Wild Flowers of Leazes Park

Weld - Reseda luteola I found this plant growing between stone blocks at the edge of the lake. It is a beautiful but easily overlooked plant that belongs to the Resedaceae or Mignonette family.  Only two members of the Mignonette family are commonly found in the UK- Wild Mignonette ( Reseda lutea ) and the above Weld. At first sight, Weld looks pretty inconspicuous but it demands closer inspection. It forms graceful spires of yellowish flowers tapering to a point about  30-40 cms off the ground. Individual flowers are hard to see but they repay close scrutiny with a hand magnifyer if you have one. Weld Reseda luteola growing through the paving by the lake At first sight, petals and sepals are not obvious but if you get up close you can just make out four petals and four sepals. There is a larger irregular petal at the top with 4-5 'fingers', two smaller irregular lateral petals and an insignificant petal below. The 4 sepals are greenish and inconspicuous (see pictu...

Germander Speedwell ( Veronica chamaedrys) The violet and cowslip, blue-bell and rose are known to thousands - the Veronica is overlooked. The ploughboys know it, and the wayside children, the mowers and those that linger in the fields, but few else! Richard Jefferies There are several different types of speedwell to be found in Leazes Park sometimes within a few feet of each other. They are small and easily overlooked but it is worth 'lingering in the fields ' of Leazes Park to find them. Don't bother picking them. You shouldn't do it anyway, but it is a waste of time with speedwells because they don't tolerate handling and blue petal ring falls off long before you have got them home. For the moment, the subject of the blog is the most striking of the Speedwells with the biggest flower - the germander speedwell. Many features of the germander speedwell apply to other members of the genus. So it is a good starting point. Germander Speedwell ( Vero...

Cardamine pratensis "flowering for the most parte in Aprille and Maie when the Cockowe doth begin to sing his pleasant notes without stammering" John Gerard 1545-1612 Despite being one the loveliest flowers of spring, lady's smock or cuckoo flower is easy to overlook. I always look forward to its first appearance in late April when the newly minted flowers, especially seen in the early morning dew, are among the best sights the year has to offer. 1. Cuckoo flower inflorescence in the early morning with partially opened flowers.  Where the popular names come from is not clear, it has been suggested that 'smock' name comes from the resemblance of whitish patches of its flowers to white linen smocks spread out to dry and bleach. There are other variations of the cuckoo name including 'cuckoo bread', 'cuckoo's shoes' and 'cuckoo spit' and this name may derive from its appearance coinciding with cuckoo song. Another proposed explana...

Common Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii I might be turning into an ' orchidiot ' (someone with a single-minded orchid obsession) but I was so pleased to find another species of orchid growing in close proximity to the Northern Marsh Orchids I thought another post was in order.  Although these are among the commonest orchids, to see any orchid in a city-centre park is a treat. Not just that though, they are growing in close proximity to an area where rough sleepers sometimes camp out and where people who should know better light fires. Somehow one of our most delicate flowers has managed to force itself into bloom in this unpromising location. Common Spotted Orchid ( Dactylyorhiza fuchsii ) has the standard dactylorchid structure shown in the schematic below.  At first sight, it might look similar to Northern Marsh-orchid, but there are some differences that allow the two species to be separated.  For a full account, however, you should consult a key or a s...

Northern Marsh Orchid   Dactylorhiza purpurella The orchid family (Orchidaceae) is a large family which contains over 25,000 species worldwide and a large number of those species face extinction. In part, this is because orchids have such precise requirements and as a result, habitat destruction can have a more marked effect than it does on less selective species. Also, many orchids have very precise pollination requirements.  All the pollen is bundled into paired pollinia (see below) that require a specialist courier or insect pollinator. For this reason, orchids may be more vulnerable to depletion of insect numbers compared to grasses for example. Grasses chuck huge amounts of pollen into the air and leave it to chance that some of it will end up in the right place. No orchids are common in the UK and although Dactylorhiza species are among the more common it is still exciting to find them in a city-centre park and every year it comes as a relief to me when they reappe...