Amphibious Bistort

Flower: Pink compact spike, 5 petals. Fruit: Dark brown to black, round, flattened achene. Leaves: The alternate leaves are short-stalked and with tapered bases. The leaf blades are long, narrow, hairy and sometimes tinged red. The submerged leaves are slightly different; they are hairless, have ro...

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Blinks

Flower: Very tiny white flowers appearing in clusters of 1 to 3. Short-stalked. Pollinated by insects. Fruit: Shiny, black fruits. The seeds ripen from June to October. Leaves: A prostrate, low-growing, annual or short-lived perennial plant with small, narrowly oval to oblong (blunt-tipped) leaves. The leaves appear together in opposite pairs along the stems. Usually found g...

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Lesser Bulrush

Flower: Tiny and densely packed, sausage-shaped, spongy, brown flowers. Similar to Common Bulrush (typha latifolia) but the flowers are a paler brown. Also, Lesser Bulrush often has its male and female flower... Fruit: A dry, cottony / hairy nutlet (called an achene). Leaves: Long, thin, linear leaves, similar to Common Bulrush except that they are narrower and paler. The leaves are 1 to 2cm wide. Common and Lesser Bulrush can hybridise to produce Typha angustifolia x lati...

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Trifid Bur-marigold

Flower: Yellow, stalked and emerging from leaf axils. Normally unrayed but sometimes with short stubby rays (petals), up to 2.5cm. Inner bracts are dark and inconspicuous. The flowers point skywards, but the ... Fruit: Oblong and flattened. The small barbed bristles on top of the fruit cause them to stick to clothing while brushing past. Leaves: Opposite, elongated leaves, toothed and with short winged stalks, 3-lobed, but sometimes 5-lobed. The leaves have a pair of lobes at their base.

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London Bur-marigold

Flower: The branching stems have 1 to 3 orange-yellow flowerheads. The inner bracts which surrounds the yellow centre of the flower are brownish and oval. The leafy outer bracts are narrowly elliptical and un... Fruit: Oblong, dark brown or dark purple fruit, not flattened as in the similar looking Trifid Bur-marigold (Bidens tripartita). There are 2 to 4 hooked awns at one end of the fruit. Leaves: The broadly lance-shaped, toothed leaves are usually in opposite pairs going up the stem. Some of the upper leaves are alternate along the stems. Leaf blades measure up to 6 inches (15cm) long and 1.5...

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Triangular Club-rush

Flower: Reddish-brown, egg-shaped spikelets within branched clusters. Smaller clusters than those of the similar looking Common Club-rush (Schoenoplectus lacustris). Fruit: The fruit is a brown, 3-sided nutlet. Leaves: Leafless stems. Similar to Common Club-rush (Schoenoplectus lacustris) but has 3-sided stems. Perennial.

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Slender Club-rush

Flower: Solitary, oval flowerheads. Silvery-white and petalless. Fruit: The fruit is a reddish-brown nut. Leaves: An annual or short-lived perennial with very narrow, thread-like leaves.

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Floating Club-rush

Flower: The flowers are aerial and are held in a single, long-stalked spikelet. No sepals. Fruit: Brown, globular nut. Leaves: The flat leaves are slender and submerged. They appear in tufts up the stem. Grows in still or slow flowing water.

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Ivy-leaved Crowfoot

Flower: White buttercup-like flowers with gaps between the petals. Petals are equal in size to the green sepals. The flowers each measure from 4 to 8mm in diameter. Fruit: The fruit is an achene. Leaves: An annual or short-lived perennial with glossy, ivy-shaped leaves. The leaves are widest at the base and have 3 to 5 lobes. Leaves may be floating or terrestrial.

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Thread-leaved Water Crowfoot

Flower: White, buttercup-like flowers with yellow centres. Flowers are 7 to 12mm in size. Fruit: The fruit is a roundish or oval seedhead. Leaves: The leaves are thread-like with stiff segments. All leaves are underwater. Annual.

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Three-lobed Crowfoot

Flower: White flowers, similar in shape to those of buttercups of which is in the same family. Petals are yellow at their bases. The sepals are tipped blue and down-turned. Fruit: The fruit of Three-lobed Crowfoot is an achene (a dry one-seeded fruit). Leaves: Surface leaves are 3-lobed and broadest above their bases. The submerged leaves are feathery and finely divided. Submerged leaves are seldom seen. Grows only in still water.

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Golden Dock

Flower: The flowers appear in branched whorls up the stem. Each whorl consists of 15 to 30 triangular flowers. Wind pollinated. Fruit: The well-toothed fruits are triangular in cross section with three membranous, oblong warts which surround a tubercle (small, round projection). In fruit from July to September. Leaves: An annual to short-lived perennial dock with wavy-edged, very narrow basal leaves, between 1 and 3cm wide. The leaves are longer than most other dock species. The entire plant turns golden yellow when...

