Ragwort - Senecio jacobea

Ladies Bedstraw - Galium verum

Evening primrose - Oenothera biennis

Pineappleweed - Matricaria matricarioides

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

Common toadflax - Linaria vulgaris

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

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.

Honeysuckle - Lonicera periclymenum

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.

Spotted or Perfoliate St Johns Wort - Hypericum punctatum

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

Agrimony - Agrimonia eupatoria

Found growing in improved pasture in the valley of Anchor Bottom

Horseshoe vetch - Hippocrepis comosa

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.

Kidney Vetch - Anthylllis vulneraria

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

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

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

Yellow water lily - Nuphar lutea

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.

Bird's foot trefoil - Lotus corniculatus

Found in a field

Bulbous buttercup - Ranunculus bulbosus

Bulbous buttercup found at Castle Hill

Mouse ear Hawkweed - Pilosella officinarum

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.

Yellow rattle - Rhianthus minor

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.

Dandelion

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.

Daisy - Bellis perennis

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