Author Archives: Fay Newbery

About Fay Newbery

PhD student in the Plant Pathology Research Group.

Slender speedwell

Like the Common field speedwell (Veronica persica), the Slender speedwell (Veronica filiformis) has relatively large bright, blue and white flowers, each held at the end of a long stalk, well clear of the leaves. The Slender speedwell can occur on bare patches … Continue reading

Posted in Flowering Plants, Plantaginaceae, Plants, Scrophulariaceae | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Common field speedwell

True to its name, this is one of the most common speedwells on campus. It is certainly much more common than the other field speedwells. The common field speedwell (Veronica persica) turns up on wasteground and disturbed ground amongst other … Continue reading

Posted in Flowering Plants, Plantaginaceae, Plants, Scrophulariaceae | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Speedwells – well represented on University land!

Speedwells have small blue (occasionally white, lilac or pink) flowers, either occurring as single flowers or in a spike. There are 20 native species of Speedwell (Veronica) in Britain. A surprisingly large number can be found on campus, with even more … Continue reading

Posted in Flowering Plants, Plantaginaceae, Plants, Scrophulariaceae | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Prunus on campus – at least the naturalised ones!

This is a great time of year to admire the Prunus species on campus. Not only are the ornamental cherries wow-ing us with their blossoms but the naturalised species are also in flower.   Parts of the wilderness are dominated by … Continue reading

Posted in Flowering Plants, Plants, Rosaceae | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bright gold – or tenacious weed?

Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale agg.) get a variable press in Britain. They are, arguably, beautiful flowers (actually groups of tiny flowers as Dandelions are a member of the Asteraceae family) but my sister wages war on the species as her most hated … Continue reading

Posted in Asteraceae, Flowering Plants, Plants | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Looking down 3

This week, while collecting samples of Ginkgo leaves from the tree behind Whiteknights House, I noticed that the remaining leaves seemed to be caught upright in the lengthening grass. I assumed to start with that the leaves were being held … Continue reading

Posted in Earthworms, Plants | Tagged | 1 Comment

New Year’s Hunt at Whiteknights

The BSBI New Year’s Hunt takes place in the period 1st to 4th January this year. I went out on the 2nd which was sunny but not particularly warm. Even searching the sunniest banks I could find, I was still … Continue reading

Posted in Flowering Plants, Plants | 1 Comment

Living fossils on campus

Some species have been described over the years as ‘living fossils’ because they are the last survivors from groups that were once common in the fossil record. The Coelacanth is an example. It belongs to a group of fish first known only from the … Continue reading

Posted in Fungi, Plant Pathology Research Group, Plants | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Early spring flowers

Not only are flowers lingering late this year – as mentioned by Chris Foster in his recent blog – but some plants seem to think it’s spring already!   This hazel, seen in the wilderness on the 16th December, is … Continue reading

Posted in Betulaceae, Flowering Plants, Plants | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Shuttlecocks – fungi designed them first!

At this time of year the fruiting bodies of the powdery mildew species, Phyllactinia guttata, are easy to find on the underside of hazel leaves (Corylus avellana) on campus. The minute fruiting bodies – known as clasmothecia – can be seen as … Continue reading

Posted in Fungi, Plant Pathology Research Group, Plants | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment