Small Spring Flowers

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.

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. 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.

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.