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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Creeping Chinese Bramble

Flower: 5 white petals. Flowers appear in clusters at the end of stems. Fruit: Juicy, red, aggregated drupes. Leaves: The younger leaves are ovate and lightly toothed. As the leaves age, they become slightly pinnate with 3-5 lobes. The leaves are dark, shiny, crinkly and slightly leathery in appearance. The underside...

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Brooklime

Flower: Small deep blue flowers emerging in pairs from leaf axils, 4 petals. Fruit: A nearly spherical brown capsule, splitting open when mature. Up to 4mm in diameter. Leaves: Shiny and leathery, succulent leaves that are round to oval and have bluntly toothed margins. Their stems are often tinted reddish-brown.

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Common Bulrush

Flower: Tiny and densely packed, forming a chocolate-coloured sausage-shaped spike. Fruit: Fruits are minute. They are produced from the female flowers and are covered in fluffy down. Leaves: Stalkless, long-sheathed, alternate leaves which are mainly produced at the bottom of the stem. Pale blue-green and linear.

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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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Wood Burdock

Flower: Purplish-red, woolly flowerheads. Shorter flower stalks than the other UK burdock species (less than 1cm). 5 stamens per flower. Unlike the similar and more common Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus), the ... Fruit: The light brown fruit is flat, curved and up to 1cm in length. The fruit is covered in many yellow, hooked hairs at the end. Leaves: A biennial plant with alternate, stalked leaves. The leaves are broadly oval with heart-shaped bases. The undersides of the leaves are pale green. The stems are sometimes red.

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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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Greater Burnet-saxifrage

Flower: The flowers can be either white or pink. The petals are notched. They appear in flat-topped umbels measuring up to 6cm across. The umbels have between 11 and 16 stalks. Flowers have no bracts. Flowers... Fruit: Egg-shaped, ridged, hairless, dark brown fruits, about 3mm long. The seeds ripen in July and August. Leaves: The leaves are dark green and 1-pinnate. They are glossy and coarsely toothed. There are 1 to 4 pairs of narrowly oval leaflets and the terminal leaflet is 3-lobed. The smooth stems are hollow and dee...

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Burnet-saxifrage

Flower: Neither a Burnet or a Saxifrage. The flowers have no bracts. Umbels, up to 5cm wide. The 5 white petals are notched with curved tips. Occasionally tinged pink. Pollinated by bees. Fruit: Egg-shaped, glossy fruit on hairless stalks. Green, later turning brown. Leaves: Stalked, pinnate leaves with toothed leaflets. The lower leaves are 1-pinnate. The upper leaves are 1-pinnate but sometimes 2-pinnate. The leaves alternate along the stems. Perennial.

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Unbranched Bur-reed

Flower: Similar to Branched Bur-reed (Sparganium erectum) but with far fewer flowerheads. However, the main difference is that the flowerheads are unbranched. Unbranched Bur-reed is also a shorter plant than ... Fruit: Spherical burr-like, spiky. The fruits are with slender beaks. Leaves: Floating stems (up to 2 metres long) often producing parallel lines in rivers and streams. Some leaves are erect, emerging out of the water. Perennial.

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Butterbur

Flower: Large lilac-pink spikes growing up to 30cm and appearing before the leaves emerge. Fruit: The fruit and seeds (achenes) are white, hairy tufts, each up to 3mm in length. Leaves: Enormous rhubarb-like leaves, up to 1 metre across. The leaves are heart-shaped, toothed and grey beneath.

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Celery-leaved Buttercup

Flower: Petals are not notched. 5 sepals. Many stamens. Up to 1cm wide. Fruit: Fruits take the form of an elongated head. Leaves: An annual flower with alternate leaves along the stems. Shiny dark green, palmately lobed leaves. The leaves on the stems are narrower.

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Garden Catmint

Flower: Flower spikes of lavender-blue flowers. The 2-lipped flowers measure about 12mm in length. Dark blue anthers. Pollinated by bees. Fruit: A 4-parted, oval to oblong nutlet. The seeds ripen in September and October. Leaves: Greyish-green, oval, intricately-veined, nettle-like leaves. The toothed leaves are in opposite pairs along the stem. The stems are square in cross section. Perennial. Clump-forming.

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Greater Chickweed

Flower: Small white flowers, long-stalked. The flowers have 5 very deeply notched petals which make them look as if there are 10 petals. Similar in appearance to Wood Stitchwort (Stellaria nemorum) but with s... Fruit: Green, hairy, oval fruits on long drooping stalks. Leaves: An annual or short-lived perennial, like a large straggling Common Chickweed (Stellaria media). Light green, pointed oval leaves. Only the lower leaves are stalked. The leaves are in opposite pairs al...

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Chives

Flower: Many dense balls of pink-purple flowers on long unbranched stems, each having 2 short and narrow papery bracts. Individual flowers tubular with 5 petals at the end, consisting of a dark vein running d... Fruit: A capsule or pod. Leaves: Long cylindrical grass-like leaves which sprout from the ground in clumps. The leaves are soft and hollow.

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Grey Club-rush

Flower: Reddish-brown. Long, narrow, arching or drooping branches consisting of spikelets. 2 styles per flower. Red-dotted glumes. Fruit: A brown, 3-sided nutlet. Leaves: Greyish stems. All leaves are strap-like, basal and submerged. Perennial, aquatic.

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