Category Archives: Flowering Plants

Posts about flowering plants grwoing on Whiteknights campus

The Palm Family: Plants with a Heart

The Arecaceae, better known as the palm family, is one of the world’s most iconic plant groups. Comprised of approximately 2600 species across 181 genera (Christenhusz and Byng, 2016), this is a large and diverse family, yet simultaneously one of … Continue reading

Posted in Climate, Flowering Plants, Herbarium RNG, Plants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Think outside the Box

Buxaceae at Whiteknights There’s a man buried vertically, head downwards on a hillside called Box Hill near Dorking in Surrey. You could say he was off his head when he died in 1800. No, maybe on his head… “the world … Continue reading

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

White Letter Day

I had the distinct honour of adding a butterfly to the campus species list this week, in the shape of a rather smart White Letter Hairstreak. New moths come along on a near weekly basis – hardly surprising since we’ve recorded barely … Continue reading

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Ulmaceae | 1 Comment

Bees in the grass

Every one loves bees these days and pretty much everyone loves bee orchids (Ophrys apifera) too! The University of Reading campus is no exception and there is a small population flourishing in purposefully unmown grass opposite the Hopkins Building and … Continue reading

Posted in Orchidaceae, Plants | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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

The Joy of Botany

There is nothing better than the great outdoors for a day of vegetation surveying. Vegetation surveying can help track environmental change, and can form an integral part of the biodiversity assessment of a site. In addition, the surveyor can make predictions regarding … Continue reading

Posted in Animals, Butterflies, Flowering Plants, Plants | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment