Find of the Year (so far)

Yesterday was a big day for recording in Huntingdonshire (VC31) with the surprise of the year, our first record of Lizard Orchid (Himantoglossum hircinum). Admittedly its not been a vintage spring for botanical recording, but what a way to rectify this.

To some extent its not too surprising given recent range extension elsewhere, but even so. Huntingdonshire! Of course, I would be foolish to (so don't) post precise locations online.There are still plenty of idiots out there who hear the word orchid and reach for the trowel. But for those in the know, its a real treat.

Thanks to Barry Dickerson for a photograph. The plant was first found by Rosie Surridge, and I was first informed of the find by Simon Morley.

Recent Highlights

Time for a catch-all post of recent finds, providing a selection of plants that have caught my eye for one reason or another on daily lockdown walks.

First up, Garden Peony (Paeonia officinalis 'Rubra Plena') the old fashioned and long grown 'female peony' of the apothecaries. While this plant is not always in flower when encountered, when it is it always seems to be this double-flowered stalwart. This photo is a bit washed out, the flowers are a more red in the reality. An attractive plant in an unattractive location near the Newsam Green landfill (VC64).

I was pleased to re-find my long known plant of Coralbells (Heuchera sanguinea) on an old stone retaining wall in Woodlesford (VC63). Every year I think its been lost to the ivy, only for it to reappear. This plant is a particularly fine red. There is a possibility that some naturalised populations are Heuchera x brizoides, and this probably needs further consideration, especially if the leaves are silvered. This plant appears to be the true species, but I might revisit this later.

I have a fondness for Crane's-bills, so it was nice to find this Dusky Crane's-bill (Geranium phaeum var. phaeum) on the margin of one of the local rhubarb fields in Woodlesford. It is also a good chance to contrast (second photo) with Munich Crane's-bill (Geranium x monacense nothovar. anglicum), a plant recorded a couple of weeks back in Swillington (VC64). Note the strongly reflexed petals. It also comes in a dark-flowered form (nothovar. monacense), and a reliable spot for this used to be (not checked recently) the Engine Fields, Yeadon (VC64).

Near Fishpond Lock, Woodlesford there is this large bush of a cultivar of Evergreen Spindle (Euonymus japonicus 'Mediopictus'). Very striking, but ...

... if it is not maintained it often reverts and now most of this bush is green. Unfortunately, some variegated cultivars are not particularly stable over time. So how to record? Chances are the cultivar won't be there to find in 5 years time, when the next observer will likely be confronted with a clearly unvariegated bush?

Finally, after blogging recently about Pale Pink-sorrel, another highlight of Oulton churchyard (VC63) is the well naturalised London-pride (Saxifraga x urbium). Nothing beats the froth of this charming little plant when seen en masse and thriving.

Senecio squalidus var. subinteger

This is a curious variety of Oxford Ragwort distinguished by its sinuate-dentate oblong to oblong-lanceolate leaves. There are scattered records for this variety locally, on my patch in Woodlesford and Oulton (VC63) and in wider Leeds and Bradford where it has been recorded by Jesse Tregale and/or Mike Wilcox. Other than one other record in the BSBI Distribution Database from VC37 there are no other mapped records, although Sell & Murrell cite records for Cambridge, Didcot and Exmouth.

I have never been certain if it is a periodic chance mutation or a true variety, but I have known it in the same location in Oulton for at least 5 years. Over most of this period it seemed to persist as a single plant, but this year I found a few more at its main site and a new plant a kilometre away. Hardly vigorous, but I am more satisfied now that it is capable of regenerating itself from seed.

Lockdown Surprises

I still continue to be amazed at being able to find new plants with regularity as I take lockdown walks around my home village of Oulton (VC63). Today's surprise was a large and spreading stand of Pale Pink-sorrel (Oxalis incarnata) in a churchyard I thought I had thoroughly recorded. I can only assume that in a normal May I am so busy running around with work and other things that I do not find time to walk through the churchyard. Here's hoping for a few more pleasant surprises as the current circumstances drag on through whats left of spring.

Monsieur B'Stard's Iris

The Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus) was just coming into bloom today at St Aidan's (VC64), and included a clump of the unusual primrose yellow form. This is named var. bastardii, for Toussaint Bastard a 19th Century French doctor and botanist. According to Wikipedia, at least forty other plants are similarly blessed with a name dedicated to Monsieur Bastard. His love of botany was ultimately his cause of death, due to a fall trying to pick a fern at the top of a rock. A lesson for us all!

Bill Wallis

While not native to Britain, I'm firmly of the opinion that any hedgerow or verge is enhanced by the presence of a bit of Hedgerow Crane's-bill (Geranium pyrenaicum). The typical plant has flowers purplish-pink in colour, but white-flowered plants (f. albiflorum) and colonies are not infrequent and breed true even when present with other colour forms. I have both forms in my garden (along with the large-flowered 'Isparta') and while rare intermediates are found, all have maintained themselves for nearly a decade suggesting that a lot of seed set is through self-pollination.

