Cornwall Botany - Mid August 2024

 The first group of plants come from a Cornwall Botany Group field trip to Loe Bar walking along coast, clifftop turf and arable fields to Gunwalloe not far from Helston.

Sea Beet isn't often photographed as it's a very common seaside plant related to garden Beetroot. However, they look quite exotic when the pods and fruits turn red, so they become worthy then of a portrait.

Beta vulgaris subsp maritima

 

We then found some that were fasciated, a condition I hadn't seen in this species before.

Almost onto the beach at Loe Bar was an all white variant of Betony, perhaps the salt influence affected its colouring? 

Betonica officinalis

Some of the Cornwall Botany Group at Loe Bar which comprises of sparsely vegetated fine shingle.

A surprise find were a few ragged looking Chamomile on the coast path. They were ragged because walkers continually tread on them as they grew right in the middle of the path. A sniff of the crushed foliage easily identifies it from lookalike Mayweeds, it smells lovely!

Chamaemelum nobile

Rock Samphire coming into flower, a sure sign of late Summer.

Crithmum maritimum

Common Dodder was prolific in some areas, almost all of it parasitising Common Gorse (Ulex europaeus). However, we did find one plant growing on Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) which was a surprise.

Cuscuta epithymum

Due to declining habitats, Sea Holly is an uncommon plant, but it grew prolifically on Loe Bar. There were previous records too for Yellow-horned Poppies but we failed to find any which was a shame.

Eryngium maritimum

When in West Cornwall, it's always great to come across Cornish or Western Ramping Fumitory. It's the UK's largest flowered fumitory (the flowers are usually about 14mm long) and it is endemic to Cornwall, nearly all of it found West of the River Camel. Note the white border on the top petals, no other fumaria species has this, though they turn deep pink after pollination, as shown in the last photo.

Fumaria occidentalis

When I lived in Kent, I associated Ladies Bedstraw as a chalk plant, however, it grows in Cornwall anywhere where shell grit/sand is blown ashore as well as some road verges inland - much like Kent but without the chalk.

Galium verum

On CBG field trips there is usually an entomologist with us recording insects too. He found this 5cm long (excluding the antennae) Great Green Bush Cricket on an arable field edge for us to admire.

Tettigonia viridissima

Sea Sandwort with its pyramid like leaf structure is quite photogenic. They are in seed now and this photo shows the large seed pods which detach in time for the Autumn storm tides to float off and spread to other areas. The holes around it belong to solitary bee species burrowing into the harder sand of fixed dunes.

Honckenya peploides

A Frog Rush growing on old concrete on Gunwalloe beach. 

Juncus ranarius

Below was a new species for me, though in seed now. Found by the VCR on a cliff, it is Crested Hair-grass.

Koeleria macrantha

We found a bunch of Cut-leaved Dead Nettles in an arable field with deeply incised teeth on the leaves.

Lamium hybridum

A Swinecress flowering on fine shingle.

Lepidium coronopus

Our entomologist kindly found a native Cockroach for us to admire. Up until then, I had no idea we had any cockroaches native to the UK. The one below is a flightless female Lesser Cockroach.

Ectobius panzeri

The rhino horned flower of Common Restharrow, the hairs on it being very glandular and smelling of gone off lemons. Rub some on you and it acts as an insect (and person) repellant too.

Ononis repens

A disused small quarry on the coast path had a lone Heath Pearlwort still in flower. Thanks to the occasional rain we've had throughout the Summer, some annual species have kept going all Summer long.

Sagina subulata

A Rock Sea-spurrey on a cliff. Their flowers are at least twice the size of the other spurries, so very easy to identify in flower.

Spergularia rupicola

Wild Thyme dotted the clifftop turf or on thin soil rock outcrops.

Thymus drucei

We found some Western Clover too, though not in flower this late in the season. There are only a few sites off The Lizard where it has been found in recent times.

