Cuckoo-pint

Cuckoo-pint, Arum maculatum, longitudinal section. High Elms Country Park, 21 April 2014.

 This is the fascinating interior of a common plant of hedgerows and woodlands, Cuckoo-pint or Lords and Ladies, formally called Arum maculatum.  Normally you see something like this:

Cuckoo-pint, Arum maculatum, in a hedgerow. High Elms Country Park, 21 April 2014.

Triangular leaves, rather shiny, often quite dark, sometimes spotted with brown or black markings - hence the species name, maculatum.  At this time of year, if you delve into the greenery you will also see these:

Cuckoo-pint, Arum maculatum, inflorescences. High Elms Country Park, 21 April 2014.

They look like flowers, but they aren't; they are a structure of which the flowers, which you can't see, form only one part.  You see a club-shaped spadix hooded by a green spathe, with a closed chamber below.  When it is ready for pollination, the spadix heats up, which attracts little midges, which travel down into the chamber below - but they can't get out,  because it looks like this.

Cuckoo-pint, Arum maculatum, longitudinal section. High Elms Country Park, 21 April 2014.

They can get past those downward-pointing hairs easily enough, but pushing through the other way is hard for such tiny creatures.  And they are very small flying things.  Some escaped when I opened this up.

At the bottom are the female flowers, ready to be fertilised with pollen brought in by the midges.  When that is accomplished, the dark red anthers ripen and release this plant's pollen, and the ring of hairs withers, allowing the midges out.  They brush past the anthers and leave with a fresh load of pollen to take to the next plant.

Later in the year there will be spikes of bright vermilion berries, with no signs of their origin.  By then the leaves will all have died back.

From complex arrangements like this (and it's not the strangest plant by a long way) we can deduce that cross-pollination has a very high survival factor compared with self-pollination.

(Incidentally .. the "pint" in this plant's common name is a shortened form of "pintle" and means "penis."  That's rural names for you.)

Kemsing final

Snail patterns on a Silver Birch cultivar.
Churchyard of the Church of St. Mary, Kemsing, with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Some other things seen at Kemsing.  This first photo is the bark of a Silver Birch, a white-barked cultivar I think, with tracks where something, probably a snail, has browsed away the algae that grow there.  You can see the triangular marks of each swipe of its tongue.  The whole trunk was covered with these intricate patterns.

Galls on Sycamore caused by Aceria macrorhynchus, a mite.
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

This is the leaf of a Sycamore with little bumps that are the homes of a mite called Aceria macrorhynchus. The mite makes the leaf grow these small hollow protrusions, a type known as nail galls, where it lives in comfort, making its entry from under the leaf.

Five lichens.  Ramalina fastigiata, Xanthoria parietina, Lecidella elaeochroma, Lecanora chlarotera, Physcia tenella.
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Trees standing out in the grass at the top of the hill were covered with lichens.  They grow in great competition with each other for living space, and in this photo there are five different species showing three of the various different typical patterns of lichen growth.

On the right, looking bushy, is a fruticose Ramalina fastigiata.  The yellow foliose lichen is Xanthoria parietina, very common on trees and walls.  At the bottom left is a small grey-green foliose Physcia tenella.

Crustose, and adhering firmly to the trunk, are Lecidella elaeochroma, with black fruiting bodies, and Lecanora chlarotera, with fawn-centred "jam tart" fruiting bodies.  These two form patchworks on many treetrunks. 

Rust fungus, Puccinia lagenophorae, on Groundsel, Senecio vulgaris.
Churchyard of the Church of St. Mary, Kemsing, with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

This is a rust fungus,  Puccinia lagenophorae, on the leaf of a Groundsel.  Magnified like this, it looks like a series of tiny flowers.  This Groundsel is suffering, but there were plenty of uninfected ones around.

Elder, Sambucus nigra, with variegated leaves.
Churchyard of the Church of St. Mary, Kemsing, with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Finally, this is a naturally variegated branch of an Elder.  The yellow stripes might be the result of a virus infestation. The leaves normally look quite plain, like those in the background, which are on the same plant.  It's a pretty effect, though, and unusual.  The variegated forms you can buy for the garden have yellow or white edges to the leaves, nothing like these striped veins.

