Pteridium aquilinum, Bracken is such a common type of fern that it is often called just fern.
It is also known as Brake, Common Bracken, or Eagle Fern.
Pteridium aquilinum was originally the only species in the genus Pteridium but is now split into about a dozen species, all called bracken.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Polypodiopsida (Ferns, Horsetails and some others)
Subclass – Polypodiidae (Ferns)
Order – Polypodiales
Suborder – Dennstaedtiinae
Family – Dennstaedtiaceae
Genus – Pteridium
Scientific Name – Pteridium aquilinum
Its original name was Pteris aquilina.
Name
Bracken is an old Norse word for fern. Fern is from old Germanic roots, meaning feather, leaf or fern.
Pteridium is from Ancient Greek pteris, fern, cognate with pteron, feather. Aquilinum means eagle-like, which could be because of its fronds looking like eagle’s wings, but may be from the cross-section of the root!
I also feel that August Wilhelm Dennstedt (or Dennstaedt), 1776-1826, the German Botanist deserves a mention. He had a species named after him that became the type species for a family and a suborder.
Description
If we leave out some extinct species and small groups, then vascular plants are either Angiosperms (Flowering plants and trees), Gymnosperms (coniferous trees) or Ferns.
Bracken is a much more typical fern. Its large triangular fronds have the feather-shaped pattern that can best be described as fern-like! As all ferns, it reproduces by spores and its very light spores have supposedly helped it to spread across the World. Its creeping roots can spread to dense thickets.
Here are the leaves showing more clearly.
Bracken is deciduous and it remains attractive when its leaves have turned brown in the autumn.
The new fronds develop by unfurling from fiddleheads, named from their resemblance to the end of a violin.
We have looked at the life-cycle of ferns in earlier posts. Bracken has similar spore heads hidden at the back of the fronds.
Here is a young plant with its fronds rapidly uncurling.
Habitat and use
Bracken is common and widespread across Europe, Eastern Asia and North America – in temperate and subtropical areas.
In the UK is a characteristic plant of moorland habitats but is not normally found at altitudes over 600 metres or in wet environments.
The fiddleheads have been eaten in many places throughout the World, either fresh, cooked or pickled. They are traditionally eaten in East Asia, especially in Japan Korea and China. The roots can be made into flour and, in the Canary Islands, have been used for a kind of porage.
The roots and fronds have been used to produce beer in Siberia and North America.
The leaves are also used to filter sheep’s milk in cheesemaking and to store freshly made ricotta cheese.
Other Notes
You may not see much bracken in towns or in agricultural areas but in unmanaged land it is very easy to find.
See also
Pteridium aquilinum is the last of my fern species. The others are listed above.
Pseudofumaria lutea, Yellow Corydalis, is a low-growing plant with yellow flowers. Originally an Alpine plant it has been introduced in the UK and become naturalized and in places may be regarded as a weed.
You will know by now that common names can be ambiguous and confusing and scientific names are subject to changes with taxonomic revisions. There is a genus called Corydalis with about 500 species but two of these species have been recently moved to a new genus Pseudofumaria. These are Pseudofumaria lutea and Pseudofumaria alba, which have retained their common names – Yellow Corydalis and White Corydalis respectively!
Pseudofumaria lutea is also known as Rock Fumewort. Some species of the genus Corydalis and another closely related genus Fumaria, are also called Fumewort or Fumitory
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Ranunculales
Family – Papaveraceae
Subfamily – Fumarioideae
Tribe – Fumarieae
Genus – Pseudofumaria
Scientific Name – Pseudofumaria lutea
It retains the synonyms Corydalis lutea and Fumaria lutea
Name
Fumitory comes via Old French from the Latin fumus terrae, smoke of the earth and fumewort and Fumaria are cognate. Pseudo- often means false, and the new genus Pseudofumaria is ‘not quite Fumaria’. (They could have called it Pseudocorydalis!)
Corydalis comes from the Ancient Greek name of the Crested Lark, an allusion to the similarity in shape of its flowers to the bird’s crest. Lutea is the Latin for a shade of yellow.
Description
Yellow Corydalis is a spreading, low-growing plant.
It has small, smooth looking, lobed grey-green leaves that can remain over winter.
The elongated bright yellow flowers grow in tight bunches.
Habitat and use
Yellow Corydalis is native to the foothills of the Alps. It grows in rocky places and is commonly seen as a weed in pavements outside houses.
