Settle Wildflowers - Day 10 - Blue 2

No it's not bluebells yet - they are for later.

Today it's Speedwells: -  Down on your hands and knees to find these tiny sapphire gems.  

Tiny speedwells.  They all have four petals, staring from a tube, and with one petal smaller than the other three.  We had one last week - Slender Speedwell, but these three have smaller flowers

First the one that is most turquoise: (sea /cyan / )

Speedwell Number 1: 
Thyme leaved Speedwell. It has simple leaves. The leaves are not toothed and they are not hairy. They grow in pastures, and sometimes in lawns.

This one was growing in the pasture south of the Hoffman Kiln today

See the white stigmas and blue anthers

And this one is in Booth's Car Park

Plot in Booths Car Park with Thyme Leaved Speedwell

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Speedwell Number 2: 

This is opposite Trevor's Market Shop. 

and Shucks - I've looked in the book and there are three different ones it could be.. I shall have to go back and look even more closely. Maybe I will need the fruit.

Let's just call it Field Speedwell for now. 

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Speedwell number 3: Last but   not least -
Well actually it is the least.. It has the tiniest of flowers about 2mm across..  almost at the resolution of my camera 

found - in  the cobbles below the Coop, and also the pavement next to the Bank near the florists:

 Wall Speedwell.

Wall Speedwell - cobbles near the Coop

next to the wall of Lloyds Bank -see the Settle florists over the road

Same but closer

And whilst we are here let's admire the yellow lichen on the wall: Caloplaca citrina and the moss: Wall Screw-moss 

 May you go well on your jouney - speed well.

Click here for  more flowers coming out around Settle

Settle Wildflowers - Day 9 - Green 2

These flowers are actually greeny yellow.
The first two are "country flowers" - requiring relatively undisturbed places with low nutrients, i.e. low pollution.
The third is one you may well find in your garden.. and also in Settle footpaths such as the cobbles below Settle Coop.

The first two I saw on my exercise walk three weeks ago: 

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage and Alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage. They both grow in wet flushes. e.g. streams and wet places by country footpaths.

The third I saw two days ago - Petty Spurge - though how long it will last with the current drought is questionable.  

The Opposite-leaved species has.. opposite leaves and likes lime-rich water. That is the one you are most likely to find. 
The Alternate-leaved species has .. alternate leaves, and bigger, kidney-shaped leaves. It is very rare in our area so I was delighted to find it near Settle. 

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage:
Leaves smaller, rounder and the lobes more pointed

Alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage:
Leaves slightly larger, more kidney shaped, and the lobes round not pointed

Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage

Petty spurge will be found in many of our gardens...

Petty spurge

Petty spurge

Click here  for  Index of flowers coming out around Settle  or click on "Newer post" below -very bottom left - for the next post

Settle Wildflowers - Day 8 - Yellow 2

Three flowers of a new colour each day - Flowers seen around Langcliffe and Settle on exercise walks 20 April

This is a true buttercup - but not one of the three three common ones. This is the special "Goldilocks Buttercup"

THe basal leaf is shown on the left with three big lobes and two tiny ones. the leaves on the stalk are divided.  Usually one of the five petals is deformed. This grows in calcareous woodland.

Beautiful Kingcups or Goldilocks. Though not the genus buttercup, this also belongs to the buttercup family.  They have lots of anthers

By Ged Benn

Seen looking down from the bridge at Langcliffe Lochs

Today 20 April is National Primrose Day to I must include a photo of a primrose. There are lots by the banks of the Ribble and on the Settle Carlisle Railway line.

Primrose beside Settle Calrisle Line, Hofman Kiln Langcliffe

Click here for  index of flowers coming out around Settle  or click on "Newer post" below -very bottom left - for the next post

Settle Wildflowers - Day 7 - White - 3

Hello 
We see so many white flowers at this time of year that an extra "white flowers day" is demanded this "week".

I'll even put an extra plant in at the end too- a nice big one to make up for the first three being tiny.

The first three flowers are weeds of gardens and disturbed places. The fourth is more of a hedgerow plant.

"Little white crucifers" all have four white petals and most have 6 or occasionally 4 anthers.
However the shape of the fruit can be distinctive.

I took all the photographs in this post. 


Flower 1:
The first is Spring Whitlowgrass.

The scale is cm on the left and inches on the right so you see haow small it is. there is lots of it on the cobbles next to the fountain in Langcliffe- most of them looking rather sad with the drought.

Here is the Spring Whitlow grass in fruit. They are flat oval shape.

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Flower 2: 

Thale-cress (Arabidopsis thaliana)

Thall-cress, growing on the Settle Carlisle railway line at the path near the Hofman Kiln, Langcliffe

Here is a piece of Thale-cress I found on 1 January for the BSBI wildflower pant hunt in Settle

Its fruits are long narrow pods.

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Flower 3: Shepherd's Purse:  Capsella bursa-pastoris

Here are members of Craven Conservation Group in Settle  discovering Shepherd's purse on a New Tear flower hunt several years ago.

ANd here are the flowers  of Shepherd's Purse (Also at New Year)  - well there is one at the very front.
Must take a better picture next time  I am down at the Coop shopping for food. And find one in fruit to show the herat shaped pods

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Flower 4



Bonus plant - in bud at the Hofman Kiln, Langcliffe, a few days ago

But now out at Langcliffe Paper Mill:

Yes it is Jack by-the hedge, also known as Garlic Mustard. Hedge Garlic
the Latin is Allaria petiolata. It is a biennial so started growing last year.

