A select club

19 Saturday Jun 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, wildflowers

Tags

British moths, British wildflowers, Dyer’s greenweed, Mirificarma lentiginosella, Mirificarma lentiginosella larvae, moth larvae on Dyer's greenweed

A couple of years ago, I discovered through chats to local Butterfly Conservation Senior moth ecologist George that three rare moths use Dyer’s greenweed (Genista tinctoria) as their larval food plant. (There’s a Butterfly Conservation factsheet about these here.)

210619 dyers greenweed

The larvae create little homes for themselves by spinning together the leaves at the tips of Dyer’s greenweed shoots, and, yesterday, after much careful searching, I finally found a ‘spinning’ that was occupied.

George has now confirmed for me that this little beauty is the larva of the nationally scarce moth Mirificarma lentiginosella. And he writes: ‘You now join the select club of people who have seen this species in Wales: you, me, and C.G. Barrett who recorded it in Pembrokeshire in the 1800s’. As you can imagine, I am extremely pleased to have joined this select club!

210619 Mirificarma lentiginosella (3)

166/366 Wild and yellow

14 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Agrimony, British wildflowers, Creeping cinquefoil, Dyer’s greenweed, Evening-primrose, Prickly sow-thistle, Silverweed, Smooth sow-thistle, yellow flowers

It’s grey here in south Wales today, which is not a bad thing as we desperately need the accompanying rain, and it also makes me appreciate even more the days when vibrant, sunshiny, cheery yellow is the dominant colour of my day. Here’s some of the yellow that’s been brightening my walks in recent days.

200614 1 dyers greenweed

Dyer’s greenweed (Genista tinctoria), found at several local sites, and the food plant for the larvae of a couple of rare moths, though I’ve yet to find any.

200614 2 evening primrose

Evening-primrose (Oenothera agg). There are several different species, which can be difficult to differentiate, and they also hybridise with each other, hence the ‘agg’.

200614 3 silverweed

Silverweed (Potentilla anserina). The Plantlife website has some fascinating information about this pretty plant – did you know, for example, that Roman soldiers used to pad their shoes with Silverweed to ease their feet on long marches?

Prickly sow-thistle (Sonchus asper). Most thistles have flowers in shades of pink-lilac-purple but not this one. I’ve included two photos, one to show the structural beauty of the flower, one to show the prickly leaves.

200614 5 smooth sow-thistle

Smooth sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus). Another sow-thistle, but without those pesky prickles, and with flowers a more lemon-yellow.

200614 6 agrimony

Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria), a plant of hooking-bristle seed heads, as you may remember from my earlier post Hooked, September 2019.

200614 7 creeping cinquefoil

Creeping cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans), a plant that thrives on waste and bare ground.

195/365 Imperial colours

14 Sunday Jul 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Dyer’s greenweed, imperial colours, Marsh woundwort, purple wildflowers, Rosebay willowherb, Yellow loosestrife, yellow wildflowers

It occurs to me when looking at recent flower photos I’ve taken that the wildflowers currently in bloom have a very imperial look to them: masses of purple, the colour favoured by the emperors of Rome, and swathes of yellow, the colour that dominated the imperial wardrobe in China.

190714 1 marsh woundwort

Marsh woundwort (Stachys palustris), found growing in the wildflower meadows in Cardiff’s Hailey Park this week; once regarded as the most effective of the wound-healing woundwort family.

190714 dyers greenweed

Dyer’s greenweed (Genista tinctoria), plentiful at Lavernock Nature Reserve; also found in archaeological remains left by Vikings in York, proving its use as a yellow dye since at least the 9th century.

190714 rosebay willowherb

Rosebay willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium), firing up the conservation areas at Cathays Cemetery; nicknamed ‘bombweed’ during World War II when it grew in the London ruins created by German bombing raids.

190714 yellow loosestrife

Yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris), ablaze beside the River Taff in Cardiff; named in honour of Macedonian King Lysimachus who supposedly fed it to his cattle to calm them, hence lose + strife!

The interesting snippets about these plants were mostly extracted from my Flora Britannica.

Yellow

23 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Agrimonia eupatoria, Agrimony, Bird’s-foot trefoil, Blackstonia perfoliata, Dyer’s greenweed, Genista tinctoria, Lotus corniculata, Rhinanthus minor, wildflowers, Yellow rattle, yellow wildflowers, Yellow-wort

Yellow is the colour of the week as far as the wildflowers are concerned.

170623 Bird's-foot trefoil (1)

These are some I’ve seen: Bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculata), Yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor), Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria), Dyer’s greenweed (Genista tinctoria), and Yellow-wort (Blackstonia perfoliata).