Again Flower ID Looked in all my books

[dbozkurt]

Sorry to bother you all out there. Found this plant on the side of a ditch near the machair fields, Balivanich, Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. There was just one clumb. One flower, the first picture was about 2-3 inches across and the second about 1-1/2 inches across. I also attach a picture of the leaf.

Have looked in my wildflower books and can't seem to find is this it is a weed. I can not imagine its a garden flower as they don't go much for gardens where I found it, but you never know?

Thanks Debs

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi again Debs,

I think it is Wild Carrot - Daucus carota.Notice the 3 pronged bracts around the flower head and the red flower in the centre of the umbel.Common by the sea where it grows much bigger than inland.

neil

[AlanS]

Hello Debs,

Yes, I can see this is a bit confusing. It is actually a Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, but Hebridean plants seem to be more richly coloured, and also they can be very low growing.

In at least some cases, the low growth is genetically fixed (an "ecotype" adapted to grazing and exposed ground on the machairs) - I had some in cultivation for a while and we still have 2-inch-high wild carrots popping up around the University campus.

Alan Silverside

[dbozkurt]

Originally Posted by AlanS

Hello Debs,

Yes, I can see this is a bit confusing. It is actually a Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, but Hebridean plants seem to be more richly coloured, and also they can be very low growing.

In at least some cases, the low growth is genetically fixed (an "ecotype" adapted to grazing and exposed ground on the machairs) - I had some in cultivation for a while and we still have 2-inch-high wild carrots popping up around the University campus.

Alan Silverside

Thanks Alan, it is difficult as up here everything seems brighter sharper and cleaner, I think a lot is not only to do with the special growing conditions....(where my partner lives is the old MOD houses at Balivanich built on the Machair) but the purity of the light!

Thanks again....off tomorrow to find some more flowers! Or birds or butterflies or bees!