Clovers, Lupins and Grizzly Bears!

On the same walk as the Woundwort post, I got the chance to compare different clovers. You are probably all familiar with the White Clover (Trifolium repens) which is very common in lawns, and the red one (Trifolium pratense) which is more likely to be in unimproved grasslands.  There is a third one which looks at first glance to be Red  Clover but is a different species called Zigzag Clover (Trifolium medium).

White Clover

Red Clover

 There is a third one which looks at first glance to be Red  Clover but is a different species called Zigzag Clover (Trifolium medium).

Zig-zag Clover

It is a brighter pink and apparently has zig-zag stems but I can't say I have noticed that.  I find the easiest way for me to tell them apart, is to look just under the flowerhead. Red Clover has 3 small leaves right underneath the flower, but Zig-zag clover doesn't.

Zig-zag Clover on the left and Red clover on the right with the green leaves directly under the flowerhead.

There are many other clovers, most of which I have never found.  There is an agricultural version of Red Clover which is much bigger and has hollow stems.  I found it growing on an A9 embankment near the Wildlife Park which seemed to have been sown with a wildflower mix when they topsoiled it. Clover is good as an agricultural crop as the roots improve the soil.  They are able to fix nitrogen in nodules on their roots and nitrogen  in the soil improves leafy growth in plants.

Another plant that can perform the same trick is the lupin.  There is more than one sort of lupin too! The garden one comes in several colours, pinks and blues and purples, and can be seen growing in profusion on the side of the road near the Wildlife Park. Here are some in my garden, grown from seed that was labelled Russell hybrids.  They are being battered by Storm Floris which is raging outside as I write.

Garden lupins

But, on the side of the A9 again, there is a species called the Nootka lupin which is always blue.  It has a hairy stem and smaller leaves.

Nootka Lupin

 I collected some seed and it germinated in a few weeks. 

If you want to get to know a plant really well, nothing beats growing it yourself from seed.

I heard a story of how the Nootka lupin got its name when the Badenoch Gardening Club visited Logie Gardens.  Nootka is an island off the West coast of Vancouver Island.  Panny the owner tells a story that the natives shouted Nootka to James Cook when his boat came near and they thought it was the name of the island (where the lupin grows) but in fact it was a warning that they might go aground!   I was a bit doubtful of the story but it is  given here on the history site of Nootka Island:

In March 1778, Captain James Cook became the first European to set foot on British Columbian soil when he visited Friendly Cove on Nootka Island. While anchoring, the natives shouted "itchme nutka, itchme nutka", meaning "go around" (to Yuquot), but Cook misinterpreted their calls, believing the name of the area to be Nootka.

Yuquot, also known as Friendly Cove, was the summer home of Chief Maquinna and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht people for millennia, and retains historic significance today as the site of the first contact between Europeans and First Nations people in British Columbia.

 Although the plant has been used to enrich impoverished ground because of its nitrogen fixing properties it has also become an invasive alien in Iceland.  More on that here. There is a fact sheet here which also gives the fascinating nugget of information that the roots are a favourite food of grizzly bears! (Better make sure my plants don't attract bears....)