Skip to main content

Water Mint

Mentha aquatica

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

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

Lords-and-Ladies
Lords and ladies plant.

Lords-and-Ladies

Arum maculatum
Cuckooflower
Orange tip butterfly on a Cuckooflower

Cuckooflower

Cardamine Pratensis / Lady’s Smock
Early Purple Orchid
An early purple orchid in a meadow.

Early Purple Orchid

Orchis Mascula

Bracken

Pteridium aquilinum

Close up look at Bracken

How to spot

Bracken is the most common fern in the UK. A long-lived extensively spreading plant, it can grow up to 2.5m.

It has long fronds with pinnate leaves, which means they have one long stem in the centre with small leaves coming off.

This species, unlike other fern species, dies back in the winter, with it’s leaves turning brown. In the spring Bracken fronds appear tightly curled and slowly unravel.

Where to spot

Bracken is a common site all around the UK – but it’s not just in the British Isles that it can be seen, this species is found on every continent except Antarctica.

Here in the British Isles, it can be found in moorlands, woodlands, heathlands, and even pastures and abandoned agricultural land.

 

The tops of Bracken plants against a dark background

Things you might not know

Bracken has fascinating folklore and can be linked to a number of different cultures and religions.

One of the most interesting mythologies around this species is that it was said to hold the power to turn people invisible! Bracken reproduces using tiny spores rather than seeds. The story goes that holding the spores of bracken could make you as invisible as they were.

Other Species

Lords-and-Ladies
Lords and ladies plant.

Lords-and-Ladies

Arum maculatum
Cuckooflower
Orange tip butterfly on a Cuckooflower

Cuckooflower

Cardamine Pratensis / Lady’s Smock
Early Purple Orchid
An early purple orchid in a meadow.

Early Purple Orchid

Orchis Mascula

Devil’s-bit Scabious

Succisa pratensis

The round pretty blue flowers of Devil's-bit Scabious

How to spot

Devil’s-bit Scabious is part of the Globulariaceae family which includes similar looking relatives such as Small Scabious Scabiosa columbaria and Field Scabious Knautia arvensis.

They all have similar looking rounded composite flower heads, made up of many tiny flowers. They are usually blue in colour, though can sometimes be purple. You can tell Devil’s-bit from it’s relatives as it has long oval leaves.

Devil’s-bit Scabious is a perennial plant that grows up to 100cm.

Where to spot

This plant prefers damp environments and can be found in marshes, wet heathlands, fens and woodlands.

It is a common plant that is found all over the UK.

 

Common Carder Bee on Devil's-bit Scabious - Joan's Hill

Things you might not know

  1. Devil’s-bit Scabious is a favourite among pollinators. It is rich in both pollen and nectar which attracts a variety of insects from bees to butterflies and moths to hoverflies.
  2. The first part of the name ‘Devil’s-bit’ comes from a folklore tale that suggests the devil once bit the root of the plant which caused it’s distinctive flat edge.
  3. The second part of the name, ‘Scabious’, comes from the Latin word ‘scabere’, which means ‘scratch’. Indeed the plant has been used in the past to treat itchy skin conditions from scabies to eczema and even the sores brought on by the bubonic plague.

 

Other Species

Lords-and-Ladies
Lords and ladies plant.

Lords-and-Ladies

Arum maculatum
Cuckooflower
Orange tip butterfly on a Cuckooflower

Cuckooflower

Cardamine Pratensis / Lady’s Smock
Early Purple Orchid
An early purple orchid in a meadow.

Early Purple Orchid

Orchis Mascula

Field Pansy

Viola arvensis

Field Pansy is a delicate flower from the Violet family, and is the wild relative of the Garden Pansy. It’s a small low-growing perennial which can be easily confused with the Wild Pansy, however it has much smaller flowers. It is self-fertile and attracts butterflies such as the Queen of Spain Fritillary which will lay its eggs on the plant.

How to spot it

The flowers of Field Pansy are solitary and 15mm across. They have creamy yellow petals which are sometimes bluish-violet. Its sepals are pointed, and often longer than or the same length as the petals. Its stipules look like lobed leaves, and the leaves are oblong in shape. The plant grows up to 20cm tall.

Where to spot it

While Field Pansy can be found throughout the UK, it is more common in the East half of the UK and SE Ireland. It’s most commonly found in dry arable field margins and waste spaces.

Things you might not know

  • Pansies take their name from the French ‘pensee’ meaning thought.
  • Field Pansy’s flowers are edible and the leaves and flowers are rich in vitamins A and C.

Other Species

Bramble

Rubus fruticosus

How to spot it

Bramble is a rambling plant with delicate white or pink flowers which are followed later in the year by juicy blackberries. The stems have prickles and the leaves are hairy. Come autumn, its fruit is a widely recognised sight, turning from red to the near-black that gives them their name. Going ‘blackberrying’ is still a common practice today and one of the few acts of foraging to survive into the modern age. Bramble usually flowers in July and August, although its blossom has been known to appear in June. If it’s blackberries you’re after, they are usually adorning the branches in early autumn.