Although brought to the UK as a cultivated species it is now widely regarded as a weed. Many other species and varieties of Corydalis are available as garden plants.
Other Notes
This species spreads well as a weed. There are several local streets where every house has it in their front garden or in the pavements outside (or both.)
Prunus spinosa, Blackthorn, is a sprawling spiny shrub that is common and widespread in the wild in the UK. It is best known for its blue fruits that are used in making sloe gin. The shrubs are generally known as Sloes in Britain. and so are the fruits.
Two other unrelated species found in Africa and Australia are called Blackthorn. Some other similar species of Prunus are called Sloes.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Rosales
Family – Rosaceae
Subfamily – Amygdaloideae (Includes Apples, Hawthorn and Cotoneaster)
Tribe – Amygdaleae (Just Prunus)
Genus – Prunus (Cherries, Plums and others)
Subgenus – Prunus
Section – Prunus
Scientific Name – Prunus spinosa
There are some varieties and cultivars.
Names
Blackthorn comes from black and thorn. This shrub is obviously thorny. Black probably refers to its dark bark. Sloe comes from Old Germanic roots, possibly meaning blue – for the fruits. Spinosa means spiny or prickly. (Romans weren’t as fussy as modern botanists in distinguishing between spines, prickles and thorns!)
Description
We have already seen the main species in the genus [280] Prunus. Prunus spinosa is in the same Section as plums, including Prunus domestica, the Wild Plum, and Prunus cerasifera, the Cherry Plum. But its fruits, which are not edible, do not look like plums or taste like plums.
It can grow to about five metres as a small tree but is usually a dense shrubby bush. The bark is very dark in colour and branches are spiny. Leaves are oval in shape with finely serrated edges.
In spring it is covered with small pure white flowers, similar to other cherry species.
Even though it is classified with plums, the fruits, also called sloes, are smaller than cherries. They are a waxy blue colour, turning almost black later.
It is sometimes confused with Prunus cerasifera although it has a shrubbier habit and there are differences in the leaves, flowers and fruits.
Habitat and Use
The natural distribution of Prunus spinosa more or less corresponds to Europe apart from the far north.
Because of its thorns, it is used for cattle-proof countryside hedgerows. Varieties are available for cultivation as an ornamental garden plant, and also for hedges. Cultivars may have differently coloured leaves and fruit.
The wood from the Blackthorn is used to make walking sticks, especially the Irish Shillelagh. As a hardy plant it can be used as a rootstock for other grafted Prunus species.
The fruit is very bitter and sour and should not be eaten raw. They can be used to make jams or chutney.
Other Notes
Sloe Gin is very much a British drink. It is actually a liqueur, not gin, but is made with gin. It is produced commercially but you can make it yourself at home. You just need a large jar into which you put lots of ripe sloes and lots of sugar. The sugar takes away the bitterness of the sloes. Fill the jar with gin and leave it for about a year. That’s an oversimplification but eventually you can discard the sloes and you have a ruby red drink. You can look up exact recipes.
Various commercial versions of sloe gin (and similar traditional drinks in other countries) may use other species to provide the fruit and may use cheaper alternatives than gin.
Prunus laurocerasus, Cherry Laurel, and Prunus lusitanica, Portuguese Laurel, are two species related to the cherries, plums, peaches, apricots and almonds that we saw yesterday. Their use in the UK is almost entirely restricted to the formation of robust garden hedges. Informally both may sometimes be called just Laurel.
In the USA Prunus laurocerasus is generally called English Laurel (and a more local species Prunus caroliliana, amongst other names can be called cherry laurel.)
Prunus lusitanica may also be called Portuguese Laurel Cherry
About 3 000 species in the family Lauraceae are called Laurels, especially Laurus nobilis, the Bay Laurel, source of the familiar bay leaf as a herb. Many other unrelated plants are called laurels, generally because of the similarity of their simple leaves to true laurels
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Rosales
Family – Rosaceae
Subfamily – Amygdaloideae (Includes Apples, Hawthorn and Cotoneaster)
The use of a laurel wreath as a symbol of victory comes from Greek mythology and in Roman times Prunus laurocerasus was used for this as well as Bay Laurel. The word laurel comes from the Latin Laurus, the name of the true Laurel tree.
You can work out the Prunus -cerasus bits of the scientific name if you were awake yesterday.
Lusitania was a province of Ancient Rome roughly corresponding to Portugal and it has become the Modern Latin name for Portugal, lusitanica.
