Download plantlife id guide - Wild About Plants

Britain’s countryside
Save it with flowers
We are Plantlife
Plantlife is the organisation that is speaking up for
our wild flowers and plants. From the open spaces of
our nature reserves to the corridors of Westminster,
we’re here to raise their profile, to celebrate their
beauty, and to protect their future.
Wild flowers and plants play a fundamental role for
wildlife, and their colour and character light up our
landscapes. But without our help, this priceless
natural heritage is in danger of being lost.
Join us in enjoying the very best that nature has to
offer. Britain’s countryside. Save it with flowers.
Patron: HRH The Prince of Wales
14 Rollestone Street
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP1 1DX
Tel: 01722 342730
Email: [email protected]
www.plantlife.org.uk
Plantlife is a charitable company limited by guarantee, Company No.
3166339. Registered in England and Wales, Charity No. 1059559.
Registered in Scotland, Charity no. SCO38951.
ISBN: 978-1-907141-84-3
April 2013
Breckland Plants
ID guide
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
The plants of Breckland
The unique heaths and dunes of Breckland are home to
many plants of outstanding importance. These plants
require poor soils and some disturbance to flourish.
With the changes to Breckland habitats over the last
100 years, many plant species are on the edge of survival.
What is Plantlife
doing to help?
Over the period 2010 to 2013,
Plantlife, with the aid of a
substantial grant from GrantScape,
has been maintaining and restoring
existing and lost populations of
some of the rarer species.
Conservation action has involved
increasing grazing and causing
ground disturbance which is vital for
species survival. Guidance will also
be given to other organisations who
manage some of Brecklands
threatened plant populations.
Volunteer training at Cranwich Camp
© Jeremy Halls
How can you help?
We need volunteers to help monitor
species in the conservation areas
and other important plant areas in
Breckland so that we can assess the
progress of these species and be
confident that their populations are
being sustained or are increasing.
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
How do you monitor the plants?
Identifying plants
The methodology used in this project will
be kept as simple as possible.
The plant species in this guide
have been labelled using a traffic
light system where
Frequently, plants in the Brecks are
much smaller than those of the
same species that occur elsewhere.
● green indicates easy to identify
Most of the terms used to describe
the parts of the plants and in the
descriptions are explained or
illustrated, but the following diagram
should help with the general
botanical names for parts of a
flowering plant and a grass.
●
●
Presence / Absence As many of the
species are rare, this will mostly
involve searching for species within
the survey area, and noting if they are
present or absent.
Counts In some cases where a few
species exist we may ask you to do a
quick count of these species.
Estimates Where larger populations
exist then an estimate of numbers
and/or abundance may be needed.
All these methods will be covered during
our Brecks volunteer training days and
more information on monitoring is
available at
www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/impor
tant_plant_areas/breckland
Endangered
Near Threatened
Vulnerable
Nationally Scarce
Protected and Nationally Rare
Where do you survey?
● orange could be confused with
similar species
Survey sites are scattered across the
Brecks so we hope that you will be able to
choose one that is close to you. A list will
be put onto the above website.
● red indicates the most difficult
to identify, often because they
are extremely small and hard
to find
What plants are you
looking for?
Awns
In this guide, 28 species are described; 23
are flowering plants, four are grasses and
one is a sedge. All are rare. They fall into
one of the following categories:
Occur in fewer than 5 locations
(Red Data list for UK) *
Occur in fewer than 10 locations
(Red Data list for UK)
Occur in fewer than 30 locations. (Red Data list for UK)
Occur in 1 to 15 10x10m grid squares
Occur in 16 to 100 of these squares.
Basic grass with inserts showing flowering heads
Where species might be easily
confused with others, we have
provided some comparisons
(listed as cf.)
