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

Click on thumbnail to change this comparison page to the Plant Description Page of the plant named in the Text box below the photo.
Click on first Underlined Text in Text Box below Thumbnail to transfer to its Family page.

Ivydene Horticultural Services .

Site design and content copyright ©January 2016. Photos and other details added February 2017. Chris Garnons-Williams.

DISCLAIMER: Links to external sites are provided as a courtesy to visitors. Ivydene Horticultural Services are not responsible for the content and/or quality of external web sites linked from this site.  

Marjorie Blamey's Wild Flowers by Colour by Marjorie Blamey (ISBN 0-7136-7237-4. Published by A & C Black Publishers Ltd in 2005) has illustrations of each wild flower of Britain and Northern Europe split into the following 13 colours.

Instead of colour illustrations, this plant gallery has thumbnail pictures of wild flowers of Britain in the same colour split system:-

White A-D and Habitats of Saltmarshes, Beaches, Rocks and Cliff Tops
White E-P and Other Habitats
White Q-Z and Number of Petals

Cream and Coastal Sandy Shores and Dunes

Yellow A-G and Pollinator
Yellow H-Z and Poisonous Plants

Orange and Habitat of Hedgerows and Road Verges

Red and Habitat of Pinewoods

Pink A-G and Habitats of Lakes, Canals and Rivers
Pink H-Z and Habitats of Marshes, Fens and Bogs

Mauve and Habitat of Grassland - Acid, Neutral or Chalk

Purple and Habitats of Old Buildings and Walls

Blue and Flower Legend

Green and Habitat of Broad-leaved Woods

Brown and Food for Butterfly / Moth

Multi-Coloured and Habitats of Heaths and Moors

Shrub and Small Tree and Habitats of River Banks and Other Freshwater Margins
Seed 1 and Scented Flower, Foliage or Root
Seed 2 and Story of Their Common Names
Non-Flower Plants and Non-Flowering Plant Use
Introduction and Edible Plant Parts
Site Map and Use of Plant
 

Form from
The Concise British Flora in Colour by W. Keble Martin, MA, FLS.
Designed and produced by George Rainbird Limited and Second Impression (with revisions) June 1965.

Form for Wildflowers:-

Mat-forming
Prostrate
Mound-forming
Spreading
Clump-forming
Stemless
Upright
Climbing
Arching

These Forms are used for Bulbs with Herbaceous and Evergreen Perennials.

Shape for Evergreen Shrubs:-

Columnar
Oval
Rounded
Flattened Spherical
Narrow Conical
Broad Conical
Egg-shaped
Broad Ovoid
Narrow Vase-shape
Fan-shaped
Broad Fan-shape
Narrow Weeping
Broad Weeping
Single-stem Palm
Multi-stem Palm

These Forms and Shapes are also used for Deciduous and Evergreen Shrubs and Trees.
Wildflowers from Shrub/Tree page will be inserted into these Shapes for Evergreen Shrubs pages.

Wildflowers with Blue 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

Alpine Clematis

Non-Wildflower Garden Escape

Apr-May

This early spring flowering clematis is ideal for a north- or east-facing site. Given suitable support it may be grown on its own or allowed to scramble through a strong shrub or tree.

5 Petals

Mid-Green

120 x 60
(300 x 150)

Clematis alpina

Page 151

Alpine Forget-me-not

Jul-Aug

A perennial herb found in two contrasting habitats: heavily-grazed limestone grassland on base-rich well-drained soils in the Pennines, and both on and below mica-schist ledges on ungrazed cliffs in Perthshire, often in open communities.

5 Petals

Mid green

10 x 12
(25 x 30)

Borage Family

Myosotis alpestris
(Myosotis asiatica)

Repro-duction is by seed. Grows best in rock crevices and scree gardens in full sun or part shade needing a gritty soil that retains moisture

Page 155

Alpine Sow-Thistle (Alpine Blue Sow-thistle, Blue Sow Thistle)
 

Jul-Sep

Composite flower head is about 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and is made up of individual violet-blue flowers

A tall perennial of ledges inaccessible to grazing animals on moist, predominantly N.-facing acidic rocks, often where there is late snow-lie.

More than 6

Mid-Green

32 x 6
(80 x 15)

Daisy Catsears Family

Cicerbita alpina

Deer, reindeer and elk eat it.

Page 158

Alpine Speedwell

Jul-Aug

Dark blue Flowers in small terminal cluster

This small montane perennial herb typically occurs in areas of late snow-lie in open, often rocky, places on well-drained but slightly moist ground. It grows on both acidic and calcareous substrates.

4

Bluish-green, oval, scarcely toothed, unstalked

6 x 4
(15 x 10)

Figwort - Speedwells Family

Veronica alpina

Alpine Squill

Garden escape in southern England

Flowers from Wikimedia Commons

Mar-Jun

Bright blue, rarely pink or white, starlike in a loose cluster

Habitat in grassland, scrub, or woods, also on mountains.
Use in rock garden or edge of border and under deciduous trees/shrubs. Resistant to deer and rodents

6

2 linear, channelled, basal leaves. Foliage will disappear by summer as the plant goes dormant.

3-6 x 3-4
(7.5-15 x 7.5-10)

Lily Family

Scilla bifolia

Page 158

Apple-of-Peru

Jun-Oct

Blue or pale violet with white throat, bell-shaped, opening only for a few hours

Very poisonous.

Habitat in bare and waste places, waysides.

Propagation: by seeds sown 0.125 inches (3mm) deep in pots or boxes of light soil in 55F (13C) in March, trans-planting seedlings 36 inches (90cm) apart outdoors in ordinary soil in May; or by sowing seed in sunny position outdoors in April, trans-planting seedlings in June.

Leaves pointed oval, toothed or lobed.

18-24 x
(45-60 x )

Night
shade Family

Nicandra physalodes

Page 156

Full Sun in open borders.

Arctic Bellflower, Arctic harebell

It is distributed in arctic North America, including the Rocky Mountains and Greenland, in the Asian part of Beringia and in Iceland, Svalbard, the Scandes Mountains and Novaja Zemlja.

Jun-Oct

Nodding, solitary, bell-shaped, blue, purple

Habitat in Mountains, arctic heaths.

Occurring most often among other forbs, graminoids, and dwarf shrubs on slopes and ledges with meadow or heath vegetation. The growth sites are usually well drained with mixed soils and circumneutral or basic soil reaction (pH). Tends to occupy moderately exposed locations with slight to moderate snow cover. Not much grazed by reindeer or geese.

Petals joined, with 5 lobes

Pointed, dark green.

2-4 x 2
(6-10 x 5)

Bellflower Family

Campanula uniflora

Page 157

Used and attracted by humming-birds - not sure there are many of those in the UK.

Autumn Squill

Flowers

Jul-Oct

A bulbous perennial herb of open, drought-prone grasslands and heathy vegetation in rocky or sandy places near the sea; also on terrace gravels in the lower Thames valley.

Dry pastures, usually near the sea, in Southern England

5

Narrow linear mid green leaves are produced in the Spring but die back before the flowers emerge.

5 x 4
(12.5 x 10)

Lily Family

Scilla autumnalis

Full Sun with well-drained soil. Plant 3 inches deep and 4 inches (10cm) apart.

Pages 138 and 158

Bavarian Gentian (Gentiana bavarica) native to European Alps not the UK

Jul-Sep

Dark blue, tubular

Damp Grass, Marshes.

Avoid lime, with full sun in the rock garden.

5

Yellow-green

4 x 4
(10 x 10 )

4 inches is the spacing between plants not the width of the plant

Gentian Family

Gentiana bavarica

Page 153

Bitter Vetch
(Corra meille, Heath Pea in West Highland Flora)

Flowers

Apr-Jul

A perennial herb of moist, infertile neutral and acidic soils in heathy meadows, lightly grazed pastures, grassy banks and open woodlands; also on stream banks and rock ledges in the uplands.

5 sepals and 5 petals

Pollinated by bees.

Green

12 x 8
(30 x 20)

Peaflower Vetches/Peas Family

Lathyrus montanus (Lathyrus linifolius)

Pages 105 and 151

Bearded Bellflower
(Bearded Hairbell)

Jun-Aug

Pale blue, with long white hairs inside, in one-sided cluster; sepals in 2 rows.

Thrives in well-drained loam in the rock garden or in the mixed border.

Short, tufted, bristly.

Woods, grassy places, in mountains.

5

Wavy-edged hairy basal leaves, few on stem.

In high mountains in its native land of France, switzerland and Italy, it is sometimes only about 6 inches (15 cm) high

Bellflower Family

Campanula barbata

Page 157

Bladder Gentian

May-Aug Narrow petal tube, dark blue

Annual

Damp grass, bogs, heaths, stony slopes and hollows.

5

Basal rosette of leaves.

10 x 2
(25 x 5)

Gentian Family

Gentiana utricolosa

Page 153

See photo

Blue Anemone (Apennine Anemone, Windflower) is
Anemone apennina

Anemone apennina at Dresden, Botanical Garden(Saxony, Germany). By Olaf Leillinger, via Wikimedia Commons

Mar-April

A rhizomatous perennial, found in woodland, open scrub, under park trees, in churchyards and near former habitations. Like the native A. nemorosa, it requires light shade

9 Petals

Green

6-9 x 6
(15-22.5 x 15)

Buttercup Family

Anemone apennina

Blue Anemone on Page 151

Can also be grown in pots on your windowsill, balcony or garden table. The plant does well under deciduous trees, alongside hedges and in shady pots around ponds. 