Description
[289] Prunus looked at this genus but three of its species were deferred. The two species of today are in the same subgenus as Bird Cherry. Their flowers and fruits are much smaller than Wild Cherry and most of the other species.
Cherry Laurel is usually considered as a large shrub but it can grow to a tree, fifteen or twenty metres in height.
It is evergreen with dark green, glossy leaves.
The inflorescences are spiky racemes about ten centimetres in length containing thirty to forty small flowers.
The small fruits turn to small black cherries.
Habitat and use
Prunus laurocerasus is native to an area centred on the Black Sea. It is widely cultivated in the UK as a robust hedge that can be trimmed to solid box shapes. This means that the flowers are not always seen and they will rarely be left to produce fruits.
It has many cultivars, including some with variegated foliage.
Because of its robust nature and the dispersal of its seed by birds, it has escaped in places to become naturalised, sometimes invasively.
Other Notes
When we moved into our previous house there was the beginnings of a hedge. Every metre, there was a sapling of Cherry Laurel and I mowed the grass between them. In just a few years it became a solid hedge about a metre wide and perhaps one and a half metres high. It kept me busy two or three times a year trimming it into shape. It really does make an effective hedge. It would have been much taller and wider without regular trimming.
See also
Rather than repeat the details I can sum up Prunus lusitanica as a similar species with similar use, distinguished by its serrated leaves and red petioles (the stalk of its leaves.) It is much less commonly seen as a hedge plant than Cherry Laurel.
Portuguese Laurel is native to quite a small area centred in Portugal. It is rarely found in the wild, by mountain streams. Its fruits become reddish, then dark purple or black.
There are twenty species of Prunus seen in Britain out of over four hundred worldwide. Most are called cherries but they also include almond, apricot, peach, plum and three other species coming in the next two days. They are widely grown for their fruit but also for their flowers.
I will look at twelve of these species in the next three blogs, some in more detail than others.
My title species is Prunus avium, the main species producing the cherries that we eat. It is generally called Wild Cherry.
This will be a very long blog. Scroll down if you just want to see pictures of cherry blossom!
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Rosales
Family – Rosaceae
Subfamily – Amygdaloideae (Includes Apples, Hawthorn and Cotoneaster)
Tribe – Amygdaleae (Just Prunus)
Genus – Prunus
Subgenera and sections are mentioned in the text.
Scientific Names – Prunus avium and others
There are many other species and many varieties and cultivars. See the next sections.
Names
Prunus is the Latin word for the fruit we call a plum. It comes from the Greek proune, taken from another language of the region. The history of which species were known in Roman times, and which were cultivated, is unclear. In modern English, the word prune is only used for dried plums.
For names relating to the individual species see below.
Prunus
Species within Prunus are all trees (or shrubs) with drupe fruits – like berries with stones. Flowers are open with five petals, usually from white to pink in colour. Many species are cultivated for their flowers,
The classification of the genus Prunus into subgenera and sections is understandably complex and is not helped by a complex history of domestication and hybridization. Different countries have adopted different ideas.
Recent scientific analysis suggests the following.
Subgenus Cerasus. Includes [2] Prunus avium, [4] Prunus cerasus and [11] Prunus serrulata.
Subgenus Prunus, divided into sections.
Section Prunus. Old World Plums. Includes [3] Prunus cerasifera, [5] Prunus domestica, and [12] Prunus spinosa.
Section Armeniaca. Apricots. See [1] below.
Section Amygdalus. Almonds. Formerly a separate genus Amygdalus. See [6] below.
Section Persica. Peaches. Not clearly separated from Section Amygdalus. See [10] below.
And three other sections not relevant to the UK.
Prunus trees have been so widely cultivated that their origins and native locations may not be clear. Many species have many cultivars and hybrids selected for ornamental cultivation, so that wild or naturalized ones may be difficult to identify. I have picked the main species and later there are a few pictures that are non-specific.
I could say a lot about cherries, plums, apricots, peaches and almonds, all of which are widely cultivated as foods. They are eaten as fruits or nuts. Some are used in cooking, some are turned into juices, and they can be turned into alcoholic drinks. But they are not cultivated as foods in the UK. Their purpose here is almost entirely as ornamental or decorative trees (although there may be rare exceptions.) I will include very brief summaries of commercial production in the relevant species descriptions.
