The Teasel family or Dipsacaceae came to my attention again now we are nearing Christmas time and I am hunting around for attractive seedheads to utilize in the yearly Christmas wreaths we are making.
There are many proud stems left in our Bee Garden at my allotment but I had to remove several which were dropping accross the pathways, which won’t go to waste!
I learned from Stace that this family has now moved to be family 140, situated in between the Valerianaceae before and the Griseliniaceae & Pittosporaceae after. These last two are both non-native families, originating from New Zealand. The next family is the Araliaceae or Ivy family, which is very familiar and a post about ivy and its uses can be found here.
More info can be found through links provided from online websites and pictures are by partner Matt Summers (M.S.), Mike Poulton of Ecorecord (M.P.) as well as from Wikipedia Common.
Above also this time half a page of Plate 43 in the Concise British Flora in Colour. This book was aquired by myself for the Kew Diploma Course in 1986 as one of the reference books to get. Still a beautifully illustrated book with 1486 species illustrated in 100 plates of all the flowering plant families of the B. I. The work was completed by W. Keble Martin in 60 years and first published in 1965.
The Teasel family only has 5 genera with few species on the B.I.. Most of the plants below are also found in the Birmingham and Black Country:
“Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. The Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera worldwide.”
Stace mentions 22 straight genera growing in the British Isles. There are also many intergeneric crosses, which makes the classification a lot more complicated. Some genera only have a limited number of species, whilst Dactylorhiza (Marsh orchid), Epipactis (Helleborine) and Orchis (Orchids) have many species.
There are 15 entries in our Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country although some are old records and have not been seen in recent years. These entries will be indicated by FBBC after the name in the contents page.
If you are interested in native orchids you can also have a look at the website of The Hardy Orchid society, who share an interest in the wild, native orchids of Britain and the rest of Europe, as well as those from similar temperate climates throughout the world.
The common name usually has a link of Wikipedia or another link of a U.K. site. I’ve used the excellent website First Nature on several occasions. This also has a useful Wild Orchids of Britain and Ireland Gallery.
The info about wildlife associated is mainly from Wikipedia.
Most orchids require a mycorrhizal symbiosis to germinate successfully and remains partially dependent upon the fungus in order to access soil nutrients. This information can also be found in the Wikipedia link and I will omit this in order to keep the information concise.
Pictures are mainly thanks to Mike Poulton (M.P.), Andrew Bennett (A.B.), Matt Summers (M.S) and from various people on Wikipedia.
Contents:
In Stace it is family 164 after the Liliaceae and before the Iridaceae. The family is split into 7 tribes which you can find in the contents below and please use the jump link to find more info on the next page!
The Crassulaceae or Stonecrop family looks ornamental most of the year because of its rounded, succulent and evergreen foliage. However, the flowers give it an extra attraction!
I always associated this family with drought loving plants but I learned it has several moisture loving members too!
The flowers are providing food as well as shelter for many types of insects.
Several of the genera and species mentioned in Stace are in fact ornamental garden plants and have ‘escaped’ into the wild as often happens! At least one species of Crassula is now a serious weed, originally introduced as an aquatic ornamental for ponds.
Thanks for pictures donated by Mike Poulton of Ecorecord as well as from Wikipedia Commons. If there is no picture, you will see what it looks like by pressing the link below the (common) Name. Also pictures in the Gallery of the Plant Atlas Online, which you can find pressing the link on the Scientific Name.
A bluebackground tells you about the habitat where it can be found in B.I. as well as for interesting facts or wildlife use! A pink background means a warning (such as poisonous!) or medicinal use, green for edible, ornamental or other uses.
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus Amaranthus. It now includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species in the world!
It is not an obviously attractive family but as always when you delve further in all those families there are some fascinating members!
In Stace, 12 genera are described of which many are introduced by accident through wool, soya bean waste, as birdseed and other sources.
The less common, introduced genera + species will briefly be mentioned on the next page as well as our more common, native species.
Click links of the plants in the contents below for more info and pictures from various websites. Scientific/Latin Name usually has a link from the Online Atlas of the British Isles and Irish Flora. Pink background means a warning (such as poisonous!) or medicinal use, green for edible, ornamental or other uses and blue for habitat where it can be found in B.I. , for interesting facts or for wildlife use. Pictures from Wikipedia or Mike Poulton and edited information mainly from PFAF and Wikipedia.
This and the previous post are about a number of native families which in the ‘Wild Flower Key’ are lumped together into the one Liliaceae but are in fact classified in different families according to Stace.
Again, similar to the previous post this has several good garden plants which have established themselves often very happily in the wild!
