More from the Golf Course

 Although the orchids are a great attraction, there are other beauties on the Golf Course and along the Spey. July is a great month for seeing them.

Beside the Spey looking towards Kingussie and Creag Beag

A group of Melancholy Thistle with their silver backs to the leaves

Melancholy thistle bud and flower

Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum) has single flower heads and has no nasty prickles at all, unlike the other thistles.  The second part of the name -heterophyllum- means "two sorts of leaves" as the leaves can have different forms. Some have straight edges and some have fingerlike lobes.

All the leaves have a woolly underside that looks white and is visible from a distance.

A few posts ago I talked about finding Red Clover on a housing estate in Inverness.  There is plenty of Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) around the Golf Course and Wildcat Trail:

Red Clover - note the three leaves just under the flower, often with a white v

There, is also a similar, less common look-alike: Zig-zag Clover (Trifolium medium) The flower is a brighter pink and does not have any leaves immediately under the flower.

Zig-zag Clover

The Globeflower (Trollius europaeus) is also blooming just now but is already forming seedheads. You can read more about it in this post.

Globeflower and seedhead

The flowers grow quite easily from seed so I am hoping they will establish in my wildflower lawn.