flower hunt

Blackthorn - Prunus spinosa

2007-08-24T10:03:00.002Z

I've decided to post a few of my old photographs that i didn't manage to post whilst they were in flower. Blackthorn flowering period has long since gone - in fact i've seen many ripe sloe fruits ready to be picked which seems early to me - but i'm not complaining. Bring on the sloe gin!

Away for a while

2007-08-18T12:12:00.000Z

I'm in London writing up my dissertation for my masters. London's pretty quiet on the flower front so i think i'll have problems posting every day - especially with all the work i have to do. So, i apologise in advance for my sporadic posting. I may not be able to post for several weeks. Hope you can cope without new pictures whilst i'm away! Victoria

Field scabious - Knautia arvensis

2007-08-17T08:38:00.000Z

The field scabious has petals with four unequal sized lobes. It could be confused with Devil's Bit Scabious but this species has four lobes that are equal in length.

Glow worm larvae?

2007-08-16T11:06:00.001Z

Can anyone help me with the identification of this species? I think it could this be the larvae of a glow-worm but i'm not sure. Sorry about the rubbish photo, it kept running around and I couldn't make it keep still and I couldn't get a good picture of its head. It was a pesky little thing.

Black or Common Knapweed - Centaurea nigra

2007-08-16T08:24:00.000Z

Autumn Gentian - Gentianella amarella

2007-08-15T08:48:00.001Z

As it's name suggests this is a pretty little species that comes out in the Autumn. Right now is a great time to go looking for them, they can be found growing in chalk grassland all over Sussex.

Dodder - Cuscuta epithymum

2007-08-14T10:31:00.000Z

This is a parasitic plant that grows on plants such as heather and clover. It looks like red string trailing across the ground. It's seen here growing on clover at a chalk grassland site but i've seen it before on heathlands too.

Autumn Lady's Tresses - Spiranthes spiralis

2007-08-13T07:39:00.001Z

Another beautiful orchid. It's so tiny i almost didn't see it amongst the grasses but when you learn what to look for they seem to be everywhere

Betony - Stachys officinalis

2007-08-12T15:15:00.000Z

Oxeye daisy - Leucanthemum vulgare

2007-08-11T18:55:00.000Z

Harebell - Campanula rotundiflora

2007-08-10T18:48:00.000Z

Selfheal - Prunella vulgaris

2007-08-09T08:24:00.001Z

Ragwort - Senecio jacobea

2007-08-08T18:26:00.000Z

Ladies Bedstraw - Galium verum

2007-08-07T17:56:00.000Z

Woody Nightshade - Solanum dulcamara

2007-08-06T07:49:00.001Z

Ribwort plantain - Plantago lanceolata

2007-08-05T16:43:00.000Z

Lesser Burdock - Arctium minus

2007-08-03T15:35:00.000Z

Common Figwort - Scrophularia nodosa

2007-08-02T15:59:00.000Z

Ok, so i've got figwort in twice. But i really like this picture, and i've misplaced my camera and haven't had a chance to take any new pictures for a while. Don't be angry!

Bladder Campion - Silene vulgaris

2007-08-01T16:06:00.000Z

Hare's Foot Clover - Trifolium arvense

2007-07-31T16:10:00.000Z

Evening primrose - Oenothera biennis

2007-07-30T16:13:00.000Z

Brachypodium pinnatum - Tor grass

2007-07-23T09:39:00.000Z

This species can become a real problem in chalk grassland. It's a big tough grass that is undesirable to grazing animals and it can dominate the sward shading out more desirable grasses and forbs. It's leaves are quite a light green that can be seen at some distance standing out against the rest of the grassland

Pineappleweed - Matricaria matricarioides

2007-07-22T18:02:00.001Z

Like a daisy the flower is made up of a compound yellow/green head only without the ray florets round the edge. When the plant is crushed it smells strongly like pineapples, hence its name. This plant was introduced to the UK sometime around 1900 and has spread throughout much of England

