As its name suggests, giant hogweed it a large umbellifer with distinctively ridged, hollow stems. An introduced species, it is an invasive weed of riverbanks, where it prevents native species…

A low-growing plant of sand dunes, heaths and grassy places, Common centaury is in bloom over summer. Look for clusters of pretty, pink, five-petalled flowers.

A short, but pretty plant of unimproved grasslands, the Green-winged orchid gets its name from the green veins in the 'hood' of its flowers. Look for it in May and June.

Look out for this tiny crab under rocks and boulders on rocky shores - you'll have to look closely though, they're pretty well camouflaged!

At night, the pretty, white blooms of white campion produce a heady scent, attracting feeding moths. Look for this wildflower along hedgerows and roadside verges, and on waste ground.

Look for the pretty, azure-blue flowers of Wood forget-me-not along woodland rides and hedgerows, and in ancient and wet woodlands. Varieties of this flower for the garden are very popular.

The pretty Deptford pink is a very rare flower that is very vulnerable to the loss of our traditional grassland and farmland habitats. It can only be found in a few places in England and Wales.…

The pincushion-like, lilac-blue flower heads of Devil's-bit scabious attract a wide variety of butterflies and bees. Look for this pretty plant in damp meadows and marshes, and on riverbanks…

A pretty and distinctive little waterbird, the mandarin duck was introduced from the Far East as its name suggests. Oddly for a duck, it nests in trees, sometimes high above the water.

The pretty-in-purple Pasqueflower is now a rare plant in the UK, restricted to just a few chalk and limestone grasslands. Steeped in legend, it flowers at Easter, so is known as the 'anemone…