Plant Height from Text Border

Blue = 0-24 inches (0-60 cms)

Green=24-72 inches (60-180 cms)

Red = 72+ inches (180+ cms)

Plant Soil Moisture from Text Background

Wet Soil

Moist Soil

Dry Soil

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Wildflowers with Pink Flowers

Wildflower Common Plant Name

Click on Underlined Text
to view that Wildflower Plant Description Page

Flower Photo
to show Number of Flower Petals and either Simple or Elaborated Flower Shape

Flowers Photo
to show Natural Arrangements of how the flowers are arranged

Foliage Photo
to show the shape of each leaf and the arrangement of the leaves on the foliage stem

Form Photo
to show the overall form of the plant

^
|
|

Flowering Months

Click on Underlined Text
to view photos

Habitat

Click on Underlined Text
to view further Natural Habitat details and Botanical Society of the British Isles Distribution Map

Habitat to view further Natural Habitat details and Botanical Society of the British Isles Distribution Map.

Native in:-
1. Western Europe = Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, Great Britain, Belgium and Holland.
2. Northern Europe = Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
3. Central Europe = Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
4. Mediterranean Europe = Spain, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and Turkey.
5. South-East Europe = Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania, and
6. Soviet Union completes the Regions of Europe

Number of Petals

Without Petals.

1 Petal or Comp-osite of many 1 Petal Flowers as Disc or Ray Floret .

2 Petals.
3 Petals.
4 Petals.
5 Petals.
6 Petals.
Over 6 Petals.

Foliage Colour

Height x Spread in inches (cms)

(1 inch = 2.5 cms,
12 inches = 1 foot = 30 cms,
24 inches = 2 feet,
3 feet = 1 yard,
40 inches = 100 cms)
Click on Underlined
text
to view its Wildflower FAMILY Page

Comment
and
Botanical Name

Click on Underlined Botanical Name
to link to Plant or Seed Supplier

See illustration
on Page xxx in Wild Flowers by Colour by Marjorie Blamey. Published in 2005 by A&C Black

Botanical Name
Click on Underlined Text in:-
Botanical Name to link to Plant or Seed Supplier

Pink Flowers A-G

Alpine Catchfly

Native in Northern Europe (except in Denmark and Finland), Spain, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Soviet Union.

Pink Family

Lychnis alpina
(Viscaria alpina)

Alpine Willowherb

Native and widely distributed in arctic and alpine areas of Europe.

Epilobium anagallid-ifolium
(Epilobium alpinum)

Alsike Clover

Native in all Europe, except in Iceland and Albania.
Cultivated as a fodder crop.

Trifolium hybridum

American Willowherb

Native of North America: now widespread mainly in North-Western Europe.

Epilobium adenocaulon

Amphibius Persicaria
(Amphibious Bistort)

Foliage from Norfolk Broads. Photo from BritishFlora

Form from Norfolk Broads. Photo from BritishFlora

July-September

A floating aquatic perennial herb, which sometimes grows in considerable quantity in lakes, ponds, canals, slow-flowing rivers and ditches, or a terrestrial plant found in damp places on watersides, in marshes, wet meadows and dune-slacks, and as a weed of cultivated land. Reproduction is by seed and fragments of rhizome; terrestrial plants are much less floriferous than aquatic ones. 0-570 m (Blind Tarn, Westmorland).

Native in all Europe.

Dock Bistorts Family

Polygonum amphibium
(Polygonum amphibia,
Persicaria amphibia)

Apple mint
(Round-leaved mint,
Apple-Scented Mint)

Aug-Sep

Whorl of Apple scented pink to white flowers in a spike

A rhizomatous perennial herb of damp places. It is often forming extensive colonies on roadsides and waste ground.

Native in most of Europe.

4 Petals

Green

16-39
(40-98)

THYME Family

Mentha rotundifolia (Mentha suaveolens)

Apple Rose
(Downy Rose,
Soft Downy Rose)

Native and widespread in hedges and bushy places in Great Britain.
Native in Central Europe and Southern Europe.

Rosa villosa
(Rosa tomentosa,
Rosa sherardii)

Bastard Balm

Native in much of Europe, except in North Europe, Ireland, Holland, Albania and Turkey.

Melittis melisso-phyllum

Bear Berry
(Bearberry)

Foliage

May-June

This procumbent low shrub is found on upland heaths and moorlands, often over well-drained gravelly or rocky ground, and on ravine sides. It sometimes grows in heathy grasslands on limestone, as in the Burren.

Native in all Europe, except for Greece and Turkey
The leaves are used medicinally, and also for tanning and dyeing. The fruits are edible.

Heath Family

Arctosta-phylos uva-ursi

Bee Orchid
(Bee orchis)

Native in much of Europe, except in Northern Europe, Poland and Bulgaria.

Ophrys apifera

Bell Heather

Flower

Flowers

June onwards

This small shrub occurs on thin, acidic, peaty or mineral soils in well-drained situations, on dry heaths, and as an occasional undershrub in open-canopy Pinus sylvestris or Quercus woodland. It is found in some calcareous grasslands that are leached and acidic at the surface (`limestone heath`).

Native in Western Europe including Great Britain, Norway and Germany

Heath Family

Erica cinerea

Betony

Native in all Europe, Except Iceland.
Held in high repute in the past as a medicinal plant. The leaves have been used to make tea and as a herbal tobacco.

Betonica officinalis
(Stachys officinalis)

Bilberry
(Whortle-berry, Blaeberry,
Wortleberry,
Huckleberry,
Whinberry)

Flower

Flowers

April-June

A calcifugous low shrub, common and locally dominant in well-drained heaths and moorland, especially in upland areas, and as an understorey in acid woodland of Betula, Pinus and Quercus; also found on hummocks in peat bogs in the north and west.

Native in all of Europe, except for Turkey.
The fruit is edible and used for preserves, to colour wine and in the preparation of spirits. The fruits give a black or blue dye and have been used for this since Roman times.

Heath Family

Vaccinium myrtillus

Bindweed
(Copse Bindweed)

July onwards

A climbing annual of hedges, thickets and wood-borders on well-drained soils. Erratic in appearance, it sometimes occurs in quantity following the felling, thinning or coppicing of hedgerows and woodland. Lowland.

Native in thickets and hedges from North Somerset and Worcester to Kent and Essex in England, Cernarvon in Wales.
Native in Europe north to South Scandinavia; northern and western Asia.

Dock Bistorts Family

Polygonum dumetorum
(Fallopia dumetorum)

Bird's-eye Primrose

Flower

Form

May-June

A short-lived perennial herb typical of wet, usually spring-fed, calcareous flushes. It is often found on hummocks in springs, and on seeping banks where slippage has opened up the turf, most commonly on open marl. A few sites remain in unimproved, grazed, damp pasture. It perennates as resting-buds and reproduces by seed.

Native in much of Europe, except in Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, Holand, Iceland, Norway, Albania, Greece and Turkey

6 x 6
(15 x 15)

Primrose Family

Primula farinosa

Bird's-foot Trefoil (Common Birdsfoot Trefoil,
Bacon and Eggs)

Native in all Europe: introduced into Iceland

Lotus corniculatus

Bramble
(Blackberry)

Native in all Europe.
The ripe fruits are edible and are used for jams, preserves and wine-making.

Rose 1 Family

Rubus fruticosus
(Rubus plicatus)

Black Bindweed

Flowers

Foliage

July onwards

An annual found in arable land, gardens, waste places, rubbish tips and on roadsides. 0-450 m (Clun Forest, Salop).

Native in waste places, arable land and gardens throughout the British Isles.
Native in Europe, North Africa, temperate Asia, except the arctic: introduced into North America and South Africa.

Dock Bistorts Family

Polygonum convolvulus
(Fallopia convolvulus)

Bloody Cranesbill
(Blood-red Geranium, Blutroter Storchschnabel in Germany,
blodnäva in Sweden, bloedooie-vaarsbek in Dutch,
Bloody Geranium in USA)

June-August

Native in all Europe, except in Iceland and Holland.

Geranium Family

Geranium sanguineum

Bog Whortleberry
(Bog Wortleberry, Northern Bilberry,
Bog Bilberry)

May-June

Native in Bilberry moors, ascending to 3500 feet (105000 cms). From Durham and Cumberland to Shetland in Great Britain.

Heath Family

Vaccinium uliginosum

Bog Pimpernel

June-August

Native to Western Europe, which includes Great Britain within it.

6 x 24
(15 x 60)

Primrose Family

Anagallis tenella

Garden Everlasting Pea
(Everlasting Pea,
Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea)

Native of Southern Europe; often growing as an ornamental and escaping elsewhere.

Peaflower Vetches/Peas Family

Lathyrus latifolius

Broad-leaved Willowherb

Native in all Europe, except in Iceland and Turkey.

Epilobium montanum

Buckwheat
(Common Buckwheat)

Flower

Form

July-September

An annual appearing erratically on waste ground, rubbish tips, field margins and in woodland rides. It rarely persists long at any one site. Lowland.

Native in Asia; widely cultivated and often self-seeding in much of Europe.

Dock Bistorts Family

Fagopyrum esculentum
(Polygonum fagopyrum,
Fagopyrum sagittatum)

Butterbur
(Pestilence Wort)

Female Flowers

Form

March-May, before the leaves

A dioecious rhizomatous perennial herb of moist, fertile, often alluvial, soils by watercourses, in wet meadows, marshes, flood plains and copses, and on roadsides. It spreads mostly vegetatively from rhizome fragments. Female plants are frequent only in N. and C. England. Male-only colonies are probably single clones, many perhaps from deliberate plantings for a source of pollen and nectar for hive bees (Stevens, 1990).
Native in all Europe: introduced into Northern Europe

Daisy Family

Petasites hybridus
(Petasites vulgaris)

Caraway

Native in most of Europe, except in Portugal, Greece and Turkey.
Often cultivated as a pot-herb. The seeds are used for flavouring in cooking, bakeries, cheese-making and to flavour the liquer Kimmel; also used in herbal remedies.

Carum carvi

Chaffweed

June-August

An annual of open places on damp, sandy sites, often near the sea and usually on acidic soils. Habitats include sand dunes, sandy cliffs, along paths and tracks on heathland, and in forest rides. It is a poor competitor where grazing is relaxed and general disturbance ceases.
Native throughout Europe

Primrose Family

Centunculus minimus
(Anagallis minima)

Chalk Milkwort

Flower

May-Jul

Tightly-grazed chalk and limestone grassland, like Chalk Grassland in the Southern half of England.

Native in Spain, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.

Milkwort Family

Polygala calcarea. Polygala calcarea 'Lillet' has RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Cheddar Pink

Native in Central Europe (except in Hungary), France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy and Soviet Union.

Pink Family

Dianthus gratiano-politanus
(Dianthus caesius)

Chickweed Willowherb

Native in most of Europe, except in Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Albania and Turkey

Epilobium alsinifolium

Proliferous Pink
(Childing Pink)

Native in much of Europe (except in Northern Europe, Portugal and Ireland), Denmark and Sweden

Pink Family

Kohlrauschia prolifera
(Petrorhagia prolifera,
Tunica prolifera)

Verticillate Mallow
(Chinese Mallow)

Native in East Asia. Introduced in France, Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and Soviet Union.
Grown as a salad and medicinal plant in Southern Europe.

Malva verticillata

Cliff Spurrey
(Rock Sea-Spurrey,
Rock Spurrey)

Native in Western Europe, except in Belgium and Holland.

Pink Family

Spergularia rupicola

Clove Pink
(Carnation)

Widely cultivated and frequently naturalized.
Cultivated since the Middle Ages for 'Carnation Oil', which in its pure form is used only in the most expensive perfumes.

Dianthus caryophyllus
(Dianthus caryophillis)

Bistort
(Common Bistort,
Snake-root)

Flower

Flowers

June-August

A perennial herb of base-poor soils in damp pastures, hay meadows and river-banks, in tall-herb communities in river valleys and on mountain ledges and roadsides. Many colonies originate as garden escapes or throw-outs. 0-430 m above Garrigill (Cumberland).

Native in much of Europe, except Northern Europe, Ireland, Greece and Turkey: introduced into Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Dock Bistorts Family

Polygonum bistorta
(Persicaria bistorta)

Common Centaury
(Echtes Tausendgü-ldenkraut in Germany, Centaura Menor Zantore in Spain,
flockarun in Sweden, European centaury in USA,
rohtosappi in Finland, Centuria zwyczajna in Poland,
Dumpy Centaury)

Flowers on 2 July. Photo from BritishFlora

Form on 2 July. Photo from BritishFlora

June onwards

A biennial, rarely annual, herb of mildly acidic to calcareous, well-drained, often disturbed, soils, occurring in a wide range of habitats including chalk and limestone grassland, heathland, woodland rides and open scrub, dune grassland, quarries, spoil-heaps and road verges.

Native in all Europe, except Iceland.
Well known as a febrifuge (a medicine used to reduce fever: she employed a risky febrifuge and the fever finally broke. from Dictionary Version 2.3.0 (203.16.12) by Apple Inc.) since clasical times; it yields a yellowish-green dye.

Gentian Family

Centaurium erythraea
(Erythraea centaurium, 
Centaurium umbellatum, 
Centaurium minus, Centaurium capitatum)

Common Fumitory

Native plant, which if seen in quantity at a distance the greyish foliage has the faint smoky appearance that gives the plant its name.

May onwards

Pink with tips and wings blackish-red in May-October followed by globular seed pods which are 1-seeded.

A scrambling annual of arable fields, allotments, gardens and other disturbed land, most commonly found on calcareous soils. Most germination occurs in the spring, and the seed bank is long-lived.

Habitat in shores.

4 Petals

Its stems are poisonous due to the fumarin. An overdose is always fatal because it paralyses the respiratory system.

Light green leaf segments with flat laceolate or linear-oblong lobes.

36 inches long (90)

Fumitory Family

Pollinated by bees or probably more frequently selfed, self-fertile.

Use as an annual.

Fumaria officinalis

Weed on cultivated ground on the lighter soils (Sand and Chalk), waste places and hedgebanks throughout the British Isles.

Common Hemp-nettle

Native in all Europe, except in Albania and Turkey.
The seeds contain an oil; fibres obtained from the stems have been used for cord-making.

Galeopsis tetrahit
(Galeopsis bifida)

Common Lungwort
(Lungwort)

Flower

Foliage

A perennial herb, naturalised in woodlands and scrub, on banks and rough ground, and also occurring on rubbish tips and waste ground.

Native in most of Europe, except in Portugal, Ireland and Iceland.

Borage Family

Pulmonaria officinalis

Common Mallow

Flowers

Foliage

June onwards

A drought-tolerant perennial herb of well-drained, often nutrient-enriched soils in unshaded situations, found on roadsides, railway banks, waste ground and field-borders, often near settlements, around farms and in the shelter of walls, occasionally on sea-cliffs. It reproduces freely from seed. Lowland.

Native in all Europe, Except in Iceland.
It has been used asa vegetable.

Mallow Family

Malva sylvestris

Common Milkwort

Flower

Blue, Pink or White in May-September followed by seed capsules

A perennial herb which usually grows in short, moderately infertile neutral to basic grassland on banks, hill-slopes crags and sand dunes. It also occurs in acid grasslands, heaths and fen-meadows.

Native in all Europe, except in Iceland.

12 x 12
(30 x 30)

Milkwort Family

Polygala vulgaris
(Polygala oxyptera)

Common Pink

Native in Central Europe (except in Germany and Switzerland) and Italy.
It is not native or introduced to Great Britain.

Dianthus plumarius

Common Ramping-fumitory
(Wall Fumitory, Scrambling Fumitory)

Fumaria muralis: Flower head. By Sten Porse, via Wikimedia Commons

May-October

The flowers are pink with a dark red tip. Each inflores-cence (flowerhead) has around 12 flowers.

This is the most common of the large-flowered Fumaria species. It may have become less common in arable habitats on freely-draining, acidic soils in recent years.

Native and widespread in Europe.

Flowers tubular, with 4 petals forming 2 lips, pink or reddish with purple tips, in racemes of 7-15 flowers or more on stalks arising from the bases of the leaves.

Dull green

Fumitory Family

The stems tend to be quite weak, unable to support the weight of the plant, thus it creeps along the ground or sprawls over surrounding plants and objects.

Self-pollinating

Fumaria muralis

Often on hedge banks.

Cultivated land, walls and wasteland.

Spotted Orchid
(Common Spotted Orchid)

Native and widespread in Europe.

Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Dactylorchis fuchsii,
Orchis fuchsii,
Orchis okellyi)

Common Stork's-bill
(Common Storksbill,
Bec-de-cigogne in France,
Schierlings-Reiherschnabel, Gewöhnlicher Reiherschnabel in Germany,
Peine de bruja in Spain, reigersbek in Dutch, Redstem Stork's bill, 
Alfilaria in USA,
Iglica pospolita in Poland)

Flowers

May-September

Annuals of well-drained sandy and rocky places, sand dunes, summer-parched grasslands and heaths; they are also found on roadsides, stone walls and railway ballast, and are common wool aliens.

Native to Europe

Geranium Family

Erodium cicutarium
(Erodium glutinosum)

Valerian
(Common Valerian)

Native in all Europe, except in Portugal.
The underground parts have been used in herbal remedies, and also as a rat bait.

Valeriana officinalis

Common Vetch

Native in all Europe: introduced into Iceland.
Subspecies sativa is widely grown as a forage crop and as a green manure.

Vicia sativa
(Vicia angustifolia,
Vicia segetalis)

Small Wintergreen
(Common Wintergreen)

Native in all Europe, except in Portugal and Turkey.

Pyrola minor

Coralroot Bittercress
(Coral-Wort,
Toothwort,
Coral-root)

Flower

Flowers
 

May

A rhizomatous perennial herb which grows in Britain in two habitats: on dry woodland slopes over chalk in the Chilterns, and in damp woodlands over clay in the Weald. Elsewhere it is an escape from cultivation by roads and in woodland and parkland.

