[212] Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip Tree

[212] Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip Tree

Introduction

Liriodendron tulipifera, the Tulip Tree (or Tuliptree), is one of the largest trees native to the USA. In the UK, where its is cultivated in gardens and parks, it is noted for its unusually shaped leaves and flowers.

It has many other common names – American Tulip Tree, Tuliptree Magnolia, Tulipwood, Tulip Poplar, Whitewood, Canoewood, Fiddletree and Yellow-poplar.

The other Liriodendron species, Liriodendron chinense, native to China may be called the Chinese Tulip Tree.

Its is, of course, not to be confused with [346] Tulips.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Magnoliales

Family – Magnoliaceae

Genus – Liriodendron

Scientific Name – Liriodendron tulipifera

Name

It is not named from the shape of leaves but from the shape of its flowers. Lirio-dendron means lily-tree and I will let you work out tulipifera.

Description

You will have to wait until [218] Magnolia for a note on the taxonomic position of Liriodendron. These posts are not written in numerical order.

Liriodendron tulipifera grows to a large deciduous tree.

The leaves are large and very distinctively shaped. They are almost square at the apex.

It flowers quite late, around June. Flowers are quite large, tulip shaped and coloured yellow-green. The sepals are green with orange bases.

Habitat and use

Liriodendron tulipifera is native to the USA East of the Mississippi.

It is cultivated in parks and roadside verges and as a garden tree although it will grow too large for most domestic gardens. There are several varieties that can include some differences in the leaf and flower colouration, including variegated leaves.

Other Notes

The Tulip Tree is one of the species that had escaped my notice until I started this blog.

I was beginning to despair of finding a tree in flower when I walked past a tree that I pass often in our local park and noticed its odd shaped leaves. I had to look up to see if it was in flower. I found a few buds and just two or three very early flowers on this large tree. Many people must walk past it every day without noticing it.

See also

When I described the flowers, I was going to say that they are large flowers for a tree and I tried to think of other examples. There are some like [008] Horse-chestnuts that produce a large inflorescence made of small flowers, but the only large flowers I could think of were Magnolias, which are the nearest relatives of the Tulip Tree.

[211] Linnaea x grandiflora, Glossy Abelia

[211] Linnaea x grandiflora, Glossy Abelia

Introduction

Linnaea x grandiflora, Glossy Abelia, is a popular garden plant with attractive flowers, often grown as a hedge.

While it is generally known by the common name Abelia, its Scientific name is not agreed.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Dipsacales

Family – Caprifoliaceae

Subfamily – Linnaeoideae

Genus – Linnaea

Scientific Name – Linnaea x grandiflora

Taxonomy is disputed and it is also known as Abelia x grandiflora.

Cultivars are available.

Name

Clarke Abel (1780-81-1826) was a famous naturalist who sailed on Lord Amherst’s embassy to China as a surgeon. He attempted to bring back many seeds and plants but all were lost on a shipwreck. But living plants of Abelia chinensis (now Linnaea chinensis) were brought to England in 1844.

Linnaea borealis used to be the only species in the genus Linnaea, named after Carl Linnaeus, the founder of modern taxonomy, as it was one of his favourite flowers.

Description

As you will remember me saying in other posts, recent DNA studies have recently moved many species and this includes many Abelia species that have moved to Linnaea. As you will also expect by now, this result is not universally agreed. Some botanists still keep them in Abelia.

Linnaea x grandiflora is a direct hybrid between Linnaea chinensis and Linnaea uniflora, coming from a plant raised in 1886 in Verbania on Lake Maggiore in Italy. All plants are derived as cuttings from this plant.

Glossy Abelia is a deciduous shrub with has dark green glossy leaves that turn bronze. Flowers are pendulous, white tinged with pale pink, and flowering continues to late autumn. The calyx (made of sepals, forming the outer layer of the flower,) is bronze red and remains for months after the flowers die.

Habitat and use

Linnaea chinensis and Linnaea uniflora are both native to China and the Far East. Linnaea chinensis has been cultivated in China and Japan.

Other Notes

I have only seen this plant in gardens where it is planted as an ornamental hedge.

Purists may note that for hybrid species such as Linnaea x grandiflora, the genus and epithet should be italicized but the hybrid indicator ‘x’ between them should not be italicized. I have not followed this convention.

[210] Linaria vulgaris, Toadflax

[210] Linaria vulgaris, Common Toadflax

Introduction

Linaria vulgaris, Common Toadflax or Yellow Toadflax, is a wild plant with bright yellow and orange flowers, which is also cultivated as a garden plant. It may also be called Butter and Eggs.

All 150 species of Linaria may be called Toadflax, including Linaria purpurea, Purple Loosestrife, sometimes cultivated as a garden plant. Sometimes the whole tribe Antirrhineae may be called toadflax.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Lamiales

Family – Plantaginaceae

Tribe – Antirrhineae

Genus – Linaria

Scientific Name – Linaria vulgaris

Recent analysis has moved this plant from the family Scrophulariaceae

Name

As we saw in [110] Ivy-leaved Toadflax, the name comes from a misunderstanding. One or more types of these plants were traditionally used to treat bubonic plague and the word bubo was confused with bufo, the Latin for toad.

Linaria is derived from Linum, the genus name and Latin word for flax, (cognate of course with linseed,) which has similar foliage to some species. 

Description

Linaria vulgaris is a relatively small plant with long thin, sometimes glaucous leaves, somewhat similar to Flax.

The flowers, which appear in a group on a short stem, are similar to the familiar garden plant Snapdragon, Antirhhinum majus, but much smaller. They are pale yellow with a bright orange centre that gives them the name Butter and Eggs.

Habitat and use

Linaria vulgaris is native to Europe and parts of Asia, where it grows as a common wildflower or weed. It has been introduced to North America where it is now common.

It has in the past been a traditional remedy for many ailments but I’m beginning to think that this true for almost every common weed.

See also

Linaria purpurea, Purple Toadflax, native to the Mediterranean, is grown as an ornamental garden plant. Its taller stems have many purple-coloured flowers.

I have seen this plant apparently growing wild so it is probably in the process of becoming naturalized.

Other close relatives are the Snapdragon, as noted above, and Ivy-leaved Toadflax.