Bluebell
(English Bluebell)

April-June

Dark Blue

In woods, heaths, hedge banks.

5

Keeled leaves with hooded tip

Lily Family

Hyacinth-oides
non-scripta

Pages 64 for white flowers and 158 for blue flowers

Blue Bugle

Apr-Aug

Dark Blue

Dry grassy in chalk pastures in Berkshire, stony places. It is suitable for the front of mixed borders, or for the margin of shrub beds, and also for naturalising.

1 lipped flowers

Stems often hairy, all round.

6 x
(15 x )

Mint section of
Thyme 1 Family

Ajuga genevensis

Page 155

Blue-eyed Grass

Flower

Jun-Aug

2 terminal clusters of 2-4 dark blue starlike flowers with a yellow centre

A cormous perennial herb found naturalised in meadows, pastures, amenity grasslands and on roadsides. It spreads vegetatively by means of rhizomes.

Blue flowers, with 6 very pointed petals, closed in dull weather and so often hard to detect among herbage, in a small terminal cluster on a stiff winged leaf-like stem.

Tuft of linear leaves all from roots

6-10 x
(15-25 x )

Iris Family

Sis-
yrinchium angusti-folium
(Sisyrin-chium bermu-diana)

Pge 158

Blue-eyed Mary
(Creeping Forget-me-not)

Feb-May

Bright blue, 10mm across, in a loose cluster

This creeping perennial - with blue flowers - is a garden escape or outcast which has become naturalised in woodland and along lanes.

5

Short, mat-forming, spreads with rooting runners.

Borage Family

Ompha-lodes verna

Page 155

Often mistaken for Forget-me-not of which it is a relative.

Blue Hound's-tongue (Cynoglossum creticum) is toxic to stock in Australia

So it may have blue flowers, but there is no point in growing a plant whose seed could travel and when its plant is grown could be toxic to stock.

Blue Pimpernell

Flower

Blue up to 0.5 inches in diameter in June-August followed by fruits 5-8-veined.

In arable fields in the South and West of England

5

Pointed oval dark green unstalked leaves, usually in pairs but sometimes, especially later in the year, in whorls.

Primrose Family

Anagallis foemina

Page 152

Water Speedwell
(Blue Water-speedwell)
 

Flowers

June-August

Erect dense spikes of pale blue flowers with tiny narrow pointed leaf-like bracts at their base

An annual found on fertile substrates by rivers, streams and ponds, in ditches and in flooded clay- and gravel-pits. It grows as a vegetative plant submerged in shallow water, or as a flowering emergent, or as a terrestrial plant in marshy habitats and disturbed ground at the water`s edge. Reproduction is by seed and by rooted stem fragments.

4

Pointed dark green leaves

6-18 x
(15-45 x )

Figwort - Speedwells Family

Veronica anagallis-aquatica
(Veronica michauxii)

Page 156

Blue Woodruff

Distributed in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Apr-Jun

Bright Blue

Slender short annual, hairless. Weed of cultivation.

Leaves linear, blunt, in whorls of 6-9.

Bedstraw Family

Asperula arvensis

Page 153

Borage (Common Borage)

Flower

June onwards

Deep Blue, 0.75 inches diameter

An annual occurring as a casual garden escape on roadsides and waste ground. It also arises from bird-seed and as a relic of cultivation as a minor crop. It is rarely naturalised.

5

Leaves, large, ovate, hispid

Borage Family

Borago officinalis

Page 154

Breck Speedwell (Breckland Speedwell)

Mar-Jun

Dark Blue

An annual found naturalised on free-draining sandy soils, usually where there is regular disturbance. Habitats include the edges of arable fields, on tracks, sandy banks, and open rough grassland.

Very rare in arable fields in the Breckland.

4

Stem erect; leaves conspic-uously dentate.

Figwort - Speedwells Family

Veronica praecox

Page 156

Brooklime
(European Speedwell)

May-Sep

4 petal, dark blue

This robust perennial herb occurs on all but the most infertile substrates in a wide range of wetland habitats: in shallow water, by rivers, streams and ponds, in ditches, marshy hollows in pastures, flushes, wet woodland rides and rutted tracks. It thrives in fairly open habitats, competing poorly in dense stands of taller plants. Propagation is by seed and vegetatively from rooted stems.

4 petals

Light Green

Height of 10 inches (25 cms). Depth 0-1 inches (0-10 cms) of water above soil level.

Ideal for masking pool edges and it will grow in shady damp borders.

Figwort - Speedwells Family

Veronica becca-bunga

Page 156

It grows on the margins of brooks and ditches in Europe, North Africa, and north and western Asia.

Bugle

Form

April-June

Rich powder- Blue, sometimes pink or white, in leafy spike

A rhizomatous perennial herb of damp deciduous woods and woodland rides, shaded places and unimproved grassland on neutral or acidic soils, sometimes occurring in flushed ground.

Lipped

Leaves often bronzy.

6 x
(15 x )

Mint section of Thyme 1 Family

Ajuga reptans

Page 155

Bur Forget-me-not
(European stickseed, bluebur, bristly sheepbur.

Native to Europe and Asia

Jun-Aug

Light blue flowers, 2-4 mm in a loose leafy spike

Greyish annual/biennial, roughly hairy; well branched.

Dry bare places, dunes and it thrives in overgrazed pastures.

5

Green leaves lanceolate, unstalked.

Borage Family

Lappula squarrosa

Page 154

Well known as a noxious weed. The seeds are dispersed when the prickles get caught on animal coats and human clothing, and when they are moved by wind.

Bristly Bellflower

Native in Europe except far north.

Jun-Aug

Pale Blue, bell-shaped, grouped together

Its natural habitat is woodland edges, hillside meadows, dry meadows and banks. It also flourishes in places where the soil has been disturbed such as after slash-and-burn, or after forest clearance or when coppicing has taken place.

5

Winged leaf stalks half clasp stem.

12-39 x
(30-100)

Bellflower Family

Campanula cervicaria

Page 157
Bristly bellflower is a biennial or short-lived perennial herbaceous plant

Chalk Milkwort

May-Jul

Intense Blue or sometimes bluish-white followed by small seed capsule

Tightly-grazed chalk and limestone grassland

4 Petals

Light green lower leaves crowded into an irregular rosette from which the unbranched flowering stems arise

7 x 3
(18 x 8)

Milkwort family

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

Changing Forget-me-not

Flower

May onwards

Mature to Grey-blue, flowers

An annual of open grassland and disturbed ground occurring in a wide range of habitats, including fen- and hay-meadows, pastures, moorland edges, marshes, dune-slacks, arable field margins, road verges, railway tracks, chalk- and gravel-pits, rocks and walls.

5 Petal

Light green and hairy

Borage Family

Myosotis discolor

Page 155

Chicory

Flowers

June onwards

Flower-heads in twos and threes at the base of the leaves up the stem, an inch (2.5 cm) or more across, unstalked, with ray-florets only, light bright blue Dandelions.

A perennial herb of roadsides, field margins and rough grassland on a wide range of soils.

More than 6

It has tough stems, a few often long branches, unstalked lanceolate upper, and pinnately lobed lower leaves.

12-36 x
(30-90 x )

Daisy Thistle Family

Cichorium intybus

Page 158

Hairless Blue Sow Thistle

Jul-Sep

This is a not too distant relative of the lettuce. It makes a rosette of long, basal leaves from which arises a tall, stout, branched stem carrying pretty blue daisy-like flowers. Where conditions suit it will self seed to the point of being a nuisance so it is advisable to cut off the spent flowers before the seed develops. Herbaceous perennial requires moist, acidic, sandy fertile soil.

More than 6

See photo

Green

48 x 18
(120 x 45)

Daisy Catsears Family

Cicerbita plumieri

Common Field Speedwell

Flower

Through-out the year

Sky-blue with darker veins, the lowest petal usually white, 8-12mm, solitary on long stalks at base of upper leaves; all year

An annual of arable fields, other cultivated areas and waste ground, found on a wide range of fertile soils. It is self-fertile and seeds prolifically, the seeds forming a persistent seed bank and germinating throughout the year. It also spreads vegetatively from stem fragments.

5

Leaves oval, short-stalked, pale green

Figwort - Speedwells Family

Veronica persica

Page 157

Common globularia (Common Blue Daisy)

Not a native of Great Britain, Ireland or Isle of Man. It has a very disjunct distribution: One population in the mountains of southern France and north-central and eastern Spain; and another population on the islands Öland and Gotland in the Baltic Sea.

Apr-Jun

Umbel of dark blue flowers 2-lipped, the upper lip very short, the lower 3-lobed

Herbaceous Perennial in Dry grassy or stony places.

...

Oval, stalked basal leaves, narrower pointed unstalked stem leaves

6-12 x
(15-30 x )

Bellflower Family

Globularia vulgaris
(Globularia tricosantha)

Page 157

Common Grape-hyacinth (Grape Hyacinth)

April-May

A bulbous perennial herb on free-draining soils, native or long-naturalised in grasslands, hedgerows, pine plantations and rough ground, and on roadsides on a wide range of nutrient-poor soils. It is also a short-lived garden escape or outcast near habitation, on roadsides, allotments and waste ground. Lowland.

6

3-6 linear bright green channeled leaves often red at base.

