See in which Ground Condition and Ground Moisture these plants on this page are in the
Wild Flowers on Calcareous (Chalk) Soil in Habitat Table Page .

Common Name

Botanical Name

Wildflowers of Chalk and Limestone

lesser burnet-saxifrage

lesser bur-parsley

lesser butterfly orchid

Lesser Meadow-rue

Lesser Meadow-rue is
Thalictrum minus

Buttercup Family

Visited by various flies and bees, but often setting little seed.

A morphologically variable, perennial herb found in calcareous or other base-rich habitats where competition is low, including fixed dunes, scrubby banks, rocky lake and river edges, limestone and serpentine cliffs, limestone grassland and pavement and montane rock ledges. It also occurs in other habitats, including churchyards, hedge banks and roadsides, as a garden escape.

3 main habitats of

• limestone rocks and grassland
• dunes
• streamsides or lakeside gravel and shingle

lesser teasel

lesser wintergreen

lily-of-the-valley

ling

lizard orchid

london pride

Long-Headed Poppy (Long Smooth-headed Poppy)

Long-Headed Poppy (Long Smooth-headed Poppy) is
Papaver dubium

Poppy family

Flowers visited by various pollen-collecting insects, especially bees. No nectar. Probably self-sterile.

An annual found principally in arable fields, where it can occur on both light and heavy calcareous soils. It is also found on waste ground by roadsides and railways, and in gardens. The seed is very long-lived. The commonest poppy in the North is also a native weed.

Prefers sandy soil without lime.

Use in Wildflower meadows, Butterfly & Bee Gardens, Cut Flowers.

long-stalked cranesbill

madder

madwort

maidenhair fern

maiden pink

man orchid

marjoram

marsh hawksbeard

marsh helleborine

marsh orchid

martagon lily

mary's shoe

may lily

meadow clary

meadow cranesbill

meadow sage

meadow-sweet

melancholy thistle

mezereon

military orchid

miller's dale

mistletoe

monkey orchid

mossy saxifrage

motherwort

mountain ash

mountain avens

mountain bedstraw

mounting everlasting

mountain melic

mountain pansy

moutain st john's wort

mountain sedge

mountain stone-parsley

mountain stone-parsley

mouse-ear hawkweed

musk orchid

musk thistle

narrow-leaved bitter-cress

narrow-leaved everlasting pea

naroow-leaved eyebright

narrow-leaved helleborine

navelwort and wall pennywort

norwegian sandwort

nottingham catchfly

old man's beard

oligocene

ox-eye daisy

oxlip

oxtongue broomrape

Pale Poppy , Long Prickly-headed Poppy, Prickly Poppy

Pale Poppy , Long Prickly-headed Poppy, Prickly Poppy is
Papaver argemone

Poppy family

Probably often selfed before flowers open.

An annual of arable crops, usually found on field edges and in unsprayed corners, often in small numbers. It is most frequent on light sandy, gravelly and chalky soils. Rarely, it occurs on waste ground.
Poisonous.

The UK's only poppy with sparsely bristled, long narrow seed-pods.

Use in Garden flower border or cornfield meadow

pale toadflax

parsley

Common Pasque Flower, Pasque Flower

Common Pasque Flower, Pasque Flower is
Pulsatilla vulgaris,
Anemone pulsatilla

Buttercup family

The plant is a member of the same family as Buttercup and contains the glycoside ranunculin. It has a very bitter taste which produces an immediate burning in the mouth. Fatal in a large amount but there are no records of anyone ever consuming enough because of the taste and effect.

Visited by many bees for pollen and nectar.

A perennial rhizomatous herb of species-rich turf on the slopes of chalk or oolite escarpments, and the banks of ancient earthworks, usually with a South or South-West aspect. Plants produce viable seed, but seedling establishment is rare.

In short turf on chalk and limestone from the Thames to the Humber.

It grows in sparsely wooded pine forests or meadows, often on a sunny sloping side with calcium-rich soil.

pellitory-of-the wall

perennial flax

perfoliate penny-cress

perfoliate yellow-wort

perforate st john's wort

Pheasant's-eye

Pheasant's-eye is
Adonis annua , Adonis autumnalis

Buttercup family

Pollinated by bees.