Inflorescene
Floret
Spikelets
Flowering plant
Corolla
Stigma
Stamens
●
Survey results will be entered online on a
simple form. These can be emailed to
[email protected]
Blade
Anther
Filament
Ovary
Ovules
Petal
Style
Sepal
Receptacle
Axil
*Red Data list contains species that are of most conservation concern.
A Panicle
Petiole
Stem leaf
Others are protected under section 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which
means that they have special protection against picking, uprooting, destruction and sale.
Stipule
Raceme
Node
Basal leaf
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
The geology of Breckland
Pingos
The area is defined by the underlying
geology that comprises a low chalk plateau
laid down in the late Cretaceous period 65100 million years ago when the whole area
was a shallow tropical sea. The end of the
Cretaceous era saw the chalky tropical sea
recede leaving behind the chalk.
The tundra conditions of the time also
created strange domed structures
where ground water beneath the
surface froze and expanded pushing up
the surface, sometimes exposing the
ice. As the ice thawed, so the dome
collapsed in on itself leaving a
depression with a raised rim of sand
around it. These depressions are known
as pingos, and many are now filled with
water. Good examples of pingo systems
can be found at Foulden, Thompson
and East Harling Commons.
Around 400,000 years ago the Anglian ice
sheet covered the area and left behind a
layer of sandy glacial drift which was very
thin in places. The last glacial period,
between 12,000-100,000 years ago, was a
period of freeze/thaw with tundra like
conditions which caused the wind blown
sandy deposits to develop alternate bands
of acid sands and alkaline chalk. This
leading to the characteristic striped soils
that can still be detected in Breckland, for
example on Thetford Heath and at Grimes
Graves.
The climate of Breckland
East Anglia is the driest region in the
British Isles, and Breckland is the driest
area within East Anglia, having a semicontinental climate characterised by low
rainfall, higher summer and lower winter
temperatures than the average in Britain,
with late spring frosts being common.
Wangford Warren remains of once mobile inland dune system © Tim Pankhurst
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
This is a natural scrape made by rabbits. As the number of rabbits has decreased, so has
the number of these open areas that Breckland plants species need in order to flourish.
© Tim Pankhurst
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
as the dunes have ceased to move.
Kidney vetch and vipers bugloss
© Bob Gibbons/Plantlife
Rabbits were introduced
by the Normans and bred
in warrens for their
meat and fur.
Their contribution to the
landscape is recognised in
the frequent use of
‘warren’ at the end of
names of heaths.
Typical
Breckland habitats
Mobile sand dunes
The early forest covering Breckland was
cleared by settlers exposing light sandy
soils to the wind. This created a large area
of inland sand dunes. Until recently most
of these were moving dune systems.
Where the sand dunes do still exist, for
example at Wangford Warren, Suffolk, they
have been colonised by sand sedge
Carex aranaria.
The mobility of the sand dunes and the
disturbance caused to the poor soil are
responsible for the characteristic flora of
the Brecks. Much of this is now endangered
8
Dry heaths and grassland
Due to the geology, Breck heaths and
grasslands have an underlying mosaic of
calcareous and acidic soils. These
correspond with a mosaic of plant species
suited to the differing areas: hence it is
possible to find acid loving plants in the
same area as chalk lovers. Disturbance and
short grazing, traditionally provided by
sheep and rabbits, prevents invasion by
more robust species.
Loss of traditional Breckland heath in the
last century has been rapid. There is now
only about 7,000 hectares of dry heath (27
square miles) compared to 29,000 (112
square miles) in 1900. This is partly due to
large areas of this poor quality land being
converted to conifer plantations e.g. Thetford
Forest, now the largest area of lowland forest
in Britain covering 20,000 hectares (77
square miles). Other areas of heath were
converted to arable land, grazing of sheep
has declined and after World War II the
warrens were abandoned with rabbits being
almost wiped out by myxemotosis in 1954.
Rabbit populations have never fully
recovered, and, combined with the loss of
sheep grazing and management, such as
the collecting of bracken and heather for
animal bedding, large areas of remaining
heath have become more densely vegetated,
crowding out the plants that preferred the
disturbed, tightly grazed land. Traditional
Breck heaths exist now only as fragments
scattered across Breckland. Under these
conditions it is hard for some plant species
with specific requirements to flourish.
A disused sand pit near Mildenhall © Tim Pankhurst/Plantlife
Why is the Breckland unique?
Breckland, or ‘the Brecks’ is a c.400 square
mile area that straddles the western end of
the county boundary between Norfolk and
Suffolk (see map below). The geology and
climate of the Brecks combine to give the
dry soils and dry climate which make the
area unique within the British Isles. Many
plants found here are found nowhere else
in the UK, making it one of Plantlife’s
Important Plant Areas (IPAs).
For more information visit:
www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/impor
tant_plant_areas
Breckland is
thought to come
from the old
Norwegian word
braec which meant
“land newly
broken for
settlement”.
Because of the
poor soil, the land
would be
cultivated for a
few years and
then left to revert
to heath.
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
© ?????????/PLANTLIFE
© HELEN JOBSON/PLANTLIFE
© HELEN JOBSON/PLANTLIFE
© TIM WILKINS/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Small Alison
Alyssum alyssoides
flowers in
dense raceme
all parts
greyish hairy
10
(Brassicaceae)
Stems: densely hairy, erect branching.
Leaves: Untoothed and narrowly lanceolate.
Flowers: Pale yellow fading to white.
May to September.
Fruits: Length equal to width with
persistent sepals that only fall when the
fruit is brown.
Habitat: Disturbed grassy or arable fields.
Status: Protected (Schedule 8 Wildlife and
Countryside Act 1981)
Stems: erect, stiff and hairless on top half,
䢇 Tower
may be up to 1m in height more usually
Arabis glabra
30-60cm.
Basal leaves: deeply toothed and hairy, hairs
with three points.
Stem leaves: arrow shaped clasping the stem,
smooth, waxy and glaucous (grey-green).
Flowers: clustered at top of stem, creamy
yellow, 6mm. May to July.
Fruits: cylindrical, stalked, stiffly erect.
Habitat: Usually poor chalky or sandy soils, in
open situations.
Status: Endangered, high risk of extinction in
the wild.
cf: Hairy Rock-cress Arabis hirsuta
Stem: hairy for entire length.
Basal leaves: scarcely toothed, hairy, ovaloblong, narrowed to base.
Stem leaves: hairy, clasping the stem.
Flowers: white 3-4mm. May – August
Fruits: narrow, stiffly upright and can be
slightly flattened.
Mustard
Yellowish cream
petals with slight
tinge of green.
Clasping
stem leaves,
without hairs
Basal leaves in a rosette,
lobed, covered with tiny
three-pointed hairs
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
leaf segments
pointed
12
(Asteraceae)
Stem: upright, woolly, overall grey-green
but can appear yellowish. Can grow to 25cm,
but it is often much smaller in the Brecks.
Leaves: narrow-oblong, widest at the base
(spoon-shaped), they spiral up the stem,
and they have a small pointed ‘bristle’ at the
tip with fine yellowish hairs.
Flowers: yellow, in clusters of 10-20.
July - November. NB Flowerheads often
obscured by upper leaves.
Bracts: usually red tipped, may appear
purple– appear as minute bristles around
the flower head.
Habitat: Sandy soils in open places, nutrient
poor acid grassland, disturbed ground such
as field margins and tracks.
Status: Protected. Endangered, small
populations confined to SE. England.
(Schedule 8 Wildlife and Countryside
Act 1981)
cf: Common Cudweed Filago vulgaris
Has slightly narrower leaves and the flower
heads are never obscured by the upper
leaves. Can grow together with F lutescens.
Also Small Cudweed Filago minima, only
5-15cm the stems are slender, grey, woolly,
erect and branching from mid stem. Flowers
in clusters at tips and forks of stems, they
have short woolly bracts with yellow tips.
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
Artemisia campestris
(Asteraceae)
Stems: upright shoots 20-60cm and often
woody below in mature plants.
Lower leaves: stalked, 2-3 times pinnate (2
to 3 leaves off one stalk)
Upper leaves: unstalked and undivided
All leaves: segments linear, pointed and
becoming hairless.
Flowers: in loose erect panicles, each flower
head oval and 3mm wide. August-September
Florets: yellow or red.
Bracts: oval, hairless, green with dry, papery
and sometimes translucent edges.
Habitat: on sandy grassy heathland.
Status: Protected and nationally rare (found
only in Breckland and S.Wales) (Schedule 8
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981)
cf: Wormwood Atemisia vulgaris
Has red, grooved stems, and the leaves are
downy underneath.
© TIM & TREVOR/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Field Wormwood
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
䢇 Red-tipped Cudweed
Filago lutescens
Upper leaves often extend
beyond flowering head
Flower heads
with minute
dark or blood red
tipped bristes
(use hand lens)
Straped-shaped
leaves (widest above
middle) with tiny
sharp points at tip
Plants occasionally
distinctive
yellowish-green
13
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
Galium parisiense
(Rubiaceae)
Stems: slender, sprawling and squared.
10-20cm. Rough on the 4 angles with small
downward facing prickles.
Leaves: narrow, 3-10mm long with forward
facing prickles, growing in whorls of
5 around the stem.
Flowers: small open clusters of creamy
white flowers in the leaf axils, where the
The stems have downward facing prickles
on the four angles
14
leaves emerge from the stem, they form
a narrow panicle.
The corollas are narrow, 0.5mm, with
a reddish outside and white inside.
June to July.
Fruit: 1mm long, warted and hairless.
Habitat: old walls and sandy grassland.
Status: Vulnerable – E. and SE. England only
– rare.
cf: Heath Bedstraw Galium saxatile
Stems are square but smooth. Leaves
number 6-8 in a whorl.
Cleavers, Goosegrass Galium aparine
Generally much larger plant, stem square
but very rough with large backward
facing prickles.
Leaves number 6–8 in a whorl.
© ANDREW GAGG/PLANTLIFE
© ANDREW GAGG/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Wall Bedstraw
(Caryophyllaciae)
Stems: prostrate, mat forming, bright green
and more or less hairless.
Leaves: oval 3-7mm and in pairs opposite
each other on the stem
Flowers: tiny, 2mm, growing in the leaf axils
and appearing green with 5 white petals
and 5 green sepals. July.
䢇 Smooth Rupturewort
Herniaria glabra
Fruit: longer than the sepals.
Habitat: Dry, bare places often on chalk
or lime.
Status: Nationally scarce, East of England.
petals
minute
stems
prostrate
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
florets short
leaves hairless or
slightly bristly
16
(Fabaceae)
The whole plant is very small and downy,
so easily overlooked 20-40cm what?
Stems: downy with a sprawling habit.
Leaves: oval – heart shaped, unspotted,
toothed towards the tip of the leaf, the
stipules (a pair at the base of the leaves)
are untoothed.
Flowers: bright yellow, April-July
cf. Spotted Medick Medicago arabica
䢇 Bur Medick
Medicago minima
Fruits: The pods are the best aid to
identifying this species – globular
shaped, 3 to 5 spirals with a double row of
spines, and very downy 3-5mm across.
Habitat: disturbed ground, sand-dunes,
Breckland heaths.
Status: vulnerable.
toothed
towards tip
inner
beak
achenes
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
Hypochaeris glabra
outer
Achenes (seeds): beaked on the inside
of the flower head, unbeaked on the
outside edges.
Habitat: sandy soils - grasslands, arable,
heaths and dunes.
Status: vulnerable
© ANDREW GAGG/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Smooth Cat’s-ear
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
(Asteraceae)
This needs to be in flower to be sure of
the identification.
Stems: smooth and upright, branched
once towards the top 10-20cm.
Leaves: usually more or less hairless,
glossy and with a red tinge.
Flower heads: 1-1.5cm across. Only open
in the sunshine. June-September.
Florets: only just longer than the bracts,
only twice as long as wide.
Bracts: form a purple tipped collar at the
base of the flower head.
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
leaves may also be heart shaped
seed pods have 3-5 spirals with a
double row of spines – very downy
17
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
Medicago sativa ssp.falcata
flowers
yellow
pod sickle-shaped
18
(Fabaceae)
A subspecies of Lucerne.
Stems: upright, although may be lax,
hairless 30-40cm.
Leaves: each leaflet is long, narrow and
blunt ended with teeth at that end.
Flowers: clear yellow, in a short raceme at
the top of the stem. June-July.
Fruit: pods are curved or sickle shaped,
smooth and more or less hairless,
1-2cm long.
Habitat: poor soils, heaths, calcareous
grassland.
Status: Nationally scarce.
NB this can hybridise with Lucerne,
which results in a deep purple (black)
and green flower.
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Sickle Medick
(Caryophyllaciae)
Stems: slender, erect, hairless and
branched 5-20cm
Leaves: linear and pointed, in pairs on
opposite sides of the stem.
Flowers: 6mm across, 5 pointed white
petals which are much shorter than the
surrounding 5 green, white bordered sepals.
May - June
Habitat: on walls, dry, stony ground, sandy
arable areas.
Status: Endangered.
cf: Thyme-leaved Sandwort
Arania serpyllifolia
Stems are hairy. Leaves are shorter and more
rounded, and although the rounded white
petals are shorter than the sepals the
difference is not so marked as in
Minuartia hybrida
䢇 Fine-leaved Sandwort
Minuartia hybrida
Also Three-veined Sandwort Moehringia
trinervia Flowers are similar to
M. hybrida but the leaves of this species have
three distinct veins running along them.
white petals much shorter than the white bordered
green sepals
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
© ANDREW GAGG/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Proliferous Pink
Petrorhagia prolifera
notched
petals
bracts
20
(Caryophyllaciae)
The plant is hairless. Forms an over
wintering rosette.
Stem: upright, 10-50cm.
Leaves: linear and opposite each other on
the stem with their bases fused into a
sheath about as long as wide.
Flowers: pink, densely clustered at the top
of the stem, each surrounded by bracts.
They open one or two at a time within the
cluster. Petals are notched.
May – September.
Bracts: large, brown and papery.
Habitat: dry, open areas, usually on lime.
Status: Found naturally only in Norfolk.
(Caryophyllaciae)
Stems: 10-20cm, grey-green, downy, both
creeping and erect (on the same plant).
Leaves: grey-green, long, narrow, and hairy
around the edge.
Flowers: small, 18mm, scentless, deep pink
to rose-red. Petals are toothed with
distinctive markings of a dark stripe across
the base and pale spots above. JuneSeptember.
Habitat: dry sandy soils on grassland,
dunes, hedge-banks, or dry calcareous or
limestone grassland.
Status: Near threatened (likely to become
endangered in the near future).
䢇 Maiden Pink
Dianthus deltoides
petals spotted, with
central dark circle
21
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© ANDREW GAGG/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Grape-hyacinth
Muscari neglectum
flowers
with white
teeth at tip
leaves
narrow,
channelled
(Liliaceae)
Stem: Erect, hairless from bulb. 10-25cm
Leaves: all leaves are basal, very long and
thin, grooved on the inner side. 15-30cm
long by 1-3mm.
Flowers: a dense cluster at the end of the
stem. Dark blue and plum- scented, each
looks like a small 3-5mm downward facing
oval tube. Lower flowers have white edge.
Upper flowers are smaller and paler.
April-May.
Fruit: a globular capsule.