[209] Limosa limosa, Black-tailed Godwit

[209] Limosa limosa, Black-tailed Godwit

Introduction

Limosa limosa, the Black-tailed Godwit, is a relatively large wading bird, commonly seen at wetland sites throughout the year.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Charadriformes (Waders, Gulls and Auks)

Suborder – Scolopaci (Only one family)

Family – Scolopacidae (Including sandpipers, Turnstone, Curlew, Snipe, and Phalaropes.)

Subfamily – Tringinae

Genus – Limosa (Godwits)

Scientific Name – Limosa limosa

Name

The origins of the word godwit, which dates from about 1400, are unclear. It could be associated with Middle English ‘good wight’ (good creature) but is probably onomatopoeic from its call.

Limosa, from the Latin limus, means muddy

Description

The four species of Limosa are geographical separate and two of them are restricted to North America.

For identification you can forget anything about the tail for a start. Limosa limosa is one of few wading birds that we see in both breeding and non-breeding plumages – and some stages in-between. Not surprisingly, the breeding version is more colourful.

Apart from the Curlew, godwits are the largest waders seen in Britain. Their long bills are from yellowish to pink, always with a dark pointed tip. Winter plumage is mottle brownish grey, with brighter orange-brown colours of the neck and breast in summer.

As you can see in some of these pictures you sometimes see birds together in winter and summer plumage. This is quite common for many species of birds.

They feed mostly on invertebrates and tend to spend most of their time wading in shallow water and pecking repeatedly with their heads underwater.

Habitat and use

Limosa limosa breeds in Iceland and across Europe to central Asia. It winters as far south as central Africa, India, Indonesia and Australia. In southern England it can be seen all-year round as a passage migrant.

Like many birds they were eaten a few hundred years ago in Britain.

Other Notes

I see these birds almost every time I visit Slimbridge, almost always in a flock either busy pecking for food or asleep.

Because of their rapid feeding methods, they can be very difficult to photograph. If you have a camera with a fast repeat, it’s best to take dozens of pictures. You may get lucky and catch one with its head out of the water. If you catch them resting (on one leg) the head is probably hidden.

See also

Limosa lapponica, the Bar-tailed Godwit, is a much less common bird generally only seen very near to the coast. It is found in summer in Lapland and the Arctic regions of Eurasia and Alaska, wintering on the coasts of Oceania, Southern Asia and Africa. (Lapponnicus is Modern Latin, meaning from Lapland.)

Apart from the fact that it is normally solitary when Limosa limosa is gregarious, there are some fairly easy distinguishing features that don’t include looking at their tails! The bill length and curvature, and the length of the legs are slightly different. The plumage patterns are different but not as different as the annual variation between summer and winter forms.

There are several other wading birds that we have met or will come later. You may also see Numenius arquata, the (Common) Curlew – and its slightly smaller and much rarer relative Numenius phaeopus, the Whimbrel – both larger than the Godwits with definitely down-curved bills. I see groups of Curlew fairly often at wetland sites or in farmland nearby but they don’t generally come near enough for good pictures.

While the common name curlew is derived obviously from its call, its scientific name shows the typical deviousness of those who had the problem of coming up with original names. In the Sixth Century AD the Ancient Greek historian Hesychius mentioned an unknown bird called noumenios, a word that may be derived from neos-mene meaning new moon, so the word became the name of the Curlew with its crescent shaped bill. Its species epithet arquatus is Modern Latin derived from arcuatus ‘bow-shaped’ so the poor bird is now stuck with a name meaning “crescent moon shaped, bow shaped!”

[208] Ligustrum vulgare, Privet

[208] Ligustrum vulgare, Privet

Introduction

Ligustrum vulgare and other species and hybrids of Ligustrum, commonly known as Privet are widely cultivated as hedge plants. Their small leaves allow relatively easy topiary.

Ligustrum vulgare may be called Common Privet or European Privet

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Lamiales

Family – Oleaceae

Tribe – Oleeae

Subtribe – Ligustrinae

Genus – Ligustrum

Scientific Name – Ligustrum vulgare

Other species, hybrids and many cultivars are available

Name

The word privet dates from Sixteenth Century English as ‘primet’, and may be derived from ‘prime’ meaning to cut and trim (as in a hedge.) There is no evidence of any connection with ‘private.’

Ligustrum comes via Latin from the Greek name of the area now called Liguria (the coastal area around Genoa).

Description

In the UK, the Privet is the best example of a plant that is used as a hedge and never allowed to grow fully. I have seen a couple of Privet trees and they were only just large enough to be considered more than a large shrub.

All the species of Ligustrum are large shrubs or small trees. They have small white flowers followed by black berries, but are normally trimmed so often that these are not seen. The small, tightly packed leaves are recognizable.

Ligustrum vulgare is supposedly a wild species in Britain, where it is deciduous and may be found in woodland and hedgerows. (I have never seen it in the wild.) It is described as evergreen in warmer locations and I think the cultivated varieties are all evergreen.

Habitat and use

Ligustrum vulgare is native to Europe including most of the UK. It was used for hedges in Elizabethan times but several other species have been used since then including Ligustrum ovalifolium, Ligustrum quihoui, Ligustrum japonicum and some hybrids.

As always, I won’t guarantee my pictures to species or variety levels.

As noted, Ligustrum species are widely cultivated for hedges, often very neatly trimmed. In Britain they are less popular than they used to be, perhaps because of the need to trim them often. The many cultivars include some with variegated or golden coloured leaves, and some with yellow berries.

Here is a local hedge showing how it can look before and after trimming.

See also

Close relatives from the tribe Oleeae include Lilac, Syringa, well known for its fragrant flowers; the Olive tree, which is now sometimes seen in Britain as a small specimen tree; and [150] Ash, Fraxinus.

[207] Libellula quadrimaculata, Four-spotted Chaser

[207] Libellula quadrimaculata, Four-spotted Chaser

Introduction

Libellula quadrimaculata, the Four-spotted Chaser, is a close relative of yesterday’s dragonfly with marked spots on its wings. In America it is called the Four-spotted Skimmer.

[It is probably worth noting that Britain and the USA often give species completely different common names. When I take my information from Wikipedia it sometimes prefers the American versions.]