Lily Family

Muscari neglectum
(Muscari atlanticum)

Page 158

Grassland for Muscari neglectum and Gardens for Garden Grape-hyacinth Muscari armeniacum

Common Lungwort

Flower

Mar-May

Flowers in small terminal clusters, pink, often turning bluer; calyx with short broad teeth.

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

5

Hairy and tufted. White blotches on green leaves

Borage Family

Pulmonaria officinalis

Pages 124, 142 and 154

Common Milkwort

May-Sep

Blue, Pink or White 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.

Dry Grassland in Chalk soil throughout the British Isles

3-5 True Petals

Mid Green scattered leaves

12 x 12
(30 x 30)

Milkwort family

Polygala vulgaris

Pages 49, 115 and 152

Cornflower

Flower

Jun-Aug

Bright blue

This formerly occurred as an annual weed of arable habitats. Since 1986 it has been recorded in very few arable fields, but it is now frequent in waste places, on roadsides and on rubbish tips as a casual arising from gardens and wild-flower seed mixtures.

4-5

Narrow leaves, the upper unstalked and lanceolate, the lower stalked and pinnately lobed.

12-24 x
(30-60 x )

Daisy Thistle Family

Centaurea cyanus

Page 158

Creeping Water Forget-me-not (Creeping Forget-me-not)

June onwards

Light Blue 0.2 inch (5mm), in spikes leafy below

A stoloniferous annual to perennial herb found by streams and pools, in marshy pasture, moorland flushes and springs. It prefers acid peaty soils, and usually avoids calcareous soils.

5

Numerous leafy runners, stems with hairs spreading below but adpressed above.

Borage Family

Myosotis secunda

(Myosotis repens, Myosotis palustris), Myosotis scorpioides)

Page 155

Cross Gentian

Native to France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Channel Isles, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark

Jun-Sep

Dull Blue, oblong, in tight clusters up the stem, petal-tube 4 lobed

Perennial in dry grass places or open woods.

6

Leaves oval to broad lanceolate, rather leathery, the upper clasping the stem, the lower stalked.

Gentian Family

Gentiana cruciata

Page 153

Cultivated Flax (Linseed Oil Plant, Flax, Common Flax)

Flower

June-July

Bright Blue flowers an inch (2.5 cms) across, the sepals pointed and shorter than the globular fruit

A robust annual found on road verges, rubbish tips and waste ground and locally, rather surprisingly, on stone reservoir banks. It is also a moderately frequent bird-seed alien.

5

Narrow lanceolate 3-veined green leaves

9-18 x
(22.5-45 x )

Flax family

Linum usitatis-simum

Page 152

Early Forget-me-not

Flowers

April-June

Sky-blue flowers, the corolla-tbe shorter than the longer-stalked calyx, whose longer teeth are spreading in fruit.

An annual of open habitats or bare ground on dry, relatively infertile soils. It is found in chalk and limestone grassland, on sandy heaths and banks, stabilised dunes, the borders of sandy cultivated fields, railway tracks, rocks, walls, gravel-pits, quarry spoil and waste ground.

5

Hairy green leaves

Borage Family

Myosotis hispida
(Myosotis ramos-issima)

Page 155

Field Forget-me-not (Common Forget-me-not)

Flowers

April onwards

Grey-blue or pinkish, usually saucer-shaped flowers, the petal-like corolla-lobes shorter than the tube. Fruit-stalks longer than the calyx which has numerous spreading hooked hairs.

An annual or biennial herb of open or disturbed ground, especially cultivated fields. Other habitats include woodland edges, open grassland, hedges, scrub, roadsides, walls and quarries.

5

Softly hairy, with oblong leaves

Borage Family

Myosotis arvensis

Page 155

Fingered Speedwell

April-June

Small dark blue flowers with petal-like corolla-lobes shorter than the calyx, on slender stalks longer than the leaves and the calyx. Fruits round, notched, shorter than the calyx-lobes, with style little longer than the notch.

Recently, this annual of sandy calcareous or slightly acidic soils has been found on the margins of arable fields and on sandy banks, but it was formerly also known from tracks, fallow fields, gravel-pits and waste ground. Regular disturbance is needed to maintain sufficient open ground for germination.

4

Lower leaves stalked, with 1-7 narrow finger-like lobes.

Figwort Family

Veronica triphyllos
 

very rare

Page 156

Birdseye Speedwell
(Germander Speedwell)

Flowers

April-July

Flowers brilliant azure blue with a white eye, rarely pink or lilac, in erect spikes at the base of the well-toothed, pointed oval leaves, with short or no stalks. Fruits conspicuously hairy, broadly heart-shaped shorter than the pointed calyx-lobes.

A stoloniferous perennial herb of woods, hedge banks, grassland, rock outcrops, upland screes, road verges, railway banks and waste ground, found on most soil types except the most impoverished. It also occurs on anthills on chalk downland. It spreads vegetatively by prostrate stems which root at the nodes; reproduction from seed appears to be comparatively rare.

4

Hairs in 2 thick opposite lines down the stems, which are prostrate at the base.

Figwort Family

Veronica chamaedrys

Page 156

Green Alkanet

Flowers

April onwards

Small stalked clusters of flat white-eyed, bright blue flowers, at the base of the broad, pointed oval, net-veined leaves, the lower stalked.

This erect perennial herb is mostly found near habitation in lightly shaded habitats, including waste ground, roadside-banks, hedgerows, scrub and woodland, but it also grows on riversides. It reproduces prolifically from seed and can be very invasive.

5

12-24 x
(30-60 x )

Borage Family

Pentaglottis semper-virens (Anchusa semper-virens)

Page 154

Green Field Speedwell

March onwards

Pale blue , 4-8 mm, flowers. Fruits with style still shorter, hardy or not longer than the notch. White lower petal

This spring-germinating annual is a colonist of cultivated land, waysides, gardens and allotments. It prefers soils which are well-drained and acidic, occurring on calcareous substrates only when there is surface leaching.

4

Oval leaves, toothed, short-stalked

Figwort Family

Veronica agrestis

Page 157

Grey Field Speedwell

March onwards

Uniform dark blue. Fruits as broad as long.

An annual of cultivated fields and gardens, typically growing on light, sandy, often calcareous soils.

4

Leaves grey-green

Figwort Family

Veronica polita

Page 157

Harebell

Flowers

July onwards

Flowers blue, nodding, in a loose truss.

A rhizomatous perennial herb of dry, open, infertile habitats including grassland, fixed dunes, rock ledges, roadsides and railway banks. It tolerates a wide range of soil pH, being found on both mildly acidic and calcareous substrates, and heavy-metal tolerant races are known.

5

Small roundish root-leaves that usually wither early, with linear stem-leaves, the upper unstalked.

Bellflower Family

Campanula rotundifolia

Pages 137 and 157

Heath Dog Violet
(Heath Violet, Dog Violet)

Seed Pods

April-June

Blue with yellowspur followed by seed pods

Perennial with stems decumbent to erect, solitary to many together from a short creeping rhizome. A perennial herb of a variety of acid habitats, including heaths, coastal dunes, stony riversides and lake shores, especially in Scotland. It can also occur on thin, heavily leached substrates overlying chalk and (as subsp. montana) in fens.

5

Has no central non-flowering rosette of leaves, which are heart-shaped, but are thick, dark and distinctly long than broad.

12 x 12
(30 x 30)

Violet Family

Viola canina

Dry Turf on sandy Fens, woods and hedgebanks on calcareous (chalk) soils throughout the UK.
 

Heath Milkwort
(Common Milkwort)

May-Sep-tember

Gentian-blue or Slate Blue followed by seed capsule.

A perennial herb occurring on acidic soils in grasslands, moors, heaths and mires. 0-1035 m (Ben Lawers, Mid Perth). This plant is food for the Small Purple-barred Phytometra viridaria moth.

5-sepalled, the 2 inner large and petal-like on either side of the 3 true petals, which are joined at the base

Dark green with lower leaves opposite

6 x 6
(15 x 15)

Milkwort family

Polygala serpyllifolia

Ivy-leaved Bellflower
(Creeping Harebell)

Flowers

July-August

An extremely delicate hairless low creeping, pale green perennial with small pale blue bell-shaped flowers, on hairlike stalks longed than the stalked, somewhat ivy-shaped leaves. flowers

A small, low-growing perennial herb found in damp, wet or boggy places on acidic soils, occurring on heaths, heathy pastures, moors, open woodland and Salix carr, and by streams and in flushes. In Ireland, it is most frequent beside streams and is absent from pastures. It prefers areas with moving, rather than standing, water.

5

Ivy-shaped , palmately lobed, stalked leaves

Bellflower Family

Wahlen-bergia hederacea

Page 157

Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Ivy Speedwell)

March-August

A prostrate hairy annual, with small, pale lilac flowers

An annual of cultivated and waste ground, woodland rides, hedge banks, walls, banks and gardens, found on sandy, loam or clay soils. V. hederifolia seeds freely, with germination in spring or autumn.

4 petal-like lobes

Roundish ivy-like leaves, the middle of whose 3-5 lobes is the largest.

Figwort Family

Veronica hederifolia

Pages 135 and 157

Jacob's-Ladder (Greek Valerian)

June-July

A beautiful perennial, with spikes of wide open, inch-wide (2.5 cm) bright blue flowers, brown at the base

A clump-forming perennial herb, largely restricted as a native to steep but stabilised limestone screes, usually in partial shade, but also found on andesite debris and river-cliffs in Northumberland. It is confined to sites where the soil remains moist. Alien populations occur along hedgerows, on river banks and in other places near habitation.

