Hedge Bindweed

Flower: Usually pure white but occasionally pink with 5 white stripes, up to 6cm, trumpet-shaped. Sepals often purple tinged and only half-covered by two large bracts. Often hybridizes with Hedge Bindweed mak... Fruit: A capsule which contains 1 to 4 seeds, rarely more than 1cm long. Leaves: Long stalked, arrow-shaped leaves and sharp-tipped, not hairy. The bases of the leaves have angled lobes.

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Downy Birch

Flower: Male and female catkins appear on the same tree. Erect female catkins are shorter and green. Male catkins hang loosely in groups of 2-4. Often hybridizes with Silver Birch making identification tricky. Fruit: Small dry one-sided winged fruits, called 'achenes'. Leaves: Deciduous. Ovate, pointed and with serrated margins. Light green in spring, darkening and then turning yellow or orange in autumn. Leaves are often hairy underneath.

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Silver Birch

Flower: Male yellow catkins hang loose, female catkins much shorter and erect. Often hybridizes with Downy Birch making identification somewhat difficult at times. Fruit: The female catkins develop hundreds of winged seeds as their fruit. Leaves: Deciduous. Stalked and triangular in shape with doubly serrated margins. Leaves turn yellow in autumn. Downy Birch leaves have got serrated margins only, not doubly serrated as with Silver Birch.

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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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Bittersweet

Flower: 5 bright purple bent back petals, anthers forming a bright yellow pointed cone, up to 1.5cm across. Sepals and stalks are also sometimes purple. Fruit: Clusters of round green berries, later turn yellow, orange or bright red. Leaves: Alternate, pointed and oval. Often with one or more pairs of basal ovate lobes, or leaflets at the base.

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Purging Buckthorn

Flower: Greenish-yellow tiny flowers, unstalked, appearing in dense clusters. 4 petals. Male and female flowers appear on separate trees. Fruit: The female flowers turn into green berries, later turning purplish-black. Leaves: Deciduous. Oval, pointed and finely toothed. In autumn, the leaves turn yellow and brown.

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Marsh Cinquefoil

Flower: Maroon, star-shaped, 5 pointed petals, up to 3cm. Fruit: A small dry nutlet. Leaves: Greyish-green leaves, pinnate with 3 to 7 coarsely toothed leaflets. The undersides have a bluish hue and the upper sides are sometimes tinged red. The lower leaves are long-stalked.

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Columbine

Flower: Easily recognizable with its blue flowers, having 5 tubular petals with hooked spurs. The name Columbine is derived from the Latin name for dove 'columba' because from below, the petals are said to lo... Fruit: A dry pod which splits open upon ripening. Leaves: Green compound leaves with a bluish tinge, fan-like in appearance. The leaflets are round and notched.

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Common Comfrey

Flower: Clusters of pink-purple or yellowish cream flowers, up to 2cm wide. Flowers can also be magenta, red or white. Fruit: A cluster of 4 shiny nutlets, later turning a dark brown or black. Leaves: Similar-looking to Foxglove leaves. Large, slender, undivided leaves with a rough texture.

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Cuckooflower

Flower: 4 petals, clustered, pale to dark lilac, seldom white, up to 2cm. Fruit: A long elongated dry capsule which eventually rolls up and explodes to disperse its many seeds. Leaves: A basal rosette of long-stalked leaves are present. The short-stalked stem leaves are alternate and pinnate. The 1 to 7 pairs of opposite leaflets and 1 terminal leaflet are all separated wide apart.

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Black Currant

Flower: 5 reddish crimson petals, hanging in clusters. Individual flowers up to 1.5cm. Fruit: Dark purple to black berries. Leaves: Deciduous. The leaves are simple, alternate, palmate with 5 lobes and serrated edges. Similar to Red Currant leaves but slightly larger and aromatic.

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Common Fleabane

Flower: Golden yellow daisy-like flowerheads upto 3cm across, flat-topped. 40-100 disc florets and 20-30 ray florets. Fruit: Dry, 1-seeded. Leaves: Silvery green leaves. Narrow, pointed, widest at the base, up to 8cm long. The alternate leaves are covered in a white down. The upper leaves look wrinkly.

