7th May 2009 (Thursday)
Generally a very successful day today; I managed to track down two out of the three plants I'd set out to look for and, completely unexpectedly, happened upon one of my main Spring target species in the last place I would have thought of
Purple Gromwell (
Lithospermum purpureocaeruleum) is a speciality of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, and I'd managed to narrow down a specific location as a lane on the west side of Cheddar Wood (near the cheese-town). I wasn't overly hopeful, but a short walk up this lane and, success, several plants of
L. purpureocaeruleum) alongside a wall; it really is a beautiful, strikingly-coloured plant, photos don't do it justice. Which is just as well, because the site annoyingly won't let me upload any
Next stop was a pull-in at the side of the A371, between Cheddar and Axbridge, to have a look at the cotoneasters that had naturalised themselves on the steep limestone road-bank. There were three (
Wall (
C. horizontalis),
Himalayan (
C. simonsii) &
Waterer's (
C. x watereri), plus a fourth I've yet to positively identify. I also came across a
Firethorn (
Pyracantha coccinea) in bud, plus nearby medium-sized specimens of
Swedish Whitebeam (
Sorbus intermedia) &
Common Walnut (
Juglans regia), as well as a rose that'd covered several yards of hedge but whose flowers hadn't yet fully opened (I've taken a specimen home to "develop", hopefully I'll be able to name it then...
) - a quite remarkable selection of woody aliens for a relatively small area. Oh - and a few specimens of
Burnet Rose (
Rosa pimpinellifolia), in full flower, a second "tick" of the day
(
Burnet Rose, Rosa pimpinellifolia)
From there, it was off to the churchyard in Biddisham, a small village by the River Axe, in search of
Yellow-flowered Strawberry (
Duchesnea indica). This one was easy, too; there was loads of it established in the grass & on the old graves, in perfect photographic conditions too
On a wall just outside the churchyard I also found a "toadflax" type plant that, with KeenTeen's help, I've managed to ID as
Nemesia denticulata; it doesn't seem to have a common name or to be fully hardy, so presumably this casual will be a one-off
(
Yellow-flowered Strawberry, Duchesnea indica)
(
Nemesia denticulata, wall casual)
At another nearby village churchyard, Chapel Allerton, I failed to find
Pale Corydalis (
Pseudofumaria alba); supposedly naturalised on graves & old walls, the church had recently received a tidy-up so it may well have been eradicated. The
Thick-leaved Stonecrop (
Sedum dasyphyllum) established on some of the graves was a new find, though, as were some large
Alliums in bud by the side of the road in the village itself. I'm fairly sure these are
Broad-leaved Onion (
Allium nigrum), and that's what I've counted them as for now, but as with the rose I found earlier I've taken a sample home to see what the flower looks like when it's fully out
(
Thick-leaved Stonecrop, Sedum dasyphyllum)
(
Broad-leaved Onion, Allium nigrum)
And, finally, back in Bristol with the rain beginning to spit, I made a quick tour of my local urban lanes to have a look at a patch of
Lily-of-the-valley (
Convallaria majalis); these were now in flower so photos were taken, but growing out of a tiny crack in a tarmac pavement I was amazed to find a couple of lovely examples of
Neapolitan Garlic (
Allium neapolitanum)
Out of all the pictures I took, this is the only one the site would let me successfully upload; nevertheless, it's a very attractive plant and one I'd made a main target for this spring
