Tuberous Thistle (Cirsium tuberosum) at Nash point Lighthouse grasslands this morning. A rare plant in Britain and a first for me. #bythesea #wildflowerhour
@mattrjones.bsky.social
Botanist/Ecologist based in north west England. Botany got me hooked but now Interested in all groups.
Sorbus domestica and the Barry coastline this morning 😍 Wonderful surprise to see lots of Purple Gromwell on the walk up. #bythesea #wildflowerhour
Nit Grass (Gastridium ventricosum) 😍 New to me today at Pwlldu head in the south Wales coast. #bythesea #wildflowerhour
Limonium sanctamargaritense is my new favourite species name. Met them this week in St Margaret's Bay where the known global population is found #bythesea #wildflowerhour
Orobanche picridis 😍 Just a single spike of this stunner still flowering at their best British site at Kingsdown. Normally flower into August but seemed to have succumbed to the weather as have many plants. #bythesea #wildflowerhour
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) is a very special plant for me. Being from the Northwest I've only seen them once before and working in sites full of them this week was magic! Also a surprise Lesser Emperor! Working in Ecology is incredible #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) is a very special plant for me. Being from the Northwest I've only seen them once before and working in sites full of them this week was magic! Also a surprise Lesser Emperor! Working in Ecology is incredible #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Potamogeton epihydrus (American Pondweed) was the botanical highlight of my week. Growing in abundance in the Rochdale canal. #wildflowerhour
Juncus jacquinii 😍 A plant I'd never heard of before this trip. Looks somewhat like Schoenus at first glance but once in flower has distinctly Juncus-like tepals and a wild contrast of yellow and pink on open florets. Found growing in abundance along the edges of rich alpine flushes.
Botanical paradise up above the Stelvio pass. An incredible diversity of alpines everywhere but up on the barer high plateaus the mosaic of Glacier Buttercup, Bavarian Gentian and Alpine Rock Jasmine was spectacular 😍
Stumbled upon a fabulous flush system en route to some upland plateaus. Carex magellanica in abundance along with C. pauciflora and lots of C. flava. Biggest surprise was huge numbers of small beautiful Gentians in some of the flushes. I think they're Samiland Gentian (Comastoma tenellum).
Carex baldensis 😍 an absolutely cracking plant and the final Sedge of a mega week of plants in Italy.
Homogyne alpina (Purple Colts Foot) has been incredibly abundant in most of the places we've visited in Italy this week. Just one site in Britain where it seems unlikely to be a natural occurrence so was constantly exciting to see here! Mostly gone over but a few still flowering beautifully.
Another very exciting plant pathogen this afternoon! Hyalopsora adianti-capilli-veneris on Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris). Nice enough surprise to stumble across a gorgeous Palustriella tufa flush with lots of the fern. Been checking Adiantum in Britain for this rust for a long time!
I've spent the week botanising in the Italian Alps and have met so many incredible species. The beautiful Alpine Clover (Trifolium alpinum) was a standout, a plant i'd never heard of before the trip.
Carex myosuroides was a new Sedge to me this week. Seen growing up at 2000m+ and in some areas forming quite large stands. Although it took an awful lot of searching to find some plants with the smut Anthracoidea elynae.
Anthracoidea capillaris on Hair Sedge (Carex capillaris). Walking up a slope with thousands of Hair Sedge plants I was hoping i'd see this but was still very chuffed to come across it 😍 Just a few plants were hosting the smut.
A large population of the fabulous Ivy Leaved Bellflower (Wahlenbergia hederacea) was a very nice surprise at work this week! #wildflowerhour
Cochlearia megalosperma (Tall Scurvygrass). A huge and stunning plant that looks quite bizarre managing to grow from the side of a wall. Very uncommon as a wild plant in Britain but has been known from this site for a while.
A stunning display of Broad Leaved Cottongrass (Eriophorum latifolium) from a work site this week 😍 #wildflowerhour
I finally caught up with Horned Pondweed (Zannichelia palustris). A charming little plant with fab banana shaped fruits. A nice population growing in good macrophyte company #wildflowerhour
Pyramidal Orchids out in force and looking incredible at Minera quarry this morning 😍 #wildflowerhour
Anthracoidea pratensis on Carex flacca. In a quarry this morning and nearly every plant of flacca seemed to be heavily infected by this fab fungus.
Another fab Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris) site. What a plant! This one with a Carex x fulva neighbour. @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Some fab uncommon neophytes in Llandudno at the start of the week. Blue Lettuce (Lactuca tatarica) and Buphthalmum salicifolium. #wildflowerhour
Dactylorhiza x viridella (D. viridis x purpurella) and Twayblade Orchids looking incredible on a very rich road verge this weekend. #wildflowerhour
Chara curta (Lesser Bearded Stonewort). The distinctive teeth showing well in the upper internode. #wildflowerhour
Chara aculeolata (Hedgehog Stonewort). A very distinctive and absolutely fabulous species, looking very happy in a calcareous pool yesterday.
