Monday 13 May 2019

Just to make Phil jealous

On the bank holiday Monday I decided to have another go to try to find Lay's Whitebeam. This time focusing on Darren Fach side of the valley. It took a while, but eventually I managed to get to a cliff edge with lots of trees. Mainly Rowan, Oak, Yew and Lime. I initially thought the Lime were Small-leaved Lime, the native spp, as habitat and range were spot on. The leaves were small, but this is not a reliable indicator. Turning the leaves over, instead of tufts of brown hairs, it was white hairs. The lack of prominent cross veins indicated it was the hybrid Tilia x vulgaris. A bit of a surprise as this is thought not to occur away from urban areas.



Walking along the ridge and suddenly next to me I was looking at the leaves of the target species - arguably the rarest plant in the World with only 16 known specimens in the wild. (somewhat dwarfed by estimates of a couple of hundred graffed sapplings at the National Botanical Garden for Wales, any no doubt making this no longer the rarest plant in the World!).





Why is this making Phil jealous?

On the walk back I almost stood on this Emperor

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