Alex Prendergast

It’s #WorldBookDay so botany friends, what is your favourite book? For me it’s Sell & Murrell’s epic Flora of GB&I. I came to it late, with the publication of the final vol (vol 1) in 2018. I was already into Rubus but elucidated critical botany for me & enabled recording fine scale diversity.

A magnificent Long-tailed Elm Ulmus longicaudata in my village, the only one I’ve ever seen as a mature tree. Now flowering, like most elms. #Wildflowerhour

Blackthorn! No it’s Cherry Plum! No it’s Blackthorn! Sort it out. Cherry Plum has green twigs, no thorns, reflexed sepals and flowers now. And is pretty gorgeous. Blackthorn equally so but in a few weeks #Wildflowerhour

Well, I should say Polyanthus (as in garden bedding).. which might not be x polyantha (as in cowslip x primrose)

Agree these are x polyantha. A giveaway on elatior hybrids of all sorts is the green bands on the calyx

Not ringing any bells unfortunately @anaturalistabroad.bsky.social will know!

I thought so! It’s now with a professional horticulturist who is much more likely to succeed propagating it than me. Excited to see how it grows as a garden plant.

An awesome tricolor sport of Holly Ilex aquifolium spotted in rural mid-Norfolk today. A single variegated branch on an otherwise standard hedgerow tree. Collected for propagation as it should make an interesting garden plant.

Helleborus viridis Green Hellebore in a mid-Norfolk fragment of ancient Hornbeam-Hazel woodland. Not seen here for 25 years nor anywhere in Norfolk for a decade - relieved it is still here! #Wildflowerhour

That’s a long way of saying yeah Andy’s plant looks good for fortunei

Possible macrophyllum on the entrance path to an underground Anderson shelter in Wymondham

1 Glossy mid-green with many pinnae - falcatum
1 dull yellow-green 2
2 pinnae +/- symmetric, broad, induisia erose- macrophyllum
2 pinnae narrow, asymmetric induisia entire 3
3 lax upright habit, lanceolate pinnae - fortunei
3 compact arching habit, short pinnae - clivicola

As far I can work out the options we have for Cytomium established in GB are fortunei, clivicola, macrophyllum and falcatum. Best assessed when well grown (which they often aren’t):

Oh don’t ask me.. we got thoroughly confused by them a few weeks back. It doesn’t help that there are so many misidentified images knocking about, new taxa and Stace’s characters don’t match those from the experts. Hopefully Fred will write something to clarify them all

Houseleek Sempervivum tectorum on a craggy carstone wall in west Norfolk seen with #NorfolkFloraGroup this weekend. A few #Necrobotany flowers remaining for #Wildflowerhour

Just three, one of which was already going over.

Gagea bohemica Early Star-of-Bethlehem at Stanner Rocks! A cheery spark of sunshine in the damp grey welshness. All credit to the volunteer site warden who keeps the habitat open for this and the site’s other botanical treasures. #Wildflowerhour

Veronica persica var persica, the scarcer and earlier flowering version of Common Field Speedwell, with a solid blue rather than pale/white lower petal in the common var corrensiana. Seen on open verges etc with #NorfolkFloraGroup #Wildflowerhour

Could you become BSBI's new Wales Officer, helping support the network of botanists across Wales & leading our Priority Plants in Wales Project?
You'd be helping to conserve rare & beautiful wild plants, like this lovely Radnor Lily.
For more details & how to apply, visit:
bsbi.org/about/people...

PhD opportunity: I am looking for someone with a passion for the natural environment and an interest in developing applied research collaboratively with the RSPB
Please spread the word!
@bes-rewildinggroup.bsky.social
@bes-conservation.bsky.social
@rewildingbritain.org.uk
@rspb.bsky.social

Top to bottom elwesii elwesii x plicatus = hybridus syn grandiflorus plicatus plicatus x nivalis = valentinei nivalis x elwesii nivalis

Top to bottom elwesii elwesii x plicatus = hybridus syn grandiflorus plicatus plicatus x nivalis = valentinei (slight recurved margins) nivalis nivalis x elwesii

A comparison of snowdrop leaves. Galanthus elwesii, nivalis, plicatus and their three hybrids. Names on ALT

Galanthus x hybridus (syn grandiflorus).. it is like elwesii but with grooved leaves from the plicatus parent, and often large flowers.

Yes Galanthus elwesii. Monstrous forms occur but more often they are recently disturbed plants / recently planted and take a while to settle down

I’d like to see more pics but plants with less indented leaves and red in the flowers may be worth thinking about as the hybrid

Snowdrops by their leaves: Galanthus nivalis, elwesii & plicatus.
Not to scale as nivalis is smaller than the other two, and these are garden varieties which may have particular colour tones. 😉
In #Cambridge #BotanicGarden @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social
#Botany #Snowdrops #Galanthus

I had it in a snowdrop bed years ago.. I think it probably died in a dry summer. Reckon you’ll be safe.

It doesn’t seem to have recurved leaf margins, so not x valentinei. It looks quite thick leaved though so I guess a polyploid nivalis

An interesting snowdrop Galanthus nivalis found today on the wrong side of the Norfolk-Suffolk border. Inner mark grading from green to orange. A colour changer ‘var mutabilis’ perhaps

I was telling you about nivalis ‘Green Tear’ which is similarly virescent but 1/4 the size of elwesii ‘Rosemary Burnham’

Galanthus elwesii ‘Rosemary Burnham’

Galanthus x valentinei ‘Golden Fleece’

Galanthus nivalis ssp scharlockii ‘Eli’s Green Shoulders’

Galanthus elwesii ‘White Perfection’

Some awesome snowdrops acquired today :)