in full sunshine), but had never been there when it was in flower. The timing was perfect on this occasion, but I am miffed that I didn't spot the particularly nice looking clump until I had scrambled to the bottom of the rocky scree.
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Very nice, Matt :) What's the altitude there?
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Thanks, Hoy. These plants are growing at about 500 metres altitude.
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Thanks, Hoy. These plants are growing at about 500 metres altitude.
Thanks. In the mountains here they flower when the snow melts (which is anytime from May till September) but here at the coast it flowers in April.
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The coast is very close to where these plants grow (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Old+Man+of+Storr/@57.507002,-6.1918438,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0xd877501151c83d77), the hill sloping down to the shore below. Whilst this site would receive some occasional snowfall in most winters, there would not be snow cover all winter long at this altitude in this location. There are sites on the north coast of mainland Scotland where this plant grows at still lower altitudes. Equally, we'll have some mountains where it is still under a blanket of snow and yet to bloom.
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Matt, I understand Iceland purslane has now been lost on Storr. Saxifraga nivalis can be seen there on narrow ledges near the Old Man.
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So good to see our own flora featuring, a great series of images Matt, thanks for sharing.
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Lovely Matt, good to see it thriving in Scotland.
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Thanks guys.
Ian M - I have to admit I was only looking for Sax.opp. on this occasion, which mostly grows on rock pinnacles a short distance to the south of the Old Man. I had limited time and was also trying to keep an eye out for the safety of my three lively dogs at the same time! I have seen Sax. nivalis here in the past but don't recall ever finding Koenigia, but will be returning to the Storr before to long and hope to make a more comprehensive search of the site.
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Hello Matt, the Koenigia is an annual and was said to be near the summit on wet bare stony ground. Good hunting. Mid summer is supposed to be the flowering time. Ian Y, I hope to have some images of native alpines in the IRG.
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Wood sorrel, Oxalis acetosella, in Glen Loin, Argyll, Saturday 16th April 2016
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Bluebells by the millions. And this year I went to the 'Hallerbos' at the start of the flowering season and to my delight the anemones were also still flowering.
On one location we have also seen a white bluebell - or should it then be a whitebell ?
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here the Anemones 8)
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It's bluebell time here in Kent (also wild garlic - picked two bags full for soup yesterday).
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Early purple orchid, Orchis masculata, I believe.
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Hello Ralph, yes it is, orchis mascula. Flowering quite early in the warmer south.
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Nice to see! At my summerhouse it is usually in bloom in the first half of May :)
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Crosswort, Cruciata laevipes in flower today img 1010356.
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I'm very fond of crosswort, though we don't get it in these parts. Does anyone grow it in the garden? It would make a great foil for red peonies or big blue Meconopsis for example.
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I'm very fond of crosswort, though we don't get it in these parts. Does anyone grow it in the garden? It would make a great foil for red peonies or big blue Meconopsis for example.
Happy to know the name of this plant, I always wondered what they were.
I have a big area in the wild part of the garden where almost nothing else is growing. When set seed I can send you some - I have however never checked for seeds on these plants. They seem to like dry conditions, they mostly grow on about one inch of soil on top of a concrete platform.
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I don't know this plant at all - looking at some info on it and various pictures, I'm suprised that something with such a hairy stem can be called in some places, "smooth Bedstraw- on account of its smooth stems" !!
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I don't know this plant at all - looking at some info on it and various pictures, I'm suprised that something with such a hairy stem can be called in some places, "smooth Bedstraw- on account of its smooth stems" !!
Maggy, the stems are very soft to touch ;) A totally different experience compared to walking through a patch of velcro weed ;D
And the smell reminds me of honey
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François, I am pleased to hear it! It looks a quite attractive plant - I wonder why I have never noted it before.
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François, I am pleased to hear it! It looks a quite attractive plant - I wonder why I have never noted it before.
you almost need a magnifying glass to see the flowers 8)
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::) Aah! Perhaps there is often a clue!
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asked my wife to take a few pics of the crosswort.
they flower pretty much from now on untill late summer.
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you almost need a magnifying glass to see the flowers 8)
The individual flowers perhaps. But they are produced in quantity.
It's not that common in Britain, though widely distributed.
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Seen briefly on Gardeners World last night was this wild flower img. 1010363. A late friend of mine, a botanist, said the latin name for this plant was her favourite name. Better known as Yellow Archangel, it is common in woods on limestone in our area. Lamiastrum galeobdolon. Try saying that after a few drinks. I grow it in the garden.
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Happy to know the name of this plant, I always wondered what they were.
I have a big area in the wild part of the garden where almost nothing else is growing. When set seed I can send you some - I have however never checked for seeds on these plants. They seem to like dry conditions, they mostly grow on about one inch of soil on top of a concrete platform.
Hi François,
If you manage to collect seed I will beg for some too!
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It is surprising how many people do not bother to look closely at our own native plants, most consider them not garden worthy. Any good book with illustrations, there are about 2000 species of wild flowers in the UK, should encourage gardeners to grow more of our wild flowers. Do not remove them from the wild though. Many of our flowers are becoming rare due to habitat loss from "development" etc.
