Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Flower: Violet-blue flowers in leafy clusters. The mauve-coloured stamens are prominent. Flowers measure between 9 and 12mm across. Fruit: Ridged nutlets. Leaves: A hairy, creeping perennial with upright stems and rough, heart-shaped leaves. The large leaves are stalked and have a sandpaper-like texture. A garden escape species which sometimes naturalises in th...

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False Acacia

Flower: Cream-white, pea-like flowers. The flowers hang down in a loose spike and are similar in appearance to Laburnum but creamy-white and not yellow. Fruit: Brown pea-like pods, up to 4 inches long. Leaves: Deciduous. Dark green, pinnate leaves, up to 25cm in length. 3 to 9 pairs of blunt, oval leaflets. Leaflets are untoothed.

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Two-spined Acaena

Flower: Globular flowerheads. Flowers are without petals. Each flower has 2 spines. White stamens. Fruit: The fruit is globular and spiny. The spines are purplish-red. Fruits measure up to 3cm in diameter. Leaves: A mat-forming perennial with bright green, pinnate leaves, up to 12cm long. The toothed leaflets are in 6 to 8 opposite pairs, plus a terminal leaflet. The young stems are hairy and often tinged red. ...

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Spineless Acaena

Flower: Globular, petalless flowers. Fruit: Globular fruits usually spiny but often without spines. Leaves: A mat-forming perennial garden escape species. The pinnate leaves are purplish and feathery. Leaflets are toothed.

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Winter Aconite

Flower: Cup-shaped flowers, up to 3cm wide. The flowers have large, deeply cut, leafy bracts at their bases. Fruit: Follicles which contain the seeds. Leaves: A perennial with deeply cut, glossy, hairless basal leaves. Throughout the British Isles, Winter Aconite is most common in the east of England and Scotland.

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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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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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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.

Video: Green Alkanet filmed at Orford, Suffolk on the 29th June 2022.

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Alkanet

Flower: Tight clusters of purplish-blue flowers. Roundish petals. Densely hairy. 5 stamens. Pollinated by bees. Fruit: Brown, 4-parted fruit, about 4mm long. The seeds ripen from July to October. Leaves: The leaves and stems are very hairy. The leaves are elliptic and wavy-edged. Not toothed. The leaves are alternate along both sides of the stems. Biennial or perennial.

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Yellow Alkanet

Flower: Small clusters of pale yellow flowers. The flowers are tubular in shape. Pollinated by bees. Fruit: The fruit is a nutlet. Leaves: Simple, hairy, oval to lance-shaped leaves. The leaves have untoothed margins. Perennial.

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False Alkanet

Flower: Small clusters of bright blue flowers with white centres. Fruit: The fruit is a nutlet. Leaves: A very hairy perennial plant with erect stems and alternate, lance-shaped leaves.

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Four-leaved Allseed

Flower: The flowers are very small and appear inside forked heads. Fruit: The fruit is a near spherical capsule, just over 1mm in size. Leaves: A many-branched, hairless, winter annual plant with small oval to spoon-shaped leaves, in groups of 4 along the stems. Grows in sandy soils. In Britain, Four-leaved Allseed is most likely to be encoun...

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Green Amaranth

Flower: The flowers appear inside erect, terminal spikes, tassel-like in appearance. 5 pink sepals. Wind pollinated. Fruit: The fruit is a dry seed. Leaves: A hairless, yellowish-green plant similar in appearance to Common Amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus) but with shorter, looser tassels. The leaves are oval and pointed. Annual. A garden escape, infreque...

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Common Amaranth

Flower: The inflorescence is a dense, tassel-like terminal spike. 5 sepals, no petals. Wind pollinated. Fruit: The fruit is a capsule, up to 2mm long. Black seeds. Seeds ripen from August to October. Leaves: A downy, greyish-green annual plant with pointed oval leaves. Short-stalked. Leaves measure up to 15cm (6 inches) long.

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Garden Anchusa

Flower: Tiny clusters of tubular, violet-blue flowers. Pollinated by bees. Fruit: The fruit is a small nutlet, 2 to 4mm across in size. The seeds ripen from July to September. Leaves: A clump-forming, bristly perennial plant with hairy, lance-shaped leaves. The stems are erect and branching. Garden escape species.

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Balkan Anemone

Flower: The flower has many blue narrow petals. Balkan Anemone is much like Blue Anemone (Anemone apennina) but the petals are narrower and hairless underneath. Flowers measure 3 or 4cm in diameter. Sometimes... Fruit: The fruit is a winged nutlet called an achene. An achene is a type of dry, one-seeded fruit. Leaves: The leaves are palmate and dark green. They are 3-lobed and each lobed is toothed around the margins. A compact perennial flower. Garden escape species.

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Garden Angelica

Flower: Yellowish-green flowers, appearing in rounded umbels measuring 5 to 7cm across. 5 stamens per flower. Pollinated by insects. Fruit: Oval, flattened fruits with corky wings, measuring 6 to 8mm long. The seeds ripen in August and September. Leaves: An erect perennial with 2 to 3-pinnate leaves. Each leaf measure up to 60cm (24 inches) in length. Hollow, green stems (occasionally purple). Biennial.

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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.

Video: An Apple tree filmed in Chorley, Lancashire on the 9th July 2022.

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Garden Arabis

Flower: Clusters of small white, pink or purple flowers. Each flower is about 1.5cm across. Pollinated by bees, butterflies and moths. Fruit: A long slender capsule. The seeds ripen from April to June. Leaves: A low mat-forming perennial flower with hoary, long-stalked, oblong leaves. The leaves are slightly toothed. The upper leaves clap their stems and have arrow-shaped lobes. Evergreen.

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Yellow Archangel

Flower: Butter yellow flower, resembling those of a Dead-nettle. The flowers appear in clustered whorls up the stems. They are borne in the leaf axils. Fruit: Bell-shaped nutlets. Leaves: Dark green, long-stalked and heart-shaped. There are no conspicuous silvery blotches on the leaves like the similar looking Variegated Yellow Archangel has got.

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Variegated Yellow Archangel

Flower: Butter yellow flowers, 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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Narrow-leaved Arrowhead

Flower: Whorls of white flowers are produced. Fruit: Globular-shaped fruit. Leaves: The leaves are narrow and linear. Floating and submerged leaves are present. There are no aerial leaves. Perennial.

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Jerusalem Artichoke

Flower: The bright yellow, sunflower-like flowers are between 5 and 10cm (2 to 4 inches) in diameter. 10 to 20 ray florets and at least 60 disc florets. Pollinated by flies and bees. Fruit: The fruit is dry, hairy and one-seeded. The seed is dark brown and mottled. It is about 5mm long and 2mm wide. The seeds ripen in November. Leaves: Rough, hairy leaves which appear in opposite pairs. They are broadly ovate with a pointed tip. The upper leaves are smaller and more narrow. Similar in appearance to Perennial Sunflower (Helianthus x ...

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Dragon Arum

Flower: A spectacular, gigantic flower which consists of a dark purple spathe and spadix. Fruit: Clusters of green berries which are wrapped tightly together around the top of the erect stem. The berries later turn red. Leaves: Large palmately lobed leaves, occasionally streaked white. The stems are purple-spotted. Deciduous perennial.

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