Cornwall Botany - September 2024

 A wet August was followed by a wetter September, but I managed to get out and about between the rain bands. Here are the plants I found of interest this month in Cornwall.

A trip to Lerryn produced several clumps of Marsh Mallow. This is a very unusual plant for Cornwall and was believed introduced some years ago or escaped from a nearby garden perhaps. Regardless, it has spread naturally around 500m from where it was first seen, so it is likely to persist here and spread further along the estuary.

Althaea officinalis

Further along Lerryn Creek was a small tidal offshoot with a few saltmarsh plants growing in it, including this hybrid between Long-stalked and Babington's Orache. It takes a bit of practice to work these out, but the stems being foliose to the tips; the bracteoles having tubercles and only open at the top and some of the bracteoles having stalks to 1cm long help define it. Oraches aren't glamorous plants, so many people can't identify them properly.

Atriplex x taschereauii

Woodland along the estuary had several copses of the invasive Himalayan Honeysuckle, an attractive and often planted garden plant, but one that spreads in damp woodland rapidly in Cornwall.

Leycesteria formosa

In the nearby woodland I found a single clump of Common Cow-wheat, now not so common overall!

Melampyrum pratense subsp pratense

Bitter Vetch still with some flowers on a rural road verge.

Lathyrus linifolius

Now that the roadworks have finished on the A30 around Carland Cross, it makes it easier for me to travel West, so I took a trip to Pendeen Cliff in SW Cornwall. Betony was flowering on the clifftop turf.

Betonica officinalis

Ona clifftop road grew Himalayan Balsam, another invasive species. Amongst the many familiar pink flowered plants were a few with all white flowers.

Impatiens glandulifera

Upright Hedge Parsley on a clifftop road verge.

Torilis japonica

An English Stonecrop with a late, solitary flower.

Sedum anglicum

Back to the other end of the county and a trip to Kit Hill, hoping to find some late flowering Field Gentians. Unfortunately I found no trace of them and it is possible they have died out there. However I did stumble across a single spike of Autumn Ladies Tresses in the same area. This species was completely new to Kit Hill, so a great, albeit accidental find. It was verified a few days later by the local conservationists and will now have its habitat looked after accordingly.

Spiranthes spiralis

Fairy Flax was also abundant here.

Linum catharticum

A sunny afternoon meant that I took the opportunity to go on a local trip to Harbour Cove which is a system of sand dunes in the Camel Estuary. I last visited here in June a couple of years back on a Cornwall Botany Group trip and saw some amazing plants. I didn't expect to find much this late in the year, but what follows is what I did find of interest.

Sharp Rush is large with stiffly pointed leaves that can cause a bad cut, Harbour Cove is a stronghold for it here.

Juncus acutus

 

A Marsh Woundwort gave some colours to the damper areas.

Stachys palustris

The most unusual find of that day was a clump of Orange-peel Clematis growing in the dunes along with its native cousin Traveller's Joy. It was a new species for me too. It had been recorded here some years before, but it's an uncommon garden escape.

Clematis tangutica

Sea Spurge grew in abundance on the dunes too.

Euphorbia paralias

Come the end of September I visited Carnsew Pool in Hayle, hoping to find Perennial Glasswort. It was first recorded here some 12 years or so ago and a small clump was reported. As such, I expected to search through masses of Common Glasswort (the most common Glasswort in Cornwall) to try and find Perennial Glasswort hiding within it. I need not have worried. No longer was there a small clump, there were thousands of plants in a line at the top of the saltmarsh stretching for about 100m.

Sarcocornia perennis

Long-stalked Glasswort was previously only recorded from Copperhouse Pool to the East of Hayle. It was now in Carnsew Pool to the west in good numbers too.

Salicornia dolichostachya

 A photo of the west end of Carnsew Pool at Hayle. The darker vegetation in the mud is Perennial Glasswort and it goes off into the bend in the distance.

Red Goosefoot was in large patches along the shoreline of Carnsew Pool, they start off green but are now turning deep red, from where they get their name.

Oxybasis rubra

Viper's Bugloss with a solitary flower still open.

Echium vulgare

Wild Teasel, a real bee magnet when in flower, and when in seed, food for finches over the Winter.

Dipsacus fullonum

Finally, some Common Centaury, with nicely open flowers in the early Autumn sunshine.

Centaurium erythraea

I hope you enjoyed the plants I selected for September, as I write it's early October and still raining most days, but there are still plenty of plants and flowers to find. Until next time, take care.

Dave

Cornwall Botany - End of August 2024

 Summer has drawn to a close and many plants are in seed or dying back, but there's always plenty of interesting things to see. Here is a selection of plant species I found in Cornwall from mid to the end of August.

