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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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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Allseed

Flower: The small white flowers are short-stalked and appear inside branched clusters. The 4 petals are about as long as the toothed sepals. Fruit: The fruit is a globular seed capsule. Leaves: A well-branched annual with very small, pointed oval leaves. The leaves are in opposite pairs along the stems. Greyish-green, stiff, thread-like, forked, reddish stems.

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Asarabacca

Flower: Pale yellowish-green bell-shaped flowers. No petals. 3 maroon sepals. The flowers are usually hidden beneath the leaves. 12 stamens. Pollinated by flies. Fruit: A 6-parted capsule. Leaves: The leathery, dark green leaves are glossy and kidney-shaped. The leaves measure about 3 inches (7.5cm) across. Evergreen perennial. Asarabacca has a preference for growing in Beech woodland.

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Scottish Asphodel

Flower: Small, greenish-white or yellowish-white flowers in a short but dense terminal spike. 6 petals (3 are actually sepals). 6 stamens. Fruit: A roundish, 3-parted, greyish capsule, up to 3mm long. The seeds are tiny. Leaves: Flattened, hairless, iris-like leaves. Most leaves are basal leaves. They are stalkless and toothless. Up to 3 alternate stem leaves. The leaves are 3 to 7-veined. The erect stems are flat and hairles...

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Aunt Eliza

Flower: The orange-brown flowers are about 6cm in length. They are arranged alternately along its zigzagged stems. Fruit: A 3-angled, green capsule, turning brown upon ripening. Leaves: A clump-forming perennial with olive green, deeply pleated, wiry leaves. The plant grows from a corm. Seldom found growing wild in the UK but not unheard of.

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Balm of Gilead

Flower: Pale yellowish-green catkins which appear before the leaves in spring, up to 16cm long. Wind pollinated. Fruit: The seeds are the fruit. They ripen in May. Leaves: The leaf buds are very sticky and resinous. The smooth and hairless leaves are heart-shaped with a pointed tip and finely serrated margins.

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Small Balsam

Flower: Pale yellow flowers. The 2 lowermost petals are partly fused together, forming a lip. The upper petals form a helmet. 5 stamens. Pollinated by insects. Fruit: A pod-like fruit capsule. Leaves: An annual plant of shady places. The leaves are alternate along the branches. The leaves are oval, dense-toothed and pointed. The upper leaves are the largest. Erect stems.

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Arrow Bamboo

Flower: The flowers are never seen in the British Isles. Wind pollinated. Fruit: Never seen in fruit. Leaves: An evergreen perennial plant with large, long, linear, pointed, dark green, grass-like leaves. The stems are cane-like in appearance. Occasionally seen as a garden escape species growing wild in the U...

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Great Marsh Bedstraw

Flower: The flowers are small and white, appearing together in clusters. The flowers are larger than those of Marsh Bedstraw (Galium palustre). Fruit: The fruit is a wrinkled nutlet. Leaves: The leaves are configured in whorls of 4 to 6. They have rough margins. The stems are without prickles. This is a perennial species, sometimes growing in water. It can be found throughout all parts of...

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Slender Marsh Bedstraw

Flower: Flowers appear in small clusters. The flowers are pale pink on the outside and creamy-white inside. Flowers each measure 2 or 3mm across. Fruit: The fruit is a high domed, warted nutlet. Leaves: The linear leaves are in whorls of 4 to 6 along the stems. The tips of the leaves can be either blunt or pointed. Similar in appearance to Fen Bedstraw (Galium uliginosum) and Marsh Bedstraw (Galium p...

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Northern Bedstraw

Flower: Numerous small white flowers in branched, dense leafy clusters. Each flower is about 3mm in diameter. Flowers are pointed at the tip. The 4 stamens are creamy white. 2 styles. Pollinated by flies and ... Fruit: A brown, 2-sectioned fruit with hooked hairs. Leaves: The leaves are stalkless, dark green and with rough edges. They appear in whorls of 4 up the stem. Each opposite pair of leaves are of differing lengths. This is the only white bedstraw in Great Brita...

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Fen Bedstraw

Flower: Loose clusters of white flowers. Each flower is up to 3mm across. Yellow anthers. Fruit: The fruits are low-domed warts. Leaves: Whorls of leaves in groups of 6 to 10. Leaves are one-veined. The linear leaves have prickly edges. Similar to Marsh Bedstraw (Galium palustre) but Fen Bedstraw often has rougher, purplish leaves. Fen...

