Upper storey plants

 There is not much of interest in the flowering plants yet apart from the spring bulbs, so I am still keeping myself occupied looking for lichens. On two occasions I have found plants setting up home in holes in the trees, several feet above the ground. Whether they will survive, I am not sure...

Today I found some Wood Sorrel half way up a birch tree on the side of Creag Dhubh.

Wood Sorrel

Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) normally grows on the ground under trees. Its leaves have a lemony taste and are three lobed, a bit like clover.  They are closed up in this photo. It has white flowers in the spring.

Another tree dweller I found was by Allt Laraidh.  This time it is a violet.

It is probably a common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana)

Although the weather has become a bit cooler today, I am hopeful that we will see some spring flowers soon.

Violas three

On a walk around the  edges of the lower Newtonmore Golf course, I saw three kinds of Violas - two violets and a pansy.
The first one was Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana) which is quite easy to spot if you are in grass or woodland as there is plenty of it about in Spring.  It is small but the purple flowers show up amongst the grass and it can form quite big clumps (especially at Loch Imrich on the  grassy slopes opposite the log house).

Common Dog-violet

The leaves are heart shaped with a point at the tip.  This helps to distinguish it from the other violet I saw, Marsh Violet (Viola palustris).  As the name suggests it grows in wetter places.  Its leaves are rounder with no point, and the flower is paler.

Marsh Violet - note the rounded leaf

Marsh Violet

The third viola was Mountain Pansy (Viola lutea). The flowers come in various combinations of yellow and purple.

As it spreads by sending out runners, you can find large patches of exactly the same colour.  

Mountain Pansy on Golf Course

It also produces seed which can give rise to new colour combinations.