Settle Wildflowers - Day 45 - White 10 - Rose family - & edible

1. Wild Strawberry - Fragaria vesca

These pictures if wild strawberries were taken on 3 May -  some flowers have now turned into strawberries! 

Look at the down-turned flower that has lost its petals. There are five big sepals and then five small sepals. It is a feature of the Rose family that there are often two sets of sepals.



2. Raspberry: Rubus idaeus


Raspberry - Lord's Wood 31 May



Raspberry - next to viaduct at Settle Petrol Garage The anthers have turned brown. See all the styles in the centre.



3. Dewberry: - Rubus caesius

These look like brambles.  Indeed there are many species of bramble, or at least subspecies. Dewberries have fewer drupelets and they have a waxy bloom. The leaves have three leaflets. The stems have a waxy bloom. - I need to check back in August to make sure they do have fewer drupelets and a waxy bloom... But thinking about it, most of the "Blackberries" near me produce fruit with disappointingly just a few druplelets- so are probably Dewberries.

Dewberry at Lord's Wood 31 May

By contrast this shoot was growing near Langcliffe. It is a Rubus fruticosus agg. (Some species of Bramble) It has five leaflets per leave, its stem is not glaucous and it is no where near ready to flower yet. 





Click here for  more flowers coming out around Settle

Settle Wildflowers - Day 44 - Blue 10 - Violet: Haymeadow 5

Amongst the profusion of yellow and white hay meadow flowers coming out now these few blue gems stand out

1. Wood Crane's-bill - Geranium sylvaticum

Wood Crane's-bill is very showy. It is a woodland edge plant. 

This one was photographed near the Railway bridge opposite Fairhurst's Stone Factory, half way between Langcliffe and Stainforth. It used to grow in Dale's Hay Meadows - now   meadows close around Settle do not have it in the bulk of meadow. they are lucky if they have it at the edge of a field, and on slopes which cannot be mown. 
(The meadows in Upper Swaledale where is still grows within the fields must be at their best this week) 

Below - here is a Wood Crane's-bill being enjoyed by a greenfly.

Wood Crane's-bill comes out at the beginning of June, and grows in the Dales, (and North of England and Scotland.)  

2. Meadow Crane's-bill
In late July another Crane's-bill will come into flower on the roadsides: Here is one  beside Fairhurst's stone factory at Langcliffe that has not realised it is not yet July: 


It does not grow in upland meadows here. - because they will be being cut by July.

Wood Crane's-bill: Violet blue petals; leaves palmate and only slightly cut up; flowers in June

Geranium pratense

Meadow Crane's-bill: Sky blue petals; Very dissected leaves; flowers in July on road and tracksides.


3.  Self Heal  Prunella vulgaris
Prunella grows in lawns and meadows and is only just coming out. We delight in its blue colour - but have you looked really closely at it with a hand-lens?
Look at these pictures. If you were an insect flying by, woudn't you be attracted into the individual flowers?

 

4.  Changing Forget-me-not    Myosotis discolor

This has tiny flowers.

I covered this under "Forget-me-nots" earlier - but It is so tiny I need to put it again here to remind you to look for it in hay meadows.

Changing Forget-me-not

5. Eyebright - Euphrasia agg. 

This is here as a lead up to the white flowers that will be coming next (in my rainbow scheme of ordering these posts) - but it is the purple lines drawing you into the flower that make it so fascinating.

This one was photographed in Lord's Pasture. It occurs in many of the pastures and a few of the meadows and slopes by the river around Settle. It is semi-parasitic so it steals food from grass roots

Eyebright

List of Settle Wildflower Lockdown Walks so far

Next posts: white! What do you think we will have?

Settle Wildflowers - Day 43 - Blue 9 - Indigo: Common Milkwort, Ground Ivy and Aquilegia

1. Common Milkwort: Polygala vulgaris
I found this in Lord's Pasture, Settle, which is on limestone. It does grow on other limestone pasture slopes

Note all its leaves are long and they are grow alternately along the stem. (Unlike Heath Milkwort which has some leaves opposite and grows on heath-land, and the very rare Bitter Milkwort which has a rosette of spoon shaped leaves)

White-flowered and magenta-flowered forms of this plant exist, but I haven't found any within Settle-walk area this year.




3. Ground Ivy. Glechoma hederacea

This grows at the base of hedges. The crushed leaves have a nice smell.