Red Star Thistle - Centaurea calcitrapa

2007-07-21T23:46:00.000Z

The red star thistle is marked as vulnerable by the IUCN and it is apparantly confined to Sussex coastal areas in the UK although the NBN gateway shows a much wider distribution. The flower head has long yellowish spines and pink thistle like flowers. It can be found growing in distrubed habitats, particularly grassland. This plant was growing along a path way subject to a moderate level of disturbance

Cyperus sedge - Carex pseudocyperus

2007-07-20T08:53:00.001Z

If you don't know, sedges look a lot like grasses with long green leaves. However, grasses have leaves in two ranks up the stem (i.e. alternate) whereas sedges have leaves in whorls of three. This means that usually the stem of a sedge seems almost triangular. This is a picture of the female part of the flower head. It's a massive, spikly drooping flower head and is fairly unmistakeable, i think. This plant was growing on the side of a ditch at Amberley Wildbrooks.

Ribbed Melliot / Meliot - Melilotus officinalis

2007-07-19T08:28:00.001Z

Meadowsweet - Fillipendula ulmaria

2007-07-18T23:09:00.000Z

Branched Bur-Reed - Sparganium erectum

2007-07-17T18:03:00.001Z

The flowers of this plant are awesome! Look how strange and sculpted they look. I love the way they almost look like hairy maltesers (it's dinner time - bear with me). The flowers turn green eventually. The leaves of this plant look like a large juicy grass, they are arranged in two ranks up the stem. However, the leaves are very large and fleshy and traingular in section. Also, the base of the leaves are a dull pinkish colour. This plant is usually found growing in wetlands, places like ditches are good for spotting it.

Common toadflax - Linaria vulgaris

2007-07-16T13:54:00.000Z

The leaves of this plant are arranged in whorls round the stem which you might be able to make out in the background of this photo, slightly out of focus. This plant can often be found in quite rough, disturbed grassland. This plant was growing alongside a path.

Tutsan - Hypericum androsaemum

2007-07-15T08:01:00.000Z

Ok, so officially this picture doesn't count because it's not a picture of a flower but of the fruit. But i won't tell anyone if you don't. It belongs in the same family as all the st John's Wort plants so it has opposite leaves and pretty yellow flowers. The berries eventually go red as they ripen. I'll look out for a plant in flower and post it here when i find it.

Enchanter's Nightshade - Circaea lutetiana

2007-07-14T10:38:00.001Z

Yet again I couldn't get a very good snap of this, the flowers are tiny and tricky to photograph without shaking all over the place and i was in a bit of a rush as i was meant to be carrying out a plant survey. It's a really pretty little plant though. The colour is a little hard to define, it's such a pale purple that it's almost white. It has those little fruits with hooked bristles that always end up getting stuck on your clothes, hair and down your boots.

Common figwort - Schrophularia nodosa

2007-07-13T10:03:00.000Z

I love the flowers on this plant, they look like really tiny little foxgloves. It was a bit tricky to take a photo of this plant because the flowers are so small and it was quite gloomy in the wood, i kept shaking the camera about. There are a few different types of figworts and they tend to vary on their leaf, stem and sepal shape. For example, the aquatic figwort has more rounded leaves.

Meadow Clary - Salvia pratensis

2007-07-12T09:53:00.000Z

This plant grows in tall spikes up to a metre and a half. It grows from a basal rosette of leaves. It has a hood like upper lip to the flower. It's quite rare now in England and is a protected species but fairly common in the rest of Europe. It is mainly to be found on good quality chalk grassland. It needs some patches of bare ground to allow seed germination so it might typically be found growing near rabbit warrens. If you want any more information about this plant check out Plantlife's article about the species

Round headed rampion - Phyteuma orbiculare

2007-07-11T16:43:00.000Z

This is flower is known as the pride of Sussex. The flower is deep blue, almost purple. Each flower head is actually made up of a cluster of smaller flowers.