Native in most of Europe, except Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Iceland and Albania.

24 x 12
(60 x 30)

Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 1 Family

Cardamine bulbifera
(Dentaria bulbifera)

Coriander

Native of Western Asia and North Africa; often cultivated and naturalized in much of Southern Europe.
Grown for its seeds which are very aromatic and used for flavouring in confectionery, liqueuers, wines and curries.
Not native or introduced into Great Britain.

Umbellifer Family

Coriandrum sativum

Corky-fruited Water- Dropwort
(Water Parsley,
Water Dropwort, Callous-Fruited Water Dropwort,
Meadow Parsley)

Native Western Europe and Southern Europe.

Oenanthe pimpin-elloides

Corn-Cockle
(Common Corn-cockle)

Probably originally native of the Eastern Mediterranean region, but now a weed of crops throughout Europe.
The seeds are somewhat poisonous due to the presence of saponins, and if they contaminate flour in any quantity it may become dangerous to livestock and humans.

Agrostemma githago (Lychnis githago)

Cornish Heath

July-September

A locally abundant or co-dominant drawf srub in heathland with Calluna and Erica cinerea, or Ulex spp., often with calcicolous herbs, over ultrabasic rocks (serpentine and gabbro); also found on moist gley soils. Seedlings and plantlets can be frequent, but often die of drought; older plants regenerate from the base after winter burning.

Native in Western Atlantic: Spain, France and Ireland. Native in heaths round the Lizard (Cornwall), where it is often dominant. Native in Western and Central France, North Spain.

Heath Family

Erica vagans

Cowberry

Flowers

Foliage

May-June

This calcifuge shrub is found on peaty heaths and moorland, in the understorey of Quercus, Betula and Pinus woods on acidic substrates, and on drier hummocks in blanket bogs.

Native in all of Europe, except Portugal, Turkey, Spain and Albania.
The fruits are edible and have been used in jam-making and for distillation.

Heath Family

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Cranberry

June-July

A slender, trailing dwarf shrub found in bogs and on very wet heaths, usually creeping amongst Sphagnum.

Native in Great Britain.

Heath Family

Vaccinium oxycoccus
(Oxycoccus palustris,
Oxycoccus microcarpus)

Cross-leaved Heath
(Bog Heather,
Crossleaf Heath)

Flowers

Foliage

June onwards

A sprawling low shrub found in a very wide range of mires and wet heaths, extending into drier heath in S.W. Britain. It is usually on wet, nutrient-poor organic soils, but can also grow in mesotrophic or eutrophic conditions.

Native in Western Europe including Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Soviet Union.
Used for brush- and broom-making, also for tanning.

Heath Family

Erica tetralix

Crowberry

Flowers

April-May

A low-growing evergreen shrub of well-drained acidic soils. It is found on moorlands and mountains, and on blanket mire where it can increase greatly after burning or where dry surfaces have been bared by erosion (Rodwell, 1991b).
Native in much of Europe, except in Portugal, Hungary, Albania, Greece and Turkey.

Crowberry Family

Empetrum nigrum
(Empetrum herma-phroditum)

Crow Garlic
(Wild Onion)

Flower

Seeds

A bulbous perennial herb of dry, neutral or calcareous soils, generally occurring in summer-dry grasslands, hedgerows, roadsides and cultivated ground, and formerly a serious weed of cereal crops in S.E. England. Also found on coastal cliff ledges in W. Scotland. Generally lowland, but reaching 455 m in Wensleydale (N.W. Yorks.).

Native in all Europe except for Iceland.

Lily Garlic Family

Allium vineale

Crown Vetch

Native in much of Europe( except in Portugal, Ireland and Iceland): introduced into Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Soviet Union.
A somewhat poisonous plant.

Coronilla varia

Cut-leaved Crane's-bill
(Cut-leaved Cranesbill,
Géranium découpé in France,
Schlitzblättriger Storchschnabel in Germany,
fliknäva in Sweden, slipbladige ooievaarsbek in Dutch,
Cutleaf Geranium in USA,
Bodziszek porozcinany in Poland)

Flower

May onwards

An annual of grasslands, hedge banks, waysides and waste ground, and a common weed of flower borders, allotments and arable fields.

Native in all Europe, except in Iceland

Geranium Family

Geranium dissectum
(Geranium laxum)

Cut-leaved Dead-nettle

Native in Western Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe.

Lamium hybridum
(Lamium incisum,
Lamium dissectum)

Cut-leaved Germander

Native in Central Europe, Spain, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Soviet Union: introduced into Sweden.

Teucrium botrys

Sowbread
(Hardy Cyclamen)

August-September

An aestivating long-lived perennial commonly cultivated in parks and gardens and reproducing by seed in dry, shaded positions, often under the canopy and against the roots of large trees. The self-fertile flowers arise laterally from initially leafless tubers at the soil surface, and seeds can be carried hundreds of metres, principally by ants.

Native in France, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and Turkey.
Introduced and naturalized in hedgebanks and woods in a number of localities in England and Wales of Great Britain, very rare.

Primrose Family

Cyclamen hederifolium
(Cyclamen europaeum,
Cyclamen neapoli-tanum)

Dense-flowered Fumitory


Photos

June-September

The inflorescences are very dense clusters , grouping many flowers. The flowers have a tubular corolla, 3 to 6 mm in diameter, of bright purple pink color.

Fields (in arable fields on dry soils in Eastern England and East Scotland; rare or absent in the West of England).

Native and widespread in Europe.

Photos

Green

4-24 x
(10-60 x )

Fumitory Family

Fumaria micrantha
(Fumaria densiflora)

BLUE WILD FLOWER GALLERY
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Introduction

What is PL@NTNET?
Pl@ntNet allows you to identify thousands of species of plants thanks to your pictures. The images you send are automatically compared to the thousands of images we have in our botanical databases. A list of plants is then proposed. The last word is yours! Currently, Pl@ntNet has 22 projects: 16 geographical projects, 3 thematic projects on ornamental and cultivated plants, and 3 microprojects.
If you wanna know everything about how to use the app: https://plantnet.org/en/how-why/
Frequently Asked Questions provides answers:-
1. What is the project "World Flora"? - "The Plant List (TPL) was a working list of all known plant species produced by the botanical community in response to Target 1 of the 2002-2010 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). TPL has been static since 2013, but was used as the starting point for the Taxonomic Backbone of the World Flora Online (WFO), and updated information can be found at www.worldfloraonline.org."
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WILD FLOWER GALLERY
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Introduction

INDEX LINK TO WILDFLOWER PLANT DESCRIPTION PAGE
a-h
i-p
q-z

Wildflower Poisonous Plants

Wildflower Garden Use page from Evergreen Perrennial Shape Gallery.

Superceeded Wildflower Indices
Botanical Name
Common Name
by
BROWN WILD FLOWER GALLERY PAGE MENUS
and
CREAM WILD FLOWER GALLERY PAGE MENUS
detailed above in this table

Wildflower Index
A, B, C, D, E,
F, G, H, I, J,
K, L, M, N, O,
P, Q, R, S, T,
U, V, W, XYZ

FLOWER COLOUR
(o)Blue
(o)Brown
(o)Cream
(o)Green
(o)Mauve
(o)Multi-Coloured
Orange
(o)Pink 1
(o)Pink 2
(o)Purple
(o)Red
(o)White1
(o)White2
(o)White3
(o)Yelow1
(o)Yelow2
(o)Shrub or Small Tree


SEED COLOUR
(o)Seed 1
(o)Seed 2

BED PICTURES
(o)Bed

HABITAT TABLES
Flowers in
Acid Soil
Flowers in
Chalk Soil
Flowers in
Marine Soil
Flowers in
Neutral Soil
Ferns
Grasses
Rushes
Sedges

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
(o)Cornel (Dogwood)
(o)Crowberry
(o)Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 1
(o)Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 2
Cypress
(o)Daffodil
(o)Daisy
(o)Daisy Cudweeds
(o)Daisy Chamomiles
(o)Daisy Thistle
(o)Daisy Catsears (o)Daisy Hawkweeds
(o)Daisy Hawksbeards
(o)Daphne
(o)Diapensia
(o)Dock Bistorts
(o)Dock Sorrels

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 2

(o)Clubmoss
(o)Duckweed
(o)Eel-Grass
(o)Elm
(o)Filmy Fern
(o)Horsetail
(o)Polypody
Quillwort
(o)Royal Fern
(o)Figwort - Mulleins
(o)Figwort - Speedwells
(o)Flax
(o)Flowering-Rush
(o)Frog-bit
(o)Fumitory
(o)Gentian
(o)Geranium
(o)Glassworts
(o)Gooseberry
(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
(o)Iris
(o)Ivy
(o)Jacobs Ladder
(o)Lily
(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
Pipewort
(o)Pitcher-Plant
(o)Plantain
(o)Pondweed
(o)Poppy
(o)Primrose
(o)Purslane
Rannock Rush
(o)Reedmace
(o)Rockrose
(o)Rose 1
(o)Rose 2
(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

Wild Flower Family Pages

The families within "The Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers" by David McClintock & R.S.R. Fitter, Published in 1956 are not in Common Name alphabetical order and neither are the common names of the plants detailed within each Family. These families within that book have had their details described as shown in the WILDFLOWER FAMILY PAGE MENU 1, 2, 3 AND 4 COLUMNS ON THE LEFT.

