Author Topic: Flora  (Read 101110 times)

barewirewalker

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Re: Flora
« Reply #210 on: 12:13:21, 08/05/19 »
Good close ups of the wild roses. I seem to have a memory that the pink rose is the Dog Rose and the red is the Apple Rose. This distinction was important to those country housewives, who made Rose Hip Syrup, as a winter cold remedy and vitamin supplement. The Apple Rose contains less vitamin C (or none?) than the Dog Rose and as the hips a difficult to tell apart, it was at flowering time the distinction could be made.
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richardh1905

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Re: Flora
« Reply #211 on: 11:19:31, 09/05/19 »
I think that there can be quite a bit of colour variation between dog roses.
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barewirewalker

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Re: Flora
« Reply #212 on: 12:41:54, 09/05/19 »
Perhaps it is a memory from being taken for walks along country lanes by women, who had just survived the 2nd WW. Rose hip syrup was promoted to offset the risk of vitamin C shortage in children, several of the wives around farm used to make it. It was recently an old countryman referred to the Apple Rose being the red version of the dog rose and being not suitable for rose hip syrup, funny how a chance encounter can trigger off a deep memory. Long hot summers in the 1950's, ladies with sacks around their waists, reaching out over hedges that had proper thorns in them so that they could pick the haws or hips.

The hand brushed hedge was cut late spring, early summer so briars and bramble were able to grow through them and trail on the thorn mat, never seen in today's machine cut hedges. Funny, the old boy, who had triggered this memory, had the best hedges on his farm I have seen in years, when we first met him, he was actually trembling with rage, that we were walking to his farm and accused us of opening up the public footpath (he thought if no one used it it would lapse). After a bit of coaxing he settled down, showed me a trick to open a hazel nut, with a penknife, which I already knew, but he thought I was a townee.

The reason no one used the footpath we were on, is a lost bridge. During the 1962-3 winter a huge block of ice was carried down the River Vyrnwy, in the thaw, and demolished an ancient stone bridge. Footpaths lead to it on both sides.
« Last Edit: 12:21:17, 10/05/19 by barewirewalker »
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richardh1905

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Re: Flora
« Reply #213 on: 22:01:37, 16/05/19 »

A northern specialist.


Mertensia Maritima - the Oyster Plant





« Last Edit: 08:21:08, 17/05/19 by richardh1905 »
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richardh1905

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Re: Flora
« Reply #214 on: 22:05:48, 16/05/19 »

..and a gorgeous bunch of primroses on the Orkney clifftops.



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jimbob

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Re: Flora
« Reply #215 on: 23:20:09, 16/05/19 »
I remember gathering rosehips in the 50's.  They were weighed in at the village hall, money handed over and they were sent off to make rose hip syrup somewhere, an important source of income. We also took loads into primary school to help with school funds, as we also did with silver paper. Terrible things to eat raw, they are quite hairy around the seeds and aggravate the throat a lot.

Just remembered being a hip monitor changed its meaning in the following decade.
Too little, too late, too bad......

pleb

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Re: Flora
« Reply #216 on: 10:12:51, 17/05/19 »
I've never heard of the oyster plant  :-\
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richardh1905

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Re: Flora
« Reply #217 on: 17:15:28, 17/05/19 »
Quite a rare plant, Pleb. Very striking when you see it along the top of a beach - spotted some more today on a beach just a couple of miles away.
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sunnydale

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Re: Flora
« Reply #218 on: 10:42:55, 18/05/19 »
Lovely photos Richard.  I really like the Oyster plant O0


I spotted a plant that I hadn't seen for a few years....


Lousewort...(Pedicularis sylvatica)





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pleb

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Re: Flora
« Reply #219 on: 10:51:18, 20/05/19 »
^^^Thats a really good find  O0
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richardh1905

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Re: Flora
« Reply #220 on: 09:44:36, 26/05/19 »
Nice photo, Sunnydale. I remember lousewort from my Snowdonia days.
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richardh1905

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Re: Flora
« Reply #221 on: 09:48:51, 26/05/19 »

I found this delicate little flower yesterday evening on a local clifftop, and am not certain what it is - I've certainly never seen anything like it in the wild before, either in Orkney or elsewhere.






I have a hunch that it might be a native form of Star of Bethlehem, but am not sure - I have contacted the Orkney Field Club for advice.


Any ideas?

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richardh1905

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Re: Flora
« Reply #222 on: 18:22:33, 26/05/19 »
It would appear that I have piqued the interest of the Orkney Field Club - no definite answer yet, and this plant is not on the "County List" of plants that have been found in Orkney. Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) does not normally live in this habitat, and the plant that I have found is much smaller than the Star of Bethlehem plants in my garden.
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Bigfoot_Mike

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Re: Flora
« Reply #223 on: 18:31:29, 26/05/19 »
It would appear that I have piqued the interest of the Orkney Field Club - no definite answer yet, and this plant is not on the "County List" of plants that have been found in Orkney. Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) does not normally live in this habitat, and the plant that I have found is much smaller than the Star of Bethlehem plants in my garden.
Maybe they will name this after you, if it is a new species - ornithogalum umbellatum richardii  O0 .

fernman

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Re: Flora
« Reply #224 on: 18:38:00, 26/05/19 »
So the whorls of fleshy leaves in the photo are nothing to do with the flowers?
That's cheating! No wonder I couldn't get close to an i.d! I kept thinking it was a stonecrop but they have only five petals.
A SoB growing as an escape and stunted by its habitat, perhaps?

 

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