Tag Archives: British wildflowers

Back lane wildflowers

16 Sunday Jul 2023

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I almost want to whisper this post, as it’s a miracle the local council hasn’t poisoned these wildflowers out of existence as they usually do a couple of times over the summer months, this despite the dangers of those herbicides to humans, insects and birds, even the dogs that get walked along the back lanes, and despite the council having declared a ‘nature emergency’! So, for now, the back lane between my street and the next is alive with wildflowers, some of which I’ve featured in this little video.

A couple of mallows

09 Sunday Jul 2023

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There are a lot of wildflowers I can recognise at a glance – ‘Oh, that’s a forget-me-not, knapweed, mallow …’ – but, in many cases, there are several species of these flowers and I’m not sure which I’m seeing. So, I’m trying to make more of an effort to work out which is which. Here’s an example.

These two species of mallow look very similar to me, and they grow in similar habitats, in waste ground, along our road verges, beside footpaths. Their beautiful flowers are much of a muchness, though the flowers of Common mallow have dark purple stripes, whereas those of Musk mallow are finer and pale pink, and their petal shapes are also different. However, it’s the leaves that really clinch their identification, as you can see from the photos below.

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Common mallow (Malva sylvestris)
According to the Wildlife Trusts website, ‘Certain parts of common mallow are edible (leaves, flowers and seeds) and there is evidence that the Romans may have deliberately cultivated the plant to be used for food and medicine’.

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Musk mallow (Malva moschata)
As well as the deeply lobed leaves that distinguish Musk mallow from Common mallow, the flowers also emit a musky perfume, which the Common mallow does not have. And that smell is, of course, how this plant got its common name.

Lady’s-mantle

02 Sunday Jul 2023

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Lady’s-mantle is one of those plants that’s difficult to determine to exact species. The large Garden lady’s-mantle (Alchemilla mollis) has escaped its original garden setting and become naturalised in many places, and, just to increase identification difficulties, some species have hybridised with others. It’s a plant I’ve found growing in a variety of places: in grassland at the local country park, along a nearby woodland ride, on a former coal spoil tip and, below, in a former quarry.

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Richard Mabey provides some interesting information about this plant in Flora Britannica:

The often nine-lobed leaves of lady’s-mantle, like cloaks or umbrellas, fold up overnight and catch the dew on their soft hairs. Plant-dew was highly valued by early herbalists … and this made Alchemilla prized as a simple [sic], prescribed for wounds, infertility, and impotence. The alchemists also required the purest dew for turning base metal into gold – hence the name Alchemilla, ‘little alchemist’. Such a powerful and magical herb was bound to be christianised, and some time in the Middle Ages it was named Our Lady’s Mantle, and eventually lady’s-mantle.

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Monkeyflower

25 Sunday Jun 2023

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In my Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey relates

Monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus, was first discovered and brought to English gardens from the damp and foggy islands off the Alaskan coast in 1812. But it crops up in damp places right down the west coast of America, as far south as the mountains of New Mexico, and it has been just as catholic in its choice of British habitats since it was first naturalised in the 1820s. It now occurs by the banks of burns, streams, lowland lakes, rivers and canals throughout Britain.

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Given that last sentence, I can’t believe it’s taken me so many years to see Monkeyflower for myself but, during Wednesday’s walk around Cardiff’s Roath Park, I saw several of these plants, both around Roath Lake and along Roath Brook.

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Grasslands wildflowers

18 Sunday Jun 2023

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Presumably as a result of our lingering hot dry weather, the wildflowers at Aberbargoed Grasslands NNR were neither as prolific nor as exuberant as I’ve seen in previous years. The Bluebells had already gone over, the Heath spotted-orchids were looking as frazzled as I was soon feeling but there were some floral highlights I enjoyed seeing.

