Cornwall Botany - Late Winter to Early Spring 2024

 As I write this on the 20th March, it has rained almost every day for most of the year so far. It's certainly the wettest early year period I can recall. As such, I haven't gone out that much, so this is a short blog on botanical finds or plants of interest found so far. With the rain has been very mild weather, with only two short periods of frost to date. As such, many Spring plants are coming into flower earlier than usual by up to two weeks or so. The wet and mild weather should also bode well for annual species in the coming weeks and should enable them to recover from the repeated Spring droughts we have had in recent years.

Here are the plants I've come across so far this March, many being rosettes or plants without flowers. If you record, it's important to try and identify plants in this state too. Plants may be present all or much of the year, but may be in flower just for a few weeks, so why restrict yourself to only identifying plants in flower?

My first plant actually was in flower and is a plant of acidic bogs and mires, Round-leaved Water Crowfoot. I found it at Retire Common, not far from Bodmin. The habitat where it grows in is usually in or by the stream that runs through the common or in pools where the water collects. However, it has been so wet this year, that seeds have germinated on the footpath through the common and the plant below (and many others) were in water filled footprints on the main path. The stream itself was full of these plants too. They've only just begun to flower, so in a couple of weeks, there should be drifts of flowers here.

Ranunculus omiophyllus

Another bog plant that was growing all over the place was Marsh Ragwort. Like the Crowfoot above, it had multiple plants growing on the path as well as by the stream where it is usually found. Of course, it was too early for flowers, so here's a photo of it's basal leaves. Note the very large terminal lobe and simple side lobes that distinguish it from other Ragworts.

Jacobaea aquatica 

Opposite Leaved Golden Saxifrage is a reliable early Spring flower to find. In Cornwall it's found almost everywhere there is flowing water or seepage, from rock fissures to road edges, streams and rivulets. These were some of the first to come into flower, but now there are thousands of golden little dots amongst carpets of plants. It's always a wonderful and uplifting sight to see them in flower in early Spring.

Chrysosplenium oppositifolium 

From late February onwards, I see lots of young Common Valerian plants. These are fairly common on Cornish hedges and woodland paths in Cornwall. However, back in Kent, they are very uncommon and were only found on dry chalk slopes, often in company with the likes of Musk and Common Spotted Orchids. It's odd how the plant has adapted to such different environments, but then, there are two subspecies and these are found in these two very different environments, but not usually together.

The chalk tolerant subspecies is called subsp. collina and the acidic tolerant one found in Cornwall is called subsp. sambucifolia. They are separated by having a different arrangement for their stem leaves. You might find both subsp. together in some places, so it's always worth checking the stem leaves if you are going to identify them to subspecies level and not solely relying on its environmental habitat.

The plant below will grow up to a metre tall with at least three pom pom like heads of small pink/white flowers later in the year, all being well.

Valeriana officinalis 

In Kent, Green Hellebore was considered a native plant and was included in the rare plant register and it was always great to find some. In Cornwall, they are considered neophytes and arrived within the last few hundred years by human intervention, usually as garden escapes. Having said that, the plants I have seen in Cornwall have fully naturalised. The plants below were first recorded in the wild at this location in 1927, almost a century ago. There are now well over 100 plants along a rural lane Cornish hedge and extended several metres into deciduous woodland, so they have survived here a long time.

Helleborus viridis subsp occidentalis

Here's one of the clumps in the woodland spread quite a distance from the original introduction.

A flower close up.

Wandering the lanes and by-ways of Cornwall, one never quite knows what exotic plant might turn up next. In this case, I came across several large Tree Ferns, similar to those found at Helligan Gardens. In this case, it was clear they had been planted as they were all in a straight line along a farm track. However, they are not cheap to buy and I wondered why someone would pay out all that money to plant them along a farm access road, a long way from the farmhouse or any other buildings. I put in a record for these as planted, as there are records of some growing wild in Cornwall, so should some be found growing wild nearby in years to come, they will know where they originated from by my record.

Dicksonia antarctica

Plenty of Scarlet Elf Cup fungi were now growing on the wet dead wood in several locations I visited. The wet weather meant there were lots more around than I saw last year.

 Sarcoscypha coccinea

My partner and I had lunch at a coastal pub at Trebarwith Strand and I noticed lots of these pale green rosettes, growing on a vertical wall with fresh water seepage constantly running over them. I recognised them as Brookweed, often found in such damp coastal locations here. Sea Spleenwort grew with them too.