5 petal-like corolla-lobes

Alternate pinnate leaves, the leaflets narrow

Jacobs Ladder Family

12-24 x
(30-60 x )

Polemonium caeruleum

Page 153

Larkspur (Rocket Larkspur, Annual Delpinium) is
Delphinium orientale
(Consolida orientalis, Consolida ajacis, Consolida ambigua)

Consolida orientalis by the roadside, 2005-05-26, Algyő, Hungary. By ‪Nl74‪ , via Wikimedia Commons

July onwards.
 

Blue, white or rose-blue flowers

An annual species found on waste ground, rubbish tips and in cultivated fields. As an arable weed it usually occurs on dry soils in chalky or sandy areas.
In most species each flower consists of five petal-like sepals which grow together to form a hollow pocket with a spur at the end, which gives the plant its name, usually more or less dark blue.

4

Within the sepals are four true petals, small, incon-spicuous, and commonly colored similarly to the sepals.

Mid Green

12-18 x
30-45 x )

Buttercup family

Delphinium orientale
(Consolida orientalis, Consolida ajacis, Consolida ambigua)

All 200 Delphinium species are poisonous owing to the presence of alkaloids of which the most commonly occuring is delphinin.
Page 151 for consolida ajacis

Love-in-a-mist,
Devil in a bush, Ragged Lady

Non-Wildflower Garden Escape

Jul-Sep

Grows on Wasteland. Used as bedding in Gardens - 'Miss Jekyll', 'Miss Jekyll Alba' (2 of its cultivars)

5-25 sepals

Light Green

8-20 x 9
(20-50 x 23)
Garden escape in BUTTER-FLY

Nigella damascena

Page 151

Marsh Gentian
(Lungen-Enzian in Germany, klockgentiana in Sweden, Goryczka waskolistna in Poland)

Flower

July-September

A striking flower, whose 1-2 inch (2.5-5 cm) azure trumpets, streaked with green outside, reasemble those of the well known alpine and rock garden Gentiana acaulis.

A long-lived perennial herb of damp acidic grassland and wet heaths, usually on relatively enriched soils, and often where there is seasonal movement of surface water. The opening up of the habitat by grazing or occasional light burning favours this species by promoting flowering.

5

Opposite linear green leaves

12 x
(30 x )

Gentian Family

Gentiana pneumo-nanthe

Page 153

Marsh Pea

June-July

Bluish-purple, 12-20mm wide flowers. Pods black.

A perennial herb of base-rich fens, reed-beds and fen-meadows; also, rarely, on marshy ground by rivers.

...

Dark green

18-36 x
(45-90 x )

Peaflower Vetches/Peas Family

Lathyrus palustris
Pages 132 and 151

Marsh Speedwell

Flower

June-August

Few whitish fowers on long stalks in alternate open spikes up the stem.

This perennial herb is found in a wide range of wetland habitats, including pond and lake margins, marshes, fens and fen-meadows, wet grassland, hillside flushes, bogs and wet heath, often on acidic soils. It occurs in both open habitats and amongst tall vegetation.

4

Dark green, minutely toothed, and often olive-brown.

Figwort - Speedwells Family

Veronica scutellata

Pages 126 and 156

Meadow Clary
(Meadow Sage)

Flowers

June-July

Prominent whorled spikes of fine bright violet-blue open-mouthed flowers

A long-lived perennial herb of unimproved grassland, lane-sides, road verges and disturbed ground on well-drained soils overlying chalk and limestone. It is occasionally established from gardens or as a casual in waste places.

...

Long narrow, bluntly toothed wrinkled leaves, chiefly at the base.

12-24 x
(30-60 x )

Thyme 2 Family

Salvia pratensis

Pages 125 and 156

Meadow Crane's-bill
(Wiesen-Storchschnabel in Germany, ängsnäva in Sweden, beemdooie-vaarsbek in Dutch, Bodziszek lakowy in Poland)

June onwards

Bright blue flowers, slightly tinged violet and over an inch (2.5 cm) across, on long stalks.

A perennial herb of rough grassland on verges, railway banks and streamsides, and in damp hay meadows and lightly grazed pastures, mainly on calcareous soils.

Cranes-bills have 5 petals, 5 sepals often ending in a bristle, and prominent stamens.

Stems often reddish, long-stalked green leaves very deeply lobed and cut.

12-24 x
(30-60 x )

Geranium Family

Geranium pratense

Page 151

Cranesbills fruits have 5 segments curling upwards from the base when ripe, and end in a long pointed beak, whence the name'crane's bill'.

Oyster Plant (Sea Lungwort)

June-August

Clusters of attractive purplish-blue flowers.

The stem and leaves of this perennial are covered with bloom like that on a plum. The plant grows along the ground. The leaves are thick, with dots on the upper surface.

A perennial herb, usually found on gravelly beaches and shingle but sometimes on sand. It can also colonise earth and rocks tipped at the coast (Randall, 1988). Seeds can survive prolonged immersion in sea water, and dispersion in sea currents enables colonisation of new, but sometimes transient, sites.

6

A prostrate mat-forming hairless grey fleshy perennial, with thick oval leaves tasting of oysters. Very scarce and decreasing during 1978 on coastal shingle in Scotland; very rare elsewhere in the North.

6 x
(15 x )

Borage Family

Mertensia maritimum (Mertensia maritima)

Page 154

Pale Heath Violet (Pale Dog Violet)

May-June
our latest Violet

Pale greyish-violet flowers followed by seed capsule

Only on heaths in South-West England. Heathland, open habitats including patchy grassland, tracksides, areas kept open by grazing or rotational burning and other disturbed ground

5

Dark Green triangular-lanceolate at the base

6 x 6
(15 x 15)

Violet family

Viola lactea

Page 152

Wildflowers with Blue Flowers continued below and in the last row of furthest table on the right.

Some of the above are detailed in:-

• The Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe by Richard Fitter, Alastair Fitter and Marjorie Blamey. Published by William Collins & Co Ltd in 1989.
  ISBN 0 00 219715 4

BLUE WILD FLOWER GALLERY
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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."
2. Can I use Pl@ntNet on my computer? - "Yes! the Web version of Pl@ntNet is available at the following address: identify.plantnet.org. "

WILD FLOWER GALLERY
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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

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
 

Flower Legends by M.C. Carey. Published by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd in 1929. This provides the information for the plants listed below.

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flower Legend

The Anemone

A Greek legend relates how once the gentle Zephyrus, who was said to produce flowers and fruits by the magic sweetness of his breath, made the fair Anemone his bride. She was a favourite nymph at the court of Chloris, and fairer and more graceful than any of the lovely band that formed that court of flowers round the goddess.
Chloris noticed the wind god's affection for her nymph, and was so jealous for his love that she was enraged and drove Anemone from her presence, forbidding her to return.
Anemone wandered sadly through the woods and groves followed by her sorrowing lover, who, as he said farewell, changed her into a star-like flower - "most delicate and fair" - and which to this day he loves to caress.
And the ancients said that every spring Zephyrus comes again to coax her with his sweet breath to open her petals, the
"Coy anemone that ne'er uncloses
Her lips until they are blown on by the wind."
But he only abandons her later to the rude caresses of his brother Boreas, who "unable to win her love, blights with his rude embraces her half unfolded charms".

The Arum Lily

It is said that when Joshua and Caleb were sent out by Moses to spy out the Promised Land of Canaan, Aaron gave them his rod to take with them. The story goes, that the spies, in proof of their report of a land "flowing with milk and honey", carried back a giant cluster of grapes, cut from vines at Eschol, borne between them on the rod, which they supported on their shoulders.
They laid their rich burden at the feet of Moses, and stuck the rod in the ground. T o the surprise of all, an arum sprang from the earth at its foot, a living symbol of the fruitfulness of the land to which they were adventuring. And to this day farmers are known to judge their harvests by watching for the size of the spadix of the arum in the spring.

On the deep green leaves of the arum are curious purple spots, and tradition tells that when Christ hung suffering on the Cross, and cried in agony: "Father, forgive them...," a bird was flying by. Hearing the cry of pain, it swerved in its flight, and perched on the Cross. Then, in pity for our Lord, it tried with its little beak to wrench the nails from His hands and feet, and its breast was soon red with the Blood flowing from the wounds. The crimson drops fell to the ground, and stained the leaves of an arum lily growing at the foot of the Cross, and those stains have been borne by the plant ever since.

The Blackthorn

Two blackthorn trees, are, in France, inseparably connected with the life of St. Patrick.
The story goes that the saint was on his way to join St. Martin one Christmas time when it was bitterly cold, and snow lay on the ground. Tired with his long day's walk, he came to a river and sat down to rest under a thorn tree that stood gaunt and bare, its black branches outlined against the snow.
As he rose to go on his way, the thorn burst into full bloom in his honour, and was covered by a mantle of tiny snow-like flowers.
St. Patrick blessed the blackthorn, and crossed the river on his cloak, to come again to rest under another tree growing opposite its fellow on the further side. This also blossomed in his honour, and from that time onwards the 2 thorns have never ceased to bloom at Christmas time in memory of the saint and his journey.

