Monday 24 March 2014

Small Spring Flowers

Dove's-foot Crane's-bill, Geranium molle, on Ridgeway, Hayes.  14 March 2014.
Dove's-foot Crane's-bill, Geranium molle, on Ridgeway, Hayes.  14 March 2014.
Spring is here, and flowers are appearing all around.   Here are a range of colours on humble plants that grow in corners.  The Dove's-foot Crane's-bill lives on lawns and grassy verges, and produces little flowers for most of the year.  It will put up with some trampling, is low-growing enough to survive mowing, and is a welcome sight.

Scarlet Pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis.  Hayes station car park, 16 March 2014.
Scarlet Pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis.  Hayes station car park, 16 March 2014.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is really a plant of grasslands, but there is a thriving colony at the edge of a nearby station car park.  It only grows right by the fence.  All sorts of seeds are spread by the railways.  I have seen unexpected plants that grow for a year and then disappear, but these seem to have taken well.

Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Veronica hederifolia subsp. leucorum.  Saville Row, Hayes, 16 March 2014.
Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Veronica hederifolia subsp. lucorum.  Saville Row, Hayes, 16 March 2014.
This is a very small and inconspicuous flower.  You really have to bend down and look for it.  There are two subspecies of Ivy-leaved Speedwell, and this, with white stamens, is subspecies lucorum.  I have posted this species instead of the showier blue-and-white-flowered Common Field Speedwell because it is more interesting!

Toothwort, Lathraea squamaria.  High Elms Country Park, 13 March 2014.
Toothwort, Lathraea squamaria.  High Elms Country Park, 13 March 2014.
The Toothwort is a larger flower, but you still have to keep your eyes open for it.  It comes from a plant with no chlorophyll, parasitic on tree roots, usually Hazel, and all you see are these light pink flowers rising four or five inches above the ground in Spring.   I walked a route near Leaves Green a few days ago and saw just one of these (we saw more a week later); on the other hand, near the roadside at Cuckoo Wood car park at High Elms there are dozens.

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