WILDFLOWERS

CABBAGE FAMILY

Hairy Bittercress  Cardamine hirsuta  is a small, hairy plant, with a rosette of leaves at its base and white flowers present throughout most of the year.

Cuckooflower Cardamine pratensis is a short perennial found in damp meadows and ditches. An indication that spring has arrived. 

Shepherd's Purse  Capsella bursa-pastoris can be easily identified by the green or brownish heart-shaped seed pods that appear on long thin stalks. Flowers appear in clusters all through the year.

Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata has four-petalled flowers that have a faint garlic aroma, hence its common name. Found along woodland paths with a preference for shaded places this biennial takes two years to complete its lifecycle. The leaves are heart-shaped, smooth and hairless.

Honesty  Lunaria annua is an introduced, non-native species, garden escape. Purple flowers appear from April to June. The seed pods that appear later are easily recognisable; hanging like papery silver ovals on the plant skeleton during winter. In some parts of the world it is referred to as the 'Money Plant' due to the pods.

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