It's definitely been a week of seeing new plants. @1davidelston.bsky.social, @bramblebotanist.bsky.social and i went wading around looking for Calamagrostis scotica. And we found lots! Superficially is much darker than C. stricta.

Up in Cathness for the @bsbibotany.bsky.social recording week. Out today to look for Carex x grantii the hybrid between Carex recta abandoned Carex aquatilis. Here is a lovely family portrait.

Lotus subbiflorus looking splendid in the afternoon sun down in Dorset today.

Anyone in Dorset/Hampshire have a good spot to find Cicendia filiformis?

Been a incredibly busy week doing botanical surveys all around the country, here are a few highlights. 1. Diapensia lapponica, 2. Convallaria majalis, 3. Logfia minima, 4. veronica spicata, 5. Allium sphaerocephalon

No #LawnFlowers from me, just grassed areas - like this area with a beautiful population of Bath Asparagus; the bees love it! #WildflowerHour

You know your sedgery is getting out of control when Carex depauperata self sets everywhere and starts becoming a garden weed! #wildflowerhour not sure it counts as #LawnFlowers though?

For #Wildflowerhour #OrchidChallenge this week, here is a photo of Ophrys sphegodes found earlier this month in Wiltshire, last seen in the county in 1989!

A nice habitat shot of Diapensia lapponica. @bramblebotanist.bsky.social and I managed to dodge the rain today to find this beauty.

A long hike up a Scottish mountain with a special reward at the summit, Diapensia lapponica!

Finally feeling better after having a horrible cold. So took myself off to Dawlish Warren in the sunshine to see romulea columnae, Sand crocus, and what a beauty it is! I also bumped into @naturelark.bsky.social, was so lovely to meet you.

A suprising find today, Asarina procumbens (trailing snapdragon) growing out of a drain in an old greenhouse.

@notfrangible.bsky.social messaged this morning to say she found Urtica membranacea. So off i went to confirm, what a stunner and a new county record to boot! Urban botany at its best.

Taking @bramblebotanist.bsky.social to see Helleborus viridis flowering between showers in Wiltshire today. #wildflowerhour

My final @bsbibotany.bsky.social new year plant hunt was in Wiltshire with a very respectable 50 species in flower. Highlights were Senecio viscosus and Veronica agrestis and of course excellent company #Wiltsbotsoc

Yesterday I undertook my first of three new year plant hunts. Considering it was a mainly rural walk I recorded 28 plants in flower. This included Lamium hybridum (a new hectad record), Stachys arvensis and hundreds of plants of Spergula arvensis (in bud but sadly not in flower).

Already pre-ordered my copy

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI)@bsbibotany.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Coming soon: 'Wild Roses of Great Britain and Ireland'. This latest title, no.26 in the series of #BSBIHandbooks for tricky plant groups, has just gone to the printers! Available for #BSBImembers to pre-order now at the discount price of £16 (vs RRP £25). Sample pages here: bsbi.org/bsbi-handboo...

Asplenium trichomanes subsp. pachyrachis is the rarest subspecies of maidenhair spleenwort found growing out of damp limestone with high humidity levels. Identified by its lobed leaves from which it gets its English name, lobed maidenhair spleenwort. This one was tucked away in the Wye Valley.

Surveying near the river Itchen in Hampshire today and pretty convinced this is Urtica dioica subsp. subinermis with only a few stinging hairs. @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social what do you think?

Back from the fantastic @bsbibotany.bsky.social Mentha workshop run by @ambroisebaker.bsky.social. I learnt a lot, mints can be so variable. On the field meeting we found a number of different species. First photo is M. x gracilis, second is M. x smithiana and third is M. x verticillata.

Up in Yorkshire at the moment for the @bsbibotany.bsky.social Mentha workshop. Quick walk before dinner and found a few interesting things including Bromus inermis ssp. inermis which is the more common of the two subspecies.

After several days at a music festival having my ears blasted, I thought it would be good to balance out with some botanising. A trip down to the Dorset heaths and I finally found Dorset heath Erica ciliaris and it's hybrid with Erica tetralix = Erica x watsonii in the middle of the family photo.

Having a fantastic week at the @bsbibotany.bsky.social summer meeting. Finding a fantastic range of sedges and grasses. Highlight of my week is finding Carex x boenninghausiana, the hybrid between remota and paniculata. Hierochloe odorata, Calamagrostis stricta and it's hybrid C. x gracilescens.

On route to the @bsbibotany.bsky.social annual summer meeting in Melrose, stopping off in Yorkshire to see some hawkweeds. Here is Ribbleshead hawkweed Hieracium caesitium with its very delicately blotched leaves.

Sweet galingale, Cyperus longus found on a recent botanical survey.

Found this wonderful purple form of Ononis spinosa whilst botanising near the Severn estuary. Ive never seen it in another colour form before.

So to balance out the orchid post earlier, here is a much better sedge find. Carex davalliana, one of the new sedges i saw this weekend. This sedge is sadly extinct in the UK but still found across much of Europe in calcareous flushes.

@bramblebotanist.bsky.social and I have had a fantastic day exploring alpine flora in the French alps. We found Gymnadenia rhellicani, a black vanilla orchid just opening.

Melampyrum nemorosum, wood cow wheat is abundant on the road verges in this area of france. A favourite of the trip so far.

Never thought I'd get to see a ghost orchid 😍 #orchid #ghostorchid #Epipogiumaphyllum