 

Trifolium occidentale

That summed up the field trip which was very enjoyable with good weather too. The next day I had an evening walk at Daymer Bay in the Camel estuary which is local to me.

A very late Pyramidal Orchid still just in flower in short turf.

Anacamptis pyramidalis

Carline Thistles, look dead but are actually in full flower.

Carlina vulgaris

The sticky seed capsules of Houndstongue which help to disperse seed to other areas via the fur coats of passing animals.

Cynoglossum officinalis

A view of Daymer Bay from the nearby coast path.

An unusual garden escape was a bunch of blue coloured gladioli, Large-flowered Gladious.

Gladiolus x hortulanus

The rhubard and custard coloured flowers of Ploughman's Spikenard.

Inula conyzae

 

Where the turf was short, Western Eyebright studded the grass with their quadrilateral form.

Euphrasia tetraquetra

There was a hatch of Six Spot Burnet Moths. This one was feeding on Field Scabious.

Zygaena filipendulae on Knautia arvensis

I went to Daymer Bay primarily to find and record Autumn Ladies Tresses, a small wild orchid with spirals of green and white flowers up a spike. In previous years, only the odd one or two plants had been recorded here. No doubt thanks to the wet Spring and Summer, I recorded 43 spikes here, a vast improvement.

Spiranthes spiralis

My final plant of the day was Pink Water Speedwell, a rare plant in Cornwall. It had been previously recorded in the stream that runs into Daymer Bay in recent years, though I found a patch in a new part of the stream, virtually on the beach, so that was nice.

Veronica catenata

 

That wraps up mid August, keep an eye out for my Late August blog of Cornwall Botany, coming soon.

Take Care

Dave

Cornwall Botany - Early August 2024

 Summer marches on and I can already feel Autumn coming as the evenings draw in, fruits appear in the hedgerows and grasses turn brown. Fortunately, we've had no prolonged hot, dry spells, so the plants have been getting rained on every few days keeping them fresher for longer. Below follows some of the interesting plants I've found so far this month.

 

It's still too early to determine most Oraches as they haven't yet developed their seed pods (bracteoles) which are diagnostic. However, one is easy to identify even when immature. It's Frosted Orache, so named as the leaves often appear frosted or silvery due to mealy hairs covering them. These wear off as they age, but the leaves are much smaller than other Oraches and it grows closest to the high tide mark than most too. This one was at Par Sands.

Atriplex laciniata

 

 Sea Rocket is very common along many coasts and I would usually post a photo of its 4 petalled flowers, but the seed pods are just as interesting. They are buoyant and float off in the Autumn equinox tides to disperse to other areas. Taken at Par Sands.

Cakile maritima

 

 August is the best month to identify Knotgrasses. At Par Sands, there are often good numbers of Sea Knotgrass, which is nationally scarce. It has leaves where the edges curl under; very short, crowded internodes, and much larger flowers than inland species.

Polygonum maritimum

 I was lucky enough to also find Ray's Knotgrass at Par Sands. I hadn't found any in previous years, but this year there were quite a few. This was only the second time I had seen this species too. It's flowers are just as large as Sea Knotgrass and it grows in the same places, but the leaves do not curl under and there is a longer distance between the internodes. Its seeds also protrude somewhat from the sepals.

Polygonum oxyspermum subsp raii

 

Sea Spurge in full flower in the dunes, always close to the sea.

 Euphorbia paralias

Most people don't even notice docks, or only do so when stung by a stinging nettle to rub in the stings (use Ribwort Plantain leaves for nettle stings they're much better). However, Curled Dock has three subspecies, the common inland form, a saltmarsh form and a sea or maritime form like below. It's found on beaches and areas close to salt influence. The notes in the photo tell you what to look for.

Rumex crispus subsp littoreus

Prickly Saltwort also grows at Par Sands and other sandy beaches, usually close to the higher tide marks. There are numerous plants ar Par, some quite large and bushy. As the name suggests, they are prickly. Being so close to the sea they don't bother with petals and just stick their "flower parts" out of a leaf node, much like Glassworts do, see below.

