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

In Search of Irish Ladies Tresses in Devon - August 2024

 On my way back to Cornwall from a family day out to Dartmoor in July, we found the road closed and a diversion in place not far from Tavistock. This sent us down a narrow country lane which went past some really nice looking bog pasture. I stopped to take a look around and thought the bog flora was quite impressive, given that much of Dartmoor is dry and over-grazed. Once home, I did some reaearch and found that Irish Ladies Tresses had been recorded here for many years, but not seen since 1994.

Given this incentive to re-find it, I visited the area in mid August to record the monad. I searched all over the area but unfortunately I didn't find any, but here's what I did find of interest.

 

Lanceolate Spleenwort on a roadside wall. Much like Black Spleenwort, but the fronds are tapered to the base and not triangular. Also, the stipe is not blackened near the base and the sori are smaller in this species too.

Asplenium obovatum

Carnation Sedge was in fruit in the boggy areas. It's characterised by the fruits being large and loose as illustrated in the photo.

Carex panicea

Slender Knapweed (formerly inadequately called Chalk Knapweed) on a road verge by the bog. You can tell this apart from Common Knapweed by the slender capitulas, less than 14mm wide and the dark part of the bracts are lanceolate, not ovate and do not overlap each other.

Centaurea debauxii

 

On a boggy flush down a hillside were numerous Oblong-leaved Sundews, an insect eating plant.

Drosera intermedia

In the same area were clumps of Floating Club-rush "in flower" as it were. I'd not seen these growing on soil before. In Cornwall I see them floating in ponds and puddles.

Eleogitons fluitans

 

Cross-leaved Heath up the slope in the drier parts.

Erica tetralix

Back to the road verge and there was a colony of Common Hemp-nettles.

Galeopsis tetrahit

 

A typical bog habitat for the carniverous Oblong-leaved Sundew.

 

A plant that only grows in very wet places is Marsh St. John's-wort, quite unlike the other species of Hypericum but the same family of course.

Hypericum elodes

 

Trailing St. John's-wort in the drier parts.

Hypericum humifusum

 

The beautiful flowers of Slender St. John's-wort, this plant has orange buds before the flower opens.

Hypericum pulchrum

 

Bog Pimpernel looking great as ever in the bog.

Lysimachia tenella

 

A few Bog Asphodels were still flowering, though most were in seed, as shown in the third photo.

Narthecium ossifragum

 

A short distance away was a golf course with not much growing on it, but I found some young Royal Fern growing in a roadside ditch next to it. A lovely plant.

Osmunda regalis

 

Back on the edge of the bog were rafts of White-beaked Sedge

Rhynchospora alba

 

Quite numerous in places was the diminuitive Lesser Skullcap.

Scutellaria minor

 

Devil's-bit Scabious with their lovely blue flat-topped flowers were found by the roadside.

Succisa pratensis

 

My final find of note was a single plant of Ivy-leaved Harebell amongst clumps of Purple Moor Grass.

Wahlenbergia hederacea

 I don't often get to record in Devon, but it's good to go and see plants in areas other than your local one. I didn't find the elusive Irish Ladies Tresses and they may well now be extinct at this site, but I found lots of other nice species. I might return next season for another look perhaps?

Take Care

Dave