[1] Prunus armeniaca
Prunus armeniaca is known as the Apricot. [About ten other species are also called apricots.] The Latin persica meaning peach, from praecocia, earl ripening, led to the Greek praikokion and berikokkia, apricot tree. In Arabic this became al-barquq, plum, and via Catalan to the Spanish albaricoque, Middle French abricot, and Middle English abrecock. This species presumably arose from what we now call Armenia.
Apricot fruits are usually orange, about two centimetres in diameter, and firm rather than juicy. They are sometimes velvety and varieties can be either sweet or sour.
Apricots have been cultivated extensively since prehistoric times. They probably originated in central Asia but have naturalized now in many countries. Most commercial apricots come from Turkey. They are often sold as dried apricots. I have never seen an Apricot tree and they are not common in the UK.
[2] Prunus avium
Prunus avium is usually called Wild Cherry. In Latin Prunus avium actually means Bird Cherry. (Note that avium is genitive plural, cherry of the birds.) Cherry comes from the Latin and Greek kerasos. (See below.) It lost the ending because the Norman French cherise was mistakenly presumed to be plural.
Wild Cherryis also called Sweet Cherry and sometimes, confusingly, Bird Cherry. It is native to most of Europe including the British Isles and some adjacent areas. Other wild species elsewhere may be called Wild Cherry.
It is a deciduous tree, growing to twenty or thirty metres in height, with dark purplish brown bark and simple, dark green leaves. They are long thin pointed ovals in shape with serrated edges.
Flowers are produced in Spring at the same time as new leaves. They have five petals and are pure white. Fruits are the familiar dark red cherries and are eaten and dispersed by birds. All parts of the tree are slightly toxic apart from the ripe fruit.
They have been eaten and cultivated since prehistoric times. This species has produced many varieties and cultivars including those used in sweet cherry production and many ornamental varieties. Its timber is also used for furniture and musical instruments.
Most sweet cherries (for eating) are produced commercially from cultivars of Prunus avium. The top producing countries are Turkey and the USA.
[3] Prunus cerasifera
Prunus cerasifera is known as the Cherry-plum (or Cherry Plum.) It is actually a plum with small fruit. Cerasifera means bearing cherries. [As you know by now, both common names and scientific names can be confusing, ambiguous and erroneous.]
The Cherry-plum is native to Southeast Europe and Western Asia and naturalized in the British Isles. It looks similar to Prunus avium but smaller – about ten metres in height – with flowers that can be pale pink and larger fruits that can be yellow or red. They are the size of large cherries or small plums!
This is a popular cultivated species with many cultivars. Some have purple foliage or purple fruits.
[4] Prunus cerasus
Prunus cerasus is the Dwarf Cherry or Sour Cherry. Cerasus comes from the Greek kerasos, cherry, probably taken from another language and relating to a species that might have been Prunus avium or Prunus padus.
It grows to five to ten metres in height. The fruit, which is a much darker red in colour, is more acidic and sourer in taste than sweet cherries. It is believed to be a natural hybrid of Prunus avium with another species Prunus fruticosa that arose in Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It has been cultivated in England since the time of Henry VIII.
Most cherries are produced either from cultivars of Prunus avium (for eating) or from Prunus cerasus (in cooking.) The top producing countries are Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Poland for sour sherries.
This is another species that I have not seen.
[5] Prunus domestica
Prunus domestica is the (Wild) Plum. The word plum came via Germanic roots and is cognate with prunus.
This species is the source of most fruit sold as plums. The fruits are much larger than cherries. They are typically from red to purple and there is a purplish colour called plum. There are many varieties that include some with fruits that are yellow, green (sometimes called greengages) or blue (sometimes called damsons.) Some varieties are eaten directly, some are sour and require cooking with sugar. Many plums are sold as prunes (dried plums).
Most plums – mainly Prunus domestica, Prunus salicina and hybrids – come from China, Romania and Serbia. (Production figures include sloes, which are very different and will be explained in two days under Blackthorn.)
[6] Prunus dulcis
Prunus dulcis is the Almond. The word comes via French from the Latin amandula from the Ancient Greek amygdale. The inserted ‘L,’ which is not pronounced may have come from confusion with the Arabic article al-. Dulcis is Latin for sweet.
The Almond is quite a large tree. The outer part of the fruit (corresponding to the flesh of a cherry) is a thick, leathery grey-green hull. Inside this is a hard, woody endocarp (nutshell) enclosing the familiar almond nut – the actual seed – usually one but sometimes two in a single shell.