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Marsh Bedstraw

Flower: Small, white flowers. Up to 4mm in diameter. Fruit: Small, globular fruit, slightly wrinkled. Leaves: Rough-margined leaves, in whorls of 4 to 6. Stems are without prickles. The similar-looking Fen Bedstraw (Galium oliginosum) does not have prickles on the stems. Perennial which sometimes grows in wat...

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Beggarticks

Flower: Flowers can be solitary or together in groups of 2 or 3. They are stalked and have a yellowish-orange central disc (up to 2cm wide). Around the central disc are the bracts which are yellowish-brown. P... Fruit: Flat, dark brown or black seeds, ripening from August to October. The seeds have hooked hairs attached at one end. Leaves: The leaves are compound with 3 to 5, lance-shaped leaflets. Each leaflet is between 5 and 10cm long and has sharp teeth along its edges. The leaves are stalked. Very variable in height. Annual. Mainly...

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Ivy-leaved Bellflower

Flower: Pale blue, solitary, bell-shaped flowers, no larger than 1cm wide. The flower stalks are long (up to 4cm) and thread-like. The flowers are sometimes nodding. Fruit: The fruit is a capsule, about 3mm long. Leaves: A creeping, hairless, patch-forming perennial flower with pale green leaves. The leaves are variable in shape, some are kidney-shaped, some rounded and some are similar in shape to ivy leaves (but muc...

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Milky Bellflower

Flower: Pale blue or bright blue, bell-shaped flowers, about 2cm across. The flowers are sometimes white. Fruit: The fruit is a capsule which produces numerous minute seeds. Leaves: Narrow, toothed leaves, up to 5 inches (12cm) long. Similar to Giant Bellflower (Campanula latifolia) but taller. Perennial.

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Velvet Bent

Flower: Purplish spikelets and awned florets. Spikelets measure between 2 and 2.5mm in length. Fruit: The fruit is a caryopsis. A type of dry, one-seeded fruit. Leaves: The leaves are very narrow. They each have a jagged, long, pointed ligule.

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Bird-in-a-bush

Flower: The inflorescence is a loose purple flower spike. The flowers are tubular with an almost straight spur and lobed bracts. The two innermost petals are slightly conjoined. 2 sepals. 6 stamens. Flowers a... Fruit: A 2.5cm long capsule. In fruit in May to June. Leaves: A perennial with greyish, alternate, stalked leaves. The leaves are 3 to 4-ternate. The leaves are fern-like in appearance. Deciduous, in leaf from March to July.

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Large Bittercress

Flower: 4 white petals which are very occasionally purple, up to 12mm wide. Flowers clustering together at the top of the plant. 6 stamens, purple anthers. Fruit: Long, thin, flat seed pods that eventually split open lengthwise. Leaves: Without a basal rosette, as with Hairy Bittercress and Wavy Bittercress. The basal leaves are long-stalked and the upper stem leaves are very short-stalked. The leaves run alternate along the stem and...

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Wavy Bittercress

Flower: Tiny and forming clusters at the top. 4 white petals with 6 yellow stamens. Counting the number of stamens is perhaps the most reliable way to distinguish this flower from the almost identical Hairy B... Fruit: Long, thin, cylindrical seed pods which usually are lower than the topmost flowers. This is useful to know when trying to distinguish this flower from Hairy Bittercress which has seed pods that normal... Leaves: The basal rosette has alternate leaves. Stem leaves are compound with 3-6 pairs of leaflets and a terminal leaflet. Leaflets are wavy edged. The upright main stem upon which the leaves emerge from are...

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Bladder-seed

Flower: Flowers appear in umbels of 2 to 5cm across. Fruit: The fruits are inflated and bladder-like in appearance. Leaves: A slightly hairy biennial with solid stems. The leaves are dark green and 2-trefoil at their bases. Higher up the stems, the leaves are 1-trefoil and undivided. Well-toothed leaflets.

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Bleeding Heart

Flower: 2-spurred pinkish-purple, heart-shaped, pendant flowers (up to 2.5cm long) on a leafless stem. Flowers are in clusters of 5 to 15. Flowers have 2 sepals and 6 stamens in groups of 2's. Fruit: An elongated capsule. Leaves: Finely divided, alternate, greyish-green, fern-like leaves. A deciduous perennial.

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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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Bouncing Bett

Flower: Soft pink flowers with double flowers. Bouncing Bett is the double-flowered variety of Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis). Pollinated by butterflies and moths. 10 stamens. 2 styles. Fruit: A 4-parted capsule. The seeds ripen in August and September. Leaves: Leafy branches with opposite, entire leaves. The leaves are sometimes tinged red. A perennial which grows in patches.

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