Bloomsbury Pocket Guide To Wild Flowers
Bob Gibbons
Language: English
Pages: 82
ISBN: 2:00286397
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Overview
An accessible guide providing comprehensive detail on 130 of the most common British species of wild flowers.
A short introduction to the book includes information on the structure of flowers and how to use the guide to identify wild flowers.
Species are illustrated in more than 150 of the author's remarkable colour photographs.
Each species account includes a general introduction and description, flowering time and distribution.
A familiar and attractive early spring flower that can grow up to about 30cm tall, Coltsfoot produces distinctive bare flower spikes on purplish stems before the leaves appear. The leaves are stalked, triangular to heart-shaped (resembling horse’s hooves, leading to the flower’s name), toothed and up to 20cm across, appearing soon after flowering. The bright yellow flower heads are 2– 3.5cm across, with numerous narrow rays; they are borne singly at the ends of short, erect, leafless stems up to
greyish-green, and about 1cm wide and up to 30cm long; they are held erect or arching. The distinctive flowers are solitary, yellow, terminal and turned sharply to one side. Each flower is made up of a ring of six pale yellow perianth segments (petals) with an inner deeper-yellow, trumpet-shaped corona 2–3.5cm long and about the same length as the petals. It is also known as Wild Daffodil and Lent Lily. FLOWERING TIME March–April. DISTRIBUTION Locally common in woods and old pastures, and on
Heath Spotted Orchid D. maculata is similar, but has narrower leaves with rounder spots, and flowers in generally shorter, wider inflorescences. The labellum is much less divided, with a short, small central lobe and two larger, rounded side lobes. It is widespread in damper, more acid habitats such as wet heaths and moorland. These spotted orchids can be quickly differentiated from the preceding orchid species by the leaf-like bracts in the flower spikes. GLOSSARY acid, base-rich: describes
is almost certainly an ancient introduction; it has been recorded since Roman times and is now known from a variety of semi-shaded habitats such as gardens, roadsides and woodland edges. It occurs throughout the lowland areas of Britain, though its distribution in Ireland is more scattered. SIMILAR SPECIES Welsh Poppy Meconopsis cambrica is closely related but has much larger, solitary and slightly paler yellow flowers. It is an uncommon native plant in south-west England, Wales and scattered
the yellow flowers have streaks of orange in the centres. This hybrid may occur anywhere within the range of the parents. Cowslip Primula veris YELLOW LOOSESTRIFE Lysimachia vulgaris Yellow Loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris This creeping herbaceous perennial gives rise to erect, leafy, flowering stems up to 1.5m high, though usually less. The pointed, oval leaves are about 4–10cm long and borne in opposite pairs or in whorls of three to four. The bright yellow flowers are 1.5–2cm across and