Yarrow - Achillea millefolium

2007-07-10T08:48:00.000Z

Yarrow is a really common plant of grasslands. The leaves look almost like green feathers. It is thought to be good at healing wounds and Achilles is said to have taken the plant with him into battle. The younger leaves are supposed to be edible when boiled. Infusions of the flower are said to help with respitory problems such as colds or allergies. Wikipedia has a great article about its various uses

Flower dictionary

2007-07-09T09:05:00.000Z

I came across something so useful the other day that i thought i should add a link to it from my blog. It's a word dictionary that someone has compiled that adds latin flower names into your spell checker. Thanks to this dictionary I no longer have loads of red lines running through everything i write, hurrah! Get it here: http://crescentbloom.com/III/D/17.htm if you're interested in moss as well there's a moss dictionary available from the British Bryological Society: http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Resources/Downloads.htm#spellchk which is also very handy.

Squinancywort - Asperula cynanchica

2007-07-09T08:48:00.000Z

This flower has got to have one of the best common names. I love the way the name is so interesting and yet the flower itself is small and tiny and the plant is almost invisible when it isn't flowering. I've never seen the plant in flower before so it was a nice surprise to see it blooming all over the place, the tiny pale pink flowers are very beautiful close up. The plant itself is a bedstraw, which means that it has little spindly leaves arranged in whorls around the stem and four petals to the flower.

Stemless thistle - Cirsium acaule

2007-07-08T09:36:00.001Z

God how i hate thistles! Especially when you're trying to do a vegetation survey on a bit of steep grassland. Oh, if only i had a pound for every thistle i sat on yesterday. Stemless thistles are the ones whose flowers have no stem to them - or only a very short stem. They look like little purple pom poms on the ground.

Vipers bugloss - Echium vulgare

2007-07-07T09:16:00.000Z

This picture doesn't really do justice to the amazing shades of blues and pinks that this flower displays. I've not seen one quite so pink before as this, they're usually just a purplish blue, but this flower has streaks of almost neon colour in it. It was quite amazing. The flower stems grow quite tall. Apparantly it was once thought to cure the bites of vipers. If you want to know more about its medicinal uses check out this website: think natural

Restharrow - Ononis repens

2007-07-05T09:36:00.000Z

This plant used to annoy farmers by tangling up their harrows whilst they were ploughing. Hence its common name 'restharrow.' This flower is a member of the pea family and has distinctive leaves that appear to have a neat crease down their centre, almost if the leaf has been folded in half and then opened up again. The leaves have little teeth round their edge and can sometimes be covered in sticky hairs or glands. I found this flower growing in damp grassland by the side of a ditch

Yorkshire fog - Holcus lanatus

2007-07-04T19:12:00.001Z

I'm back from Yorkshire! Thank goodness, it was quite chilly up there indeed! I thought i'd start with a photo of a grass for my first post back.

I never really took the time to stop and look at grasses. I certainly never considered that they have flowers. Being wind pollinated they don't need to be showy with big petals but their flowers can still be quite beautiful when examined close up. I thought posting Yorkshire fog would be apt seeing as how i've been visiting there for the past week. Yorkshire fog is one of my favourite grasses. It's quite easy to spot because its leaves are really soft and hairy and if you look at the base of the stem it usually has purple stripes or veins running vertically. They remind me of stripy pajama bottoms. The flower head also has a rather pleasant purplish tinge. It's definately going on the list of my top ten grasses of all time!

Honeysuckle - Lonicera periclymenum

2007-06-21T10:48:00.001Z

I really wanted to take a picture of this flower but the light levels were so low where i found it it was proving impossible (i never bother taking a tripod with me and have to rely on my steady hands instead). This was the best out of a bad bunch of pictures but i'm still not really satisfied with it. I learnt the other day that you can suck out the nectar in honeysuckle just like in Nasturtiums. I wonder if you could eat the whole honeysuckle flower?

I'm off to Yorkshire for a week so there'll be a break from posting for a week or so I'm afraid.

Ragged Robin - Lychnis flos-cuculi

2007-06-20T09:25:00.000Z

This plant can also be found growing in damp meadows and fens. I found it along a woodland ride where there were large clumps of it growing. The small pearl bordered fritillary is said to be fond of this plant but sadly i didn't see any of them flying around. I did see a massive dragonfly hunting along the ride but it was too quick to identify.

Foxglove - Digitalis purpurea

2007-06-19T08:29:00.000Z

These appear soon after a woodland has been cleared when light floods down to the ground layer. There were hundreds of these flowers in a recent clearing when I went to visit Abbott's wood.