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Odonata (Dragonflies and damselflies)

Infraorder – Anisoptera (Dragonflies)

Superfamily – Libelluloidea

Family – Libellulidae (Skimmers)

Genus – Libellula

Scientific Name – Libellula quadrimaculata

Name

I will let you use your knowledge of Latin to work out what quadrimaculata means, perhaps with a bit of help from [040] Lords and Ladies and the beetle we met four days ago.

Description

Male and female are both similar in shape to [206] Scarce Chaser with similarly coloured brown bodies. The spots on the otherwise clear wings are very obvious. Each wing has two spots making eight in total. You could say that either side is four-spotted – or the front wings or hind wings.

The larvae develop under water for two years eating other insects and sometimes tadpoles. Adults also eat small insects, mostly flies.

Habitat

Libellula quadrimaculata is found throughout Eurasia and North America. It is common and widespread throughout the UK and likes ponds and slow-moving water.

Other Notes

This dragonfly is the State Insect of Alaska.

[206] Libellula fulva, Scarce Chaser

[206] Libellula fulva, Scarce Chaser

Introduction

Libellula fulva, the Scarce Chaser, is a sexually dimorphic dragonfly. It’s either black and blue or brown.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Odonata (Dragonflies and damselflies)

Infraorder – Anisoptera (Dragonflies)

Superfamily – Libelluloidea

Family – Libellulidae (Skimmers)

Genus – Libellula

Scientific Name – Libellula fulva

Dragonflies and Damselflies

One of the differences between dragonflies and damselflies is that at rest dragonflies normally hold their wings out to the side whereas damselflies hold them over their backs. In practice the obvious difference is that dragonflies are larger. They spend most of their time hunting over water and are not often seen at rest.

Name

Lillebula is the Latin for dragonfly. Fulvus, also Latin, is a tawny orange colour – presumably from the female form.

Description

The head and thorax of the male Scarce Chaser are very dark blue and its abdomen is very light blue with dark markings.

The female is a tawny dark orange colour with a dark line down the back of the abdomen.

Habitat

The Scarce Chaser is common over continental Europe but relatively scarce in the UK, being found generally in a few location in the South of England.

Other Notes

I can’t say much about dragonflies. Your best chance of finding one is where the adults emerge and rest before flying, which may be on a stalk of grass emerging from water. So, a good camera with zoom facility is useful.

Even if you pick the right day in summer with the right weather. you need to pick the right time of day.

See Also

We will cover four species of dragonfly. [207] The Four-spot Chaser, coming tomorrow; [242] the Black-tailed Skimmer, which looks very similar to the Scarce Chaser; and [329] the Common Darter are all in the family Libellulidae.

[205] Leucozona lucorum, a Hoverfly

[205] Leucozona lucorum, a Hoverfly

Introduction

Leucozona lucorum is a relatively large, colourful type of hoverfly. Like most species of insects, it has no common name.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Diptera (Flies)

Family– Syrphidae (Hoverflies)

Subfamily – Syrphinae

Tribe – Syrphini

Genus – Leucozona

Subgenus – Leucozona

Scientific Name – Leucozona lucorum

Name

Leucozona comes from Greek roots leuko-zone meaning white-belt. Lucorum means ‘of the woods.’

Description

You will have to wait until [333] Syrphus for a general description of hoverflies. As this is a few months I will give you a couple of clues.

• They do hover a lot.
• Look at the wing veins.

Leucozona lucorum is among the largest of the 250 species of hoverflies found in the UK and one of the most easily recognized. It has a black tail and a thick white strip across its back. The front part of its body is a hairy orange-brown. There is a dark spot on its clear wings.

Hoverflies are generally colourful and may mimic other insect species. Leucozona lucorum bears a superficial resemblance to some [052] Bumble Bees. It is herbivorous and is generally found on flowers.

Habitat

Leucozona lucorum is found over almost the whole of the Northern Hemisphere. It is generally seen in or near deciduous forests or untended grassland.

Other Notes

As I have said before, one of the best ways to find insects is to look on and in open flowers in the summer. They are generally far too busy looking for food (or for similar insects of the opposite sex) to worry about being photographed.

See also

There are several more flies to come.

[204] Leucanthemum vulgare, Ox-eye Daisy

[204] Leucanthemum vulgare, Ox-eye Daisy

Introduction

Leucanthemum vulgare, the Ox-eye (or Oxeye) Daisy, is a wildflower in the Aster family easily confused with the cultivated Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum.

The word Daisy on its own usually refers to [049] Bellis perennis, the Common Daisy; and many other species from dozens of genera in the Aster family are also called Daisies.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Asterales

Family – Asteraceae (About 30 000 species)

Subfamily – Asteroideae (About 20 000 species)

Supertribe – Asterodae

Tribe – Anthemideae (About 2 000 species)

Genus – Leucanthemum

Scientific Name – Leucanthemum vulgare

It has many scientific synonyms.

Other species and hybrids are cultivated, particularly many cultivars of Leucanthemum x superbum.

Name

Leuc-anthemum, from Ancient Greek, means white-flower.

Description

I will start this post with an extended disclaimer. There are at least fifty species of Leucanthemum, they all look very similar, many of them are cultivated, and there are many varieties and cultivars. So, I am not going to guarantee the species of any of my pictures.

I have to mention Leucanthemum x superbum, the Shasta Daisy, named after Mount Shasta in California because its petals were the colour of snow. (Yes, I know, it’s a ridiculous name, but so are many common names and almost all scientific names.) Back in 1890, Luther Burbank, an American horticulturalist crossed Leucanthemum vulgare with Leucanthemum maximum; this hybrid was crossed with Leucanthemum lacustre; and the result was crossed with Nipponanthemum nipponicum. The result was the Shasta Daisy, from which many popular cultivars have since been produced. It can escape and naturalize, where it looks very similar to the Ox-eye Daisy or other imported and naturalised species of Leucanthemum.

The best way to describe the Ox-eye Daisy is as a large daisy with a particularly large flower. It can grow to over half a metre in height and it produces up to three large daisy-like flowers. (Yes, of course, you know about Asters. They are not actually flowers, they are inflorescences with lots of florets.)

Shasta Daisies can escape and naturalize and they look just like Ox-eye Daisies but have even larger flower heads.