They are one of the earliest domesticated trees and they spread from Iran initially around the Mediterranean. Cultivation led to sweeter varieties being selected rather than some of the wild varieties that are bitter.
Commercially Almonds mostly come from the USA. As well as the nuts being eaten, they are used widely in cooking and to make marzipan, amaretti liqueur and many other things. Pollination of almond trees in California is the largest managed pollination event in the world, involving over a million beehives from all over the USA.
I lived for over thirty years with an Almond tree next door – the only Almond tree I have seen. A few years ago, I photographed it through the seasons for another blog.
As you can see it is a large tree producing masses of flowers. I don’t remember it ever dropping almonds into our garden but I do remember its long roots that ran under our lawn and as far as next door the other side.
[7] Prunus laurocerasus
Cherry Laurel is coming tomorrow.
[8] Prunus lusitanica
Portuguese Laurel is coming tomorrow.
[9] Prunus padus
Prunus padus is called Bird Cherry. For the scientific name, all I can find is that Padus is the Latin name for what is now called the River Po in Italy.
Bird Cherry is native to Northern Europe including the UK and central Asia across to Japan. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant. Its fruits are not normally eaten by humans – but birds like them! They have been used traditionally in some countries.
I try not to introduce many technical terms into these blogs but I have often talked of inflorescences. which are groups of small flowers sometimes looking like a larger flower. Well, the inflorescences of Bird Cherry and others in the subgenus Padus are racemes rather than corymbs. (Informally a raceme looks more like a spike. A corymb looks more like an umbrella shaped umbel.)
Other cherry species have this distinctive bark colour.
[10] Prunus persica
Prunus persica is the Peach. Persica is Latin for Persian. In Ancient Greek the peach was called a Persian Apple, malon persikon, and the word peach has come via Latin and Old French.
The Peach tree originates from China but came to Europe via Persia (modern Iran.)
Its edible juicy fruits are much larger than cherries or plums, with a larger stone. The peach nut can be used in the same way as the almond. Peaches usually have a fuzzy skin. Varieties with a glossy skin are generally called nectarines.
Most peaches, including nectarines, come from China. The trees are not common in the UK.
[11] Prunus serrulata
Prunus serrulata is the Japanese Cherry. Serrulata means minutely serrated as its leaves.
TheJapanese Cherry comes from Japan and the Far East, where it has been extensively cultivated as an ornamental tree. Its many cultivars probably involve hybridization with other species. It is one of the most common cultivated ornamental trees in Britain.
It grows to about ten metres with a smooth chestnut brown bark. Leaves are finely serrated. Its flowers, much prized in Japanese culture, are from white to pink. It had been developed for its flowers and its fruits, small and black, are not edible. They do not fully ripen.
Its many cultivars are heavily hybridized with several other Japanese Prunus species. They are often grown grafted on to a Prunus avium rootstock and may not produce any fruit.
Cultivars may have larger, more complex flowers, sometimes darker shades of pink.
We have four trees in gardens just outside our house. In the autumn the leaves go through a stage of variegated yellow and green and turn to a dark red.
[12] Prunus spinosa
Blackthorn, also called Sloe, is coming soon.
Other Notes
I am left with a few pictures of cherry blossom from one or more of the species of Prunus.
There are several anomalies in the names of Prunella modularis, the Dunnock.
Many bird books and other sources give it the name Hedge Accentor but it almost always called a Dunnock. Other species of Prunella are usually called Accentors but, confusingly they can also be called Dunnocks.
It is also known as a Hedge Sparrow (although it is not a Sparrow) and sometimes, a Hedge Warbler. You have probably guessed that it is not a Warbler.
The conventions for the scientific names of animals and plants are slightly different and completely separate. They allow the genus name Prunella to be used also for plants and Prunella vulgaris, Self-heal, is a small plant generally known as a weed in gardens and lawns – see [193] Deadnettle. (The rules for Fungi and Algae and other more obscure groups are also different!)
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Chordates
Class – Aves (Birds)
Order – Passeriformes
Family – Prunellidae (Just Prunella)
Genus – Prunella
Scientific Name – Prunella modularis
It was originally named Motacilla modularis, then Accentor modularis, both by Linnaeus in 1758
Names
We can start with Dunnock and Prunella, both just meaning brown. Dunnock is a diminutive of dun and Prunella comes from an early Germanic name for the bird, Braunelle, a diminutive of ’braun’.
