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

[davidbr]

29th April 2009 (Wednesday)

Back on (relatively) home turf today, I was headed for Cheddar Gorge, in Somerset, hoping to track down a few local rarities & specialities.

It'd been quite a while since I'd been to Cheddar and my record here wasn't great (my last trip was a failure to find the famous Pinks last summer... ). I'd also forgotten quite what an arduous climb it was from Cheddar village up to the top of the Gorge, and the entrance to Black Rock nature reserve Still, the first target was found easily enough - Pyrenean Scurvygrass (Cochlearia pyrenaica), all over a cliff-face in one of its' few UK sites.


Pyrenean Scurvygrass, Cochlearia pyrenaica; about half-way up the Gorge and (if you're coming from the village) on rocks on left-hand side of the road)

Hairy Rock-cress (Arabis hirsuta) also grew nearby and was another new find for the photo list, but that was where my luck for the day ended - I couldn't find a sign of either Purple Gromwell (Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum) nor Herb-paris (Paris quadrifolia). The Spring Cinquefoil (Potentilla tabernaemontani) added a splash of colour to the limestone banks and Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula) & Thin-stemmed Lady's-mantle (Alchemilla filicaulis ssp. vestita) were both in flower, too; plus the sunshine had drawn out quite a few butterflies, including a very photogenic Grizzled Skipper

(Spring Cinquefoil, Potentilla tabernaemontani)

(Grizzled Skipper)

And, one final "tick" before heading back to Cheddar village (thankfully, downhill... ) - Common Twayblade (Listera ovata). I'd seen them here before in high summer, but hadn't expected any signs to be visible this early.

(Common Twayblade, Listera ovata)

(Poet's Narcissus, N. poeticus; Weston-super-Mare seafront)

[davidbr]

And one more for ID from my New Forest trip, that I've finally managed to upload onto the site



This buttercup was growing along Keyhaven sea wall on the South Hampshire coast; any ideas?

[KeenTeen17]

I'm not entirely sure. It can either be Rough Fruited Buttercup or a weird Creeping Buttercup.

[Tiggrx]

Looks like a weird Bulbous Buttercup to me

Originally Posted by davidbr

And one more for ID from my New Forest trip, that I've finally managed to upload onto the site



This buttercup was growing along Keyhaven sea wall on the South Hampshire coast; any ideas?

[davidbr]

I've been sorting out a lot of photos I ended up with of pondweeds (Potamogeton sp/) from the New Forest, and almost all have turned out to be Bog Pondweed, P. polygonifolius). These ones, though, don't seem to fit either P. polygonifolius or the common Broad-leaved Pondweed, P. natans

Any ideas?

[davidbr]

2nd May 2009

A pretty successful day today; seven new species added, with quite a few more still waiting for a definite ID

To start with, I needed to right an embarrassing mistake; en route to the New Forest on April 24th I'd photographed what I thought was a Green-winged Orchid (Orchis morio) at Martin Down, Wiltshire... but reviewing the photos yesterday, looking back at me was an un-stringable Early Purple Orchid In my defence it's a plant I'd never seen in the flesh before, but even so - they aren't that hard to identify...

Thankfully North Somerset's quite a good area for "genuine" Green-wingeds; there's a large colony at the edge of Chew Valley Lake (the area known as "Parkland", just before Heron's Green Bay) and quite a few were out in flower - for some annoying reason, despite trying three times, the site doesn't seem to be letting me upload a photo, but I know I've got it right this time

Anyway... my next stop was Priddy Mineries, on the Mendips, where Spring Sandwort (Minuartia verna) gave itself up easily but I failed to find any sign of the Alpine Penny-cress that also supposedly grows nearby. Plus, I was also able to add Western Gorse (Ulex galli) & Bell Heather (Erica cinerea) to the list; neither were in flower, of course, but they all count

(Spring Sandwort, Minuartia verna)

From there it was on to Great Elm, near Mells, where at the third time of asking I finally managed to track down Bladdernut (Staphylea pinnata) - right by the path, I must have walked past it every time previously! Water Dock (Rumex hydrolapathum) was also by the Mells Stream and also new, a Wild Service Tree (Sorbus torminalis) was probably planted, and there were several others that still need a name; a couple of cotoneasters, a currant bush and a mystery tree on which I've absolutely no idea...

(Bladdernut, Staphylea pinnata)

(Water Dock, Rumex hydrolapathum)

[davidbr]

Right; I'm hoping people might be able to help me put a name to these

These small white crucifers, either a whitlow-grass or rock-cress, were quite plentiful at Priddy Mineries, an old lead-mine in the Mendip Hills.



This stonecrop was on a wall in the village of Great Elm, Somerset;



Probably planted, this ornamental crab-apple was along the Mells Stream near Great Elm; any idea which one it is?



I think this is one of the water-milfoils; sorry it's a terrible picture, the plant was growing in the middle of a pond and I had to use maximum zoom




Any idea what this tree is? Probably originally planted, it was also along the Mells Stream at Great Elm; the literature says Japanese Angelica-tree (Aralia elata) is meant to grow here, but I'm pretty sure this isn't it



And lastly, this Spiraea was one I found on April 22nd, at Leigh Woods in the Avon Gorge, Bristol. I know they're not easy to identify even in flower, but I've got a couple of ideas and maybe with a bit of help might be able to get somewhere

[Tiggrx]

The Stonecrop is a Saxifrage of some sort and the water-mifoil is Parrot's-feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum).

