Baobab trees in trouble

Baobabs are remarkable trees. There are nine species of baobab, most of which are found in arid areas of southern Africa and Madagascar. The typical baobab has a thick truck that only supports branches high off the ground, which can make a baobab look like a fat man waving his arms in the air.

This feature may be one reason why village communities have high regard for their baobab trees – a belief that a baobab contains the spirit of a remote ancestor or is some sort of “guardian angel” – but there are more practical reasons for revering a baobab. This is that the tree has a remarkable capacity for storing water, each one holding thousands of gallons in its swollen trunk that can be tapped in times of drought. It also has edible leaves and fruit and the fibres from its bark and roots can be used to make ropes and clothes. Several bird species regularly nest in baobabs.

Baobabs are extremely long-lived, with some known to be more than 2000 years old.

However, Africa’s baobabs are in trouble. Many trees have died in recent years, some of them suddenly and with little warning. This has included not only ancient trees but others that are much younger. Disease outbreaks have been blamed in some areas, but that cannot be the whole story because many deaths have been of trees that were otherwise perfectly healthy.

The prime cause appears to be climate change, because what baobabs depend on is stability in terms of temperature, rainfall, etc, and recent changes in weather patterns, with more intense droughts and floods, have interrupted that stability.

The natural regeneration of baobabs in southern Africa involves elephants which eat the fruit and deposit seeds in their droppings, which provide an immediate source of fertilizer as the seeds germinate. However, there are now far fewer elephants in these regions than there once were, especially outside official nature reserves.

The good news is that baobabs grow fast and artificial plantings of saplings, if properly tended, could develop into mature trees relatively quickly. The long-term survival of the baobab does, however, depend on mankind being able to get climate change under control.

© John Welford

Horseshoe vetch

Horseshoe vetch (Hippocrepis comosa) is commonly found on downland turf, favouring chalky or limestone soils. It is widespread in all parts of Great Britain except the far north.

The woody rootstock produces many trailing stems that turn up to produce the flower-heads (from May to August). It grows from 4 to 16 inches high (10-40 cms). Each leaf has two rows of leaflets with a terminal singleton.

The yellow flowers have evolved a subtle means of ensuring the production of fertile seed. The most common pollinators are heavy insects such as bumble and honey bees. The petals are so shaped that when a bee lands on the lower petal the stamens force a string of pollen through a hole at the end of the petal and onto the bee. At the same time the stigma touches the underside of the bee where there may be pollen gathered from visiting another flower.

The ripe pods break up into three to six horseshoe-shaped segments, thus giving the plant both its familiar and botanical name – hippocrepis is Greek for horseshoe.

© John Welford

Oceanic whitetip shark

The oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) is one of several species of shark that are on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as being under threat in the wild. This particular species is listed as “vulnerable”, which is one step below “endangered” but is reserved for species that are still regarded as being at high risk of extinction in the foreseeable future.

The oceanic whitetip is a medium-sized shark that is generally around three metres (9.8 feet) long. It weighs around 170 kilograms (370 pounds). The most distinctive feature of the species is its fins, both dorsal and pectoral, that are rounded and are considerably larger than those of other shark species. The fins and nose have white tips (hence the shark’s name) and the underside is also white.

The oceanic whitetip is found in the tropical and subtropical zones of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. It does not often come close to shore, preferring to stay in the open ocean where it preys on fish such as tuna, barracuda and mackerel, as well as cephalopods (e.g. squid and octopus), turtles and crustaceans. Oceanic whitetips are usually solitary, but groups will gather when a large amount of food is available and they may form feeding frenzies.

Oceanic whitetips can be dangerous to humans under certain circumstances, such as after a disaster at sea. It is believed that up to 600 of the sailors lost when USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in 1945 were killed by oceanic whitetip sharks.

Decline in numbers

Oceanic whitetips have seen a severe decline in numbers in recent years, although the exact rate of decline is not easy to measure given the shark’s migratory behaviour as it follows food sources across large distances of ocean. However, some estimates put the decline at around 70% over the past 50 years.

A major reason for numbers falling has been over-fishing in certain areas, given that the fins of the oceanic whitetip are used to make shark fin soup, which is a highly prized delicacy in parts of Asia. Many have also been lost due to being caught by nets that were set to catch shoals of fish that the sharks were following.

