[161] Geranium pratense, Meadow Cranesbill

[161] Geranium pratense, Meadow Cranesbill and Others

Introduction

Geranium will be one of the most difficult genera to cover. This post will consider the wild species Geranium pratense, Meadow Cranesbill and Geranium pyrenaicum, Hedgerow Cranesbill, both of which are common and widespread. Tomorrow I will look at the rest.

There are over four hundred species of Geranium and many hybrids and cultivars. They are generally called cranesbills or hardy geraniums. Confusingly most species of Pelargonium, a closely related genus, are also known as geraniums.

[I will use the word cranesbill throughout where other orthography includes crane’s-bill or other variations.]

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Geraniales

Family – Geraniaceae

Genus – Geranium

Scientific Names – Various. See Text

There are too many species, hybrids and cultivars to list.

Name

Cranesbill comes from the shape of the fruit of some species. See [166] Crane.

The Ancient Greek geranos means the Crane.

When first named by Linnaeus the genus Geranium included all the species now known as Pelargonium, which were split off in 1789. (Pelargonium is derived from the Greek pelargos meaning Stork by analogy with the derivation of Geranium and some Pelargoniums are known as Storksbills.)

Horticultural usage tends to go by the genus, without bothering too much about species, and it is slow to adjust to changes. So many of the thousands of species, hybrids, cultivars and varieties of Pelargonium are still informally called Geranium.

Geraniaceae

The Geranium family has about 800 species, almost all of which are in the genera Geranium, Pelargonium and Erodium. All three of these were originally categorized as Geranium. (Erodium gets its name from Herons, just as the other two come from Cranes and Storks!)

Geranium pratense, Meadow Cranesbill

Geranium pratense is native to much of Europe and Asia and widely naturalized elsewhere. It is sometimes called Meadow Geranium or Common Geranium.  It is a low-growing perennial, common and widespread as a wild flower. (Pratense means meadow.)

Leaves are deeply lobed and convoluted in shape.

Flowers are open, flat and have various shades of blue. It is widely cultivated and is available in various cultivars.

I’m afraid I can’t identify the insect on the last picture but is probably a kind of bee.

Geranium pyrenaicum, Hedgerow Cranesbill

Also known as Mountain Cranesbill, Geranium pyrenaicum is commonly found on verges and hedgerows. It is probably an introduced species, having come originally from the mountains of the Pyrenees, Alps and Caucasus.

It is quite similar with paler, lilac flowers. The petals are notched giving the impression of ten instead of five. Leaves are smaller and less convoluted. This species is also available as a cultivated plant.

See also

Look out tomorrow for some more Geranium species.

[160] Gastrophysa viridula, Green Dock Beetle

[160] Gastrophysa viridula, Green Dock Beetle

Introduction

Gastrophysa viridula, the Green Dock Beetle, is a small beetle noted for the pregnant form of the female in the mating period.

It is also known as Green Sorrel Beetle.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Coleoptera (Beetles)

Superfamily – Chrysomeloidea

Family – Chrysomelidae (Leaf Beetles)

Subfamily – Chrysomelinae (Broad-bodied Leaf Beetles)

Genus – Gastrophysa

Scientific Name – Gastrophysa viridula

Name

Gastro-physa comes from Greek roots meaning abdomen inflated, from the phenomenon of physogastry described below. (I am not sure which of these two words may have produced the other one by reversal of the roots.) The Latin viridula means green.

Description

The family Chrysomelidae contains about 50 000 species. They are mostly small with dome shaped bodies. There is no simple way to define the family but you could start by counting the segments on each leg. But be careful – the fourth tarsal segment on all of them are very small and are hidden by the third. There are many subfamilies of which Wikipedia says, ‘The precise taxonomy and systematics are likely to change with ongoing research,’ but you have heard me say that about almost every species so far!

As for many small beetles, the elytra of Gastrophysa viridula are glossy and metallic in appearance in sunlight, covered with a pattern of tiny indentations. They are green but may appear golden or other colours in bright light. The antennae are fairly long and serrated in appearance.

They produce from two to four broods each year and the last brood hibernates as an adult.

Like all species of Gastrophysa this beetle exhibits physogastry (or physogastrism.) The abdomen of the female is enlarged to enable her to produce large numbers of offspring. Even without this, the female is about twice the size of the male. She produces over a thousand eggs for each brood.