Spotted or Perfoliate St Johns Wort - Hypericum punctatum

2007-06-18T09:52:00.001Z

This species has pairs of opposite facing leaves which, when held up to the light, appear to have tiny pinpricked holes pierced straight through them. I found this growing on the edge of a woodland ride at Abbot's wood, near Hailsham

Bramble - Rubus fruticosus

2007-06-17T07:50:00.000Z

Ah the bramble, how British! Apparantly bramble isn't just one species but there are over 200 different bramble species that only real specialists can tell apart. All these species are lumped together under Rubus fruticosus agg. so that us non-specialists can record it where we see it.

Agrimony - Agrimonia eupatoria

2007-06-16T13:41:00.001Z

Found growing in improved pasture in the valley of Anchor Bottom

Pencilled cranesbill - Geranium versicolor

2007-06-15T13:46:00.000Z

Oh man, the picture isn't really in focus. Nevermind, you can get the picture. This species is a garden escape, and introduced species. Its veins are deep purple making it look as if it has been drawn on in pencil and the petals are notched at the end. The flower can be white to pink. I found it in growing in a scrubby wasteland area at the back of some gardens.

Horseshoe vetch - Hippocrepis comosa

2007-06-14T11:30:00.000Z

Horseshoe vetch can be found growing in chalk grassland and is the foodplant for the chalkhill blue and the adonis blue butterfly. The leaves of this vetch have a small, inverted notch at the end of them and the yellow flowers grow in a ring. They can look quite similar to birds foot trefoil but this species has only five leaves on each stalk and the leaves don't have an inverted notch. Also the flowers are often tinged with red. Because of this yellow and red colouration birds foot trefoil is also known as eggs and bacon! I found this plant growing at Anchor Bottom, just north of Shoreham cement works. It wasn't wildly abundant but there was enough to support the many adonis blue butterflies i saw flittering about.

Elder - Sambucus nigra

2007-06-13T15:21:00.000Z

Elder tree growing in my back garden. I love the smell that these flowers give off. Everywhere i go there seems to be elder bursting into flower. Apparanly rabbits hate this plant so you can often find it growing close to their warrens.

I'm tempted to try and pick some elder and make some cordial out of it but i'm worried it would be too polluted coming from a city garden. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall had a recipe in last week's guardian showing you how to make battered elderflowers... sounds a bit greasy to me! Find the recipe here: Guardian

Common Spotted Orchid - Dactylorhiza fuchsii

2007-06-12T15:05:00.000Z

There were so many purple spotted orchids at Anchor Bottom the other day, it was incredible. There were festoons of them. There were also fragrant orchids, some early pyramidal orchids poking up as well as the one bee orchid i spotted. This is a photo of a particularly large and fine looking specimen i came across. There are also green winged orchids present at the site but they flowered about a month earlier. I didn't have a chance to go out and have a look at them so sadly i missed them. Better luck next year.

Bee Orchid - Ophrys apifera

2007-06-11T14:49:00.001Z

I couldn't believe it when i came across this flower. There i was happily walking along admiring all the other orchids growing at Anchor Bottom when suddenly i spied this beauty in the long grass. I've never seen one of these growing in the wild before. I think they're just incredible. I posted this picture of the bee orchid because it's an angle you don't usually see in photos. For example, I'd never noticed the small spur at the lip of the flower before because it can't be seen very easily from straight on. You might also be able to make out the flower bud ready to break open slightly higher up the stem. Apparantly the flowers open from the bottom of the stalk upwards so the flowers at the top are the last to open.

Pyramidal Orchid - Anacamptis pyramidalis

2007-06-10T14:24:00.000Z

Just starting to come into flower now. This species can be distinguished because it is a much brighter, deeper pink and the flowers are all compressed to the top into one pyramid shape - hence the name.

Fragrant Orchid - Gymnadenia conopsea

2007-06-09T14:11:00.000Z

Seen at Anchor Bottom. These smell amazing right now. The whole grassland was blanketed in their scent. This flower has deeply keeled leaves that look like they have been folded in half.

