Lockdown botany

Myosurus minimus found by Roger Heath-Brown in Garsington. Image by Roger Heath-Brown

I wonder what the ageing George Claridge Druce, great man of early twentieth century botany, did with himself during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Did he self-isolate at his home in north Oxford and work on The Adventive Flora of Tweeside (published 1919) or revisions to his Flora of Oxfordshire? Or did he potter about the town and along his local rivers, seeking the solace of wildflowers? I hope it was as sunny and floriferous for Druce and his contemporaries as it fortunately has been for us these last weeks.

I toyed with the idea of working on an (online) flora, but this seemed like too serious an enterprise for such a serious (and ridiculous) time. So, as I like to imagine Druce would have (in order not to make myself feel inadequate in comparison with his considerable industry), I have been exploring my local area more thoroughly than I have had time for in recent years. What have you been up to? I hope you have been able to get out and be cheered by spring wildflowers during your permitted exercise. A few botanists have been in touch with interesting things they've found this spring. I have had a few myself, and so I thought I'd write a blog post in an attempt to spread the cheer. Do leave a comment below if you have had a nice find you'd like to share.

Silybum marianum in a Wallingford alley. Image by Oli Pescott

First up, Roger Heath-Brown and Fay Banks separately emailed me about a new population of Myosurus minimus (mousetail) they'd both seen on their walks around Garsington. Originally found by Roger, plants were growing in a damp cattle-trodden field corner. This and similar places such as gateways are the typical habitat of this locally scarce species. Over the last few years I have also found a few new sites for this plant, all in gateways, mostly in the upper Ray, such as at Meadow Farm.

Oli Pescott tells me that on his explorations of the back alleys of Wallingford he has been finding a lot of Silybum marianum (milk thistle) and that it appears to be spreading. Over the river in the vice county of Oxfordshire, there certainly seems to be a trend also, with many recent records of a species that formerly was rather rare and casual in the county. Oli suggests that this Mediterranean native may benefit from climate change. If you'd like to see it, there is a large well-established population on the Dyke Hills at Dorchester. Do let me know if you find any elsewhere.


On her daily walk around Kidlington, Judy Webb found a plant not seen in Oxon for a long time, and only ever known from the Stonesfield area. This was the little grass Poa bulbosa (bulbous meadow-grass), which Judy found growing abundantly on a dry road verge, together with other coastal species such as Plantago coronopus (buck's-horn plantain). I wonder how it got here? With its fragile bulb-like stems, perhaps fragments were spread with mowers? It would be interesting to investigate if it is present elsewhere in the neighbourhood. I went to have look myself (on my way to do my grocery shopping) and found also a lot of Cerastium semidecandrum (little mouse-ear) growing with it, a locally uncommon or overlooked spring annual of short dry grassland (it turns brown and disappears after May).

Judy's colony of Poa bulbosa growing on a road verge in Kidlington. The plants are the yellowed patches around the edges of the verge in the left hand image. The bulbous bases are clearly visible in the image on the right. Images by Judy Webb.

Taraxacum berthae a new county record found by Judy Webb. Note the spotty leaves and adpressed outer involucral bracts. Image by Judy Webb

Like Judy and me, and other botanists stuck at home, you might have spent this period of lockdown looking at dandelions, the last few weeks being the perfect time of year for identifying these cheerful little plants. Judy's lockdown botany has continued to yield interesting plants, with her inspection of verges in Kidlington turning up a new county record, Taraxacum berthae (Bertha's dandelion). Judy shared her find of this unusual dandelion on Twitter and had it excitedly identified by keen taraxacologists Alex Prendergast and Josh Styles and confirmed by the BSBI referee. This is a rare dandelion of the north-west, so what it's doing in Oxon is a mystery. Was it introduced or could it be a relic of the old meadows that much of modern Kidlington is built on?

The fen dandelion T. palustre has for many years had a special allure for me, growing as it does in one of my favourite kinds of habitat (fenny meadows) but it has so far alluded me. Historically, there were four sites for this now endangered dandelion in Oxon, last seen in 1978. I have wanted for a number of years to look for it in the two sites that haven't been destroyed, Otmoor and Wendlebury Meads, both local to me, but I have always been too busy in April when dandelions are on show. Well, no problem with lack of time this year, and I found it surviving at both sites. It is difficult to estimate numbers since you can only really identify plants in flower and it is a small plant, but the populations seemed quite small, around a dozen flowers at Otmoor and half that at Wendlebury.

While looking for fen dandelion, I also found quite a lot of T. anglicum (English dandelion) in a different area of Otmoor, a new site, and at Wendlebury Meads growing with T. palustre, where it was last seen many decades ago. Nationally this is a much rarer dandelion but Oxford is a hotspot, with a number of sites in damp ancient meadows. My finds prompted Judy to send me a photo of a specimen she collected from Alvescot Meadows near Carterton which she thought was T. anglicum, and indeed it was (though I'm no expert). This is a significant westward extension of its Oxfordshire range.

If you are not convinced that dandelions are interesting, then I challenge you not to be impressed by the photos shown. Gorgeous little plants!

I wouldn't go as far as to say 'thank goodness for lockdown', but it's great to start the year with two county resurrections and a new county record. Fingers crossed for more good finds once this is over.

T. anglicum (top) and T. palustre (bottom) found at Wendlebury Meads. The narrow leaves and adpressed involucral bracts are characteristic of Section Palustria. The dark narrowly bordered bracts and deeply divided leaves of T. anglicum are diagnostic, the opposite situation obtaining in T. palustre with wide borders to the bracts and hardly divided leaves.