3 IDs from Pittington

[rscott74]

I visited Pittington today and found these three small plants on a former limestone quarry area. The quarrying probably ended several decades ago and nature has taken over. It was a hands, knees and ants job to get the images when focussing a light can be a problem. Help with IDs would be appreciated.

1) The flower width is approx 1 cm


2) The individual flowers are around 4mm


3) Sorry about focus. Flowers around 5mm wide

[Uncle_Filthster]

Common milkwort

Wild thyme

Heath speedwell

All lovely plants, esp milkwort

[leifus]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Filthster

Common milkwort

Wild thyme

Heath speedwell

All lovely plants, esp milkwort

I agree with Uncle Filthster apart from I think it is heath milkwort rather than common.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by leifus

I agree with Uncle Filthster apart from I think it is heath milkwort rather than common.

It was seen on limestone, so unlikely to be Heath Milkwort which is calcifuge.

[rscott74]

Thanks for responses. Aeshna5 is a bit technical for me. Hetton sits on a magnesium limestone ridge and the quarry has exposed limestone cliffs but what I noticed was in front of quarry there are exposed areas of white rock which I have not seen elsewhere around Hetton. Those ares might have been former spoil deposits. (Does this make sense?)

Would further detailed images assist?

[Uncle_Filthster]

A calcifuge is a plant that doesn't like lime/high pH soils (i.e. it lives on acid to neutral soil, which is heath milkwort's preferred habitat).
A calcicole is a plant that prefers lime/high pH soil. The Durham Mag-lime is famous for them

The white rock may be compacted spoil from kilning limestone for quick lime or something similar (just a guess). Most of the Durham mag-lime I've seen is a very pale yelllowy grey colour.

[rscott74]

Thanks Uncle-filthster, I agree with your description of mag-lime in this area. I only found a small colony of the Milkwort on the quarried area but noticed it it occuring often beside the footpath that I used taking me along the escarpment towards Hetton.
I think we can accept Common Milk as ID.
I'm grateful to everyone for their interest.

[rscott74]

This the Milkwort flower taken by putting a x8 lens in front of the camera. There's always problems with focal length but the image does illustrate the complexity and beauty of the flower which would not be the case in casual observation.

[leifus]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

It was seen on limestone, so unlikely to be Heath Milkwort which is calcifuge.

How do you tell the difference between common and chalk milkwort??

[rscott74]

Hi Liefus - I'm the last person who should respond but Wild Flower Key suggests chalk has lower leaves larger than upper and flowers occur in a cluster like the outer spokes of a wheel (I kid you not). Chalk has blunt inner sepals without anastromosing veins (what ever they might be - the book doesn't say).

I hope, probably in vain (not anastromosing), this reply is of help.