Stratford sub Castle Village Website
Flora (photo album 3)
There's a map and list of wild plants that may be found around Stratford sub Castle on the Botany webpage..
 Soapwort Wild TypeImage 1 of 3 Many hedgerow flowers have finished by late July and August, making Soapwort a welcome bloom, opening late in the season and late in the day. The leaves and roots contain saponins and can be used as a soap, as used traditionally on the Turin Shroud. The clump growing across the road from the school was featured on this site two years ago, (click to reveal a link). kmoc August 2021 |  Soapwort Bouncing Bett Garden VarietyImage 2 of 3 These by Castle Cottage have a double set of petals. They are a mutation, the plant develops an extra set of petals instead of male parts, it then is selected by horticulturists who like the double head. This is Bouncing Bett, the garden variety of Soapwort and without male parts is sterile. This doesn’t bother the plant as it spreads by rhizomes, but can only do so locally, whereas the wild type can produce seeds too. kmoc August 2021 |  Soapworts - spot the differenceImage 3 of 3 Look carefully, the flowers opposite the school (image lower right) clearly have five petals and stamens protruding (five maturing one day, then a second tranche of five the next). Those by Castle Cottage (image left) have a double set of petals. One of the wild type flowers photographed by the school has six petals just to confuse things. kmoc August 2021 |
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 Common Spotted OrchidDactylorhiza fuschii in the Orchid Bottom wildlife meadow at the Devenish Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Reserve. In the background are Yellow Rattle, Ribwort Plantain and Yorkshire Fog. June 2021 kmoc |  SainfoinSainfoin means healthy hay, it is a legume that can kill worms in the guts of grazing stock (Onobrychis viciifolia). Shepherd’s Cottage, north of Old Sarum June 2021 kmoc |  CowslipsCowslips, Primula veris, like chalk but here beneath Old Sarum are growing on an old landfill site within the Avon Valley Nature Reserve. Daisy, Bellis perennis, flowers (bottom left) close at night and open in the morning, they are like the "day's eye" hence the name. |
 The force that through the green fuse drives the flower..........*Who would have thought that this hollow shell of a willow trunk stump was capable of life, but new shoots spring from it near the Ashley Road playground. (*Dylan Thomas) kmoc May 2021 |  Striped hedgeBlackthorn produces blossom before its leaves and is named for its darker bark. Hawthorn produces leaves before its blossom and is named for its fruits, the haws. Both are used in hedging as they can be pleached. Where used together they can give, for a few weeks in spring, green and white striped hedges. Stratford Road. Kerry O'Connor. April 2021 |  Orange Slime MouldOrange Slime Mould Cryptococcus macerans, felled Heale Estate tree, Beech Walk roadside. April 2021 Kerry O'Connor |
 Dog's MercuryThis whole carpet of Dog’s mercury (Mercuralis perennis) alongside the Avenue to Keeper’s Cottage is comprised of male plants. It is a spurge and is poisonous. March 2021 Image: Kerry O’Connor |  Dog's Mercury Close upMarch 2021 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Lords and LadiesNine out of ten Lords and Ladies plants are “immaculate”, without spots or blemishes on their leaves, inherited dominantly, as the plant on the left here on The Avenue to Keeper’s Cottage. But is the minority WITH the spots on the leaves, inherited recessively, as here on the right that give this lily its specific epithet Arum maculatum. March 2021 Image: Kerry O’Connor |
 Glory of the Snow(Chionodoxa, a section of Scilla, probably luciliae) in bloom in mid-March on a bank south of Salterton. 15 March 2021 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  A lone, early, Spanish bluebellHyacinthoides hispanica, is flowering at the gateway to the gas substation on Gradidge Lane. Perhaps it arrived in some fly-tipped garden waste and has confused a microclimate warmed by the gas station and sheltered by the old pit with some Iberian idyll. 14 March 2021 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans)There's a bank of Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans) at the end of Mill Lane and the footpath from it to the bridge. It can be distinguished from the related Butterbur by flowering now and not in spring. (1 of 2) Image: Kerry O'Connor December 2020 |
 Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans)They don’t spread by fertile seeds, rhizomes creep underground often along river or road banks. There aren’t many sunny hours now either and the flowers follow what sun there is, giving it the name Heliotrope. (2 of 2) Image: Kerry O'Connor December 2020 |  Lawyer's Wig, Shaggy Ink Cap, Coprinus comatusEdible at the stage before it turns to ink but can interact with alcohol. Coprinus means living on dung but in fact C comatus doesn’t. Comatus means hairy, the scales curl up like a lawyer’s wig. The ink can be used as such. Avon Farm November 2020 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Cyclamen (Sowbread)In dappled autumn sunlight in St Lawrence graveyard (both pink & white flowers). Image: Kerry O'Connor September 2020 |