An arable weed of dry soils on chalk and limestone, also recorded from tracks, chalk pits and other disturbed habitats. Seed production is low but there is a long-lived soil seed bank. Most populations are small and restricted to field edges.

In chalky cornfields in Southern England.

ploughman's spikenard

portland spurge

primrose

privet

purging flax

purple cow-wheat

purple helleborine

purple milk-vetch

purple star-thistle

pyramidal bugle

pyramidal orchid

ramson

rare cuckoo pint

red broomrape

red helleborine

red valerian

rhododendron

ribwort plantain

rigid buckler fern

rock cinquefoil

Marsh Marigold
(Mary-gold, Mary's-gold, Mary-bud, Kingcup, May Blobs)

Marsh Marigold
(Mary-gold, Mary's-gold, Mary-bud, Kingcup, May Blobs) is
Caltha palustris

Buttercup Family

Visited by a great variety of insects for pollen and nectar.

A perennial herb of various wet habitats, usually neutral to base-rich rather than very acidic, including Alnus carr, the edges of rivers, streams, canals, lakes and ponds, ditches and winter-wet meadows and pastures.

In marshes, fens, ditches and wet woods, becoming most luxuriant in part shade; rare on very base-poor peat.

Meadow Buttercup

Meadow Buttercup is
Ranunculus acris

Buttercup Family

Pollinated by various insects, especially hover flies and small bees.

A perennial herb of damp meadows and pastures on a wide variety of soils, only avoiding very dry or acid conditions. It is a characteristic plant of unimproved hay and water-meadow communities, and now of relict herb-rich fragments on damp road verges; it also grows on dune grassland, in montane flushes and in tall-herb communities on rock ledges. It is unpalatable to grazing animals, but easily controlled in intensively managed pastures.

Damper Grassland.

River Water Crowfoot , River Crowfoot

River Water Crowfoot , River Crowfoot is Ranunculus fluitans

Buttercup family

This is a perennial species which grows in large, rapidly flowing rivers with a stable substrate. It is usually found in base-rich and meso-eutrophic water. In Ireland, it is confined to a single, now locally highly polluted, river.

Rapidly flowing streams and rivers throughout Great Britain from the Clyde southwards; in Ireland only in Antrim.

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Flowering plants of Chalk and Limestone Page 1
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Old Buildings and Walls.

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WILDFLOWER INDEX
Botanical Name
Common Name

See Explanation of Structure of this Website with User Guidelines to aid your use of this website.

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 1

(o)Adder's Tongue
Amaranth
(o)Arrow-Grass
(o)Arum
(o)Balsam
Bamboo
(o)Barberry
(o)Bedstraw
(o)Beech
(o)Bellflower
(o)Bindweed
(o)Birch
(o)Birds-Nest
(o)Birthwort
(o)Bogbean
(o)Bog Myrtle
(o)Borage
(o)Box
(o)Broomrape
(o)Buckthorn
(o)Buddleia
(o)Bur-reed
(o)Buttercup
(o)Butterwort
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(o)Crowberry
(o)Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 1
(o)Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 2
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(o)Daffodil
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(o)Daisy Thistle
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WILD FLOWER FAMILY
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(o)Clubmoss
(o)Duckweed
(o)Eel-Grass
(o)Elm
(o)Filmy Fern
(o)Horsetail
(o)Polypody
Quillwort
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(o)Flax
(o)Flowering-Rush
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(o)Goosefoot
(o)Grass 1
(o)Grass 2
(o)Grass 3
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 1
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 2
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 3 (o)Hazel
(o)Heath
(o)Hemp
(o)Herb-Paris
(o)Holly
(o)Honeysuckle
(o)Horned-Pondweed
(o)Hornwort
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(o)Ivy
(o)Jacobs Ladder
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(o)Lily Garlic
(o)Lime
(o)Lobelia
(o)Loosestrife
(o)Mallow
(o)Maple
(o)Mares-tail
(o)Marsh Pennywort
(o)Melon (Gourd/Cucumber)
 