Although the oceanic whitetip has been declared to be a vulnerable species in general terms, it has been classed as critically endangered (the final stage before “extinct” in the IUCN scale) in areas of the central Atlantic Ocean, due almost entirely to losses from “by-catch” in tuna fishing nets. There is therefore considerable pressure on the fishing industry to adopt fishing methods that are less harmful to oceanic whitetips and other shark species.

© John Welford

Hare's-foot clover

Hare’s-foot clover (Trifolium arvense) grows in dry, grassy places throughout Great Britain. It prefers sandy soils and is often found near the sea. The name “arvense” means “of arable land”, which suggests a somewhat different habitat – this is true in other European countries, Asia and North Africa, but in Britain hare’s-foot clover has largely been cleared from farmland.

It is an upright plant that grows about 4-8 inches (10-20 cms) tall.

The leaves are divided into three leaflets. The name clover comes from the Latin “clava”, meaning club, and it is thought that clover was so named because the leaf shape resembled the three-lobed club supposedly carried by Hercules. This is also the reason why the club symbol on playing cards has three lobes, although the leaflets on hare’s-foot clover are much more pointed than on playing card clubs.

Hare’s-foot clover flowers from June to September. The tiny flowers are borne in cylindrical heads up to one inch (2.5 cms) long, on stalks that are longer than the leaves. The flowers are cream in colour with a pink tinge caused by the reddish pointed teeth of the sepals. The soft, downy flowerheads are the reason why the name hare’s-foot was given to this particular clover. An alternative name is rabbit’s-foot clover.

© John Welford

Red clover

Red clover (Trifolium pratense) is common in pastures and grassland throughout Great Britain. It has the ability to “fix” atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, which makes it valuable to farmers.

Red clover has narrow pointed leaflets – usually three to a leaf but occasionally four – with a V-shaped band on each one. Reddish-purple flowerheads rise from a pair of leaves at the end of a stem from May to September. After the flowers die they stay on the fruiting head and conceal the small seed pods.

The nitrogen fixing happens because of the bacteria contained in tiny nodules on the plant’s roots. The nitrogen is then converted into salts which are essential for plant growth. Red clover is ploughed in to enrich the soil or harvested as animal fodder.

The main pollinators of red clover are bumble bees, but the flowers are also attractive to honey bees. Red clover is sometimes called “bee bread” because of this.

Red clover flowers can be used in wine-making, in in past times a syrup was made from them that was used to treat whooping cough. The rare four-leaved variants were believed to bring good luck and were worn on clothing in the belief that they would ward off witches and warlocks.

© John Welford

Fossa

The native fauna of Madagascar bears very little resemblance to that of the neighbouring continent of Africa, due to the separation event that occurred around 160 million years ago. A lot of divergent evolution has happened since then!

The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is an animal that occupies the “big cat” niche in Madagascar’s fauna, although it belongs to a more primitive family of animals that includes civets, genets and mongooses.

Like a big cat, the fossa is lithe and agile and hunts by stalking and pouncing on its prey. It is muscular, powerful and an excellent climber.

An adult fossa measures 23-30 inches (60-75 cms) in length and stands 22-28 inches (55-70 cms) tall. It weighs 21-31 pounds (9.5-14 kgs).

Fossas are solitary animals that hunt by day or night. A fossa will patrol an area of 1.5 square miles (4 square kms) or more, which means that the species has a low population density and individuals are not easily seen.

Fossas originality hunted members of another of Madagascar’s unique animal groups, the lemurs, but as numbers of the latter have declined, fossas have been forced to take pigs, poultry and other domesticated animals. That has made them targets for persecution by humans which, together with habitat loss, has added the fossa to the list of highly endangered species.

© John Welford

White clover

White clover (Trifolium repens) grows in grassy places throughout the British Isles, including our lawn, as the photo shows!

Once established in a lawn it is extremely difficult to remove, because the plant spreads by sending out stems from which roots grow down into the soil. The rootstock can be very persistent and survive for many years even if the surface plants have been removed.

It is a ground-hugging plant that has hairless three-branched leaves, each leaflet bearing a whitish band towards the base. The white flowers are borne on upright stems between June and September. Dead flowers fold over the hanging seed pods.