The Bladder Campion

Bladder Campion is
Silene vulgaris

Pink family

Owls, as everyone knows, are reputed to be very wise birds, which is, no doubt, due to the fact that long ages ago they were under the special protection of the goddess of wisdom, Minerva, who kept them as pets and was escorted by them wherever she went.
Her owls were particularly fond of flies, and as they seldom flew abroad by day the goddess found t difficult to catch enough flies for their needs.
Finding that she could not spare the time herself to capture the insects, she called to her a small boy named Campion, and told him to spend his days in catching flies for her hungry flight of owls, amply rewarding him for his services.
Every morning the little boy would wander out into the fields carrying a big bladder bag on the end of a long stick, into which he would put all the flies he could catch, and in the evening he would return to be greeted by the sound of soft brown wings, as the great birds came for their supper.
But Campion was a lazy fellow. He soon tired of his task, and on the hot sunny days would creep into the shade of a tree, and sleep through the long afternoons, while the flies and gnats buzzed safely over his head. The owls grumbled and hooted at their meagre rations, and grew so thin that Minerva noticed their plight, and questioned Campion closely about their food. The boy hung his head and looked so guilty that the goddess suspected what was happening, and warned him that if he did not mend his ways and keep her birds well fed, he would be severely punished.
Time went on, but Campion did no better, and the owls grew thinner and thinner. Then the goddess descended in her wrath, and in a fit of anger turned Campion into a flower, and sent him for ever on to bare hillside, there forlornly to wave his empty bladder in which no flies were now to be imprisoned.

The Broom and the Juniper

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was flying from the wrath of Herod with the Holy Child in her arms.
With Josepth walking beside her, she rode upon a donkey in the hurried flight into Egypt, casting anxious looks backwards for fear of pursuit.
They were encamped for the night, too weary to go on longer without rest; as Mary was crossing an open pathway, she was suddenly alarmed, and thought she heard the sound of soldiers close by. She at once took refuge behind a bush of broom growing near, and whose leaves would have concealed her, but the treacherous plant gave out such a crackling that it would have attracted notice from anyone, even from a passer-by who was not on the look out for the escaping travellers.
The holy Mother looked round in terror, and a juniper tree seeing her distress opened wide its branches under which she crept with the little Jesus. As she did so, the juniper quietly closed behind her, and she was safely hidden from any who should pass by.
So the broom for ever after has need to remember the cause of its humble employment of sweeping, which today it suffers, and in token of further disgrace it was chosen by witches who ride through the clouds upon it at night.

The Campanula or Canterbury Bell

The true Campanula was supposed to resemble an ancient mirror, for it was said that Venus once possessed a mirror which added to the beauty of everything that was reflected in it. There came a day when she missed her treasure, and it was found by a rough shepherd, who was so enchanted by the reflection of is own countenance, that he stood lost in admiration gazing into the mirror as if in a dream.
Cupid, who was looking for the glass, at last discovered the old man, and partly amused and partly annoyed that Venus's precious belonging should be handled by a mere herdsman, snatched it suddenly out of his fingers, so that it fell to earth, and the man was left lamenting.
But the mirror, being divine, left its mark on the grass where it had lain, for there sprang up a carpet of flowers to be afterwards known to men as campanulas, or Venus's looking-glass.

The Carnation

To this day the family of Ronsecco in Italy displays the device of a carnation in its armorial bearings, in memory of the Countess Margherita Ronsecco and her lover.
It was in the time of the Crusades that the fair Margherita loved a chivalrous and handsome knight, Orlando, and the date was indeed fixed for the marriage when the call through the land bidding all brave men arm for a Crusade against the Saracen, and so deliver Christ's Holy Tomb.
Orlando, though distracted with grief, never for a moment thought of failing in his duty, and Margherita would not have had him stay.
"Farewell," she cried, "be true to me and do not forget."
"Never while I draw breath," was his answer, and he claimed from her the flower she wore in her bosom, and vowed that he would wear it as a talisman next his heart.
I tears she fastened the flower, a white carnation, in his breastplate, and he rode away.
Years after there came a strange horseman to seek admittance at the great Ronsecco gates. He brought news of Orlando, who had fallen at the hand of the Saracen foe, and he carried with him 2 relics for Margherita, a shining lock of her lover's hair, and a withered flower. An arrow had pierced Orlando's breast and the little silken bag in which he kept the talisman, so that his blood had dyed both a deep crimson.
The maiden kept the relics as her dearest treasure, and seeing some tiny seed pods on the flower's stalk, planted them in a pot, watching and weeping over them daya after day.
To her joy in due time green shoots appeared above the mould, and strong healthy plants grew and flourished, and bore flowers; but the carnations as they opened were not the same as the original flower, but had only an outer rim of white, the centre marked by deep crimson petals, as if blood had stained them.
Then Margherita knew that God had wrought this miracle in token of His love for loyalty and courage and true faith in man, and the head of the house of Ronsecco chose to have a red and white carnation on his coat of arms.
The Countess Margherita never married. She loved her flowers, tended them faithfully, and died leaving the carnations as a gift to her sisters, and bidding them never give away a bloom to anyone except to the men to whom they were betrothed.
So the plant was treasured as an heirloom, and cuttings taen from it only increased in each generation according to the number of maidens, for every daughter of the house was given a plant of this famous red and white carnation at her birth.
And from this custom the legend grew up that whenever a maiden of the Ronsecco family was destined to die unmarried, so certainly would the flower wither and die, and if one of them lost her honour or gave the flower to a lover unworthy of her, her carnation would be found blighted over-night.

The Christmas Rose

Known as the "Rose of Love", the Christmas roses first bloomed in the gardens of heaven, and were watched over by the angels. At the fall, the earth was covered with snow, and not one flower so carefully tended by Adam and Eve was to be seen.
The angels wept over this scene of desolation, and pleaded with the Almighty to allow them to carry at least one flower to mankind, in token of His love and mercy.
God listened to their prayers and gave them leave to take their special favourite, "the pure celestial flower", to their stricken world.
On the night when the shepherds left their flocks and followed the Star to the stable in Bethlehem, a young peasant girl, sister of 2 of the shepherds, went with them.
But when they reeached the inn, and she saw the crowd pressing round the door, where the Wise Men and their caravans had arrived to lay their gifts before the Holy Child, she drew back, and did not dare push her way through after her brothers, because her hands were empty and she had no gift to offer.
After a while she turned away weeping, and went back towards the lonely hills, until on the edge of the desert she found the flocks.
But suddenly the light of the stars was dimmed, and an angel appeared to her in a blaze of light, and spoke to her.
"Child, why do you carry sorrow in your heart?" he asked.
And the girl answered: "Because I carry no joy to the Child of Bethlehem."
The angel bent low and smiled at her, and brushed his wing tips over the snow-covered ground. There beneath bloomed a carpet of Christmas roses. Then he vanished from her sight, and the girl sank on her knees with a cry of joy and wonder. She filled her arms with the flowers, and hastened to return to Bethlehem, where the crowds thronged even more densely than before. But the people made way for her, and looked with amazement at the armful of lovely flowers she carried on that winter night.
At last she reached the stable and timidly drew near to the manger. The Wise Men were rising from their knees, surrounded by the gold and jewels and precious gifts they had brought the Christ, but when the Babe saw the Christmas roses, he stretched out His little hands for them, and smiled as the shepherd girl heaped them around Him, and even to this day the delicate flowers are flushed with ratitude.
And the angels were watching in Heaven, and Gabriel said: " For evermore roses of Christmastide must solitude endure, and cold, and winter days, but they have and shall always share the Christ Child's blessing".

The Chrysanthemum

When the Magi, following the star in the East, that guided them to Bethlehem, reached the village, they were puzzled to find no signs of rejoicing in the streets. All was silent, and the people were going about their business as usual, in spite of the many caravans that had journeyed in from far for the tax.
Night was falling, and they made their way along the narrow streets where no sounds of music or dancing could be heard proclaiming a great event. As the camels wound along, one behind the other, the great men searched for the chosen spot in vain, when suddenly the word to halt was given by King Malcher, and the caravan stood still.
"Here is the place," he cried, "I have found a flower whose petals are rayed like the star which we have followed, and which is at this moment hanging over our heads".
They all looked up at the strange star blazing in the sky, and then down at the flower that Malcher bent to pick, and as he did so the door of the stable by his side opened of its own accord, and they went in.
There they found the Holy Child lying in a manger, and into His outstretched hand Malcher placed the stem of the chrysanthemum flower, and the tall men knelt before the Child, to them the newborn King, and who held as sceptre the pure white winter flower, shaped like the Heavenly Star which had guided them to His side.

The Clematis

The Cossacks were once at war with the Tartars, and finding themselves greatly outnumbered were about to turn and flee.
But at this time the old Cossack leader spurred hir horse forward and struck his forehead with a charmed pike. At that moment arose a wild tempest which whirled the cowardly Cossacks into the air like so many leaves: it blew them into fragments and their dust mingled with that of their nemies.
From that dust is sad to have sprung the clematis flower. But the souls of the Cossacks were so troubled, knowing that their bones were lying amongst those of the Tartars, that they besought the Saints in Heaven to spread the flowers of the clematis or tziganka into the Ukraine.
Their prayer was granted, and it came to be a popular superstition in Little Russia, that if only every man would hand a spray of tziganka from his belt, the dead Cossacks who fell so strangely in that great battle would come again to life.