Starting from page 1 in February 2017 every plant in these family pages has been copied to the valid page in COMMON NAME

and BOTANICAL NAME GALLERIES to give complete indices.

The information in the above book is
back-referenced to the respective
page in "Flora of the British Isles"
by
A.R. Clapham of University of Sheffield,
T.G. Tutin of University College,
Leicester and
E.F. Warburg of University of Oxford
printed by Cambridge at the University Press in 1952
for each plant in all the families.

WILDFLOWER INDEX

See Wildflower Common Name Index link Table ON A PAGE for more wildflower of the UK common names - from Adder's Tongue to the Goosefoot Family - together with their names in languages from America, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
See Wildflower Botanical Name Index link table ON A PAGE for wildflower of the United Kingdom (Great Britain) botanical names, from Adder's Tongue to the Goosefoot Family.
Neither of the above 2 pages will be further updated, due to 1. Running out of space on each of the pages and 2. being replaced by the Botanical Names and Common Names Galleries from July 2020:-
Botanical Names with Common Name, Wild Flower Family, Flower Colour and Form Index of each of all the Wildflowers of the UK in 1965 are in PAGES IN THE GALLERY Brown Wildflower Gallery with page links in the top row.
Common Names with Botanical Name, Wild Flower Family, Flower Colour and Form Index of each of all the Wildflowers of the UK in 1965 are PAGES IN THE GALLERY in Cream Wildflower Gallery with page links in the top row.
Plant description, culture, propagation and photos/illustrations will be provided for every wildflower plant (from February 2021) in these 2 galleries.

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

Habitat - Lakes, Canals and Rivers Index

Amphibious Bistort

Arrowhead

Arrow-head is
Sagittaria sagittifolia

Water plantain Family

Broad-leaved Pondweed

Bulrush

Common Water-crowfoot

Common Water-plantain

Fan-leaved Water-crowfoot

Flowering Rush

Fringed Water-lily

Frogbit

Greater Bladderwort

Lesser Water-plantain

Water Lobelia

Water-violet

White Water-lily

White Water-lily is
Nymphaea alba
(Nymphaea odorata)

Water-Lily Family

Visited by few insects and probably self-pollinated.

It grows in lakes, ponds, the backwaters of rivers or large ditches, and occasionally in mires. It tolerates a wide range of water chemistry but lacks submerged leaves and is therefore vulnerable to disturbance by boats.

Plant Nymphaea Alba with up to 90cm of water over the top of the basket in a still, sunny position.

Yellow Water Lily (Brandy-bottle, Spatter-dock)

Yellow Water Lily (Brandy-bottle, Spatter-dock) is
Nuphar lutea
(Nuphar advena)

Water-Lily Family

Visited by small flies.

The leaves of this perennial water-lily are erect rather than floating. It is occasionally grown in gardens, and has been recorded as planted from lakes and ponds, where it then becomes naturalised through rhizomatous growth; reproduction by seed has not been reported.

In lakes, ponds and streams throughout the British Isles, scarce in North Scotland

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.

Round-leaved Crowfoot

Round-leaved Crowfoot is Ranunculus omiophyllus

Buttercup Family

A small annual or short-lived perennial which grows in shallow water or on wet soil. Typical sites include the margins of ponds and ditches, flushes, damp depressions, gateways and tracks in pastures and on heathland, and the sheltered backwaters of rivers. Unlike R. hederaceus, it is confined to acidic, mesotrophic or oligotrophic soils.

This plant prefers slow moving streams and ditches on acidic soils.

Grown for their flowers that can be used for flower arranging.

Thread-leaved Water Crowfoot , Thread-leaved Crowfoot

Thread-leaved Water Crowfoot , Thread-leaved Crowfoot is
Ranunculus trichophyllus

Buttercup Family

A small annual or perennial which grows in shallow, still or very slowly flowing water. It is most frequent in ponds, dune-slacks and drainage ditches, but it is also found in larger sites if they are sheltered. It tolerates a range of water chemistry but is most frequent in mesotrophic or eutrophic water.

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.

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.

Least Yellow
Water-Lily, Least Water-lily, Small yellow pond-lily

Least Yellow
Water-Lily, Least Water-lily, Small yellow pond-lily is Nuphar pumila

Nuphar pumila

日本語: ネムロコウホネ

Place:Botanical Gardens Faculty of Science Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan. By I, KENPEI, via Wikimedia Commons

Water-Lily Family

Pollinated by flies.

Yellow water-lilies are poisonous, perennial and strong-rooted water plants.

It grows in oligotrophic or mesotrophic water in lakes, sheltered bays, ditches and pools in marshes and bogs. It persists in one eutrophic lake in Shropshire.

Excellent surface cover. Suitable for ponds and lakes and slow flowing rivers in partial shade.

Hornwort

Hornwort is
Ceratophyllum demersum

Ceratophyllum demersum with male flowers, which can be seen quite rarely. By Christian Fischer, via Wikimedia Commons.

Hornwort Family

An aquatic which grows submerged in still or slowly flowing, eutrophic water in lakes, ponds, rivers, canals and ditches. It may be so abundant in ponds and ditches that it forms dense masses which rise above the water surface. Reproduction is mostly by vegetative fragmentation, but seeds are produced in still-water habitats in some years.

Hornwort is a declared weed under the Tasmanian Weed Management Act 1999 in Tasmania, Australia, and is classed as an unwanted organism in New Zealand.

Spineless Hornwort (Soft Hornwort)

Spineless Hornwort (Soft Hornwort) is
Ceratophyllum submersum

Zartes Horblatt Ceratophyllum submersum (Winterform). By Kristian Peters -- Fabelfroh, via Wikimedia Commons.

Hornwort Family

This aquatic grows in eutrophic or slightly brackish water in shallow, sheltered lakes, ponds and ditches. It is particularly frequent in coastal grazing marshes. Like C. demersum, reproduction is mostly by vegetative fragmentation and it can occur in dense masses, even in shaded ponds.

Used as an aquarium plant when it may be known as tropical or spineless hornwort and for its high oxygen production.

It promotes its own growth by the release of chemicals that can suppress growth of other water plants, including algae, which would otherwise cloud water and intercept sunlight. Due to its rapid growth it can be good to rid algae in a new aquarium setup as it will out compete for nutrients.

UKButterflies Larval Foodplants website page lists the larval foodplants used by British butterflies. The name of each foodplant links to a Google search. An indication of whether the foodplant is a primary or secondary food source is also given.

Please note that the Butterfly you see for only a short time has grown up on plants as an egg, caterpillar and chrysalis for up to 11 months, before becoming a butterfly. If the plants that they live on during that time are removed, or sprayed with herbicide, then you will not see the butterfly.
 

Plants used by the Butterflies follow the Plants used by the Egg, Caterpillar and Chrysalis as stated in
A Butterfly Book for the Pocket by Edmund Sandars.
Published by Oxford University Press London: Humphrey Milford in 1939.

and

The Butterflies of Britain & Ireland New Revised Edition by Jeremy Thomas & Richard Lewington.
Published by Bloomsbury Natural Hstory in 2016. ISBN 978 0 95649 026 1.
 

Plant Name

Butterfly Name

Egg/ Caterpillar/ Chrysalis/ Butterfly

Plant Usage

Plant Usage Months

Alder Buckthorn

Brimstone

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg under leaf.

Eats leaves.
---

10 days in May-June
28 days.
12 days.

Aspen

Large Tortoiseshell

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant.
Feeds on leaves.
Hangs suspended from stem.

Hatches after 18-22 days in April.
30 days in May
9 days in June.

Black Medic

Common Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf.
Eats buds and flowers.


Base of food plant.

-
-
Spend winter at the base of the food plant. They resume feeding in March.
2 weeks

Common Birdsfoot Trefoil

Chalk-Hill Blue

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg at base of plant.
Eats leaves.
---

Late August-April
April-June
1 Month

Common Birdsfoot Trefoil

Common Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf.
Eats buds and flowers.


Base of food plant.

-
-
Spend winter at the base of the food plant. They resume feeding in March.
2 weeks

Common Birdsfoot Trefoil

Wood White

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg laid on underside of leaflets or bracts.
Eats leaves.
---

7 days in June.

32 days in June-July.
July-May.

Bitter Vetch

Wood White

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg laid on underside of leaflets or bracts.
Eats leaves.
---

7 days in June.

32 days in June-July.
July-May.

Borage

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

1 egg laid under the leaf or on top of the flower.
Eats leaves, then before pupating it eats the bloom and leaves of the pansies.
---

7 days in August.

23 days in August-September.

3 weeks in September

Bramble

Holly Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

 

1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk.
Eats flower bud.
---

 

7 days.

28-42 days.
18 days. Early September to Late April for second generation.