I shall have a think about the others.

[KeenTeen17]

the crucifer could be hairy rock cress because its leaves are really hairy

[davidbr]

Originally Posted by KeenTeen17

the crucifer could be hairy rock cress because its leaves are really hairy

I think it's actually Hoary Whitlowgrass (Draba incana) - I've also managed to ID the mystery tree as Ashleaf Maple (Acer negundo), the others I'm still working on

[davidbr]

3rd May 2009 (Sunday)

Rather a mixed day today; I found the plant we'd headed to the borders of the Somerset Levels in search of, but unfortunately every single one of the blighters had completely finished flowering

According to the books I'd read Rosy Cress (Arabis collina) flowers in May; well, they were wrong, because on the village walls at Southwood (about 10 miles from Glastonbury) all I found was a few dozen plants in seed; clearly I'd have needed to come in the middle of April to have seen them at their best

(Rosy Cress, Arabis collina - photos that won't win any awards...)

Never mind; at least I'd seen them (and a nice clump of Leopard's-bane (Doronicum plantagineum) in a nearby hedge)... which was more than I could say for the Caucasian Crosswort (Phuiopsis stylosa) in nearby Ashcott churchyard; I found a very neatly-tended church, some Procumbent Yellow-sorrel (Oxalis corniculata), a half-dead pink crucifer I've so far been unable to ID and not a whole lot else





From there, it was off to Shapwick Heath, a couple of miles away on the Somerset Levels, for a look around the boggy areas of nature reserve; I've seen Water-violet (Hottunia palustris) here in past years, but there was no sign of it today. Rootless Duckweed (Wolffhia arrhiza) will have to go down as perhaps the least spectacular (and certainly the smallest...) plant I'll add to the list this season; it's meant to be rare, but not at this site where there was loads of it once you'd crouched down low enough



The other intriguing plant on the reserve was one I'm not yet sure whether I can add or not. The Atlas Flora of Somerset gives Fen Nettle (Urtica galeopsifolia) full-species status, but I'm not at all sure what the accepted position is on it - it's certainly stingless (as I proved by, well, grasping the nettle ) and does look subtly different from the common plant in a way I'd find hard to describe, but is it really a "good" species??

("Fen Nettle", Urtica galeopsifolia)

[davidbr]

Apart from a couple of hours on Inglestone Common, south Gloucestershire, where I didn't really find anything save for some Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula), I've not been out much for the last couple of days - which has given me time to try to clear some of the images that were building up in my "Unidentifieds" folder Usually there's three or four in there - when it got to 23, I figured I ought to sit down and put some serious effort into it

So, I've managed to name a few; the white rhododendron from late April's New Forest trip is Catawba Rhododendron (R. catawbiense), apparently a native of Eastern USA (I'd always thought all the rhododendrons we grew over here were East Asian in origin ) and the crab-apple & "mystery tree" I found at Great Elm, Somerset, on May 2nd turn out to be Hupeh Crab Apple (Malus hupehensis) & Ashleaf Maple (Acer negundo). I've also managed to ID a cotoneaster I found on the same trip as Few-flowered Cotoneaster (C. nitens); there are two more cotoneasters still awaiting labels, but they're a very tricky bunch indeed

(Hupeh Crab Apple, Malus hupehensis)

(Few-flowered Cotoneaster, Cotoneaster nitens)

And a conifer, presumably a relic of an old long-abandoned garden, also at Great Elm turned out, by virtue of its lack of any white markings underneath the leaves, to be Nootka Cypress (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis); they're supposed to have an unpleasant scent when the foliage is crushed, but although it's certainly strong I wouldn't go as far as calling it unpleasant.

(Nootka Cypress, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis; from above, and below)

And, adding up the totals on my list for the first time in a few weeks, I realised I'd hit the magic total of 1000 1020, in fact, with these latest additions (and minus Large Hop-trefoil, Trifolium aureum, which Tiggrx helped confirm I'd misidentified from last June). Considering I've yet to clock up a full calendar year, I don't think that's bad going There's plenty more I'm hoping to add in May, plus I'm determined to make it to the Scillies for a week in early-mid June - that should add a guaranteed 100-plus, easily...

[Tiggrx]

Originally Posted by davidbr

There's plenty more I'm hoping to add in May, plus I'm determined to make it to the Scillies for a week in early-mid June - that should add a guaranteed 100-plus, easily...

I can give you some plant locations for Scilly if you like - I was there in March.

[davidbr]

Originally Posted by Tiggrx

I can give you some plant locations for Scilly if you like - I was there in March.

Thanks, Tiggrx; that'd certainly be very useful

At the moment all I've got is a couple of write-ups from previous Wild Flower Society trips to the Scillies.

[davidbr]

Oh, one more thing.

At Great Elm, Somerset on May 2nd I found & photographed a poplar by the river that is given by Atlas Flora of Somerset as Balm-of-Gilead, Populus candicans. The only trouble is, that name doesn't seem to exist

It's not on the BSBI database, nor Stace's Interactive Flora of NW Europe, and I can't figure out what the new name is, if any. Can anyone give me a clue?