After three instars the larva pupates underground and the adult emerges in about a week.

Habitat

Gastrophysa viridula is common and widespread in Britain and found over much of Europe.

Larvae grow on species of Rumex – Dock, including Sorrel. Adults can occasionally feed on other species.

Other Notes

I am sure you can search out individual types of beetle but you are most likely to spot any from the family Chrysymelidae by just looking at plants as you walk in the countryside. You may spot one of the thousands of species I have missed!

[159] Garrulus glandarius, Jay

[159] Garrulus glandarius, Jay

Introduction

Garrulus glandarius, the (Eurasian) Jay, is a common and very widespread bird. It is a colourful representative of the Corvid family that has mostly all black species. It is one of my favourite birds.

There are more than fifty birds from ten genera in the Corvid family that are known as Jays, and a few from other unrelated genera. A few species of butterflies in the genus Graphium are also called Jays.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Passeriformes

Family – Corvidae

Subfamily – Corvinae

Genus – Garrulus

Scientific Name – Garrulus glandarius

It was originally called Corvus glandarius.

Name

Jay is a Middle English Word for this bird coming from Old French and cognate with gay, from its colourful appearance.

Garrulus is a Latin word meaning talkative, chattering or noisy (garrulous.) Glandarius is a Modern Latin word relating to acorns.

Description

In the Crow family, Corvidae we have the all black [098] Crow, [099] Rook and Raven; the mostly black [088] Jackdaw; and the black and white [265] Magpie.

So, the Jay is by far the most colourful. It is more closely related to the Magpie than our other British Corvids. Both have relatively long tails.

Over its range, 33 subspecies of Garrulus glandarius are recognized with variations in colour. For our version the main colour is a greyish pink, with black lower back and tail, white vent and a streaked crown of the head. The bill is black, extending to the side of the face. Most striking is the bright turquoise patch with a pattern of dark stripes on the side of the wing.

The Jay is omnivorous and eats invertebrates such as insects, seeds and fruits. In the autumn they will hide acorns and beechnuts for the winter.

Its call is a rattling sound, a bit like a [265] Magpie but much harsher.

Habitat

Garrulus glandarius is common and widespread over all of Europe and much of Asia including the Far East. They like woodland environments particularly [291-2] Oaks. Like [311] Squirrels, they bury acorns and have traditionally been the main medium for the dispersal of oaks.

Because of their preference for trees, they are primarily a rural bird but will visit parks, rural bird feeders and sometimes private gardens.

Other Notes

You may be able to persuade them to visit gardens, especially in winter, by putting out bird feeders with peanuts.

See also

Apart from water birds you won’t find any other such attractive birds in parks and gardens – except maybe a [115] Woodpecker if you are very lucky.

[158] Ganoderma resinaceum

[158] Ganoderma resinaceum

Introduction

Ganoderma resinaceum is a large bracket fungus found sometimes on living trees.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Fungi

Phylum – Basidiomycota

Class – Agaricomycetes

Order – Polyporales

Family – Ganodermataceae

Genus – Ganoderma

Scientific Name – Ganoderma resinaceum

Name

As for many species, this fungus has no common name.

Ganoderma comes from Greek words ganos and derma, meaning shining skin. Resinaceum is a reference to the resinous hard-setting sticky liquid that comes from damaged fruitbodies.

If you have read the Page about Names, you will expect the two words to agree in their endings. Ganoderma looks feminine but it isn’t because it isn’t really Latin. It’s Latinised Greek and it’s neuter. Greek endings are a bit different. Derma is a neuter singular word in Greek with plural dermata. It has endings -ma for singular and -mata for plural – like stigma, stoma, dogma, enema and some others. [Only purists would use these plurals in English except for the very specific stigmata used in a religious context.]

Description

Ganoderma resinaceum is another bracket fungus like [073] Dryad’s saddle but has a smooth upper surface that gives it its name.

Habitat

Ganoderma resinaceum is common in some northern and central parts of Europe and is also found in Asia, North Africa, Australia and North and South America. It is rarely seen in the British Isles.

It is a parasitic fungus found on living [142] Beech and [291-2] Oak trees.

See also

For no particular reason (except to fill out an otherwise unexciting post) here are some more fungi that didn’t make it to other posts.

This is Tyromyces chioneus, White Cheese Polypore, another closely related bracket fungus, found on dead trees such as Birch [Ancient Greek tyros-miches means cheese-fungus, and chioneus means snowy].

