As part of my time volunteering at the University Herbarium, I will be attempting to document some of the species on campus, in order to update the WB blog species list. To start me off, as I am as yet just a tenderfoot, I will be working through some of the more simple species before I set off into the great unknown.
Here follows a selection of some of the species found today on a walk through The Wilderness.
The Rubus fruticosus agg. (Blackberry) was found with no fruit but full leaves with little evidence of infection. Stellaria media (Chickweed) had fruit on some individual plants. Cyclamen hederifolium (Ivy-leaved Cyclamen or Sowbread) had dense leafy growth, but has passed its time for flowering. Ilex aquifolium (Holly) had fruit on it, as did Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn), Rosa canina (Dog Rose) and Euonymous europaeus (Spindle). Lapsana communis (Nipplewort) had few flowers. Corylus avellana (Hazel) and Alnus glutinosa (Alder) showed few signs of senescence (colouring of autumn foliage).
That’s the first 20 plants – only 580 still to find.
Good work Evan. I think your task will get harder as the weeks pass – you will have spotted all the common plants and the season will be finishing. Perhaps next week you could walk round the lake and record lakeside plants – Acorus calamus, Iris pseudacorus, Phragmites australis, Potamogeton polygonifolius etc. There should even be a few waterlily leaves in place still.
Most of the roses around the wilderness are somewhere between Rosa canina and R. caesius, usually more toward the latter. I think your photograph is one such. Your typical R. canina has small hips with a very narrow stylar orifice with reflexed, usually deciduous, sepals and tall arched green stems, while R. caesius has larger hips with erect to erecto-patent sepals and a quite large stylar orifice, and the stems are often tinged red. Just something to think about.
The other roses on campus are more straightforward dog roses or are introductions, e.g. virginia rose.