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Water Forget-me-not

Flower: Clustered, pink flower buds, later becoming sky blue. 5 petals with yellow and white centres. Fruit: Small, 4-parted, egg-shaped, shiny black nutlets. Up to 2mm long. Leaves: Alternate, toothless leaves with pointed tips. The lowest leaves are the broadest and the upper leaves are more linear. The leaves are covered in short appressed hairs.

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Reed Canary Grass

Flower: 2-3 flowered spikelets, variable in colour from white to pale yellow or purple. Fruit: A one-seeded fruit (caryopsis). Leaves: Broad, flat, linear and alternate leaves, up to 2.5cm wide.

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Guelder Rose

Flower: 5 white petals, the outer ones being larger than the inner ones. Flowers appear in flat-topped clusters which resemble umbels. Fruit: Drooping clusters of scarlet red berries. Leaves: A deciduous shrub with similar-looking leaves to Maple. The leaves are deeply-lobed with 3 to 5 lobes. The leaves turn orange or red in autumn.

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Gypsywort

Flower: White, purple-dotted and appearing in whorls from the bases of the upper leaves. 4 petals. Fruit: A dry fruit (schizocarp) in 4 parts. Leaves: Oval leaves in opposite pairs along the erect stem. The leaves are mostly stalked and have deeply serrated margins. The leaves sometimes turn red or purple in autumn.

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Hemp Agrimony

Flower: Dense trusses of pale pink florets with long white styles and long purple-tipped bracts. Fruit: A 5-edged achene with a white pappus, 3mm long. Leaves: Palmate, opposite leaves, up to 10cm long, on reddish stems. 3 to 5 lanceolate leaflets. The leaves have toothed margins.

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Common Hemp-nettle

Flower: Pink flowers with lower lip, borne in whorls. Lower lip has darker markings in the centre. Fruit: A 4-chambered schizocarp. Leaves: Pale green, stalked, elliptical leaves in opposite pairs. Blunt serrated leaf margins.

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Herb Paris

Flower: Flowers solitary and star-shaped. 4 narrow yellow-green petals and 4 broad green sepals. 8 erect green stamens with yellow anthers. Fruit: A purplish black berry with 4 purplish styles. Leaves: Pointed, oval and long-stalked. The leaves are arranged in whorls of 3 to 8 (usually 4) just below the flowers. Herb Paris is sometimes difficult to spot as it's often found growing hidden amongst the...

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Hop

Flower: Male and female flowers are both greenish-yellow. Male catkins. Female flowers are globular. Fruit: The female flowers turn into the fruit. The fruit is cone-shaped and brown. Leaves: Large, palmately lobed, toothed margins. 3 to 7 lobes.

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Marsh Horsetail

Flower: Flowerless. Horsetails reproduce by spores. Fruit: A blunt-tipped cone sits on top of the main stem. The cone matures in July and August. Leaves: The green furrowed stems have 8 to 10 ridges. Whorls of leaf-like branches appear along the erect single main stem. The branches are grow either outward or nearly erect from below the stems sheathed n...

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Yellow Flag Iris

Flower: Large, showy and eye-catching. Bright yellow with 3 spreading outer petals and 3 inner petals twisting inwards, up to 10cm. Fruit: A 3-angled capsule, or seed pod, packed tight with numerous seeds, splitting open later in the year. Up to 8cm long. Leaves: Long, linear, sword-like leaves which emerge out from the ground. Grows in water or on wet ground in compact clumps.

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Purple Loosestrife

Flower: Bright purple flower spikes in whorls up the stem, 6 petals. Fruit: The fruit capsules are enclosed within the sepals and consist of many reddish tiny seeds. Leaves: The leaves can be either opposite or in whorls of 3, and are sometimes slightly hairy. They are stalkless, long and slender, and are either heart-shaped or rounded at the base of their leaves.

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Yellow Loosestrife

Flower: Golden yellow cup-shaped flowers, 5 petals. Fruit: A shiny, globular capsule. Leaves: Evergreen. The light green, broadly linear, unstalked leaves are borne either in opposite pairs or in whorls of 3 or 4. Black or orange dotted. Hairy underneath.

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Marsh Lousewort

Flower: Deep pink-purple flower with 2 lower lips and upper lip 5-toothed. Fruit: Brown elliptical capsule which splits open only on one side. Leaves: Alternate, feathery leaves. Basal leaves are long-stalked.

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