Much more notable in the wild is the form known by the cultivar name 'Bill Wallis', this has striking blue-purple flowers with a prominent contrasting white eye.

It is a form I only know from one location, and even in cultivation it is perhaps not common (a quick trawl of the internet will demonstrate how regularly this cultivar is confused with the typical form). There are only a handful of records in the BSBI database for this plant.

Yesterday provided a good opportunity to catch this cultivar in peak bloom at Woodlesford Lock (VC63), where it has persisted in rough grassland for several years. Indeed it seems to have increased year on year.

Double Trouble

Today's botanical highlight, on a brief but chilly walk round Oulton (VC63) to restore my sanity after a day chained to a laptop, was this gem. The double-flowered (but fully fertile) form of Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus 'Flore Pleno'). Ok, I have loads in my garden, but even so its always a nice plant to find as an escape.

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Heracleum branca-ursina

As we head into peak hogweed season I'm reminded that I never got round to posting these photos from last year. Bear's Breech Hogweed (Heracleum branca-ursina) is one of those Sell and Murrell taxa that is not fully resolved and merits further investigation. Seen as a colony it is striking and distinctive, typically well over 1.5m tall rather than the more usually waist high Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium). The outer flowers (and seeds later) are also very large.

This all said, the two species do seem to overlap and I would be very cautious about recording the former based on flower size alone. Its not unusual to find perfectly normal Hogweed with flowers larger than stated in the Sell & Murrell key. In my view and based on relatively few encounters it is probably more defensible as a variety of Hogweed, rather than a distinct species or subspecies. I don't think there are any significant barriers to inter-breeding. One of my first encounters with this plant was at Sun Lane Nature Reserve (VC64) where there was a nice stand, and then plants with and grading towards Hogweed with increasing distance from the main stand.

The other big question is where it comes from. It seems to be an introduction, and a relatively short-lived one at that in the few locations where I have known it in the past.

Below is a selection of photographs taken last June in a sunny glade in plantation woodland at Temple Newsam (VC64).

Heracleum sphondylium inflorescence (left) and branca-ursina (right)

Heracleum branca-ursina with 2 pence coin for scale

Colony of plants 2m or more tall (I'm 5' 7'' and these towered above me)

Typical foliage which has quite a distinctive jizz, in terms of shape, size and texture. Hard to put into words and best understood firsthand

Variegated Yellow Archangel (not that one!)

I was privileged this week, after 7 weeks of lockdown, to be legitimately allowed out to undertake an ecological survey near Mirfield (VC63). A blissful day in an ancient woodland, and likely to be my one such experience this spring.

A pleasant surprise during the day was the discovery of a colony of the white-speckled native form of Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. montanum var. variegatum). I only see this form rarely and then only in the best woodland habitats. The last time I found it, it was in a location where a previous recorder had identified the plant as the non-native subsp. argentatum, a controlled weed species. The possible consequences of reporting a native plant as a controlled weed are obviously best avoided.

It is a much more delicate species than the undesirable form. The leaves are generally smaller and less marked, with none of the chocolate-brown coloration over autumn to spring. It is also much less inclined to form a spreading carpet because it tends to die-back during the winter leaving only the growing tips. The general impression is of discrete plants rather than a cohesive mat of stems.

Buttercups and Hawthorn

After a long break, I'm well overdue picking up this blog again. 'Lockdown' has provided an opportunity over recent weeks to explore familiar sites and routes in closer detail, and I have been pleased to find plants not noticed before. Some plants have probably only been missed in previous years because the last time I walked that way they were obscured by other vegetation. The positive of lockdown botanising is that you walk the same routes over and over again as the season changes.

I have collected more photos along the way than I've yet found the energy to turn into blogs. So to get me started again, I am going to try and post regular snippets rather than try to be more ambitious.

First up are two attractive forms of native plants found yesterday. One is a truly wild, while the other will be of planted origin.

The former is this stunning form of Bulbous Buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus) found in a pasture near Scholey Hill (VC63). Three plants mixed with others of typical flower colour. This seems comparable with (but isn't) the cultivar known as 'F.M. Burton.'

Next up at Oulton (VC63) was this hawthorn (Crataegus x media 'Punicea') in a hedgerow between two arable fields. It is supposedly a form of this native hybrid (its nothing like Midland Hawthorn C. laevigata, despite some references stating this) but if so its seems to be much closer to Common Hawthorn (C. monogyna). I did find one photo online that suggests that it might occasionally produce two styles rather than the usual one, but as per Stace this is not 100% reliable for the hybrid. I also note that Sell & Murrell list it under Common Hawthorn, so it seems the species affinities are yet to be adequately resolved.