Botanical Finds in Cornwall - End of July 2023

 Botany isn't always about exploring new areas for new species, sometimes you find them within a few miles of your home. I took a walk along a river valley locally, bordered on one side by a disused railway line up a cliff. I had visited this area last year looking for Toadflax-leaved St. John's-wort but had failed to find any, so this year I had another look.

It's an arduous climb to the disused railway and it was heavily overgrown with brambles and gorse, so the wearing of thick jeans to visit is a must! Along one side of the disused railway line was a cliff cut out of the hillside and it was on here that this plant used to grow in good numbers. However, over the years, it had become wooded and scrubbed over, and now only a few small bare areas of cliff were left. On one such area I found a single plant, so I was elated at seeing one. The downside was that this was an evening walk and the flower had closed, but it was great to see this species at long last.

Hypericum linariifolium

Here's a photo of its habitat. It doesn't compete well with other plants, hence it is only found on these bare areas of rock, clinging onto the shallow soils in cracks and fissures.

Climbing Corydalis can often be found around Wadebridge and there were two large clumps of it in the woodland not far from the previous plant featured. It likes shady places, so photography can be tricky in the low light of the canopy.

Cerotocapnos claviculata

As I left the area I noticed an unusual Sedge in fruit by the path. I took a sample home and keyed it out as Small-fruited Prickly Sedge. On checking previous records for the area, I found it had been recorded here before too, thus helping to confirm my identification. This was also a new species of sedge for me.

Carex muricata subsp pairae

Nearby, a Small Skipper butterfly was roosting. It's always great to see butterflies and even better to get a good photo too.

Thymelicus sylvestris

At Juy's end, many plants are at their best, including Angelica. It's quite common in Cornwall and is often found on hedgerows and roadsides given the damp habitats there. This one below was at a nature reserve near Tredinnick Pits. I had hoped to find Pillwort and  Lesser Marshwort here, but their habitat was under water from all the rain we have had and I couldn't find them.

Angelica sylvestris

I did find lots of Floating Club-rush though, but unfortunately, none had "flowers".

Eliogiton fluitans

The magnificent Royal Fern was frequent in a couple of areas, though in danger of being completely shaded out by young tree growth of Grey Willow and Sycamore.

Osmunda regalis

Flowering plants here included lovely stands of Water Mint, Gypsywort and Marsh St John's-wort amongst others, and also some unusually pink Marsh Speedwells, they are usually almost all white, as were most others of this plant here, including white flowers on the same plant as this pink one! Pink-flowered Water Speedwell tends to grow in more alkaline habitats and it is rare in Cornwall as a result.

Veronica scutellata

An unsual find here wasn't found on the reserve, but on a farm track between tractor ruts nearby. A rather small Marsh Yellow-cress. I'd only seen this plant one before growing out of a kerbstone on a rural Kent lane.

Rorippa palustris

My final trip of July was west of Week St Mary in NE Cornwall. I noticed the fungi were beginning to show here and there, unsurprising given the damp summer weather we've had all throughout July.

Below is Yellow Stagshorn Fungi which often grows on dead pine or on pine stumps as here. It turns orange as it matures.

Calocera viscosa

Saw-wort isn't just a coastal plant in Cornwall, it is also found on rural road verges and on some Cornish hedges, though usually just an odd plant here and there. I found these on a dirt track road verge just prior to the flowers opening. I've included a photo of its lower leaves too from where it gets its name. It looks very different to the Knapweed species with which you might confuse it if looking in some of the more basic guide books.

Serratula tinctoria

A fairly common hybrid that can be found is between Hedge and Marsh Woundworts. Both can grow in similar habitats and often do, and where they overlap, cross pollination is fairly frequent. Here there were around 20 flowering spikes of this hybrid. Most had the flowers of Hedge Woundwort with the unstalked stem leaves of Marsh, and a few plants had both stalked and unstalked leaves up the stems. They immediately look "wrong" when you see them for either parent species. They had previously been recorded here many years before, so they can maintain their fertility and no doubt back cross too with either parent. I found both parent species within 30m of these hybrid plants.

Stachys x ambigua

I had gone to this area to search for an old record of Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum). Unfortunately, I failed to find it, but I did find over 50 spikes of Broad-leaved Helleborines scattered over a 100m area. Helleborines are uncommon in Cornwall, so if you want to see them, look in woodland close to the Devon border. The further west one goes, the fewer records there are for them. This is probably as there are hardly any older woodlands in the west of Cornwall which is their preferred habitat.

Epipactis helleborine

So ended July. The whole month was wet or drizzly with under average temperatures. While challenging to keep the camera dry, it was most welcome after the prolonged late Spring drought we had endured with way above average temperatures in May and June. The rain encouraged another burst of germination in annual species and kept going those that would normally dry up in a hot summer.

I hope you enjoyed reading the blog and I am sure there are many botany discoveries to be had in your own area. The key to finding them is to get out and about and walk very slowly!

Take Care

Dave