  Look closer 

and closer. 

You can see the stigma in the centre  (post with a fat top where the pollen lands).

How many anthers can you see round it?

Click here for  index of flowers coming out around Settle  or click on "Newer" post below for the next post

Settle Wildflowers - Day 6 - White - 2

Wildflowers seen on exercise walks and in gardens around Settle (and most of UK) in April.  White flowers predominate in April. So we need have a run of three days on white flowers:

Number 1

The first white flower (on a shrub) has been flowering for  a fortnight, the second two flowers have been out for about a month:


Number 1 is a shrub - the first white shrub to flower in our hedgerows. (and is a member of the rose family)

Number 2

Number 2 grows on dry grazed and stony banks and has leaves like a strawberry is but does not have edible strawberry fruits. It is also a member of the rose family..

Number 3

Number 3 has four petals and grows on mortorway verges. 
We haven't a motorway in Settle - but it grows on the dry footpath on the main road that bypasses Stainforth, and it usually grows at the northern and southern junctions of Settle Bypass (but that is a long way for me to walk and check to these on an exercise walk.)



Number 1 is Sloe Prunus spinosus also known as Blackthorn

Sloe - or Blackthorn (Prunus spinosus)  this actually taken 1 April 2014  by JA
- with view of Settle from Castleberg Crag

Sloe (Blackthorn) on road to Stainforth
opposite Fairhurst's Stone Factory - 17 April 2020  (JA)

Number 2 is Barren Strawberry. Its leaflets are blunter than wild strawberry - which will be flowering in May. The middle tooth on each leaflet is very small. It grows on dry grassland banks.

Barren Strawberry  (Potentilla sterilis)  by Rachel Benson

Barren Strawberry  (Potentilla sterilis)  by Rachel Benson

Number 3 is Early Scurvygrass - Cochlearia danica
With its four petals, this is a member of the Brassicaceae - Cabbage or Cress family. Scurvygrasses  are edible and were used by sailors to prevent getting scurvy.

Early Scurvygrass - Cochlearia danica - by JA

Click here for  index of flowers coming out around Settle  or click on "Newer" post below for the next post

Settle Wildflowers - Day 5 - Pink

Flowers on our exercise walks round Settle and Craven. 

(Also see index) 

Here are two wildflowers that lots of people have noticed and pointed out to me recently:  including beside riverside footpaths.
And a third flower that you may not have noticed  has bloomed overhead


On the ground: Butterbur and Lady's Smock.

Butterbur is a member of the daisy / dandelion family.  That means that the heads are made up of lots of tiny flowers. From a distance it may look a little like a hyacinth in structure but close examination of the "flowers" show that they are made up of scores of tiny flowers each with 5 petal tips. 

The flowers come out before the leaves- but the flowers are now turning to fruit and the leaves are shooting up, and will become as big a rhubarb leaves.

It grows on riverside banks and roadsides



Lady's Smock has many other names, according to which part of the country you live: Milkmaids; Cuckooflower, Mayflower.  It is a member of the cress family and has four petals.

Ash flowers - end of March -First the two pronged stigmas show (above) 

Then on April below the stalks bearing the dark maroon anthers elongate and the anthers open and shed the pollen.



Click here for  index of flowers coming out around Settle  or click on "Newer post" below -very bottom left - for the next post

Settle Wildflowers - Day 4 - Blue

Wildflowers seen in our gardens and exercise walks in Settle and other Craven villages. Photos sent by members of Craven Conservation Group.

Flower 1:

The first of our blue flowers was sent in to Craven Conservation Group by John Perry of Ingleton with the hint:

"The colour of the flower does not appear in the name of the plant"

(Photo by John Perry) 

It is NOT Forget-me-not, nor Borage .

Though it is a member of the Boraginaeae family - which includes forget-me-not and borage 

This link shows the difference between Green Alkanet and Borage

It is a native of SW Europe

It is 

Green Alkanet -
There is a nice article here:
GREEN ALKANET: THAT MYSTERY PLANT, REVEALED

It is a garden escape and spreads, and it is pretty tough. It is not edible (apart from the petals which could be used decoratively)

It is interesting that it has been recorded in nearly every single 10km square in England except the Settle one.



From the BSBI 2020 records
https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/plant/pentaglottis-sempervirens

So have any of you seen it growing wild near Settle - within SD86?

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Flower 2.

We are extending the definition of blue to include.. violet.

This is the commonest violet we have around here is
the Common Dog Violet Viola riviniana and that does grow in virtually every single recording 10km square in Britain.

Common Dog Violet   (Photo by Kay Easton)

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Flower 3:

Slender Speedwell by Judith Allinson

Slender Speedwell Veronica filiformis has (relatively) big blue flowers on very long fine stalks, and tiny leaves. It grows well in lawns. this was in the grass near the path beside the Settle Middle School playing field on the way to the river.                                --------------------------------

For choosing colours I have been attempting to follow the colours of the rainbow


Sat: White

Sun: Yellow

Mon: Green

Click here for  more flowers coming out around Settle