Buckthorn

Holly Blue

Egg,


Caterpillar
Chrysalis

 

1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk.
Eats flower bud.
---


 

7 days.


28-42 days.
18 days. Early September to Late April for second generation.

Buckthorn -
Alder Buckthorn and Common Buckthorn

Brimstone

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg under leaf.

Eats leaves.
---

10 days in May-June.

28 days.
12 days.

Burdocks

Painted Lady

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

2 weeks
7-11days
7-11 days

Cabbages - ELarge White eats all cruciferous plants, such as cabbages, mustard, turnips, radishes, cresses, nasturtiums, wild mignonette and dyer's weed

Large White
 

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

40-100 eggs on both surfaces of leaf.

Eats leaves.
---
 

May-June and August-Early September. 4.5-17 days.
30-32 days
14 days for May-June eggs, or overwinter till April

Cabbages

Small White

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on underside of leaf.

Eats leaves.
---
 

May-June and August. 7 days.
28 days
21 days for May-June eggs, or overwinter till March

Cabbages:-
Charlock,
Cuckoo Flower (Lady's Smock),
Hedge-Mustard,
Garlic-Mustard,
Yellow Rocket (Common Winter-Cress),
Watercress

Green-veined White

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis


 

1 egg on underside of leaf.

Eats leaves.
---


 

July or August; hatches in 3 days.
16 days.
14 days in July or for caterpillars of August, they overwinter till May.

Cabbages:-
Charlock,
Creeping Yellow-cress,
Cuckoo Flower (Lady's Smock),
Dame's Violet,
Hedge-Mustard,
Horseradish,
Garlic-Mustard,
Lady's Smock,
Large Bittercress,
Rock-cress (Common Winter-Cress),
Yellow Rocket (Common Winter-Cress),
Watercress,
Wild Turnip

Orange Tip

Egg,

Caterpillar

Chrysalis

1 egg laid in the tight buds and flowers.
Eats leaves, buds, flowers and especially the seed pods.
---

May-June 7 days.

June-July 24 days.

August-May

Cherry with
Wild Cherry,
Morello Cherry and
Bird Cherry

Large Tortoiseshell

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant.
Feeds on leaves.
Hangs suspended from stem.

Hatches after 18-22 days in April.
30 days in May.
9 days in June.

Clovers 1, 2, 3

Common Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf.
Eats buds and flowers.


Base of food plant.

-
-
Spend winter at the base of the food plant. They resume feeding in March.
2 weeks.

Clovers 1, 2, 3

Pale Clouded Yellow

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.

 

10 days in May-June.
July-August.
17 days in August-September.

Clovers 1, 2, 3

Clouded Yellow

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
 

6 days in May-June.
30 days.
18 days in July-August.

Cocksfoot is a grass

Large Skipper

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg under leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

11 Months
3 weeks from May

Cow-wheat

(Common CowWheat, Field CowWheat)

Heath Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until end of August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats young leaves until June.
---

Hatches after 16 days in June.
June-April



25 days in June.

Currants
(Red Currant,
Black Currant and Gooseberry)

Comma

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

Devilsbit Scabious

Marsh Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until late August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats leaves until May.
---

Hatches after 20 days in July.
July-May.



15 days in May.

Dog Violet with
Common Dog Violet,
Heath Dog Violet and
Wood Dog Violet

Silver-washed Fritillary

Egg,
Caterpillar



Chrysalis

1 egg on oak or pine tree trunk
Hibernates in a crevice in the bark of the tree trunk.
Moves out of tree to eat Dog Violet leaves.
On rock or twig.

15 days in July.
August-March.

March-May.

Late June-July

Dog Violet with
Common Dog Violet,
Heath Dog Violet and
Wood Dog Violet

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf or stem.

Feeds on leaves until July. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats young leaves until May.
---

Hatches after 15 days in May-June.
July-May.



9 days in June.

Dog Violet with
Common Dog Violet,
Heath Dog Violet and
Wood Dog Violet

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf or stem.

Feeds on leaves until July. Hibernates in dead leaves until March. Eats young leaves until April.
---

Hatches after 10 days in May-June.
June-April



April-June.

Dogwood

Holly Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

 

1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk.
Eats flower bud.
---

 

7 days.

28-42 days.
18 days. Early September to Late April for second generation.

Elm and Wych Elm

Large Tortoiseshell

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant.
Feeds on leaves.
Hangs suspended from stem.

Hatches after 18-22 days in April.
30 days in May.
9 days in June.

False Brome is a grass (Wood Brome, Wood False-brome and Slender False-brome)

Large Skipper

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg under leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

...
11 Months
3 weeks from May

Foxglove

Marsh Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until late August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats leaves until May.
---

Hatches after 20 days in July.
July-May



15 days in May.

Fyfield Pea

Wood White

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg laid on underside of leaflets or bracts.
Eats leaves.
---

7 days in June.

32 days in June-July.
July-May.

Garden Pansy

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf or stem.
Feeds on leaves until July. Hibernates in dead leaves until March. Eats young leaves until April.
---

Hatches after 10 days in May-June.
June-April


April-June.

Gorse

Holly Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

 

1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk.
Eats flower bud.
---

 

7 days.

28-42 days.
18 days. Early September to Late April for second generation.

Heartsease

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

1 egg laid under the leaf or on top of the flower.
Eats leaves, then before pupating it eats the bloom and leaves of the pansies.
---

7 days in August.

23 days in August-September.

3 weeks in September

Hogs's Fennel

Swallowtail

Egg,


Caterpillar


Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf. 5 or 6 eggs may be deposited by separate females on one leaf.
Eats leaves, and moves to stems of sedges or other fen plants before pupating.
---

14 days in July-August.


August-September.


September-May.

Holly

Holly Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

 

1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk.
Eats flower bud.
---

 

7 days.

28-42 days.
18 days. Early September to Late April for second generation.

Honesty (Lunaria biennis)

Orange Tip

Egg,

Caterpillar

Chrysalis

1 egg laid in the tight buds and flowers.
Eats leaves, buds, flowers and especially the seed pods.
---

May-June 7 days.

June-July 24 days.

August-May

Honeysuckle

Marsh Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until late August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats leaves until May.
---

Hatches after 20 days in July.
July-May.



15 days in May.

Hop

Comma

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

Horseshoe vetch

Adonis Blue




Chalk-Hill Blue


Berger's Clouded Yellow

Egg,
Caterpillar

Chrysalis

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Egg,


Caterpillar

Chrysalis

1 egg under leaf.
Eats leaves.

---

1 egg at base of plant.
Eats leaves.
---

1 egg on leaf.


Eats leaves.

---

1 then
June-March or September to July
3 weeks.

Late August-April.
April-June
1 Month

8-10 days in Late May-June or Middle August-September
June-July or September to October
8-15 days

Ivy

Holly Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

 

1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk.
Eats flower bud.
---

 

7 days.

28-42 days.
18 days. Early September to Late April for second generation.

Kidney Vetch

Chalk-Hill Blue

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis
Butterfly

1 egg at base of plant.
Eats leaves.
---
Eats nectar.

Late August-April.
April-June
1 Month
20 days

Lucerne

Pale Clouded Yellow



Clouded Yellow

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis


Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.



1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

10 days in May-June.
July-August.
17 days in August-September.

6 days in May-June.
30 days.
18 days in July-August.

Mallows

Painted Lady

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

2 weeks
7-11days
7-11 days

Melilot

Clouded Yellow

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
 

6 days in May-June.
30 days.
18 days in July-August.

Mignonettes

Small White

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on underside of leaf.

Eats leaves.
---
 

May-June and August. 7 days.
28 days
21 days for May-June eggs, or overwinter till March

Milk Parsley

Swallowtail

Egg,


Caterpillar


Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf. 5 or 6 eggs may be deposited by separate females on one leaf.
Eats leaves, and moves to stems of sedges or other fen plants before pupating.
---

14 days in July-August.


August-September


September-May

Narrow-leaved Plantain (Ribwort Plantain)

Heath Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until end of August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats young leaves until June.
---

Hatches after 16 days in June.
June-April.



25 days in June.

Narrow-leaved Plantain (Ribwort Plantain)

Glanville Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until middle of August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats leaves until April-May.
---

Hatches after 16 days in June.
June-April.



25 days in April-May.

Nasturtium from Gardens

Small White

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on underside of leaf.

Eats leaves.
---
 

May-June and August. 7 days.
28 days.
21 days for May-June eggs, or overwinter till March

Oak Tree

Silver-washed Fritillary

Egg,
Caterpillar



Chrysalis

1 egg on tree trunk
Hibernates in a crevice in the bark of the tree trunk.
Moves out of tree to eat Dog Violet leaves.
On rock or twig.

15 days in July.
August-March.

March-May.

Late June-July

Mountain pansy,
Seaside Pansy,
Field Pansy and Cultivated Pansy.
 

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar

 

Chrysalis

1 egg laid under the leaf or on top of the flower.
Eats leaves of borage, sainfoin and heartsease, then before pupating it eats the bloom and leaves of the pansies.
---

7 days in August.