Habitat and use

Leucanthemum vulgare is native to Europe and part of Western Asia. It is a perennial wildflower (or weed) of grassland and scrub areas, especially open meadows and fields. It has widely naturalised in many parts of the world and can become invasive.

It can be found as a weed in lawns, where it won’t grow to its full size.

The Shasta Daisy is widely cultivated in many cultivars.

Other Notes

Daisies are fairly common. I assume that the small flower varieties are common daisies, the larger ones are Ox Eye Daisies and the largest are Shasta Daisies that have escaped and naturalized – but I could be wrong.

See also

There are many Aster species to be found in the UK, a few of which will have blog posts. The other one that most resembles daisies is [331] Michaelmas Daisy.

[203] Leptura quadrifasciata, (Longhorn Beetle)

[203] Leptura quadrifasciata, a Longhorn Beeetle

Introduction

Leptura quadrifasciata is another Longhorn Beetle, closely related to [188] Pachytodes cerambyciformis (Judolia cerambyciformis)

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder – Polyphaga

Infraorder – Cucujiformia (Most plant eating beetles)

Clade – Phytophaga (Cerambycoidae and Weevils)

Superfamily – Cerambycoidea (Cerambycidae, Flower Beetles and a few others)

Family – Cerambycidae (Long-horned Beetles)

Subfamily – Lepturinae (Flower Longhorns)

Tribe – Lepturini

Genus – Leptura

Scientific Name – Leptura quadrifasciata

Name

Like many beetles this species does not have a common name. When insects are called long-horned it generally means that the antennae are relatively long.

In Ancient Greek mythology the shepherd Cerambus was transformed into a large beetle with horns. He has given his name to the type species Cerambyx and hence to the whole family of long-horned beetles.

Leptura, from Greek Roots, means thin-tailed. Quadrifasciata is modern Latin meaning four-banded.

Description

There are about 30 000 species in the family Cerambycidae. Almost all have very long antennae, longer than the rest of the body.

Leptura quadrifasciata is a medium sized beetle, about a centimetre long with antennae not quite so long as other Longhorns. The elytra have four bright orange-yellow bands. The rest of the body is all black.

Larvae of this beetle feed on many species of deciduous and coniferous trees, including [017] Alder, [051] Birch, [142] Beech, [266] Spruce, [291-2] Oak, [307] Willow and [308] Elder. Their life cycle is two or three years.

Habitat

Leptura quadrifasciata is common over Northern and Central Eurasia.

See also

I have unashamedly copied much of this post from [188] another Longhorn Beetle, which is very closely related.

[202] Leptoterna dolobrata, Meadow Plant Bug

[292] Leptopterna dolobrata, Meadow Plant Bug

Introduction

Leptopterna dolobrata, the Meadow Plant Bug, is one of over two hundred species of mirid bugs found in the UK. I will include a few others from the same family.

(The genus is often mis-spelled as Leptoterna.)

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Hemiptera (Bugs)

Suborder – Heteroptera

Infraorder – Cimicomorpha

Superfamily – Miroidea

Family – Miridae (Mirid Bugs)

Subfamily – Mirinae

Tribe – Stenodemini

Genus – Leptopterna

Scientific Name – Leptopterna dolobrata

It has the synonym Miris dolobratus.

See text for other mirids.

Name

As for many scientific names, there is no trace of why the original names were given. Leptopterna looks as if it comes from Ancient Greek lepto-pternix meaning thin-stem. Dolobratus is Latin meaning shaped like a mattock (an agricultural tool a bit like a pickaxe.)

Miris, the species that started the series of scientific names, comes from Ancient Greek Myron meaning sweet oil or Perfume. By now it won’t surprise you that the genus comes in the tribe Mirini, within the subfamily Mirinae, within the family Miridae within the superfamily Miroidea.

I have added some notes below on the scientific names of other mirids but there are some that I cannot trace.

Mirid Bugs

We have met [094] Dock Bug, [095] Cinnamon Bug, and [124] Parent Bug, all coming from different infraorders in Hemiptera but Cimicomorpha are similar in appearance. Within this, the main superfamily Miroidea has 15 000 species, most of which are in the family Miridae.

Bugs with the family are called plant bugs, leaf bugs, grass bugs, or often just mirid bugs. They are also called capsid bugs, as the family used to be called Capsidae. There are well over a thousand genera, split into a number of subfamilies and tribes. Most species are plant-eating and many of the well-known species are notorious agricultural pests.

Meadow Plant Bug

Leptoterna dolobrata is found over most of Europe and, as an introduced species, in North America. It is common and widespread in the UK.

It feeds on developing grass seeds and is regarded as a pest in areas of agricultural grass. Its body is black with markings from light yellow to orange. The antennae are long.

Other Notes

As for all bugs, which are hemimetabolous, you may see some late instars that won’t look enough like the adult stage to be immediately identifiable.

See also

In no particular, here are some other mirid bugs I have seen.

• Phylus coryli

This bug is common over Europe apart from the far South and common in Britain. It feeds on Hazel, Corylus avellana.

[I can’t trace phylus but coryli is a genitive ending, meaning ‘of the hazel.’ Corylus is the Latin for Hazel tree. Avellana comes from the town of Avella in Italy.]

It varies from light brown to black with light coloured legs and antennae.

• Liocoris tripustulatus, Common Nettle Bug

This insect is common over most of Europe and feeds mostly on [353] Nettles. It has a heart shaped mark on its back.

• Plagiognathus arbustorum

This bug is found in most of Europe, parts of Asia and North America. They vary in colour from olive green to almost black. They generally feed on the buds, flowers and developing fruits of a wide variety of plants. [Plagio-gnathus seems to mean steal-jaw. Arbustorum means ‘of the woods.’]

• Grypocoris stysi

This long-horned bug is mostly dark with bright yellow markings. [Grypo-coris seems to mean hook-nosed]

• Deraeocoris flavilinea

This insect is found over much of Europe but was not seen in the UK until 1996. (Flavilinea means yellow-striped.)

The first two pictures below are a larval instar phase.

• Closterotomus norvegicus, Potato Capsid Bug

Common throughout Eurasia, this bug feeds on the flowers, buds and unripe fruit of [353] Nettle, [343] Clover, Cannabis, [318] Potatoes, carrots and many other species. Its nymphs are generally green, turning brown as an adult. There are two dark dots behind the head. 