The debate of native and non-native and what to include in my blog will be more and more difficult in future as rare endemics will not be known by many and certainly should not be ‘used’ in any way! Common, ornamental plants will be more accessible to all and get established in the wild more and more for everybody to use! They will become in fact our new ‘weeds’!
Click links for more info and pictures of the plants from various websites. Scientific/Latin Name usually has a link from the Online Atlas of the British Isles and Irish Flora. Pink background means a warning (such as poisonous!) or medicinal use, green for edible or other uses and blue for habitat where it can be found in B.I. , interesting facts or wildlife use.
Contents are included to easily jump to right genus on next page!
Pictures with thanks by Matt Summers, Mike Poulton of Ecorecord and Wikipedia .
This and the next posts are about a number of native families which in the ‘Wild Flower Key’ is lumped together into the one Liliaceae.
But according to Stace this family is split into several families.
This is what he has to say about it:
‘It has long been known that Cronquist‘s very broad Liliaceae should be subdivided, some of the segregate families belonging to different orders. This has now been confirmed by molecular data; the taxa in our flora should be divided into at least the 9 families recognised here.’
The debate of native and non-native and what to include in my blog will be more and more difficult in future as rare endemics will not be known by many and certainly should not be ‘used’ in any way. Common, ornamental plants will be more accessible to all and get established in the wild more and more for everybody to use! They will become in fact our new ‘weeds’!
Click the links for more info and pictures from various websites. Scientific/Latin Name usually has link from the Online Atlas of the British Isles and Irish Flora. Pink background means a warning (such as poisonous!) or medicinal use, green for edible, ornamental or other uses and blue for habitat where it can be found in B.I. , for interesting facts or wildlife use.
We start of with the Liliaceae then, which in factonly has Fritillaria meleagris and 3 native species which are all in the genus Gagea.
The Iris family or Iridaceae, according to Stace has 15 genera but several genera are clearly escaped garden plants and not yet widely spread in the wild so will mainly mention the real natives and/or the more common introduced ones which are also described in the Wildflower Key.
They are more difficult to identify without flower as of course all have similar, strap-like leaves in various shades of green!
I use colour coding for easy reading! Blue background is general interesting info (although I hope you find it all interesting!!). Green is about all the uses except for medicinal uses or if there is a warning in which case I use a pink background. Pictures by Matt Summers (MS), Mike Poulton (MP) of Ecorecord and Wikipedia Commons
Please use Jump-links in contents to easily get to the various species on next page!
In Part 3, I will write about the pink and/or white flowered Crucifers which inhabit these Isles.
I follow the order of The Wild Flower Key as this has useful pictures which make identifying this somewhat unfamiliar and confusing family a lot easier!
I use the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora link on the First, italic, scientific names, so you can find out where it is likely to be found growing in the wild. You can also find other useful information here, especially its growing habitat and conditions!
On the Common Name link you can also find more information as well as useful pictures. Pictures in this post are by Matt Summers, Mike Poulton and sourced through Wikipedia Common with thanks.
Please use Jump-links in contents to read more about the individual genera & species on the next page!
Below a table of all the Native Plant Families I hope to write about in the coming future and links on all those families already covered. This will also be displayed on one of my pages, as it gets easily lost in between my posts!
The reasons for doing my blog is also best explained in these earlier posts:
In this post some more useful members of the Brassica or Crucifer family. It covers most of the yellow flowered ones!
In Part 3, I will write about the pink and/or white flowered Crucifers which inhabit these Isles.
And these are the plants I covered earlier in Part 1- just to give a small variety of useful Crucifers!
Erophila verna or Common Whitlowgrass
Cardamine pratensis or Cuckoo Flower, Lady’s Smock
Capsella bursa-pastoris or Shepard’s purse
Arabidopsis thaliana or Thale Cress
Cochlearia danica or Danish Scurvygrass
Alliaria petiolata or Jack-by-the-Hedge , Garlic Mustard and Hedge Garlic
Cardamine hirsuta or Hairy Bitter-cress
Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum or Water-cress
Family 87: the Brassica, Crucifer or Cabbage Family, scientifically known as the Brassicaceae, has approx 52 genera in the British Isles according to Stace! Not all are strictly native but it is an important family for our well known vegetables such as all types of cabbages, radishes, and root vegetables such as Swedes and Turnips!
I use colour coding for easy reading! Blue background is general information about the plant from Online Atlas. Green is about all the uses except for medicinal uses or if there is a warning in which case I use a pink background.This time most pictures are from Wikipedia and illustrations by Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen , Johann Georg Sturm (Painter: Jacob Sturm) – Figures from Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen at http://www.biolib.de, Public Domainas well as other illustrations as added in links.
Please use the Jump-links in the Contents in order to get easily to the plants described on next page!