WFS Meeting in Upper Teesdale 2005
Salix cinerea(Grey Willow)
Salix phylicifolia(Tea-leaved Willow)
Persicaria vivipara (Alpine Bistort)
Mimulus x robertsii (Hybrid Monkeyflower)
Dactylorhiza x venusta (Hybrid D. purpurella x fuschii)
Persicaria bistorta (Common Bistort)
Potentilla fruticosa(Shrubby Cinquefoil)
Equisetum pratense (Shady horsetail)
Galium boreale(Northern Bedstraw)
Dryopteris oreades(Mountain Male-fern)
June 21st pm: Walking in Yorkshire
Continuing our walk along the Yorkshire bank of the River Tees Mr Jones introduced us to some willow hybrids. This is yet another difficult group, members of which fortunately for us, had already been carefully identified by experts. The first parent willow was the common Salix cinerea (Grey Willow) which had hybridised with Salix phylicifolia (Tea-leaved Willow) to produced a hybrid Salix x laurina. This is one of the few hybrids with a common name: Laurel-leaved Willow and is quite often used in planting parks and public gardens. Further along the bank another well known hybrid between the Salix cinerea and Salix aurita (Eared Willow) known as Salix x multinervis was to be found.
There were more willows to be seen further along the bank but for those who enjoy a plant with a flower with some colour we found more of the Dactylorhiza x venusta (Northern marsh-orchid x Common Spotted Orchid) which was much paler in colour than the specimen showed to us in Bowlees quarry and to me at least looked like Dactylorhiza maculata at first glance.
Persica vivipara (Alpine bistort) is quite common on these banks with the occasional Persicaria bistorta (Common bistort) standing much taller in the grass. Persicaria vivipara is more often found in mountain regions but here the height above sea level was about 1,000 feet above sea level so we were already in the sub-montane regions where it is typically found.
A Mimulus species prompted Mr Jones to tells us that these plants are often wrongly recorded and that Mimulus luteus (Blood-drop Emlets) is actually very uncommon but this plant: Mimulus x robertsii (Hybrid Monkeyflower) looks quite similar so the two are often confused.
We then came across our first excellent examples of Potentilla fruticosa (Shrubby Cinquefoil) in flower. These shrubs are dotted on the stony islands and peninsulas which are part of the Tees valley and is hard to believe that a locally frequent and floriferous plant like this is a rarity and confined to the Tees valley and to the Burren in Ireland.
Another willow on the very edge of the river turned out to a the hybrid between Salix phylicifolia and Salix aurita know as Salix x ludificans.
Galium boreale (Northern Bedstraw) in flower next to a stile was a pleasing find as the earlier ones we had seen were a week or so off their first flowers. In case we hadn't had enough of difficult groups, the next plant was a horsetail. This one looked a little like both E. arvense but smaller and also reminded me of our only branched horsetail Equisetum sylvaticum (Wood Horsetail). Equisetum sylvaticum was also present in the immediate area just to add confusion to the identification. The plant we were being shown was Equisetum pratense (Shady Horsetail) one of the rarities in this genus.
The last plant of the day was a rare fern. Dryopteris oreades (Mountain male Fern) looks quite similar to Dryopteris filix-mas (Male fern) from above but has smaller pinules which are entire (untoothed) and support only two or three sporangia on the underside.