I will put this essay online tommorow or the next day.
Rowan Alder, Tuesday 26th April 2011.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Friday, 1 April 2011
18/THE WINTER ACONITE WILD FLOWER
Winter Aconite. Eranthis hyemalis, hyemalis being the Latin word for wintery, of winter and so on. There are several low growing interesting but difficult to identify wild flowers, which grow at the edges of woodlands. Identifying such plants is a matter of knowing at what time of the year to look for things, which make each species distinctive.//
Winter aconites are easy to identify in March by their distinctive and conspicuous bright yellow, six petalled, cup shaped flowers. The flowers are about 15mm across and the plants themselves are about 12cm in height.//
Once winter aconites have been identified, one notes that the leaves are distinctive, although difficult to describe. The books describe winter aconite leaves as being deeply cut. Each long thin lobe of each deeply cut leaflet has a distinctive rounded end. Ho, hum.//
Each winter aconite plant stem has only one leaf or flower on it, and that leaf or flower is at the end of its stem. I am unenthusiastic about pulling plants apart, but if it is one plant from a largish patch of plants and it helps one identify the plant species, then I suppose that is alright.//
Winter aconite leaves are about 6cm across, and are made up of five deeply cut leaflets, something only ascertained by using the afore mentioned pulling the plant apart method. The leaflets are arranged in a rosette at the end of the 12cm high leaf stem. The leaflets are neat but irregularly lobed. In other words, the leaflets are not identical to each other.//
The leaves are difficult to describe, but easy to identify, once one is sure that one has learned to recognise winter aconite plants. Each yellow cup shaped flower has a rosette of leaflets around the base of the flower, such leaflets usually being called sepals.//
Winter aconites are the small yellow flowers one notices in March on the edges of woodlands. They are ranunculaceae flowers. That is, they are from the buttercup group of flowers.//
Winter aconites are easy to identify in March by their distinctive and conspicuous bright yellow, six petalled, cup shaped flowers. The flowers are about 15mm across and the plants themselves are about 12cm in height.//
Once winter aconites have been identified, one notes that the leaves are distinctive, although difficult to describe. The books describe winter aconite leaves as being deeply cut. Each long thin lobe of each deeply cut leaflet has a distinctive rounded end. Ho, hum.//
Each winter aconite plant stem has only one leaf or flower on it, and that leaf or flower is at the end of its stem. I am unenthusiastic about pulling plants apart, but if it is one plant from a largish patch of plants and it helps one identify the plant species, then I suppose that is alright.//
Winter aconite leaves are about 6cm across, and are made up of five deeply cut leaflets, something only ascertained by using the afore mentioned pulling the plant apart method. The leaflets are arranged in a rosette at the end of the 12cm high leaf stem. The leaflets are neat but irregularly lobed. In other words, the leaflets are not identical to each other.//
The leaves are difficult to describe, but easy to identify, once one is sure that one has learned to recognise winter aconite plants. Each yellow cup shaped flower has a rosette of leaflets around the base of the flower, such leaflets usually being called sepals.//
Winter aconites are the small yellow flowers one notices in March on the edges of woodlands. They are ranunculaceae flowers. That is, they are from the buttercup group of flowers.//
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