Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
In message , Kate
Morgan writes


Hi all.
Today whilst driving along a narrow lane, I came upon a mass of Common
Bistort, not daffodils! They looked beautiful…. But I’ve never seen
them before, not where I live, south Wales. So just how common are
they?

Not very common round here. I've been collecting observations on the
local flora for the last two years, and I've only found the one
locality, and that with only a few plants.
-- Stewart Robert Hinsley

Its only when someone draws your attention to plants that you suddenly
notice them, for me anyway. I will have a good look around this
morning and have a wander down the lane. I don't think I will find
anything down there apart from Cow Parsley, one of my favorites.

I don't know if I'm right, but I've always associated with damper
areas... Indeed Fitter et al say "meadows and woods, usually away from
lime, often near water". So I guess it's one of these things which is
all over the country provided you look in the right habitat. I haven't
seen it in many places, but when I have seen it, it has been in
abundance!

Yes, I've noticed that once you've learned to identify a plant you
often suddenly start noticing it. The last case being cornsalad. I
found one growing in a pavement edge a month of so ago - and it took me
several weeks to work out what it was - and since then I've seen it in
the city centre, and on the allotment site. Or last year, when I
started noticing spring beauty all over the place.

Spring beauty? Claytonia perfoliata? Relative of Pink Purslane?

Two that I now notice more frequently are Pignut and Town Hall Clock -
because now I can recognise their leaves. All too often you need the
flower for the first identification, so for most of the year you can be
walking right past the plant, but without flowers you don't know what it
is.

I find it adds a lot for me to be able to identify a plants and know
where it fits in. Last year I finally got to grips with very basic grass
identification and walks where I used to think "no flowers - boring!"
are suddenly full of interest. I think this is somewhat of a defect in
me - other people can recognise beauty without the need to stick it into
a taxonomic structure.

--
Kay