Bourne Wood Tilford
Welcome to our exciting journey to find Britain’s rarest woodland wild wildflowers. In part one, our success rate in seeing some of Britain’s rarest plants was a little hit-and-miss, but that was expected. Clearly, by its very nature, this is a challenge. So, get yourself a cup of tea or coffee and a couple of biscuits and settle down for the second part of our challenge.
We headed East, towards the wonderful Fens area of Britain, in search of the next rare woodland plant the
Crested Cow Wheat
Crested cow-wheat (Melampyrum cristatum)
This lovely-looking wildflower is found in ancient or semi-ancient woodland rides, grasslands, and hedgerows. But don’t be deceived by its stunning looks because this stunning-looking wildflower has some dark secrets.
It is now scarce in the UK, confined to East Anglia.
Crested Cow wheat is an unusual-looking flower. It’s an annual plant with densely packed Purple and Yellow flower heads with toothed bracts deep rose-purple in colour. Although, despite its bright colouring, it is an inconspicuous plant that is very hard to find among the other grasses and plants it grows within.
I mentioned before that Crested cow wheat has unusual and dark secrets. Firstly, It’s semi-parasitic, which means it exploits several host plants to top up food reserves.
Rather cleverly, it tricks wood ants into dispersing its seeds that visually mimic their cocoons. Of course, the payoff for the wood ants is the super sweet treat that the Crested Cow Wheat provides them as an incentive. The ants seem happy as they transport their seeds back to their nests.
I arrived at a new to me semi ancient woodland and, within a few minutes, had entered a wide ride. The ride was wide and open, with a meadow habitat full of grasses and wildflowers. The grassland was around knee height with an incredible cacophony from the millions of insects busily going about their business. It took me a few minutes to get my eye in and see a range of wonderful wildflowers within the knee-deep grasses. It was then I saw them.
A small patch of Crested Cow wheat plants resplendent in their striking purple and yellow livery. The plants were around 50cm tall and sat on top of their thin circular stems were slim, long green leaves with distinctive rose purple bracts. Above the bracts, the beautiful yellow flowers with pink bases emerged. Crested Cow Wheat The plant flowers during July and August.
Crested cow-wheat is related to the much more common yellow rattle. This wonderful wild plant plays a vital role in colonising grasslands as they transition to wildflower meadows.
You can find other members of The Cow-wheats family that flower in Britain, including Common Cow-wheat, Melampyrum pratense, the Field Cow-wheat Melampyrum arvense, and Melampyrum numerous.
We are heading southeast on today’s journey to a site that I have been told about where there is an excellent chance of finding the next wild plant we are looking for
Lady Orchid
Lady orchid (Orchis purpurea)
I have learnt that many of the wild orchids found in Britain are nearly incredibly rare, difficult to find and pretty erratic in their behaviour. Still, they are also frequently named for the quirky shape of their flowers.
The Lady Orchid is no exception. It is said that the shape of its flowers resembles bonneted ladies in spotted ball gowns, complete with arms. This is a clear reference to times gone by, as I can’t recall seeing any lady I know wearing a bonnet and very few spotted gowns.
In Britain, the Lady Orchid is considered a woodland plant favouring alkaline or occasionally neutral soils; the Lady Orchid occurs in short grassland, on woodland edges and sometimes in open woodland. The Lady Orchid prefers calciferous or chalky soils and Beech and Hazel woodlands.
This is a large orchid that can grow up to 80 cm tall. It has a basal rosette with four to eight large erect leaves, which are glossy green but unmarked. Each stem contains a large flower spike with up to 200 individual flowers. The upper sepals and petals are a deep dark red forming a hood above the lip of the flowers that are white with pink tips to the petals and strongly marked with deep red stripes or marks that match the colour of the hood.
There is little that compares with a Lady Orchid when you have found one with its sheer size and volume of vivid white and dark red flowers.
Of course, being an orchid, it has its quirky behaviour, the main one being that it can take up to ten years before it flowers for the first time. It’s also very slow to spread but, unusually for an orchid, can multiply by forming tubers, and, I imagine, due to its size, it is vulnerable to dense shade and deer browsing.
I was very pleased to find Lady Orchids in flower during June, although they can be seen from May until the end of June. Further South in Europe, they can flower as early as April.
The next plant appeared to be easy to find as it was known to be on one site in the Northwest, but in 2022, the plants were all removed as the origin of the original plants was European and not British. The challenge was now on to find a wild.
