Thread: ID Plants
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Old 02-04-2009, 12:26 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
DaveP DaveP is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Feb 2009
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Default ID Plants

Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

The last looks as if it might be hairy bitter cress (Cardamine hirsuta).
(The easiest way to distinguish this from the less common wavy bitter
cress is to count stamens.)


Are you sure Stewart? Cardamine hirsuta has very different leaves to
the ones in the pic. They should be loosely pinnate with very rounded
leaflets in seedlings, later becoming narrower and somewhat rhomboid
as the plant matures. The op's plant shows simple, lanceolate leaves
with a tell-tale reddish tinge due to cold exposure. I won't beat
about the bush any further, it's not a 'wild flower' at all, it is the
common bedding 'Alyssum' - Lobularia maritima. It quite often pops up
as a 'volunteer' plant and occasionally naturalises in well drained
soils.

The shrub is Weigelia florida Variegata. Going back to Cardamine, the
first of the 'Cuckoo flowers' aka 'Lady's Smock' - Cardamine
pratensis, are in out on the river bank close to work. They are of a
very good mauve form as opposed to the more usual pale lilac or white
and every bit as attractive as any cultivated garden plant.