23 days in August-September
 

3 weeks in September

Pine Tree

Silver-washed Fritillary

Egg,
Caterpillar



Chrysalis

1 egg on tree trunk.
Hibernates in a crevice in the bark of the tree trunk.
Moves out of tree to eat Dog Violet leaves.
On rock or twig.

15 days in July.
August-March.

March-May.

Late June-July

Plantains

Marsh Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until late August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats leaves until May.
---

Hatches after 20 days in July.
July-May



15 days in May.

Poplar

Large Tortoiseshell

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant.
Feeds on leaves.
Hangs suspended from stem.

Hatches after 18-22 days in April.
30 days in May.
9 days in June.

Restharrow

Common Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf.
Eats buds and flowers.


Base of food plant.

-
-
Spend winter at the base of the food plant. They resume feeding in March.
2 weeks

Rock-rose

Brown Argus

Egg,
Caterpillar

1 egg under leaf.
Eats leaves.

Sainfoin

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

1 egg laid under the leaf or on top of the flower.
Eats leaves, then before pupating it eats the bloom and leaves of the pansies.
---

7 days in August.

23 days in August-September

3 weeks in September

Common Sallow (Willows, Osiers)

Large Tortoiseshell

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant.
Feeds on leaves.
Hangs suspended from stem

Hatches after 18-22 days in April.
30 days in May.
9 days in June.

Sea Plantain

Glanville Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until middle of August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats leaves until April-May.
---

Hatches after 16 days in June.
June-April



25 days in April-May.

Snowberry

Holly Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

 

1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk.
Eats flower bud.
---
 

7 days.

28-42 days.
18 days. Early September to Late April for second generation.

Spindle-tree

Holly Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

 

1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk.
Eats flower bud.
---

 

7 days.

28-42 days.
18 days. Early September to Late April for second generation.

Stinging Nettle

Comma




Painted Lady



Peacock

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Egg
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Egg,


Caterpillar

Chrysalis

Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

Dense mass of 450-500 eggs on the under side of leaves over a 2 hour period.
Eats leaves, and moves to another plant before pupating.
---

2 weeks in June.
7-11 days.
7-11 days.

14 days in April-May.


28 days.

13days.

Storksbill

Brown Argus

Egg,
Caterpillar

1 egg under leaf.
Eats leaves.

Thistles

Painted Lady

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

2 weeks
7-11days
7-11 days

Trefoils 1, 2, 3

Clouded Yellow

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
 

6 days in May-June.
30 days.
18 days in July-August.

Vetches

Common Blue

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf.
Eats buds and flowers.


Base of food plant.

-
-
Spend winter at the base of the food plant. They resume feeding in March.
2 weeks

Vetches

Wood White

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg laid on underside of leaflets or bracts.
Eats leaves.
---

7 days in June.

32 days in June-July.
July-May.

Violets:-
Common Dog Violet,
Hairy Violet,
Heath Dog-violet
Pale Dog violet
Sweet Violet

Dark Green Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar


Chrysalis

1 egg on underside of leaf or on stalk.
Hibernates where it hatches.
Eats leaves.

Base of food plant.

July-August for 17 days.

Spends winter on plant until end of March. Eats leaves until end of May.
4 weeks.

Violets:-
Common Dog Violet,
Hairy Violet,
Heath Dog-violet
Pale Dog violet
Sweet Violet

High Brown Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar

Chrysalis

1 egg on stem or stalk near plant base.
Feed on young leaves, stalks and stems
---

July to hatch in 8 months in March.
9 weeks ending in May.

4 weeks

Vipers Bugloss

Painted Lady

Egg,
Caterpillar
Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf.
Eats leaves.
---

2 weeks.
7-11days.
7-11 days

Whitebeam
(White Beam)

Large Tortoiseshell

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant.
Feeds on leaves.
Hangs suspended from stem.

Hatches after 18-22 days in April.
30 days in May.
9 days in June.

Wild Angelica

Swallowtail

Egg,


Caterpillar


Chrysalis

1 egg on leaf. 5 or 6 eggs may be deposited by separate females on one leaf.
Eats leaves, and moves to stems of sedges or other fen plants before pupating.
---

14 days in July-August.


August-September.


September-May

Willow
(Bay Willow)

Large Tortoiseshell

Egg,

Caterpillar
Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant.
Feeds on leaves.
Hangs suspended from stem.

Hatches after 18-22 days in April.
30 days in May.
9 days in June.

Wood-Sage

Marsh Fritillary

Egg,

Caterpillar



Chrysalis

Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves.
Feeds on leaves until late August. Hibernates on dead leaves until March. Eats leaves until May.
---

Hatches after 20 days in July.
July-May.



15 days in May.

Plant Name

Butterfly Name

Egg/ Caterpillar/ Chrysalis/ Butterfly

Plant Usage

Plant Usage Months

Asters
in gardens

Comma

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

Runner and Broad Beans in fields and gardens

Large White


Small White

Butterfly

Eats nectar

April-June or July-September.

March-May or June-September

Aubretia in gardens

Clouded Yellow

Butterfly

Eats nectar

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November

Birch

Holly Blue

Butterfly

Eats sap exuding from trunk.

April-Mid June and Mid July-Early September for second generation.

Common Birdsfoot Trefoil

Chalk-Hill Blue

Wood White

Marsh Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

20 days.


May-June.

30 days in May-June.

Bitter Vetch

Wood White

Butterfly

Eats nectar

May-June

Bluebell

Holly Blue




Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

April-Mid June and Mid July-Early September for second generation.


June.



June-August.

Bramble

Comma

Silver-washed Fritillary

High Brown Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

July-October.

7 weeks in July-August.



June-August

Buddleias
in gardens

Comma

Peacock

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

July-October.

July-May

Bugle

Wood White

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Heath Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

May-June.

June.



June-August.



June-July.

Cabbage and cabbages in fields

Large White


Small White


Green-veined White

Orange Tip

Butterfly

Eats nectar

April-June or July-September.

March-May or June-September.

A Month during May-June or second flight in late July-August.

May-June for 18 days.

Charlock

Painted Lady

Butterfly

Eats nectar

July-October

Clovers 1, 2, 3

Adonis Blue



Chalk-Hill Blue

Painted Lady

Peacock

Large White


Small White

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

1 Month during Mid-May to Mid-June or during August-September

20 days in August.


July-October.

July-May.

April-June or July-September.

March-May or June-September

Clovers 1, 2, 3

Pale Clouded Yellow


Clouded Yellow


Berger's Clouded Yellow


Queen of Spain Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November.

1 Month in May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November.

May-September.

Cow-wheat
(Common CowWheat, Field CowWheat)

Heath Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

June-July

Cuckoo Flower (Lady's Smock)

Wood White

Butterfly

Eats nectar

May-June

Dandelion

Holly Blue



Marsh Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

April-Mid June and Mid July-Early September for second generation.

30 days in May-June.

Fleabanes

Common Blue

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

3 weeks between May and September

Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys - Birdseye Speedwell)

Heath Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

June-July

Greater Knapweed

Comma

Peacock

Clouded Yellow


Brimstone

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

July-October.

July-May.

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November.

12 months

Hawkbit

Marsh Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

30 days in May-June.

Heartsease

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

May-September

Hedge Parsley

Orange Tip

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

May-June for 18 days.

Hemp agrimony

Comma

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

July-October

Horseshoe vetch

Adonis Blue

Chalk-Hill Blue

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

1 Month.

20 days

Ivy

Painted Lady

Brimstone

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

Hibernates during winter months in its foliage.

July-October.

October-July

Lucerne

Painted Lady

Large White


Small White


Pale Clouded Yellow


Clouded Yellow


Berger's Clouded Yellow

Butterfly

Eats nectar

July-October.

April-June or July-September.

March-May or June-September

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November.

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November.

1 Month in May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November

Marigolds in gardens

Clouded Yellow

Butterfly

Eats nectar

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November

Marjoram

Adonis Blue



Chalk-Hill Blue

Common Blue

Clouded Yellow

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

1 Month during Mid-May to Mid-June or during August-September.

20 days in August.


3 weeks in May-September.

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November

Michaelmas Daisies
in gardens

Comma

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

July-October

Mignonettes

Large White


Small White

Butterfly

Eats nectar

April-June or July-September.

March-May or June-September

Narrow-leaved Plantain (Ribwort Plantain)

Heath Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

June-July

Nasturtiums in gardens

Large White


Small White

Butterfly

Eats nectar

April-June or July-September

March-May or June-September

Oak Tree

Holly Blue

Butterfly

Eats sap exuding from trunk.

April-Mid June and Mid July-Early September for second generation.

Primroses

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

June.



June-August.

Ragged Robin

Wood White

Heath Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

May-June.

June-July.

Scabious

Painted Lady

Peacock

Butterfly

Eats nectar

July-October.

July-May

Sedum

Peacock

Butterfly

Eats nectar

July-May

Teasels

Silver-washed Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

7 weeks in July-August.

