A First Hunt 2007

The Great Orme 7th March 2007

The next part of the journey along this south facing lower part of the Great Orme took me past the cafe and to a part where escapes from gardens might be a little more frequent.

Looking over a wall separating the upper path from rough ground, many plants of Ivy-leaved Toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) were in full flower. These were the unusual white ones which are not a separate species. This plant does not usually flower in such profusion so early and you might be fooled into thinking this was a significant "phenological" find. In fact this south facing wall is a sun-trap and it wasn't the only species basking in the early spring sunshine - I was getting pretty hot myself. A little further along the lane on the darker side of the street the normal coloured blue Ivy-leaved Toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) was flowering on a garden wall. This plant is a native wild flower and I have yet to find anyone who admits trying to plant it in a garden wall so in spite of its proximity to civilisation I would count this flower as a legitimate wild First Hunt candidate.

Further over the wall on which the white Ivy-leaved Toadflax was flowering was a large Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis) plant in full flower. Again this is a bit early but interesting though it was, the rough ground on which it stood had the old markings of an disused allotment. This flower had probably been planted some years ago and so could not appear on my First Week Hunt list.

Another plant which used to be grown very frequently in summer bedding is Sweet Alison (Lobularia maritima). This has escaped so consistently and successfully that it appears on verges, in gutters and on any rough land particularly by the sea. This one was growing out of cracks in the concrete not far from a garden but to me anyway this has established itself as a wild naturalised plant and can be counted.

A small bittercress grew nearby and not having my having lens I had to take a few flowers for further examination to determine its identity. It was either Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) or Wavy Bittercress (Cardamine flexuosa) but early in their growth they look the same. The lens revealed 6 anthers which means that Wavy Bittercress (Cardamine flexuosa) was added to the list. On a high wall some Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) had a couple of flowers and this is another efficient coloniser of waste spaces.

A large patch of Winter heliotrope (Petasites fragrans) on some waste ground had many dead heads but demonstrated another of the grey areas when counting flowers for this competition. At first the only one I could see had some live florets which were growing from a decidedly dead looking flowerhead. I would count this as close examination of the florets showed they were alive and well. Fortunately the dilemma was avoided but hunting a little further to find a fully flowering stem. Winter heliotrope is one of the few flowers which likes to bloom in the dead of winter, December to February being its normal flowering period. If you want flowers like this in your permanent diary then you do need to look as early as possible in the season and usually you can find one or two but 99% of the plants will have nothing but dead heads.

Other plants which are genuinely winter flowering are Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) flowering slightly earlier than Snowdrops, Snowdrops(Galanthus nivalis) themselves and that great rarity: Early Star-of-Bethlehem (Gagea bohemica) which can have finished flowering by the end of January in some years. None of these were seen in my first week hunt.

Close to where I parked the car (near the green triangle) I looked for any other wild flowers which might be out. Quickly I found that this was a good time of year for Musk Stork's-bill (Erodium moschatum) which had several patches with flowers. Inevitably there was that typical roadside and pavement weed Shepherd's-purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) growing nearby with the purse shaped seed pods immediately revealing its identity.