Accentor was an earlier scientific name for the genus, coming from Latin ad-cantor meaning ‘singing with another’ cognate with accent. It has become the usual common name for birds of the genus.
Modularis is Latin and means singing.
It is no surprise that it is called the hedge sparrow as many small brown birds are called sparrows, including about a hundred species of New World Sparrows. Similarly, it is a small brown bird with a song not unlike many birds classified as Warblers.
Description
Accentors in the genus Prunella are the only genus in their own family Prunellidae, so they are not in the same family as Old World Sparrows or New World Sparrows or the several families of Warblers.
But, like many small passerine birds, the Dunnock is the same size and general appearance as a sparrow. They are. mottled brown om appearance. Adults have a dull grey head, which is sometimes the best distinguishing feature.
The mottling on the back has darker shades of brown, while the underparts are much lighter, still attractively mottled.
Juveniles lack the grey head and tend to have more marked mottling.
They are less open with humans and tend to forage at ground level.
In Spring the male bird may be seen and heard as he sings from the top of a bush. The song is a rapid tinkling sound.
Habitat
The Dunnock is the only common species of Prunella normally found in lowland areas and it is common over much of Europe including all of the UK.
They like woodland habitats, parks and gardens and hedgerows.
Other Notes
Dunnocks are not as obvious as other birds because they keep to ground level eating worms and insects. In rural locations they will visit areas that have bird feeders but rarely actually come to the feeders. They generally just scavenge at ground level for seeds that are dropped.
Ladybirds can have very long scientific names that include Latin versions of numbers but you can call this beetle Propylea 14-punctata, the 14-spot (or 14-spotted) Ladybird. It is also sometimes known as a P-14. (Let’s not get too worried about hyphenation or capitalization or ‘fourteen’ instead of ‘14’.) It is rarer and much smaller than the two ladybird species we have already met. (You can read about labybirds, ladybugs or lady beetles in [086] the 7-spot Ladybird. We have also seen [169] the Harlequin Ladybird, which comes in many coloration forms.)
I will also consider briefly all our other native species of ladybirds.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Arthropods
Class – Insects
Order – Coleoptera (Beetles)
Family – Coccinellidae
Subfamily – Coccinellinae
Tribe – Coccinellini
Genus – Propylea
Scientific Name – Propylea quattuordecimpunctata
See text for other species
Name
The nearest I can find to Propylea is the Latin propylaeum, the entrance to a temple, coming from Ancient Greek. I don’t why the name was used but the spelling is no surprise.
Ladybirds
You have to start by noting that many ladybirds are named by a number of spots, even when their markings are only loosely like spots. Also note that most species have many colour variations – the base colour, the spot colour and the number, location and sizes of the spots may vary.
You are unlikely to find any of these minor species of ladybirds. They are less common and smaller. I won’t say much about the individual species.
14 Spot
Propylea quattuordecimpunctata, the 14-spot Ladybird comes in over a hundred colour and pattern varieties, some of which are from light yellow to orange with fourteen square black spots. It is native to all of Eurasia, except South-East Asia, and northern Africa. Often the dark spots enlarge and merge together so it may look black with twelve small yellow spots.
They may be found in parks and gardens and, like most ladybirds, they eat aphids and other small insects. All ladybird larval species look similar apart from some variation in colour.
11 Spot
Coccinella undecimpunctata, (or 11-punctata,) the Eleven Spot Ladybird, is similar to its close relative the Seven Spot.
16 Spot
Tytthapsis sedecimpunctata, (or 16-punctata,) the Sixteen Spot Ladybird, is a smaller ladybird, cream coloured. It has a dark central line in addition to its dark spots.
Two Spot
Adalia bipunctata, the Two Spot Ladybird, is a small ladybird with many colour forms. The most common variety is red with two black spots.
Other forms include types having black elytra with four or six red spots.
Cream Streaked
Harmonia quadripunctata is known as the Cream-streaked Ladybird or the Four Spot Ladybird. Like its sister species, the Harlequin, it has several colour forms. These are based on 18 spots, but not all of these always occur. Often just two each at the edges give it the name Four Spot.
