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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Great Burnet

Flower: Oval burgundy-coloured flower heads on long stalks. Fruit: An achene which is a small one seeded dry nut. Leaves: Alternate, long-stalked, compound leaves with up to 7 pairs of oval, stalked and toothed leaflets.

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Common Osier

Flower: Very short-stalked greenish catkins. Male catkins shorter than female. Fruit: The female catkins develop into the fruit as capsules which contain the seeds. Leaves: A deciduous tree. Dark green, slender leaves that are silvery-haired below. Up to 25cm long and 2cm wide.

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Black Poplar

Flower: Male and female catkins appear on separate trees. Males are red and females green. Wind pollinated. Fruit: The female flowers develop into the fruit. The fruit are capsules contain cottony seeds. The capsules burst open, leaving the seeds to fall to the ground in late summer. The fluffy seeds are sometimes... Leaves: A deciduous tree. Long-stalked and heart-shaped leaves tapering to a point, up to 12cm long. The edges of the leaves are finely serrated. Not hairy. The glossy leaves turn yellow in autumn.

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Ragged Robin

Flower: 5 deeply cleft pink or red petals, divided into 4 narrow lobes. Fruit: A globular, 5-valved capsule with an opening at the top. The capsule splits open in late summer to release its brown seeds. Leaves: Opposite, lance-shaped leaves. The stem leaves are stalkless but the basal leaves are stalked. 'Lychnis' (see botanical name) comes from the Greek 'lychnos' which means Lamp. This is in reference to t...

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Compact Rush

Flower: Tight clusters of tiny dark brown flowers, one cluster per stem near to the top. Fruit: A capsule which contains at least 3 seeds. Leaves: Tussock-forming and overwintering. Very linear, wire-like leaves. Hollow, green, erect leaves, all of which are borne at ground level.

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Soft Rush

Flower: Tight clusters of tiny greenish-brown flowers, one cluster per stem near to the top. Fruit: An oval capsule containing numerous seeds. Leaves: Thin, linear, wire-like leaves, tapering to a point with the flowers/fruit near the top.

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Common Snowberry

Flower: Tiny pink bell-shaped flowers in minute tight clusters. Fruit: Pure white globular berries which are borne clumped together. Leaves: A deciduous shrub. Roundish, green, simple, untoothed and short-stalked leaves, arranged in opposite pairs along the stems. Up to 4cm in length.

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Lesser Spearwort

Flower: Glossy yellow, solitary, cup-shaped flowers, up to 2cm wide. 5 petals per flower, many stamens. The petals are longer than the sepals. Fruit: Small elliptical, brown nutlets. Leaves: A perennial, scrambling and hairless plant. Alternate, simple leaves. Its stems are often tinged red and its variable leaves are and linear or spear-shaped (hence its name 'spearwort'). The veins run ...

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Annual Sunflower

Flower: Enormous golden yellow daisy-like flowers, up to 30cm wide. Flattish brown disc florets and pointed bracts. Fruit: An oval achene (type of dry, one-seeded fruit, not opening to release its seeds). Leaves: Very large, floppy, rough, heart-shaped leaves. The long-stalked leaves have coarsely toothed margins and alternate as they go up their stems. The leaves can be as large as 16 inches long and 8 inches...

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