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British Wild Flowers: A photographic guide to every common species
In centuries gone by, all but the highest peaks would have been wooded. Clearance of trees and subsequent, often excessive, grazing by sheep ensured that the natural woodland disappeared and cannot regenerate. In general terms, moorland is the dominant habitat in upland areas although the characteristic plants and appearance vary considerably from region to region, and are profoundly influenced by soil type and climate; communities dominated by Heather or moorland grass species form the two extremes. In a few areas, mountains dominate the landscape, sometimes rising to altitudes above the level at which trees would grow if they were allowed to do so; these areas harbour unique communities of plants, many restricted to rocky gullies and crags that escape nibbling by sheep. Highlights include Moss Campion and an intriguing range of saxifrage species.
FRESHWATER HABITATS
Freshwater habitats have the same magnetic appeal as coastal habitats. In Britain and Ireland, we are indeed fortunate in having a wealth of examples, from small ponds and streams to large lakes and river systems; few people have to travel excessive distances to visit one or more of these habitats.
Flowing water has a charm all of its own and a trip to a river or stream will invariably yield discoveries of showy marginal species such as Yellow Iris and Ragged Robin, while specialised aquatic plants flourish in areas where the water is not too polluted.
Bodies of standing water often harbour a strikingly different range of plants from those found in flowing water. Many seemingly natural lakes are man-made, or at least man-influenced, and within this category fall flooded gravel pits, and more obviously, reservoirs and canals. By mid summer a rich growth of aquatic plants, such as pondweed species, dominates many of our smaller ponds as well as the margins of lakes. Pond and lake margins are fascinating places for the botanist to explore, with bur-marigold species, Golden Dock, Mudwort and Six-stamened Waterwort among the highlights. Left to their own devices, the margins are soon encroached by stands of more robust emergent plants, and species such as Common Reed sometimes form extensive beds around larger lakes.
The encroachment of vegetation into areas of open water leads to the creation of habitats know as mires, which are more popularly referred to in a general context as marshes. Marshes often form on neutral soils, but where they are base-rich (alkaline) then the resultant habitat is called a fen. Conversely, acid soils encourage the formation of bogs. The nature of the underlying soil has a profound influence not only on the appearance of the mire in question but also on the plant species that grow there. Some wetland plants, such as Bogbean, will grow in both moderately acid and mildly alkaline conditions while others are more selective. Thus, for example, we find that certain plants, such as cotton-grasses, sundews and butterworts, are essentially restricted to acid soils while fens are home to a range of interesting sedges, plus more showy plants including Great Meadow-rue, Marsh Valerian, Marsh Pea and Greater Water-parsnip.
COASTAL HABITATS
In habitat terms the coastline is arguably Great Britain’s crowning glory. Although development has marred some areas, particularly in southern England, those that remain unspoilt there, and elsewhere in Britain and Ireland, are truly wonderful and harbour a rich array of specialised plants.
For breathtaking scenery and a sense of untamed nature, coastal cliffs offer unrivalled opportunities for the naturalist. Botanical highlights include carpets of Thrift that dominate the vegetation in many western parts of the region, with species such as Sea Carrot, Sea Campion and various sea-spurreys in attendance.
To the unenlightened eye, an estuary may seem like a vast expanse of mudflats, studded with a mosaic of bedraggled-looking vegetation and very little else. For the botanist, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Specialised plants including glassworts, sea-lavenders and Sea Purslane have evolved to cope with twice-daily inundation by sea water. Above the high tideline, intriguing salt-tolerant species thrive.
Portland Spurge is just one of the delights to greet visiting botanists on a spring trip to the extensive dune system of Braunton Burrows in Devon.
Sandy shores are beloved of holidaymakers but have much to offer the botanist too. On the landward side of the beach, colonising plants – notably Marram Grass – establish stable dune systems and subsequently these are colonised by maritime plants such as Sea Spurge as well as grassland species such as Viper’s-bugloss and Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil. Coastal shingle is a more challenging environment for a plant and it tends to be the domain of hardy specialists such as Sea-holly, Yellow Horned-poppy and Sea-kale.
In botanical terms, the stabilised shingle at Chesil Beach in Dorset is arguably the finest of its kind in Europe. Here, extensive carpets of Horseshoe Vetch can be seen, but Bird’s-foot-trefoil and Thrift also thrive in abundance.
CONSERVATION
WORKING ON THIS PROJECT gave me the opportunity to visit many wonderful botanical locations across our region, the best of which are protected, to a degree, by nature reserve status and hence are still in good order. I also revisited many unprotected wayside botanical sites that I had not seen for several years. Sadly, most had become botanically impoverished and some had even lost the special plants for which they had been known. It will come as no surprise to learn that the majority of these sites were on areas of farmland.
WHAT’S GONE WRONG?
Threats to the countryside are all too obvious these days: the swallowing of land for housing, road schemes and the like, industrial and domestic pollution, and above all changes in agricultural practices – namely the unquestioning use of ever-more ‘efficient’ herbicides since the 1950s. And problems for wild flowers in the countryside do not stop with farming. Many landowners view the land they own as something to be exploited, if not for economic gain then as a playground, without a thought for conservation.
It has come to something when the discovery of Spreading Hedge-parsley, once a widespread arable ‘weed’, is a cause for botanical celebration. Without changes in agricultural practices, species such as this – already extinct at a local level in many areas – could disappear from Britain completely.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Legislation and agricultural grants relating to the way the countryside is managed need to target wildlife more intelligently than is currently the case, and development and change of land use should be subject to as much restriction as exists in the world of town planning. Easy to say, but much harder to put into practice. And there seems little cause for optimism, given that statutory bodies commanded with the responsibility for nature conservation are funded by government, itself perceived as being more receptive to economic than to environmental lobbies.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Object to, and oppose, all major development in the countryside and support organisations that are critical of the way intensive farming and insidious urbanisation have changed the botanical face of the landscape. On a small scale, grow as much of your own food as you can, garden organically, and use local organic sources for your additional needs whenever possible. Another way that the individual can help safeguard the British countryside is to donate as much money as possible to conservation organisations for the purchase of land to remove it from the threat of intensive farming or development. Suitable recipients of donations would include organisations such as Plantlife International, the various county Wildlife Trusts, the Woodland Trust, the National Trust and the RSPB.
Although walks in the countryside sometimes induce a sense of gloomy pessimism, budding botanists should not despair. Remarkably few flowering plant species have been lost entirely from Britain and Ireland in the last century and there are still plenty of wonderful botanically rich locations around the country. Nature reserves are thriving and, with your support and enthusiasm, things can only get better.
Thankfully, it is still possible to find agricultural fields where Cornflowers and other arable weeds thrive alongside the desired crop plant, either by design or where non-intensive farming methods are used. Let us hope that sights such as this become more commonplace as enlightenment, or financial inducements, change the way some of the land is farmed.
Juniper to Nettle Families
Juniper
Juniper Juniperus communis (Cupressaceae)
Dense shrub of well-drained soils, from chalk downland to mountains. FLOWERS On separate-sex plants; those on female plants are green and oval (much of year). FRUITS Ripening in second year to form blue-black berry-like cones. LEAVES Stiff, bluish green, needle-like, in whorls of 3. STATUS Widespread and locally common.
Hazel catkins
Hazel
Hazel Corylus avellana (Betulaceae) HEIGHT to 12m
Dense woodland shrub or small tree; often coppiced. FLOWERS Catkins (male) or small red, tufted structures (female) (Jan–Mar). FRUITS Hard-cased nuts, green, ripening brown in autumn. LEAVES Appearing after flowers, 6–8cm long, circular to oval, with double-toothed margins. STATUS Common and widespread.
Bog-myrtle
Bog-myrtle Myrica gale (Myricaceae)
Woody, brown-stemmed shrub that is characteristic of boggy habitats, usually on acid soils. FLOWERS Orange, ovoid male catkins or pendulous brown female catkins; on separate plants (Apr). FRUITS Brownish nuts. LEAVES Oval, grey-green, smelling of resin when crushed. STATUS Widespread but local; sometimes locally dominant.
Berries
Mistletoe
Mistletoe Viscum album (Viscaceae)
Woody, evergreen parasite with evenly forked branches. Forms large, spherical clumps among branches of host trees, mainly apple (often in cultivation), lime and poplar. FLOWERS Inconspicuous (Feb–Apr). FRUITS White, sticky berries. LEAVES Oval, yellowish green, in opposite pairs. STATUS Widespread but local.
Bastard-toadflax
Bastard-toadflax Thesium humifusum (Santalaceae)
Low-growing plant of chalk grassland with sparse branches and a woody base. FLOWERS Cup-shaped, fused; white inside, yellowish green outside; 4 or 5 pointed lobes create a starlike appearance (June–Aug). FRUITS Greenish, ovoid. LEAVES 5–15mm long, oval, yellowish green. STATUS Extremely local and habitat-specific.