• Heterogaster urticae, Nettle Ground Bug

Common in Eurasia, Africa, New Zealand and North America, this shiny bug is generally found on Nettles.

[201] Leptophyes punctatissima, Speckled Bush-cricket

[201] Leptophyes punctatissima, Speckled Bush-cricket

Introduction

Leptophyes punctatissima, the Speckled Bush-cricket, is a flightless, grasshopper-like insect with very long antennae and hundreds of tiny spots all over its green body.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, bush-crickets and others)

Suborder – Ensifera (Crickets and bush-crickets)

Family – Tettigoniidae (Bush-crickets)

Subfamily – Phaneropterinae

Tribe – Barbitistini

Genus Leptophyes

Scientific Name – Leptophyes punctatissima

Name

Latin ‘Ensi-fera’ or sword-bearer comes from the blade-like ovipositor.

Tettigonia and hence Tettigoniidae, come from the Latinized Greek name for a cicada, the onomatopoeic ‘tettix,’ from the noise of their stridulation. ‘Katydid’ is also onomatopoeic.

Lepto- is a Greek root meaning thin, for the long thin antennae, but I can’t identify -phyes. Punctatissimus means very spotted.

Bush-crickets

Members of the family Tettigoniidae, with 6 400 species, were previously called Long-horned Grasshoppers from their very long antennae. They are now known as Bush-crickets in the UK or Katydids in the USA and several other countries. This family contains most of the species from the suborder Ensifera, and it is divided into several subfamilies and tribes.

Description

Most people would call this insect a grasshopper but zoologists restrict that word to those with relatively short antennae. It is bright green and the spots cover its legs body and antennae. It may look distinctive when posing in the sunlight but its colouring provides very good camouflage.

The male has a brown stripe down his back and both male and female have tiny vestigial wings.

I only have pictures of an adult female.

She has a flat, curved ovipositor. You can see it and her wings better in close-up.

You may also see the final instar nymph, which has no wings or marking on the back. The spots are more marked and the long antennae are equally impressive.

Habitat and use

The Speckled Bush-cricket is common over most of Europe including all of Britain. It is often found in gardens either as an adult or as the final nymph form.

See also

I have to admit that Tettigonia viridissima, the Great Green Bush-cricket, is one of my all-time favourite insects. They are found all over Britain but it’s a long time since I have seen one. They are twice the size of Leptophyes punctatissima and have fully developed wings.

[200] Lemna minor, Duckweed

[200] Lemna minor, Duckweed

Introduction

Lemna minor, Duckweed, is a spreading freshwater aquatic plant that can cover areas of stagnant water.

It may be called Common Duckweed or Lesser Duckweed. Other members of the subfamily Lemnoideae may also be called duckweeds.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Phylum – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Clade – Monocots

Order – Alismatales

Family – Araceae

Subfamiliy – Lemnoideae

Genus – Lemna

Scientific Name – Lemna minor

Name

Lemna is an Ancient Greek word for an unknown aquatic plant. Minor, of course means smaller.

Description

This may come as a surprise, but members of the subfamily Lemnoideae are not typical monocots!

They are not really very typical of plants as they normally have no stems or proper leaves, often have no roots and they don’t normally flower.

They normally consist of a single frond that looks like a tiny leaf, sometimes with a root.

Lemna minor has fronds smaller than half a centimetre and it reproduces vegetatively by forming two or three leaves and then splitting. It has single tiny root and lives on the surface of water. Its sticky root helps it to spread by sticking to the feet of birds.

They do rarely produce tiny flowers, about a millimetre in size.

In temperate area they may sink and hibernate when it gets cold.

Habitat and use

Lemna minor is found worldwide except in arctic climates. It may not be native in South America, Australia and New Zealand but has naturalized in these areas.

It is found in freshwater ponds and slow-moving streams.

It can be used to remove excessive concentrations of metals in water and is cultivated to feed to livestock.

Other Notes

Duckweed is found in totally still areas of water such as unused canals. It can be removed by adding herbivorous fish.

I did think that it might be called Pondweed but this common name is used by at least six other species.

See also

You really don’t expect me to come up with anything related. It’s only very recently that Lemnoideae has become a subfamily of Araceae. It used to be bit of an unknown.

[199] Lavandula angustifolia, Lavender

[199] Lavandula angustifolia, Lavender

Introduction

Lavandula angustifolia, Lavender, is a low compact, bushy plant, very widely cultivated as a garden plant both for its silvery blue leaves and its fragrant purple pink flowers. 

It is also known as English Lavender, Common Lavender, Garden Lavender and Narrow-leaved Lavender.

About fifty other species of the genus Lavandula are called Lavender. The word lavender is also used for a pale purple colour and other shades may be called lavender blue, lavender pink or lavender grey.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Lamiales

Family – Lamiaceae (Mint, Deadnettle and Sage)

Subfamily – Nepetoideae (Mint)

Tribe – Ocimeae

Genus – Lavandula

Subgenus – Lavandula

Scientific Name – Lavandula angustifolia

It was formerly called Lavandula officinalis

There are many cultivars and it is often cultivated as a hybrid, especially Lavandula x intermedia, which is L angustifolia x L latifolia.

Name

The word lavender is thought to come via Old French from the Latin lavare, to wash. Lavandula is derived from the English name. Angustifolia, from the Latin, means narrow-leaved.

Description

Lavender is a low-growing evergreen plant with narrow silvery blue-green leaves and purple-pink flowers that grow on spikes. As often with cultivated plants, varieties can have leaves and flowers in different shades. Flowers can be from almost white to bright purple.

Its dense format makes it look like a small wall of colour from a distance – purple flowers in summer and green in winter.

Habitat and use

Lavandula augustifolia is native to Southern Euorope.

It is very widely cultivated in gardens, often as border plant acting as a very low hedge. There are many cultivars.

Lavender is also widely cultivated for the production of lavender oil, used in salves and perfumes. It is also used to flavour sweet and savoury culinary dishes and herbal infusions.

The leaves are similar to Rosemary, Salvia rosmarinus, and may be used in a similar way as a herb.

Other Notes

This is probably one of the most common plants that I see in gardens.

See also

Many of our familiar garden herbs are fairly close relatives.