Kidney Vetch - Anthylllis vulneraria

2007-06-08T14:29:00.000Z

This plant has flowers that look like they have been covered in a fluffy wrapping. They almost look like they have fluffy trousers or bloomers! The leaves are long and thin and curved slightly. There seems to be loads of it growing at Anchor Bottom at the moment

Common rock rose - Helianthemum chamaecistus

2007-06-07T14:21:00.000Z

I really love the way the petals of this flower look like they have been crumpled up. Like old washing or a paper bag. The leaves are quite hairy underneath and long stipules at their base. I found this growing on chalk grassland but it can also be found on acid soils and in scrub.

Yellow wort - Blackstonia perfoliata

2007-06-06T14:15:00.000Z

This is such a fantastic plant. I love the way it looks like someone has taken a spike and threaded it through the leaves. Like a floral kebab! I wonder what evolutionary advantage those leaves have? This was found growing at Anchor Bottom, near Shoreham, Sussex

Dropwort - Filipendula vulgaris

2007-06-05T14:19:00.000Z

I love the contrast between the pink tips of the flower buds and the white petals

Small scabious - Scabiosa columbaria

2007-06-04T14:37:00.000Z

There are three different scabious species in the UK. This one is the small scabious because the petals on each individual flower consist of five unequal lobes

Amphibious bistort - Polygonum amphibium

2007-06-03T14:47:00.000Z

Sorry about the rubbish photo, i couldn't get any closer to the plant and then my camera died. I love the name of this species. This plant is either found in freshwater or growing close to it on banks. When it grows out of the water the leaves are much more rounded.

Yellow water lily - Nuphar lutea

2007-06-02T14:55:00.000Z

I don't think there's much that you could mistake this species with. There's a similar species called least water lilly but this plant has flowers that are less than 4cm whereas N.lutea has flowers larger than 4cm. I found this growing in the lake at Wood's Mill.

Just took this picture (16Jun07) and thought i'd include it in this post as you get a much better shot of the picture. This flower was seen at the lake in Abbot's wood.

Quaking grass - Briza media

2007-06-01T15:03:00.000Z

This is probably one of the first grass species i ever learnt to identify. This grass is only just opening up, i'll try to post another picture of it later in the season looking more typical.

The individual flower heads seem to resemble little woodlice to me! And they are said to quake and shake in the wind.

Bird's foot trefoil - Lotus corniculatus

2007-05-31T15:08:00.000Z

Found in a field

Scarlet Pimpernell - Anagallis avensis

2007-05-30T15:10:00.000Z

Yet another tiny little flower that when viewed from close up looks so spectacular

Liverwort - Marchantia polymorpha

2007-05-29T15:13:00.000Z

Ok, It's not a flower... but the male sexual parts that you can see in this picture look a bit like flowers. And i really like this plant so i stuck it in anyway! I found it growing in the pavement cracks at Sussex University

White Clover - Trifolium repens

2007-05-28T15:18:00.000Z

Found growing in an improved pasture field

Grass species

2007-05-27T15:27:00.000Z

another unknown species, it's an agricultural crop though, i think

Green Field Speedwell - Veronica agrestis

2007-05-26T15:25:00.000Z

not sure which one this is, the one that has one petal paler than the others. will check the species asap

Unknown fritillary species

2007-05-25T15:32:00.000Z

Found in a field

Poppy people

2007-05-24T12:29:00.000Z

these are some poppy people my friend Tracy made out of poppy flower heads

Salad Burnett - Sanguisorba minor

2007-05-23T14:07:00.000Z

Apparantly the leaves of this plant are quite tasty in a salad, hence it's name. But they're so small i'm not sure it would be worth the bother of collecting them. This plant was seen on Castle Hill but it's a pretty common plant and i tend to see it fairly regularly.

Hound's tongue - Cynoglossum officinale

2007-05-22T14:03:00.000Z

Sainfoin - Onobrychis viciifolia

2007-05-21T14:03:00.000Z

Bulbous buttercup - Ranunculus bulbosus

2007-05-20T12:00:00.000Z

Bulbous buttercup found at Castle Hill

Mouse ear Hawkweed - Pilosella officinarum

2007-05-19T11:54:00.000Z

I found this flower growing at Castle Hill but it's quite common in chalk grassland. The underside of the petals usually have a red tinge to them and the leaves of the plant are very white, soft and felty on their underside.

