cjay
Tuesday 18th March 2003, 17:47
The Yellow flowering Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) is in my opinion a common plant of urban areas, along with many hedgerows & roadside banks. In Kessingland south of Lowestoft (UK) it grows in almost all gardens, even in cracks in the pavement Stace lists four subspecies but I have only recorded R. ficaria ficaria & R. bulbilifer. Bulbilifer has tubers forming in the leaf axils which can only be determined after flowering. Those to look out for are the plants that grow close to habitation & in the shade.
This is another plant that spreads rapidly if planted in your flower borders.
Also in Kessingland I saw a small garden pond with the weed Azolla (Azolla filiculoides) it is a water fern that chokes still waters. It is red in colour & can cover a bucket of water overnight. It is an uncommon fern of dykes along the Suffolk coast & can only be killed off by hard frosts. Many blame those who release frogspawn into the dykes along with their own pondweed, thus spreading this red weed further.
CJ
This is another plant that spreads rapidly if planted in your flower borders.
Also in Kessingland I saw a small garden pond with the weed Azolla (Azolla filiculoides) it is a water fern that chokes still waters. It is red in colour & can cover a bucket of water overnight. It is an uncommon fern of dykes along the Suffolk coast & can only be killed off by hard frosts. Many blame those who release frogspawn into the dykes along with their own pondweed, thus spreading this red weed further.
CJ