01 January 2016

New Year Plant Hunt

Three-corned Leek - Alexanders        
Scarlet Pimpernel - Adria Bellflower
Summer Snowflake - Winter Heliotrope  
A bit of a gentle start to the year, made recording vascular plants in flower in the Mumbles area, between visiting friends and feeding the Mediterranean Gulls in Bracelet Bay. Excluding species that were obviously planted. we managed to locate 15 native/naturalised species in total, the most significant of which was probably a fresh spike of Ivy Broomrape Orobanche hederae on Mumbles Head. However, the most intriguing species was the inappropriately named Summer Snowflake Leucojum aestivum subsp. pulchellum; we only have a few records of the latter species in Glamorgan, so it was somewhat surprising that we noted it at three locations today, where it was flowering at each of them. It was particularly well established (with dozens of large clumps) in the woodland immediately adjacent to the car park in Caswell Bay, where it was first recorded as the binomial by the late Tony Lewis in 1997. The large green tufts of strappy leaves, with a sprinkling of white Snowdrop-type flowers is one to look out for and I'd be grateful of any reports.
Ivy Broomrape

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