Valerian and mallow            Me, hedge mustard & Black horehound            Bird's foot trefoil

Where the hedgerow meets the meadow, a glow of bunched yellow spurges gave food to a masquerade of colourful insects speaking of a wooded past. Once I drifted through the threshold of spurges I was initiated into the golden delights of a city meadow.

Agrimony, ragwort and bird's foot trefoil competed with ox-tongue, hawkbits and hawkweeds.
Clambering up through them were purple vetches, restharrow and everlasting peas. The spear thistle and exuberant lush foliage of knapweed offered a stately presence whilst huge white trumpet flowers of greater bindweed sounded out with colour matched with the subtler trumpets striped pink and white of the field bindweed. 

On its edges flowering valerian, mallow, bedstaw, crane and storks bill overflowed with the joy of beauty. I knew noon had past for the plant jack by the noon had gone to sleep.

I acquainted myself with over 50 species in this single city meadow, a welcome message to green our concrete jungles. Ah, time in nature is well-spent.

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                         Creeping cinquefoil                                                           Tormentil

 In June the roses start to flower decorating the hedgerows. The rose family (Rosaceae) is a large family which includes many trees and shrubs and also consists of the delicate plants known as tormentils.
Amongst the short grass a beautiful yellow rose appears that lifts the spirit, sometimes upright and at other times sprawling these plants add a patch of gold to the green sward.
The three main species you are likely to see in June are:

Tormentil Potentilla erecta- This delightful species has usually less leaflets than the trailing species ( at least 3) is almost unstalked with thread-like stems which never root. Most likely to be on more acid soils.

Trailing Tormentil Potentilla anglica- This species is slightly larger with runners rooting only in late summer. More stalked leaves with 3-5 leaflets.

Creeping Cinquefoil Potentilla reptans - This species is not so delicate, coarse with far reaching runners with palmate leaves on long stalks, this species you will find in more man-made habitats and sparsely grassy places.

To this species list we can add silver weed with its distinctive silvery pinnate leaves low to the ground, the yellow flowered strawberry with dry tasteless strawberry-type fruits, specialist species of cinquefoils, the strawberry, herb bennet, argrimony and salad burnet. A wonderful array of plants adorning our grasslands.

The potentilla species are often plants which soothe our intestine, stomach and throats the most famous being the herb bennet which will be explored separately.

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