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Tag Archives: early spring flowers

Pines and Primroses

27 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by theresagreen in Colwyn Bay, Nature of Wales, Trees, Wales Coast Path, Wildlife of the Wales Coast Path

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Colwyn Bay embankment, early spring flowers, King Alfred's Cakes fungus, pine trees by the sea, Porth Eirias, primrose

Pine trees are well-used as feature plantings in many parts of Colwyn Bay, but those with the greatest impact are those elegantly lining the road into Rhos-on-Sea set on the steep sea-facing railway embankment.

Pine trees along Colwyn Bay embankment

Pine trees along Colwyn Bay embankment

Where the trees thin out primroses smother the grassy embankment. They began flowering early this year but look as though they will continue for some time to come.

Pine tree and primroses

Pine tree and primroses

A lovely clump of fragrant primroses

A lovely clump of fragrant primroses

The back of Colwyn Bay railway station

The back of Colwyn Bay railway station

The grassy embankment is a favourite spot for Herring gulls to paddle for worms.

Herring gulls paddling for worms

Herring gulls paddling for worms

I walked along the promenade then crossed the road at the point where there’s access to the elevated pathway near the top of the embankment.

View to Rhos-on-Sea

View to Rhos-on-Sea

Daisy growing from embankment wall

Daisy growing from embankment wall

Fallen pine cones on embankment wall

Fallen pine cones on embankment wall

The pathway high up on the embankment leads through the pines and offers some protection on cold windy days such as this one was as well as an elevated view. I’ve always been curious about where this gated tunnel leads, but assume it comes out somewhere close to the railway station. It looks like it would be a good place for bats to roost or hibernate; I wonder if they do?

Iron gate closing off a tunnel under the railway line

Iron gate closing off a tunnel under the railway line

Pathway along the embankment

Pathway along the embankment

Ivy clambering high into a pine tree

Ivy clambering high into a pine tree

This can be a good place to see a number of bird species amongst the trees, but today there was just a solitary crow.

Crow enjoying the view out to sea

Crow enjoying the view out to sea

There are other species of tree along the path and I came across the stump of a felled ash tree that is regenerating from its base. It also had a mature patch of the curious brittle black King Alfred’s Cakes Daldinia concentrica  fungus.

Cut ash tree regenerating with King Alfred's Cakes fungus

Cut ash tree regenerating with King Alfred’s Cakes fungus

Scots Pine branch with cones

Scots Pine branch with cones

Approaching the end of the path

Approaching the end of the path

The elevated pathway offers a good view of the Porth Eirias Watersports centre

The elevated pathway offers a good view of the Porth Eirias Watersports centre

The pathway ends by the railway bridge opposite Porth Eirias where these beautiful Hellebores were growing.

Hellebores (Lenten Roses) with green flowers

Hellebores (Lenten Roses) with green flowers

It’s good to see that the traditional planting of pines is being continued. There are several young trees in beds at the front of Porth Eirias.

A newly-planted pine tree at Porth Eirias

A newly-planted pine tree at Porth Eirias

A last look at the sea splashing up onto the rocks at the base of the sea wall before gratefully retreating into the shelter of my car.

160214-Sea splashing on rocks

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Lesser Celandine

27 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by theresagreen in flower folklore, flower mythology, Nature, nature of woodlands, nature photography, wildflowers, Wildflowers of Wales, woodland wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

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early spring flowers, lesser celandine, ranunculus ficularia, woodland flowers

Lesser Celandine- Ranunculus ficularia, also known in English as pilewort, small celandine, smallwort, figwort, brighteye, butter and cheese. In Welsh it is Lygad ebrill. 

Lesser celandine-Ranunculus ficaria

The Lesser celandine has been one of my favourite wildflowers since childhood. As a child growing up in Northamptonshire, a part of my walking route to school included a green lane. This was a narrow pathway with grass verges backed by hawthorn hedgerows and used as a short-cut to the village by anyone walking or riding a horse or bike. Behind the hedge on one side was a small field that was often boggy and there was a drainage ditch on the lane side to prevent it flooding. Needless to say it was damp there and generally shady; the perfect place for celandines to thrive. They were the first of the wildlowers to appear here and I looked forward to their appearance avidly. I used to think their shiny golden yellow faces captured some of the sunshine whilst it shone, then held it within their tightly closed petals to keep them warm on cold dull cloudy days. I learnt that these were not flowers to take home to my mum though, as they closed up when picked, but I remember how the sight of them used to gladden my heart, as it still does, signalling that the spring was on its way.

21/2/12-Lesser Celandines, Colwyn Bay

Lesser celandine

The plant itself is small (5-30cm tall). The dark green, shiny, heart-shaped leaves grow spirally arranged around long weak stalks from the base. The leaves are sometimes mottled with light or dark markings; they lie flat on the ground unless held up by surrounding plants.The flowers are bright, glossy yellow, fading to nearly white at the petal base as they age.

The Lesser celandine is one of the first flowering plants to appear at the end of the winter (February to May). Gilbert White, the famed author of  ‘The Natural History o Selborne’  reported that the plants came out on February 21, but it is more commonly reported to flower from March until May, and is sometimes called the “spring messenger” as a consequence. The flowers close just before it begins to rain, and are pollinated by bees, such as the Buff-tailed bumble bee, Red-tailed bumble bee, flies and beetles, but very few seeds are typically set. They open when few insects are around so not many seeds are produced and spread is mainly vegetative by tiny bulbils which develop in the leaf axils and these drop onto the soil as the plant dies back.

THE MEANING OF THE NAME

The plant’s  common name, lesser celandine, was mistakenly given to it when it was thought to be one and the same plant as the true or greater celandine, to which it bears no resemblance except in the colour of its flowers – both being yellow.

The word celandine comes from the Greek word chelidon, meaning swallow, the greater celandine coming into bloom when these birds arrive, and withering on their departure. The scientific name Ranunculus is Late Latin for “little frog,” from rana “frog” and a diminutive ending. This probably refers to many species being found near water, like frogs. The plant grows from root-tubers, which are said to look like bunches of figs. This explains the second part of the scientific name of the plant, ficaria, which is Latin for fig.

THE CELANDINE IN POETRY

The flower folds its petals on dull and wet days

A number of poems have been written about the celandine. The poet William Wordsworth was very fond of the flower and it inspired him to write three poems including the following, which are the first two verses from his ode to the celandine:

The Lesser Celandine 

There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine,
That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain;
And, the first moment that the sun may shine,
Bright as the sun himself, ’tis out again!

When hailstones have been falling, swarm on swarm,
Or blasts the green field and the trees distressed,
Oft have I seen it muffled up from harm,
In close self-shelter, like a Thing at rest.

William Wordsworth

Upon Wordsworth’s death it was proposed that a celandine be carved on his memorial plaque inside the church of Saint Oswald at Grasmere, but unfortunately the Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus,  was mistakenly used.

THE CELANDINE IN TRADITIONAL HERBAL MEDICINE

The plant used to be known as Pilewort because it was used to treat haemorrhoids. Supposedly, the knobbly tubers of the plant resemble piles, and according to the doctrine of signatures, this resemblance suggests that pilewort could be used to cure piles. The German vernacular Scharbockskraut (“Scurvyherb”) derives from the use of the early leaves, which are high in vitamin C, to prevent scurvy. The plant is widely used in Russia and is sold in most pharmacies as a dried herb.

THE CELANDINE IN NON-NATIVE LOCATIONS

In many parts of the northern United States and Canada, lesser celandine is cited as an invasive species.


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‘But it is the common species that keep the living world ticking over and provide most of our experiences of wildlife, and I would argue that maintaining the abundance of these is as important a conservation priority as maintaining the existence of rarities’. Richard Mabey

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