The Cornflower

The classic name of the cornflower is Cyanus, after the Greek youth who worshipped Chloris, the goddess of flowers and spring, with the most touching devotion.
Day and night he knelt at her shrine, only leaving it to gather cornflowers in the fields to lay in masses at her feet, so that, as he thought, her eyes might rest on the blue of the sky below her as well as on the real blue of the heavens above.
One morning Cyanus was found dead, lying in his favourite field of corn, with half-finished garlands of cornflowers at his side, and in pity for his devotion, the goddess called the flower after his name.

The Cowslip
(Keys, Our Lady's Keys, Keys-of-heaven, Herb Peter, St Peter's-wort, Peter's-keys, Fairy-cups)

Primula veris

Primrose Family
 

In Norse legend, and later in Christian fable, the cowslip is connected with the symbol of the keys, obviously owing to the appearance of the flower itself, which looks so like a bunch of yellow keys hanging fromits s;lender stalk.
The "key legend" that comes from the North relates that the cowslip was the special flower of Freia, the goddess of Spring, who is also known as the Key Virgin from the key she carried in her crown.
Every thousandth cowslip was supposed to be a key flower, and if picked and held against a rock, a secret door would open and discover to the lucky adventurer a glimpse of the Enchanted Land.
There could be seen great jars covered with cowslips and full of the most precious gifts, gold, jewels, and exquisite stuffs and precious stones. The holder of the magic cowslip may enter in and carry off the treasure, but if he drops the key flower in his efforts to hold more than he can bear away, he will find himself again on the grass of the meadow outside, and the door of the Enchanted Land will be barred agaist him for ever.
This Norse legend has come down through Christian days in an altered form, though the key symbolism remains. St. Peter's Herb, or Herb Peter as it is called in some parts of the country, takes its name thus:
Once upon a time St Peter heard it whispered in Heaven that men were gaining admittance through some back and secret entrance, and escaping his vigilant eye at the great main door, where he stands for ever as Keeper of the Gate.
This so agitated him that he let fall his heavy bunch of keys, and these fell to earth. But where they fell sprang up a golden flower - the keys of Heaven - and to this day the golden cowslips bear witness to the truth of this story.

The Crocus

A Greek legend tells of the spring crocus that once there lived a youth named Krokos, who loved Smilax, a young shepherdess on earth. By this he offended the gods, who changed him into a flower which even to this day

"Heralds the spring, young waking love declares
And everywhere the name of crocus bears."

The saffron crocus which does not bloom till the autumn was for a long time said to be the monopoly of the Rajah of Cashmere, by reason of its famous dye. In the days of Edward III an Englishman disguised as a pilgrim travelled through India, and when he reached the northern frontiers stole a bulb of the precious plant at the risk of his life, and hid it in a hollow staff which he had carried with him for the purpose. Eventually he returned to England, and reached his home at Walden, in Essex, and planted it in his garden. Such a wealth of flowers sprang from that single bulb, that ever since that year the village has been known as Saffron Walden.

The Daisy

Bellis perennis

Daisy - Cudweeds Family

Once upon a time the daisy was the flower that noble spirits chiefly chose when after death they took the form of a flower and bloomed on earth.
For once the golden Belus, queen of the woodland, was playing with her sister nymphs in the forest when twilight fell, and the sun began to sink like a red ball behind the trees.
The nymphs came out to dance together in an open glade, and one of the fair Belides dancing with her lover looked so fresh and exquisite that Vertumnus, the garden deity of Spring, was fascinated by her. He flew down upon them, but her lover jealous, stood between her and the god, and the nymph herself was so alarmed by the intruder that she turned herself into a daisy flower.

When the fiingers of Death are laid gently upon the heart of a tiny baby, and it is carried by the angels back to God, the little creatures long to console their mothers left behind on earth to mourn for them. So the babies scatter new and lovely flowers down from the heavens, as a memory of the dead and to cheer the living.
One day, Malvinia, who had just lost her infant son, was weeping amongst her maidens. Suddenly one of them came to her and said: "Look, look, Malvinia, raise your eyes! We have seen your baby. He smiled to us out of a rainbow-tinted cloud, and stretching out his hand from the the star-girt bed, a harvest of new flowers shed. See here is one, a golden centre, and a wreath of silver leaves round it tinged with crimson!"
So Malvinia looked up, and there swaying in the breeze that swept over the meadow, she saw a host of the little white flowers, like children playing amongst the green grasses.
And she was comforted.

The Dandelion

The word dandelion is a corruption of dent de lion, less by reason of the shape of its leaves, as has been suggested, than because the lion was once the symbol of the sun.
A legend of the North American Indians tells that Shawondasee, the south wind, still sighs for love of a maiden with golden hair whom he once saw in the spring.
The south wind is lazy, and he loves to lie and sleep in the shade of the magnolia trees, filling his lungs with the scent of their heavy blossoms, and breathing it out again until the perfume drifts far over the fields.
One day, as Shawondasee lay half dreaming on a soft spring morning, he saw a little way off, a slim girl standing in the sunshine, which lit up her yellow head of hair. Ife he had not been so idle and lazy he would have called her to him, but he let the moments slip by until dusk crept over the prairie. The next day he eagerly looked again for the maiden, and she was still there, more beautiful than ever, and this went on for some time, the south wind always on the look out for her, yet never bestirring himself to speak to her.
There came a morning when there was a strange look about the figure he so anxiously sought. He looked again, almost roused to action, and looked yet a third time. A woman was indeed standing where the girl had been, but how different she seemed! The glory of her golden hair had vanished and instead was a head of softest grey, borne on old and shrunken shoulders.
"Alas, alas," cried Shawondasee, " I see what has happened. It is the hand of my brother, the north wind, which has been here in the night. He has touched her head and whitened it with his frost."
And Shawondasee in his sadness sighed such a mighty sigh that the breath of it reached the figure, and in a moment her white hair scattered like a cloud from her head, and floated away on the wind, and was gone.
Others with golden heads like that first maiden's come and go, and the sun lights them up on the prairie with his bright beams, but in spring the south wind sighs for the girl of the yellow hair as he first saw her.

The Edelweiss

There is a legend which tells of an angel who, tiring of her heavenly home, besought to be allowed to return to earth, even though she should suffer sorrow and misfortune there again.
She was allowed to resume her mortal shape, but she had forgotten how tragic were the woes of mankind, with its ceaseless fret of discontent and poverty, crime and disease and pain, and she fled in despair to the mountains of Switzerland, far from the world upon which she could then look down in pity.
Possesssing the soul of an angel she was wondrously beautiful, and she was upon one occasion seen by a bold climber, and from that day men sought for her year by year in her icy seclusion, where in vain she tried to hide in crevice and crack from them, and once having seen her they ineviably and hopelessly loved her for ever.
She was kind to them all, but cold as the snows that surrounded her, and at last in desperation her lovers prayed to God that as they could not make her love them nor possess her, she might be taken from their sight into Heaven, so that they might escape the agony of longing that they suffered loving her.
The prayers of the lovers were granted, and the angel was received again into Heaven, leaving her human heart to bloosom on the heights in the form of the flower of edelweiss, in memory of her short life on the mountain tops.

The Forget-Me-Not

Following from Stories 1-3 in Story of their Common Name here is
Story 4 -
One golden morning after the Creation, an angel was found weeping outside the close-barred gates of Eden. He had fallen from grace through the sin of loving a daughter of Earth, whom he had seen as she sat on the river bank, entwining her hair with flowers of the blue forget-me-not.He was not permitted by God to rise again to the heavenly heights until the maiden he loved should have sown the whole world over with the seeds of the flowers she wore, and for this reason he was weeping over the hardness of his sentence.
However, he took heart, and leaving the unyielding gates behind him, departed to tell the Earth daughter what was decreed.
So forthwith they set out to travel far and wide over the world, planting the tiny seeds as they went.
Years later, their task accomplished, together they entered Paradise, and like her lover the angel, the maiden became immortal, as the earth below blossomed into a carpet of little blue flowers; "For," said the Keeper of the Gate, " your love is greater than your wish for life."

Story 5 -
After the battle of Waterloo, a tiny plant sprang up all over the field, spreading a blue carpet over the scarred and desolate plain. The flowers came from the seed of a small spray carried next his heart by a young Englishman who fell in the fight. Surely a fitting memory of one who gave his life for his country, and for her who had given him the token.
 

The Geranium

In the East the geranium almost reaches the proportions of a tree, and there it was first created.
For once when the prophet Mahomet had washed his shirt, he threw it over a plant of mallow in the sun to dry. It was not long in drying, but even in that short time a marvellous change took place in the mallow, which was transformed by contact with the sacred garment into a tall and lovely plant, covered with bright scarlet flowers, its leaves giving out an exquisite scent.
The mallow had become a geranium, the first ever seen on earth, in honour of the virtues of the Prophet.

The Heliotrope

Apollo, the sun god, loved a king's daughter - the fair Leukothea. But Clytia, to spite her rival and to gain Apollo's favour, went to the king and told him of the secret meetings of the lovers, which so enraged him that he buried the luckless Leukothea alive, and so ended her brief and happy life.
Apollo, saddened, returned to the heavens and never even cast one glance in the direction of Clytia, who, realising the harm she had done by her cruel deed, fell to the ground in misery of remorse, and lay there for 9 long days watching the sun god pass in his chariot, and praying to him for a look of pity.
But Apoolo would not heed her cry.
At last the gods had mercy on her, and changed her into the flower of heliotrope. And thus she still lies, looking towards the sun with half-averted eye, as if hoping for the forgiveness of Apollo.