[198] Lathyrus latifolius, Sweet Pea

[198] Lathyrus latifolius, Sweet Pea

Introduction

Lathyrus latifolius, the Sweet Pea, is a common and widespread climbing wild plant, often cultivated for its attractive and fragrant flowers.

Outside the UK it is also known as Perennial Pea, Perennial Peavine or Everlasting Pea. British English doe not include the American use of the word ‘vine’ for climbing plants in general.

Many other Lathyrus species are called Peas or Peavines as are other species in the family Fabaceae. Wikipedia asserts that another species is called the Sweet Pea but common names are always uncertain. In the UK this species is generally called a Sweet Pea.

The common edible green pea is Pisum sativum, a close relative.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Fabales

Family – Fabaceae

Subfamily – Faboideae

Tribe – Fabeae

Genus – Lathyrus (Peas and vetchlings)

Scientific Name – Lathyrus latifolius

There are many cultivars of this and other Lathyrus species.

Name

The derivation of the word pea is interesting. The Latin pisum, from Ancient Greek pison came first, was adopted into English as pease, with plural peasen, when other methods of pluralization were common.

When the plural ending -s became more common and standard, it was assumed that pease was plural and the singular form pea emerged. (Look out for the word [280] Cherry, which suffered a similar fate. The blog post for cherries was written before this one.)

Lathyrus is the Latin (from Ancient Greek) for vetchlings like the Sweet Pea. Lati-folius means broad-leaved.

Description

There are 20 000 species in the family Fabaceae. They all produce their fruits in pods many of which are called peas or beans.

Lathyrus latifolius has winged stems that give it an unusual, recognizable appearance. As it grows, vertical leaves enfolding the stems emerge and tendrils at the top climb their way rapidly up whatever it can find. It climbs walls or as an ornamental garden plant it is often trained to circle and climb [263] Bamboo poles. Where it cannot climb it has a more sprawling nature – or plants may climb up each other.

Technically, each leaf is a pair of long oval leaflets with a long, winged petiole (the stalk that attaches the leaf) and a single tendril between the leaflets that branches into several tendrils.

The pink flowers emerge quite late in the year, emerging from the opening leaf bunches in a small raceme of about half a dozen flowers.

Habitat and use

Lathyrus latifolius is native to most of Europe. It is a perennial plant. Lathyrys odoratus, also called the Sweet Pea, is native to an area around the island of Sicily and is a similar annual plant from which many varieties are derived. There are many cultivars of these and other Lathyrus species and hybrids.

It won’t surprise you that cultivars have a variety of colours for the flowers. When grown in gardens the cut flowers may be taken indoors for display and they are sometimes sold as cut flowers.

See also

See [214] Bird’s-foot Trefoil for the role of the family Fabaceae in Nitrogen Fixation.

There are many species within the tribe Fabeae that are widely cultivated as food crops. They include Pisum sativum, peas (including split peas); chickpeas; lentils and broad beans.

The close relative Phaseolus vulgaris has over a hundred varieties and includes runner beans, lima beans, kidney beans, haricot beans and French beans.

Other crops in the family Fabaceae include Soy (or Soya) beans and peanuts

I won’t go into details of worldwide production.

There are also several common wildflowers in the closely related genus Vicia, for example.

• Vicia sepium, Bush Vetch – pink flowers.
• Vicia sativa, Common Vetch, Garden Vetch, Tare or simply Vetch – blue to purple flowers.
• Vicia hirsuta, Hairy Vetch, Tiny Vetch or Hairy Tare – white or pale blue flowers.
• Vicia cracca, Tufted Vetch, Cow Vetch, Bird Vetch or Blue Vetch – blue flowers.

All are native to Europe, low growing, with small, thin leaves with tendrils and small flowers.

[197] Lasius niger, Black Ants

[197] Lasius niger, Black Ants

Introduction

Lasius niger, which may be called the Common Black Ant or Black Garden Ant, is by far the most common and widespread species of ant in the towns of Britain. I will also briefly consider up to a hundred other species of ant found in the UK.

There are about 20 000 species of insects called ants within the family Formicidae.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Hymenoptera

Suborder – Apocrita (Bees, Wasps and Ants)

Infraorder – Aculeata (Bees, Ants and stinging Wasps)

Superfamily – Formicoidea (Just Formicidae)

Family – Formicidae (Ants)

Subfamily – Formicinae

Tribe – Lasiini

Genus – Lasius

Scientific Name – Lasius niger

See text for other species.

Name

Ant comes from old Germanic roots, probably originally meaning ‘biter.’

Lasius is Modern Latin from the Ancient Greek lasios meaning shaggy. Niger, of course, means black.

Formica, which defines the name of the family Formicidae, is the Latin for an ant.

Ants

In [036] Arge pagana, we saw that taxonomically we divide Hymenoptera into Symphyta (Sawflies and others) and Apocrita (Bees, Wasps and Ants.) Well, it gets more complicated with the 150 000 species of Apocrita. It’s best just to accept that its complicated and that technically bees and ants are just specialized wasps. The biological definition of a wasp is very wide and includes much, much more than the common insects that Americans call yellowjackets.

Physically ants are easily recognizable by their long, slender, nodular ‘waists.’ I can’t say I have ever noticed their elbowed antennae but Wikipedia assure me that this is another useful recognition feature.

I have put the word ‘Ants’ in the title in the plural because they are very much a social animal. They form colonies and you have virtually no chance of ever seeing a single ant on its own. In many ways the colony acts as a superorganism.

You will have some idea of insect colonies and castes from [029 Honey Bee.

As well as the queen, workers and drones, ants may have one or more other castes. Many have soldier ants, which are larger and fiercer, acting to defend the colony.

Ants use the same haploid sex-determination system as bees.

Eggs develop into larvae, which are looked after and fed by adult worker ants. (The worker regurgitates liquid food from its crop.) Workers also look after the pupae and emerging imago stage. (See below.)

The queen, generally much larger than workers, can live for thirty years, spending all of her time laying eggs.

Description

Lasius niger ants are small and glossy black.

Their underground colonies have typically four to seven thousand ants, possibly up to 40 000. Colonies only have one queen. There is no soldier caste. Most of the time only workers are produced.

