Botanical Finds in Cornwall for October 2022

 

 

I started the month with a trip to the south coast recording in the south western corner of St Austell Bay. There were plenty of plants still to see even though Summer had now passed in to Autumn.

 

This is Common Ramping Fumitory, the commonest Fumitory in Cornwall, but one has to take care it isn't one of the other larger species like Western Ramping or White Ramping Fumitories. The size and colour of the flowers, flower tips and the shape and size of the sepals are needed to key these out.

Fumaria muralis

In a coastal woodland was a carpet of yellow flowered strawberry plants, a frequent garden escape, but that that widespread overall. The fruit is supposedly insipid, but I refrained from eating any.

Potentilla indica

On an exposed cliff facing the sea were several colonies of Haresfoot Clover which has an attractive fluffy looking flowerhead made up of numerous individual white flowers.

Trifolium arvense

As I walked down the coastal path to a place called The Vans, which is rather an odd name, I came across several Mulleins along it. Careful examination of the flowers revealed this to be Dark Mullein and it had previously been recorded here before too. Note the all purple hairs on the stamens.

 

Verbascum nigrum

A few days later I was walking locally near St. Breock and found a patch of "waste ground" which was botanically rich in species. One species was this Bugloss below, with its tiny but bright blue flowers.

Anchusa arvensis

Nearby were several flowering crucifers. The bright green foliage and upper stem leaf shape showed it to be Common Wintercress. I usually only find this in flower in the Spring.

Barbarea vulgaris

I then explored a nearby churchyard and along its edges, paths and outside it were clumps of Common Calamint which I find is an attractive but not large flowered member of the Mint family.

Clinopodium ascendens

Michaelmas Daisies are quite common but there are several different types and they can be tricky to identify. I have included some notes on the photo below to show you some of what is needed to identify them. Very obvious on this specimen was that the phyllaries were quite a bit wider above their middle and easy to see too.

Symphotrichum novi-belgii

 

Most St. John's Wort have gone to seed now, but I found this late straggler still flowering. It has square stems which narrowed it down to Square Stalked or Imperforate. However, as the leaves had lots of white glands (hold one up to the light to see them), it could only be Square-stalked St. John's wort. It's flowers are smaller and usually more numerous than other Hypericums and the upright slightly bushy look of the plant is immediately recognisable anyway.

Hypericum tetrapterum

On a country lane I found these three plants growing out of a wall that I did not recognise at first. These are Giant Viper's Bugloss, a plant I want for my own garden as bees love them. You can see the parent plant within the garden behind the gate.

Echium pininana

At the freshwater end of a saltmarsh creek, I found my first colony of Apple Mint. At first, I thought it was Spearmint, given the inflorescences, but the leaves were wrong. The leaves did not smell very nice when crushed either, unlike Spearmint leaves.

Mentha x villosa

Back to my local area and on a walk along the tidal River Camel I found these Snapdragons growing wild on a disused industrial plot.

Antirrhinum majus

Stinking Iris were in full seed now and as the pods split, they reveal their lovely coloured seeds.

Iris foetidissima

Common Cord Grass was flowering along the mudflats, enhanced by the array of colours from aging Glassworts (there will be a seperate blog on Glassworts soon).

Spartina anglica

Near the high tide mark, but below it, I found this striking Atriplex or Orache. I have quite got into these and have found several hybrids. The BSBI referee identified this as the hybrid between Spear-leaved and Babbington's Orache. One needs to look very closely at the bracteoles, seeds and leaves to try and work these species out. A useful tip is to look at BSBI News and plant cribs for Atriplex which hold a wealth of information to help one identify which species has been found.

 

This hybrid is new to the Cornwall flora, though I have no doubt it is widespread but not yet identified elsewhere.

Atriplex glabriuscula x prostrata

The Camel Trail is well worth walking as well as cycling, though I wish the cyclists would be a bit more considerate to pedestrians and slow down as they approach them. On a wall there, I found a colony of Sea Spleenwort, an unusual, fleshy fern only found by the sea.

Asplenium marinum

 

In the grasses were some sedges. These were Long-bracted Sedge as evidenced by the very long bracts surpassing the seedheads.

Carex extensa

   

I then came across two species that flower in the Spring. The first, below, is Blackthorn. There were only a few flowers though.

Prunus spinosa

The other out of season flower was this lovely Burnet Rose, a rare plant back in Kent, but relatively common along the cornwall coasts.

Rosa spinosissima

Social media has been full of out of season plants in flower, so it was nice for me to find some too. I suspect the drought breaking recently triggered stressed plants in flowering again before the frosts arrive.

 

The most common Sea-Spurrey that I find is usually Rock Sea-Spurrey, so it was nice to find some Greater and Lesser Sea-Spurries along Little Petherick Creek shores. The plant below is Greater Sea-Spurrey that has 10 stamens and the petals are longer than the sepals. Lesser, has around 7 stamens and tiny flowers that do not exceed the sepals.