 Spindle (Euonymus europaea)Unspectacular tiny white flowers turn into attractive pink fruit capsules containing bright orange seeds. Image 3 of 3: Rosemary Winson 24 Aug 2020 |  Spindle tree (Euonymus europaea)In the past the spindle wood was used to make spindles for spinning and holding wool (hence its common name), also used for skewers, toothpicks, pegs, and knitting needles. Image 2 of 3: Rosemary Winson 24 Aug 2020 |  Gradidge Lane spindle treesSpindle (Euonymus europaea) is a native deciduous tree, often an indicator of Ancient Woodland but these specimens were planted fairly recently. Image 1 of 3: Rosemary Winson 24 Aug 2020 |
 Chicken of the WoodsLaetiporis sulphureus - between river and track from Mill Bridge to Avon Farm June 2020 Kerry O'Connor |  Robin's PincushionRobin's Pincushion is chemically induced on the dog rose, Rosa canina, and contains many larvae, each wintering in its own chamber, of the Bedeguar Gall Wasp, Diplolepis rosae. The adults, 99% females, emerge in the spring. Stratford Nature Reserve, Sept 2019. Image: Kerry O'Connor |  RedlegRedleg or Redshank, Persicaria maculosa, has red lower stems and dark chevrons on the leaves. By the footbridge over the Avon, Sept 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |
 KnotgrassKnotgrass, Polygonum aviculare, is not grass. It is a weed but it is not knotweed. (Is that not clear?) Stratford Nature Reserve, Sept 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  White BryonyWhite Bryony, Bryonia dioica, though related to the cucumber, is poisonous. The southern slopes of Old Sarum, Sept 2019. Image: Kerry O'Connor |  London Plane (collage)The London plane, Platanus × acerifolia, is a non native hybrid and the commonest tree in London. Above ground it copes well with air pollution, below ground with root compaction and concreting over. The shade it offers and the beautifully patterned trunk left as older non-stretchy brown outer bark that scales off to reveal the greener stretchier inner bark, are bonuses. Verge by Avon Farm, Sept 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |
 Ganoderma applanatumGanoderma applanatum, along the boardwalk in Avon Valley Nature reserve. This rots the heartwood of trees and is known as the artist’s bracket as sepia images can be drawn on the white underside, scratching revealing the brown beneath. August 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Turnip, Brassica rapaTurnip, Brassica rapa, footpath to allotments, Aug 2019 . Turnips have been cultivated for 4000 years. Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Bitter Vetchling Lathyrus linifoliusBitter Vetchling, Lathyrus linifolius. Avon Valley Nature reserve Aug 2019. The tubers were eaten in Scotland before potatoes and are supposed to reduce hunger. It is related to the sweet pea. Image: Kerry O'Connor |
 Horse Mint, Mentha longifloliaHorse mint, Mentha longifolia, road to Little Durnford Aug 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Fat Hen, Chenopodium albumFat Hen, Chenopodium album, footpath up to Devizes Road, Cathedral on horizon, Aug 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  FleabaneFleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica, Mill Lane, Aug 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |
 Dryad's saddle fungusCommon Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum) inspecting a Dryad's saddle (Polyporus squamosus) fungus on western slopes of Old Sarum Aug 2019. Both are edible! Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Shepherd's Purse and Pineapple weedShepherd's Purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris, with heart shaped seed pods and Pineapple weed, Matricaria discoidea, with yellow green flowers devoid of petals (crush and sniff to see why pineapple weed) near Avon Farm. Aug 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Wild parsnip, Pastinaca sativa,Wild parsnip, Pastinaca sativa, eastern approach to Old Sarum. Aug 2019. Image: Kerry O'Connor |
 Vervain, Verbena officinalis,Vervain, Verbena officinalis, on Gradidge Lane Aug 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Red BartsiaThe semi-parasitic Red Bartsia, Odontites vernus, near footbridge across the Avon Aug 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Mugwort, Artemisia vulgarisMugwort, Artemisia vulgaris, on eastern slopes of Old Sarum with cathedral spire on horizon, August 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |
 Marsh Woundwort, Stachys palustrisMarsh Woundwort, Stachys palustris, on the village side of footbridge over Avon. Aug 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Lesser Burdock, Arctium minus. (1)Lesser Burdock, Arctium minus. With leaves like velvet (VELour), seeds with hooks (CROchets) it inspired a Swiss engineer to invent and name Velcro. Near Avon Farm. Aug 2019 Image: Kerry O'Connor |  Coprinus cinereus, an ink capCoprinus cinereus, an ink cap that grows on dung. Pastures beneath Devizes Rd. Aug 2019. Inedible but even if it was edible, would you? Image: Kerry O'Connor |