White Melilot

White Melilot, Melilotus albus, in Hayes Station car park.
18 September 2011.

This is my local station car park. It was given a new fence only a few years ago, and the balance of the ecology around its edge has not settled down yet.

There is a small earth bank along the roadside, and cracks in the tarmac elsewhere where plants flourish.

Last year, there was a flush of Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris. This year, hardly any of that; instead, lots of White Melilot, a plant I had not even heard of until earlier this year. I know northern plants pretty well, but there are still plenty in this area that are still new to me.

In fact I thought of this plant as belonging to a chalk grassland community, because that's where I first saw it, earlier this year at High Elms. But here it looks quite happy and healthy growing through tarmac on clay ground.  This small patch is only part of it.

Although I doubt very much whether ecology is on their minds, the managers of this car park clear the plants once a year, in mid-September. These have gone now. That's quite good timing, as it allows many plants to mature and set seed, which gives me greenery to enjoy. I have already shown photos of thistles, horsetails and Prickly Lettuce from this car park, and I have photos of other plants too. It will be interesting to see what flourishes here next year.

Below is a shot from the first time I saw White Melilot.

Honey bee, Apis mellifera, on White Melilot, Melilotus albus, on Burnt Gorse at High Elms Country Park, 14 July 2011.