Top Row - Left
to Right
1.
Bluebell Endymion non-scriptus
The Native Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) is arguably
the nation's favourite wildflower. Britain is home to half of the
world’s total population and the intense blue-violet haze
that carpets Plas Farm's woodlands during May is an unforgettable
sight. The beautiful aroma also lasts long in the memory. They are
perfectly adapted to cope with the shade created by the woodland
canopy above. The first shoots emerge in January, giving bluebells
a valuable head start over other woodland plants. They can grow
and sow seeds before the trees produce leaves, reducing space and
light. However, temperatures are getting warmer, bringing spring
forward by six days for every degree celsius. In other words, this
'head start' is getting smaller. Interbreeding with Spanish
bluebells and the resulting hybrids is also posing a threat to our
native variety. The Spanish bluebells were introduced to British
gardens in the 17th century, but it wasn't until the 20th century
that they escaped into the wild. As a result, a third of bluebells
are either a Spanish or hybrid variety, and one in six bluebell
woods contains a mixture of all three species. The carpets of bluebells
at Plas Farm are the native variety.
2. Sheep's-bit
Jasione montana
A scabious-like plant (sometimes called sheep's-bit scabious)
but not related to true scabiouses such as devil's-bit. It grows
at the foot of earth banks that form field boundaries near the top
of the farm, a fifteen minute walk from your holiday cottage. The
narrow-lobed, starry flowers of sheep's bit mass in globes 2.5 cm
(1 inch) in diameter in which the outside flower circles open first.
The short, thick anthers are united at the base. The first flowers
appear in May and blooming continues into September. Sheepsbit scabious
is usually at its best from late June until early August.
3. Selfheal Prunella vulgaris
This low creeping perennial is a member of the mint family
and grows in the fields and on footpaths around the self catering
holiday cottages at Plas Farm. The first flowers appear in June,
and in some sheltered places self-heal continues flowering until
the first frosts of winter arrive. As the common name suggests it
has been used internally and externally as a medicinal herb to treat
sores and wounds.
Second Row - Left to Right
4. Common Hemp Nettle Galeopsis tetrahit
This wild flower is a member of the mint family and has purplish
flowers. It grows at the edge of the woodland at Plas Farm. alongside
a farm lane.
5. Woody
Nightshade Solanum dulcamara
Woody Nightshade or Bittersweet is a perennial plant that twines
around other plants. It can reach up to 2 metres high. The stalked
leaves grow alternate on the stem. They are pointed leaves with
an arrow or almost heart-shape and higher up the stem they have
little lobes or "wings" at the base. When crushes, the
leaves give off a disagreeable smell. The leaves are always arranged
to face the light and this plant has the peculiarity that the flowers
clusters invariably face a different direction from the leaves.
Woody Nightshade is a member of the Nightshade family (Solanaceae).
This important plant family supplies us not only with some of our
most common foods (Potato, Tomato, Green and Red Peppers, Aubergine)
and other plants of economical value (Tobacco), but it also contain
some of our most poisonous native plants, such as Henbane (Hyoscyamus
niger). Other famous family members are Deadly Nightshade, Thornapple
and Mandrake. Woody Nightshade may be seen growing in the Christmas
tree patch, on the side of the lane that leads from the holiday
cottages to the mountain.
6. Tufted
Vetch Vicia cracca
You can expect to see this member of the pea family in bloom
in Wales from June until the end of August. It grows in some of
the meadows at the top of the farm. Occasionally known as Cow Vetch
or Bird Vetch, Tufted Vetch is widely used as a forage crop for
cattle, and is beneficial to other plants because, like other leguminous
plants, it enriches the soil in which it grows by its nitrogen-fixing
properties. Tufted Vetch is also much appreciated by bees and butterflies
as a source of nectar.
Third Row - Left
to Right
7. Creeping
Thistle Cirsium arvense
Creeping thistle is native in cultivated fields, waste places,
hedgerows and grassland throughout Wales. The patches at Plas Farm
are a great place to spot butterflies, especially Painted Ladies
and Peacocks. It is the commonest perennial weed of grassland on
beef and sheep farms especially on older sward and in soils with
low phosphate or high potassium levels.
8. Heather Calluna
vulgaris
A low-growing shrubby species which is the commonest of
all the heather species and which is found in acid and especially
peaty soils all across Wales. The habitats include old leached sand
dunes, lowland heaths, raised and blanket bogs, woodland and forestry
plantations. It occurs from sea level to high up in the mountains
and hills and frequently grows covering very large areas as the
dominant species. Calluna is distinguished from other heathers (Erica
spp.) by having separate petals, instead of a tubular or urn-like
flower of fused petals. It is frequently accompanied by Erica spp.
and whinberry (Vaccinium myrtillus). To see lots of heather, take
a short walk up Mynydd Marchywel from your holiday cottage.
9. Devil's Bit
Scabious Succisa pratensis
The Devil's Bit plant produces a mass of purple flowers
on wiry stems. It may be found growing alongside the farm track
that crosses the rush pasture on the hill behind the cottages. Very
few wildflowers attract more butterflies than the Devil's Bit Scabious
which is favoured by the Tortoiseshells, Admirals and bees. According
to old European legend, it was so useful to mankind as a tea for
coughs and fevers and in ointments for the treatment of skin diseases
that the Devil, consumed with anger over the plant's many virtues,
bit its root half off, but God allowed it to thrive with a stumpy
root anyway. Devil's Bit root is said to put a stop to any evil
directed toward you.
NO PHOTOGRAPHS
AS YET
1. Common
Forget-me-not Myosotis arvensis
2. Purple Crocus Crocus albiflorus
Should you spot
any blue-purple wild flowers at Plas Farm during your cottage holiday
that are not listed on this page, please let us know and if possible
take a photograph of it!
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