White clover is also not welcome on pasture land, because the leaves often contain a chemical that yields prussic acid when eaten by animals. On the other hand, this chemical gives white clover an unpleasant taste, so it is usually avoided by grazers.

However, white clover is much prized by bee-keepers because its flowers provide a steady flow of nectar after other plants such as dandelions have ceased flowering. This nectar is held deep within the petals so only long-tongued insects such as bees can reach it.

At the end of its flowering period a white clover plant may retain one flowering stem when all the rest have died off and produced seed. Traditionally, such sole flowers are known as “old maids”.

© John Welford

Thorny devil

I’m not sure that I would really want to have this little fellow on my hand, but apparently they are quite harmless – to humans anyway!

The thorny devil (Moloch horridus) is native to the deserts of the western half of Australia. It is a lizard that measures 6 to 7 inches (15 to 18 centimetres) in length, and its buff and tan colouring, with darker brown markings, is a good reason why it is rarely seen against the similarly coloured desert floor.

However, if you were to tread on one when not wearing adequate footwear you would soon know about it, thanks to the spines that cover its entire body. The largest spines are on the head and body, with smaller ones on the legs and feet. These spines are entirely defensive, because the thorny devil spends most of its feeding time in one spot, scooping up ants and similar small insects with its long tongue – up to 2,500 at a single meal. This would leave it vulnerable to attack from above if it did not have the protection of its spines.

The thorny devil moves slowly, rocking backwards and forwards as it walks.

Female thorny devils lay between three and ten eggs in underground burrows.

© John Welford

Common restharrow

Common restharrow (Ononis repens) is found in rough grassy places and in coastal locations such as sand dunes.

Common restharrow grows up to 24 inches (60 centimetres) high but also produces stems that trail along the ground and root themselves at intervals. The plant flowers from June to September, the flowers being pink and having some of the petals longer than others.

It gets its name from the fact that it was once an annoying weed to find on farmland in the days before tractors. A horse-drawn plough or harrow would often be slowed when it came into contact with the tough roots and stems of this plant, which would therefore “rest” the harrow.

It was also a bane of the dairy farmer because cattle that ate enough of it in the fields would produce milk with an unpleasant flavour. The plant was formerly known as “cammock” and “cammocky” is an old word meaning “tainted”.

Despite the above, common restharrow has had its uses in the past. Another folk name is “wild liquorice”, because children used to dig up the underground stems and chew them for their liquorice-like flavour. In past times the plant had medicinal applications, with treatments for kidney disorders, gallstones and ulcers being derived from it.

© John Welford

Wood-sorrel

Wood-sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) is a plant that is found in woodland, under hedges, and on higher ground in many parts of Great Britain.

It is a low-growing plant that reaches no more than 6 inches (15 centimetres) in height, with leaf tufts emerging directly from the rootstock. Each leaf has three leaflets that make it resemble a clover leaf in shape, and it has been thought that this plant could be the origin of the shamrock that is associated with the legend of St Patrick who used such a plant to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. The leaflets fold down at night.

Wood-sorrel flowers from May to August, the flowers being white with mauve veins.

Wood-sorrel actually produces two different types of flower. The first, which appears in spring, grows on long stalks and droops at night. This produces lots of nectar, and is therefore attractive to insects, but does not lead to the formation of many seeds. In summer, wood-sorrel produces a large number of flowers on short stems but these only open rarely. These flowers are self-pollinating and are the source of most of the seeds that enable the plant to propagate.

Wood-sorrel has been used as a salad plant and for making sauces. This is due to the sharp taste of the leaves that is due to the presence of calcium oxalate.

© John Welford

Meadow crane's-bill

Meadow crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense) is a familiar and easily-recognised wild flower that is common throughout Great Britain. Its attractive violet flowers make it a prime candidate for inclusion in garden wild flower mixes. Some local authorities are now including wild flower displays in their public parks and gardens, and meadow crane’s-bill is highly likely to be included.

It is a hairy plant with upright stems that grow to a maximum height of 30 inches (76 centimetres). The large leaves are deeply lobed and toothed. 

The flowers appear from June to September and, if the plant is mowed, may appear a second time. The flower has five broad petals that are rounded at the ends. As the flower unfurls, the stem bends to the horizontal and the flower heads will droop further at night and during rain.

