London Meeting June 30th to 2nd July 2006
Erucastrum gallicum(Hairy Rocket)
Oxalis debilis(Large-flowered Pink-sorrel)
Ranunculus penicillatus (Stream Water-crowfoot)
Berula erecta(Lesser Water-parsnip)
Veronica peregrina(American Speedwell)
Polypodium interjectum (Intermediate Polypody)
2nd July : Beddington Park
Another hot day and we start in the south London suburb of Sutton looking for Erucastrum gallicum (Hairy Rocket). Our leader finds it in a shrubbery by a main road but it is so small that most of us would have missed it completely and it isn't obvious why it's called Hairy Rocket until you get your hand lens out.
From here we went to beddington park to look for weeds and unplanted visitors. We found Berula erecta (Lesser water-parsnip in a couple of places and noted the feature which distinguishes it from the very similar Apium nodiflorum (Fool's Water-cress): in Berula erecta there is a dark ring on the lowest leaf stalk (petiole) which is absent in Apium nodiflorum.
We spent quite a bit of time looking for Veronica peregrina (American Speedwell) which I hadn't seen before. Previously I'd believed that Veronica hederifolia (Ivy-leaved Speedwell) had the smallest flowers of the Speedwells but V. peregrina has tiny flowers which can't have been much more than 2mm across.
On the way out we found a handsome pink oxalis which I reckon is Oxalis debilis (large-flowered Pink-oxalis) but these are difficult plants to identify and I made this determination from a photograph.
In another part of the park a small pond was covered in Crowfoots. We were told that this one had been determined as Ranunculus penicillatus (Stream Water-crowfoot). This plant normally inhabits fast flowing streams and nothing could have been stiller or more stagnant than this pond.
From here we moved to St Mary's Church to look at various ferns. Amongst others there was a fine clump of Polypodium interjectum (Intermediate Polypody) growing out of the churchyard wall.