Kemsing Insects

Orange Ladybirds, Hazlya sedecimguttata, on Spindle, Euonymus europaeus.
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Most of the insects on our Kemsing Down trip were actually in hedgerows and a churchyard at the edge of the town, not up on the windy hilltop.  These Orange Ladybirds were in a hedge, as was this Harlequin, seen here on my hand:

Harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis forma succinea.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

This Beefly was roaming around the churchyard.

Beefly, Bombylius major.
Churchyard of the Church of St. Mary, Kemsing, with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

It is a fly, not a bee, though its body does look bee-like.  Perhaps this affords it some protection from predators.  But it's unmistakeable to human eyes, with that long proboscis and the dark pattern on its wings.

Also in the hedgerow:

Green Shield Bug, Palomena prasina.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

A Green Shield-bug, or Stink-bug.  It's a true bug, with sucking mouthparts.  It is well camouflaged against the leaves.  Close to, it has an amazing texture.

And some more from the hedgerow; here are three species of Hoverfly.

Hoverflies. Left to right: Melanostoma scalare (male), Epistrophe eligans and Meliscaeva cinctella (females).
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

These don't have common names.  Many Hoverflies are striped and look dangerous.  That middle one, the Epistrophe eligans, looks particularly like a stinger, but they aren't, any of them.  They are faking it, and presumably it gives them some protection, like the Beefly.

I like Hoverflies.  They are colourful, there are lots of species, and there is a good chance of identifying them from their patterns, which you can't say of some other types of insect.

There is an easy way to tell males from females.  The big compound eyes of the males meet in the middle.  The females' eyes don't. 

Kemsing Speedwells

Germander Speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys.
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

At Kemsing Down on 12th April we saw five species of lovely little Speedwells.  Their bright blue flowers always make me cheerful.  This one, Germander Speedwell, has its flowers in racemes, sprouting from a stem that curls up from among the top leaves.  It's the showiest species, here just starting out.  This plant was up on the hilltop, but the other species were further down near the town.

Common Field Speedwell, Veronica persica.  Saville Row, Hayes, on 13 April 2014.

I went to photograph some Common Field Speedwell, which was abundant, and when I got home, I found I had a different, superficially similar species ... still, it's abundant in most places, so I walked a few paces from my front door for this illustration.  It has single flowers rising from the leaf axils, and the lower petal - the small one - tends to be whiter than the rest.

So here's what I actually photographed on the day ...

Slender Speedwell, Veronica filiformis.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

(And even that wasn't a brilliant shot.)  A Slender Speedwell.  This species has kidney-shaped leaves without the prominent jaggies.  Growing in the same field were lots of these:

Thyme-leaved Speedwell, Veronica serpyllifolia.
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Thyme-leaved Speedwells. A different flower colour, but they have a similar shape.  The leaves are very different.  And finally, by the side of a path were clumps of this one:

Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Veronica hederifolia subspecies lucorum.
Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Ivy-leaved Speedwell.  Broad leaves, and tiny mauve flowers that are almost invisible until you get right down and look. 

I like Speedwells.  Next time, some insects.

Kemsing Down Cowslips

Cowslips, Primula veris; thrum-eyed and pin-eyed.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

On 12 April the Orpington Field Club went for a walk over Kemsing Down.  One of the group was particularly interested to see the photos, so I will spread them over the next few posts.

It's a grassy hillside, on chalk, with some woodland.  The most prominent feature was the carpet of cowslips.

Kemsing Down's cowslips with some of the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

The top photo shows the two types of flower, called pin-eyed and thrum-eyed.  Pin-eyed have a high stigma and low anthers; thrum-eyed are the other way around.  This alternate arrangement of the stigma and the anthers means that it is very unlikely that a plant will pollinate itself or another similar plant.  The pollen gets onto the proboscis of a feeding insect in a position that does not match the plant's own stigma., but does match a stigma in the other alignment.  Primroses have the same arrangement.

This is an exposed and windy hilltop with a great view.

Cowslips, Primula veris, and the view from Kemsing Down.
With the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

And there were lots more flowers and insects ... in the short grass were patches of purple Common Dog Violet and, just coming out, the tiny yellow flowers of Crosswort.

Common Dog-violet, Viola riviniana.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Crosswort, Cruciata laevipes, in closeup.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

The bird people were seeing buzzards and hearing tits and nuthatches.   More flowers next time.

