Muscari botryoides

Compact Grape-hyacinth (Muscari botryoides) looking fab in Oulton churchyard (VC63) today. One of the less common grape-hyacinth species. Note the distinctive broad leaves. 

Bleurgh

It had to happen sooner or later, but today was the day that I found a split corona daffodil (Narcissus agg.) in a wild setting. My feigned disgust is a little tongue in cheek as on its own merits its a brightly coloured and quirky flower, but lets be honest its not really what anyone wants from a daffodil.

This cultivar seems to be 'Cassata' which starts off bright yellow and then fades. I had always assumed this type of daffodil was a recent development. But the invaluable DaffSeek website states that it is a relatively old cultivar that was registered in 1963.

More Ivies

The peak of the snowdrops is perhaps still two weeks off in my part of Yorkshire, meaning there is still not much of interest in local woods and hedge banks as we hit 'mud month' (that really is an old and very apt name for February). Thankfully, there is a little colour around here and there in the form of escaped cultivars of Common Ivy (Hedera helix).

Two golden forms caught my eye today as I slopped around Woodlesford (VC63).

'Goldchild' is a distinctive form with moderately large (for H. helix) thin leaves. It is a relatively modern cultivar coming into cultivation from the 1970's,

Not too far away was this smaller, glossier and more leathery leaved form. In comparison with the above, the gold patterning is much less extensive than the patches of green and grey-green. This seems to be 'Tricolor' which is a very old cultivar that originates before 1865. I can see why it has remained popular for so long. It is meant to develop a pink edge to the leaf in autumn but this is not apparent here.

Various-leaved Hawthorn (Crataegus heterophylla)

Various-leaved Hawthorn (Crataegus heterophylla) is one of those frustratingly elusive species, you know its out there but can never seem to find it. To the extent that it starts to feel a little mythical. This is not helped by the lack of any more than a handful of images for this obscure species, which is only known in cultivation and as an introduction. Pretty much every image that there is to be found is on Wikimedia Commons. The best of which is this one:

I did find a bush a few years back in the Dales that I thought could be this species, but I lost confidence in the ID and decided that it might just be very atypical Common Hawthorn (C. monogyna). Similarly, there have been other bushes in hedgerows around Woodlesford (VC63) that seemed close to this species, but with leaves that were too deeply lobed. 

So it was a milestone moment this year, while scrutinising a hedgerow on the edge of arable fields at Lowther Lake (VC64) that I had not previously looked at closely, that I found amongst an array of other taxa a bush that could only be this species. It is of planted origin, but is now well established and is fruiting well.

It is important to look at the flowering shoots, which have leaves of variable shape but with lobes in no greater than the upper two fifths of the leaf blade, a distinctive narrowly elongate outline, and a markedly cuneate base. The leaves on non-fertile shoots are very different and contrast strongly with the leaves on fertile shoots. The fruits also seem slightly smaller (less plump) than those of Common Hawthorn, with reflexed narrow (longer than wide) sepals.

This discovery also provided a frame of reference for other local hawthorn bushes that have been bugging me for several years. These have the distinctive lobing and narrow leaf shape of this species, but are too deeply incised. I now think these are hybrids between Various-leaved Hawthorn and Common Hawthorn (Crataegus x subheterophylla). They seem more frequently planted than Various-leaved Hawthorn, matching observations of other hybrid hawthorn taxa and other 'look-alikes' and 'false natives'. Growers seem incapable of keeping their stocks pure, and hybrid swarms seem to be increasingly propagated and distributed for planting in wild settings, for ecological mitigation and for nature conservation. Eastern Hawthorn (Crataegus x subsphaerica) is another example of this, and one that I have flagged previously as being widely over-looked and under-recorded. We may not like it, but increasingly I think we will need to recognise that hawthorns are (at least in many lowland settings) best determined in fruit. The species and hybrids are so variable in foliage, and the hybrids generally occupy a complete spectrum between both parents. 

A few examples of what I consider to be good candidates for Various-leaved x Common Hawthorn below.

Postscript to the above:

Having found my 2017 photos from Stainforth in the Yorkshire Dales (VC64) and looked at them again, I think this hawthorn also can only be Various-leaved Hawthorn. If anything its an even better candidate than the above. How it got onto Goat Lane would seem the bigger mystery. I can only assume it has bird sown from either an amenity planting somewhere lower down the valley.

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.