More Flowering

The flowers of Cow Parsley, a feature of spring, have been gone from our pathsides for more than a month. Yet here beside the main bridleway leading down to Strawberry Lee Lane we can find it still in flower. But wait. This is not Cow Parsley but its near identical successor, Hedge Parsley.

It's not nearly as pervasive as Cow Parsley and I've only found it in this one spot. And that's the surprise because we see very few flowering plants along this bridleway and it's competing with bracken.

There may be some favourable condition here. A solitary Elder grows over the top and may have some influence.  Another factor is the practice years ago of surfacing and repairing bridleways with limestone. There is a good presence of Climbing Corydalis nearby too, also co-existing with the bracken.

While the delicate Hedge Parsley is not**(see below) to be found in the calcareous northern borders, and not forgetting Hogweed, another large umbellifer is now flowering. This is Angelica, common in the White Peak but not expected here.

An even more common plant looking somewhat like an umbellifer has now come into flower. This is Yarrow, often seen as a very small flower on cut and mown edges but when it gets the chance has a special beauty.

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** This is wrong. I've now found a small area of Hedge Parsley below the wall.