Other Notes
Use of abbreviated forms such as 14-punctata gets round the difficulty of mastering Latin spelling. While the species epithet quattuordecimpunctata is used, quatuordecimpunctata is also common. The first of these looks like more accurate Latin but I am not sure which one is officially correct. Both seem to be used. (There is no requirement for scientists to get the spelling correct and many mis-spellings have become official. Propylea looks like a mis-spelling)
See also
About fifty species of ladybirds may be found in Britain but most are quite rare.
We are coming to the end of our blogs on beetles. Just two more to come, one of which will include some leftovers.
Primula vulgaris, the (Common) Primrose, is a common and widespread wildflower associated with meadows and agricultural grassland, a close relative of [276] Primula veris, the Cowslip.
I will also briefly consider the rest of the Primula genus today.
Primula veris is also known as English Primrose and some other species in the family Primulaceae are also called Primrose.
The word primrose can be used for a light yellow colour and the flowering plants called [241] Evening Primrose are not close relatives. Oher plants in the family Onagraceae are also called Evening Primrose.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Ericales
Family – Primulaceae
Subfamily – Primuloidea
Genus – Primula
Scientific Name – Primula vulgaris
Cultivars are available.
Name
Primula is a diminutive of the Latin primus meaning first as the flowers appear early in spring. Primrose comes from the Latin prima rosa, first rose.
[You will have absorbed enough Latin by now to recognise that primus becomes prima to match the feminine rosa!]
Primulaceae
You can get an idea of the sort of things that are happening in the Taxonomy of plants if you look at this family. It used to be one of three families in its own order Primulales, but changes have come from molecular phylogenetics. (That’s what I usually call DNA analysis.) The order Primulales was merged into Ericales and became a new greatly enlarged family Primulaceae. The families within Primulales became subfamilies and the old Primulaceae became the subfamily Primuloideae. [This is a simplification. It has all changed at least three times this century and not everyone uses the same system.]
Description
There are about five hundred species of Primula, most of which are localized in mountainous areas of the Himalayas, eastern Asia and the Americas. They don’t all look similar to our familiar British species.
Primula vulgaris is a small evergreen perennial plant, growing from an almost flat circular arrangement of large, wrinkly leaves. Without the flowers it does look a lot like the Cowslip.
In spring it bears lots of five-petalled star shaped flowers, usually light yellow in colour with a darker yellow centre.
It is not known which insects pollinate the plants but gey are visited by Butterflies, Bees, Beetles and Flies – especially [052] Bumble Bees, [053] Bee Flies and very small beetles.
Habitat and use
The native area of Primula vulgaris is western and southern Europe. It is found near streams, under bushes and near trees, sometimes in meadows.
Many varieties of Primrose are cultivated as garden plants including other species of Primula, including Primula veris, and hybrids. Some hybrid cultivars from Primula vulgaris x Primula veris are called Polyanthus. Almost all cultivated Primula come from just four species.
Other Notes
The flowers are hermaphrodite (the most common form, with both male and female parts.) Most, but not all plants, are Heterostylous, having two slightly different forms. Individual plants bear either pin flowers (longuistylous) with the capita of the style prominent, or thrum flowers (brevistylous) with the stamens prominent. Fertilisation can only take place between pin and thrum flowers. Pin-to-pin and thrum-to-thrum pollination is ineffective.
These are the best pictures I can find of pin (three pictures) and thrum types.
This looked familiar when I saw it but I had to look through Wikipedia to find the plant I wrote about that is also heterostylous. It was [216] Purple Loosesestrife, which is tristylous, with three forms of flowers.
See also
You have seen Cowslip already, unless you decided to read this one first.
I don’t normally separate species of plants in the same genus but Primula veris, the (Common) Cowslip, and [277] Primula vulgaris, the Primrose, are two different common and widespread wildflowers associated with meadows and agricultural grassland.
You can find out more about the Primrose and the Primula genus tomorrow. You may want to read tomorrow’s blog first.
Primula veris is also known as Cowslip Primrose and a few other species are also called Cowslips.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Ericales
Family – Primulaceae
Genus – Primula
Scientific Name – Primula veris
Name
Cowslip is derived unsurprisingly from Cow-slip. (But see below.) The Old English ‘slip’ meant a muddy, pasty substance so there ae two theories. Cowslips are either associated with the boggy, slippery pastures where we find cows, or with the cow dung.
I don’t think I have to remind you about [054] Cows.
Description
The Cowslip is a very low-growing plant with a rosette of large wrinkly leaves.
