The magnificent blotched leaves of Persicaria maculosa, which I have always known by its old Linnaean name of Polygonum persicaria
In the absence of any other ideas, I felt it was time to have a look again at street plants (weeds, some might say). With all the rain recently it has been a good year for the pavement greenery. Here are a few examples from just one main road near my Cardiff home.
Here’s a longer view of the Persicaria maculosa, which will soon have a dense spike of pale pink flowers, giving the plant the nickname lady’s thumb
A small willowherb (Epilobium) – I can never identify all the different species…
…another Epilobium…
…and another, with bigger, darker flowers, this one growing with nettles in the gutter
Then there are the yellow dandelion lookalikes…
I’m not sure if this meagre thing is a sowthistle (Sonchus) or hawk’s-beard (Crepis)
This one is prickly…
…so I guess it may be prickly sowthistle (Sonchus asper)?
If those cute little leaves belong to the yellow flower, I am guessing this may be a Hieracium, perhaps Hieracium pilosella or mouse-ear hawkweed?
Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) is a common find on the pavement…
…as is spurge (probably Euphorbia helioscopia, sun spurge)
Scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) growing from the middle of a rosette of dandelion leaves
A closer look
Then there are some rarer sights…
Tomato plants are starting to crop up – presumably someone dropped a sandwich or the seed was left after a domestic rubbish collection
A closer look – will it survive long enough for tomato fruit to grow?
I can’t identify this but the leaves are perfectly shaped and smooth – a garden plant, surely?
I should recognise this by its sagittate leaves?
Bellflower (Campanula) from someone’s garden
This tiny sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) has been growing behind an electricity or telephone junction box for ages – almost bonsai
My inspiration, Lucy Corrander, now in Halifax, is also still spotting street plants – see her recent post here.
And see my other street plant posts here.
You are better at identification than I, but if you want validation,try iSpot which is part of the Open University, the people there are excellent.
Your mention of the Tomato plant put me in mind of Vivienne’s excellent blog https://bugwomanlondon.com. I also follow Lucy’s blogs, I am a little bit addicted to nature.
Thank you for this post.
Thank you for that. I’m afraid I am a bit sloppy on exact identification. I know if I took more time I could photograph all parts of a plant and check the details against my British Flora book, but I am always in too much of a hurry! Sorry!
I am actually following Bugwomanlondon but I keep on forgetting to look at my WordPress Reader. Ironically I see far more of blog posts on other blog platforms that notify me by email than I do on WordPress. I must make a resolution again.
Those bugwoman posts about tomatoes and nightshade were interesting.
Best wishes 🙂
Enjoyed this. Street plants are fascinating. I’ve ignored them far too long, approaching years, sigh. Maybe I’ll find some time … maybe …
I think you have enough on your plate with the your big wild places.
Best wishes 🙂
It’s amazing what you can find isn’t it. Yellow daisies are infuriatingly difficult, but I do know that Mouse-ear Hawkweed’s cute little leaves are very hairy and silvery underneath. It does look a lot like Mouse-ear Hawkweed. You’re tomato plant reminds me of Richard Mabey’s marvellous ‘The Unofficial Countryside’, do you know it?
I wish I had the patience to analyse all the “yellow daisies”, but there are so many – about six pages’ worth in my “Concise British Flora”!
I hadn’t heard of The Unofficial Countryside, although of course I have heard of Richard Mabey through his other books. I googled it and it looks interesting – I see it was written in 1973, so he was a long way ahead of his time.
His output of books shows what you can achieve if you limit yourself to one general idea and repackage it in many ways. I’m envious!
All the best 🙂