Flower for ID please

[pressld2]

Can anyone help me put a name to this?



It was taken at the Stodmarsh reserve near Canterbury last weekend and there was quite a lot of it about.

I've been through my Wildflowers of Britain and Ireland from cover to cover, several times, but can't find anything that matches.

Dave P.

[thunder]

Have you ruled out Lady's Smock (Cardamine pratensis)?

henrya

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by thunder

Have you ruled out Lady's Smock (Cardamine pratensis)?

henrya

Certainly looks like Lady's Smock but I stand to be corrected as I'm not really into wildflowers
Roger

[JennyS]

Yes, it does look like Lady's Smock (Cardamine pratensis)
....though there is also a Cardamine palustris (can't find a common name) that has similar flowers but (and this is from the book as I've never seen the plant) is smaller and has 5+ stem leaves with broader leaflets.....

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

yes, I'd say Cuckoo Flower ( Lady's Smock)

neil

[pressld2]

You've got it - many thanks everyone.

It is in the book but I kept missing it. My trouble is that the book is arranged in order of flower families and I didn't have a clue where to start. This means looking at 5,000 paintings trying to match to a photo!

What I'd really like is a wildflower book organised in the sme way as the RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. In that one, the plants are first divided into spring, summer, autumn and winter flowering and are then grouped by colour. With that system I could have gone straight to the pink spring flowers and would probably only have had a hundred or so to choose from. Does anyone know if such a book exists?

Thansk again,

Dave P.

[GerryNick2]

Without a doubt Cardamine pratensis, also known as Lady's Smock, Cuckoo Flower, Meadowcress, Pigeon's Eye, Lucy Locket, Mayflower, Bittercress just to name a few.

Gerry

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi Dave,

The Collins "Wildflowers of Britain And Northern Europe" by Blamey , Fitter & Fitter is as good as any book. They are arranged in families but there is a key in the front where you can compare flower shapes and number & colour of petals to whittle the species down. Handy size to carry into the field too.

neil

[smartie]

I agree that the Fitter and Blamey book is the nearest I know to the kind of arrangement you are looking for, Dave, but what a good idea it would be to have one arranged exactly as you suggest. If no-one else knows of one, you may have found a niche in the market. Anyone know a friendly publisher?

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

the only problem is that the plants dont just flower in spring/summer/autumn , some flower in two or three seasons. You then have the problem of maybee having to look at a number of different pages to compare similar species (pain in the rear) wheras with the family method they're all together on the same page.
There are a couple of books that group them by colour but the ones I've seen are a bit restricted in species.

neil