Plant Photos

 

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Chicory flower, Cichorium intybus, with Tachinid fly

Round-leaved Sundew, Drosera rotundifolia, catching insects with the sticky hairs on its leaves.
In the background are Sphagnum bog mosses.

Lords and Ladies (Wild Arum) Arum maculatum in fruit

Lady Orchid, Orchis purpurea, Dordogne

Military Orchid, Orchis militaris, Dordogne

Fly Orchid, Ophrys insectifera, Dordogne

Tassel Hyacinth, Muscari comosum, Dordogne

Ragged Robin (Catchfly), Lychnis flos-cuculi, Dordogne

Ramsons (Wild Garlic), Allium ursinum, Wales

Fallen Maple Leaves, Acer sp, London

 

Snakeshead Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris, Kew Gardens


Peeling Birch Bark, Chobham Common


"Champion trees include two ‘Great Trees Of London’, one being ... a stumpy London plane Platanus acerifolia (Tree 247 on the attached map) with a trunk of over two metres diameter. [It] may date from Repton’s landscaping of the park in 1812 when it belonged to George Scott the builder of the nearby St Peter’s Square."

Ravenscourt Park Draft Management Plan 2008-2013, page 16.

  

Detail of trunk, showing burr-forming green shoots

Full-circle inward-looking 'panorama' of the trunk ( click for full image 1800 x 650 pixels, 556kBytes)

The Ravenscourt Park Plane (London Plane, Platanus x hispanica), its mighty trunk knobbled and burred almost to Baobab shape.
It is unclear why the tree has this curious shape. Oaks of this shape were often formerly pollarded at 12' or so, the branches being used for timber.
Perhaps this Plane was originally clipped at this height as part of Repton's landscaping scheme.
 

© Ian Alexander

 
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