A Moss and Liverwort Walk in Earlham Cemetery

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Today dawned cold but dry and, provided you were well wrapped up against the cold, it turned out to be an ideal morning for a walk in Norwich’s Earlham Cemetery looking at mosses and liverworts.

Cryphaea heteromalla

Cryphaea heteromalla, on an oak branch, just one of our finds.

About twenty people came along, evenly split between Friends of Earlham Cemetery and the Norfolk and Suffolk Bryological Group, one of the local groups of the British Bryological Society. Members of the Bryological Group did the identification but kindly let us tag along. A hand lens proved to be useful to pick out details of leaves and capsules and I took home a couple of small specimens in envelopes for a closer look at home.

I had forgotten how interesting mosses and liverworts (bryophytes) are. About thirty years ago I spent a week in the west of Scotland studying these plants during the day (and drinking in the evenings) but I’ve not spent much time looking at them since. Today brought back good memories, with familiar yet exotic names such as Atrichum undulatum, Dicranium scoparium and Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus reminding me of more youthful days. Nowadays English names exist for these mosses (Common Smoothcap, Broom Fork-moss, Springy Turf-moss respectively) but I think I’ll stick to the scientific names, as those are what I learnt.

In the afternoon it rained heavily and I was glad to be sitting indoors. But on the next free, dry day it’ll definitely be time for me to take another look at these lovely plants.

Earlham Cemetery mosses and liverworts walk, 31st January 2015.

Earlham Cemetery mosses and liverworts walk, 31st January 2015.

The list of Moss and Liverwort species found in Earlham Cemetery is on the Friends of Earlham Cemetery website. (At time of writing today’s specimens still need to be added.)

Information sheets on individual moss and liverwort species can be found on the British Bryological Society website.

Winter Heliotrope, Petasites fragrans

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A few days ago I wrote about my Heritage Seed Library order, an early Christmas present. Another Christmas present from the Plant Kingdom is one I bought for myself back in the summer, a Winter Heliotrope plant. It is now in flower, in time for Christmas.

Winter Heliotrope

Winter Heliotrope, Petasites fragrans, is a member of the Daisy Family, the Asteraceae, and a close relative of Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, which I wrote about back in March 2012. (It is sometimes known as Sweet-scented Coltsfoot or Sweet Colt’s-foot.)

It has kidney-shaped, bright green leaves, which are hairless above and hairy on their undersides. They look a bit like Coltsfoot or Butterbur leaves but are shinier and greener than those of Coltsfoot, without the scalloped edges, and are smaller and rounder than Butterbur leaves.

The plant can be found in hedge banks and by roadsides and on waste ground. It prefers wetter ground, and often grows by streams. I have usually found it growing close to habitation and this is not surprising, as it is not a British native but has escaped from gardens. It was introduced in the early 19th Century from the shores of the Mediterranean. It is native to south-western and south-eastern Europe and North Africa but now grows through much of lowland Britain, though it is scarcer in Scotland. Good sites to see it locally include the Rosary Cemetery in Norwich and to the west of Norwich, not far from Runhall Church.

In the open ground Winter Heliotrope can be invasive, as it spreads by branching underground stems (rather like Coltsfoot) and it can form large patches, where its leaves shade out other plants. Mine is in a pot and I don’t intend to let it escape, though since I bought it the plant has already reached the edges of the pot in a bid for freedom.

It is the flowers that make the Winter Heliotrope (see the Wildflower Finder website for some lovely photographs). They are subtly pretty – in pale pink clusters on the end of short spikes. Only male flowers are produced in the British Isles, so the plant cannot spread by seed.

The fact that the plant is in flower in the depths of winter is one reason why I love this plant but the main reason is the delicious vanilla scent of the flowers. On Christmas morning I will venture outside to my plant and take a long, deep sniff.

Heritage Seed Library

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Heritage French Beans

Heritage French Beans

I’ve just had an early Christmas present – my order from Garden Organic‘s Heritage Seed Library.

The Heritage Seed Library is a collection of vegetable seed varieties that are not generally available. Some are varieties that were dropped from seed catalogues, others are heirloom varieties that have been saved by generations of farmers or gardeners and others are what are known as landrace varieties, adapted to specific growing conditions.

The Heritage Seed Library (HSL) currently holds about 800 varieties and every year around 150 of these are included in the Heritage Seed Library Seed Catalogue. Members of the Heritage Seed Library (£18 per year for Garden Organic members) can choose six free packets of seeds from the catalogue, which is sent out in early December. They can also choose to receive a seventh “lucky dip” variety.

My choices this year were Carrot “Red Elephant” (a 19th Century Australian heirloom variety described as fast growing, large and tasty), Beetroot “Avon Early” (an early, round rooted variety developed at the National Vegetable Research Station at Wellesbourne), Kale “Shetland” (from organic crofters Tommy & Mary Ibster of Burland, near Scalloway on Shetland), Lettuce “Bunyard’s Matchless” (an open-hearted cos lettuce with a distinctive nutty flavour), Tomato “Aranyalma” (a 1950s German variety of yellow tomato with a Hungarian name meaning “Golden Apple”) and Pea “Eat All” (a tall mangetout variety saved by growers from Halesworth in Suffolk, described as “hardy, vigorous, tasty”).

I will save seed from the lettuce, tomato and pea and perhaps the carrots. On my allotment I can’t guarantee that kale and beetroot won’t cross with other people’s plants, but at least I’ll be able to grow the varieties for a few years.

It’s well worth joining the Heritage Seed Library for the chance to grow unusual and lovely varieties of vegetables.

Over the years I have grown and saved seed from French Beans (as in the picture above), Broad Beans, Peas, Lettuces and Tomatoes, plus more unusual crops such as Achocha. Highlights have been some lovely, tasty varieties of tomatoes of various shapes, colours and sizes, and some wonderful tall Victorian varieties of peas, with the sweetest of flavours.

EU Seed Laws favour large multinational seed companies and make it illegal to sell unregistered varieties of seed, hence the need to join the seed library, rather than pay per packet. Seed registration costs about £3000 per variety, making it uneconomic to register seed that is useful to gardeners but not large scale farmers, such as tall varieties of peas that are very productive and tasty but need to be grown up supports.

Although seeds can be stored in seed banks, the best way of ensuring the survival of unusual varieties and protecting the genetic diversity of our vegetable seeds is to grow them. This is a very important reason to grow heritage seeds and support the Heritage Seed Library.