A new generation emerges every year and at the right time thousands of winged queens and male drones emerge from the colony, assisted by workers. All the local colonies pick the same day, generally a hot sunny day in July or August. (Sometimes there may be two or more days and there is some variation across the country.)

Emerging queens are much large than the workers and may have lighter brown bodies. The males are significantly smaller.

All these pictures show emerging queens accompanied in some cases by workers. Only the last picture shows a smaller winged male. I think the ratios are more even but the males generally emerge slightly earlier in the day.

They take flight and males mount the females before landing and mating. The queen can store enough sperm within her to last for life. After landing the ants break off their wings. The males die within about a day and the female new queen seeks somewhere to start a new colony.

She digs a tunnel to a small chamber, blocking the entrance. Then she lays a few eggs, which take about two months to hatch. During this time, she will not eat, absorbing protein from her wing muscles that die down. If desperate she may eat some of her eggs. The first few ants that come from her eggs are smaller and they will help her to set up the new colony.

Habitat

Lasius niger is found across Europe and parts of North and South America and Asia.

It is very common and widespread in Britain and by far the most common of our ant species in towns.

Other Notes

Ants eat almost anything especially if sweet so they can be regarded as pests in houses. It is, of course, of no use killing the offending ants unless you can find and destroy the colony.

I haven’t attempted to photograph any worker ants. Apart from being small they are always busy attending the needs of the colony. You won’t find an ant sitting and posing for photographs.

See also

In towns you may find Mymica rubra, Common Red Ants.

In the countryside you may see Formica Rufa, Wood Ants and Lasius flavus, Yellow Meadow Ants. Other species in the UK are much rarer.

[196] Larus fuscus, Lesser Black-backed Gull

[196] Larus fuscus, Lesser Black-backed Gull

Introduction

Larus Fuscus, the Lesser Black-backed Gull, is one of two very common and widespread species of gull that in Britain are now more often seen inland than at sea. The other one was seen yesterday.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Charadriformes (Waders and Gulls etc.)

Suborder – Lari (Gulls etc., Skuas, Auks)

Family – Laridae (Gulls, Terns and others)

Subfamily – Larinae

Genus – Larus

Scientific Name – Larus fuscus

Name

This bird can be compared to the Great Black-backed Gull although its back is not really black. The Latin fuscus means dark or black-brown.

Description

Larus fuscus is very similar to Larus argentatus, almost identical in size, but its back is a darker shade of grey. In some conditions at a distance, it could be called black. Its legs and feet are yellow.

Otherwise, much of what I said yesterday about [195] the Herring Gull also applies to Larus fuscus. The two species are very closely related and the two species of both are sometimes considered as a group of similar species.

The next picture shows both species for comparison.

(The Larus fuscus may be slightly smaller but the apparent difference in size in the picture is mostly due to the perspective of distance.)

In winter they have the same spotted head and necks as Herring Gulls and the young birds are virtually identical. Both species are mottled brown with pinkish legs and black bills. I work on the assumption that juvenile gulls are most likely to be the same species as nearby adults so I won’t guarantee that I have the right species here (or yesterday.)

Habitat

The traditional winter location of Larus fuscus is much wider than Larus argentatus, including Atlantic coasts down to Central Africa, Indian ocean coasts, the coasts of China and parts of North America. It breeds further North around Iceland and the Arctic coasts of Europe.

 In the UK it is found at some seaside locations but is now mainly resident inland, often in towns and cities as an unwelcome visitor.

Other Notes

As noted yesterday, at seaside resorts, Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls tend not to mix. But both species can occur in the same towns and cities inland.

See also

There are a few more very rare occasional visitors in the Gull family but the only other one that is relatively common is Larus marinus, the Great Black-backed Gull. It is a much more of a sea bird and may be spotted with binoculars flying over the sea, or occasionally at rest very near to the sea.

[Note: with two species, one of which has the word ‘Lesser’ in its name, it is tempting to assign the word ‘Greater’ to the other, but ‘Great’ is more usually correct.]

It is noticeably larger than Larus fuscus and a darker shade of grey – almost bleck – but the best distinguishing feature is its pink legs.

It is the largest species of gull and takes four years to reach adult plumage.

[195] Larus argentatus, Herring Gull

[195] Larus argentatus, Herring Gull

Introduction

Larus argentatus, the (European) Herring Gull is one of two very common and widespread species of gull that are now more often seen inland than at sea. The other one will come tomorrow.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Charadriformes (Waders and Gulls etc.)

Suborder – Lari (Gulls etc., Skuas, Auks)

Family – Laridae (Gulls, Terns and others)

Subfamily – Larinae

Genus – Larus

Scientific Name – Larus argentatus

Name

Gull comes from Welsh and Cornish roots replacing the earlier name ‘mew’ for the birds. Both are ultimately onomatopoeic.

The Herring Gull is, of course, named for its association with fish called herrings. You may think you know what a herring is but common names are never simple. The three species of Clupea are called herrings, but then so are about twenty related species in the family Clupeidae and about a dozen less closely related species! [We won’t meet them in this blog.]

The Latin larus from Ancient Greek laros referred to a gull or other large seabird.

Argentatus means silver (coloured). There is another bird native to Australia called the Silver Gull, Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae. (New Holland is Modern Latin for Australia!)

Description

Almost all gulls used to be included in the genus Larus but since about 2005 smaller species have been split off into [080] Chroicocephalus and other genera.

All the large gulls in the genus Larus are very similar. They are medium to large birds. mostly grey or white with some black markings. They have stout, mostly yellow bills and pinkish or yellowish legs and webbed feet.

Larus argentatus used to include the following, which are now generally considered to be separate species.

The European Herring Gull is white with a light grey back and black tail. Its bill is chunky with a pointed down-turned upper beak, yellow with a red spot. Legs and feet are pink. The iris of the eye is yellow. Male and female birds are identical is all stages of development although the adult male is slightly larger than the female. It is found around the coasts of northwest Europe from Northern Portugal to Norway including the British Isles and Iceland.

Gulls used to be mainly sea birds but, in the UK the Clean Air Acts changed things from about 1960. In an attempt to reduce the frequent occurrence of smog, the direct burning of coal was discouraged in favour of more smokeless fuels. Rubbish used to be routinely incinerated but now it mostly goes to landfill sites, where vast quantities of food waste are available to scavenging birds such as gulls. There are also many office buildings with flat-topped rooves where gulls can breed.

