Top Row - Left
to Right
1. Yellow Pimpernel
Lysimachia nemorum
This flower likes shady places and may be found in the woods
which are a short walk from your holiday cottage. Its flowers are
typically no more than 1 cm to 1.2 cm across and first appear in
May, but it is usually late June before this plant is in full bloom.
You might still find yellow pimpernel in flower as late as the end
of August. Yellow Pimpernel has been used historically by herbalists
to staunch bleeding. Another common name for this wild flower is
Creeping Yellow Loosestrife. It's Welsh name is Gwlyddyn Melyn Mair
which translates as Mary's Yellow Haulm.
2. Honeysuckle
Lonicera periclymenum
This attractive climbing plant can be found growing wild
in the hedges and woodland around Plas Farm. It is sweetly scented,
especially in the evening when it attracts moths, which pollinate
the flowers as they gather nectar. Honeysuckle is a clockwise climber
and can rapidly cover trees up to six metres tall. It blooms between
June and October, and it is quite common to see the red fruit berries
alongside fresh honeysuckle blooms in autumn.
3. Bird's Foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus
Sometimes referred to as 'Bacon and Eggs' due to its yellow
flowers sometimes being tinged with red, this perennial, spreading
herbaceous plant, of the pea family (Fabaceae), grows in the meadows
and woodland around the holiday cottages. The flowers are about
2 cm wide, grow in clusters of 5 to 10 and appear between May and
September. The plant is an important nectar source for many insects
and it is also used as a larval food plant by many species of butterfly.
Second Row - Left to Right
4 . Wild Daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus
March is the month to holiday in Wales if you want to see the daffodils
in their prime where they grow along the farm drive, in the woods
and around the self catering holiday cottages. Along with the Welsh
dragon and leek, the daffodil is the national emblem of Wales. The
Welsh name for the daffodil is “cennin Pedr” or “cenhinen
Bedr,” meaning “Peter’s leek”. The Welsh
words for leeks (cennin) and daffodils (cennin Pedr, lit. "(Saint)
Peter's Leeks") are closely related and it is likely that one
of the symbols came to be used due to a misunderstanding for the
other one, though it is less clear which came first. The scientific
name of the daffodil derives from the Greek god Narcissus, who looked
into a pool, saw his reflection and fell in love with himself. The
daffodil is a perennial flowering plant of the family Amaryllidaceae
which grows from a bulb. It has pale yellow flowers with a darker
central trumpet. The long, narrow leaves are slightly greyish in
colour and rise from the base of the stem.
5 . Welsh Poppy
Meconopsis cambrica
The Welsh Poppy grows in abundance around the holiday cottages
where it contrasts beautifully with the blue grey sandstone from
which the cottages are built. It is north-west Europe's only native
species of poppy.
6. Tormentil
Potentilla erecta
Tormentil grows in the hillside meadows behind the holiday
cottages where it creeps amongst the grasses on sheep grazed pasture.
It is a member of the rose family and has tiny flowers - usually
1 cm to 1.5 cm across. Easily distinguished from a buttercup because,
although its leaves are similar to those of buttercups, the Tormentil
flower has just four petals. (Buttercups have five petals.) The
scientific name "potentilla" comes from the Latin word
"potens," for powerful, a sign of the respect given the
plant's medicinal powers. The common name "Tormentil"
refers to the torment the plant supposedly can remedy. The flowers
may be seen from June right through until the end of September.
Tormentil has a preference for acid soils, and is rarely found on
chalky land.
Third Row - Left
to Right
7. Common Ragwort Senecio jacobaea
Ragwort is well known to farmers as it is poisonous to to horses,
ponies, donkeys, cows and other livestock. Luckily animals hate
the taste of it and have to eat considerable amounts to be poisoned.
At Plas Farm, there is plenty of lush green grass for the animals
to enjoy and where ragwort does appear from time to time, it does
not pose a problem. Ragwort sometimes grows in the Christmas tree
patch behind the holiday cottages. It begins to flower in June.
It's Welsh name is Creulys Iago.
8. Smooth Hawk's-beard
Crepis capillaris
This flower likes to grow at the foot of walls and may be
found growing at the margins of the uppermost fields on the farm
9. Common Cow-wheat
Melampyrum pratense
Common cow-wheat likes to grow at the edge of woodlands and
you should see it on the tree lined lane that leads from the holiday
cottages to Cilybebyll. It is partially parasitic on the roots of
other woody plants, although this arrangement does not seem to harm
the host plant. It is famed as the food plant of the rare heath
fritillary butterfly which is thought to be extinct in Wales, although
some colonies do exist across the Bristol Channel in Devon, so do
keep an eye out - you never know!
Fourth Row - Left to Right
10. Creeping Buttercup Ranunculus repens
Creeping Buttercup grows in abundance at Plas Farm, along
many of the paths around the farm. It flowers from May to August
and differs from the Meadow buttercup by having a hairy stem.
11 . Meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria
Sweet smelling Meadowsweet can be found growing in the ditch in
the fields in front of the holiday cottages. The stems are 1-2m
tall, erect and furrowed. Meadowsweet is aromatic and has delicate,
graceful, creamy-white flowers clustered close together. They flower
from June to early September. The whole herb possesses a pleasant
taste and flavour, the green parts having a similar aromatic character
to the flowers, leading to the use of the plant to strew on floors
to give the rooms a pleasant aroma, and its use to flavour wine
and beer. Meadowsweet was regarded as sacred by the druids. It is
reputed to have many medicinal properties. In 1897 Felix Hoffmann
created a synthetically altered version of salicin, derived from
the species, which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic
acid. The new drug, formally Acetylsalicylic acid, was named aspirin
by Hoffman's employer Bayer AG. This gave rise to the hugely important
class of drugs known as NonSteroidal AntiInflammatory Drugs, or
NSAIDs.
12 . Golden Rod
Solidago virgaurea
Golden Rod is usually found on rock ledges and is very common in
upland Wales. It is a member of the daisy family and flowers from
July until September with flowers varying between 10 mm and 25 mm
across. In the past, this plant was used to treat wounds.
NO PHOTOGRAPHS
AS YET
12. Common Dandelion Taraxacum officinale
13. Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria
14. Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus acris
15. Pineappleweed Matricaria discoidea
16. Primrose Primula vulgaris
17. Silverweed Potentilla anserina
18. Common Gorse Ulex europaeus
Should you spot
any yellow 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!
|