Spergularia media

Of course, now it's Autumn and the soil is damp, the fungi are appearing. This, I believe, is Honey Fungus, attractive, but one that would be unwelcome in gardens.

 

 

Near the end of the month, I visited the Torpoint area and recorded many plants. Below is Musk Storksbill which had run rampant all along a grassy sea front.

 

Erodium moschatum

Spindle is a small to medium native tree with leaves and flowers that are non-descript. The time to see it is now, when the brightly coloured pink seed capsules are present. These split to expose orange seeds within.

Euonymus europaeus

Henbit Dead-Nettle on the same grassy verge as the Musk Storksbill. Nicknamed "Happy Giraffes" by a botanist on social media! I can see why.

Lamium amplexicaule

I don't usually see Hedge Woundwort at the top of the beach, but it seems that in Cornwall, anything goes!

Stachys sylvatica

As if to contrast with the occasional Spring flower seen, the Holly was looking decidedly festive.

Ilex aquifolium

I also found Tashereau's Orache in two locations, but it is a dull plant and not very photogenic at this time of the year. Identity again confirmed by the Atriplex referee, it was the hybrid between Long-stalked and Babbington's Oraches. The seed is slightly out of focus, but then they are tiny!

Atriplex glabruiscula x longipes = A, x taschereaui 

 

The last photo shows the plant in total, it's the plant dying off in the foreground. As you can see it's almost gone over, but as it had a few leaves left and an abundance of seeds, it was identifiable.

For much of October I was visiting estuaries and saltmarshes looking for new Glasswort records. I did find some, though there aren't many species in Cornwall compared to other regions. They will feature in my next blog, but this one rounds off my general finds for October in Cornwall. I hope you enjoyed it.

Regards

Dave

Botanical Finds in Cornwall - September 2022 - Part 2

Mid month and I decided to re-visit Pentire Farm, a National Trust managed farm near Newquay known for its good selection of arable plants. I had briefly been there during the summer, but the lack of rain and drought had meant there wasn't much to be seen at that time. However, the recent rain had brought the place to life. Here's some of the more unusual plants I found there.

Corn Marigold is mostly only found as a bird seed casual in much of the UK, but it is native in Cornwall and this was a stronghold area. In places there were hundreds of flowering plants.

Glebionis segetum

Dotted around the field were a few specks of pale blue belonging to Pale Flax, another Cornwall native. I had also found this in the Camel Estuary dune systems in June.

Linum bienne

  One of the plants I had hoped to find was in one field in good numbers, Weasel's Snout, a small snapdragon that is quite rare in much of the UK.

Misopates orontium

 

Dotted around the field were several Wild Radishes, most with lilac coloured flowers, but a few were white too. Nearby, on the cliffs was the yellow Sea Radish but that wasn't in flower.

Raphanus raphanistrum

Corn Spurrey was also present in the fields.

Spergula arvensis 

The fields were enclosed with Cornish walls, a mixture of slate, rocks and earth. These walls support a myriad of plants, but being so close to the sea, Rock Sea-Spurry was dominant.

Spergularia rupicola

 My final offering from these special arable fields was Field Woundwort.

Stachys arvensis

In coastal areas (and some salted roads inland), one can find the more unusual sub species of Great Plantain. These are much smaller than the usual form, with small 3 veined leaves on a longer cuneate shaped stem. The flowerheads are small and very dense too.

Plantago major subspecies intermedia

On a recording walk around Park Head on the north coast, I found this odd looking Orache. The commonest two species found here are Spear-leaved and Babbington's Oraches, but this was different to either of them. It was fleshy green with some leaves near the stem tips and a few bracteoles were stalked. An email to the BSBI Atriplex referee followed and he determined this was the hybrid between Babbibgton's and Long-stalked Orache, an unusual and nice find.

Taschereau's Orache

Atriplex x taschereaui (A. glabriuscula x longipes).

The bracteoles were spongy at the base with a few teeth and no tubercules on the sides (Babbington's has tubercules). It was also only open to less than half way. These features ruled out Spear-leaved Orache.

The seeds had the radicle ( the point where the seed would sprout) sub basal and pointing laterally, a feature of Long-stalked Orache.

I now look very closely at any coastal Atriplex species I come across. Most are the parent plants of A. prostrata or A. glabruiscula. The other potential parent is A. longipes which is very rare in Cornwall.

Up until this point in time, I had only found Autumn Squill in seed. The drought conditions had caused most to flower and seed within a week, so I missed most of them. Inspired to look again from some finds shown on Twitter, I finally found two plants still in flower near Ephaven Cove on the north coast again. What delightful little flowers they are too. They look like miniature Spanish Bluebells, unsurprising, given they are related. However, unlike those, these are native plants and can mostly be found on western coastlines in short turf.

Scilla autumnalis

 The photo below has a coin included to show some scale. Small aren't they!

