Some Wildflowers Near Downe, August

Perennial Sowthistle, Sonchus arvensis.  Near Downe, 23 August 2014.

Here are a few flowers from the countryside near Downe, Charles Darwin's village.  This area consists mostly of shallow chalky valleys.  This first flower, the Perennial Sowthistle, can be told from many similar types by the orange-tipped glandular hairs on the flower stem and bracts.  This specimen was in a hedgerow at the side of a field.

Dwarf Thistle, Cirsium acaule.  Valley sides near Downe, 23 August 2014.

This one is typical of uncultivated chalk grassland.  It's often called the Picnic Thistlle, because it can be discovered when sat on.  Unlike other thistles, it remains as a rosette at ground level and doesn't put a stem up to flower.

Ploughman's Spikenard, Inula conyzae.  Near Downe, 23 August 2014.

Under the trees was this rather undistinguished plant, a Ploughman's Spikenard, with leaves rather like a Foxglove, whose flowers never open more than this. 

Spear-Leaved Orache, Atriplex prostrata.  Roadside near Downe, 23 August 2014.

These flowers are even less showy, and can really only be seen close up.  It's a Spear-leaved Orache.  The feature that distinguishes Oraches from similar plants is their triangular bracts, but you can hardly see the bracts on some of them, including this plant.

This and the next one were growing in a hedgerow by the roadside.

Common Blue Sowthistle, Cicerbita macrophylla.  Roadside near Downe, 23 August 2014.

I hadn't seen a Common Blue Sowthistle before.  I think "Common" relates them to the Alpine Blue Sowthistle, which grows here only in the east of Scotland, rather than any other sort of plant.  This is rather showy and pretty, not unlike a Chicory, which can be found not too far away at Jubilee Country Park.