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 3

(o)Mesem-bryanthemum
(o)Mignonette
(o)Milkwort
(o)Mistletoe
(o)Moschatel
Naiad
(o)Nettle
(o)Nightshade
(o)Oleaster
(o)Olive
(o)Orchid 1
(o)Orchid 2
(o)Orchid 3
(o)Orchid 4
(o)Parnassus-Grass
(o)Peaflower
(o)Peaflower Clover 1
(o)Peaflower Clover 2
(o)Peaflower Clover 3
(o)Peaflower Vetches/Peas
Peony
(o)Periwinkle
Pillwort
Pine
(o)Pink 1
(o)Pink 2
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(o)Rose 3
(o)Rose 4
(o)Rush
(o)Rush Woodrushes
(o)Saint Johns Wort
Saltmarsh Grasses
(o)Sandalwood
(o)Saxifrage
 

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 4

Seaheath
(o)Sea Lavender
(o)Sedge Rush-like
(o)Sedges Carex 1
(o)Sedges Carex 2
(o)Sedges Carex 3
(o)Sedges Carex 4
(o)Spindle-Tree
(o)Spurge
(o)Stonecrop
(o)Sundew
(o)Tamarisk
Tassel Pondweed
(o)Teasel
(o)Thyme 1
(o)Thyme 2
(o)Umbellifer 1
(o)Umbellifer 2
(o)Valerian
(o)Verbena
(o)Violet
(o)Water Fern
(o)Waterlily
(o)Water Milfoil
(o)Water Plantain
(o)Water Starwort
Waterwort
(o)Willow
(o)Willow-Herb
(o)Wintergreen
(o)Wood-Sorrel
(o)Yam
(o)Yew

See current Wildflower Common Name Index link Table for more wildflower of the UK common names together with their names in languages from America, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

See current Wildflower Botanical Name Index link table for wildflower of the United Kingdom (Great Britain) botanical names.

After clicking on the WILD FLOWER Common Name INDEX link to Wildflower Family Page; locate that Common name on that Wildflower Family Page, then

Click on Underlined Text in:-

Common Name to view that Plant Description Page
Botanical Name to link to Plant or Seed Supplier
Flowering Months to view photos
Habitat to view further Natural Habitat details and Botanical Society of the British Isles Distribution Map
 

Common Name

Botanical Name

Wildflowers of Chalk and Limestone

rock pepperwort

rock sea-lavender

rock spurrey

rock stonecrop

rock whitebeam

rough round-headed poppy

round-headed garlic

round-headed rampion

round-leaved hare's-ear

rustyback

salad burnet

samphire

scarce sweetbriar

scots pine

sea beet

sea cabbage

sea campion

sea carrot

sea radish

sheep's sorrel

shepherd's purse

shining cranesbill

shrubby cinquefoil

slender-headed thistle

slender tare

Small-flowered Buttercup

Small-flowered Buttercup is
Ranunculus parviflorus

Buttercup family

An annual of dry disturbed habitats on a range of neutral and calcareous soils. Typical sites include broken turf on cliff edges, open, droughted slopes and banks, rabbit scrapes, tracks, poached gateways, building sites and gardens. The seeds appear to be long-lived, and populations may reappear after disturbance or persist for many years.

Dry grassy banks and path-sides mostly on chalk or limestone.

small hare's-ear

small-leaved lime

small meadow-rue

small rest-harrow

small scabious

snapdragon

soft hawksbeard

soft-leaved rose

soldier orchid

spiked speedwell

spiked star-of-bethlehem

spindle tree

spotted catsear

spotted orchid

spring cinquefoil

spring gentian

spring sandwort

spurge laurel

spur-lipped coralroot

squinancywort

stemless thistle

sticky catchfly

Stinking Hellebore (Bear's-foot)
 

Stinking Hellebore (Bear's-foot) is Helleborus foetidus

Buttercup family

Trimethylamine is present in the flowers, which gives off an unpleasant smell to attract midges and bluebottles for their pollination. Visited by early bees and other insects. Seeds said to be dispersed by ants.

