A friend found a solitary plant in woodland on Islay yesterday which
neither she nor I can identify. On the assumption that it is a garden
escape - there are gardens within a few hundred yards - I'm asking for
help here.

Photos at: www.indaal.demon.co.uk/flower.htm

Thanks

--
Malcolm

I think your wife is right, it's Wood Avens, Geum rivale.
It's very given to strange flower forms - whether through hybridisation or just as sports, I'm not sure. I have a plant in my garden which has a double flower just like yours at the moment, although all the other flowers on the plant are single. And I have a photograph of one at Salt Lake Nature Reserve in the Yorkshire Dales which was cristate, with leaf segments among the petals - just the one plant growing amongst many other wood avens of normal type.

I think I remember wood avens from around Ardtalla, along with a lizard basking on a rock, and swimming with seals in the sheltered bay. But it was a long time ago!

On 3 June, 11:35, Janet Baraclough
wrote:
The message
from Malcolm contains these words:

A friend found a solitary plant in woodland on Islay yesterday which
neither she nor I can identify. On the assumption that it is a garden
escape - there are gardens within a few hundred yards - I'm asking for
help here.
Photos at:www.indaal.demon.co.uk/flower.htm

* I think its geum rivale; there are some named varieties which look
very like it

http://www.bethchatto.co.uk/plant%20...vale%20%27...*
(a bit too dark?)

http://www.specialperennials.com/geum.htm
*(paler)

* Janet

No idea, all I get is
The requested URL /www.indaal.demon.co.uk/flower.htm was not found on
this server.

In message , kay
writes

Malcolm;889567 Wrote:
A friend found a solitary plant in woodland on Islay yesterday which
neither she nor I can identify. On the assumption that it is a garden
escape - there are gardens within a few hundred yards - I'm asking for
help here.




I think your wife is right, it's Wood Avens, Geum rivale.

Geum rivale is water avens; wood avens is Geum urbanum.

It's very given to strange flower forms - whether through hybridisation
or just as sports, I'm not sure.

The hybrid between the two species, Geum x intermedium, is said to be
fairly common, and fertile, leading to all sorts of intermediates.
(Round here Geum urbanum is ubiquitous, but I only know of two sites for
Geum rivale, and I'm not familiar with the hybrid.)

I have a plant in my garden which has a
double flower just like yours at the moment, although all the other
flowers on the plant are single. And I have a photograph of one at Salt
Lake Nature Reserve in the Yorkshire Dales which was cristate, with
leaf
segments among the petals - just the one plant growing amongst many
other wood avens of normal type.

I think I remember wood avens from around Ardtalla, along with a lizard
basking on a rock, and swimming with seals in the sheltered bay. But it
was a long time ago!


--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

remember that I have a G rivale with a double flower ... If it can throw up a double on a plant with single flowers, I think its highly probable that it can throw up a plant with all double flowers.

An interesting question! The double flower is not nodding, whereas the rest of the flowers are. They're all the same G rivale colour, but at the deeper end of that colour range. Much the same colour as your pic looks on my computer.

I was up at Salt Lake Quarry again yesterday, and once again saw a cristate G rivale (not the same plant as I saw before), and that was almost red in flower.