Habitat: dry calcareous grasslands.
Status: vulnerable.
cf: Garden Grape-hyacinth Muscari
armeniacum
Very similar, but has brighter blue flowers
which appear more rounded and are
scentless.
(Caryophyllaciae)
Inconspicuous species, easily overlooked.
Stems: low and spreading, although they
can be erect – up to 20cm.
Leaves: linear, pointed and joined at the
base in pairs around the stem.
Flowers: in clusters at tips of stems and in
leaf axils the flowers are only 4mm and have
no petals only sepals, of which there are 5.
Sepals: grey-green with narrow white edges
they are straight and emerging from a short
hairless calyx tube.
Habitat: dry, sandy or gravely ground,
arable margins and grassland.
Status: Endangered
䢇 Annual Knawel
Scleranthus annuus
sepals with narrow
white border
leaves joined
around stem
22
23
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
© ?????????/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Perennial Knawel
Scleranthus perrenis ssp.prostratus
(Caryophyllaciae)
Similar to S.annuus
Stems: spreading along the ground.
Flowers: clustered as in S. annuus, no petals
but 5 sepals. June- August
24
Sepals: More open than S. annuus, so look
like petals, more rounded with wide white
margins that gives the plant a very white
appearance compared to S.annuus. The
stamen and anthers are clearly visible.
Habitat: chalk grassland
Status: Endangered
(Caryophyllaciae)
A short erect plant with few flowers.
Stems: short, grey-green, sticky and hairy.
Leaves: long, narrowing to a point
(lanceolate). Lower leaves are stalked, upper
leaves are unstalked.
Flowers: Very small, 4-5mm, rose pink
usually single or very few in a cluster.
Petals are notched and have scales.
The petals emerge from a large, strongly
ribbed calyx tube shaped like a flask.
May-August.
Fruit: when in fruit the calyx tube expands
and becomes more spherical.
Habitat: sandy open ground and heaths,
often on calcareous soils.
Status: vulnerable.
䢇 Sand Catchfly
Silene conica
calyx conspicuously
swollen and striped
25
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
flowers small,
greenish-yellow,
in clusters
basal leaves
spoon-shaped
© ANDREW GAGG/PLANTLIFE
Silene otites
© ?????????/PLANTLIFE
© ?????????/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Spanish Catchfly
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
(Caryophyllaciae)
Stems: erect, 20-90cm, both sticky and
hairy towards the base.
Leaves: the basal rosette has narrow,
stalked spoon-shaped leaves. Upper leaves
are unstalked, long, narrowing to a point
with short close hairs.
Flowers: in loose clusters towards the top of
the stem flowers are greenish-yellow and
very small, 3-4mm, the petals are undivided
and have no scales, and the calyx is short
and bell shaped with 10 veins.
Habitat: dry calcareous or sandy soils. Likes
disturbed ground to aid germination. Found
only in Breckland.
Status: Endangered.
NB. The species is dioecious, having male
and female plants relying on butterflies and
wind for pollination.
(Lamiaceae)
A low growing, creeping, mat forming plant,
not strongly aromatic.
Stems: the creeping stems root at the nodes,
but the flowering stems grow upwards, they
are rounded, short, and hairy all round.
Leaves: leaves are oval, hardly any stalk and
with veins that disappear before the blunt tip.
Flowers: 6-7mm, pinkish to purple, in
rounded clusters. May-September.
Habitat: dry grassland, heaths, sand dunes.
Status: Nationally rare – only found in
Breckland area.
cf: Wild Thyme Thymus polytrichus
The main difference is that the stems are
square and hairy on two opposing sides. Also
the leaves have long hairs on their edges.
䢇 Breckland Thyme
Thymus serpyllum
leaves blunt
stem round,
shortly hairy
all round
26
27
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© ANDREW GAGG/PLANTLIFE
(Scrophulariaceae)
A distinctive plant can grow up to 60cm, it
has many cultivated varieties.
