Where There's Muck ...

Sewage Works are not the most glamorous of locations but they are always interesting places to visit (with work I should add - not my normal idea of a good day out!). This time of year is particularly good when all sorts of rarities pop up in composting and other marginal areas.

Yesterday rewarded me and my colleague Hannah with several plants of the stunning Apple-of-Peru (Nicandra physalodes var. violacea) at Esholt (VC64). The colour and size of the flowers never fail to impress and seem out of place on a grey autumn day.

We were also rewarded with a single plant of Cape-gooseberry (Physalis peruviana), unfortunately not in flower. Here are a couple of photos taken at Knostrop, Leeds (VC64) a couple of years back. It has also been seen recently elsewhere in the VC near Spofforth.

And to round off an interesting trip we found one plant of the hybrid between Oxford Ragwort and Sticky Groundsel (Senecio x subnebrodensis) growing with both parents. I was too excited to take a photo, but there is a reliable image here. This find nicely updates an old record for this area by Jesse Tregale.