It is most likely to be noticed when in flower. Individual flowers are small but come in very tight bunches on an erect stem. They have an elongated bell shape with an open end and are bright yellow, emerging vertically and then falling to a drooping form. Most of the flower apart from the end is usually surrounded by light green sepals.
Habitat and use
The Cowslip is found in most of temperate Europe and western Asia. It is generally common and widespread through the UK but is absent from parts of northern Scotland. Found in open grassland and meadows, it has become less common with modern agricultural methods. It may be having a partial revival because of the growing practice of sowing wildflower mixtures in parks and gardens and on roadside verges.
It is quite rare as a cultivated plant, except in hybrids with Primula vulgaris.
Other Notes
English is a complex language and it is interesting to note that we think of this flower as a Cow-slip, rather than a Cow’s-lip (or Cows-lip) because the two are pronounced differently. Without the hyphen, we can’t tell from the spelling!
This is not true of the close relative the Oxlip,Primula elatior, a fairly similar looking close relative virtually restricted to East Anglia in the UK. (You may see it as ox-lip, but it’s actually ox-slip.)
See also
Primrose and some more about the Primula genus tomorrow,
Pollyommatus icarus, the Common Blue, is a common and widespread butterfly. Only the male is blue and only when he shows his upper wings.
It is almost never called the Common Blue Butterfly but should not be confused with [126] the Common Blue Damselfly or any other species called common blue.
There are about two hundred species of Polyommatus, many of which look very similar and some of which are called Blues.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Arthropods
Class – Insects
Order – Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Family – Lycaenidae
Subfamily – Polyommatinae (Blues)
Genus – Polyommatus
Scientific Name – Polyommatus icarus
Name
Poly-ommatus, from Latinized Ancient Greek, means ‘with many eyes’, presumably from the patterns on the underwings.
In Greek mythology Icarus flew with wings constructed by his father Daedalus. But he flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea as the wax holding his wings melted. This makes the species epithet icarus as appropriate for the Common Blue as it would be for any other butterfly or moth, or most of the other insects!
Description
Polyommatus icarus is a relatively large butterfly, significantly larger than the Holly Blue. The male butterfly is bright blue all over the upper sides of the wings, with a thin black border.
Females are brown, sometimes with some bluish tints. The wing borders are marked with orange spots.
(In Scotland the females are bluer in colour.)
The undersides of the wings have a row of orange markings on the outside and a number of black centred white dots.
The males are more bluish-grey while females are browner.
Several similar related species can be identified by more precise examination of the patterns of dots – but the other species are much rarer.
Larvae feed on a large number of species of leguminous plants such as [343] Clover. The adult stage only lasts about three weeks.
Habitat
The Common Blue is common and widespread over all of the UK, generally in grassland habitats. It is found over most of Europe and parts of Asia and North Africa.
Polygonia c-album, the Comma (Butterfly), is a large colourful butterfly named from a small marking on the undersides of its wings.
Most other species of Polygonia are called Commas or Anglewings.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Arthropods
Class – Insects
Order – Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Family – Nymphalidae
Genus – Polygonia
Scientific Name – Polygonia c-album
Name
The name Comma and the Latin c-album are derived from a small white spot on the underside of the wings, generally shaped like a comma or the letter ‘c’. (Album, of course, means white.)
The other common name Anglewing and the scientific name of the genus, Polygonia, reflect the notch shape of its wings like a polygon.
Description
The Comma is one of the species in the family, Nymphalidae, that includes [009] Peacock; [010] Tortoiseshell; [028] Ringlet; [222] Meadow Brown; [226] Marbled White; [249] Speckled Wood – and, still to come: [289] Gatekeeper; [355] Red Admiral and Painted Lady.
It’s one of the largest species seen in Britain but not the most colourful. Its upper wing pattern is basically a two-tone pattern of brown. The first brood of the year is a golden orange with dark brown, while the second brood has a darker redder shade also with dark brown.
It is very easily recognisable because of its notched angular shape.
It is most often seen at rest with its wings stretched out as shown in the pictures above. When it does fold its wings, it is a well camouflaged dull brown colour with a small marking that gives it its name – almost white and shaped like a comma or letter ‘c’.
The adults overwinter and are among the earliest butterflies to be seen in the year. Two generations are produced each year.
They feed on [353] Nettles, [307] Willow and other plants.
Habitat
The Comma is found over most of Eurasia and parts of North Africa. It likes woodland environments but is common and widespread over England and Wales
The Species of Britain 