Samolus valerandi

Some of the other species that had come into flower so far this month incuded:

Barren Strawberry - Potentilla sterilis

Wild Strawberry - Fragaria vesca

Lesser Celandine - Ficaria verna

Wild Daffodil - Narcissus pseudonarcissus subsp pseudonarcissus

Greater Stitchwort - Stellaria holostea

 

 Blackthorn - Prunus spinosa

 

Danish Scurvygrass - Cochlearia danica

  I'll end with a Dandelion. It's that time of year when they start to become identifable again. The one below that I found at Looe seafront had spotted leaves, a Section Naevosa species which I had determined by the referee as:

Taraxacum ronae

 There were of course many more species coming into flower than I have featured, along with many pavement plants, such as Rue-leaved Saxifrage and Common Whitlowgrass, but I won't feature them all.  As increased daylight continues into April, there will be many more species to see, and I am looking forward to discovering them all over again along with hopefully, some new species too.   

Take Care

Dave

Wrapping up my Botanical Finds in Cornwall for 2023

 This is a short blog to finish off 2023 in Cornwall. As we start 2024, the daylight hours are slowly becoming longer but that is rather negated by non-stop heavy rain and gales of late. The following is a precis of the few interesting plants I found in December.

Whilst walking through a wet woodland, I couldn't help but notice hundreds of rushes, most less a foot tall. The look of the plant said it was Slender Rush, but I thought I would take a sample home to double check. Using a new camera on my 3D microscope made it very easy to see all the tiny parts of the plant on my laptop instead of having to squint through the eyepieces. This plant has its outer tepals much longer than the inner ones and project far beyound the nutlets and Slender Rush is characterised by that alone. Some guides say this isn't on a rhizome, but the one I pulled up was - but it was very short, perhaps 2" long from which arose several plants, giving it a bit of a tufted look. I hope to explore Juncus more fully using the microscope and micro camera come Spring when they bear flowers and fruits.

Below is Sea Spurge at Par Sands in seed. It doesn't look a great deal different when in flower, though the central bracts have now enclosed the cyanthium (sexual parts of the flower) hiding them from view.

Euphorbia paralias

On "X", formerly Twitter, every Sunday between 8-9pm there is #Wildflowerhour where people all around the UK and Ireland post finds of native or naturalised plants flowering in the last week. It's a great way to see what's going on in different regions and a way to encourage newcomers into botany. If you have trouble identifying your flower, you can simply tag it with #WildflowerID and one of several online volunteer botanists will soon provide an answer. Many thanks to Rebecca Wheeler for keeping this going.

(her accounts are @wildflower_hour and @botany_beck).

 Here's some flowering plants I found in mid December locally that I posted on #Wildflowerhour.

Of course as a botanist, in winter, I don't just look for flowers. I notice all sorts of plants and winter is a great time to spot rosettes. Most species have specific leaves and leaf arrangement which help you identify your plant, like this Sea Storksbill below that I found in block paving outside a superstore in Par. This was a surprising find as they are usually very close to the sea and this was about a mile or so inland.

Erodium maritimum

Whilst at Par Beach, I also noticed many rare Sea Knotgrass plants still had leaves on them. I had previously thought that all knotgrasses were annuals and died off and withered away as winter set in, but no, Sea Knotgrass is actually perennial. It's the only UK Knotgrass that is.

In the first photo you can see the edges of the leaves rolled inwards and on the stem, the very short internodes between flowers (they've fallen off now of course). These features characterise this species. In the third photo you can see the thick tap root, as thick as a man's thumb going deep into the sand. The winter storm tides cover these plants and wash away their seeds aiding dispersal.

Polygonum maritimum

 

The long evenings in winter also allow time for peering through a microscope at Polypody spores. The three species (and a number of hybrids) cannot be reliably told apart without microscopic examination of their sporangia and spores. I came across one that looked a bit weird, like a cross between Intermediate and Common Polypody, and I suspected it might be a hybrid, visually confirmed by it looking almost sterile.

So I took a sample home and after careful study, it was apparent that this was simply a Common Polypody that looked a bit weird and wasn't too good at producing spores. The sporangia I examined were full of viable spores, ruling out the hybrid (which is sterile) and the number of annulus rings on the mechanism holding the spores matched Common Polypody too. Oh well, nothing unusual, but fun looking and learning.