The Wild Hyacinth or Bluebell

Once upon a time there lived a youth called Hyacinthus, the son of a Spartan king, who was much beloved of Apollo, the god of the sun, and Zephyrus, god of the west wind.
The 2 gods loved the boy for his grace and beauty, and while the one warmed him with his bright rays, the other caressed him with soft breezes, and each was jealous of the other.
Unfortunately, Hyacinthus grew to prefer the sunny warmth of Apollo, and openly disliked the sudden buffeting winds that Zephyrus sometimes let loose upon him, and the wind god became insanely jealous of his rival, and secretly swore to revenge himself, should the chance arise.
One day Apollo and the fair Hyacinthus were playing their favourite game of discus, and Zephyrus stayed near them, hoping for a chance to harm the boy's favourite. Apollo raised his great arm, and hurled the quoit into the air. It flew straight for the mark, but alas - the wind god seized his opportunity; he blew the discus to one side, too late realising that the lad stood in its path as he watched the throw unconscious of the danger.
The quoit, blown with tremendous force, struck him on the temple, and he fell; Apollo in anguish rushed to raise his head, but he died, the blood pouring from the wound, while the cruel and thoughtless west wind crept away in horror at what he had done.
Apollo, utterly miserable at the loss of his little playfellow, raised up from his blood a purple fower to bear his name, and on the petals he wrote 2 letters - "AI, AI" which means in Greek, "Alas, Alas!"
Nowadays these markings on the flowers are not easily seen. But the Greeks may have had clearer eyes than we have, and been able to read the sun god's lament.

The Iris

When history alludes to the lilies of France, it is really the iris to which it refers.
It is said that King Clovis of France originally had the device of three black toads as his coat of arms. All went well in time of peace, but in battle the French were roundly trounced, and the royal troops began to fear that the toads were bringing ill-luck on His Majesty.
One day a saintly hermit, who was sitting in the door of his cell wrapt in contemplation, received a visitation from a heavenly being bearing a dazzling sky-blue shield, on which were emblazoned three iris flowers. This the angel gave into the trembling hands of the old man, and departed after bestowing his blessing upon him.
The hermit took the shield and gave it to the queen, telling her of the vision. And Clovis the king removed the black toads from his escutcheon, and when the heavenly shield was borne before him in battle, no foe could triumph against it. So from that time onward his armies were victorious, and the iris, or "lilies", became the royal standard of France.
(Some say that the legend of the toads is not founded on any known fact, but that the iris flowers were so badly drawn by the artists of those days that they were mistaken for toads! Louis VII adopted the iris in the crusades of 1137.)

The Jasmine

An Indian myth tells how a king had a lovely daughter, with whom the sun god fell in love. But he soon deserted her for another, and in despair the young princess killed herself from grief.
Above her tomb grew a tree of jasmine, and from that time its flowers shrank in horror from the perfidious sun, and were never after known to open their petals in the light; and to this day we know it as the night jasmine, in blossom like the orange flower, though more delicate in scent and shape.

The jasmine flower is much loved in Italy, and in the year 1699 the Grand Duke of Tuscany was able to secure a specially lovely variety, unequalled in the size and fragrance of its blooms.
He was so proud of being the only possessor of such a rare plant that he refused to part with a single cutting, and his gardeners had strict order never to allow it to go beyond his grounds.
But he had one gardener who was in love, and who could not resist the temptation of slipping a spray of the lovely jasmine into the bunch of flowers he gave his sweetheart on her birthday. Charmed with the flower, the girl planted it in fresh earth, and the sprig sprouted and grew. Then, later on, acting under her lover's direction, she raised and sold cuttings for high prices, and so saved enough money to marry her faithful gardener.
It is in memory of this that Tuscan girls wear jasmine wreaths on their wedding day, and say: "She who is worthy to wear the jasmine, is worth a fortune to her husband".

The Lavender

Our Lord was lying as a tiny babe at the inn where his Mother lodged, and one day she took some of His little garments down to the stream to wash. The river flowed over some stones very clear and fresh, and formed a natural basin where Mary rinsed and wrung out the tiny clothes.
Rising at last from her knees, she looked about to see where she could spread out the linen to dry, and she noticed that a low grey bush was growing close by, covered with small stiff leaves. There were only a few spiky flowers upon its grey stalks, and gathering up the wet garments, Mary carefully spread them out in the sun over the bush and went home to her Child.
In the evening she went down again to the river to fetch the clothes, and found them laid out dry and clean on the stones at the water's edge, while the whole air was scented with a curious and delicate fragrance. Mary looked round, surprised not to find the clothes where she had left them, and then perceived that the dried-up-looking bush had broken out into green leaves and spikes of a pale mauve colour.
She went close to the bush and bent to smell the lovely scent that came from the blossoms, each one a tiny flower in itself growing closely together on single stalks.
As she lifted her head there came a voice at her side, and turning quickly she saw the Angel Gabriel smiling upon her.
He blessed the lavender and said: "Henceforth thou shalt be no more scentless, but beloved of men for the purity of thy scent. Thou alone of all things growing shalt breathe the breath of Paradise."
Then the Angel vanished, and Mary, with the fragrant little garments in her arms, picked a sprig of the lavender, and breathed a prayer over it as she hid it in her breast.

The Leek

The origin of the adoption of the leek as the badge of the Welsh, and which is worn on St David's day - the first of March - is said to be as follows:
St David was a holy man, who lived in the days of King Arthur as a hermit, only feeding upon the leeks which he gathered in the fields.
He left his cell at the call of his country to fight the Saxons, and ordered the Welsh soldiers each to place a leek in their caps, so that not only would they know friend from foe in the battle, but that the horrible smell of the plant might also cause their enemies to waver and draw back. Thus in the confusion of battle it turned out as St David had hoped: the Saxons struck at friend and foe alike, but the Britons avoided slaying their comrades, and so won the fight.
Ever since that day they wear the leek in memory of the victory and of the part the holy St David played in it.

In Sicily the leek is always associated with the mother of St Peter, who to them is traditionally ill-favoured and stingy.
Only once was she ever known to have given anything away, and that was when she threw a leaf of a leek to a beggar at her gate. So it was that "when she died hell received her".
Years after, when St Peter was door-keeper in Heaven, he heard a voice pleading: "Son Peter, son Peter, see what torment I am in; go and ask the Lord God to let me out!"
St Peter listened, and being a dutiful son he went to the Lord God and asked that his mother might be spared further punishment.
But God said: "She never did a nail-paring of good in her liferime. However, for thy sake here is the leaf she was let fall as a gift; an angel shall take it and shall tell her to lay hold of it, while he pulls her up. If she can ascend by it, well. If not, she must be as she is" .
The leaf was lowered and the woman grasped it. But the souls in torment clung to her, so that the angel was soon pulling up a throng. And so avaricious and unkind was the old woman that she kicked the unhappy souls away that sought to gain their freedom by her aid, so that the leaf strained and broke, and all fell back for ever into the depths.

The Lily of the Valley

A Sussex legend tells that it was in the forest bearing his name that the bold young warrior saint, St. Leonard, sought out and gave battle to the might dragon Sin. For 3 days and nights they fought up and down the forest, and it was not until the fourth day that victory came to the saint, and he drove back the monster.
And where the blood from young Leonard's wounds stained the ground, there sprang up fragile lilies, with white bells that softly chimed in honour of the knightly victory won for God and His saints.

The White Lily

Lilies were not white at the beginning of time, but saffron-coloured. But the sea-borne Aphrodite appearing before them whiter than the foam from which she sprang, was so exquisite and beautiful that the lilies trembled and grew pale from jealously, and so for ever remained white.

The Marigold

There once lived a maiden called Caltha, who loved the sun so deeply that she would sit all day long gazing at the heavens, rejoicing in his beams when he appeared and watching for him when hid behind a cloud.
She would not even leave her post at night in case she might miss the first moments of early dawn heralding his appearance in the eastern sky, and so not be the first to greet him.
So she waited and adored, until there came a day when she vanished away altogether from mortal sight, absorbed in the sun's rays. But in her place there appeared a flower, bedewed with teardrops, and coloured like the sun, with rays of gold. And to this day the marigold, when the sun sets, shuts up her yellow flowers drooping all night, and when he warm returns points her enamoured bosom to his rays.

The Pansy

A German legend tells that long ago the first pansies had a lovely scent, and were even sweeter than their little sisters, the March violets. They grew in cultivated fields, chiefly amongst the long yellow stalks of corn and barley, and were peaceful and happy with such nice neighbours. But the fragrance of their scent became known, and as they were also said to possesss certain healing properties, the corn and barley and oats were trampled ruthlessly down by the thoughtless people trying to find the flowers.
The pansies were terribly upset by this. They felt that it was all their fault that their friends should be left broken and bent by the cruel human feet that walked through the fields.
One quiet evening, when the angels were hanging the pale curtains of night round the world, and the faint misty glow of twilight slipped through their fingers, the little pansies in the cornfield prayed to Heaven, and the angels stayed their hand and waited, until the All-Loving Father heard the tiny voices. And the prayer was this - that the pansie's greatest treasure, their scent, might be taken from them, as it was causing harm and suffering to those around them.
The unselfish wish was granted, and as the angels passed by on their evening labours, the stars came twinkling out, and shone upon a field of scentless little pansies.