The rest I will leave unidentified. Some look like Fairy Rings. (That narrow it down to about 500 species.)

[157] Gallinula chloropus, Moorhen

[157] Gallinula chloropus, Moorhen

Introduction

Gallinula chloropus, the (Common) Moorhen, is a black, duck-like bird, similar in some ways to its close relative the Coot.

It is also known as a Waterhen or Swamp Chicken. All the species of Gallinula, and a few very close relatives, are called Moorhens or Marsh Hens

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Gruiformes (Cranes and Rails)

Suborder – Ralli (Rails and a few others)

Family – Rallidae (Rails, Crakes, Moorhens and Gallinules)

Genus – Gallinula

Scientific Name – Gallinula chloropus

It was originally called Fulica chloropus, which shows its closeness to the Coot.

Name

Moorhen is an Old English name for the bird, from the older meaning of moor as marsh.

Gallinula is a diminutive of the Latin gallina, a hen (domesticated fowl). Chloropus, from Latinized Greek roots, means yellow-green feet.

Description

Gallinula chloropus is a very common and widespread bird often found on or near lakes even in urban areas. It is so similar to its relative [152] Fulica atra, the Coot, that it makes sense to describe it in comparison. They are often seen together and at first glance look similar. Both come from the family Rallidae and are more or less all black. The Moorhen is noticeably smaller and not so spherical as its cousin.

The most obvious difference is the red bill which differs from the white bill of the Coot but there are several other differences. The tip of the bill is yellow. The body is actually a dark blue colour, and the back is a dark grey-brown, separated by the rest of the body by a thin white stripe (not always visible.)

The feet have long yellow toes without the lobes of the Coot.

Very young chicks are black with the red and blue bills developing but not so garishly colourful as a Coot. Their long toes are black.

As they grow larger young Moorhens become similar to young Coots and the best way to distinguish between them is to look for their parents nearby! When you can see them, the yellow feet are starting to show.

Habitat

The genus Gallinula is somewhat fluid at the moment with some species possibly being moved in and out and others possibly extinct. There is one other very similar species found in Australia and some other locations.

Gallinula Chloropus has a few geographic subspecies. Gallinula Chloropus Chloropus is by far the most widespread and is found over much of Europe, Northern Africa, India and Southeast Asia, where it is resident.

It likes wetland habitats.

Other Notes

As for many birds, there are occasional variations and for Moorhens they include some leucistic or partly leucistic birds. This one was seen at Slimbridge.

The Moorhen is slightly different to the Coot in its distribution. I see them in the countryside occasionally where there is no obvious water nearby.

See also

[293] The Water Rail is a close relative but is much different in its behaviour to Coots and Moorhens.

[156] Gallinago gallinago, Snipe

[156] Gallinago gallinago,Snipe

Introduction

Gallinago gallinago, the Snipe, is a wading bird with excellent camouflaged plumage that can make it difficult to spot.

About thirty species of birds from the three closely related genera Gallinago, Lymnocryptes and Coenocorypha are called Snipes – so officially Gallinago gallinago is the Common Snipe. I may just call it a Snipe.

Others birds in the family Rostratulidae, which is not so closely related, are called Painted Snipes.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Charadriformes

Family – Scolopacidae (Sandpipers including Curlews, Godwits, Snipes and others)

Genus – Gallinago

Scientific Name – Gallinago gallinago

Wilson’s Snipe, found all over North America, was until recently considered to be a subspecies but now has species status as Gallinago delicata.

Name

Snipe comes from Old Norse name for this bird. It is so well camouflaged and difficult to shoot that from the Eighteenth Century the word sniper has been used for a skilled hunter or shooter.

Gallinago is the Modern Latin name for a Snipe or Woodcock (a close relative.) It comes from gallina, the Latin for a hen (domestic chicken.)

Description

The Snipe is a medium sized wader with a relatively very long bill. The plumage is a mottled brown with marked longitudinal, light buff lines along its back.

The Snipe is shy bird that tends to keep close to reedy areas where it knows it is camouflaged. When flushed out and forced to fly it adopts an unusual zigzag flight pattern that makes it difficult to catch (unless you are an excellent sniper!)

It uses its long bill to probe muddy areas and feeds mostly on worms and insects.

Habitat

The Common Snipe has a wide range covering most of northern Eurasia in summer, and central Africa and southern Asia in winter. It is resident all year over much of Britain.