The name crane’s-bill derives from the long “beak” over each seed. This rolls upwards when the seed is ripe and ready to be released.

© John Welford

Hottentot-fig

Hottentot-fig (Carpobrotus edulis) is a plant that was introduced to Great Britain from southern Africa in the late 17^th century. It is only found on cliff-tops in the far southwest of England, and near Dublin in Ireland.

The name derives from the native tribesmen of southern Africa who ate the fleshy fruit of this plant.

It is a low-growing spreading plant, never reaching a height greater than three or four inches. It has trailing stems that bear fleshy upward-growing leaves that are triangular in cross-section and are often red at the tip. 

It has many-petalled daisy-like flowers that are magenta or yellow. These appear from May to August. The fruit is surrounded by five leaf-shaped lobes.

© John Welford

Three-nerved sandwort

Three-nerved sandwort (Moehringia trinervia) grows in woodland clearings, particularly in nitrate-rich soils. It is found throughout Great Britain, but less commonly in Scotland and Ireland.

It gets its name from the three veins (or nerves) that can be seen on the underside of each leaf. The plant has trailing stems and upright flowering shoots, which can reach as high as 16 inches (40 centimetres) above the ground.

The flowers, which appear from May to July, are white and star-shaped. The five petals are noticeably shorter than the sepals. The seeds produce an oil that is attractive to ants, which are therefore important in helping seed dispersal.

© John Welford

Thyme-leaved sandwort

Thyme-leaved sandwort (Arenaria serpyllifolia) is found in all parts of Great Britain apart from the far north. It grows on walls, cliff-tops, chalk downland and arable land.

It is a sprawling bushy plant that is grey-green in colour. It grows to a height of 10 inches maximum but is often much shorter when fully grown. It flowers from June to August, producing tiny white flowers in which the undivided petals are shorter than the sepals.

It is an insignificant plant that has no known uses and is not even eaten by wild animals, possibly because it is poisonous to them. It is often found growing near rabbit burrows because rabbits refuse to eat it.

The plant’s uselessness to both man and beast may account for its survival!

© John Welford

Upright chickweed

Upright chickweed (Moenchia erecta) is an unusual and somewhat strange plant. It can be found in England and Wales on sea-cliffs, dunes and rocky pastures, but it is not particularly abundant.

What makes it strange is that it is difficult to relate it to other plants. Despite its name it is not a chickweed, nor is it a pearlwort or a stitchwort, which are plants to which true chickweed is related. It has therefore been placed by botanists in a separate group of five closely related plants that are found in different parts of Europe.

Upright chickweed has a main stem that is, as the name suggests, upright, and it also has branches that grow horizontally from the base before also turning upwards. The leaves are broad and heart-shaped. The maximum height is 5 inches (12.5 centimetres).

The flowers appear from April to June. The petals are white and undivided, being shorter than the sepals which are pointed and have a white margin. The seed-pod is about the same length as the sepals and its opening is surrounded by eight teeth.

© John Welford

Greater stitchwort

Greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) is a plant that grows in woods and hedgerows throughout the British Isles, with the sole exception of the Shetlands. It is a straggly plant that prefers to grow in shade and in company with other plants which it needs for support given the weakness of its stems, which are easily broken.

If supported, greater stitchwort can grow up to 24 inches (60 centimetres) above the ground. It has shorter non-flowering stems and longer flowering ones. The leaves are stalkless and narrow, with long points.

The attractive white flowers appear from April to June. The five petals are divided for half their length and are longer than the sepals. There are ten stamens. The fruit is a globe-shaped capsule.

The botanical name “holostea” comes from two Greek words meaning “whole” and “bone”. This comes from an ancient belief that a plant that breaks easily must be useful in helping to mend broken bones, which seems like an interesting logical conclusion to come to!

The name “stitchwort” refers to the plant’s supposed ability to cure “stitch” pains (cramp) caused by vigorous exercise. A preparation of stitchwort and acorns in wine was supposed to do the trick – on the other hand, the time taken to make this potion was probably greater than that of the pain of the stitch!

© John Welford

Tutsan

Tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum) grows throughout the British Isles in damp parts of woods and hedges. It is a shrub-like semi-evergreen plant with branching stems that bear large stalkless leaves. It grows to a height of 40 inches (100 centimetres).