Stems: 8-60cm, downy and erect. If under
stress, such as grazing it can be quite small
surviving low to the ground and forming
a mat.
Leaves: blue-grey, grow opposite each other
on the stems, long to oval, blunt teeth and
mostly unstalked.
Flowers: violet-blue in long, dense spikes at
the top of the stem, each is 4-8mm and has
a long tube emerging from it. July-October.
Habitat: dry grassland, woodland margins,
rocky slopes.
Status: nationally scarce, protected
(Schedule 8)
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
䢇 Spiked Speedwell
Veronica spicata
flowers in
terminal spike
fruit rounded
All 3 of the following low growing
speedwells can occur together, and they
are short lived. The leaf shapes are the
main key to correct identification – but
a hand lens will be needed as they are
very small.
A very low species usually 5-20cm but may
be only 3cm.
Stems: erect, branching from the base,
hairy with the hairs above having glands
on the tips.
Leaves: lower leaves, oval and bluntly
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䢇 Spring Speedwell
Veronica verna
toothed, mostly unstalked, upper leaves
unstalked and the lobes are pinnate (like
fingers around the central vein).
Flowers: blue, very small 3mm across,
emerging amongst the upper leaves.
Can flower as early Spring, rarely in Summer.
Habitat: dry grassland and cultivated ground.
Status: Endangered. Found only in the
Breckland.
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© ?????????/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Breckland Speedwell
Veronica praecox
(Scrophulariaceae)
Another very low growing species
Stems: erect, often branching from the
base, glandular hairs present.
Leaves: oval and short stalked deeply
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toothed, can be purple beneath.
Flowers: blue, very small, 3mm, petals
longer than sepals. Can flower as early
Spring, rarely in Summer.
Habitat: cultivated fields, waste ground,
sparsely grassed sandy areas.
Status: Very local, confined to West Norfolk
and Suffolk
(Scrophulariaceae)
A low growing species with glandular hairs.
Stems: more or less erect can be branched
or unbranched.
Leaves: these give this species its name as
they have finger like lobes, often giving the
appearance of a rocket. Sometimes leaves
are toothed.
Flowers: deep blue 3-4mm at the tips of
stems. Sepals longer than petals. Can flower
as early Spring, rarely in Summer.
Habitat: arable fields and waste ground on
light sandy soils.
Status: Endangered and protected
(schedule 8).
䢇 Fingered Speedwell
Veronica triphyllos
Deep blue
flowers
measure
3-4 mm in
diameter
Flower
stalks
5-8 mm
longer than
calyx
Fruit as
long as
wide
Leaves are deeply
divided into 3-7
parallel-fingered lobes
This species will rarely reach 15 cm in hieght
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© ANDREW GAGG/PLANTLIFE
(Asteraceae)
Stem: bristly, may be unbranched or with
one branch, and swollen beneath the
flowerhead. Variable height.
Leaves: 7-15cm all in a basal rosette,
unevenly toothed (sometimes not toothed
at all), hairy, and usually with dark purple
blotches and a red midrib.
Flowerheads: 3-5cm across. June-August.
Florets: lemon yellow and much longer than
the bracts beneath.
Bracts: very hairy, unequally sized, and
blackish green and have a layered
appearance.
Habitat: calcareous grassland, open
woodland, quarries, grassy sea cliffs.
Status: vulnerable.
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
䢇 Spotted Cat’s-ear
Monocots (grasses and sedges)
Hypochaeris maculata
Grasses and sedges can be separated by
1. The structure of the stems. Grasses have cylindrical, usually hollow, stems,
but Sedges have edges, their stems are triangular and solid.
leaves with
dark spots
Cf. Cat’s-ear Hypochaeris radicata
Stem: smooth.
Leaves: Bristly.
Flowers: bright yellow.
Bracts: purple-tipped.
