Tiny Flowers from Ranscombe Farm

Saturday 2 June 2012

Tiny Flowers from Ranscombe Farm

Mixture of cornfield wildflowers at Ranscombe Farm County Park, 25 May 2012.

At Ranscombe Farm there is a cornfield, currently growing wheat. It's on chalk and there are thousands of tiny wildflowers growing there, mostly around the edge nut also extending deep into the field.

In the photo above, the dandelion looks like a giant. With it are flowering some Field Pansies (white with a yellow centre), some Common Field Speedwells (three stripy blue petals and a white one), one Venus' Looking-glass (purple), and several clumps of Field Madder (light mauve).

Field Madder, Sherardia arvensis. Ranscombe Farm County Park, 25 May 2012.

Here's the Field Madder in more detail. The mauve is often not very apparent. The flowers can look white in the sunlight, and you have to shade them to see the tint.

Venus' Looking-glass, Legousia hybrida. Ranscombe Farm County Park, 25 May 2012.

Not like this, which would be showy if it wasn't tiny. It only opens in the sunshine.

Of course there are larger flowers in the wheat too, but looking for tiny flowers, you can find some in the grass nearby.

Black Medick, Medicago lupulina. Ranscombe Farm County Park, 25 May 2012.

This sometimes grows in profusion, so that even though the flowers are so small, you can see yellow patches in the grass. You can tell this from similar-looking Medicks and Clovers by the mucronate point at the leaf tip; a tiny point in the slightly incurved tip.

Wall Speedwell, Veronica arvensis. Ranscombe Farm County Park, 25 May 2012.

There are several Speedwell species in this area, and this is one of the smallest; its flower is noticeable smaller than the Common Field Speedwell in the top photo. You can distinguish this Wall Speedwell from the equally small Thyme-leaved Speedwell by the hairiness of its stem and leaves.

I'll finish with another from the cornfield; a relative of the Three-nerved Sandwort I have seen recently in a couple of woodlands.