Thistles -
Creeping Thistle, Dwarf Thistle, Marsh Thistle, Meadow Thistle, Melancholy Thistle, Milk Thistle,
Musk Thistle, Seaside Thistle, Scotch Thistle, Spear Thistle, Tuberous Thistle, Welted Thistle, Woolly Thistle

Comma

Painted Lady

Peacock

Swallowtail

Clouded Yellow


Brimstone

Silver-washed Fritillary

High Brown Fritillary

Dark Green Fritillary

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

July-October.

July-October.

July-May.

May-July.

May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November.

12 months.

7 weeks in July-August



June-August.


July-August for 6 weeks.


May-September.



June-August.

Thymes

Common Blue

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

3 weeks between May and September

Trefoils 1, 2, 3

Adonis Blue



Chalk-Hill Blue

Glanville Fritillary

Butterfly

 

Eats nectar.
 

1 Month during Mid-May to Mid-June or during August-September

20 days in August.


June-July

Vetches

Chalk-Hill Blue

Glanville Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar.

20 days in August.


June-July.

Violets

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

June.

June-August.

Wood-Sage

Heath Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats nectar

June-July

Apple/Pear/Cherry/Plum Fruit Tree Blossom in Spring

Peacock

Butterfly

Eats Nectar

April-May

Rotten Fruit

Peacock

Butterfly

Drinks juice

July-September

Tree sap and damaged ripe fruit, which are high in sugar

Large Tortoiseshell

Butterfly

Hibernates inside hollow trees or outhouses until March. Eats sap or fruit juice until April.

10 months in June-April

Wild Flowers

Large Skipper

Brimstone

Silver-washed Fritillary.

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Butterfly

Eats Nectar

June-August


12 months.

7 weeks in July-August.



May-September

Links to the other Butterflies:-

Black Hairstreak uses Blackthorn, Privet, Guelder Rose, and Wayfaring tree
Brown Hairstreak uses Blackthorn, Bramble flowers and tops of Ash trees for males to congregate in
Camberwell Beauty It is not believed that it breeds in the UK, but butterflies swarm over from European Countries depending on the weather.
Chequered Skipper uses False Brome, Hairy Brome Grass, Bugle

I have detailed the use of plants by these eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis and butterfly in full with either photos of those butterflies, etc or illustrations from Sandars. It shows that they do use plants all year round and I will insert the information of their Life Histories into the remainder of the Butterfly Description Pages but I will put no further information in this table or the Butterfly Name with its use of plants table. Please see what a council did to destroy the native habitat, so that children could ride bicyles anywhere in the park in the row below.
Dingy Skipper
Duke of Burgundy
Essex Skipper
Gatekeeper
Grayling
Green Hairstreak
Grizzled Skipper
Hedge Brown
Large Blue
Large Heath
Long-tailed Blue
Lulworth Skipper
Marbled White
Mazarine Blue
Meadow Brown
Monarch
Northern Brown Argus
Purple Emperor
Purple Hairstreak
Red Admiral
Ringlet
Scotch Argus
Short-tailed Blue
Silver-spotted Skipper
Silver-studded Blue
Small Copper
Small Heath
Small Mountain Ringlet
Small Skipper
Small Tortoiseshell
Speckled Wood
Wall Brown
White Admiral
White-letter Hairstreak

Details of what plant is used by each of the different 'egg, caterpillar, chrysalis or butterfly' unit and for how long is given in the table on the left.

At least 2 of these butterflies live in America as well as in the UK in 2022:-
Carterocephalus palaemon (Chequered Skipper) - Arctic Skippering - a butterfly of America.
Papilio machaon machaon (Swallowtail) - Old World Swallowtail - a butterfly of America.

The following is an excerpt from my Comments about the proposed destruction of the wildlife habitats at Cobtree Manor Park in the summer of 2010 from my Mission Statement page:-

"We would be sorry to lose the butterflies on the bluebells, bramble and ivy that would be restricted to only the very small area of proposed Wildlife Meadow by the Woods at the bottom of a hill with water springs on it. The wildlife is now being excluded from all the other areas by the "pruning", so that the nettles, brambles etc which had for instance the butterfly life cycle included; are now being ruthlessly removed to create a garden, not a park, with neat little areas."

When you look at the life history graphs of each of the 68 butterflies of Britain, you will see that they use plants throughout all 12 months - the information of what plant is used by the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis or butterfly is also given in the table on the left. With this proposed removal of all plants required for butterflies etc to live in and pro-create; at least once a year by the autumn or spring clearing up, you destroy the wildlife in this park as is done in every managed park in the world. Please leave something for the wildlife to live in without disturbance; rather than destroy everything so children can ride their bicycles anywhere they want when the park is open during the day and they are not at school.
 

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A FLAILED CORNISH HEDGE
This details that life and death from July 1972 to 2019, with the following result for
UK wildflowers, birds, butterflies and moths:-

• "Of the original 186 flowering species (including sub-species), the 5 colour forms and the 8 unconfirmed species, (193 flowering species in total) only 55 have persisted throughout the 35 years of flailing since 1972. Of these 55 species:-
• 3 species are unchanged.
  11 species have disastrously increased.
  41 species are seriously reduced in number, most by over 90%. Of these, 18 are now increasing under the somewhat lighter flailing regime. 13 are still decreasing, and 35 have only a few specimens (from 1-12 plants) left.
• Of the rest of the original species:-
• 37 species and 3 colour forms have disappeared, then reappeared after varying lengths of time. Of these, 20 have fewer than 6 plants, most of them only 1 or 2, and are liable to disappear again. Only 6 of the recovered species look capable of surviving in the longer term.
• 23 species have reappeared, then disappeared again due to being flailed before they could set seed or to being overcome by rank weeds.
• Only 3 species have reappeared for a second time, and one of these has since disappeared for the third time.
  68 species and 2 colour forms disappeared and have never reappeared to date (2008).
• Of the 83 flowering species (excluding 11 rampant species) and 3 colour forms now present in the survey mile, around 50 are unlikely to survive there in the long term, certainly not in viable numbers, if flailing continues.
  Unless the degradation of habitat, high fertility and spread of ivy and other rampant weeds can be reversed, it appears highly unlikely that more than a dozen or so of the lost floral species can ever safely return or be re-introduced.
• The only birds sighted more than once so far this year along the mile have been magpie, rook, crow and buzzard, and a swallow (probably the same one each time) hunting between the hedges now and then at the sheltered eastern end of the mile. One wren heard June 21st, one blackbird seen June 27th (these also at the eastern end) and one greenfinch today July 31st. On this hot sunny high-summer day counted only 7 hedge brown butterflies (6 of them males), one red admiral and one large white. Half a dozen small bumblebees, two carder bees, half a dozen hoverflies of two common Eristalis species, one flesh fly, one scorpion fly and one dragonfly, Cordulegaster boltonii, not hunting, zooming straight down the road and disappearing into the distance.
• Only 8 butterfly species so far this year, and only one specimen each of five of them (red admiral, speckled wood, large white, ringlet and large skipper, the latter seen only once since 1976). Only small white, hedge brown and speckled wood have managed to appear every year since the flail arrived.
  For some years I have been noticing very small specimens particularly of hedge brown and speckled wood. This year nearly all the hedge browns seen in the mile ('all' being a dozen or so in total) are of this stunted size, some of the males appearing really tiny. I am wondering if this might be a response to general environmental stress, or due to inbreeding as flail-reduced numbers are so low. The hedge brown does not fly far from its hatching place so mating opportunity is now extremely limited. With the few species of insects now seen in the hedges there seems to be a high proportion of males to females, at least five to one.
• So far this year only a single moth has come to the house lights. It was a Drinker, and it killed itself against the bulb before it could be saved.

September 21st. Most of the survey mile closely flailed today along both sides of the road.