It is found in wet areas such as lakesides, marshes and bogs.

Other Notes

Snipe are generally seen either alone or in small groups. They are widespread but not common.

See also

Lymnocryptes minimus, the Jack Snipe, is a much rarer, slightly smaller bird that is difficult to distinguish. It has two central light stripes along the head separated by darker feathers, where the Snipe has a central light stripe. I have seen one occasionally, always a single bird hiding in a group of Common Snipe. The size difference is not enough for identification.

Scolopax rusticola, the Woodcock, is a related species that has adapted its way of life to inhabit woodland rather than wetland. It is much more uncommon than the Snipe. It is active around dawn and dusk and I have only ever seen them flying overhead in the Forest of Dean at dusk.

[155] Galium verum, Lady’s Bedstraw

[155] Galium verum, Lady’s Bedstraw

Introduction

Galium verum, Lady’s Bedstraw, is a common and widespread low-growing wild plant with attractive yellow flowers.

Several other species of Galium may be found, generally also called bedstraws.

Galium verum is also known as Yellow Bedstraw.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Gentianales

Family – Rubiaceae

Genus – Galium

Scientific Name – Galium verum

Name

Bedstraw comes from its use in mattresses and Galium come from the Greek gala meaning milk (from its use in cheese production.) Verum means true or genuine.

Description

Galium verum is a spreading, low-growing plant. Its long stems may become horizontal and can root where they touch the ground.

Its leaves are elongated and very thin.

Flowers are small and yellow, produced in dense clusters.

Habitat and use

Galium verum is found in most of Europe, Northern Africa and temperate Asia. It is also found naturalized in parts of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

In mediaeval Europe, dried plants of Galium verum used to be used to stuff mattresses. It produces a flea-repellent scent.

Its flowers were also traditionally used to coagulate milk in cheese manufacture and, specifically to colour double Gloucester cheese.

Lady’s Bedstraw also appears in Gaelic, Romanian and Norse mythology. Frigg the Norse goddess of married women, helped women in childbirth using the plant, called Frigg’s Grass, as a sedative.

See also

Other species of Galium found in the wild include Galium aparine, Catchweed Bedstraw; Gallium mollugo, Hedge Bedstraw; Galium odoratum, Sweet Bedstraw; Galium saxatile, Heath Bedstraw, and about twenty other species.

[154] Galanthus nivalis, Snowdrop

[154] Galanthus nivalis, Snowdrop

Introduction

Galanthus nivalis, the Snowdrop (or Common Snowdrop) is a widespread and common, very early flowering white flower, seen in large numbers in woods and regarded as a sign as the beginnings of Spring.

Other species of Galanthus may also be called Snowdrop, but Galanthus nivalis is the most common and widespread

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Clade – Monocots

Order – Asparagales

Family – Amaryllidaceae

Subfamily – Amaryllidoideae

Genus – Galanthus

Scientific Name – Galanthus nivalis

There are several cultivated varieties, including other Galanthus species and hybrids.

Name

From Greek roots, ‘Gal-anthus’ means milk-flower. Nivalis is Latin, meaning of the snow, either its colour or its early flowering.

Description

It is tempting to compare the snowdrop to [104] the Crocus. Although they are not very closely related, both are small, early flowering plants that are sometimes planted together in gardens. Both are monocots with a single flower emerging between long pointed leaves. They flower, then the flower and later the leaves die down and the plant is not seen again until the first year.

The snowdrop grows from a bulb, where the crocus has a corm, and the flowers are different. The snowdrop is a pendulous white flower. At first it is an elongated egg shape and later it opens out.

The other important difference us that the Snowdrop flowers even earlier than the Crocus, from as early as January or February.

Habitat and use

The natural locations of the Snowdrop are unclear because of historical spread by naturalization. It is probably native to parts of southeast Europe and adjacent Asia.

Often considered as native to Britain or a Roman introduction, it is now considered to have come much later. The first references to Snowdrops in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire come from 1770.

It is still widely cultivated as a garden plant, sometimes other species of Galanthus.

Other Notes

There are several places renowned for their displays of snowdrops and we generally visit the Rococo Gardens at Painswick.

[153] Fuchsia magellanica and other species

[153] Fuchsia magellanica, Hardy Fuchsia and others

Introduction

Fuchsias are widely cultivated garden plants that mostly originate from South America. There are many hundreds of cultivars and varieties that are sold as named varieties rather than by species. The name of the genus also acts as a common name.

