Weed Watching

There's a lovely book by Richard Mabey called Weeds, eloquent as always from this writer: nothing in nature is dismissed as unworthy of attention.

Nobody would fail to recognise the flowers of dandelion or daisy yet how many could give an accurate description of the flowers of the humble and very common dock? Two very good wild flower identification books I have fail to mention the colour of the flowers. Admittedly they are very tiny indeed, but as can be seen these are white; or, perhaps, yellow?

they do soon change into a rusty red but even so. There are several different docks and the two most common are the broad-leaved and the curly. The former is the one we would mostly go for if nettled, another plant known more for its leaves than its flowers.