Where to spot it

Throughout Britain, Bramble can be found in multiple habitats, including hedge banks, scrubland, woodland and waste ground.

How’s it doing?

As gardeners and walkers can testify, Bramble is doing well!

Things you might not know

  • People in the UK have been snacking on blackberries for generations – so long, in fact, that their seeds were found in the belly of a Neolithic man uncovered by archaeologists at Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex.
  • In Britain over 400 microspecies have been recognised, each one differing slightly in fruiting time, size, texture and taste. In some varieties you can detect subtle hints of plum, grape, apple or lemon.
  • Bramble bushes were once planted on graves to deter grazing sheep and cover less sightly weeds, but also probably for magical and ancient hopes of keeping the Devil out and the dead in.

Other Species

White Campion

Silene latifolia

White Campion is a common wildflower of grassland and waste ground. Its cheerful white flowers can be seen from spring to autumn.

How to spot it

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.

Where to spot it

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.

Things you might not know

  • At night the blooms produce a clovey scent, attracting many feeding moths.
  • White campion was one of the ingredients in 16th Century Elizabethan pot pourri.
  • The root has been used as a soap substitute for washing clothes, hair etc.
  • It is thought to have been introduced to the country by neolithic farmers and remains of it have been found on neolithic and bronze age sites.

Other Species

Bladder Campion

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!

How to spot it

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.

Where to spot it

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.

Things you might not know

  • The young leaves are sometimes added to salads in the Mediterranean where it grows much more abundantly.
  • During the summer months, Bladder Campion can often found covered in ‘Cuckoo Spit’ as this is a favourite food-plant of the Froghopper. The early English botanist John Gerard called it ‘Spatling Poppie’ for this very reason.
  • In Roman mythology the Goddess Minerva turned the young boy Campion into this plant after he fell asleep instead of catching flies for her owls. The bladder represents the bag he should have filled.

Other Species

Forget-me-not (Common)

Myosotis arvensis

Our most common Forget-me-not is often found as a “weed” of arable land. It is also known as Field Forget-me-not. It is a greyish coloured plant, its very small, bright blue flowers (sometimes interspersed with pink) occur in spikes. The leaves are oval and hairy, the ones at the base forming a rosette.

Where to spot it

Forget-me-not (Common) can be found on cultivated land, roadsides, waste ground and dunes. It flowers from April to September.

How’s it doing?

Found throughout Britain and Ireland, it is more common in areas where land is put to arable use. Despite changes in agricultural practice, distribution of has remained stable since 1900, probably due partly to its flexible life history and seed longevity.

Things you might not know

  • In the Language of Flowers Forget-me-not stands for true love and memories.
  • Its Latin name arvensis means ‘of or growing in cultivated fields or land’.
  • Forget-me-nots used to be known as ‘scorpion-grass’. The current name only appeared in the early 19th century. The name Scorpion-grass arose because the flower clusters are more or less bent over or coiled. Other common names include Bird’s eye, Robin’s eye, Mammy-flooer, Snake-grass and Love-me. The latter is related to the fact that the plant was a symbol of love, and if you wore it you were not forgotten by your lover.
  • Their seeds form in small pods along the stem and attach to clothing when brushed against, eventually falling off, allowing the small seed within to germinate elsewhere.

Other Species

Basil Thyme

Clinopodium acinos

Basil Thyme used to be picked as a substitute for thyme, but it is now too rare to pick. Its distribution closely follows that of underlying chalk and limestone rock.

How to spot it

Like other members of the dead-nettle family, Basil Thyme is popular with bees and insects. At only 15 cm high, it produces whorls of violet flowers with white markings on the lower lip. Common Calamint and Wild Basil are closely related but are larger and with taller more dense flower spikes.

Where to spot it

Basil Thyme grows mainly in southern and eastern England and is very rare in Wales, Scotland and northeast England. It is also present in eastern Ireland where is it considered an alien species. It grows in open habitats in dry grassland, especially around rock outcrops and also in arable fields, where it is now rare. It can be found in quarries and waste ground where calcareous rocks and lime-rich soil has been exposed and roads and railways where lime has been applied. In Ireland, Basil Thyme grows on sandy and gravelly soils.

How’s it doing?

Basil Thyme is unfortunately in decline because of more efficient methods of weed control almost causing its complete extinction in arable habitat. Basil Thyme is only present on less intensively used arable land and in chalk and limestone grassland. Threats to grassland populations include the lack of bare ground which is required by this species to aid seed germination. In Ireland, sand and gravel extraction are the main causes of decline.

It is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ and is included as a species “of principal importance for the purpose of conserving biodiversity” under Sections 41 (England) and 42 (Wales) of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Basil Thyme is also noted on the Scottish biodiversity list of species of principal importance for biodiversity conservation in The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.

Other Species