The Poppy

Long ago, on the banks of the river Ganges in India, there lived a magician with a little red mouse. The mouse was quite happy with its lot for several years, but after a time it grew discontented, and asked the rashi to change it into something else. So he transformed it into a cat; but it was not content with this, and again he changed it into a dog, then to an ape, to a bear, and at last into a beautiful girl, to whom he gave the name of Postimani. Then only was the little red mouse content.
One day, as Postimani was gathering flowers by the river, the king of the country passed by, and drew rein as he saw the lovely girl. He sent one of his courtiers to enquire her name and parentage, and she lied to him in fear, and told him she was the daughter of a prince, and as a child had been found wandering in a wood by the rashi, who had adopted her.
The king fell in love with her beauty, and married her, and they lived happily together.
Not long after this Postimani found herself standing by a deep well in the courtyard of the palace, and looked down into the clear depths at her own reflection. Turning giddy she slipped, and falling into the well was drowned.
The king was beside himself with grief, and was on the point of killing himself for love of Postimani's memory, when the old magician, or rashi, came to him and told him the true story of his wife: how she had deceived him, and the changes through which he had transformed her. Then the king's grief was turned to a furious anger, and he bade his servants leave the body in the well, which must be filled with earth and stones.
And from the filled-up well sprang the postimani, or opium poppy, those heavy white blossoms with a purple stain on their petals, and whoever tastes its seeds, develops a quality of each of the animals into which the little red mouse had been changed. He will become fond of milk like a cat, filthy as an ape, savage as a bear, and moody like the queen Postiman herself.

The Primrose
(Butter-rose)

Primula vulgaris

Primrose Family

The harbinger of spring, the prima rosa, is the twin sister of the cowslip, and the same legend of the key flower is told of it.

The Rose

According to legend roses were the sacred flowers of Venus, the goddesss of Love, but Cupid as a bribe later consecrated them to Harpocrates, the god of Silence,in order to keep hil quiet, and prevent him from giving away secrets concerning the goddess.
From that day the rose came to be looked upon as the emblem of silience, and in certain coutries there was even an old custom of including the flower as a central design in the fine carvings that decorated the ceilings in many old banqueting halls. The idea of this was that the guests should be reminded that conversation at the table should be nowhere else repeated, the emblem of the "God of Silence" overshadowing them all through the meal, the practical origin of the Latin phrase, sub rosa.

The Dog Rose

There was once a Roman soldier who went raving mad when bitten by a savage dog. As he lay dying his mother had a dream, and in her dream was told of the healing virtues of the root of a rose tree. When she awoke, she at once sent her slaves to procure her this strange remedy, and held it against the wound of her son, who was now unconscious. To the amazement of the onlookers, the poison seemed to disappear and the man recovered. And the name remains.

The Moss Rose

In those far-off days when angels came down to earth as messengers of goodwill, there was one who, after a long day's toil in the haunts of men, grew tired.
This particular day things seemed to have been more than usually depressing, and he was glad at last, as the evening shadows began to fall, to turn his face to the west. and spread his great wings for the flight home through the darkening air. But hardly had he started when a sudden storm blew up from the north, and swept across the plain in sheets of rain and hail and a tearing blustering wind, while clouds came rolling down on the hills and blotted out the sky.
The angel, buffeted by the gale, was afraid to face the long flight heathenwards, and gliding quickly back to earth, looked for shelter in the homes which he had been so lately blessing by his kindly deeds.
To his surprise all doors were barred against the storm, and no one opened so much as a crack to give the wanderer shelter.
He stopped knocking at the locked doors, and sighed. Then, he turned and made his way with difficulty along a narrow path bordered with flowers, which, like the houses near which they grew, had pressed their petals closely about them, and slept, swaying to the storm.
Only one noticed him pass. A small red rose raised her head, and seeing the stranger, at once opened her petals to shelter him, and he lay on her breast safely protected all through the night, and slept till the dawn broke, calm and still after the gale.
The flowers opened to the sun one by one, and the angel awoke as the little red rose raised her head and uncurled her petals. Glancing at her perfect beauty he realised that no gift of his of colour or shape or scent could make her more lovely than she was already, but as he floated off on his homeward way he gently threw a soft green veil of moss over the rose, and she has worn it ever since.

The Red Rose

Cupid was dancing in and out amongst the gods, and paying no heed as to where he played he managed to overturn a cup of nectar, the drink of the immortals. The precious liquid fell to earth, staining red the roses upon which it was spilled. This colour they have kept all the ages, and you also know them by the scent of the nectar which they still bear, the gift of the gods to them.

The Snowdrop

There is an old legend that as the beautiful brave-hearted Hope bends year by year over the white death pillow of Earth, weeping for the buried flowers and cold bare ground below, she lets fall tears which drop on to the frozen snow and melt it. And as the tears fall there spring up the little white flowers we call the snowdrops - tears from the eyes of Hope - messengers of comfort on dark winter days.

The Thistle

Legend, in accounting for the adoption of the thistle as the Scottish emblem, takes us back to the days when the Danes were harrying and raiding the coasts of the north, and proving themselves formidable enemies by both sea and land.
Upon the occasion quoted they attempted a surprise attack on the Scottish army; up till then they had given out that it was unbefitting to a warrior to attack during the hours of darkness, and the Scots had grown accustomed to this idea of a tacit truce at night. But this time the invaders changed their tactics, and crept unnoticed in the darkness upon the sleeping Scottish camp.
The surprise was so nearly successful that the Danes were on the point of sounding the signal for the final charge, when one of them trod upon a thistle with his naked foot. Instinctively he uttered a cry of pain, and the sound was enough to alarm the camp, as the Scots roused and seized their arms and routed the foe.
So it was that the "guardian thistle, to the foeman stern" was chosen by a grateful country for an emblem.

The Tulip

A German fairy tale accounts for the wonderful variety of colours in the tulips in this way. There was once a flower king, who had an only daughter - Violet - of great beauty. Both the king and the queen were very proud of her, so proud that their one desire came to be to make the princess haughty and vain, and their chief care was to teach her to dress herself in the most exquisite clothes that could be found.
In order she should have a faultless carriage, the king engaged Madam Tulip as governess, who was famed through the length and breadth of the flower world for her stiff erect beauty.
Poor little princess! She was so often scolded that even the royal parrots on their perches took up the phrase, "hold up your head! Hold up your head!" And the tall box and yew trees in the palace gardens, who watched Violet and her stiff governess pace up and down the paths as straight as pokers, longed to be even more formal than they were already, and let the gardeners cut and shape them with their great shears as much as they liked.
The Court itself became stiffer and prouder than ever, so great was Madam Tulip's influence, which so delighted the king that he gave her one coloured order after another, so that her yellow Court gown was positively striped, so decorated was it with ribbons. And even today you will find these lovely stripes form the gala dress of Madam Tulip of the tulips.

The Violet

According to a Greek myth the violet is the flower of Io, a priestess of Juno's temple. Jupiter fell in love with her, but on one occasion was very nearly discovered with the maiden by the jealous goddess. To save Io, Jupiter instantly changed her into a white heifer, but as grass was not a fit food for so delicate a creature, the moment "she in hunger stooped in tears" there sprang to meet her lips the first white violets, created by Jupiter as her special food.
Later, Venus, becoming envious of Cupid's admiration of the violet's purity and sweetness, flew into such a rage that she turned them blue.

The Wallflower

On the banks of the Tweed stood an old grey castle, in which lived a maiden, who was so young and beautiful that she was never allowed to set foot outside her father's grounds.
The garden round the castle was full of shady trees, and a lovely place for a girl to wander in, but she was lonely, and longed to go through the big gates and see the world beyond the walls that so shut her in.
To add to her sorrows, she had fallen in love with the young heir of a hostile clan, and both were desperate over the jealous gurad that was kept upon her at all hours of the day.
At last one night the young man, disguised as a wandering minstrel, stole to the castle garden and sang to the girl at her window.
He sand softly, and in the words of the song she heard him tell her to be ready the following night to fly with him, that the signal would be the cry of a moor cock, when she must steal to the ramparts and find him waiting with horses and an armed band, to ride for home and happiness.
The next night, when darkness fell, and the moon was low in the sky, the note of the moor cock was heard across the moat, once, twice, three times, and the girl crept from her room, down into the garden, clad just as she was in the golden dress of the banqueting hall, over which she threw a russet-brown cloak to escape detection.
With her she carried a silken cord to help her descent from the wall. She climbed an old apple tree, and with trembling fingers fastened the cord to a branch; then hearing her lover's voice below, hurried to throw down the end of the cord and slip hastily after it. Alas, " 'tempting down to slide withal", she let her whole weight come on the slender strands. "The silken twist unty'd", and she fell to the ground, to find death in her lover's arms.
Venus, walking in the halls of Olympus, looked down with pity on the tragedy to such a deed of love.
And, bending low to earth, she turned the maiden into the velvety flower which has ever since haunted old grey walls, covering them with a robe of gold and a mantle of russet-red, and which we call the Wallflower.

The Blue Mountain Anemone

Blue Mountain Anemone is
Anemone apennina

Anemone apennina at Dresden, Botanical Garden(Saxony, Germany).By Olaf Leillinger, via Wikimedia Commons

Buttercup family

There are a number of explanations for the name, but the most popular account relates to Anemona, a nymph at the court of the goddess Flora. The sage declared that Zephyros, the god of the west wind, had fallen in love with Anemona. Jealous Flora turned her into a flower so that Zephyros could only kiss her petals and that’s why the flower always opens out completely when it blooms – she’s inviting her lover.

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."
 

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.