Rebecca Wheeler

Oh wow!!! Lovely find Matt!!

We had a proper old-fashioned day out #ByTheSea yesterday with ice cream & wildflowers galore! Clockwise from top right Carline Thistle, Eyebright, Harebell, the first Autumn Ladies Tresses, Sea Holly, Viper’s Bugloss, Ploughman’s Spikenard & a lighthouse!!! #WildflowerHour 🌊🍦

For the #DeadNettleFamily challenge the delightfully fuzzy-headed flowers of Black Horehound, Ballota nigra always look a bit confused to me! The flowers are so worth a closer inspection as they are prettily pencilled with delicate markings 😍 #WildflowerHour

New to me this week but because I’d seen it on #WildflowerHour I knew exactly what it was! 🥰 Duke of Argyll’s Tea Plant, Lycium barbarum casually growing from the walls of Runcorn Castle. Introduced from China and closely related to the Goji Berry, Lycium chinense.

The beautiful milky-blue, bell-shaped flowers of Campanula rotundifolia, commonly known as the Harebell or Scottish Bluebell. Can you find one in bloom for #WildflowerHour this Sunday? Share your pics 8-9pm.

Is there a wildflower more evocative of long summer days than the beautiful Harebell?! Campanula rotundifolia is of course also known as the Scottish Bluebell. The challenge this week is to see if you can find one for #Wildflowerhour! Share your pics this Sunday 8-9pm! 💙

Ghost Orchids Epipogium aphyllum in SE France this week. An awesome experience seeking out these enigmatic spirits and finding them in such abundance, in beautiful sub-alpine woods #wildflowerhour

Round-leaved Sundew, Co. Donegal. #hairyplants #wildflowerhour

Gorgeous and just perfect for #HairyPlants!

Broad-leaved Helleborines can be quite hard to spot. Frequently found amidst bushes and in the drip line of trees their subdued colours mean they can hide in plain sight! Take a moment to have look closer and you will be rewarded with subtle elegant beauty 😍

It’s been so hot this week that I’ve been keeping in the shade. I’ve had good company though, lots of gorgeous Broad-leaved Helleborines!!! Thankfully they haven’t been chomped by deer this year! #WildflowerHour

Some are stellate, glandular, forked, simple or branched. What are? I hear you ask! Hairs! This week’s challenge is to find a hairy plant, the hirsuter the better and examine its trichomes! Post your bristly pics using the hashtag #hairyplants for #Wildflowerhour this Sunday 8-9pm

Yes that’s right 😄

Incredible capture Chris!!!!

Ghost flowers (Monotropa uniflora) rise from the forest floor like pale seahorses. They lack leaves, roots and chlorophyll because rather than manufacturing food from sunlight, they steal it from an underground fungus.

Yay, a new orchidaceous tour from our friends @mariposanature.bsky.social!
This one is led by the amazing @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social - the guy who refound the Ghost Orchid last summer: bsbi.org/ghost-orchid...
So proud to have this great company as a #BSBICorporateSupporter

Lacking chlorophyll this beautifully strange parasitic plant obtains its nutrients from a fungus. Fascinatingly it is a myco-heterotroph, getting its food through parasitism upon fungi rather than photosynthesis. These fungi form a mycorrhiza with nearby tree species.

I adore this fascinating parasitic plant, it was so wonderful to see it again yesterday on the @mariposanature.bsky.social tour of Hutton Roof! It was looking absolutely pristine too! 🥰
Yellow Bird’s-nest, Monotropa hypopitys 💛
@thenewgalaxy.bsky.social #WildflowerHour

I’m sure he will be, you will love it, the whole place is quite incredible!!!

It was a gorgeous plant and your photos are superb Richard

A real show stopper! 😍

It was an absolutely wonderful day Kirsty, loved every second 🥰

Fingers crossed! 🤞

@wildflowerhour.bsky.social @botanybeck.bsky.social
On Lundy, but have sloooow phone signal.
Marsh Helleborine Braunton Burrows.

It certainly does!!! 🥰

It was an amazing day Astrid, highly, highly recommend!😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

I’ve long wanted to see this hybrid and this example was truly stunning!!! Note the leaves at the base, just like a Broad-leaved Helleborine spiralling around the stem, whilst the flowers betray its Dark Red Helleborine parentage.

This is my favourite from a wonderful day with @mariposanature.bsky.social at Hutton Roof. Epipactis x schmalhausenii, the love child between Dark Red and Broad-leaved Helleborine.
Isn’t it an absolute stunner!!!! 😍
#HelleborineChallenge #WildflowerHour
@thenewgalaxy.bsky.social

On a wonderful @mariposa_nature.bsky.social day out. We saw so many truly gorgeous orchids plus the wonderful Yellow Birds-nest and Angular Solomon’s Seal all set within the incredible landscape of the spectacular Hutton Roof!!

An epic day at Hutton Roof with @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social First for me, hybrid between Dark Red & Broad-leaved Helleborine & the different colour forms of Epipactis atropurpureans! Also an absolute treat to catch up with some pristine Monotropa hypopitys!! #HelleborineChallenge #WildflowerHour

It’s amazing round there, you’ll have a wonderful time!

Happy belated birthday wishes Andy 🥳 Love the book!

A brand new challenge this week!

Yes 😀

It’s a super site 😍