Grasmere specimens

[IanP]

Hi again,

I thought I may have left it a bit late for another foraging session, but there was plenty to see around Grasmere earlier in August. These are the ones I can't positively ID and your help would be appreciated. I'm afriad images are not very good, not least because I couldn't get close to all the specimens and I was having trouble keeping up with my wife!

First, this looks like Yellow Loosestrife, but the other photos I've seen suggest the flower petal shape is too round (and is the plant in the background Wild Angelica):



This one may be Salad Burnett:



The flowers on this one suggest Perforate St Johns Wort:



This one may be Corn Mint?



Is it too much to ask that this one is a Fragrant Orchid?



This looks like an escapee - Michaelmas Daisy?



An finally, this one appears at first glance to be a Welsh Poppy, but the leaves seem wrong, as does the seed pod shape:



Thanks in anticipation.

[Cuckoo Jack]

Hi,

Although I'm no expert on flowers plus I haven't started on orchids yet, most of your hunches seem accurate to me.

Tom

[earthdragon64]

I think number 1 is Dotted Loosestrife with Wild Angelica in the background. The fragrant Orchid isn't, try Marsh Woundwort. Corn Mint and Michaelmas Daisy look good. Not sure on the others.

Regards, Audrey.

[The Woodman]

Originally Posted by earthdragon64

The fragrant Orchid isn't, try Marsh Woundwort.

Is MW similar in appearance to Purple Losestrife?

[earthdragon64]

Originally Posted by The Woodman

Is MW similar in appearance to Purple Losestrife?

Not really, the flowers are very different.

Regards, Audrey.

[The Woodman]

Thanks Audrey, does PL flower earlier in the season - May/June?

[earthdragon64]

I've only ever seen it on Mull and that was in the middle of last August, I don't know how early in the year it starts flowering.

Regards, Audrey.

[The Woodman]

OK, thanks.

[Dorts]

1. is Yellow Loosestrife, our native Lysimachia, (Still in full flower here in N Wales). Below.


Rather than Dotted Loosestrife - L. punctata, the garden escapee pictured below.


5. is not Fragrant Orchid. Difficult to see with my rather poor eyesight what it is. I think I'd have to go for Marsh Woundwort from the height and colour. Purple Loosestrife, which by the way flowers all summer long and is still in full flower, is, as the name suggests, a rich-purple and will grow to over 2m.

I agree with the others.
Dorts.

[IanP]

So, the consensus is:

1. - Yellow Loosestrife.

2. - Salad Burnet - the reason I put it up was that in my then reference the fruiting head wasn't as vividly coloured. I've now obtained another two books and in one of them there are illustrations for that detail. The Salad Burnet head is the same shape but green and has a red, rough stem. The Great Burnet has the same colours but elongated shape and a smooth green stem, as the one I saw. Also, according to the same reference, the leaves are more like Great Burnet's.

3. - Perforate St John's Wort?

4. - Corn Mint.

5. - I originally discounted Marsh Woundwort because the pictures I had suggested that the leaves are more deeply veined than the one I saw, but now I can see the connection (I have the benefit of the "better" original).

6. - Michaelmas Daisy.

7. - Welsh Poppy? I originally queried it because of the leaf texture and colour (more blue-green) being different to the illustrations I've looked at. Could this be a consequence of cultivation?

Anyway, thanks all once again for your assistance.

Ian