The recent spell of warm weather (now gone, alas) has encouraged plenty of plants to flower so there are a lot of new blooms to spot. On a recent walk "around the block" i.e. around the roads circling the Primary school, I saw a patch of blue flowers in the playing field which turned out to be Slender Speedwell (Veronica filiformis).
There are many Speedwells (their names all start with Veronica) so what is distinctive about this one?
- Well, for a start, it is slender with fine thin stems so it is floppy and lies low in the grass and forms mats.
- The flowers are borne singly on long stems (pedicels).
- Like all Speedwell flowers, the flower has 2 stamens (see photo) and 4 petals but for the Slender Speedwell the lower petals tend to be whiter.
- The leaves are kidney shaped and rounded.
Other flowers spotted on this short circuit and around Loch Imrich were Wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa), Lady's Smock or Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis) and Common Dog-violets (Viola riviniana).
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| Wood Anemones at Loch Imrich |
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| Wood Anemone |
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| Lady's Smock |
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| Dog-violet |
Stamen - the male part of the flower that has the pollen
Pedicel - a stalk bearing a single flower
1 comment:
Thank you. I find your blog interesting and helpful. At Loch Imrich, l found a solitary Bog Bean in flower also some Pink Purslane about four days ago.
The discovery of lichens is fascinating. Your interest has encouraged me to look much more carefully at those which l see on my walks.
I am not a botanist as such but, as a retired mountaineer, l have always looked at flowers enroute . At the end of a hard day my small group of friends took great pleasure in naming flora from a book. We always carried flower books and bird books for the areas we visited particularly in the Alps. We shared the weight around our rucksacks.
Last week I took some of my coffee ladies on my annual pilgrimage to Dunachton Woods. We were rewarded by the beauty of thousands of Primroses in one special area.
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