Lady Slipper Orchid
Lady’s Slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus)
This is a truly exotic-looking orchid that would look at home in Asia but different from what you would expect to find growing wild in Britain.
This uniquely shaped plant takes its common name from its scientific title, ‘Venus Shoe’. Like other rare orchids, the Lady’s Slipper orchid relies on a close relationship with a specific type of fungi to help germinate its seeds, restricting it to undisturbed soils where the fungi are present.
My research led me away from the Northwest of Britain and towards the Northeast. There is only a short window of around two weeks when this orchid flowers each year, so time was of the essence.
I set off for the long journey to Yorkshire and a specific private woodland site, set on limestone, searching for the almost exclusive wild Lady Slipper Orchid.
The Lady’s Slipper orchid has solitary flowers with dark maroon petals and a striking and large yellow pouch lip. The orchid is 60 to 70cm tall with a stunning bright green stem. Its deeply veined green leaves tapering tip a fine tip. With its green bracts behind the flowers.
Each plant can have between one and three dark maroon flowers that have wavy edges, and the centres are speckled olive green. The main feature is the striking yellow pouch or slipper. Ladys Slipper Orchid grows from an underground rhizome and is perennial.
It has always been highly prized, particularly by Victorian plant collectors taking specimens from the wild so much that concerns were raised in 1888 that the orchid could become extinct. The relentless taking of plants from the wild, combined with an ever-decreasing habitat and the impact of increased grazing, mainly of sheep, led to the eventual extinction of the Lady Slipper Orchid in 1917.
Over a century later, I’m hiking through woodland up a steep slope in search of an extinct plant. I ponder the irony but also that the first recording of a Lady Slipper in Britain was in this area, way back in 1640. This encouraged me to press on.
I was enjoying this wonderful woodland that not many people see. It’s got some age to it and is predominantly Oak, with an understory of Ash and Hazel. The hazel was once coppiced, and whilst it is maintained, I doubt it is a viable crop anymore.
Part of the agreement for me to visit the woodland was that I would not damage or remove the orchid or any part of it should I find it and that any pictures I took would be shared with the owner. I had agreed on this and not to reveal the location, but I couldn’t help thinking about what would happen if I accidentally stepped on the only plant in the woodland! Thankfully, that didn’t happen.
I did find Lady Slipper Orchids that day. Probably the rarest plant I have ever seen. I stood in awe at the beauty of the plant in front of me and the history and scarcity of this flower, and I thought that very few people would get to enjoy this wonderful site.
It was hard to walk away from that site. I don’t know if I will ever see a Lady Slipper Orchid in the wild again, but I have the pictures I took and included one in this blog.
The exact location and all data and pictures from the day have been shared with the woodland owner and, through them, forwarded on to Natural England, which has a project to protect the Lady Slipper Orchid in the wild.
I hope that my short but memorable encounter with this beautiful native orchid may help to conserve the species so that more of you can enjoy seeing one of these stunning plants in the wild.
And now for something completely different A well-used phrase from my TV childhood as we head off to woodland near Bath in search of
Spiked Star of Bethlehem also known as Bath Asparagus
Spiked Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum)
The spiked star of Bethlehem was thought to have been introduced to Britain by the Romans; however, more recently, it is now believed to be a native British wildflower.
It is found in woodlands and along hedgerows it flowers around the same time as Bluebells and Ransoms or wild garlic that it is often found growing near.
In early spring, the plant produces white star-shaped flowers – hence the name – with distinctive green stripes that are formed of six equal lobes, each around 10 mm long, on a tall, up to 60cm, vertical spike, often dropping towards the tip, and maturing from the base upwards, for several weeks. Its leaves are Greyish-green, basal, linear, grass-like, and up to 60cm in length. Usually, the leaves have already withered once the plant is in flower.
The plant is also known as Bath Asparagus or sometimes wild Asparagus, and yes, it is edible and delicious. It can be used like its cultivated cousin and, when combined with some wild mushrooms in a risotto, is a meal to savour.
The Spiked Star of Bethlehem is considered uncommon with stable populations in the wild and is thought to be declining locally as one of the side effects of Dutch elm disease. A cultivated version is readily available from nurseries and specialist growers.
There is some fascinating local folklore around Bath that tells how a local shop owner and his wife would gather wild asparagus and sell it every year from their shop in Bath, and that explains why it is known as Bath Asparagus. It is found outside Somerset, mainly between Reading and Bristol but nowhere else throughout Britain.