Compounds of sulphur are present and the whole plant emits a most unpleasant smell, especially when handled, hence its country name of Stinking Hellebore.

A short-lived perennial herb of shallow calcareous soils. It is a poor competitor, and intolerant of deep shade, so is usually found in small colonies in woodland glades or open scrub, on scree slopes, rock ledges, hedge banks, and as an introduction in churchyards. Adult plants near senescence (4-5 years old) are typically found with a cohort of seedlings.

Woods and scrub on chalk and limestone in Southern England.

stone bramble

strawberry tree

sulphur clover

sweet alyssum

sweetbriar

sweet cicely

sweet-scented orchid, fragrant orchid

sweet-scented violet

sycamore

tall broomrape

teesdale sandwort

tenby daffodil

thistle broomrape

thrift

toadstone

toothed wintergreen

tor-grass

tormentil

Traveller's Joy
Old Man's Beard

Traveller's Joy
Old Man's Beard is Clematis vitalba

Buttercup family

Visited by pollen-collecting bees and pollen-eating flies, especially Syrphids.

A climbing perennial with liana-like woody stems, often covering large areas on hedge banks, hedges and walls, trees and scrub, sand dunes, disused quarry faces and ruins. It is a classic railway plant. On base-rich soils, or utilising lime mortar, the plant can form virtual monocultures.

In hedgerows, thickets and wood-margins chiefly on calcareous rocks or soils.

The climbing Clematises most commonly grown in British gardens, with large violet to purple flowers, are hybrids of the Chinese Clematis lanuginosa with the Southern European Clematis viticella (Clematis x jackmanii Th. Moore), or with the Chinese Clematis patens (Clematis x lawsoniata Moore & Jackman). The viticella hybrids are later-flowering than the patens hybrids, and have usually only 4 sepals instead of 6-8. Clmatis montana DC, and Asiatic species, is also much grown for its profusion of smallish white or pink flowers.

When the plant has finished flowering, the developing seeds (known as achenes – an achene is a one seeded fruit) retain part of the flower – the style.  This has long, silky hairs, which form the grey tufted balls that are so conspicuous in some woodlands and hedgerows in autumn and winter.  These are, indeed, the ‘old man’s beard’. These silky structures are important in the dispersal of the seeds.

tuberous thistle

twiggy spurge

upright brome

upright cinquefoil

Various-leaved Crowfoot (Pond Water-crowfoot)

Various-leaved Crowfoot (Pond Water-crowfoot) is
Ranunculus peltatus (Ranunculus floribundus, Ranunculus spaero-spermus)

Buttercup family

This perennial or sometimes annual species grows in slow-flowing streams and rivers, coastal lagoons, shallow lakes, ditches, ponds and dune-slacks. It is difficult to define its ecological preferences, as it grows in the upper reaches of highly calcareous rivers but in some areas favours base-poor waters; it has a broad trophic range.

vernal squill

vervain

viper's bugloss

Virgin's Bower, Fragrant Virgin's Bower

Virgin's Bower, Fragrant Virgin's Bower is
Clematis flammula

Clematis flammula, found in Corsica. By IKAl, via Wikimedia Commons.

Buttercup family

Pollinated by bees, flies.

All parts of the plant are poisonous, the toxic principle is dissipated by heat or by drying.

This is a scrambling or weakly climbing perennial. It is occasionally found naturalised on coastal cliffs, shingle beaches and dunes, and rarely inland.

Hedges, thickets and waste places.

Plants can be grown as ground cover, planted about 48 inches (120 cms) apart and allowed to scramble over the ground. Grows well on chalk soil.

wall bedstraw

wallflower

wall germander

wall pennywort

wall-rue

warty spurge

wasp orchid

water avens

Water Crowfoot , (Common Water-crowfoot)

Water Crowfoot , (Common Water-crowfoot) is
Ranunculus aquatilis

Buttercup family

Visited by various flies and bees.

