Yellow Bedstraw Meadow

Reg's Meadow comes into its second yellow phase in July. The first was cowslip time in spring and now it is the turn of Lady's Bedstraw to shine. The bedstraw has been growing almost unobtrusively among the grasses and other tall plants, its flower buds very small and green, its leaves in narrow, spiky whorls around the stems. Now the warm weather has brought the flowers out in a rush and the yellow, frothy blossom is everywhere, spreading a honey-like scent across the whole area.

The meadow reaches its most productive peak in July. The grasses are dying down and much less prominent and the pinkish-purple flowers of knapweed stand tall above them.

Greater Knapweed	Lesser Knapweed

Greater Knapweed has large, showy flowers, with an outer circle of longer ray florets. Lesser, or Common Knapweed has slightly smaller flowers, showing the distinctive "Hardheads" below, which give the plant its alternative name.

Saucer-shaped heads of Wild Carrot are popping up all over the meadow, head and shoulders above the other plants. The flowers are mostly white, but can vary to deep pink and usually have a single dark red floret in the centre. As the flowers mature they sometimes become prominently dome-shaped.

Wild Carrot - Colour variations

St John's Wort

Musk Mallow

Creeping Thistle

Musk Thistle

There are occasional plants of delicate pink Musk Mallow and glowing yellow clusters of Perforate St.John's Wort. In the disturbed soil of the ploughed strips bright red Field Poppies have come up, along with drooping purple heads of Musk Thistle. Creeping Thistle is in bloom right across the meadow, its flowers growing in branched clusters, a paler pink than those of most other thistles.

A few species are found only occasionally in our meadow. We are restricted in how much of the area we can survey in the summer, because we do not want to risk disturbing any ground-nesting birds, so we can only look along the tracks and the mown strips.  Among the occasional flowers we have found are Clustered Bellflower and Common Broomrape. Broomrapes are totally parasitic plants, which grow on the roots of other species.

Clustered Bellflower

Common Broomrape

They contain no chlorophyll, the substance that gives plants their green colouring, and their 'leaves' are scales which cling around their stems. Common Broomrape grows on plants of the pea family, especially clovers.

In July the meadow is constantly a-buzz with insect life. Bees and butterflies are everywhere and the air is never still. One of the smallest butterflies is the Small Skipper, seen here on Lesser Knapweed and on Wild Marjoram buds. Skippers do not keep still for very long, as the name implies. This one took some catching!

Small Skipper on Lesser Knapweed	and on Wild Marjoram

Marbled White

Six Spot Burnet

A larger and more spectacular butterfly is the Marbled White, which can often be seen around knapweed. Also very fond of knapweed flowers are Six-Spot Burnet Moths. You may be able to pick out these medium-sized moths flying around, as they look very red in flight. The spots are normally bright red, but can also occasionally be found in yellow. We have both variants in the July meadow.

The beetle you are most likely to notice is bright orange and goes by the name Rhagonycha fulva! It is also sometimes called the Bloodsucker because of its colour but is in fact harmless. Look for these especially on wild carrot flowers, as they show up well against the white.

 

Wild Flower Count 2005

This was carried out on Sunday July 3^rd. Disappointingly we had only one young helper, who was not a member but was very interested in the flowers. Thank you James, and we hope you enjoyed the goody bag.

Goat's Beard

Fat Hen

We identified four new species this year. These were Wild Pansy or Heartsease (Viola tricolor) (pictured last month), Nipplewort (Lapsana communis), Goat's Beard (Tragopogon pratensis) and Fat Hen (Chenopodium album). Goat's Beard is also called "Jack go to bed at noon" because the flowers close up in the middle of the day. The seed heads are very distinctive, similar to dandelion clocks but about twice as large.

There were some noticeable differences in this year's survey when compared to that of 2004. Some species, such as Weld and Melilot, have not been found. There is far less Wild Mignonette, less broomrape and fewer thistles. The dry conditions early in the year will have affected the success of certain species, some of which have flowered earlier or later than they did in 2004. Some may have been crowded out or overshadowed by taller or more dominant species such as grasses, bedstraw and trefoil.

Brigid is updating the complete list and we will bring you more details later - also news of any further new species we may find once we have access to other parts of the meadow later in the year.

Featured Flower - Lady's Bedstraw (Galium verum)

A native perennial, found on dry grassland, roadside verges and heaths. It has clusters of bright yellow, honey-scented flowers on tall, square, upright stems, 1-3 feet high. The leaves are small and narrow, in whorls or rosettes around the stem. Flowers in July and August.

Some alternative names are Our Lady's Bedstraw, Yellow Bedstraw, Maid's Hair, Petty Mugget, Cheese Renning and Cheese Rennet.

The common English name of the plant comes from its former use as stuffing for bed mattresses. It was also reputed in Christian legend to be one of the herbs used in the manger at Bethlehem and for bedding by the Virgin Mary. The name Petty Mugget comes from the French petit muguet, meaning little dandy.

The plant was used in cheesemaking as an alternative to rennet for curdling milk, hence the names Cheese Renning or Cheese Rennet. The genus name Galium comes from the Greek word gala, meaning milk and is thought to refer to the curdling properties as above.

Red and yellow dyes can be obtained from the roots and these were used to add colour to cheese, as well as being used in the Hebrides for dyeing wool red.

Medicinally it was used against epilepsy or hysteria, as a styptic to stop bleeding, to heal wounds and in the treatment of internal stones or urinary diseases. The herbalist Gerard mentions its use as "An ointment...which is good for anointing the weary traveller"!

And finally.

Plants come in all shapes, some of them unexpected. Out in the Meadow we found Mr. Punch, in the seed head of a Ribwort Plantain.

Who says plants don't have a sense of humour!