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Hi Ian, yes my wife and I were admiring the stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) in the hedges on the way home today and wondering why it isn't grown much in gardens.
Drifts of thrift (!) (Armeria maritima) looking beautiful at the seaside - unfortunately I didn't have my camera.
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Hello Tristan, as kids we used to call greater stitchwort "cuckoo flower" as it flowered at the same time as the cuckoo appeared. Not to be confused with Ladys smock which has the same common name for the same reason.
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Really Ian I hadn't heard it called by that name before. I've always associated Cardamine pratensis with that common name (and in fact usually refer to it as cuckoo flower rather than lady's smock).
My Cardamine is doing quite well in the meadow area, from one or two plants when I arrived to quite a number now. An outstanding plant and of course it is food for the local orange tip butterfly, which seem to be doing well this year after a couple of very poor years. Saw the first green hairstreaks today as well.
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Not a great number of butterflies here yet but we are expecting large heath anytime now. The cranberries are full of flower today but bog rosemary is only just in bud. Common cottongrass looks good with its seed heads. Rain all day so the flowers should be good next month.
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Birdsfoot trefoil is in full flower. Such a familiar plant that we often don't notice it. It makes a beautiful plant for the rockery or the meadow - and foodplant for common blue butterfly as well.
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A big surprise today when I went to see if the Pyrolas on Almond Bing were in flower. When I posted a pic on discovering them in last winter, I mistakenly thought they were P. media as the stigma protruded the petals. I'm guessing the latter had shrunk in the dried up state hence my mistake. Wow! I have never seen pyrolas flowering in such profusion. Normally even when there is a dense covering of rosettes, the flowering is sparse.
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Pyrola minor
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Good to see so many, Maureen. It must be a wet spot? So many wild plants are slow to come into flower this year, alpines especially.
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No, Ian, not particularly wet. In fact it is well drained as the plants are on top of the Bing. The spoil comprising this bing I am told is brick waste, itself a by-product of the shale oil industry. Poor quality bricks could be made from it. The tree covering on the top is sparse compared with the rest of the bing which is well wooded, unlike so many of the other bings which are uncovered and to my mind a huge blot on the landscape. Local people who have grown up with them however, are nostalgic about them and resist any move to have them removed. Some have been 'landscaped' into geometric shapes, another is a nature reserve run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. I haven't been to it, but must make the effort.
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Just found some habitat pics taken some years ago for the above entry. 1&2 are the top of the bing where the pyrolas grow. (Youths, though prohibited, ride their motor bikes, and make jumps to add tp their thrills. Fortunately, they keep to the tracks) Pic 3 is at the bottom of the bing, the path taking the route of the long defunct Slamannan railway which took coal and iron to the Union Canal at the Causewayend basin at the edge of the bing. Helleborine epipactis and Listera ovata (old name) grows along here, and on the top also.
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A recent visit to Aviemore and district saw these near the mountain railway probably planted Saxifraga hypnoides, Saxifraga stellaris, Sibbaldia cheers Ian the Christie kind
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Hello Ian, Ian Brodie did some work at the railway, creating a scene with alpines.
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That should be Iain Brodie.
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At this time of year the High Weald of Sussex and Kent are rich in wildflowers. Here are Early Purple Orchids flowering with Primroses and Violets on a shady roadside.
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Primula farinosa in Teesdale, close up and in habitat. A ‘first’ for me to see this alpine in the wild in the UK. Among other treasures were Viola lutea in both colour forms and Gentiana verna which was going over. Picture quality not good enough to post. What better way to indulge one’s passion than to seek out these plants while spending a week in a cottage on an Alpine Nursery in a stunning location with equally stunning weather.
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spotted in a wilder part of the garden, apparently happy to grow between nethles and solidago in the shade of trees (ashes & linden). No idea what it is. The flower vaguely makes me think of an inkberry (Phytolacca), but from what I can see of the plant it is not. Anyway, nice to see how new plants enter the garden.
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Francois, I can,t see the leaves properly. Could your plant be a Reseda? They usually flower in summer.
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June is orchid season!
Platanthera bifolia - lesser butterfly orchid
Dactylorhiza purpurella - northern marsh orchid
Anacamptis pyramidalis - pyramidal orchid
Dactylorhiza fuschii subsp. hebridensis - common spotted orchid
Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. coccinea - early marsh orchid
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Botrychium lunaria - moonwort grows in our lawn.
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On the Latterbarrow reserve last Monday, we were wilting from the heat but the plants weren't. Here are some pics. I never attempt to identify orchids I don't know enough about them except they are beautiful and were here in profusion.
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Also a single plant I didn't expect to find.
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Shelagh, your orchids look like common spotted. The central "tooth" is usually separate and slightly longer than the ones on either side. The leaves are not always spotted.
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You are right about the leaves Ian some were spotted and some weren't. It was lovely to see them and worth the sunburnt neck.
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The machair is burgeoning with flowers right now. This is a great year for orchids, with the pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis) still going strong and now joined by the frog orchids (Coeloglossum viride).
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Here's something pretty special discovered on the machair today - a very pale specimen of the pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) (compare with those shown below).