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Woodland plants - identification please!
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cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 11 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

wildfoodie wrote:
that pale shiny green does look like newly sprouted ground elder but the bobbly bits for me make it a definite dogs mercury id.
cab- the bobbly bits - paler greenish yellow -are clearest on the plants in the bottom right corner of the pic nestling on top of the leaves


Oh, yeah, bobbly bits. Flat out hadn't seen them. No,that doesn't look like ground elder!

hedgehogpie



Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent
PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 11 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

From the top: Lesser Celandine, edible leaves if harvested before flowering. The bulbils/tubers are best left until after the plant has died back at the end of the season and they're tiny and fiddly.

Middle: Possibly Cow Parsley, but as there are some seriously toxic look-alikes in the family Apiaceae, leave well alone until you can be absolutely sure. One to observe carefully as it grows so that you can get to know it intimately. No rush to make yourself ill!

Bottom: Dog's Mercury. Another toxic plant best avoided & one to watch out for when you're picking Ramsons as the two often intermingle.

nerion



Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 38

PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 11 1:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Wow, thank you all so much - and I shall defintiely take your advice about the cow parsley. I guess it's easier to identify when in flower, too.

I hope you don't mind me posting the pics - just that I'd love to know every single plant out there - edible and inedible. You've all been really helpful. )

maryf



Joined: 25 Oct 2009
Posts: 341
Location: suffolk
PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 11 1:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I agree with the id's given and also recommend midlandspinner field guide, The Wild Flower Key, Francis Rose - I got a new one on Amazon last spring, it was very usefully supplied with a plastic jacket so I do really take it into the field. I f you haven't used a key before do take the advice to practise on plants you know.

sarahloo



Joined: 01 Jun 2007
Posts: 125
Location: Reading, Berkshire
PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 11 11:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Can I just recommend Roger Phillips "Wild Food" as well as the River Cottage guides previously mentioned. They are all quite inspiring because they have lovely photos and recipes as well as interesting little stories and anecdotes. The guy that forages for River Cottage is quite a comedian sometimes too

meggy



Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Posts: 32

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 11 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We have a lot of hemlock - ID by red spots/areas on stems.
Steer clear! Middle photo looks like could be either cow parsle or hemlock but would need closer look - hemlock definitely coming up here (herefordshire) at mo.

hedgehogpie



Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent
PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 11 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hemlock also smells strongly like rats wee.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 11 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the rev keeble martin has a nice field guide

nerion



Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 38

PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 11 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hi folks,

You were all so helpful last time, here are a few more plants (and fungi) that I'm unsure of. Would love it if you could help.



1. Funny little plant but I have no idea what it is. Looks like a lot of little green bums on the woodland floor!




2. Not sure about this one but thought it may be lambs' sorrel?




3. These are TINY leaves - maybe a centimetre long at the most.




4. Maybe one of the dead nettles - more rounded leaves than stinging nettle (see bottom right). How do you tell the dead nettles apart when they're not in bloom?




5. No idea about this one. Relatively large leaves and red stems.




6. Thought this may be ground elder? Doesn't have the "twiddly bits" of dog's mercury.



7. No idea about this one - looks like a minature bush.




8. I think this may be a "wort" - but which one?




9. Another one that looks parsley-esque.




10. Fungi at last - though it does look like a turd! It was way past its best and home to a spider and dead insect inside. What kind of mushroom is it?



11a. Initial joy at spotting these as I thought they were velvet shanks. But the lack of brown stem made me think: sulphur tufts.




11b. Same mushrooms, picked. From young on the front left to older on the front right. My guide book states that the young'uns have a gossamer veil, which you can see on the first two. Am I right? Sulphur tufts?

Many thanks, folks. I also picked nettles, wild garlic and wood sorrel. Time to make some soup now!

earthyvirgo



Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 7972
Location: creating prints in the loft, Gerlan
PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 11 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I lost track of the number but I'm pretty sure there was a campion in there (No.2?), and Jack by the Hedge, the one you thought was dead nettle (I think).

Is 8 a little cranesbill? I know I've seen it in the slate shale around here.

9 looks like a buttercup.

The first one only looks odd because it's no showing its true leaves yet. It's possibly a tree seedling - sycamore maybe.

EV

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon
PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 11 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

1 - Can't tell - try again when it's not just got it's cotyledons

2 - Red campion

3 - bluebells

4 - Jack-in-the-hedge (peppery and edible)

5 - hogweed

6 - ground elder

7 - I don't think that's indigenous

8 - some sort of cranesbill and herb robert with the more divided leaves

9 something buttercuppy

Will leave the shrooms for someone else - might be worth putting them in a separate thread so the mushroom boys look at them.

9

earthyvirgo



Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 7972
Location: creating prints in the loft, Gerlan
PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 11 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

7 isn't Feverfew is it Jamanda?

EV

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon
PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 11 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It could well be - and I should have got it as it grows outside my back door

bubble



Joined: 13 Apr 2008
Posts: 960

PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 11 4:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

1-???2-white campion [or red] or wood forget-me not,3- ??? 4- Garlic mustard,5-hogweed 6-gound elder 7- greater celandine chelidonium majus 8-sanicle sanicula europaea bottom r.h. side is herb robert Geranium robertianum 9- artemisia vulgaris? 10 -daeldinia concentrica [with ash mostly]11a and 11b -coprinus micaceous?

Last edited by bubble on Sat Apr 02, 11 7:14 am; edited 1 time in total

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 11 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

7 looks more like a Corydalis to me.
10 is commonly known as King Alfred's cakes or cramp balls and although it isn't edible it takes a spark when dry and smoulders nicely, you can keep an ember alight for well over half an hour.

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