Family: Polygonaceae
Common name: Equal-leaved knotgrass
Scientific name: Polygonum arenastrum
Date taken: 28/8/2022
Notes: Differs from Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare) in having equally sized leaves on flowering and non-flowering branches. Sources also mention the fact that lobes of tepals fuse more (>1/3) in this species, but personally I found that difficult to observe and judge.
Family: Scrophulariaceae / Plantaginaceae (APG)
Common name: Ivy-leaved Speedwell
Scientific name: Veronica hederifolia
Date taken: 25/2/2023
Notes: Solitary flowers on leaf-axils. As the common name suggests, the species possesses palmately-loved leaves that, in some sense, resemble that of ivy.
Family: Liliaceae / Alliaceae (APG)
Common name: Daffodil
Scientific name: Narcissus pseudonarcissus
Date taken: 14/3/2023
Notes: Likely the native variety as the plant (1) has pale yellow outer perianth segments along with golden-yellow inner tube and (2) is generally small in size.
Family: Primulaceae
Common name: Primrose
Scientific name: Primula vulgaris
Date taken: 14/3/2023
Notes:
Primrose is heterostylous. This means that some plants only produce pin flowers with long stigmas + short stamens, while others only produce thrum flowers with long stamens + short stigmas. The phenomenon has been noticed by Darwin, who hypothesised that the arrangement promoted cross-pollination between different plants. More recent research showed that heterostyly in primrose is controlled by a supergene called the S locus, which is absent in pin-flowered plants but present as one single copy (hemizygous) in thrum-flowered plants.
This population was found scattered on chalk grasslands in South London.
Reference: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-36304-4
Family: Lamiaceae
Common name: Black Horehound
Scientific name: Ballota nigra
Date taken: 4/7/2022
Notes: Weed growing in the back garden. Could be mistaken as Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) from afar, but flowers are shaped differently. With calyx tubes long and funnel-shaped.