On a brief visit to Par Sands on the south coast, I found numerous Evening Primroses in flower. Earlier in the Summer, the place was full of Large-flowered Evening Primrose, but the shape of the petioles (flower stems) and the smaller flowers with styles not exceeding the anthers meant the current plants were a different species. These can be tricky to identify and there is a BSBI handbook on them, as they hybridise freely making some identifications difficult. However, these were easy to identify as they were also scented. I give you the Scented Evening Primrose.

Oenothera stricta

Nearby were the biggest stands of Prickly Saltwort I had ever seen. It does very well here, though it's now in seed. They are very prickly, so don't sit on any! On the highest tides, the seeds will float off and disperse to other beaches.

Salsola kali

In amongst the Prickly Saltwort were numerous plants of Sea Knotgrass. These are quite rare and are characterised by the large (compared to other knotgrasses) flowers being tightly bunched and they also have inrolled leaves which you can see in the photo below.

Polygonum maritimum

 

 

A view of Prickly Saltwort on the western end of Par Sands looking east.

I finished off the month with a woodland walk where I found plenty of Bifid Hemp-nettle with their attractive, though fairly small flowers.

Galeopsis bifida

Hawkweeds are similar to Dandelions in that there are numerous micro species that self clone. It's an area I haven't yet explored, but one usually finds a few in hedgerows and walls at this time of the year.

Hieracium

As September ended, the rains arrived in earnest and so had the wind. Over the next few months, I hope that our reservoirs and lakes will be refilled and the drought broken, although despite several inches of rain lately, the main water reservoir at Colliford is still below 25% full, so there is a long way to go before the drought restrictions can be lifted. 

Until next time take care.

Dave

@Botany2021

Botanical Finds in Cornwall - September 2022 - Part 1

 

 September is when the heath plants flower and there were a few I'd yet to see, such as Dorset Heath, which is present on the mid Cornwall moors. So at the beginning of Spetember I went off to find them. One site is near Carland Cross on the A30 which is currently subject to a massive roadworks project to dual the existing A30. Thankfuly, I avoided any major delays and parked  down a lane off the A30. After walking a while, I noticed lots of Orpine in flower along the rural lane. Clearly not planted, and native in Cornwall, they were quite colourful and I could see why people plant them in their gardens.

Hylotelephium telephium subsp fabaria

How the leaf attaches to the stem and its shape is key to subspecies determination. The leaf below shows a cuneate base (tapering) to the stem and is stalkless. Subspecies telephium is a non native garden escape and would have strongly truncate leaves (horizontal to the stalk) and almost stalkless.

That was a good start and they are uncommon in the wild, they had been recorded here before, but not for many years.

Once on the reserve I photographed what I thought was Dorset Heath as the leaves were in whorls of 4. However, it didn't match the online (or book) photos of it, with the flowers being closer to Cross-leaved Heath. Given its height, branching habit and glandular hairiness, it was quite obviously a hybrid plant.

Erica ciliaris x Erica tetralix E. x watsonii

 I didn't have time to look further as rain had finally arrived, and it was teeming down giving me a good soaking. As my camera and lenses aren't waterproof I gave up and headed home. A week or so later, I had another go at finding Dorset Heath and headed to a nature reserve where they were known, but different to the previous location. Dorset Heath was in abundance here, though mostly in seed, but they clearly looked quite different to the previous plant above.

Note how the flowers are mostly one sided up the stem in a raceme and not clumped together at the top. The whorls of glandular hairy leaves and branches are quite apparent and the leaves are in whorls of three.

Dorset Heath is quite an attractive rare plant.

Erica ciliaris

  I found another hybrid there too, in fact I found several.

 Erica ciliaris x Erica tetralix E. x watsonii

Heather was also in flower.

Calluna vulgaris

Here is the other parent to the hybrid, E. watsonii above, the Cross Leaved Heath.

Erica tetralix

Sneezewort is not very common and the flowers look rather like oversized Yarrow flowers to which it is related. It's found in damp acidic areas and was doing well around several Gorse bushes on the edge of a mire. The purple flower beneath it is a Water Mint (Mentha aquatica).

Achillea ptarmica

Along a remote farm track I found stands of Pale Galingale, a fequent garden escape plant that pops up every now and then. Also called an Umbrella Plant given the shape of its leaves.

Cyperus eragrostis

Purple Loosestrife is a late Summer flowering plant of wet plaes and it usually looks quite ragged and "rough looking". This one bucked the usual trend for this species and looked very attractive.

Lythrum salicaria

Bog Myrtle flowers in the Spring, it is a woody small shrub and every part of it smells beautiful and still did in September. I was drawn to what looked like catkins, but on closer examination they turned out to be its fruits.

Myrica gale

There were some massive Royal Ferns around like the one below. It was about 5-6 feet tall, it's a shame I couldn't rig up a time delay photo to include me in it to show scale, it was really impressive. Reasonably common on the mid Cornwall moors, but rare the further East one goes. In Victorian times these were almost collected to extinction.

Osmunda regalis

Part 2 follows soon to round off the month, I hope you enjoyed it.

Regards

Dave