End note, June 2008. I hear spring vetch has been officially recorded somewhere in West Cornwall and confirmed as a presence in the county, so perhaps I can be permitted to have seen it pre-1972 in the survey mile. I wonder where they found it? It's gone from hedges where it used to be, along with other scarcities and so-called scarcities that used to flourish in so many hedges unrecorded, before the flail arrived. I have given careful thought to including mention of some of the plants and butterflies. So little seems to be known of the species resident in Cornish hedges pre-flail that I realise some references may invite scepticism. I am a sceptic myself, so sympathise with the reaction; but I have concluded that, with a view to re-establishing vulnerable species, it needs to be known that they can with the right management safely and perpetually thrive in ordinary Cornish hedges. In future this knowledge could solve the increasingly difficult question of sufficient and suitable sites for sustainable wild flower and butterfly conservation - as long as it is a future in which the hedge-flail does not figure.
Times and attitudes have changed since the days when the flail first appeared on the scene. The plight of our once-so-diverse wildlife is officially recognised as a priority; agricultural grants may embrace conservation measures, and perhaps economic strictures will tend more to a live-and-let-live policy in future with less of the expensive, pointless and desecrating "tidying-up". We now have an enthusiastic generation keen to help nature recover its diversity, but often unsure as to how this is best achieved. [Please see CHL "Restoring Biodiversity in Cornish Hedges"] 21st September 2007.
There is still widespread ignorance of the effects of such destructive machinery as the flail-mower and other rotary trimmers and strimmers. Few people but the elderly now remember or understand the life that ought to be abundant in the everyday hedges, verges, field margins and waste places. The simple remedy of returning to the clean-cutting finger-bar scythe used in late winter, trimming alternate sides of the hedge in different years, not trimming green herbaceous growth and leaving the cut material (mainly dead stems and twigs) on or near the hedge, is largely unrealised. This wildlife-friendly type of trimmer is still available from some suppliers.
Cornwall County Council has changed from being (in this instance) the chief offender to employing said-to-be environmentally-aware officers concerned with reconciling conservation and development. In recent years the council has issued instructional leaflets about hedges and their wildlife, including one entitled Cornish Roadside Hedge Management (since altered, perhaps not entirely for the better). This leaflet largely embodied the principles that our petition of 1985 asked for. Ironically, it is no longer the council's employees who are carrying out the work. Although this advice is now available, it does not necessarily reach the farmers and contractors out on the job. The flails are still in destructive action at any time from June onwards, though on the whole the work does seem to be being done later rather than sooner. Some farmers are now correctly leaving it until January and early February, a good time to allot to road work while other farm jobs may have to wait for drier weather. Most farmers, despite the bad publicity they tend to suffer, truly wish to do the best they can for their wildlife. Sadly for all, the flail is still the universally-available tool.
Those ignorant of the flail's real effects may imagine that 'sensitive' use of it is all right, as some common plant and insect species return temporarily and a few others increase when the work is switched to the less damaging time of year and done lightly. In the longer term, this is delusive; even in winter an unacceptable number of individuals are killed at every flailing and the habitat still inexorably degrades. No matter how or when or how seldom the flail is used, species continue to die out.
Until naturalists and environmentalists understand the catastrophic and cumulative effects of the flail they will continue to say they don't know why, despite all well-intentioned efforts, the numbers and diversity of wild flowers, songbirds, bats, butterflies, moths and bumblebees are still falling.
Nature lovers have to stop thinking mainly in terms of schemes to benefit a handful of charismatic species at special sites, and start looking at what the flail and other rotary mowers have done to thousands upon thousands of acres of the British countryside and billions upon billions of its most essential, ordinary inhabitants. It has struck at the major heart of the core existence of our native species, slaughtering them wholesale in that very sanctuary of the hedges and verges. These species had already mostly gone from the rest of the local area; the hedges where they had all taken refuge were their last resort. The remnants of species and their precarious survivors are still being wiped out, smashed to death every time the flail is used. It is the utterly wrong tool for the job and it has to be scrapped.
A brand-new flail-mower operating in February 2008. Right time of year for trimming, wrong kind of trimmer. As long as it is manufactured and turned out into the roads and fields the flail will decimate wild flowers, massacre the small creatures remaining in the hedges and verges, destroy their habitat and ruin the ancient structure of Cornwall's hedges.
Since the last yellowhammer flew across the road in 1980, I have never seen another while walking the survey mile. Since the last grasshopper in July 1981, I have never seen or heard another in these hedges. Since all the other species this diary recorded absent disappeared, they have not been seen again except in the few instances stated in the text. Most of the remaining species are declining. Fewer than half of them are likely to survive in the longer term if present trends continue. The long-vanished flowering species are likely never to return, as repeated flailing before seeding has exhausted their dormant seed stocks. The survey mile is typically representative of a majority of Cornish roadside hedges.
The photographs - in the pdf in their website - illustrating many of the flowering species lost were not taken in the survey hedge,for the obvious reason that they were no longer there. Most were taken in the house's wild garden adjoining, while those that did not grow there were obtained only with extreme difficulty, by searching all over West Penwith in a roughly thirty-mile radius for un-flailed pockets of survival. Along the roadside hedges, in this whole distance I found just one or two plants or patches of only a few of the species sought - common toadflax, field scabious, tufted vetch, scentless mayweed, red clover, self-heal - species that before the flail were so commonly seen along the whole length of hundreds of hedges in West Cornwall, now growing only where for some unusual reason of situation the flail had missed.
Some of the photographs of invertebrate species killed out by the flail in the survey mile were taken in the garden adjoining, where, despite nurturing since pre-flail days, the majority have now disappeared due to over-predation. In the survey mile this year, for the first time since 1992, the hedges remained un-flailed throughout the summer, giving a few common invertebrates the chance to reappear. No adult moth is illustrated because only half a dozen individuals were seen during the whole summer season of 2007, unfortunately at moments when the camera was not in my hand or they were fluttering out of reach. The drinker caterpillar alone was found posing beautifully and goes down to posterity as the only visible surviving moth larva noted in the survey mile this year, illustrating the millions of his kind killed by the flail.
Along this one typical mile of Cornish lane alone my records show that the flail has been the outright death or caused the persisting non-appearance of

• 90 flowering herbaceous species,
• 5 shrub species,
• 20 grass species,
• 60 moss species,
• 40 bird species,
• 23 butterfly species,
• 250 larger moth species,
• many scores of other invertebrate species, and untold thousands of individuals.
• It has condemned the hedge itself to a long-term, silent, living death, wrecked its antique stone construction and destroyed its great beauty. Along the whole of the estimated 30,000 miles of Cornish hedges the deaths of individual plants and creatures from flail-battering and the loss of their generations represent truly astronomical figures. The degradation of habitat resulting from flailing prevents revival in most species even where a few individuals manage to escape the physical impact of the flails. Although the effect in Cornwall with its solid hedge-banks and their more complex ecology may be worse than with the English hedgerow, the flail-induced wildlife crisis is nation-wide - and still almost universally unrecognised or unacknowledged.
• There is no hope of recovery for our countryside wildlife until the flail type of machine is consigned to the black museum of history. To achieve this it will probably have to be banned by law.
• The finger-bar scythe has to be reinstated and any trimming (except where needed for road-junction or access visibility) must be carried out in winter, the later the better between November 1st and February 28th. Trimming must take away the woody scrub growth on the sides of the hedge, leaving the herbaceous growth on the sides and the bushes on the top untouched. Only then can the flail-ruined hedges and verges begin to see a real return to some kind of healthy and abundant life."

CHECK-LIST OF TYPES OF CORNISH HEDGE FLORA by Sarah Carter of Cornish Hedges Library:-
"This check-list is a simple guide to the herbaceous plants typically indicating different habitat types found in the Cornish hedge. The short lists are of typical plants, not complete species lists for the habitat. Many of the plants in the Typical Hedge list also appear in the other types of hedge. Areas of intermediate population where location or physical conditions begin to change and habitats overlap are not included.
Hedge Type:-

• Typical Cornish Hedge (woodland-edge/ heathland mixture)
• Coastal Hedge
• Moorland/ Heathland Hedges
• Woodland Hedge
• Wet Hedge (marsh or ditch)
• Stone Hedge (Earth capping but with stone core)
• Typical garden escapes in Cornish Hedges
• Typical species rampant in flail-damaged hedges

Titles of papers available on www.cornishhedges.co.uk:-

• Advice for Working on Roadside Hedges
• Building Hedges in Cornwall
• Building Turf Hedges
• Building and Repairing Cornish Stone Stiles
• Butterflies, Moths and Other Insects in Cornish Hedges
• Check-list for Inspecting New or Restored Hedges in Cornwall
• Check-list of Types of Cornish Hedge Flora
• Code of Good Practice for Cornish Hedges
• Comments on the © Defra Hedgerow Survey Handbook (1st Edition)
• Comments on the © Defra Hedgerow Survey Handbook (2nd Edition)
• Cornish Hedges in Gardens
• Cornish Hedges on Development and Housing Sites
• Gates and Gateways in Cornish hedges
• Geology and Hedges in Cornwall
• Glossary of some Cornish Words used in the Countryside
• Hedges in the Cornish Landscape
• How to Look After a Cornish Hedge
• How Old is That Cornish Hedge?
• Literature Sources
• Mediaeval Hedges in Cornwall (450AD - 1550)
• Modern Hedges in Cornwall (1840 - present day)
• Mosses, Lichens, Fungi and Ferns in Cornish Hedges
• Pipe-laying and Other Cross-country Works Involving Hedges
• Post-Mediaeval Hedges in Cornwall (1550 - 1840)
• Prehistoric Hedges in Cornwall (5,000BC - 450AD)
• Repairing Cornish Hedges and Stone Hedges
• Repairing Turf Hedges
• Risk Assessment Guidance for working on Cornish Hedges
• Roadside Hedges and Verges in Cornwall
• The Curse of Rabbits in Cornish Hedges
• The Life and Death of a Flailed Cornish Hedge
• Trees on Hedges in Cornwall
• Unusual Old Features in Cornish Hedges
• Who Owns that Cornish Hedge?
• Wildlife and the Cornish Hedge

THE GUILD OF CORNISH HEDGERS is the non-profit-making organisation founded in 2002 to support the concern among traditional hedgers about poor standards of workmanship in Cornish hedging today. The Guild has raised public awareness of Cornwall's unique heritage of hedges and promoted free access to the Cornish Hedges Library, the only existing source of full and reliable written knowledge on Cornish hedges."