Polypodium vulgare

The final two days of December and first two days of January are when the BSBI hold their New Year Plant Hunt. Rather than explain it in detail, you can read all about it at 

https://bsbi.org/new-year-plant-hunt

Lots of people all over the UK and Ireland go out and record everything they can find in flower that is native or naturalised in the wild on a 3 hour (max) walk. It's held over 4 days and the results are used to show trends on what and when they are flowering. Hopefully, the data will link into climate change so see what effects if any, that climate change is having on our flora at mid winter. You can go on a group hunt or go solo and I usually do both here in Cornwall. I often find new records too, with some plants inexplicably missed on summer surveys, but found now - like this Field Scabious below. Flowering on 30/12/23 by a football field.

Knautia arvensis 

Pot Marigolds are a common garden escape in southern England, but I don't often see them in the summer, however, you can't miss their bright orange flowers in mid winter. The one below had self seeded along a rural road wall, not far from a sports centre from where its parent plant probably originated.

Calendula officinalis

It's been quite a challenge to motivate myself to go out for the New Year Plant Hunt as the weather has been atrocious, with gales, heavy rain and even hail every day so far of the hunt. The gales and rain continue into January and as I write this, the windows are creaking and things are blowing around gardens with gale force gusts and driving rain. Having said all that, just half an hour outside with nature does wonders for your mental health regardless of the weather. Put the waterproofs and wellies on and go outside for a walk, see what you can find - you'll enjoy it.

Happy New Year

Dave

New Species (for me) of Vascular Plants Found in Cornwall in 2023 - Part 2

 This blog continues and concludes the list of vascular plants found in Cornwall in 2023 that were new to me. I hope you enjoy reading it. Please see the previous blog if you missed Part 1.

There are a large amount of wild Geranium family species to find in the wild, both native and naturalised aliens, the plant below being one of the latter. It had escaped from a garden onto the verge of a rural by-way. The leaves looked like giant Herb Robert, but the flowers showed this to be Rock Cranesbill.

Geranium macrorrhizum

I hadn't realised we had Water Avens in Cornwall, so when I stumbled across some records for them I was keen to look for them. Their habitat was easy enough to find as they only like very damp or wet ground, but what did make it difficult was that all around them were hybrid swarms where they had hybridised with Wood Avens (see next species below).

Geum rivale

The hybrid between Wood and Water Avens - Geum x intermedium

Lesser Marshwort was another plant I had searched a few sites for and failed to find, however I had been looking for a much larger plant than they actually were. They are related to Fool's Water Cress (Helosciadium nodiflorum) and hybridise with them too. This is a large plant, so I had wrongly assumed Lesser Marshwort was large too. In fact, the plants I eventually found on The Lizard in a drying out pool were only a few inches across. I missed them being in flower, which is from May to June, as I didn't find them until September.

Helosciadium inundatum

It's about time we had some ferns, so here are our two filmy ferns that we have here in Cornwall. Again, they were shown to us on a Cornwall Botany Group field trip and I doubt that I would have found them without guidance. They grow in inaccessible dark cracks between the granite boulders on Bodmin Moor and to get any photos I had to take them blind with a flash. The crevices were too small and awkward to get down to look in a viewfinder and too dark to see anything in it anyway!

Hymenophyllum tunbrigense

 

Growing with it was Wilson's Filmy Fern - Hymenophyllum wilsonii, which in my opinion is the more attractive fern of the two.

 

Toadflax-leaved St John's-wort was found along the quarried walls of a disused railway near Sladesbridge. It's considered native here and was no doubt spread locally by the railways. Since they have closed down and the woodland has encroached, they will likely die out from the area soon, being overshaded and out competed for the available light. I think the only other place they are found in the south, is in Devon.

Hypericum linariifolium

 

Imperforate St John's-wort is one that I searched for in Kent but failed to find. It's only found at one site there now near Eynsford, so it was great to see some on another Cornwall Botany Group field trip, this time to Goss Moor. It's quite a strikingly different St. John's-wort and what strikes you first is the streaky black lines along the petals. Of course, the leaves also lack the transluscent dots found in its more common cousin Perforate St. John's-wort.

Hypericum maculatum subsp obtusiusculum

  

Several rushes follow. It's not surprising that they are new to me as they can be a difficult group to identify with certainty, but going out with experts certainly helps!

Bristle-club Rush - Isolepsis setacea

Bubous Rush - Juncus bulbosus

Saltmarsh Rush - Juncus gerardii

 

The elusive Frog Rush - Juncus ranarius

 

And finally, Heath Rush - Juncus squarrosus

Let's get back to some nice flowering plants with petals! I found some Box-leaved Honeysuckle down a rural by-way, probably owing its presence there as a garden throw out/fly tipping.

