Tag Archives: #FloralFriday

A Mallow

14 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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This beauty is definitely a Mallow (Malva sp.) but it seems paler than the Common mallow (Malva sylvestris), whose flowers are usually a much deeper pinkish-lilac with even darker stripes.

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I found it growing on Penarth’s rail trail, a railway line to Barry that fell foul of the Beeching cuts in the 1960s and has since been converted, in part, to a much-used walking and cycle path. The trail is edged on both sides by houses so this plant could very easily have flitted over a back fence or been dropped as seeds by birds. Whichever, its flowers are a very pretty addition to the foliage that lines the trail.

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Eyebrights

07 Friday Sep 2018

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I’m not even going to try to put a name to this little flower except to say it’s an Eyebright, one of around 20 very similar (and 60-plus hybrid) species of Euphrasia. They’re pretty and very dainty little plants, though easily overlooked as they’re don’t grow very tall and so are often obscured by surrounding grasses and overwhelmed by other wildflowers.

180907 eyebright (1)

According to Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica: ‘Their name and old medicinal use are a classic example of the Doctrine of Signatures. The flowers, like tiny violets in shape, are mottled with purple and yellow blotches and stripes, not unlike the colours of a bruised eye, and compresses and tinctures made from them were prescribed for all manner of eye disorders.’

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On the scabious

31 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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180831 devil's-bit scabious (1)

Devil’s-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) has a beautiful flower that paints the wildflower meadows at Lavernock Nature Reserve in shades of purple lusciousness and provides some very welcome late summer nectar and pollen to a host of insects, particularly bees, flies and butterflies.

And that name? Well, the story goes that the devil was not pleased that the plant’s medicinal properties were healing the skin conditions of people suffering from bubonic plague and scabies so, in a fit of rage, he tried to kill off the plant by biting off the ends of the plant’s roots. Ever the party pooper!

More crane’s-bills and a stork’s-bill

13 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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It’s Floral Friday so I thought we’d take a look at a few more of the beautiful Crane’s-bill family and one of their cousins, a Stork’s-bill. I think you’ll agree that they’re all rather lovely.

180713 Cut-Leaved Cranesbill

Cut-Leaved Cranesbill (Geranium dissectum)

180713 Meadow Crane's-bill

Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense)

180713 Pencilled crane's-bill

Pencilled crane’s-bill (Geranium versicolor)

180713 Common stork's bill

Common stork’s bill (Erodium cicutarium)

Ravishing rhoddies

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, parks

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180518 rhododendrons (1)

Did you know that in the Victorian era, when flowers were used to convey not-so-hidden meanings, the rhododendron symbolised danger? I really can’t imagine why, except perhaps the danger of being stung by a bee if you put your face too close to the rhoddies’ extravagant blossoms. These beautiful blooms entranced me during a wander through Cardiff’s Bute Park on Monday.

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This week in wildflowers

23 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

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What a week it’s been weather wise! We’ve gone from a generous dumping of snow and temperatures hovering around -5°C last Sunday through occasional rain, sunny periods, UV factors up and down, zephyr winds and mustang gales. Is it spring or isn’t it? Well, I’m seeing increasingly more wildflowers so I guess it must be. Here’s a selection from this week’s wanders.

180323 colt's-foot

Colt’s-foot (Tussilago farfara)

180323 daisy

Daisy (Bellis perennis)

180323 dandelion sp

a type of Dandelion (Taraxacum sp.)

180323 gorse

a type of Gorse (Ulex sp.)

180323 groundsel

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)

180323 lesser celandine

Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna)

180323 red dead nettle

Red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum)

180323 speedwell

a species of Speedwell (probably Germander) (Veronica sp.)

180323 three-cornered leek

Three-cornered leek (Allium triquetrum)

 

Spring messenger

16 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by in flowers, nature, spring, wildflowers

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180216 Lesser celandine (1)

Not only was it the favourite flower of William Wordsworth (who wrote three poems about it) and considered to be a herbal remedy for haemorrhoids (due to the shape of its roots), but the pretty Lesser celandine (was Ranunculus ficaria, now Ficaria verna) is one of the first floral heralds of spring.

The flowers are supposed to appear around the same time that the Swallows arrive back in Britain (hence the name Celandine, which comes from the Greek chelidon, meaning Swallow) (flower and bird are out of sync this year, though) so we need to keep our eyes on the skies, as well as on the ground.

180216 Lesser celandine (4)