Bog Asphodel

Bog Asphodel, Narthecium ossifragum.  Keston Common bog, 6 July 2012.

This beautiful flower is a true bog dweller, and there are very few bogs or marshes around London or in Kent.  So within a 20-mile radius of London, and the whole of Kent, it only grows in three or perhaps four places.  Luckily for me, the site on which it is most prolific is within walking distance of my house, in a small valley bog on Keston Common.

The bog is famous among naturalists for having been studied by Charles Darwin.  It was here that he found Sundews, with which he was able to show consumed insects.  But there are no Sundews now.

Here is a close-up of the flowers of the Asphodel.

Bog Asphodel, Narthecium ossifragum.  Keston Common bog, 6 July 2012.