This is an annual or short-lived perennial which grows in shallow water in marshes, ponds and ditches, and at the edge of slow-flowing streams and sheltered lakes. It occurs chiefly in water which is eutrophic and at least mildly base-rich, and is favoured by a degree of disturbance.

In and by fresh and brackish water.

wayfaring tree

Welsh Poppy

Welsh Poppy is
Meconopsis cambrica

Poppy family

A long-lived perennial herb, native in damp, rocky woodlands and on shaded cliff ledges. It is also grown in gardens and has become naturalised on hedge banks, walls, roadsides and waste ground.

Its habit has enabled it to colonise the urban environment, growing between paving slabs and at the edges of walls.

Welsh political party Plaid Cymru adopted a stylised image of M. cambrica as its party logo.

welsh stonecrop

western spiked speedwell

white arabis

whitebeam

white birch

white bryony

white mullein

white rock-rose

white stonecrop

whortleberry

wild basil

wild carrot

wild columbine

wild cotoneaster

wild liquorice

wild mignonette

Peony, Wild Peony

Peony, Wild Peony is
Paeonia mascula

Paeonia mascula, Hilel mt. (Israel). By Setreset, via Wikimedia Commons.

Peony family

Flowers visited by various insects chiefly for pollen.

A perennial herb which is naturalised on rocky limestone slopes. On Steep Holm (N. Somerset) it grows on the steep eastern slopes of the island, where there is some protection from westerly gales.

Ideal conditions are light (sandy) soils although most peonies can grow in heavy clay soil. The Wild Peony prefers acid and neutral soils, can grow in semi-shade and tolerates drought.

Paeonia mascula flowers for just one week of the year normally in May or June in the Northern Hemisphere.

wild parsnip

wild pear

wild strawberry

wild thyme

Winter Aconite

Winter Aconite is
Eranthis hyemalis, Helleborus hyemalis

Buttercup family

Visited by hive-bees and flies.

All 8 species of Eranthis have a burning tast and are poisonous owing to the presence of an alkaloid.

A small, tuberous perennial, dying back in summer. It is naturalised, sometimes in large numbers, in open woodland, grassland and scrub associated with habitation, under park trees, in gardens and on road verges.

Glossy Green horizontal foliage appearing after the flowers and dying back by June. They do particularly well in chalky soil.

Wood Anemone or Wind Flower

Wood Anemone or Wind Flower is
Anemone nemorosa

Buttercup family

The 120 species of Anemone are sharp-tasting plants, poisonous owing to the presence of the narcotic anemonin and dangerous to cattle.

Visited for pollen by various bees and flies.

A rhizomatous perennial, found in woodland, on streamsides, under Pteridium, on hedge banks, in heathy grassland, on open moorland, in scree and on limestone pavement. It has a wide pH tolerance, but in woodlands it is most abundant where the vigour of more competitive species is reduced by acidity, waterlogging or regular coppicing.

Deciduous woodland, hedge-banks and mountains on all but highly acidic or water-logged soils in England Wales and Scotland

wood barley

wood betony

wood cranesbill

wood fescue

wood melic

wood sorrel

wood spurge

wood vetch

woolly-headed thistle

wych elm

yellow archangel

yellow bird's-nest

Yellow Horned Poppy

Yellow Horned Poppy is
Glaucium flavum

Poppy family

Visited by various flies and some small bees.

All parts of the plant, including the seeds, are toxic and can produce a range of symptoms up to and including respiratory failure resulting in death. It is also toxic to grazing animals.

A short-lived perennial herb of shingle banks and stony beaches; also, more rarely, amongst loose rock and on eroding cliffs of sand and clay, and on the bare tops of chalk cliffs. The few inland records are of casual occurrences.

Maritime, chiefly on shingle banks, all round the coast from Argylly and Kincardine; Ireland and Channel Islands

yellow sea-poppy

yellow star-of-bethlehem

yellow stonecrop

yellow vetchling

yellow whitlow-grass

yellow-wort

yew

yorkshire sandwort