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Centaurea cyanus
These bright blue flowers used to be classed as common arable weeds. Now they much scarcer.
Historically, the word ‘corn’ was used to mean grains such as wheat, barley, and oats. Cornflowers commonly grew amongst these arable crops, giving the plant its name.
The flowering plant is a distinctive bright blue colour. Cornflowers can grow to 90cm high, often rising above other plants. Their lower grey-green leaves are longer than their upper leaves.
There has been a dramatic decline in Cornflower numbers in the wild due to some modern agricultural practices.
Its populations began to recover in the late 1980s, particularly on unsprayed set-aside land and it is often included in wildflower replanting programmes.
Cornflower is found throughout the UK, though is rare in Scotland and Ireland.
It used to be classed as a common arable weed and could be found all over. However it is now seen a garden escape and more of a common sight in gardens that have been seeded with wildflowers.
In the wild, you will now find these flowers blooming in waste ground, scrub and road verges as well as some farmland.
Tussilago farfara
Colt’s-foot is a bright, yellow daisy and is one of the first wild flowers to emerge in Spring.
The single flowers are held on scaly, crimson stems. As these start to die back, flat-fans of dark green leaves appear. These leaves are silver-white on their undersides.
Colt’s-foot grows in a range of habitats with open or disturbed ground, including arable land, waste land, shingle and scree, and even landslips. It grows particularly well in waste, rough and cultivated places where there is poor drainage.
Colt’s-foot is one of the early arrivals of spring. The best time to see it is throughout March and April.
Prunus spinosa
Each year, Blackthorn heralds the coming of spring as one of the first native trees to burst into blossom.
Blackthorn belongs to the rose family and its fruit are known as sloes – famously used to flavour sloe gin!
Blackthorn is a rather shrubby tree with dark-hued branches (hence the name “black” thorn). It produces white, five-petalled blossom in early spring. When these wither, they are replaced with sloes – dark blue-purple fruit, around a centimetre wide. Blackthorn leaves are oval-shaped, serrated and pointed at the tip.
In spring and summer, it can be confused with Hawthorn. Hawthorn blossom, however, appears amidst the leaves, whereas Blackthorn blossoms before they appear.
Blackthorn is found most commonly in hedgerows but it can also be spotted in scrub and wood borders all over the UK and Ireland.
Why not take along Plantlife’s winter wildflower spotter sheet and see what common species from catkins to snowdrops you can spot out and about?
Capsella bursa-pastoris
The seedpods of this common wildflower resemble little drawstring pouches worn by medieval peasants, spilling out tiny copper-coloured seeds when broken apart
A member of the Cabbage family, this annual plant produces flowers throughout the year, and is able to yield hundreds of seeds.
With a leafy rosette at the base, it grows to about 40cm. The leaves are larger and pinnately lobed at the bottom, and then arrow-shaped with wavy edges along the stem. It has tiny white scentless flowers arranged in a loose raceme, which are replaced by its highly recognisable seedpods.
It is widespread throughout Britain, particularly in waste grounds and cultivated fields.
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