Yarrow, Sneezewort and a rare find

There are some flowers that appear late in the season and let you know that autumn is almost here - Devils-bit Scabious, Harebells and Sneezewort. You are probably more familiar with the first two, both being an attractive shade of blue, whereas Sneezewort could be mistaken for a slightly larger Yarrow. They are both in the same family, Yarrow being Achillea millefolium with feathery leaves as the second half of the name suggests, and Sneezewort being Achillea ptarmica, where the second part of the name comes from the Greek for sneeze.  Sneezewort leaves are completely different being narrow and toothed, and apparently if dried and powdered they cause sneezing. The other difference, apart from the leaf shape, is that the Sneezewort flowers are bigger.

Yarrow - smaller flowers, feathery leaves

Sneezewort flowers

Sneezewort leaves

On our trip to Loch Laggan, the small island was covered in Sneezewort, blowing in the wind.

 Whilst I was looking for other flowers, I noticed a plant with spotty leaves and got quite excited thinking I had found a new plant.

The  spotty plant

Looking at it more closely and at some of the other photos I had taken, I realised it was a stunted Sneezewort suffering from some sort of infection.  The  black spots were on the stem as well as the leaves. And when magnified the spots were bumps rather than just the colour of the leaf.

The black spots on the leaves

Fortunately I took a sample back home with me.

Infected plant on a 1 cm squared background

Why fortunately? Remember the expert on fungi that I mentioned in my last post? Prof Bruce Ing? He took the sample away was able to identify the fungus. It's  Schizothyriana*ptarmicae. What, you have never heard of it? Well, neither had I.  Even more surprisingly, it got ZERO hits on Google.  It was keen to substitute schizophrenia instead. 

 Surely, I thought, there must be something on the internet that mentions it? Doesn't the internet have absolutely everything there somewhere.... Well, I tried searching with Google Scholar (which searches research articles) and there were a few hits for articles from Poland and Germany. It turns out that it is very rare (23 records in UK) so Bruce has taken the sample away for it to go in a collection. Fame at last!

*UPDATE -I was talking to Bruce today and it turned out there was a typo on the list I was sent and it should have been Schizothyrioma (pronounced with a soft ch) which got 407 hits on Google!

On the moor

  On a sunny day, we went for a walk to Luibleathann bothy across the moor between Nuide and the Milton Burn.  The main vegetation is heather (Calluna vulgaris) which is just brown at the moment, but underneath was plenty of cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) with small pink buds.  These will open out to look like small white bells which will later form red berries. The leaves are shiny and evergreeen and the edges roll in towards the underside which is dotted.  Looking at the leaves is one way to distinguish it from other berried plants that grow on the moors.

Cowberry buds

Cowberry flowers

Cowberry leaves showing rolled-in edge and dots.

We stopped by a loop in the Milton Burn and there was a stand of bare bushes with catkins. 

Milton burn with a stand of Bog Myrtle beyond the man and dog!

From their position next to the burn I thought they would be Bog Myrtle (Myrica gale) but I had never seen the catkins before.  They gave out a puff of yellow pollen when touched.

Bog Myrtle catkins

Close up of Bog Myrtle catkin showing yellow pollen grains.

 West Highland Flora  says that plants are either all male or all female but can change sex from year to year! The pollen would make the plant I touched a male one.

There was not much else flowering, but some dead flower stalks of Yarrow (Achillea millefolia), identified from the small leaves at the base.

Yarrow - old flower stalk

Yarrow leaves

Luibleathann (Gaidhlig) probably Luib= loop, bend  + leathann= broad,  and it is by a loop in the Milton burn.