plant IDs

 

I visited Acorn Bank (NT) up in Cumbria towards to the end of April, and
came across a plant that I couldn't place. I'm not sure whether it was
meant to be there, or arrived under it's own steam.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27317581@N06/3613702404/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27317581@N06/3613702154/

Anyone recognise it?

There was also in the woodland garden there (and I presume wild) a
marginal plant that is reasonably common, but which I've never pinned
down.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27317581@N06/3613702244/

While I'm asking questions, there's also this aquatic plant photographed
in a canal backwater last month.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27317581@N06/3525917881/
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

 


And the leaves look too fleshy. It may be me misreading the pic, but the
leaves seem to be of similar fleshiness to ivy-leaved toadflax - is that
impression right? - it's certainly more the fleshiness that you'd
associate with some of the saxifrages.
--
Kay

 


I'd say that the leaves are fleshier than Cymbalaria, but then I don't
find the leaves of Cymbalaria to be particularly fleshy. (But they're
variable; the local stately home has a population which is less
trailing, with fleshier leaves, than those I've seen growing wild.)

But now that you mention toadflax and saxifrage, I open Stace, and find
a decription of Celandine Saxifrage (Saxifraga cymbalaria), which is
what it appears to be. (Now I look at the photograph of the flower I see
that it does have a second carpel, which I had overlooked, causing me to
discount somewhat Saxifragaceae.)

So, thanks - you nudged me in the right direction.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

 


And as you see from my other post, I went in exactly the same direction,
in my case via Fitter, Fitter and Blamey ;-)

It interests me our different approaches - you via the detailed
botanical structure, me by my gut feeling and similarities to things I
already know well. You will, of course, always get to the correct answer
while I can go spectacularly wrong, but just occasionally I may get
there more quickly albeit less rigorously.

Which is why I am now trying to consolidate my wildflower knowledge by a
better understanding of the underlying taxonomy.
--
Kay

 


I suspect that you would find that our approaches are not all that
different. (What I didn't mention was that after referring to Stace I
went to Google Image Search to confirm the appearance of the plant.)

My preferred references for identification at the moment are Garward and
Streeter (illustrations and field marks) and Sterry (photographs, field
marks and portable, but lacking complete coverage). In the case of
Saxifraga cymbalaria, I don't think I have any works which illustrate
it. (Keble-Martin only mentions it in the text.)

I can be wrong as well - working from the manuals only works if you
start in the right place.

And, I'm slowly training myself to identify plants in the field.

Stewart Robert Hinsley