Yes, Rebel Botanists are ready for anything! (In omnia paratus) 👍 Today, we held quizzes, made seed bombs, discussed wildflower meadows and did a walk and chalk around Plymouth’s first public park.
Opened in 1892, Beaumont Park in Plymouth, is also known as Squirrel Park, due to the abundance of grey squirrels climbing around the Beech, Oak, Sycamore and Horse-chestnut trees.
So let’s see what other plant life we found in this lovely park 🌱🌼…
A beautiful abundance of our favourite Bellis perennis. It’s heliotropic flowerhead wide open to the midday sun.
A dandy Dandelion, with it bright yellow florets.
Another yellow wild one, the Creeping buttercup.
Plenty of Ribwort Plantain, great for human and animal medicine and excellent food for songbirds and finches, e.g. Goldfinches. So, let it grow 🌱
Lapsaria communis is in the sunflower family.
The centre of the park had a real array of flowers, both native and non-native. One of these was Love-in-a-Mist – a fabulous name for a fabulous plant, don’t you think?
The flower heads look like their dancing in the breeze, hence the name Greater Quaking Grass. This plant provides food for farmland birds like: Linnets, Yellowhammers, Greenfinches and House Sparrows. So, let it grow 🌱
Another good food source: Red Valerian.
This is also known as Lady’s Glove and provides digitalis and other cardiac glycosides for medical use.
Cynara cardunculus is edible just like a regular artichoke.
Jerusalem Sage is used in tea to aid digestion. Another non-native, I wonder how they got here? 🤔
This is native Hart’s Tongue fern, Asplenium scolopendrium; its “unfurling fronds resemble the curled scroll of a violin.” Taken from: The Lost Rainforests of Britain @guyshrubsole
Shield ferns, Polystichum, like shady, moist areas.
Did you know? Lichens are “symbiotic organisms comprising both plants and fungi, bridging two entirely different kingdoms of life.” (@guyshrubsole). They are also an indicator of good air quality.
Broad-leaved dock, aka Bitter dock – a lovely green habitat for wildlife.
Hmm…a nature crossroads, which way now? 🤔
Aesculus hippocastanum can live for 300 years and reach 40m in height.
A free B(ee) and B(ee) for insects only. 🤣 It’s only humans who charge other humans for bed and breakfast. 😂
We love being Rebel Botanists, providing free street art education through our chalking. What’s also great is eating Janet’s cake. Janet is one of our original team members who makes the most amazing homemade cakes and she’s created one of her best yet – yoghurt cake. Words cannot describe the yummy taste.
Thanks to Jonathan Spurling for the invite. Great to share the day with Jane and Joy from @plymouthscrapstore, Owen from @pollenize, also @cleanourpatch, #gamesgaloreplymouth and @xrdoctors.
#RebelBotanists 