May Day Plant Hunt

The same route, as on St David's Day and of course New Year's Day.   (In truth I jumped the gun by going a day early).

Trees in flower and grasses emerging boosted the count to 68 species.  Again nothing remarkable though oddly I could not find any bluebells, merely a small clump of the Spanish flower, Hyacinthoides hispanica.  Midland Hawthorn (Cratageus laevigata) which flowers earlier than its sibling, the usual Hawthorn (Cratageus monogyra) was far more widespread than I had expected.  I have assumed that the Cornsalad which lined one of the village roads was the common one (Valerianella locusta) rather than one of the other 4 species, and will check when the fruits emerge - unless the village warden tidies them away before then.

Midland Hawthorn Flowers

Midland Hawthorn Leaves

Ransoms

Goldilocks Buttercup

Medium-flowered Wintergreen

4 of the species were in flower in both the previous counts, and 14 of the 17 species in flower on March 1 appeared on the May Day list.  In total there have been 76 flowering plants on my route this year, not including the obvious overspill garden plants.   As ever the village was more productive than the agricultural land.

Oaks were beginning to flower but there were galls already on the flower buds.