Angelica is now in full bloom, a lover of wet areas.

Angelica sylvestris

Tutsan is mostly now full of berries with just a few of their bright yellow flowers to be seen now.

Hypericum androsaemum

A very attractive plant is Wavy-leaved St. John's-wort with its petals having scarlet streaks on them. It's more or less confined to Cornwall and parts of Devon, South and mid Wales.

Hypericum undulatum

Marsh Ragwort is also in full flower and dominates many woodland rides in Cornwall. It becomes much more uncommon the further east one goes in the UK. Note the very large terminal lobe on the leaves that other Ragworts lack.

Jacobaea aquatica

Greater Plantain has two subspecies : subspecies major and subspecies intermedia.

Subsp. major is the common one found almost everywhere, but below is subsp. intermedia which is often coastal, but can be found inland on poor soils, like it was here in a plantation woodland path.

Plantago major subsp. intermedia

Goldenrod is another late Summer flowering species and it adorns many road verges and woodland rides as here in a woodland near Wadebridge. It's also found in coastal areas where its form is generally small and compact.

Solidago virgaurea

 

A nice display of Goldenrod and Heather in a woodland ride.

Heath Speedwell still going strong, another species mostly found in woodland.

Veronica officinalis

What I thought was Lanceolate Spleenwort from a by-way Cornish hedge near Wadebridge. Much like Black Spleenwort without the black stem and with the fronds not being triangular in outline. However this may be a young Dryopteris species.

Purple Moor-grass is very common on heaths and bogs in the area, but I think this is the first time I've photographed its flowers. Lovely aren't they.

Molinea caerulea

You don't always need flowers to identify a species. These leaves belong to Pale Dog-Violet, an uncommon violet found on drier heaths in the region. The leaves are elongated and crenate around the edges.

Viola lactea

The next group of photos come from a Cornwall Botany Group field trip to the Perranuthnoe area in SW Cornwall. 

Nettle-leaved Goosefoot from an arable field

Chenopodiastrum murale

A BSBI referee confirmed Pale Willowherb, one of the rarer Willowherbs from a damp fallow field. These have club stigmas, stalked leaves with cuneate bases with prominent veins, and pale flowers.

Epilobium roseum

Musk Storksbill growing in an arable field edge.

Erodium moschatum

Small-flowered Cranesbill from the same arable field.

Geranium columbinum

 

The lovely small flowers of Henbit Dead-nettle

Lamium amplexicaule

We found a small colony of gone to seed Thyme Broomrape, a veyr rare plant outside of The Lizard area.

Orobanche alba

A few remaining Autumn Squill in flower on coastal clifftops.

Scilla autumnalis

And their seeds.

 

One of the star finds on the day was a colony of Night-flowered Catchfly. They were superficially like White Campion but the petals roll back in the day and unfurl in the evening for moth pollination.

 

Silene noctiflora

The best find of the day was Green Nightshade, not only new to me but a new species for Cornwall too.

 

Solanum nitidibaccatum 

 

The next two photos show comparison between Green and Black Nightshade, more or less growing side by side in an arable field edge.

Back to general recording and on a road verge near St Austell, I found another new species for me, Carthusian Pink. However, I believe it was sown when the road was made many years ago, evidenced by other species being present that were alien to Cornwall, such as Small Scabious and a continental type of Birdsfoot Trefoil.

 

Dianthus carthusianorum

An evening walk along a footpath between arable fields near Wadebridge produced some nice species such as this Striped Goosefoot. Other goosefoots were present too, including Fig-leaved and Red Goosefoot.

Chenopodium strictum subsp strictum

Many-seeded Goosefoot from the same area.

Lipandra polysperma

Black Bindweed is often overlooked as it flowers in late Summer and is often obscured by crops.

Fallopia convolvulus

 Late Summer is also the time for Corn Mint, which has a musty mint smell and lacks flowers at the crown of the plant.

Mentha arvensis

 Nearby were several Field Woundworts, a declining species in much of the UK.

Stachys arvensis

 

Fool's Parsley with its characteristic bracteoles hanging down vertically under the umbels. The seeds look pretty cool too.

Aethusa cynapium

 

 The delightful tiny flowers of Sharp-leaved Fluellen.

 

Kickxia elatine

 

Musk Mallow adorning road verges here and there, lovely flowers, but take a look at the seeds next time you see them. What amazing little structures they have.

 

Malva moschata

Weld growing along a path between arable fields.

Reseda luteola

Finally, a Field Pansy brightening up a field corner.

Viola arvensis

As you can see, late Summer has plenty of species to offer and September will be the same. It isn't until the first frosts arrive that everything really slows down with many species slumbering over the Winter months. So make the most of it until then.

Take Care

Dave