Plant Identification

Wow this week has been like being back at school, fortunately without the bullying and school meals, although look out for another posting on the latter. First we had an “Introduction to lichens” course at FSC Malham Tarn and then yesterday I was in Shrewsbury for a “Tackling Plant Identification” course run by MMU.

Practice

After a day spent dissecting different plants yesterday, learning the names of a lot of the parts and a quick go at using Stace to key out R. ficaria I thought I would have a go at putting my new found knowledge into practice by heading up to my square in Shotover.

As well as doing some plant ID, I also wanted to hunt down some of the orienteering posts so that I can run an orienteering session with Cowley Air Cadets.

The most dramatic change in Shotover woods is that there is now a carpet of white and yellow flowers throughout. The Honeysuckle and Hawthorn leaves have grown a bit since my last visit but are still not fully out. There is no sign of any Oak leaves yet, so I will have to wait before I can definitely identify the trees or report a sighting to BBC Springwatch.

Lesser celandine

The yellow flower scattered across the forest floor is Lesser celandine. I recognised it from the course yesterday, and confirmed the identity using Rose.

Anemone?

The white flower that is even more prolific than the celandine I took to be Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa. However, on closer inspection I got confused.

Rose describes Anemone nemorosa as having”6 (or more) spreading sepals”, but makes no reference to petals. The flowers I observed appeared to have a perianth of two whorls of 3+3. Is that the same as 6 spreading sepals?

OK, so it helps to read the description of the family as well. Rose says “Anemones have coloured petal-like sepals but no petals”. Stace says “perianth of 1 whorl of 5-20 petaloid sepals”.

So, it is Anemone nemorosa after all.

Other species

There was one other plant in flower today, Viola riviniana (Common dog violet)

 

Other species that I think I was able to identify from the leaves alone were Arum maculatum and Urtica dioica.

 

Oh and I found three of the orienteering posts as well.

Shotover Atlas Project Survey 20150326

Having been given our squares for this year’s survey a couple of weeks ago I thought I would I would have a go by myself today. We have been given two squares to survey between us, so we will work on square A together and I can spend time in square B by myself, in my own time.

This will give me the chance to practice my species identification by myself, although I will of course be asking Denise for her advice and help in the identification of some specimens, particularly the mosses and grasses.

Today I thought I would concentrate on Trees and Plants.

Trees

The easiest of the trees to identify was Hazel (Corylus avellana). Collins “Complete Guide to British Trees” describes the bark as “smooth and shiny , peeling horizontally into thin paper strips”. However, the accompanying image shows predominantly green bark with fissures running vertically. The several samples I looked at had this green bark on North Easterly faces but the smoother bark on the South Westerly faces. However, this may have been due to those samples being on the Easterly side of the path.

Collins describes the winter twig as “Mainly straight (but sometimes zigzag towards tip, between nodes), greenish brown and sparsely hairy. The specimens I examined were definitely greenish brown, but hard to say if they were hairy or not. The green, ovoid buds were just starting to burst.

Oak

It would be easy to think that identifying Oak should be relatively straight forward. However, it is not enough to say that a tree is an Oak, we need to identify the species. And in winter, without any leaves I don’t think that is very straight forward. The bark should give some clue, so I am pretty certain the trees I looked at are not Downy or Pyrenean. But are they Sessile or Pedunculate? I shall have to wait for some leaves.

Hawthorn

I examined one shrubby looking tree that at first glance seemed to be another Hazel. However, the bark and the twigs looked a bit different, so I had a closer look. I found short little thorns. So, I thought, it must be some sort of thorn. My first guess was Hawthorn.

The Collins guide describes the branches of the Common Hawthorn as having numerous sharp spines. I would not describe the one I was looking as having “numerous” sharp spines. They were there, certainly but there was not very many of them and they were not very long.

Turning the page the Collins guide also lists Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata) and describes the branches of this species as “… some spines in the twig axils, but these are rarely more than 1cm long”.

I might have to wait for the next visit, in order to study the flowers and leaves in detail, but I think it is more likely this tree was the Midland Hawthorn, rather than the Common variety.

Flowering Plants

Having looked at the trees, I next turned my attention to the plants. These I knew would be more difficult as most were yet to flower.

Plants I was able to positively identify (either on site on once I got back home and reviewed photos) were:

Geranium robertianum

Even I can identify Herb Robert just by looking at its leaves.

 

Anemone nemorosa

I saw some leaves that I originally thought were young Herb Robert.

However, looking around that area I found two plants with the same leaves that were just coming into flower.

Not Herb Robert after all but Wood Anemone.

Galium aparine

With its rough, square shaped stem, 6 – 8 leaves in a whorl and coating of prickles this was relatively easy to identify.

Euphorbia amygdaloides

I must admit to needing help with Wood spurge, as I could not recall having seen it before. I thought it looked a bit like a Rhodedendron myself.

Lonicera periclymenum

There was plenty of honeysuckle twisting through the trees. Its buds bursting well ahead of everything else.

Uncertainties

There were at least two plants that I could not identify. On consulting an expert I was told that these were likely to be Ranunculus repens (Creeping buttercup) and Ranunculus ficaria (Lesser celandine) but I can’t see it myself and can’t match these images with those in Rose, “The Wildflower Key”, so I will need to see more mature leaves or the flower to confirm these.

Unknowns

There were also two leaves that I could not identify at all, but resembled some sort of Dandelion. I will need to look out for the flowers to give me a better idea.

 

Objectives for next visit.

Examine Hazel bark for differences in appearance around the stem and any correlation with compass direction and path edges.

Check Oak leaves for identification of species.

Check Hawthorn leaves and flowers to confirm Midland vs Common

Confirm presence of Ranunculus repens and R. ficaria.

Identify Dandelion looking plants.

Investigate grasses, mosses and lichens.