False Acacia

Flower: Cream-white, pea-like flowers. Fruit: Brown pea-like pods, up to 4 inches long. Leaves: Deciduous. Dark green, pinnate leaves. 3 to 9 pairs of blunt, oval leaflets.

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Common Agrimony

Flower: Yellow, spiked, 5 petals. Fruit: Rough, burred fruit with hooks that clings to clothing easily. Leaves: Soft hairs present. Pinnate, in pairs of 3-6 toothed leaflets.

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Common Alder

Flower: Yellow and pendulous (male catkins). Green and oval (female catkins). Male and female catkins present on same tree, and grouped in clusters of 3-8 on each stalk. Fruit: In winter the catkins turn into hard, dark, cone-like fruit which eventually release the seeds. Leaves: Deciduous. Round, dark green, leathery, smooth, serrated edges.

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Grey Alder

Flower: Pendulous, red-brown and becoming yellow later (male catkins). Red, erect and cylindrical (female catkins). Male and female catkins present on same tree. Fruit: Wooded cones which persist on the tree throughout winter months. Leaves: Deciduous. Hairy, ovate and pointed, glossy, grey beneath.

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Italian Alder

Flower: The male and female flowers appear on separate trees. The yellowish-brown male catkins are pendulous and borne in clusters of 3 to 6 and are up to 10cm long. The male catkins appear before the leaves ... Fruit: The female flowers become woody and turn into the cone-like fruit. The fruit are overwintering. The cones are larger than most other Alder cone species, up to 2.5cm long. Leaves: A deciduous tree with dark green, alternate, glossy, heart-shaped leaves and finely serrated margins. Cordata (see Botanical Name) means 'heart-shaped'.

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Alexanders

Flower: Yellow-green umbel. Fruit: Globular, ridged, turning black on ripening. Leaves: Yellowish-green bluntly toothed, divided and glossy.

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Sweet Alison

Flower: White, occasionally pale purple, 5-6mm, 4 petals. Fruit: Flattened, oval seed pods bearing two seeds each. Leaves: Narrow, greyish-green, untoothed and lanceolate, usually having many whitish-silvery hairs.

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Green Alkanet

Flower: Bright blue, 8-10mm, 5 petals. Fruit: 4 nutlets per flower, each having a ridged surface. Leaves: Hairy, broad, alternate leaves with deep veins and pointed tips. Leaves are smaller and without stalks towards the top.

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Wood Anemone

Flower: White, often tinged with pink, 5-10 sepals (the white petals are actually sepals). Fruit: One-sided winged nuts called achenes, containing the seeds. Wind pollinated. Leaves: Simple, deeply cut leaves with a red stem.

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Wild Angelica

Flower: White, often tinged with pink, umbels up to 15cm across. Fruit: Flattened, round, oval papery wings. Dispersed by the wind. Leaves: Alternate, long-stemmed. Triangular 3-pinnate leaves. Leaflets are sharp-tipped and have serrated margins. Not hairy.

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Crab Apple

Flower: Pinkish white in small clusters, 5 petals. Fruit: Fruit is long stalked, small and round, no larger than 2 inches in diameter but usually much smaller. Colour is very variable. Leaves: Deciduous. Stalked, oval with serrated edges.

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Cultivated Apple

Flower: Pinkish white in small clusters, 5 petals. Fruit: Large, fleshy and round. Can be green, yellow, pink, red or purple. Leaves: Deciduous, simple leaves growing alternate along the branches, serrated margins.

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Variegated Yellow Archangel

Flower: Butter yellow, in whorls up the stem. Fruit: Clusters of bell-shaped nutlets. Leaves: Dark green, long-stalked and heart-shaped. Mottled with conspicuous silvery blotches.

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Sea Arrowgrass

Flower: Tall narrow spike of green flowers on a long stem, 3 petals. Fruit: Green, stalked and oblong. Leaves: Long and grass-like. Similar to Marsh Arrow-grass but the leaves are unfurrowed and broader.

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Marsh Arrowgrass

Flower: A flower spike. The green flowers have purple edges. Individual flowers are up to 3mm wide. Flowers have 3 petals and 6 stamens. Fruit: Narrow, erect and arrow-like. Leaves: Long and grass-like leaves with deep grooves.

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Arrowhead

Flower: White with purple patch at the base of each flower, 3 petals with purple anthers. Fruit: Globular fruiting heads. Leaves: Large and distinctive arrow-shaped leaves. Arrowhead is named after the shape of its leaves.

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Common Ash

Flower: Petalless with tufts of purple-to-black stamens which turn green later. Fruit: Numerous hanging winged seeds which form clusters. The fruits of this tree are often called 'keys'. Leaves: Deciduous. Britain's only native tree with opposite, pinnate leaves. Leaflets are dark green and toothed.

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Mountain Ash

Flower: White with cream-coloured anthers. Fruit: Tight clusters of red berries. Leaves: Deciduous. Similar to Common Ash leaves. Pinnate with toothed leaflets.

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Aspen

Flower: Male and female catkins are green, and are borne on different trees. Both male and female catkins look alike, however later on the male catkins become dangly and the females remain firm. Fruit: Long hanging conical capsules develop on the catkins. Leaves: Deciduous. The stalked leaves of the Aspen are heart-shaped with wavy edges and have whitish undersides. Their shape causes them to shiver and tremble in the wind, giving the tree a distinctive quiver...

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European Bog Asphodel

Flower: Deep yellow spike of flowers, often tinged orange. Flowers are star-like with 6 petals and orange anthers. Fruit: Egg-shaped and bright orange. Leaves: Long and slender, grass-like.

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Water Avens

Flower: Flowers borne on long stalks. Pink petals are notched and rounded. Dark red sepals are bell-shaped and nodding, 15mm wide. Fruit: Hooked fruits form a bur-like head. Leaves: Lower leaves are pinnate. The leaves on the stems are 3-lobed with small stipules at their bases.

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Wood Avens

Flower: Yellow, 5 petals on long stalk. Fruit: Hooked fruit forming a bur-like head, bronze-tipped. Leaves: The lower leaves are pinnate with the terminal leaflet being much the largest. Stem leaves are smaller and trefoil.

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Himalayan Balsam

Flower: Pink-purple to white. Fruit: The seed pods explode spectacularly and unexpectedly upon reaching maturity. Each pod contains many seeds and individual seeds can be projected as far as 5 meters away. This plant is notorious for bei... Leaves: Green elliptical leaves with serrated margins. Up to 8cm in length. The toothed edges are red in colour.

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Orange Balsam

Flower: Orange with many blood-red spots. Fruit: Oblong capsules which later become explosive when touched. When the capsules explode, the many seeds within them are scattered and the plant can soon become invasive and out of control. Leaves: Alternate, ovate and stalked. The margins of the leaves are toothed but the teeth are well spaced apart.

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Touch-me-not Balsam

Flower: Yellow, speckled red. 5 petals with broad lower lip and small upper hood. Fruit: Pendant capsules that burst open and scatter their seeds when touched. Leaves: Alternate, stalked and oval. Toothed margins.

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