Lonicera pileata

Slender Birdsfoot Trefoil was on the Kent likely to be extinct list until recently, when a colony was found along the River Stour valley in East Kent. So it was nice to find out that I have several scattered populations along the north cliffs fairly local to me to go and discover.

Lotus angustissimus

Growing near to the above and sometimes with it, was Hairy Birdsfoot Trefoil.

Lotus subbiflorus

We tend to take Daffodils for granted as they are simply everwhere, however, the vast majority are cultivars of hybrid origin and have been planted, discarded or fly tipped along our roads and lanes. So it was refreshing to see our native Daffodil in abundance in several locations, but especially around Respryn Bridge near Lanhydrock House. They really do look a lot different (and nicer) than cultivated species.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus ssp pseudonarcissus 

The lack of Sea Carrot in Kent means I hadn't found this subspecies of Common Broomrape in Kent, but in Cornwall, Sea Carrot is abundant, so it followed that Sea Carrot Broomrape would be more likely to be found too, and so it was. On sand dunes at Trevone.

Orobanche minor subsp maritima

I spotted some tiny Yellow Oxalis in a gravel car park that keyed out to be Least Yellow Sorrel.

Oxalis exilis

Below is another Oxalis that we found on the same trip to Hayle as the Fumaria purpurea mentioned in Part 1.

Broadleaf Sorrel - Oxalis latifolia

Early Meadow Grass found in Bodmin Hospital car park. I later found lots of it on a disused airfield near St Agnes too.

Poa infirma

A tip off from the VCR in April led me to a lay-by on a main road to see Dwarf Cherry trees, lots of them.

Prunus cerasus

I think everyone must have seen Curled Dock before, but this year, I decided to identify them to sub species level once they were in seed. Subsp crispus is the common inland form, subsp littoreus is found on the seashores and below is subsp uliginosus from the River Camel saltmarshes. Although it's likely been there many years, it's a first record for Cornwall, confirmed by the BSBI Rumex referee. I think I spotted some at Lower Stoke saltmarshes in Kent in November too, but they had lost their tepals, so I couldn't be sure.

Rumex crispus subsp uliginosus

When it is in flower, Heath Pearlwort is a pretty little plant, found on dry tracks, coastal cliffs and heaths, it's relatively common here, but easy to miss.

Sagina subulata

A naturalised alien, Krauss' clubmoss inadvertantly introduced into Heligan Gardens.

Selaginella kraussiana

While walking across a pasture field on The Lizard, I came across a giant groundsel like plant with toothed smelly (of TCP) leaves. It turned out to be Toothed Fireweed which is spreading from the Scilly Isles and onto The Lizard peninsular. Given it disperses seed by wind, I expect a rapid expansion of its range within a few years.

Senecio minimus

Another new species from the Hayle field trip was the Kangaroo Apple widely naturalised in the area from municipal plantings nearby.

Solanum aviculare

Each Spring, I have a look around for any unusual Dandelions to identify. This tiny plant was found on short coastal turf, and while it's meant to be fairly common, I'd failed to find it before.

Taraxacum rubicundum

Another garden escape was Lesser Meadow-rue, found on mildly acidic soil not far from habitation. though sadly not in flower.

Thalictrum minus

Narrow-leaved Clover is an alien species that I found growing in a disused field that was fenced off and about to be built on. It probably came in on farming equipment or possibly as a fodder crop relict. Either way, it is going to be bulldozed very soon. I'll have a look around after the houses go up to see if any survived, but I doubt it.

Trifolium angustifolium

There's not much to look at with Marsh Arrowgrass, but until this year it had eluded me finding it. Apparently frequent along streams and wet areas, especially near the coasts.

Triglochin palustris

My final new species found in Cornwall in 2023 was another alien plant that had found its way onto a rural road verge near Treligga, Pyrenean Valerian. It was last recorded in Cornwall in the 1950s, so it is an uncommon find and as such it featured in the BSBI News, Aliens and Adventives section a few months ago.

Valeriana pyrenaica 

I'm sorry Part 2 was a bit long, but it wraps up my Cornwall finds for 2023 that were new to me. I'll finish off by cheekily throwing in a new species I found when travelling back to Kent to see family. On the A303 on the Somerset/Dorset border I stopped off briefly to see the amazing Fly x Bee Orchid hybrid. It's well known at this site and has been here for several years.

Ophrys apifera x insectifera - O. x pietzschii 

I hope you enjoyed these plants, I certainly did and there's so many more to see, both locally and throughout the UK, that I doubt that I will run out of new species to see. I wonder what 2024 will bring? 

Take care and have a Happy New Year.

Dave