Not usually found on very calcareous soils,
common everywhere.
flower stalks
leafless
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
䢇 Dense Silky-bent
Apera interrupta
䢇 Rare Spring Sedge
Carex ericetorum
© ?????????/PLANTLIFE
34
© ?????????/PLANTLIFE
(Cyperaceae)
A very early flowering sedge.
Height: 2-20cm.
Stems: strongly triangular but with
blunted angles.
Leaves: darkish green but with pale edges.
Flowers: this sedge is monoecious, meaning
that it has both male and female flowers on
the same stem but in different spikelets.
The single male spikelet is born at the top of
the stem and it is cylindrical, but narrows to
a point. The 1-3 female spikelets are below
the male and are more rounded and blunt.
The appearance of each is that they are dark
purple-brown but each glume (the cover of
the individual florets that make up the
spikelet) has a broad and pale top edge.
Habitat: dry, calcareous and short
grasslands.
Status: vulnerable
cf: Spring Sedge Carex caryophyllea
The stem has sharp angles, and the leaves
are a shiny bright green. The male spikelet
is red-brown and club shaped, the females
also red-brown and are more rounded, each
glume has a projecting green rib down its
length. Much more common than
C.ericetorum
(Poaceae)
An annual grass of arable fields.
Height: Usually no more than 20cm, where
soils are poor 10cm.
Colour: light silky green.
Stems: slender. Leaves: narrow.
Panicles: narrow with short, erect branches.
Spikelets: green – flowers June-July.
Grains: lightweight, and each has a long,
rough, awned lemma, this is the outer, or
lower of the two bracts that enclose the
flower in the grass spikelet.
Habitat: dry, sandy grasslands, only in
East Anglia, particularly in breckland.
Status: Nationally scarce
cf: Loose silky-bent Apera spica-venti
This is taller, 20-100cm with one, sometimes
more, erect stems. The spikelets are
orange-yellow, and it flowers June-August
preferring sandy arable or waste ground.
has a distinctive
awn 6-7mm long
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
35
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
(Poaceae)
Some commercial outlets refer to this
species as Hard Fescue, and have
Blue Fescue as Festuca glauca which is the
garden variety bred to be a much stronger
blue than F.longifolia.
Fescues are tussock forming grasses, known
to be drought tolerant.
36
Stems: smooth to the touch, no fine bristles.
Leaves: smooth, narrow and glaucus,
greyish-green to blueish-white, (not an
obvious bright blue).
Spikelets: 5.5-7.5mm on slender smooth
stalks – no fine bristles.
Habitat: dry grassland
Status: rare and vulnerable found only in
Breckland.
An easy grass to overlook, particularly when
growing amongst other grasses.
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
Festuca longifolia
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
© TIM PANKHURST/PLANTLIFE
䢇 Blue Fescue
A tufted grass growing 10-70cm.
Stems: very distinctive, purple giving the
species its name.
Leaves: green, flattish and hairless.
Flowerhead (inflorescense): 2-10cm, very
dense, the anthers may be white, yellow or
purple. June-August.
䢇 Purple-stem Cat’s-tail
Phleum phleoides
Habitat: sandy grasslands in UK mainly in
Breckland.
Status: Rare.
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
© PHIL SMITH
䢇 Grey-hair Grass
Corynephorus canescens
(Poaceae)
10-35cm this is a densely tufted grass.
awns have club
shaped tips
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BRECKLAND PLANT SPECIES ID GUIDE
Notes
Leaves: greyish and with a bristly
appearance. The leaf sheaths beneath the
leaves are very obviously pink or purplish,
and slightly rough to feel.
Panicles: loose when flowering, tight and
narrow when fruiting.
Spikelets: 3-4mm with two florets.
Florets: distinctive when looked at with
a hand lens, look for awns with club
shaped tips.
Habitat: dry sandy grasslands, also on
fixed sand-dunes. In Britain found only in
East Anglia, locally along the coast, and
inland in the Breckland.
Status: Rare.
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