The flowers, which grow in small clusters, appear from June to August. They are yellow and five-petalled, being particularly noticeable for the many prominent stamens that look like pins sticking out of a pin-cushion.

The young fruits are red and fleshy, turning black when ripe.

The plant has long been used for medicinal purposes as the leaves have antiseptic properties that have proved effective in preventing open wounds from becoming infected. The names “tutsan” is a corruption of Anglo-Norman “toute-saine” which means “all-healthy”. 

The leaves of tutsan are odourless when fresh but, when dried, smell pleasantly of ambergris, which is an ingredient (normally obtained from whales) that has been used in many perfumes. The aroma can last for up to four years which has given dried tutsan leaves a function as scented bookmarks. This property is also responsible for an alternative name for tutsan, namely “sweet amber”.

© John Welford

Meadow buttercup

The photo (one of mine) is of a field in Wensleydale (North Yorkshire) that is yellow with meadow buttercups (Ranunculus acris). This is the most prominent of the three buttercup varieties that are commonly found in Great Britain, the others being the creeping and bulbous buttercup.

The meadow buttercup can grow up to 36 inches (90 centimetres) in height and prefers damp conditions. It has a large number of leaves, which are divided into anything from two to seven lobes, and the small flowers, which can vary in shade from bright to pale yellow (or even white) first appear any time from May to July and can last right through the summer.

The buttercup is poisonous to cattle, which is one reason why the meadows are not grazed at this time of the year. However, cows tend to avoid eating them anyway, which is just as well.

Children like to pick buttercups and hold them under each other’s chins to see if the yellow reflects on the skin. If it does, this is supposed to show that the child in question likes butter!

In former times buttercup roots were ground up with salt as a treatment for plague – they were said to cause blisters that drew out the disease. Fortunately, there is little call these days for testing whether the method works.

Another use for buttercups was to hang them in a bag round the neck, as a cure for lunacy. Nowadays one might think that wearing a bag of buttercups might be a symptom of the ailment rather than its cure!

© John Welford

Wood anemone

The wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) is a familiar plant to anyone who walks though deciduous woods virtually anywhere in the British Isles. It provides a low carpet of green leaves up to 12 inches (30 centimetres) high, out of which spring stalks bearing white flowers (March to May).

The stalks bear a ring of three leaves about two-thirds of the way up, each leaf being split into three segments. The plant grows from an underground stem which throws up fresh stalks with leaves after the flowers have gone.

The flowers, which actually comprise sepals rather than petals, open fully in sunshine but close and droop in dull conditions or as evening approaches. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder believed that it was the wind that caused the flowers to open, and the name “windflower” has been given to the wood anemone as a result.

Another name for the wood anemone is “smell fox”, due to its scent which is nothing like as attractive as its appearance.

Although pheasants like to eat wood anemone flowers, the sap is bitter and poisonous.

© John Welford

Common dog violet

Common dog violet (Viola riviniana) grows throughout the British Isles, being found in woods, fields, hedges, heaths and rocky places. The name “dog” signifies a plant that is regarded as being inferior, in some sense, from another similar plant, an example being the “dog rose” that is an uncultivated wild relative of the garden rose. In this case, common dog violet is an unscented variety of violet and thus less desirable than the scented sweet violet.

Other folk names for unscented violets include “blue mice”, “pig violet” and “shoes and stockings”.

The common dog violet has leafy flowering stems and does not produce runners. The plant grows to 8 inches (20 centimetres) in height. The leaves at the base form a rosette while other heart-shaped leaves grow on stalks. At the base of each leaf stalk is a pair of leaf-like stipules that bear long slender teeth on their edges.

The flowers, which appear in May and June, are blue-violet with a much paler spur. The seed capsules are triangular in shape. They open to shed their seeds while still on the plant. 

© John Welford

Greater celandine

The greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) is a confusing plant because it has no botanical relationship to the lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) but is in fact a member of the poppy family. According to Pedanius Dioscorides, a Roman army surgeon from the 1^st century BC, the plant derives its name from the Greek for swallow, because mother swallows used its sap to cure blindness in young swallows – either that, or it simply flowered at the time that swallows arrived for the summer. The latter explanation seems more likely!

