Category Archives: flowers

More late autumn wildflowers

31 Sunday Oct 2021

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Despite last week’s surprising total of 31 wildflowers still in bloom, I knew when I posted last week’s video that I hadn’t photographed all the flowers I’d seen that week so, during this week’s meanders, I’ve been keeping an eye out for more. By the end of Friday, I’d found exactly 31 more still in flower, and made my video.

Then, on yesterday’s walk, I found 4 more: Barren strawberry, Tormentil, Yellow corydalis and, astonishingly, several Oxlips. And I know I’ve missed some of the smaller plants along the back lanes, like Shepherd’s-purse, Chickweed and Petty spurge, as well as ignoring some of the yellow-flowered Dandelion lookalikes, so my total of 66 wildflowers in bloom over these two weeks is actually an underestimate.

211031 barren strawberry211031 tormentil211031 yellow corydalis211031 oxlip

Sowbread

19 Tuesday Oct 2021

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What a fabulous sight these flowers were during a recent meander around one of Cardiff’s cemeteries!

211019 cyclamen (1)

These are Cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium), which may once have been a single bulb planted on a loved one’s grave by a grieving relative that have now spread and become naturalised, a common occurrence in the churchyards of southern Britain. They certainly brighten up the autumn landscape with their gorgeous subtle shades of lilac and purple.

211019 cyclamen (2)

Why Sowbread? Well, according to the National Records Scotland website, ‘It is often referred to as sow bread because the corms looked like small loaves and were thought to have been favoured by pigs in the wild.’ The website is worth a look for the other interesting information it provides.

Leafmines: on Himalayan balsam

27 Monday Sep 2021

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Here’s a leafmine I hope you don’t find but you probably will, and easily. So, why do I hope you don’t? Because this mine is found on plants of the Impatiens species, including the highly invasive plant Himalayan balsam (or Indian balsam, as it’s officially known; i.e. Impatiens grandulifera).

210927 himalayan balsam

The leafminer is the larva of Phytoliriomyza melampyga, which creates an initial narrow twisting gallery that then widens into a variable whitish blotch. The larva’s frass can easily be seen within the mine. The adult fly is actually rather cute, with mostly yellow, a bit of black colouring. (You can see a short video of it on Wikipedia.)

210927 Phytoliriomyza melampyga

The NBN Atlas is currently showing just 192 records for this species in Britain, though, like most flies, it’s probably under-recorded.

Late summer brights

29 Sunday Aug 2021

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A selection of the wildflowers in bloom during these last weeks of summer – last week, my video featured flowers of more mellow, subtle hues; this week, you’ll need your sunglasses as these are the brights!

Featuring Agrimony, Bird’s-foot trefoil, Bristly oxtongue, Creeping buttercup, Creeping cinquefoil, Dandelion, Fleabane, Gorse, Honeysuckle, Meadow buttercup, Meadow vetchling, Melilot, Mouse-ear hawkweed, Nipplewort, Ragwort, Scarlet pimpernel, Smooth sow-thistle. Tutsan, Wild parsnip, Wood avens, Yellow corydalis, and Yellow-wort.

Late summer mellows

22 Sunday Aug 2021

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A selection of the wildflowers in bloom during these last weeks of summer – this week, those of more mellow, subtle hues; next week, I’ll feature the brightly coloured flowers.

These are Bramble, Broad-leaved willowherb, Burdock, Daisy, Everlasting pea, Great willowherb, Hedge woundwort, Hemp agrimony, Knapweed, Large bindweed, Marsh woundwort, Meadow crane’s-bill, Mint, Oxeye daisy, Purple loosestrife, Red clover, Red valerian, Rosebay willowherb, Sneezewort, Tufted vetch, White clover, Wild carrot, and Yarrow.

Variations in pink and white

15 Sunday Aug 2021

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It fascinates me how many wildflowers vary from their standard colours, often changing from pink to white and vice versa. Here we have Centaury, usually pink but also commonly seen with white flowers; Knapweed, also usually a pinkish lilac, but I occasionally see a white variant; Thistles that are also usually pinky lilac but often flowering white hereabouts; and the usually white Yarrow, which I find growing with quite pink flowers in a local field.

210815 Knapweed pink210815 knapweed white

210815 yarrow pink210815 yarrow white

Helleborines

01 Sunday Aug 2021

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I’ve been watching these Broad-leaved helleborines since I first noticed their flower stems emerging through the grasses and wildflowers in a local park in early June.

They are plentiful and lush this year – presumably the very wet spring encouraged their growth but, unfortunately, our week-long heat wave has caused many to shrivel and dry before opening fully. Still, I find their flowers rather beautiful.

210801 broad-leaved helleborine (3)210801 broad-leaved helleborine (4)

The Andrex plant?

22 Thursday Jul 2021

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I had to laugh when I read in Flora Britannica that, because this plant’s large leaves feel like they are covered in soft grey wool: ‘In a more modern – and practical – vein, mullein has been nicknamed “the Andrex plant”, and its leaves used accordingly.’ I cannot attest to the veracity of this statement!

This is Great mullein (Verbascum thapsus), which also has some wonderful, less recent vernacular names: Aaron’s Rod, Hagtapers, Adam’s flannel, and Our Lady’s candle. These names are no doubt inspired partly by those leaves and also by the enormous yellow-flowered spike, which can grow to four or five feet tall. Mullein is a biennial plant: in its first year there is just a rosette of leaves, and it’s not till its second year that the flower spike grows.