Narrow-leaved Ragwort New to Huntingdonshire

Not more than a week since Pete Stroh noted in BSBI News that Narrow-leaved Ragwort (Senecio inaequidens) was yet to be found in VC31, against national trends for the species, low and behold we get the first record for this species. So well done to Jocelyn Gale for first recognising it and then sending the record in.

Not surprisingly this species has turned up on a roadside in one of our larger conurbations, namely Edison Bell Way, Huntingdon. It must be more widespread, and one of the last major frontiers for botanical recording in the county is urban botanising. We know very little about what grows on the mean streets of Peterborough, Huntingdon and St Ives, although Peter Walker is doing his best to rectify the situation for St Neots.

Photo by Stefan Iefnaer (Wikimedia Commons)

Tuberous Comfrey at Aberford (VC64)

A brief stroll yesterday along the bridleway by the Dark Tunnel at Parlington Hall rewarded me with Tuberous Comfrey (Symphytum tuberosum). This species occurs here and there in VC64 but it is not common, and this appears to be a new hectad for the Atlas Project.

Freak Show

I had an interesting potter round the some woods near Aberford (VC64) yesterday, with additional colour added by some interesting mutants and hybrids of common plants.

First up was a variegated form of Water Figwort (Scrophularia auriculata). Not all of the plant was affected so it was presumably a mutation in the growing tip of a side-shoot. Very attractive but unlikely to persist over the long-term.

With a greater chance of persistence was this striking golden form of Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica). I am intrigued to see if this is a stable mutation, so I am growing a little rooted side shoot on to see what happens. Hopefully the parent plant will persist to intrigue others with a botanical interest.

Last find of the day was this Polyanthus (Primula x polyantha). A common garden hybrid, but the shape of the inflorescence caught the eye, with the morphology of a beefed up Cowslip (Primula veris). It did not look planted so I can only assume a bee transmitted pollen from a garden plant to a cowslip in the wood, no mean feat given the nearest garden must be getting on for 500 m away. It is redolent of the red and orange Cowslips that are increasingly seen naturalised (the cultivar 'Sunset Shades'), and which are believed to originate from back-crossing Polyanthus to Cowslip.

To Addingham and Back Again (VC64)

Time for a bit of a catch up on local news. Last week I took a trip over to Ilkley as I had always fancied a walk along the river towards Bolton Abbey, but had never quite made it. Spring was definitely springing in Wharfedale, but not as advanced as on my local patch. So I enjoyed a second final hurrah from the daffodils, while also being able to enjoy some of the species just starting to come into there own.

It was nice to see the thriving colony of Fairy Foxglove (Erinus alpinus) on Old Bridge, Ilkley. Far too early for flowers though.

(photo by Jerzy Opiola, Wikimedia Commons)

Not a rare plant, but I forget how prolific Few-flowered Garlic (Allium paradoxum var. paradoxum) is along the Wharfe. All those bulbs where there should be flowers.

A surprise find on a tree stump well away from gardens was Trailing Bellflower (Campanula poscharskyana), but this is not my first find of this species on an isolated river bank.

On the river bank at Addingham, and likely of planted origin, was Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

Moving up hill away from the river towards Langbar, I was surprised to find a Chameleon ... i.e. Sweet Spurge (Euphobia dulcis 'Chameleon'). The hedgerow along Langbar Lane also had the hybrid hawthorn Crataegus x subsphaerica (to be seen again later in the hedge bounding Ilkley golf course).

Another nice find on Langbar Lane was a particularly robust lush clump of Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage (Chrysosplenium alternifolium).

A rubbish photo but this odd Daffodil (Narcissus 'Pipit') lit up a shady beck bank at Nesfield. I'm not even going to try linking this to a named Daffodil species or hybrid! Google it for a better image.

Back towards Ilkley were Garden Solomon's-seal (Polygonatum x hybridum) and this striking, and very early into bloom this year, Broom (Cytisus scoparius subsp. scoparius f. andreanus).

Alexanders in Giggleswick (VC64)

Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) is a rare plant in VC64 and indeed Yorkshire in general. It is a more familiar plant further south, particularly in the southeast and southwest of England. See the BSBI Distribution Database for its current distribution.

Mike Canaway adds a new dot to its distribution, having found it in the Dales at Giggleswick. He forwards the following photographs.

Goldilocks

Passing through Methley churchyard (VC63) yesterday a blaze of gold caught my eye. Most of it was attributable to Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna), an impressive swathe nonetheless. But on closer inspection another plant came into focus and I realised there was also a fairly large stand of Goldilocks (Ranunculus auricomus) mixed in.

This seems to be a fairly uncommon plant locally, with this being a new hectad. This was a particularly fine form with large fully formed flowers, unlikely the form in VC31 where there are normally petals missing from newly opened flowers. This species is one of the last apomictic species groups in the British flora to be investigated critically, and at present it is very poorly known with no available reference to help untangle the diversity.

Viola riviniana subsp. minor

Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana) is a familiar plant of woodland and hedge banks. It is normally of lanky appearance, with elongated flowering shoots. I found an extensive colony of this species today in North Lincolnshire, in open acid grassland and in a guise I was not anticipating. This was not helped by the botanical parts of my brain which are still groggy from a winter of under-use.

This dwarf form was well known to Victorian botanists but has fallen by the wayside in recent years, and goes by the name of subspecies minor (or sometimes var. minor). Whether it would stand close scrunity in cultivation trials is another matter, but based on the field evidence it merits re-evaluation and recording. Those like me who still value their copy of Keble-Martin's Concise British Flora will find it illustrated and some descriptive notes on its identification.