Botanical Finds for the first week of June 2022, Cornwall.

June marks the the beginning of Summer, so plants take off big time from now on.  Spring was very dry overall with many annual  species suffering and those that did make it, had a very short flowering period. Overall it has been cooler than usual too, thus some species have been flowering later.

The following are the plants of note that I found in the first nine days of June. I think they are interesting and I hope you do too.

Common Spotted Orchids are quite rare in Cornwall. They don't like acid soils much and are replaced by Heath Spotted in most of the county. However, there is an area of clifftop near Tintagel on the north coast where only Common Spotted Orchids are found and they are a special type too.

Depending on what taxonomy you follow, these are either a seperate sub-species or a named variant. There were hundreds here and all looked similar with completely pink petals. Personally, I think they are simply a variant, caused by hybridising with Southern Marsh Orchids many years ago and then introgressing back with Common Spotted Orchids again. Some appear intermediate with Southern Marsh but all lack the "grandeur" of the hybrid, 'D. x grandis'. They are actually very diminuitive orchids.

Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. hebredensis 

(as recorded on BSBI & ERICA databases)

or possibly

Dactylorhiza fuchsii var. cornubiensis 

(Aphotoflora.com and Britain's Orchids: A Field Guide to the Orchids of Great Britain and Ireland

Book by Mike Waller and Sean Cole (which I highly recommend).

Whatever view is taken, they are an attractive small orchid and definitely a 'type' unique to this area.

Along the cliff edges past the orchids were stands of Hare'sfoot Clover, a fluffy little plant with tiny whie clover flowers hidden within.

Trifolium arvense

Some people mistake the wildflower below as an orchid and from a distance it can look like one. It's Hoary Plantain, the only "showy" plantain we have. In the Cornwall Flora book recently published, it's shown as probably extinct in the county. As such, I've been visiting places where it was recorded upto 100 years ago, usually churchyards, but had not found it anywhere.

I then botanised a local industrial area and found two flowering plants by the side of the road! I imagine they were seed contaminants of a seed mix used to beautify the verges after the roads were built for this estate some years ago. However, it's a great find.

Plantago media

Sea Fern Grass is very common here and probably is around much of the UK coastline, however, it's quite smll and often goes unnoticed. It's a stiff, fleshy plant in keeping with living in a salty environment. It's now expanding its range inland due to Winter road salting too.

Catapodium marinum

Here is another plant adapted to living in a salty environment. Sea Spleenwort, a fern that grows in tidal splash zones and cliffs exposed to salt. I'd never seen these before.

Asplenium maritimum

 

Another coastal plant is Brookweed, however this one has to have its feet wet or damp and is found in such areas by the sea. These were just coming into flower at Trevose Head in a disused quarry with a damp area within it.

Samolus valerandii

This violet below was a tiny speck of purple in the clifftop turf. I thought it was a small Common Dog Violet, but a closer look showed it to be a Marsh Violet. An odd location for it, perhaps with normal rainfall, this part of the clifftop is usually wet?

Viola palustris

At Trevone Beach cliffs, I found another species new to me, Garden Parsley. There was a lot of it growing on the Cornish walls here. It looks way too green to be Cow Parsley and has solid stems and yellowish flowers. Of course, the leaves smell and taste of parsley too. Please don't taste any umbellifer uness you know what plant it is, as some can kill you or make you very ill (and quickly) as they are very poisonous.

Petroselinum crispum

Sometimes I don't feel like driving anywhere and just walk my local area. There's always new things to see locally too. This is Water Bent, a common naturalised alien grass that I see most everywhere now. When fresh it's a very bright green, hence 'viridis' in its name.

Polypogon viridis

 

Garden escapes can be found in the most extreme places. In this street drain is a flowering Trailing Bellflower!

Campanula poscharskyana  

There are quite a few grass verges around where I live and they are stuffed full of herbs. I'll have to return later to find out for sure what the plant below is. It had flowers with both 4 and 5 petals on and could either be a hybrid Cinquefoil or Trailing Tormentil (itself a stable hybrid named as a species now). You can only tell for sure what it is if it sets seed (anglica), or flowers wither without any seed being set (hybrid).

Growing out of walls everywhere in Cornwall is Navelwort, also known as Wall Pennywort. The plants are usually a shade a green, perhaps with some red colouring here and there. So it was very unusual to find this amazing example below of an all red form. It's deserving of a varietal status really, so I've invented  a var. name below!

Umbilicus rupestris var. rubra

 This is the usual green form. They are very slow growing, unsurprising given that they may not have access to many nutrients.

While the family walked a local beach, I explored the cliffs around it. This is Tall Ramping Fumitory, with flowers larger than 11mm, jagged sepals and usually a pink (not black) top petal. I think they are absent from Kent, so I'd not seen them before moving here.

Fumaria bastardii var. bastardii

I like finding Fumitories and I soon came across another, a much larger species, along a road verge. This species is the second largest in the UK and is called White Ramping Fumitory. The sepals are huge and the flowers tend to hang downwards. They can turn pink on pollination and in one variety they turn crimson, so look for fresh flowers to determine them easily rather than just their colour on first glance.

Fumaria capreolata subsp. babingtonii

With Cornwalls' mild climate, you never quite know what garden plant you will come cross living in the wild quite happily. Being so close to the sea, this Arum Lily in a wet ditch is unlikely to see any severe (or even moderate) frost, so may survive many years.