In the UK Herring Gulls are now much more common as inland birds where they feed almost entirely from rubbish dumps. This continues with modern household recycling schemes because much office and industrial waste is not sorted so rigorously. Councils try to discourage the birds and often this is done by falconry – a raptor at a rubbish dump keeps the gulls away. But the birds have learned that the falconer only works on a forty-hour week and they come as soon as the keeper with his discouraging falcon goes home.

Juveniles and Winter

Identifying nearly identical species of gulls is not made easier by variations in plumage.

The winter (non-breeding) plumage is similar with grey-brown streaky spots on their head and necks.

With the juveniles it gets more complicated. Smaller gulls like [080] the Black-headed Gull, mature in just over a year but larger gulls take longer. Larus argentatus in its first year is speckled all over in dark brown and white and its bill is completely black. It has first winter, second winter and third winter variations as it gradually changes to look like its parents, with the bill staying black for most of this period.

Habitat

The traditional location of Larus argentatus is the coastal area of Northwest Europe from Northern Spain to Finland, mostly as a resident species. In the UK it is now mainly resident inland. often in towns and cities as an unwelcome visitor.

Other Notes

When I see large gulls at seaside resorts, they are generally either Herring Gulls or [196] Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The two species tend not to mix. But both species can occur in the same towns and cities.

See also

The Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahelis, is found more over continental Europe but the occasional stray is sighted in Britain. It is similar to Larus argentatus but has yellow legs.

If you spot a gull looking like a Herring Gull but with yellow legs in England, it could be Larus michahellis or it could be an unusual rare variant of Larus argentatus. The most likely option is a hybrid cross between Larus argentatus and [196] Larus fuscus, coming tomorrow.

The Common Gull or Mew Gull, Larus canus, is a relatively uncommon gull found over much of northern Eurasia and north-western North America. Its name may be derived from its liking for common land as a winter habitat. They are smaller than the Herring Gull and are described as having greenish-yellow legs and bill but, to me, they are yellow – without the red spot.

See tomorrow for more Larus species.

[194] Larix decidua, Larch

[194] Larix decidua, Larch

Introduction

Larix decidua, the European Larch, is a deciduous coniferous tree. Although not strictly a native tree, in the UK we just call it the Larch.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Clade – Vascular Plants

Division- Pinophyta (Gynnosperms – Conifers)

Class – Pinopsida (Conifers)

Order – Pinales (All extant conifers)

Family – Pinaceae

Subfamily – Laricoideae

Genus – Larix

Scientific Name – Larix decidua

With plants there is no agreement as to the level corresponding to Phylum or Division.

Name

The English name larch comes via Old Germanic from the Latin larix, which comes from Ancient Greek. The Latin decidua, which of course means deciduous, comes from ‘falling down.’

Description

We can divide the world of plants into flowering plants, which forms the vast majority of species, and Gymnosperms (Conifers,) of which there are only a few hundred species. Even leaving out ferns, mosses and some minor outside groups, we might assume the following.

• All Angiosperms have leaves.
• All Gymnosperms have needles.
• All Angiosperms are deciduous.
• All Gymnosperms are evergreen.
• All cone-bearing trees are Gymnosperms.

None of these assumptions are true. There are exceptions. In the UK the Larch is the only coniferous tree that is deciduous. Its leaves drop off in the autumn as for most ordinary Angiosperms.

(Of course, the last sentence isn’t true either! The Larch is the only deciduous member of the order Pinales, corresponding to what we call Coniferous trees. We have seen that several deciduous trees such as [017] Alder and [051] Birch, have fruits that are effectively cones.)

Beyond that, almost all coniferous trees look much the same. They are all tall, sturdy trees with needles instead of leaves and they produce cones. The Larch is superficially similar to the others. Its old cones can remain on the tree several years after releasing their seeds.

It is a long-lived species and is reputed to live for a thousand years,

It was introduced into Britain in the early Seventeenth Century, initially in Scotland.

Habitat and use

Larix decidua is native to the Alps and other mountainous areas of Europe.

It is now both naturalized and cultivated across much of the USA and Canada.

It is cultivated as an ornamental tree in gardens and parks and also for its timber – especially for yacht building and for fence poles. It is a popular species for bonsai.

See also

We have a few more coniferous trees to come.

[193] Lamium album, White Deadnettle

[193] Lamium album, White Deadnettle

Lamium purpureum, Red Deadnettle

Introduction

Lamium album and Lamium purpureum are two species of plants that look somewhat like [353] the Stinging Nettle but do not sting.

Lamium album is the White Deadnettle (or Dead-nettle). Lamium purpureum is the Red Deadnettle or Purple Deadnettle.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Lamiales

Family – Lamiaceae (Mint, Deadnettle and Sage family)

Genus – Lamium

Scientific Names – Lamium album, Lamium purpureum

Name

Though not related the Deadnettles look like Nettles. They are called dead because they do not sting.

Lamium is the name of this plant in Latin. The Latin purpureum, as for the Old English meaning of ‘red,’ includes shades of red, brown and purple.

White Deadnettle

Lamium album is common and widespread throughout Europe and Asia, found in many habitats including woodland and open grassland. In Britain it is found on roadside verges or wasteland.

Its leaves are soft and hairy with a serrated border and clearly marked veins, all of which make it similar to the Stinging Nettle. if you put the two side-by-side the leaf shape, serrations and veins are identifiably different (as you will discover in December.)

The stems and the white flowers, produced at the top of the stems, are also covered in fine hairs.

Its leaves can be eaten as a salad or cooked.

Purple Deadnettle

Lamium purpureum, with a similar distribution, looks less like nettles. It is a smaller plant with wider, more rounded leaves and less obviously serrated edges. The flowers are light purple and the upper leaves just below the flowers are a much dark purple.

Other Notes

Both of these are common weeds I see everywhere.

Lamium purpureum is slightly reminiscent of a loosely related planted that appears as a garden weed.

Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris, shown above, has the unusual distinction of sharing its genus name with a common garden bird, [279] the Dunnock.

See also

These two species are not normally cultivated but another species, Lamium maculatum, is available in varieties as a cultivated garden plant.