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Cow Parsley or Queen Anne's Lace
Anthriscus sylvestris |
Cow parsley. One of the plants of my childhood. Each little floret of cow parsley has one petal that is larger than the others. It's part of the carrot family, and grows up to a metre tall. The verges and hedges are full of it around here at this time of year, bobbing and swaying in the wind.
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| New ferns unfurling |
I always think it's magical, the way ferns uncurl into magnificent leaves: they look almost like small animals. Sometimes you will find a clump of them on the hedgerow all facing in one direction, looking a lot like a gang of expectant meerkats.
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Ivy-leaved Toadflax
Cymbalaria muralis |
There is masses of this growing on a wall in the lane outside our house. It propogates itself in an unusual way. Before fertilisation, the flower stalk is phototropic, and moves towards the light. After fertilisation it reverses this tendency and becomes negatively phototropic. This results in the seed being pushed into cracks or dark crevices where the conditions are right for germination and growth. Amazing!
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