Wall Lettuce, Nipplewort, Goat's-beard - and guest plant from Burton Leonard Lime Quarry 40 miles away - Hawkweed Oxtongue.
Eight of the genera of the yellow composites (Asteraceae) I have covered recently belong to the subtribe of Asteraceae called Cichorieae (or Lactuceae). (The roadsides are currently filled with one - Autumn Hawkbit - Scorzoneroides autumnalis) These four new genera bring the total to 12 - 11 near Settle.
They are characterised by having whitish latex, most are yellow and they have ligulate (strap shaped) florets in their flower heads and are rarely spiny). And quite a lot are apparently edible. The Cichorieae (or Lactuceae) include Dandelion, Lettuce, Salcify and Chicory.
 |
Wall Lettuce - closeup |
Both have leaves 3 to 20 cm long. Mycelis leaves are more lobed than Lapsana leaves.
Both can grow beside limestone walls - as in the case of the photograph of wall lettuce on the path at the end of the Mains below Lord's Pasture.
But Wall lettuce and often be found in grykes in Limestone Pavement, where as Nipplewort prefers paths and waste places that are more nutrient rich.
THERE is ONE easy difference:
The seeds of Wall Lettuce have a pappus, so their heads from "dandelion clock"s
The seeds of Nipplewort have NO pappus. The fruithead looks like a nipple!
 |
| Nipplewort - Lapsana communis |
-------------------------------------------------
3. Goat's-beard or "Jack Go to bed at Noon"
 |
Goat's-beard- Tragopogon pratensis - good fruit head on my walk at the Roundabout on the south end of the bypass on 6 August |
Goat's-beard or "Jack Go to bed at Noon" is familiar to many with its big yellow flowerhead that closes up at noon, its narrow grass-like leaves and beautiful big pappus fruithead.
It has been in flower for about two months now,
then we found a young one near Runley Bridge on 9Aug - at 1pm not yet closed up
I did not find the following plant at Settle. It is a "Guest species"
4. Hawkweed Oxtongue - Picris hieracioides
This grows at Burton Leonard Lime Quarry a YWT reserve
It has a south eastern distribution It grows in lots of other parts of the world where it can be an invasive species.
 |
| Feathery pappus of Picris hieracioides |
So the genera of Cichorieae I have found around Settle are:
Lapsana
Hypochoeris
Leontodon
Scorzoneroides (formerly Leontodon)
Tragopogon
Mycelis
Sonchus
Taraxacum
Crepis
Pilosella
Hieracium
(Plus Picris from Burton Leonard)
I hope to find Blue-sow-thistle Cicerbita macrophylla in flower the on north end of the Bypass, or at the roadside at Stainforth .That will make a 13th genus. (The 12th for Settle)
No comments:
Post a Comment