The greater celandine grows on banks and walls and in hedgerows, and is common throughout the British Isles except for northern Scotland. It is also widely distributed in other parts of the world.

It grows up to 36 inches (90 centimetres) high. The leaves grow on stems and have rounded leaflets, the leaf at the end of each stem having three lobes. The leaves are hairless and are blue-green on the underside. The yellow flowers, which have four petals, grow in clusters and each flower is up to an inch across. Flowering time is from May to September. 

The seed pods are long and slender and open from the bottom up when the seeds are ripe. The seeds are coated with an oily film that is attractive to ants. They feed on the oil and then carry away the seeds that stick to their bodies until they are rubbed off at a distance from the parent plant.

The greater celandine was used in ancient China for medicinal purposes, as its orange-coloured sap was found to be effective for burning away corns and warts. There is an echo of the swallow story mentioned above in that it was also used to cure sore eyes, but, as they say in all official health warnings, please do not try this at home!

© John Welford

Wild radish

The wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) is not a “tame” radish gone wild, nor is it the plant from which the garden radish was developed, although the two are related. It is an annual plant that is regarded as an unwelcome weed by arable farmers who have their own names for it – in northern England it is called “runch” whereas southern farmers call it “cadlock”.

The flowers of wild radish vary in colour. In north and west England they are lilac with dark veins on the petals whereas in the Isle of Man, northern Scotland and the Hebrides they are yellow. A white-flowered variety is found in south and east England where the plant is known as “white charlock”. The plant is common in many other parts of the world and there are other colour varieties in various places.

The wild radish grows to around 24 inches (60 centimetres) in height. The stems are rough and hairy, bearing leaves that comprise up to four widely-spaced pairs of leaflets.

The flowers, coloured as mentioned above, are visible from May to September. They grow in small clusters, each having four spaced-out petals.

The seed pods are unusual in that they are long and thin (up to two inches or five centimetres) but each of the eight or so seeds has its own “bump” so that the pod resembles a string of beads. As the seeds ripen they fall off in turn, each with its portion of the pod.

© John Welford

Hedge mustard

Hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale) grows throughout Great Britain and elsewhere, being common on waste ground and roadsides – it is also found on arable land. 

The plant grows up to 36 inches (90 centimetres) in height, forming rigid bristly stems from which leaves and flower-stems branch almost at right-angles. The leaf-stalks bear paired leaflets and a terminal leaf, the largest leaves growing near the base of the plant.

The yellow flowers, which appear from May to September, are small and partly enclosed by bristly sepals. New flowers grow at the end of the growing stem as seed-pods form below. The ribbed, hairy seed-pods overlap as they hug the stem closely.

Hedge mustard can be used in the same way as black mustard, with the seeds being ground into powder, but it is not as strongly flavoured and has traditionally been used to make a sauce to go with fish.

Infusions of hedge mustard have been used, especially in France, as a gargle to help the voices of actors and singers.

© John Welford

Winter-cress

Winter-cress (Barbarea vulgaris) is commonly found growing alongside streams and in ditches in much of Britain, but is rarer in Scotland. It prefers damp environments but will also grow as a wayside plant and in hedgerows. It is also known as landcress to distinguish it from watercress. 

Winter-cress sends up erect branching stems to a maximum height of 36 inches (90 centimetres). The leaves are shiny, the lower ones being deeply lobed and the upper ones grasping the stem.

The small yellow flowers, which appear from May to August, grow in dense clusters that elongate as the stem grows and seed-pods form. The seed-pods are long and narrow, being held away from the stem on short stalks.

The leaves of winter-cress are edible and are a good source of vitamin C. However, the taste is on the bitter side and, in Britain at least, most people prefer to eat cultivated watercress instead.

The botanical name “Barbarea” is in honour of St Barbara. This is partly because the plant is still green and prominent on 4^th December, which is St Barbara’s Day. However, the name may also derive from the fact that winter-cress leaves provide a measure of relief to sufferers of wounds caused by explosions, as might be encountered by miners and quarrymen, of whom St Barbara is the patron saint.

© John Welford

Treacle mustard

Treacle mustard (Erysimum cheiranthoides) has nothing to do with treacle. The name is a corruption of the Greek “theriaki” which means an antidote to bites from animals and insects, because this was a common use of the plant during the 16^th century.