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  • Devil’s-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis)

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  • Marsh lousewort (Pedicularis palustris)

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  • Common Milkwort (Polygala vulgaris)

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  • Ragged-robin (Silene flos-cuculi) and butterfly friend (Small pearl-bordered fritillary)

Common rock-rose

11 Sunday Jun 2023

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This lovely wildflower was another new find for me last Thursday, growing along the roadside on the walk to and from Charlton King’s Common near Cheltenham. I couldn’t help but notice these glorious, bright yellow flowers that looked superficially like the many buttercups all around them but their leaves were quite different, slim, oblong and quite hairy. You can read more about the Common rock-rose (Helianthemum nummularium) on the Naturespot website here.

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Common gromwell

21 Sunday May 2023

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This was the third highlight of my visit to Slade Wood on Wednesday, a plant I’d never seen before. It wasn’t too difficult to identify once I got home, as the flowers looked a lot like those of Forget-me-not so I turned straight to that section of my wildflower guide. Say hello to Common gromwell (Lithospermum officinale) (also known as European stoneseed).

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It’s a perennial, flowers from May to August, and is quite prominent in the landscape, a rough hairy plant growing up to one metre tall, so must’ve been in situ during my previous visits to this woodland. Perhaps I was so focused on butterflies, I didn’t notice it. Woodland rides – and rough, stony scrubby areas – are where this native plant thrives, but only in the southern parts of Britain, so any northerners out there will have to come south to see it.

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Six Speedwells

14 Sunday May 2023

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This week’s #WildflowerHour challenge was to find and identify as many of the Speedwell species as possible. I managed to find six, had hoped for more but will just have to keep searching on future walks. Close-ups of the flowers of my six are shown below – they are Field, Germander, Heath, Ivy-leaved, Thyme-leaved and Wood speedwell.

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And here are photos showing their more general features. These are in the same order as above – their scientific names are Veronica agrestis, Veronica chamaedrys, and Veronica officinalis.

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And the final three: Veronica hederifolia, Veronica serpyllifolia, and Veronica montana. If, like me, you’re confused about the Speedwells and what some hints on how to identify them, Moira (@NatureLark on Twitter) has produced an excellent crib sheet which you can find here.

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Field madder

07 Sunday May 2023

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A member of the Bedstraw family, Field madder (Sherardia arvensis) is a low-growing annual that supposedly grows in both disturbed and cultivated ground on chalky soils. I write ‘supposedly’ because the Field madder pictured here grows along a sheltered damp and mossy road verge next to blocks of flats. Also, I’ve read – and my wildflower book states – that Field madder can grow up to 30cm tall but the plants I’ve seen have been tiny, only 5-10 cm. I guess wildflowers don’t read what’s written about them!

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Popping out like stars against a dense background of bristly whorls of leaves, the clusters of four-petalled tiny flowers range in colour from pale pink to mauve. And, as you may have guessed from the name, the roots of Field madder can be used to make a red dye, though it is described as ‘an inferior source’ on the Oxford University Herbaria website. If you’re interested in learning more, the website also explains the source of the Sherardia name.

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White not pink

05 Friday May 2023

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The flowers of Dove’s-foot crane’s-bill (Geranium molle) are usually described as pinkish-purple, and certainly all the plants I’ve seen previously have had tiny pink flowers, as shown in the comparison photos below. But I’ve discovered a small area at the Cosmeston Lakes Country Park where the flowers are a true white.

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I’m not sure what has caused this colour variation but it’s probably something in the soil. Before it became a country park, parts of Cosmeston were quarries, spoil tips and rubbish tips. If you follow this link to the Mary Gillham Archive website (a project I volunteered on, as my older followers will recall), you can see details – including maps and photographs – of Cosmeston during its transformation into a country park.

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One legacy of its former use is undoubtedly the presence of toxic chemicals in some areas. Indeed, the top portion of the east paddock is fenced off, not for conservation purposes but, I am reliably informed, to protect park users from whatever is buried there. Residues in the soil may well account for unusual qualities in the park’s flora and fauna.

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