Here is a sketch by Doris Cairns which is a bit clearer than my photograph

3. Columbine - Aquilegia vulgaris

The rare wild Columbine does grow wild near Settle, but the best place I know is 4.5 miles away from Settle, 3.5 miles away from home... It is frustrating because I just don't have time to walk there..

Also now that restrictions on travel have been lifted the temptation to visit other places for various reasons means that less time is available for local walks.

So I present a picture a a garden escape which I found in 20 May next to the Ribble south of Settle.

There is lots of this in people's gardens and occasionally growing as an escape in Settle. It is also known as Pentecost flower.

The true wild one is much bluer. I may yet find one near Settle - we have the right habitat - woodland and cliffs limestone.

See list of Wildflowers Lockdown walks from Settle and nearby Langcliffe. following the colours of the rainbow. 
  
Tomorrow: Day 44  - Blue 10 - Violet - Haymeadow Plants: Wood Crane's-bill, Eyebright and Changing Forget-me-not (repeated) (well that's what I plan to cover)

Settle Wildflowers - Day 42 - Blue 8 - Forget-me-nots of drier ground

It is four weeks since the last blue ( & indigo & violet) addition on 13 May to this blog about flowers found on lockout walks from Settle and Langcliffe. There are just enough new plants with blue flowers around to stretch to having three versions of blue this time too: (blue - indigo - violet). Today we concentrate on Forget-me-nots

1. Mysosotis sylvatica - (Wood Forget-me-not ) 

The Wood Forget-me-not is normally a garden species or a garden escape. It is a perennial - so would have had time to grow into a big patch like this It's flowers are up to 8mm across.  
The flowers are almost completely flat. This can help distinguish it from the Field forget-me-not M. arvensis, which has much smaller and concave flowers

Both have hooked hairs on the calyx

This one was photographed next to Settle Golf Course on 25 April

Myosotis sylvatica - an impressive patch

Myosotis sylvatica

Useful blog post on Wood Forget-me-not and Forget-me-nots in general

2. Myosotis arvensis - Field Forget-me-not.

This also has hooked hairs on its calyx, The flowers are smaller - up to 3mm, the leaves and flowers are greyer, It is an annual or biennial. This photo was taken at the road to the Hoffman Kiln on 7 June at 7 min past 7.

Myosotis arvensis - Field Forget-me-not

Myosotis arvensis Field Forget-me-not See the hooked hairs

3. Myositis discolor Changing Forget-me-not

I have found a third tiny, tiny  Forget-me-not that is just coming out..Myositis discolor but I might repeat it  the next post but one on (low nutrient) meadows.  The youngest flowers are yellow an they change to blue

There is a fourth fairly common forget-me-not of drier places, but there are no records of it in SD 86, the 10km sqaure in which Settle lies: Myosotis ramosissima - Early forget-me-not    see  map
-

Click HERE for more flowers coming out around Settle

Settle Wildflowers Day 41 - Green 5 - Herb Paris and Good King Henry

Two fascinating plants  - One an indicator of ancient woodland, the second an indicator of former habitation

- Herb Paris - Paris quadrifolia 
3 June evening woodland near Settle

This beautiful plant that looks a bit like Dog's Mercury. It not common. It is an indicator of ancient woodland. It's black fruit is poisonus (as are the leaves)

 

Herb Paris with Greenfly

Good King Henry: Chenopodium bonus-henricus

This is usually found near old houses or tracks. The leaves used to be eaten as a vegetable. This plant was found on  at the beginning of Mitchell Lane on 25 May. However there is only a small amount so please do not pick it.

 
 

Settle Wildflowers - Day 40 - Green 4 - Three more sedges

Three Sedges: 

Hairy Sedge. Carex hirta:   "Weedy habitats", 
Wood Sedge Carex sylvatica   "Woodland"
Tall Yellow Sedge Carex lepidocarpa  (Carex viridula subsp brachyrrhynca)  "Base rich flushes"

Sedges have edges - triangular stems and triangular sheaths.


Hairy Sedge. Carex hirta:

This is an easy sedge to recognize. It has hairy leaves - especially hairy at the top of the inner face of the sheath. It has thick spreading rhizomes. The leaves are fairly dark and shiny. There are separate plants with a few leaves all growing separately because the rhizome pushes through the soil to give rise  to new shoots.

This one was growing by the path by the netting where new trees have been planted south of Stainforth Foss.

Hairy Sedge - female spike, the utricles are hairy, each one has 3 stigmas. Utricles are flask shaped structures, with the fruit inside

Hairy Sedge - Male spikes. See the anthers hanging from the male flowers

    

Wood Sedge Carex sylvatica

Weed sedge grows in woods , especially base rich woods - This plant was in Lord's Weed.  

Wood Sedge - 3 June - 

Tall Yellow Sedge Carex lepidocarpa  (Carex viridula subsp brachyrrhynca)

 The yellow sedges grow in wet flushes and the Tall Yellow Sedge needs it to be a calcareous flush. Whilst there is lots of this habitat up at Malham Tarn and on Ingleborough there is not much habitat like this very close to Settle.  However there is a stream beside the steep road leaving Langcliffe for Malham where I was able to find these plants on 28 May
 


June is the best month for sedges.

Settle Wildflowers - Day 39 - Yellow 11 - Lady's-Mantles - Hay Meadow 4

Lady's-mantles - There are 15 species of Lady's-mantle in Stace (1991) and maybe more in a newer edition.

Lady's-mantles are apomictic - producing seed wholly female in origin without fertilization,

What do you think it is that makes Dales Hay Meadows special?

It is a sign that a a Dales Hay Meadow is species rich and that it has traditional plants if it has one or several species of Lady's-mantle. (excluding the big hairy garden escape - Garden Lady's-mantle Alchemilla mollis)

In the "National Vegetation Classification" there are many different types of neutral grassland. They are all called MG.. something with a number.  One of them is "MG3". This type is often referred to as "Dales Hay Meadow Grassland" . It is the presence of one or several species of wild Lady's-mantles that is one characteristic feature of such grasslands.

The commonest ones around Settle are

Alchemilla glabra
Alchemilla xanthochlora
Alchemilla filicaulis ssp vestita

(and the easily recognisable Alchemilla glaucescens with its silky hairs on the undersurface of its leaves which featured in Day 33)

Alchemilla mollis Garden Lady's-mantle

First let's deal with the the Garden Alchemilla which is NOT a hay-meadow species - and which is increasing in abundance in the wild - e.g. it has appeared along the boardwalk at Malham Tarn Fen and beside the Tarn; it covers a big flat area beyond the car park at Langcliffe Hoffman kiln. This photo was taken at the margin between Settle petrol station car park and the viaduct.

This has big leaves. It is very hairy on the petioles and both sides of the leaves.

Alchemilla xanthochlora

The upper surface of the leaf is hairless or with very sparse hairs between the folds. The under-surface of the blade has patent or erecto-patent hairs. The inflorescence glabrous (i.e. hairy) or nearly so.

Alchemilla xanthochlora - on the path by the Ribble to Stainforth

Alchemilla glabra 

This is hairless on the upper and lower surface of the leaves and hairless on the flowers. (The lowest internodes of the stem can be hairy)

The sinuses between the leaf-lobes are toothed to the base; teeth in middle of each side of leaf lobes are larger than the teeth above and the teeth below.

This Alchemilla glauca was on Mitchell Lane half a mile up from Settle

Alchemilla glauca

Alchemilla filicaulis ssp vestita

This as well a s being hairy on both sides of the blades is hairy on the pedicels and hypanthium (Bottom of the flower)

There is red on the lower stipules (sometimes) and in this picture you can see red on the lowest part of the shoot.

Alchemilla filicaulis ssp vestita

Alchemilla filicaulis ssp vestita

Alchemilla filicaulis ssp vestita - see hairs on the pedicels and bottom of calyx/hypanthium

---------------------------------------------- 

This plant below below didn't quite fit .

It keyed out till the last two options were A xanthochlora or a

A acutiloba 

Then the leaf shape fitted A acutiloba much better: Leaf lobed +- straight-sided then rounded to subtruncate at apex, with teeth in the middle if each side larger than those above or below. 

Alchemilla acutiloba

The plant below keyed out as Alchemilla acutiloba, but as that Alchemilla acutiloba, only supposed to be found in County Durham, it must be something else. It was by the path from Langcliffe up to Lower Winskill, in the wood pasture, below the cairn

Any advice from an expert?

Ah well, Lady's-mantles have a reputation for being awkward.