I am aware of woodland to collect a sustainable harvest of Bath asparagus each year, just enough for a couple of meals and never damaging the bulbs of the plant. In that way, this rare wild plant is a rare and tasty treat for the wild forager.
I’m staying local for the next plant resembling one of my favourite wild plants.
May Lily
May Lily (Maianthemum bifolium)
The May Lily is also known as the False Lily of the Valley, a beautiful but not rare plant. I would argue that the Lilly of the Valley should be considered the false May Lily, which has been considered rare in Britain since Victorian times. There are many similarities between the two plants.
May Lily is a herbaceous perennial with large heart-shaped leaves with small white flowers in dense clusters forming on the top part of the stem during May and June.
The scientific name perfectly describes the plant with Maianthemum meaning” blooms in May” and bifolio meaning” two leaves.”
This woodland is ancient, meaning it has been permanently wooded since at least 1600 in England. You can find the May Lily in moist, shady areas, often close to or along a woodland stream.
May Lily requires specific nutrients to thrive. It doesn’t like heathlands or low-nutrient land but equally doesn’t like nutrient-rich, lush pasture land. It is recognised as one of the indicator species of medium-nutrient acidic soils in woodland rides. May Lilly prefers growing near Spruce trees where it gets the deep shade it needs. Plantations may be key to the survival of the species.
There aren’t Spruce trees on this site, but the May Lilly is found around the ancient Yew trees in the woodland.
May Lilly is now considered rare, with only a few remaining sites, mainly in southern England.
The plant has been used in folk medicine and was said to be a remedy for heart ailments, liver problems and fever. Some Folk stories claim that the May Lily roots were used to make a love potion. A word of warning. The whole plant is mildly toxic to humans, and the small red berries that form after the flowers have been pollinated are more harmful than the leaves or bulbs. The berries are very attractive to birds that spread the seeds of the May Lily in their droppings.
We are staying in the same woodland to search for our final plant.
Spiked Rampion
Spiked Rampion (Phyteuma spicatum)
Spiked Rampion is a herbaceous perennial member of the Campanula or Bellflower family and one of only two Phyteuma species in Britain.
It can grow up to 60 cm tall and has a rosette of basal leaves. The flowers are a dense spike-like cluster of small white flowers that look like shredded paper. The flowers bloom from June to August and are pollinated by various insects, including bees and butterflies.
The Spiked Rampion likes shady woodland edges and hedgerows, but these have declined by 95% in Britain over the last few decades. It is another plant that benefits from soil disturbance from woodland activities such as coppicing that has also declined rapidly.
The plant has a fascinating and diverse history. It is the plant that was stolen by Rapunzel in the well-known fairytale. It also has a starring role in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, who described it as “The Flower of Tinuviel” in his novel The Silmarillion.
Spiked Rampion has long been used in traditional medicine, with nearly all the plants being used. The root has been used to treat coughs, bronchitis, and asthma, while the leaves and flowers have been used to relieve fever, headaches, and joint pain. The plant has also been used as a diuretic, to treat digestive disorders, and to help wound healing.
The plant also has culinary use. It has a slightly bitter taste. The leaves and roots are used in soups, stews, and salads. The plant’s young leaves can also be eaten raw or cooked and taste like spinach.
Ecologically, Spiked Rampion benefits many animals. The plant is a food source and habitat for various insects and animals, including bees, butterflies, and small mammals. Its roots help stabilise soil and prevent soil erosion.
Modern science studies revealed that Spiked Rampion contains various chemical compounds responsible for its medicinal properties, including saponins, flavonoids, and tannins.
Saponins have the potential to be natural emulsifiers and foaming agents. Saponins have also been shown to have antifungal and antibacterial properties, making them a potential alternative to synthetic antimicrobial agents.
The plant’s flavonoids have also been studied for their potential to inhibit cancer cell growth and reduce inflammation, making them a potential source of anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory drugs.
I hope you have enjoyed our look at Britain’s rarest woodland plants and have been captivated by the diversity and scale of their struggles for survival and how some have been used for food, medicines and or as key indicator species.
Join us again soon for another look into Britain’s fascinating flora.
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Further Reading
Woodland Wildflowers Woodland Trust
Photo Guide to Woodland Flowers All Things Wildlife
A Guide to Woodland and Hedgerow Wildflowers by Woodlands.co.uk
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