Toad Reed? - Juncus bufonius?

2007-05-18T16:50:00.000Z

Small reed found growing at Castle Hill. I think it might be the toad reed Juncus bufonius but i'm not too sure

Milkwort - Polygala species

2007-05-17T11:42:00.000Z

milkwort at Castle Hill

Yellow rattle - Rhianthus minor

2007-05-16T14:20:00.000Z

Yellow rattle has got to be one of my favourite plants. It's so tactile, it's leaves look so scaly and almost dragon like and it develops these massive seed pods that rattle in the wind. Yellow rattle is a parasitic plant that gains its nutrients from perennial grasses. I've found it growing at Castle Hill and Beedlands Nature Reserve.

Dogwood

2007-05-15T13:47:00.000Z

Dog's mercury at Stanmer Park

Sun spurge

2007-05-14T13:50:00.000Z

Sun Spurge, stanmer park

Dog's mercury

2007-05-13T13:23:00.000Z

This plant has tiny little yellow flowers

Dandelion

2007-05-12T12:08:00.000Z

This dandelion had already gone over into seed but it looked so beautiful when it was damp i had to take a photo of it.

Hornbeam

2007-05-11T12:13:00.000Z

Picture of hornbeam seeds

Lords and Ladies - Arum maculatum

2007-05-10T12:55:00.000Z

Ths was found growing in a wood near Sussex University. The purple spathe gives off a smell that attracts small flies. The flies get caught in the swelling at the base of the flower until the flower is ready to release pollen. The flies then fly off, carrying the pollen away to other flowers.

Hedge Garlic

2007-05-09T13:44:00.000Z

Not a very good photo i'm afraid, the flower is out of focus.

Red Campion

2007-05-08T13:40:00.000Z

Native bluebell - Hyacinthoides non-scripta

2007-05-07T13:37:00.000Z

Note the curled out tips of the petals and the yellow stamens

Herb Robert - Geranium robertianum

2007-05-06T13:34:00.000Z

Found growing in grassland at Stanmer Park

Ground Ivy - Glechoma hederacea

2007-05-05T13:32:00.000Z

Black Bryony

2007-05-04T13:26:00.000Z

Only British member of the yam family

Cow Parsley

2007-05-03T13:21:00.000Z

Found near a field in Stanmer Park

Bugle

2007-05-02T13:19:00.000Z

Found in a woodland near University

Bladder Campion

2007-05-01T13:16:00.000Z

Daisy - Bellis perennis

2007-04-30T14:44:00.000Z

The daisy has got to be one of the easiest to recognise flowers there is. And therefore probably quite under-apprecitated. I think it's probably one of the first flowers i ever learnt to identify when i was a little girl, making daisy chains on the school playing fields

Groundsel - Senecio vulgaris

2007-04-29T14:33:00.000Z

I'd never even noticed groundsel before, i thought it was just a strange looking ragwort with unopened flowers. But it's a beautiful little plant. This is a picture of its seed heads. The flowers are yellow and look like a daisy with all the white petals pulled out. Just little yellow bumps in dense clusters at the top of the stem. You might be able to make out some of these flowers, out of focus, in the background of the picture.

Elm - Ulmus species

2007-04-28T07:38:00.000Z

This is a photo I took of some elm seeds. I'm not sure what elm species this is. The elm was growing in Stanmer Park, close to Brighton. At the moment the floor seems to be littered with these seeds everywhere I go. I love the contrast between the colours.

I guess i'm lucky because Brighton is one of the main strongholds for Elm. Elm has been seriously infected by Dutch Elm's Disease which has resulted in the death of Elm's all across the country. Just down the bottom of my road there is a huge avenue of majestic elm trees. It's sad to think that in a few years these trees may also have become infected and may have to be cut down.

Cowslip - Primula veris

2007-04-27T14:28:00.000Z

These were found growing in a woodland close to Sussex University. The latin word Primula refers to this plants tendancy to flower early in the season, veris refers to spring time.

White Dead Nettle

2007-04-26T13:53:00.000Z