Three Hogweeds

For no other reason than they caught my eye and interest across the year.

First up in July, this curious mutant of Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium subsp. sphondylium) with foliaceus bracteoles.

In October, just as we had our first frosts, I found this attractive pink flowered plant. I have never seen a pink form in this location before, so I wonder if temperature influences flower colour. Even if it does, some pink forms definitely have a genetic basis, and one is currently being marketed as 'Pink Cloud'. Does the colour elevate it to garden worthy? I'm in two minds, one part of me is curious to grow it, the other is shouting don't be stupid why on earth would you want hogweed in the border.

Finally, in November I found this plant pushing up to flower. It was a little too robust to be Hogweed, and the intermediacy in stature, foliage and pubescence indicates a cross with Giant Hogweed (Heracelum mantegazzianum agg.).

Unusual Arums

Back in late winter (just before the year took a strange turn) I found a large stand of an unusual looking Arum under trees along an old track near Mickletown (VC63). It was in full leaf and yet there were no others around either here or locally, which struck me as odd. It seemed far too early for Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculatum) to be both up and so far advanced. My gut feeling was it had to be the unmarked form of Italian Lords-and-Ladies (Arum italicum subsp. neglectum) but I wanted to see it in flower to be sure, something I was not able to achieve despite regular trips over spring and early summer (frustratingly, come October I realised it must have flowered as there was one fruiting stem). The leaves looked a good match to some images online but not enough for me to be certain. Perhaps relevant to this, I later found out that early season foliage differs in shape from late season foliage. The following photos were taken in April 2020 once Lords-and-Ladies had emerged, the pale veins of the Italian Lords-and-Ladies were quite obvious when compared against the former.

With that in mind, the next thing to do was go and look for it this autumn, as this would clinch the identification. So in October with the marked form of Italian Lords-and-Ladies (Arum italicum subsp. italicum) popping up all over the place I went for a look. Annoyingly there was no trace, but all was not lost as subsp. neglectum is reputed to emerge later than subsp. italicum. By the time of my second trip in early November it was just emerging. A good result, case closed. 

The only remaining question is how did it get there? Yorkshire is far outside its native range. While it could be an escape from cultivation it is a relatively obscure one, even in a county with more than its fair share of unusual escapes - if it can be grown in Yorkshire you can be certain someone is somewhere! I can't think why anyone would specifically choose this species, short of there being an Aroid fanatic living in Mickletown. There is perhaps a slim possibility that it came in with daffodil bulbs originating from a grower in South-West England, as the margins of this track support a diverse mixture of old fashioned cultivars in the spring. Certainly the size of the clump indicates it has been there for a number of years, perhaps decades.

Last photo taken November 2020

I had to wait until September 2020 for my next unusual Arum, when this clump was well advanced at Ouzlewell Green (VC63). Clearly it has a relationship to the marked form of Italian Lords-and-Ladies, but the leaf shape is not typical, nor is the yellow-tinged venation. I'm going to keep an eye on this, and again try to see in flower, but at present I think it can only be a hybrid will Lords-and-Ladies.

Asian Dogwood (Cornus koenigii)

Its been just over 10 years now since Peter Sell first brought attention to the fact that that Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), as understood by British botanists, included two non-native taxa i.e. Southern Dogwood (Cornus australis or sanguinea subsp. australis depending on preference) and Asian Dogwood (Cornus koenigii). Both of which were subsequently picked up from Stace 3 onwards.

Southern Dogwood is very widely planted, indeed many if not most 'native' plantings will be this and on this basis I think dogwood should be avoided in native planting mixes. Clearly growers are making no effort to distinguish native from non-native. As well as planted occurrences, it is also rapidly and aggressively spreading by seed from plantings. For example, it is increasingly being found in semi-natural habitats in Eastern England and West Yorkshire. In my opinion, it is still under-recorded in lowland England, and until more recorders split them (which is quite easy, only requiring a check of the hairs on the underside of the leaf) we won't truly understand how far it has established. Once known it can usually be told at a glance, although the hairs should always be checked.

In comparison, Asian Dogwood is much less commonly seen and of more patchy occurrence. I usually only see it planted into the wild and it seems less inclined to self-sow. So it was interesting to find a bush locally that is clearly of bird sown origin (there are mass-plantings within a few 100m as the berry-eating bird flies).

Asian Dogwood also has a very distinct jizz and can usually be told at a glance. As with Southern Dogwood it can form a large robust bush, but is generally less densely branched and in foliage, and the leaves have hairs like Dogwood. The leaves are typically large (much larger than Dogwood except where this is shade grown, and usually but not reliably larger than Southern Dogwood), clearly longer than wide (some forms of Southern Dogwood can have quite a rounded leaf outline in comparison), and have a markedly acute apex. The petioles are also very long relative to the other two species.