Its red and purple flowers are distinctive and so spectacular that a colour fuchsia has been named after them.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Flowers

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Myrtales

Family – Onagraceae

Subfamily – Onagroideae

Tribe – Curcaeeae

Genus – Fuchsia

Scientific Names – See text

There are about a hundred species and many hundreds of named cultivars and varieties, mostly hybrids.

Name

If you have been paying attention, and particularly if you remember [112] Common Spotted Orchid, you will know that the genus Fuchsia is named after Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566). It was first identified on the island of Hispaniola in 1696-7 by a French monk Charles Plumier.

Technically it should be pronounced to include the name as Fooks-ia, but is more usually pronounced in an Anglicized form as ‘fyusha’ (and hence sometimes incorrectly spelled as ‘fuschia.’)

Description

Fuchsia species are mostly small shrubs or trees. Sometimes they are grown as hedges.

Flowers are pendulous with four sepals, generally bright red, and drop shaped petals, generally bright purple. Generally long stamens protrude at the bottom of the hanging flower.

Habitat and use

Almost all species are native to parts of South America, mostly from the tropics. Fuchsias are now widely cultivated as garden plants.

Most types of cultivated Fuchsia have no species epithet although they may be called Fuchsia hybrida or Fuchsia x hybrida. Almost all types are hybrids derived from a few parent species, especially Fuchsia magellanica, from southern Chile and Argentina, sometimes called Hardy Fuchsia or Hummingbird Fuchsia.

Other Notes

As for all garden flowers, cultivation has produced different forms of the plant. Flowers, in particular, can differ in colour or proportions while keeping the same basic form and shape.

See also

Fuchsia boliviana, native to parts of Bolivia, Peru and Argentina, may be cultivated as a garden shrub. Its elongated flowers give it the common name Lady’s Eardrops.

[152] Fulica atra, Coot

[152] Fulica atra, Coot

Introduction

Fulica atra, the Eurasian or Common Coot, is a widespread and very common black bird, generally seen on or near water. It is also called the Australian Coot. There are several other similar species of Fulica, known as Coots, found in the Americas, but the Eurasian one is usually just called a Coot in Britain.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Gruiformes (Cranes and Rails)

Suborder – Ralli (Rails and a few others)

Family – Rallidae (Rails, Crakes, Moorhens and Gallinules)

Genus – Fulica (Coots)

Scientific Name – Fulica atra

Name

Coot is an Old English word of uncertain origin, used for Fulica atra and other diving water birds. (It is also not clear why, in the Eighteenth Century, the same word acquired the meaning of a silly person or old person.)

Fulica is Latin for a Coot and atra means black.

(The word rail comes via French as an onomatopoeic form of their cries.)

Description

Rallidae is a family of medium sized ground birds with little in common with Cranes, their closest relatives. They have small, rounded wings and rarely fly, apart from migration.

Fulica atra is a roughly duck-sized bird. It is almost totally black with a white bill extending to a frontal shield, from which the phrase ‘as bald as a Coot’ (used as early the Fifteenth Century) comes.

At first glance it may be confused with the Moorhen, a very closely related bird often seen in the same places as Coots. The Coot is much larger and the white front of the Coot is a distinguishing feature.

Like other rails, Coots have large, lobed feet adapted to paddling in water or walking on floating vegetation.

It generally breeds by building a small island for a nest in water.

Young Coot chicks have a recognizable bright red head surrounded by orange-yellow hairs. Their big feet are already in evidence.

As they grow older, they become more loke their parents.

The Coot makes a number of noises that could never be described as songs.

Coots are almost always seen on or near lakes. They are omnivorous and feed on algae, vegetation, seeds and fruit as well as the eggs of other birds and small live prey. They are said to graze on land but I don’t think I have ever seen one more than a metre away from water.

Habitat

Fulica atra is widespread over Eurasia and also found in Australia, New Zealand and the extreme north of Africa. They really like to be on or near water.

Other Notes

I have been thinking about these birds for this blog and have come to the conclusion that I have never seen a Coot fly or attempt to fly. The same applies to Moorhens and Water Rails.

See also

[157] the Moorhen and [293] the Water Rail are very closely related birds.

Cranes, related birds that don’t look similar, are coming soon.