Late bloomers

 Even though it is almost December, there are still some plants flowering.  Some are annuals such as Groundsel, which are growing and flowering probably from seed produced earlier in the year.  Others such as Dandelions and Broom are perennials and the mild weather has encouraged them to have another go at flowering. Weirdly, most of them seem to be yellow….

Groundsel

Groundsel

Groundsel is Senecio vulgaris – it is an annual and common (which is what the “vulgaris” implies – it is Latin for “of the common people” and  Senecio is pronounced “sen-neck-ee-oh”).  It can be seen flowering in the debris that accumulates at the edge of pavements e.g. by Newtonmore Primary School.  The flower does not appear to have petals, just a central portion (though in fact these are florets – little flowers- each of which can produce seed). 

There are more Senecio species which are bigger.  The most common is Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) which can soon take over fields.

Ragwort

Grazing animals avoid it but if it is cut, dried and mixed with hay, they can eat it and it affects their liver.  It is however a food source for insects such as the cinnabar moth. It is a biennial, which means that it takes 2 years to flower.  The first year, a seed grows a rosette of green leaves, and in the second year it grows a stem and yellow flowers.

Another Senecio is Sticky Groundsel (Senecio viscosus).  

Sticky Groundsel near Kingussie Railway Station

This is bigger than Groundsel and is covered in hairs which have a blob of liquid on the end which gives rise to the sticky feeling.  (This sort of hair is called a glandular hair.) 

Glandular hairs on Sticky Groundsel

I haven’t seen it in Newtonmore, but I have found it in Kingussie on building sites and near the railway station.  It seems to like disturbed ground.

The final kind of Senecio that I have seen locally is Heath Groundsel (Senecio sylvaticus).  It grows under the trees at one side of the road into Kingussie from Newtonmore.  Thanks go to Val Emmett for spotting it and pointing it out to me. It is taller than common Groundsel.

Heath Groundsel

Like all these Senecios, Heath Groundsel produces fluffy seeds that get carried away by the wind to grow elsewhere.

Heath Groundsel flowering and producing seedheads

Another lichen – or is that two?

The next lichen I wanted to try to ID is one that hangs off twigs like a pale green beard, with lots of thin wispy branches.  It originates from one point so it is a fruticose (bushy) lichen. 

The first question is about the cross section of the branches – round, flat or grooved. 

These look round which narrows it down to 4 species all which all have names starting with Usnea.

Unfortunately, after that it gets a bit tricky… the next distinguishing feature is to do with reproduction and asks if there are any "soredia".  Not a term I know, so looking it up they are powdery granules on the surface. Here's a close-up:

Well, I can see some little specks on the surface but is that what they mean?  Quite honestly, I don't know as I have not had any experience with lichens.  There is another lichen that I picked up that I thought might be an Usnea.  It's a bit darker but otherwise similar.

A close up of this one does show something on the surface:

So my best guess is that they are both Usnea  and might be Usnea cornuta or Usnea subfloridana, and I can't get much further than that! I notice that the British Lichen Society says don't try to ID Usnea to species, just record Usnea so I will have to be content with that.

Getting to like Lichens

 You have probably noticed that most of the trees in Newtonmore have green growths on them - no, I don't mean leaves!-  but growths that look like miniature bushes or coloured patches.

Lichens on a tree trunk

These are lichens (pronounced either like-uns or litch-uns).  Are they a plant or what?  Most are a combination of two things - a fungus and an alga.  A fungus can't manufacture its food from sunlight using chlorophyll like green plants and algae can. The fungus provides a home for the alga which then manufactures food.

Having been inspired by the lichen talk referred to in my last post, I have been looking more closely at the lichens growing locally. It is easy to collect samples as they often blow off the trees.  I have bought a leaflet by the Field Studies Council "Key to Lichens on Twigs" so I can have a go at naming what I see. There are lots of photos and a simple multi-access key (where you tick what you can see and it suggests the name). A similar key (but no photos) is available online at the Natural History Museum.  

There are also 2 free sheets of information and photos of the 20 most common lichens available from The British Lichen Society.

So here is a lichen that I picked up off the ground:

Lichen from the top

The first decision is to look at how it grows (pictures from NHM site):

fruticose  Branched shrub-like lichens attached to the twig by a sucker-like holdfast.

foliose  Leaf-like lichens attached to the twig by the lower surface.

crustose  Crust-like lichens that are only removed by cutting the bark.

It is like a little bush that was attached to  the tree at one point - which is more obvious when you look at the underside, as the branches come from a central point:

Lichen underside

So that makes it a bushy or fruticose lichen.

The next decision is whether the branches are the same colour on top as underneath.

Top side - light green

Underside - whitish

So the top and bottom surfaces are a different colour.  That makes the ID easy as there is only one fruticose lichen on my leaflet that has different colours on each side, Evernia prunastri. The leaflet says that the branches should be flattened in cross-section which is true as well. It is also known as Oakmoss which is not that helpful as it isn't a moss, and mine wasn't growing near an oak. Another name is Stag Lichen which does match the antler-like shape of the branches.

I could not smell anything much from my sample, though Encyclopedia Brittanica says this:

"Oak moss was used in perfumery as early as the 16th century. Baskets filled with it have been found in the ancient royal tombs of Egypt, but whether it was intended for perfume or for food is not known. Oak moss contains a starchy edible substance. A mixture of acids extracted from it is used in drugs for treating external wounds and infections."

It is very common locally so keep an eye out for it next time you are out on a walk.

Free resources from the Scottish Botanists Conference

Last weekend was the Scottish Botanists Conference, run by the BSBI  (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland). In previous years, I have gone to the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and attended in person but this year it was all done by Zoom. This had the disadvantage of not being able to meet people, but on the plus side everything was recorded and will be available to watch on YouTube. Not everything has been uploaded yet.

The webpage is at https://scottishbotanistsconference.org/ 

The YouTube channel is:

https://www.youtube.com/c/BotanicalSocietyofBritainandIreland/videos

There are lots of other videos to watch there as well, quite a few on identifying different plants; Grasses, sedges, etc

The four online workshops  are listed below:

Introduction to the BSBI Database – Chris Metherell, BSBI

Introduction to Conifer ID – Matt Paratt, Forest Research

Starting out with Lichen identification – Rebecca Yahr, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh & British Lichen Society

Introduction to Winter Tree Id –Mark Duffell, Arvensis Ecology & BSBI Training & Education

I found the workshops very interesting, especially as it suggested activities that could be carried out over the winter when there are few flowers out. Newtonmore has plenty of trees and lichens so that will give me something to do when I am out walking.