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Old 24-04-2008, 12:36 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Stewart Robert Hinsley Stewart Robert Hinsley is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
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Default Any seaside wildflower experts here?

In message , cupra
writes
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
In message , cupra
writes
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
In message , cupra
writes
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
In message , cupra
writes
robert wrote:
In message , cupra
writes
I think I ID'd some Common Scurveygrass flowers earlier but I'm
not sure.... if anyone can help I'll post a pic?

The quickest solution may be to have a look at
http://www.wildflowers.co.uk/acatalog/n129.jpg or do a google
image search for "scurvy grass"

Have done a google already, that's how I came up with the ID but
not sure if my methods are correct (it looks similar to a couple
of other plants)
I have difficulty identifying little white crucifers, but I think
that I can identify Common Scurvygrass (as seen at the Mull of
Galloway and at Rockcliffe on Rough Firth). Try posting a pic.

What are the other plants?

BTW, Danish Scurvygrass is common on roadside around here.

Thanks Stewart (you ID'd my last post BTW!) - I'll have to dig out
my Wildlife/Flowers book to see what the others were.... in the
meantime: http://www.flickr.com/photos/treetop...os/2433993389/

(I have some wider angles that I haven't uploaded if you need more
leaf detail)


It certainly looks like a scurvygrass. I've being checking my books,
and scurvygrasses are a difficult group - as in botanists can't even
agree how many types there are. I'd like to see the leaves to be
sure, but your comment on the flower size seems to exclude Danish
scurvygrass, which is the other common one.

Cheers - I spent a while looking at my books/google...

Here's a (less sharp) pic with more leaf detail:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/treetop...n/photostream/


Without seeing the basal leaves I can't be sure whether it's
Cochlearia officinalis or Cochlearia anglica.

Two months ago I picked up an old distribution atlas. According to
this Cochlearia anglica has a scattered distribution along the coast,
but Bridgewater Bay is one of the localities in which it occurs.
Stace says it occurs on muddy coasts and estuaries, often in very wet
places, so you finding the plant on low dunes may be a point against
it being Cochlearia anglica.


Thanks, this is most interesting - I'll have to pop to the site again and
have a look at the distribution.

I found it is on the margins of the high tide mark where the sand meets the
mud, I don't think it extended back into the larger dunes (larger is only a
couple of metres high here....) but can't recall as it was a fleeting visit.


If you get to look at the plants again, the basal leaves of Cochlearia
officinalis (common scurvygrass) are cordate or very broadly cuneate;
those of Cochlearia anglica (*long-leaved* scurvygrass) are long
cuneate. If there's no basal leaves left identification then the plants
can be distinguished by their fruits. Per Stace, the fruits of C.
anglica are "compressed, angustiseptate, the septum 3x as long as
wide", and those of C. officinalis "scarcely compressed, the septum
2(3)x as long as wide". (I'd have to do a little more digging to work
out what that means.)

In the absence of basal leaves and fruits, identification becomes near
impossible. (But at least in that locality you don't have to worry about
C. scotica, C. atlantica, C. alpina or C. pyrenica.)
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley