A 2009 plant-hunter's diary

[KeenTeen17]

Love the fairy foxglove. This is one of my targets for this year.

And a note:

Do you think I should keep my plant finds on the Flower of the Day thread or Keep them in the KT Plant Diaries thread?

[davidbr]

Originally Posted by KeenTeen17

If you want the Salix repens, then the Sefton Dunes are well worth a visit. Its absolutely everywhere and theres also the green flowered and dune helleborines as well as the gentians.

Most of the species are actually listed in this thread:
Sand Dune Bio-Diversity

Thankfully I've safely got Salix repens now - it's one of those plants that I've seen quite a lot of times while out birding in the north, but doesn't occur that often in the south-west where I'm based.

I've never been to Sefton Dunes, though, and those helleborines sound very tempting I've decided that'll be my strategy for hunting down native species this summer - look for orchids, on the basis that at the sites where they grow, there's usually lots of other things to see

[davidbr]

Originally Posted by KeenTeen17

Love the fairy foxglove. This is one of my targets for this year.

And a note:

Do you think I should keep my plant finds on the Flower of the Day thread or Keep them in the KT Plant Diaries thread?

Fairy Foxglove was one of my main targets too - I found them at Stratton-on-the-Fosse but they weren't in flower, so I was delighted to chance upon these ones

As for finds, I suppose you could post them in both - I just find it easier to keep all mine in the one thread

[KeenTeen17]

Originally Posted by davidbr

Fairy Foxglove was one of my main targets too - I found them at Stratton-on-the-Fosse but they weren't in flower, so I was delighted to chance upon these ones

As for finds, I suppose you could post them in both - I just find it easier to keep all mine in the one thread

thanks. looks like a Diary thread needs updating

[davidbr]

And, as I said, I've got some photos from my New Forest trip that I need some help in identifying... so here we go All suggestions welcome

1:

This, photographed at Martin Down, Wiltshire (next to where I found the Pasqueflower) is supposed to be Chalk Milkwort according to the reserve info on the Net, but I'm just not sure - what do people think? Chalk Milkwort, or just the common one?

2:

Could this be Dwarf Mouse-ear (Cerastium pumilum)? Found in the New Forest (at Bolderwood) in short grass by the side of a road, it certainly looked small enough and apparently one of the ID features of C. pumilum is the red stems.

3:

I can't make up my mind what this hawkbit-type daisy is; taken at Holmsley, the site for Narrow-leaved Lungwort.

4:

Growing on the sea wall at Keyhaven, I'm pretty sure this is some kind of pepperwort (Lepidium)?

5:

This was another shrub naturalised near our base at Avon Tyrrell; I'm fairly sure it's a member of the Ericaceae, but I've not been able to get any further with ID. The nearest I've found is Calico-bush, Kalmia latifolia, but the leaves still don't look right.

6:

Another one from Martin Down in Wiltshire; any chance this might be Dwarf Gorse, or is it just where they've cleared the scrub and it's reflowering?

[KeenTeen17]

Originally Posted by davidbr

And, as I said, I've got some photos from my New Forest trip that I need some help in identifying... so here we go All suggestions welcome

1:

This, photographed at Martin Down, Wiltshire (next to where I found the Pasqueflower) is supposed to be Chalk Milkwort according to the reserve info on the Net, but I'm just not sure - what do people think? Chalk Milkwort, or just the common one?

2:

Could this be Dwarf Mouse-ear (Cerastium pumilum)? Found in the New Forest (at Bolderwood) in short grass by the side of a road, it certainly looked small enough and apparently one of the ID features of C. pumilum is the red stems.

3:

I can't make up my mind what this hawkbit-type daisy is; taken at Holmsley, the site for Narrow-leaved Lungwort.

4:

Growing on the sea wall at Keyhaven, I'm pretty sure this is some kind of pepperwort (Lepidium)?

5:

This was another shrub naturalised near our base at Avon Tyrrell; I'm fairly sure it's a member of the Ericaceae, but I've not been able to get any further with ID. The nearest I've found is Calico-bush, Kalmia latifolia, but the leaves still don't look right.

6:

Another one from Martin Down in Wiltshire; any chance this might be Dwarf Gorse, or is it just where they've cleared the scrub and it's reflowering?

1) chalk milkwort, I haven't seen a common milkwort with so many flowers or so dense.
2) dwarf mouseear because of the reddish stem
3) Maybe a catsear because of the hairy leaves
4)maybe Smith's Pepperwort
5)
6) common gorse

[Tiggrx]

Originally Posted by davidbr

And, as I said, I've got some photos from my New Forest trip that I need some help in identifying... so here we go All suggestions welcome

1:

This, photographed at Martin Down, Wiltshire (next to where I found the Pasqueflower) is supposed to be Chalk Milkwort according to the reserve info on the Net, but I'm just not sure - what do people think? Chalk Milkwort, or just the common one?

2:

Could this be Dwarf Mouse-ear (Cerastium pumilum)? Found in the New Forest (at Bolderwood) in short grass by the side of a road, it certainly looked small enough and apparently one of the ID features of C. pumilum is the red stems.

3:

I can't make up my mind what this hawkbit-type daisy is; taken at Holmsley, the site for Narrow-leaved Lungwort.

4:

Growing on the sea wall at Keyhaven, I'm pretty sure this is some kind of pepperwort (Lepidium)?

5:

This was another shrub naturalised near our base at Avon Tyrrell; I'm fairly sure it's a member of the Ericaceae, but I've not been able to get any further with ID. The nearest I've found is Calico-bush, Kalmia latifolia, but the leaves still don't look right.

6:

Another one from Martin Down in Wiltshire; any chance this might be Dwarf Gorse, or is it just where they've cleared the scrub and it's reflowering?

1. I would say Common Milkwort (Polygala vulgaris). Chalk Milkwort is rarely pink or white flowered, while Common frequently is. Also the leaves in the blue flowered specimen look more like Common M. I expect the flowerheads will become less dense as they mature.

2. Not a plant I am familiar with but I think you are right.

3.

4. Maybe Smith's Cress (Lepidium heterophyllum) but best to look at a mature fruit under magnification to be sure.

5. Looks like Shallon (Gaultheria shallon) to me.

5. Common Gorse - dwarf gorse flowers much later in the year

[KeenTeen17]

Originally Posted by Tiggrx

1. I would say Common Milkwort (Polygala vulgaris). Chalk Milkwort is rarely pink or white flowered, while Common frequently is. Also the leaves in the blue flowered specimen look more like Common M. I expect the flowerheads will become less dense as they mature.

2. Not a plant I am familiar with but I think you are right.

3.

4. Maybe Smith's Cress (Lepidium heterophyllum) but best to look at a mature fruit under magnification to be sure.

5. Looks like Shallon (Gaultheria shallon) to me.

5. Common Gorse - dwarf gorse flowers much later in the year

Glad I got some right for a change

I'll try and look into the Yellow Dandelion one.

[davidbr]

Thanks for the help, Tiggrx & KT; I'll put nos. 1 & 6 down as Common Milkwort & Common Gorse, and I'm delighted to have backing for No. 2 being Dwarf Mouse-ear It's what I'd thought/hoped at the time, but since I've failed to find C. pumilum right on my doorstep this Spring, if ever a plant was going to suffer from wishful thinking it'd be the one

I've got a few other pictures of No. 4, showing the whole plant and the like, that unfortunately I couldn't manage to upload properly, and Lepidium heterophyllum seems a good match. As for No. 5, when I first took the photo I'd thought it was Shallon (which is apparently widely naturalised in & around Southampton), but the tight, almost Rhododendron-like flowerbud made me discount it. I've never seen Shallon in flower or bud, but its' flowers are in racemes which doesn't look like it'll be the case with this plant. Of course, they might just start out like that

[davidbr]

Originally Posted by KeenTeen17

Glad I got some right for a change

I'll try and look into the Yellow Dandelion one.

That was exactly what I thought when I took the picture - "oh, it's just one of the yellow dandelion-type thingies, I'm having a brain freeze right now but I'm sure it'll come back to me later"

And, at the moment, I've no idea what it is