Winter flowering finds

[rich59]

Any info on the following flowering finds on a walk in january? Mostly they are very common I think and even I can hazard a guess to their names. But what uses to you know of? What have you used them for? What experiments have you done with them? leaves, roots, stem, seeds etc.

1) Ivy. Hedera Helix. There seem to be 2 sub species in the UK - Ivy and Atlantic Ivy. I think this on is just Ivy. Atlantic ivy seems to have larger leaves and a few other minor differences.

I have used it for withies, to extract wax from the leaves by heating, and to make a lubrication for bow drill.

2) Probably groundsel - Senecio vularis.

3) I think it is in the deadnettle family but not sure of the ID. Might be the red deadnettle - lamium purpureum

4) Common daily - Bellis Perennis

5) Hazel - Corylus Avellana. I never knew it was in the birch family till now. But I suppose the catkins gives it away. Now I suppose there might be numerous uses for this one. I have used it a bit for bow drill, and the long straight stems are useful for forming structures like the fruiting arch in my garden. Some the atlatl folk might be using it for darts and atlatls.

6) Primrose - primula vulgaris. Pretty, but any uses?

7) The white deadnettle - Lamium Album. Hey, did you know that it is a different family from the nettles? It is a close relative of loads of herbs - mint, thyme, balm, basil. Loads of people think it stings.

 

[Toddy]

Now that's a breath of Spring Nice photos.

Primroses make a lovely wine, called Peggles, though it seems such a pity to pick them. They have a lovely scent too, and they make a nice little munchie. If you find a plant with a really perfumy scent the flowers can be cooked in batter like elderflowers.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

"Any info on the following flowering finds on a walk in january? Mostly they are very common I think and even I can hazard a guess to their names."

:-Have more confedence in yourself, You are doing really well. You really are getting a very good handle on ID ing plants. This is really nice post of seasonal plants.



"1) Ivy. Hedera Helix. There seem to be 2 sub species in the UK - Ivy and Atlantic Ivy. I think this on is just Ivy. Atlantic ivy seems to have larger leaves and a few other minor differences. I have used it for withies, to extract wax from the leaves by heating, and to make a lubrication for bow drill."

:-There are two types of Ivy , Well you learn something new everyday. I often get hives if I use it for withies, could it become worse if repeatedly use ivy.



2)" Probably groundsel - Senecio vularis. "

:-I knew someone who used to feed it her budgie. It has been used as colic remedy, several babies a year die in the states due to been fed ragwort tea instead. There are much better remedies for infant colic. I would need to check up I think Groundsel may contain some pyrrolizidine alkaloids.


3) " I think it is in the deadnettle family but not sure of the ID. Might be the red deadnettle - lamium purpureum"

:-I struggle trying to ID members of the mint family (it is still in the mint family?). Red deadnettle leaves are normally a bit redder. They are really hard to ID from a photo. It could be Henbit deadnettle lamium amplexicaule but the leaves look like they are too toothed, and it is a bit late for the flowers to be out. The two most important features on Lamiaceae (? ?) are the smell and the shape of lips on the flower. I have tried sniffing at the screen but I failed to smell anything.


7) "The white deadnettle - Lamium Album. Hey, did you know that it is a different family from the nettles? It is a close relative of loads of herbs - mint, thyme, balm, basil. Loads of people think it stings."

:-Yes I did know it was it was a differant family from nettles, see I am not completely obsolete . A fun trick to play is to go out with someone and convince them you are immune to nettle stings and grab a dead nettle instead. It works best if it is not in flower.
:-The whole of mint family are stypic. Some are better than others but if you can tell the differance between them and nettles you can deal with minor cuts without a plaster. The deadnettles can be eaten like spinach, I have never tried this.

:-The diasy contains an insectide, (permetherins) but most critters these days are immune to it unless it is very high concentrations. A bit like the groundsel ;should of used dimethcone instead.

 

[Salt Back Pete]

Maybe young Selfheal?

 

[xylaria]

Maybe young Selfheal?

The bottom lip of the flowers of self heal are in one piece, where in photo you can see(if you squint) a split with two circular shapes on the very bottom edge of the lip. Both Selfheal and White deadnettle can produce pink flowers, and are prone to crossbreading with closly related plants. Which can make diffinate ID very difficult. The more I look at the piccy the more I feel the original ID was correct. :notworthy The other deadnettles have leaves that dont have stems, where as red dead nettle have stems. The flowers on the other hand have quite a prononced top lip which is not a feature of red deadnettle.

The photos are lovely.