Porcelain fungus
The shiny, translucent porcelain fungus certainly lives up to its name in appearance. It can be seen growing on beech trees and dead wood in summer and autumn.
The shiny, translucent porcelain fungus certainly lives up to its name in appearance. It can be seen growing on beech trees and dead wood in summer and autumn.
A low-growing herb of chalk and limestone grassland, Salad burnet lives up to its name - it is a popular addition to salads and smells of cucumber when crushed!
Selfheal is a low-growing, creeping plant that likes the short turf of grasslands, roadside verges or even lawns. Its clusters of violet flowers appear in summer.
The Yellow star-of-Bethlehem is a woodland plant that lives up to its name - it displays starry, gold flowers in an umbrella-like cluster in early spring.
Pushing its way up through the cracks in pavements, the straw-coloured flower spikes of greater plantain or 'broadleaf plantain' are a familiar sight. This 'weed' also pops up…
The silver-washed fritillary gets its name from the silver streaks on its underside. It is on the wing in summer, preferring sunny glades in woodlands. Despite declines, its range has spread over…
I’m Libby, and I’m currently completing a research development internship in sustainable aquaculture (basically farming in water) at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban. In…
Considered to be one of the prettiest gentians, the Chiltern gentian is a rare plant in the UK. It likes chalk grasslands, its purple, trumpet-shaped flowers blooming from August.
The early gentian is a rare plant that is only found in the UK. It likes sunny, lowland chalk grasslands, its purple, trumpet-shaped flowers blooming in May and June.
Large scale drainage in the UK has seen a massive reduction in the range of this sensitive aquatic plant which now only occurs in around 50 sites in England.
The rare heath fritillary was on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, but conservation action turned its fortunes around. It is still confined to a small number of sites in the south of England,…
A scarce tree of England and Wales, the Large-leaved lime is the rarest of our native limes. It is tall and broad, and can be found in forests and parks, where it is frequently planted.