Hop
Hop Humulus lupulus (Cannabaceae)
Twining, hairy hedgerow climber. Grows on a range of soils, often a relict of cultivation. FLOWERS Clustered; greenish yellow (male) or green and hop-like (female) (June–Aug). FRUITS Familiar hops, ripening brown in autumn. LEAVES Divided into 3–5 coarse-toothed lobes. STATUS Widespread, locally common only in the south.
Common Nettle
Common Nettle
Common Nettle Urtica dioica (Urticaceae) HEIGHT to 1m
The familiar stinging nettle. FLOWERS Pendulous catkins; borne on separate-sex plants (June–Oct). FRUITS Superficially resembling flowers. LEAVES Oval, with pointed tips, toothed, in opposite pairs; 8cm long and longer than stalks. STATUS Widespread and common, doing best on nitrogen-enriched and disturbed soils.
Small Nettle
Small Nettle Urtica urens (Urticaceae)
Similar to Common Nettle but smaller and annual. FLOWERS Pendulous catkins, male and female on same plant (June–Sep). FRUITS Superficially resembling female flowers. LEAVES Oval, with pointed tips, toothed; up to 4cm long; lower leaves shorter than their stalks. STATUS Widespread and locally common on disturbed ground.
Pellitory-of-the-wall
Pellitory-of-the-wall Parietaria judaica (Urticaceae)
Spreading, downy perennial with reddish stems. Colonises walls, roadsides and rocky ground. FLOWERS Clustered at leaf bases (June–Oct). FRUITS Clustered at leaf bases. LEAVES Oval, up to 5cm long and long-stalked. STATUS Widespread in England, Wales and Ireland; commonest in coastal areas and in the west.
Nettle, Birthwort and Knotweed Families
Cleave, Andrew
Mind-your-own-business
Mind-your-own-business Soleirolia soleirolii (Urticaceae)
Mat-forming perennial with wiry, threadlike stems. FLOWERS Minute, pink (May–Aug). FRUITS Minute, hard to discern. LEAVES Tiny, rounded, untoothed and evergreen. STATUS A garden escape, colonising walls and paths, mainly in the south-west.
Cleave, Andrew
Asarabacca
Asarabacca Asarum europaeum (Aristolochiaceae)
Evergreen perennial associated with shady banks and woodland margins. Creeping, hairy stems. In suitable locations, forms carpets often alongside ivy. FLOWERS Purplish brown, 15mm long, bell-shaped with 3 terminal lobes (May–Aug). FRUITS Brownish capsules. LEAVES Dark green, shiny, kidney-shaped. STATUS Native in a few locations but also naturalised.
Birthwort
Birthwort
Birthwort Aristolochia clematis (Aristolochiaceae)
Upright, unbranched perennial of scrubby places. FLOWERS Yellow, tubular, 20–30mm long, fetid-smelling, the swollen base trapping pollinating insects; in clusters (June–Aug). FRUITS Green, pear-shaped. LEAVES Heart-shaped, strongly veined. STATUS Rare and declining; a relict of cultivation for midwifery.
Hall, Jean
Japanese Knotweed
Japanese Knotweed Fallopia japonica (Polygonaceae)
Fast-growing, invasive perennial, quick to colonise roadsides and other wayside places; hard to eradicate. FLOWERS Whitish, in loose, pendulous spikes arising from leaf bases (Aug–Oct). FRUITS Papery. LEAVES Large, triangular, on red, zigzag stems. STATUS Alien, but now a widespread garden escape.
Knotgrass
Knotgrass Polygonum aviculare (Polygonaceae) HEIGHT to 1m (often prostrate)
Much-branched annual of bare soil and open ground. FLOWERS Pale pink, in leaf axils (June–Oct). FRUITS Nut-like, enclosed by the withering flower. LEAVES Oval, leathery, alternate with a silvery basal sheath; main stem leaves larger than those on side branches. STATUS Widespread and common.
Equal-leaved Knotgrass
Equal-leaved Knotgrass Polygonum arenastrum (Polygonaceae) PROSTRATE
Mat-forming annual of bare ground and disturbed soil. Superficially like Knotgrass. FLOWERS Pale pink, in leaf axils (June–Oct). FRUITS Nut-like, enclosed by the withering flower. LEAVES Oval, equal in size on main stem and side branches (cf. Knotgrass). STATUS Widespread and common.
Cleave, Andrew
