John sent me pictures of something growing in his garden on Skye that I am pretty sure is Guizotia scabra (Sunflecks), a close relative of Niger. The latter (G. abyssinica) is well-known as a...
Neil and I had an excursion on Raasay last week to catch a spit on the east coast of Raasay at low water. Whilst waiting for the tide we checked some coastal woodland for fungi and whatever else we...
Sell & Murrell, Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, give three subspecies of Hedera helix: subsp. helix with six forms, subsp. hibernica with three varieties, one of which has four forms, and...
It is the peak time of the year for fungal fruiting bodies. Here are four that I have identified on Raasay recently.
Clavulinopsis luteoalba Apricot Club growing in my garden lawn
Amanita...
Mervyn and Vicki spotted an old tree stump covered in fungal fruiting bodies:
Galerina marginata
Many photos later including photomicrographs of spores, Chris has identified this as Galerina...
Yesterday I went measuring Wych Elms on Raasay for Euan’s project at the University of the Highlands and Islands, based in Inverness. I was interested to note that the two probably native trees...
Joanna has been looking at Euphrasia this year and her latest finds include the rather rare Euphrasia frigida x ostenfeldii. Originally thought to be found only on Rum, the hybrid is now known from a...
The pupa on Polystichum aculeatum (Hard Shield-fern) emerged last week and turns out to be Psychoides filicivora sometimes called Fern Smut.
Psychoides filicivora
At the time of writing nothing...
Pelorism is the abnormal production of radially symmetrical flowers in a species that usually produces bilaterally symmetrical flowers. I had never seen this in Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica subsp...
Similar to the Sonchus arvensis story, I spotted Eupatorium cannabinum (Hemp-agrimony) on the roadside south of Sligachan. Again, this is almost exclusively coastal locally and this is a new hectad (...