(Closeups were taken with my EOS 6D and 100mm macro lens; the wider shots were taken with my iPhone 5S.  All were processed with Photoshop CC.)

Fruit Mound Panorama

View from the Fruit Mound down to glasshouses.  RHS Garden Wisley, 11 March 2014.

 I love the panoramas the iPhone can take.  These photos are taken from the Fruit Mound at the RHS garden, Wisley.  The mound has two spiral paths leading to a small open place at the top, with a couple of seats, and I stood on a seat to take these.

The first shows what the paths and part of the surrounds actually look like.  The paths, which leave from opposite sides of the centre, are lined with apple trees that are trained along the fences in a sort of one-sided espalier. (If there is a proper name for this, I don't know it.)  Incidentally, the grass down towards the glasshouses was marked "keep off" because of waterlogging, but you can see where a few people have walked down there anyway. 

Panorama from the Fruit Mound.  RHS Garden Wisley, 11 March 2014.

In the panorama, the paths are twisted into lovely curves and loops.  You can see parts of the exits and seats at the far edges of the photo.  I am not yet perfect at holding the phone accurately while moving it around, and I have photoshopped a few spots at the bottom of the picture to keep the feel of the colours and shapes while removing what I thought were unsightly black blotches.   I think that's only obvious in one place!

Three Hellebores

Green Hellebore, Helleborus viridis.  High Elms Country Park, 13 March 2014.

Hellebores make excellent garden plants.  The tolerate shady, dry conditions and flower there when very few other plants will, and they flower early to give a cheerful start to the year.  There are many colour varieties in cultivation.  In the wild, you can usually only expect to see two species, though occasionally others pop up as garden escapes or purposeful introductions. 

There is a good stand of Green Hellebores at High Elms, visible from the road near Cuckoo Wood car park.  They look fresh and light green because the leaves are new each Spring.  These have nearly finished flowering.  The flowers are concealed inside those green sepals, and in most of these there is only the developing fruit.

Corsican Hellebore, Helleborus argutifolius, beside the railway track at Hayes Station.  2 February 2014.

There's a Corsican Hellebore beside the track on Hayes Station, visible from where I am typing this now, which is certainly a garden escape. 

Stinking Hellebore, Helleborus foetida.  Behind Leaves Green, 19 March 2014.

This is the other native species, rather less common.  The darker, thinner leaves on this plant are evergreen.  It was good to come across a patch here during a walk with the Orpington Field Club, but there is a lingering doubt over how natural this patch is.  Nearby there is a whole cluster of other species that are only found as garden escapes.  Maybe this area was used to dump garden waste.

Stinking Hellebore, Helleborus foetida.  Behind Leaves Green, 19 March 2014.

This closeup shows the distinctive purple lip to the sepals, and the young fruit within.

Four Violets

Hairy Violet, Viola hirta.  High Elms Country Park, 13 March 2014.

Well, I was going to post the four violets that can be found in this area just now, but they look so similar to each other to the non-botanical eye that I will restrict myself to two.

The flowers are inconspicuous unless there are several together, but they abound at the moment and are not hard to find.  The Common Dog-violet and Early Dog-violet, not shown here, grow by woods and hedges and on grassy banks and verges.  The Hairy Violet, shown above, likes chalky grassland.  This one was on one of the orchid banks at High Elms.  You can see the furry appearance of the leaf stems and the undersides of the leaves.

Sweet Violet, Viola odorata.  Fairlawne Estate, Shipbourne, 15 March 2014.

The Sweet Violet is the only one to have a scent, and also the only one to have a white variety.  These were in a large estate on a rolling lawn and might therefore have been planted and allowed to spread, but they can also be found naturally in the wild.  Like the others, it is widespread, usually in its bluish form, and in fact I found one on my own road this afternoon.

Telling these four violets apart is tricky.  There are even scentless forms of the Sweet Violet, so you can't just rule it out with a sniff.  You have to compare a whole cluster of attributes: the shape of the sepals, the size of the little appendages at the back of the sepals, the shape and colour of the spur at the back of the flower, and a couple of other things too.  Sometimes, though, it's obvious.  White, sweet-scented flowers - and those large leaves - can only belong to one of the four species.