Tag Archives: British wildflowers

Name that rosette, 1

13 Sunday Feb 2022

Posted by in plants

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

This is a personal learning journey that I thought I would share, and some of you can probably help along the way. Call me mad if you want, but I’m trying to work out what plants will become from looking at their early growth. This may be a very short journey as I may get so frustrated that I quickly give up, particularly as I’m already uncertain about one of today’s examples, but here goes…. Working from left to right, I think these are Creeping thistle (Cirsium arvensis) and Daisy (Bellis perennis), then Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) and today’s head-scratcher. It may be Prickly sow-thistle (Sonchus asper). It may be I’m biting off far more than I can chew trying to identify this plant at this early stage. Any ideas anyone?

New Year Plant Hunt 2022

02 Sunday Jan 2022

Posted by in wildflowers, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , ,

It’s on again, the New Year Plant Hunt, running from 1 to 4 January inclusive, so you still have time to join in and help the BSBI (Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland) ‘build up a clearer picture of how our wildflowers are responding to changes in autumn and winter weather patterns’. Click HERE for more information on how to join in and to see past years’ results.

My little video shows the 31 species in bloom I managed to find during an extended meander around my town in coastal south Wales. Some flowers are looking a bit raggedy after a lot of recent rain but the lack of really cold temperatures so far this winter means there are still a lot of wildflowers a’flowering.

O is for orchid

20 Monday Dec 2021

Posted by in flowers, plants, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Perhaps O should really be for obsession, as it seems I have a bit of an obsession for orchids: they have featured in no fewer than nine blog posts this year. Early-purple orchids were the first to flower back in May, followed soon afterwards by the Common spotted-orchids, which also featured in a second post in late June about the variation in their colours and markings. Also in June, the Bee orchids showed their jolly faces, and I tried to get to grip with identifying Southern marsh-orchids. In July, more orchid species that like damp places were in the spotlight, first the Heath spotted-orchids of Aberbargoed, followed soon after by Rhoose Quarry’s magnificent Marsh helleborines. The late-summer-blooming Broad-leaved helleborines featured on the first day of August, and the first days of autumn were brightened by the sight of spiralling Autumn lady’s-tresses. What a feast for the senses these flowers are!

Gallant-soldier

21 Sunday Nov 2021

Posted by in flowers, plants, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, ,

During Friday’s search for more leafmines, I ventured along roads I hadn’t walked before, and I’m so glad I did as I found a new plant – well, an abundance of new plants really, growing all along the roadside verge in front of Cardiff’s main Royal Mail delivery centre. This is Gallant-soldier (Galinsoga parviflora).

211121 gallant soldier (1)

I’ve read several variations of its history in Britain: here’s what is written in Flora Britannica:

Gallant-soldier … was brought to Kew Gardens from Peru in 1793, bearing a name that commemorated the Spanish botanist Don Mariano Martinez de Galinsoga. The plant itself was rather less imperious, being a thin, lax and greenish-flowered daisy with weedy habits. In the early 1860s it escaped from Kew and became widely established in gutters, gardens and waste places around Richmond … Galinsoga was corrupted to ‘Gallant soldier’.

211121 gallant soldier (2)

Since their escape from Kew, these soldiers have marched far and wide, though they haven’t yet reached all parts of the British Isles, and there are not a lot of Welsh records. You can see a map of their whereabouts on the NBN Atlas website.

More late autumn wildflowers

31 Sunday Oct 2021

Posted by in flowers, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , ,

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

Posted by in autumn, flowers, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

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.