Salsola kali

In the tidal stream at the West end of Par Beach grew stands of Sea Club-rush with their distinctive clumps of spikelets.

Bolboschoenus maritimus

 Growing with this Club-rush were several stands of Sea Aster. They look like Michaelmas Daisies, but these are native and only grow in saltmarsh. They're one of the few plants that have ray petals and which are routinely covered by high tides.

Tripolium pannonicum

Another new species for me at Par Sands, but back from the beach, was this Stinking Tutsan, a garden escape that is a medium tall shrub. The usual one to escape is the hybrid Tall Tutsan and they look very similar. The key thing to look for is that the sepals wither on the flower in Stinking and they don't on Tall. Also, as the name suggests, Stinking has an unpleasant smell when crushed and Tall is mildly pleasant, this last tip not being much use to me after several bouts of Covid reduced my sense of smell considerably. There's another species with "hirsinum" in its name and that's the Lizard Orchid, which smells of goat urine, so perhaps I'm glad I couldn't smell this one.

Hypericum hircinum

Tucked away behind the sandy dunes at Par is a small meadow which was awash with colour and different species of plants. The main one the photo shows is Purple Loosestrife.

Lythrum salicaria

In this meadow I also found a few Yellow Bartsia still flowering.

Parentucellia viscosa

 Some Square-stalked St. John's-wort was here too.

Hypericum tetrapterum

In some bare sandy areas was Equal-leaved Knotgrass, easy to identify as the leaves on the main stem and branches are all roughly the same size. It grows flat to the ground too which is also diagnostic.

Polygonum depressum

 Common Centaury flowering beautifully.

Centaurium erythraea

Common Valerian wasn't expected in dunes, but then some areas were quite damp, so it was obviously to their liking.

Valeriana officinalis

Another member of the dock Family caught my eye as it looks very distinctive in seed. It's Clustered Dock which has three tubercles on each bracteole (see inset photo) in whorls around the stem and leafy almost to the tip of the plant.

Rumex conglomeratus

Tansy was nearby with its peculiar button like flowers that lack ray petals entirely.

Tanacetum vulgare

I then left Par and drove a short distance to the Gribbin Head area. In a field edge on the way down to the sea I found some Chickory in flower.

Cichorium intybus

Also, a few Corn Marigolds, a relatively common sight in Cornwall's fields compared to the rest of the UK where one tends to only see them as arising from bird seed spillages.

Glebionis segetum

In the same field was a stunning leaf variant of White Clover, the best I've yet seen. There's around 12 leaf marking variants in total, but I rarely see any other than the standard chevron type.

Trifolium repens

My final plant for this day was the Narrow-leaved Everlasting Pea, a native plant, usually only found in coastal areas. It's leaves are very long compared to width and not fat and dumpy like the common garden escaped Broad-leaved species. It's flowers are also paler and not as showy as the garden form.

Lathyrus sylvestris

Most of the week I am not actively botanising but ferrying the family around shops. Whilst they go in shopping I often have a look around the car park and adjoining areas to see what I might find. A newly built store in Bodmin, thus with highly disturbed soil around its perimeter had this lovely Nettle-leaved Goosefoot growing. Unlike other Goosefoots, it has broad, shiny leaves with clearly defined teeth along the margins. Certainly a surprise find.

Chenopodiastrum murale

The next day I came across a Lesser Quaking Grass in seed in a Lidl car park in Wadebridge. A first record for the area. I was surprised how tall this plant was as I had only seen them in arable fields in Cornwall which were quite small.

Briza minor

A hybrid between Apple and Spear Mint found in a rural lay-by where it probably originated from dumped garden waste years ago. It had spread for around 10m of road verge.

Mentha x villosa

That round off my selection of plants found in early August, I hope you liked them.

Take care

Dave