Zantedeschia aethiopica

Hoary Stock is a clifftop plant I used to see in Kent on the chalk. It isn't native in Cornwall, being introduced or an escape from cultivation (as is likely here), but it was doing fine on this acidic cliff near Polzeath recently.

Matthiola incana

This Soft Brome seemed very small, much smaller than usual, even if it was growing on an exposed cliff edge. When I posted it online, it was suggested that this was in fact a special dwarf coastal type of Soft Brome that is fairly rare. These plant were only about 2" tall. We'll see what the county recorder thinks, but it looks good for it.

Bromus hordeaceus subsp. ferronii

That about sums up the first nine days of June. Lots to see and lots more to come. I hope you liked the plants, take care.

Dave

Twitter @botany2021

 

Cornwall Botany Group Field Trip to the Lizard - 25/05/22

 The geology of the Lizard area is well documented as are the plants that grow there. However, it is a very large area and it would take a long time finding these rare plants unguided. So what better way to have an introduction to the area than with a guided botanical walk with the Cornwall Botanical Group.

This is a blog containing the rarer species found, along with anything else I found interesting on the day. As there are so many species I will limit my ramblings and show you as many photos as possible.

I'll start off with the rarer Clovers as many botanists and students studying ecology visit there to see them. Below is Twin headed Clover, though all the ones we saw this day had single flower heads (probably due to drought).

 Trifolium bocconei

 Upright Clover

Trifolium strictum

 Knotted Clover

Trifolium striatum

Rough Clover

Trifolium scabrum

Birdsfoot Clover

Trifolium ornithopioides

Slender Trefoil

Trifolium micranthum

Long Headed Clover

Trifolium incarnatum subsp molinerii

Western Clover, the biggest of all the above, but still half the size of White Clover.

Trifolium occidentale

So now you know there are a few more clovers than Red or White ones! 

 

Wild Chives on a rocky outcrop

Allium schoenoprasum

The red form of Shepherd's Purse, though I have seen ordinary plants looking as red as these. Im sure there are some other differences between them too. Found in the Lizard car park area.

Capsella rubella

Also found in the car park were copious amounts of Green Sea-spurrey, much smaller than our native ones found in salt marshes.

Spergulria bocconei

I learnt a new sedge to identify and have seen it in several places since this visit, Flea Sedge.

Carex pulicaria

Dropwort is quite at home on the poor soils of the serpentine rocks.

 I used to only see it on chalk back East.

Filipendula vulgaris

Found in the Lizard main car park was Western Ramping Fumitory, locally known as Cornish Ramping Fumitory as it's only found in Cornwall and is also endemic (only found here in the world).

Fumaria occidentale

Petty Whin is very rare most everywhere, a thin, spindly bush with weak spines. On the Lizard it sprawls through other plants and thrusts up the odd branch and flower cluster between them.

Genista anglica

A related species was also in flower which are very similar to those above, Dyer's Greenweed. It was the procumbent subspecies that can survive being blasted by salt laden gales that happen here frequently over the cooler months. Oh and what a view too!

Genista tinctoria subsp littoralis

 

Look for this type of sparse, thin soil over granite habitat for the tiny Clovers.

A change of rock led to a change of wildflower. This below was one of hundreds of Bloody Cranesbills.

Geranium sanguineum

Scattered over the rocks in places and also in the main Lizard car park was Fringed Rupturewort, one of several new species I saw today.

 Herniaria ciliolata

Spotted Cat's Ear, another rare species.

Hypochaeris maculata

A very rare fern, Land Quillwort. The corm is usually buried but this had been kicked up by cattle we suspect. It gave us a unique opportunity to see the whole plant. Spores form on the underside of the leaves to disperse the plant by wind.

Isoetes histrix

Toad Rush abounded, but we also found the very small Dwarf Rush, not far away from the Chives.

Juncus captitatus

One of the stars of the trip was this plant, parasitic on Wild Thyme, it was of course, Thyme Broomrape.

Orobanche alba

Pillwort is an even smaller fern, dispersing its spores by forming a pill like ball at the base of the simple frond. Found in dried up winter puddle areas.

Pilularia globulifera 

Another amazing plant to see was Spring Sandwort, a bit larger than its common cousins with proper petals too!

Sabulina verna

Incredible scenery surrounded many of these plants. Here's Dropwort with an amazing backdrop.

 

 

Below is Sea Milkwort, it was the only plant growing across a fault line where the types of rock beneath changed 

 

Lysimachia maritima

 

 

There were of course many more plants to see and marvel at, but I've shown the most unusual or rare. It's a fantastic place and the end of May is the best time to visit it.

After the field trip me and another member decided to visit an area nearby for bog plants and orchids. Not much was up yet, but we did find these gems.

 

Common Butterwort, the only site in Cornwall for this plant.

 

Pinguicula vulgaris

 

 Close by were numeorus Pale Butterworts, which is much more common in Cornwall. It's also smaller in all parts than Common Butterwort.

 

 Pinguicula lusitanica

 

Early Marsh Orchids looking great. These are much pinker than Kent's population which are very white in comparison.

Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp incarnata

 

 Heath Spotted Orchid, one of hundreds found here and in the Lizard coastal areas too.

 

Dactylorhiza maculata

 Finally, Round-leaved Sundew

 

Drosera rotundifolia

All the above and the field trip in general were taken in adverse weather. It was very windy and at times very wet, yet ironically the area is suffering from a drought, which seems commonplace in recent years for early Spring.

 

That finishes up my botanical finds for May, what a month is was too.

 

Take care

Dave

Twitter - @botany2021