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Marsh Dock

Flower: The inflorescence is a whorl of reddish-brown flowers. Fruit: Flat roundish fruits with 3 large oblong warts. The fruits are well-toothed. Fruits are similar in appearance to Golden Dock (Rumex maritimus) but do not turn yellow in autumn and the teeth are shorte... Leaves: Marsh Dock is an annual or short-lived perennial. The leaves are narrow and pointed (lance-shaped), alternate up the stems. It is similar in appearance to Golden Dock (Rumex maritimus).

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Common Eelgrass

Flower: Inconspicuous branched flower spikes. Water pollinated. Fruit: The fruit is a bladder-like nutlet with a transparent casing. Inside is the seed. Leaves: An aquatic perennial with dark green, linear leaves. Rarely found in estuaries.

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Orange Foxtail

Flower: A cylindrical flower spike with short white, yellow or orange to purplish anthers. Wind pollinated. Fruit: The fruit is dry and one-seeded. The fruits of grasses are known as caryopses. Leaves: Short, linear, grass-like leaves. Orange Foxtail is most often seen growing in drying mud.

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Brown Galingale

Flower: Reddish-brown spikelets in umbels. Each umbel contains between 3 and 15 spikelets. The bracts are much longer than the umbels themselves. 1 stamen per flower. Fruit: A light brown achene, about 1mm long. Leaves: Flat leaves, up to 4mm wide and 10cm long.

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Long-spiked Glasswort

Flower: Minute, green flowers. Yellow anthers. Fruit: Succulent, fleshy one-seeded fruit. Leaves: The convexed stem segments many-branched. Dull green, becoming yellowish-brown or purple later in the year.

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Yellow Glasswort

Flower: The flowers are very tiny and inconspicuous. Yellow anthers. The branches have 3 flowers per segment. One-flowered Glasswort which is a similar species only has 1 flower per segment. Fruit: The fruit is fleshy and one-seeded. Leaves: The foliage is a brighter green than most other glasswort species. Sometimes purple-tinged. The branches are erect.

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Saltmarsh Goosefoot

Flower: Tightly packed clusters of green flowers. Fruit: The fruit is a shiny and oval. Leaves: Alternate, hairless, short-stalked leaves. Similar in appearance to Red Goosefoot (Chenopodium rubrum) but the leaves are smaller, more triangular and not as well toothed. Only found on the coast.

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Cut Grass

Flower: The inflorescence is a terminal panicle of spikelets, up to 10 inches (25cm) long. Each spikelet has one floret on a very thin, wavy branch. Fruit: The fruit is a caryopsis, like all grass species. Leaves: Yellowish-green, linear leaves. The edges of the leaves are very rough and finely toothed. Leaf blades measure a maximum of 1cm wide. Hairy at leaf junctions. Perennial.

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Hard Grass

Flower: Very slender flower spike with one-flowered spikelets. Fruit: The fruit is a caryopsis which is a type of dry, one-seeded fruit. Leaves: A stiff-looking, annual grass with very short ligules. Often found on bare ground or in grassy places by the sea.

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Curved Hard Grass

Flower: A slender, cylindrical flower spike. 3 white anthers. Fruit: The fruit is a caryopsis (a type of dry, one-seeded fruit). Leaves: A short-growing, tufted, annual grass of the coast although occasionally found inland on salted road verges. The leaves are green, hairless and finely pointed. They are about 2mm wide. Usually shorter...

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Hybrid Monkeyflower

Flower: The flowers are solitary and bright yellow, blotched orange or purplish all over. The similar looking Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus) is only blotched in the throat (centre). Fruit: Seed capsule, 2-valved, up to 1cm long. Leaves: The leaves are fleshy and green. They are configured in opposite pairs up the stems and conjoined at their bases.

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Water Mudwort

Flower: The flowers can be white or mauve / pink. 5mm in diameter. Similar in appearance to Welsh Mudwort (Limosella australis) but the sepal-tube is shorter and not coloured. Welsh Mudwort has an orange sepa... Fruit: A roundish, 2-parted capsule. Many-seeded. Leaves: Spoon-shaped, dark green, linear leaves, up to 3cm in length. The long stalks can reach 30cm long but are usually much shorter.

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Common Orache

Flower: Slender, open, leafy, greenish, spike-like panicles. Fruit: A seed fused inside two diamond-shaped to triangular bracteoles. Leaves: Opposite, alternate leaves. Narrow, untoothed or almost toothless. Not hairy.

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