In message , Jeff Layman
writes
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
I've been making notes about the local flora. Should this be of mild
interest, these are the 20 most widespread (not necessarily the
commonest) species - the figures in brackets are the number of "sites"
in which they are present, where a site averages about a square
kilometre. No grasses, as I can't tell them apart. There are also biases
against late-flowering plants, and arable weeds, so take the figures
with a pinch of salt.

1. Nettle - Urtica dioica (93)
2. Cleavers - Galium aparine (89)
3. Creeping Buttercup - Ranunculus repens (75)
4. Elder - Sambucus nigra (75)
5. Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale agg (73)
6. Hogweed - Heracleum sphondylium (72)
7. White Clover - Trifolium repens (71)
8. Broad-leaved Dock - Rumex obtusifolius (65)
9. Cow Parsley - Anthriscus sylvestris (63)
10. Daisy - Bellis perennis (63)
11. Bramble - Rubus fruticosus agg. (62)
12. Sycamore - Acer pseudoplatanus (61)
13. Common Ragwort - Senecio jacobaea (60)
14. Creeping Thistle - Cirsium arvense (59)
15. Ribwort (Plantain) - Plantago lanceolata (59)
16. Garlic Mustard - Alliaria petiolata (57)
17. Foxglove - Digitalis purpurea (57)
18. Ash - Fraxinus excelsior (57)
19. Spear Thistle - Cirsium vulgare (56)
20. Rosebay Willow-herb - Chamaerion angustifolium (55)

Interesting. Shows the difference between "wild" weeds and garden weeds. I
would say that the most common weed in my garden is one of the bittercresses
(probably Hairy Bittercress - Cardamine hirsuta). Yet you are right, I
rarely remember seeing this "in the wild".

I'm not yet trained to distinguish hairy bitter cress (C. hirsuta) from
wavy bitter cress (C. flexuosa), short of using a hand lens or a camera
macro feature to count stamens, but I suspect that overall the latter is
more common. Consequently both are underrecorded, but I don't think
either would make the list even so. C. hirsuta is a plant of disturbed
ground, and turns up in gardens, allotments and pavement cracks.

It turns out that about half of these plants turn up in my garden and/or
my allotment.

I'm somewhat surprised to see that a violet is missing. Would I be right in
saying that, in general, the sites you visited are open ground rather than
scrub or woodland?

A lot of sites are residential areas. Other than that a lot of records
are from roadside verges and hedges, which mimic the natural woodland
edge/glade ecotone. There are 5 sites that are only woodland, 8 if you
include 3 stretches of old railway line, and several others with areas
of woodland. But violets don't seem to be common woodland plants around
here -
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley