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Melittis melissophyllum
Bastard Balm has large pea-like flowers that are highly aromatic which makes this woodland plant attractive to bumblebees and butterflies. This tall, striking plant likes shady places, but, sadly, has now become an uncommon sight. It is a member of the mint family. Bastard Balm has erect hairy stems on which grow opposite pairs of oval, bluntly toothed and softly hairy leaves. The flowers are white with a large pinkish purple blotch on the lower lip, and grow in the axils of the leaves.
It prefers shady environments, usually in woodland, on woodland edges and hedge banks, and is found only in south west England, the New Forest and south west Wales.
The distribution of Bastard Balm in Devon and Cornwall is apparently stable, but it has declined markedly elsewhere over the past twenty years as a result of overshading and pony grazing, although at some sites it has reappeared after scrub clearance and coppicing.
Silene flos-cuculi
The petals of Ragged Robin are deep pink or white, with each divided into four narrow lobes. Its leaves are narrow and rough to touch.
Ragged Robin’s dishevelled beauty is a common site in damp meadows. It also grows in wetter woodland.
Many counties have recorded a local decline in Ragged Robin numbers, mainly from habitat loss to agriculture. However, overall, it is still considered of least concern.
Silene latifolia
White Campion is a common wildflower of grassland and waste ground. Its cheerful white flowers can be seen from spring to autumn.
The clear white flowers of the White Campion have five petals, each deeply notched and almost divided into two and its opposite, oval leaves and stems are hairy. In places where it grows with Red Campion, the two may hybridise to produce pinky white blooms.
White Campion grows on waste ground, disturbed roadside verges, hedgerows and well-drained arable field margins. It is in flower from May to October. It’s common throughout the British Isles, but has declined slightly at the western edge of its range.
Silene vulgaris
This pretty flower is named after the inflated bladder-like sac behind the petals. Growing between 60cm and 1m tall this white wildflower is also known as ‘Maidens Tears’, ‘Cowbell’, and ‘Common Bladder Catchfly’ even though it doesn’t technically catch flies!
Bladder Campion is a perennial wildflower with a green bladder-like calyx with purple veins make it easily identifiable. The ragged looking white flowers, which grow at the end of the bladder, have five two-lobed petals and are roughly 2cm wide with long protruding stamens. It is said they have an aroma similar to that of cloves. Many flower heads can be found on one medium height plant. Its stalkless bluish-green leaves are long and thin on mature plants.
It is fairly common in Britain, but is mostly found in the south of England in meadows and fields, and along roadside verges, dry banks, and hedgerows.
Leucojum aestivum
Summer Snowflake has dainty bell-shaped flowers which are white in colour.
It flourishes in boggy areas, as well as in riverside marshes and wet open woodland. Despite its common name it actually flowers from April to May.
Fragaria vesca
Before the advent of the familiar garden strawberry Fragaria x ananassa (actually a hybrid created from two American species) our ancestors enjoyed our wild, native variety of Strawberry.
Strawberry (wild) is common across the UK but rarer in north Scotland. It thrives in a variety of environments from roadsides to hill slopes to forest clearings. White flowers appear in spring followed by the recognisable red fruit in the summer.
Alliaria petiolata
Also known as Hedge Garlic or Jack-by-the-Hedge, Garlic Mustard appears in hedgerows and open woodland in early Spring.
Garlic Mustard sometimes grows to over a metre tall and has leaves that are broadly heart shaped, stalked, with numerous broad teeth, and clusters of small white cross-shaped flowers. The whole plant smells of garlic when crushed.
It can be found in shady areas of hedgerows and waste places, and open woodland, mostly on fertile moist soils. It flowers from April to June throughout the UK, but is particularly common in England and Wales.
Garlic Mustard is still very common throughout the UK and is therefore of least concern.
Neotinea ustulata
This small orchid can be difficult to spot. Burnt-tip Orchid is a white orchid with a deep crimson peak – the “burnt tip” in question.
Plants grow from a tuber which is replaced each year and tend to grow in small clumps. Pale green leaves form a rosette from which a flower spike holding between 15-50 flowers emerges.
Burnt-tip Orchid is confined to a scattering of sites in southern England, especially the Wiltshire Downs. It is found in short, chalk downland turf, and occasionally strays into meadows.
Burnt-tip Orchid was once more common and its scarce population continues to decline. This decline is due to changes in agricultural practices.
John Glen MP, is currently working with us as a Species Champion to raise awareness of Burnt-tip Orchid and its causes of decline. Find out more about Species and Nature Champions here.
Sparganium erectum
Branched Bur-reed is a quirky looking waterside plant with spherical flowers. It might occasionally be mistaken for its unbranched relative (appropriately named ‘Unbranched Bur-reed’) but little else. Branched Bur-reed is a tall plant with linear leaves that lie broadside on to stem. The smaller male flowers sit above the female flowers on the stem.
This wild plant is widespread around the UK, growing by waters edge, ponds, slow rivers, marshy ground and ditches. Branched Bur-reed is an easily uprooted plant and so prefers slower waters.
Branched Bur-reed is commonly found in its preferred habitats.
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