Another name for treacle mustard is wormseed mustard, because its seeds were formerly used as a treatment for intestinal worms in children.

The plant is found on both waste and cultivated ground, more commonly in southern England than further north.

It grows with one or more branched, leafy stems growing erect to a maximum height of 36 inches (90 centimetres). The lower leaves grow on stalks but the upper ones do not. The leaves have smooth edges or shallow teeth.

The small yellow flowers grow to form a neat ring with a flat-topped flower-head.

The downy seed-pods are square in cross-section.

Treacle mustard is closely related to the Siberian wallflower, which is the variety of wallflower often planted in British gardens. It is only a distant relative of the common wallflower, which grows wild in some parts of the country.

© John Welford

Field penny-cress

Field penny-cress (Thlaspi arvense) is found on wasteland throughout Great Britain, although it is a non-native species. It is possible that the plant came into the country accidentally alongside a consignment of crop seeds.

 It is an unwelcome weed when it invades farmland, especially as grazing animals refuse to feed on it due to its unpleasant smell when crushed or bitten. 

Field penny-cress has upright leafy stems, sometimes with branches, that grow to a maximum height of 24 inches (60 centimetres) when flowers and then fruits are produced. The leaves are narrow, toothed and stalkless, grasping the stem at their base. 

The small white flowers appear from May to July. They grow on stalks and in clusters. The fruit are what give the plant its name, because they are almost circular and flat, with broad wings, albeit with a notch at the top. The size of the fruits, at up to three-quarters of an inch across, is not far short of that of a modern British penny, but it is very much smaller than the pre-decimalisation pennies that were around when the plant would have acquired its name. Curiously enough, the plant has a similar name derivation in German, being the “feld pfennigkraut” – maybe the old pfennig was closer in size than the old penny!

© John Welford

Yellow horned-poppy

The yellow horned-poppy (Glaucium flavum) is a native of Europe and western Asia but is a familiar wild flower on shingle beaches all round the coast of Great Britain except for northern Scotland. This suggests that the plant might have reached these shores courtesy of a shipwreck centuries ago and spread along the coast. Despite its preference for shingle beds above the high-water mark, it will also grow on sand and cliff tops. 

The yellow horned-poppy will grow up to 36 inches (90 centimetres) high, but many specimens are much more low-lying than that due to being constantly battered by winds off the sea. The lower leaves grow on stalks off the main stem and have hairy lobes, whereas the upper leaves clasp the stem and have less prominent lobes.

The bright yellow flowers are up to three inches (7.5 centimetres) across and are seen from June to October. They are succeeded by seed capsules that are long and thin, up to 12 inches (30 centimetres) in length, and these form the “horns” that give the plant its name. 

The yellow horned-poppy has an orange-coloured, foul-smelling sap that is highly poisonous, as are all parts of the plant. This is a wild flower that should be admired from a safe distance rather than be handled.

© John Welford

White water-lily

The white water-lily (Nymphaea alba) is a favourite plant for owners of ornamental lakes and large ponds, although it grows wild throughout Great Britain and is native to Europe. It may have been introduced to Britain by the Romans.

Water-lilies are typified by being rooted in the beds of ponds and lakes but exhibiting their leaves and flowers on the surface. In the case of the white water-lily, the fleshy stems can grow as deep as six feet (1.8 metres) below the surface, but the stems on which the leaves and flowers grow can be up to nine feet (2.75) long, which means that the visible parts of the plant can drift away from the point directly above the root.

The leaves are nearly circular, being green above and reddish underneath. The flower is the largest in the British native flora, being up to 12 inches (30 centimetres) across. The whole plant can spread to up to five feet (150 centimetres) in diameter. 

The flowers usually have at least 20 petals, often many more, with four sepals beneath that are white inside and green outside. The flowers only open towards the middle of the day and close as evening approaches. The flowers can be seen from June to August.

The white water-lily has been appreciated and admired for centuries, gaining familiar names such as “the lady of the lake” and “swan among the flowers”. It has acquired a symbolic value as an indication of purity and it has also been used for medicinal purposes as it yields an oil that is good for treating skin blemishes and other conditions.

© John Welford