154. Is the Grass Greener? Plant identification

Thursday 29 June 2023

Walking along a stretch of road near our house for the first time, a road I have driven along countless times, I realised how much more there is to see than just the blur of loveliness as I drive past. It annoys me that I don’t know the names for a lot of the plants I see so I took a few photos and have found out what the plants are.

All these photos were taken in varying stages of rainfall, on Tuesday 27 June 2023 with my mobile phone camera (I know, I should have taken a proper camera and planned it for a day without rain) between about 09:20 and 10:50 in the Ettrick to Hopehouse area of Ettrick Valley near Selkirk, Scottish Borders.

Filipendula ulmaria (Meadowsweet)
TBC Viburnum (water elder)
Lathyrus pratensis (meadow vetchling)
Equisetum fluviatile (river horsetail)
TBC Heracleum sphondylium (hogweed/cow parsnip)
TBC Galium palustre (marsh bedstraw)
Geranium sylvaticum (wood cranesbill)
Symphoricarpos albus (common snowberry)
I know this is Lonicera caprifolium (honeysuckle) but there’s so much of it around I felt it needed a mention

I will check the three TBC photos again and update if I find a more conclusive identification. I didn’t think it would be that uncertain about identifying plants. The hogweed is the hardest. I’m mildly confident the other two are okay.