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How to identify:

Annual/Perennial/BiennialPerennial
Height90cm
Flower typeRounded flower spikes
LeavesHairy, oval and toothed
StemsSingle or double stemmed, hairy

 

A collection of Water Mint growing by a woodland stream, pretty purple flowers stand out against the green leaves

How to Spot

Water Mint can grow up to 90cm tall. It has pretty, pale purple flower heads and hairy leaves and stems. The leaves can be between 2cm and 6cm and grow in whorls around the stem.

Peppermint shares a resemblance, but has darker flowers, leaves and often has a purple stem.

Where to Spot

This pretty, aromatic plant is common all over the UK. You can find it growing in wet meadows, fens and marshes, streams, ponds, riversides and damp woodlands.

Things you might not know

It is said that Water Mints pleasant scent was used during the medieval era, to make their dining halls smell fresh.

Reportedly the plants were laid on the floor so that guests would step on them upon entering, and release the sweet smell of mint.

Other Species

Bluebell
Bluebell close-up.

Bluebell

Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Bugle
A close up of a blue bugle plant.

Bugle

Ajuga reptans

Cowslip
Cowslip Close Up.

Cowslip

Primula Veris

Brooklime

Veronica beccabunga

How to spot it

Brooklime has delicate blue flowers held on fleshy stems, often forming lush clumps near water. The spikes of pretty blue flowers ascending in pairs from the leaf base are a clue that this plant is a member of the Speedwell family. Brooklime is a perennial sprawling herb with a dense mass of succulent leaves. Like many water plants, it has hollow stems which help to transfer oxygen to the roots.

Where to spot it

It grows at the waterline of riverbanks and in wet meadows, marshes, ponds, streams and ditches. It is found throughout the UK except in the Scottish Highlands.

How’s it doing?

Brooklime is doing well in its preferred habitats.

Things you might not know

  • Brooklime was used as a salad plant in much of northern Europe in the past.
  • It used to be eaten with watercress and oranges to help prevent scurvy.
  • Although edible, the leaves are bitter and the same precautions should be taken with them, as with watercress, in order to avoid liver fluke.

Other Species

Honey Fungus (Armillaria species) 
Honey fungus, Armillaria mellea, photographed on a dead branch in a woodland. The pale creamy brown of the fungus stands out against bright green mosses that cover the branch

Honey Fungus (Armillaria species) 

Branched Bur-reed

Sparganium erectum

How to spot it

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.

Where to spot it

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.

How’s it doing?

Branched Bur-reed is commonly found in its preferred habitats.

Other Species

Honey Fungus (Armillaria species) 
Honey fungus, Armillaria mellea, photographed on a dead branch in a woodland. The pale creamy brown of the fungus stands out against bright green mosses that cover the branch

Honey Fungus (Armillaria species) 

A favourite of Wordsworth, Lesser Celandine is one of the first wildflowers to bloom.

In fact, the 21 February has been known as Celandine Day since 1795, when the renowned naturalist Gilbert White noted that the first celandines usually appeared in his Hampshire village of Selborne.

How to spot it

Its bright, yellow star-shaped flowers often blanket the ground. Each is about 3cm across with eight to twelve petals. It has rosettes of glossy dark green heart-shaped mottled long-stalked leaves.

Where it grows

Woodland and hedge banks, particularly damp places. Also meadows and stream-sides.

Best time to see

You can spot Lesser Celandine from late February to May.

Has Lesser Celandine been used in herbal medicine?

One of it’s local names is “Pilewort” since the herb was traditionally given for haemorrhoids. This was based on the doctrine of signatures since the knobbly tubers were thought to resemble piles!

Things you might not know

  • Its the floral equivalent of the swallow: both reappear around the same time and herald the coming of spring. In fact the word ‘celandine’ comes from the Greek word chelidon meaning ‘swallow’. Its early flowering time also gave the Lesser Celandine the nickname ‘spring messenger’.
  • Despite sharing the name, it isn’t actually related to the greater celandine. Lesser celandine is a member of the buttercup family. Greater celandine is related to the poppy.
  • Wordsworth’s favourite wild flower wasn’t the daffodil – it was lesser celandine. He wrote no less than three poems about it: The Small Celandine, To the Same Flower and To the Small Celandine.

Other Species

Honey Fungus (Armillaria species) 
Honey fungus, Armillaria mellea, photographed on a dead branch in a woodland. The pale creamy brown of the fungus stands out against bright green mosses that cover the branch

Honey Fungus (Armillaria species)