Mean Streets

Urban botanising doesn't appeal to many, myself included. However, they can be rewarding areas and certainly they need to be covered if we are not to overlook what is a major, albeit predominantly artificial, suite of habitats that can, and often do, have their own botanical interest. So we need to find a balance between the desire to bypass urban areas on route to greener hunting grounds, and the need to record these areas as thoroughly as any other habitat.

I think part of the trick is to make the most of our necessary trips into urban areas - what do we notice when we go in for other purposes and what's present on our own doorsteps? Over the last few months I've been making the most of my half hour lunch breaks and taking a regular walk around the streets and paths within (at most) a 500m radius of my office in Holbeck, Leeds (VC63). I've been surprised what I've found and I hope the following, with a little help from Wikimedia Commons, inspires others to do something similar. Here are a few of the highlights to date.

New Zealand Bittercress (Cardamine corymbosa) (photo by Bernd Sauerwein)

Keeled-fruited Cornsalad (Valerianella carinata) (photo by Stefen Lefnaer)

Atlas Poppy (Papaver atlanticum 'Semiplenum') (photo by Uleli)

Californian Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) (photo by JeLuF)

Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica 'Aurantiaca') (photo by Svdmolen)

Eastern Rocket in its 1000's (Sisymbrium orientale) (photo byKurt Kulac)

Rat's-tail Fescue (Vulpia myuros) (photo by Harry Rose)

Small Toadflax (Chaenorhinum minus) (photo by Stefan Lefnaer)

Tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum) (photo by Kenpei)

Small Plant Big Interest

New Zealand Bitter-cress (Cardamine corymbosa), as the name suggests, is a recent arrival to these shores and was recorded for the first time in 1975 in Edinburgh. Since then it has spread rapidly across the UK, so it is no great surprise that it has finally turned up in Huntingdonshire. It is an annual species that can be found as a horticultural contaminant, spreading via potted plants from garden centres to gardens. Peter Walker sent me these photos in April to identify, earning himself a new county record in the process.