by Ian Brand

WHEN I am out running, to keep myself amused I like to spot plants en route. If you are picturing a botanical version of Mo Farah, then sadly think again. There is no time to get out the magnifying lens and consult the books, so the plants have to be easily identified.

Two plants that have just come into flower are Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) (see photo) growing in ditches and along hedgebanks and Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) dotted throughout damp meadows. As I jog by, I realise these plants have much in common.

They are both members of the cabbage family (Brassicaceae). Take a closer look - virtually all cabbage flowers have the same structure. First note the four separate petals forming a cross, which gave the family its old name of Cruciferae. Then gently pull the petals apart and look inside where there are six male stamens (four long, two short) and in the centre the female stigma, style and ovary. Following pollination and fertilisation, the ovary develops into the fruit or seed capsule. This comes in one of two varieties either long and thin as in our two species (similar to oilseed rape) or short and wide like Shepherd’s Purse or Honesty. Think of them together as the “Laurel and Hardy” of the plant world!

Whenever you encounter this arrangement in future you will know you have a member of the cabbage family. It is a large family, not just wild flowers but garden flowers like Aubrietia, Honesty and Wallflower and food crops such as Turnip, Cabbage, Broccoli, Watercress and many more.

Have you seen your first Orange-tip butterfly this year? If so, then it probably started life as an egg laid on one of these two plant species last May or June. Laid singularly, they turn from greenish-white to orange as it matures. The caterpillars, or larvae, would have hatched last June to July, feeding on their empty egg case and the plants foliage, developing seedpods and occasionally turning cannibalistic and eating their broodmates. They pupate from late June onwards and remain as a chrysalis over winter. Emerging in April onwards they are one of our earliest butterflies.

The male butterfly with its fiery orange tips is unmistakeable (see photo insert, by kind permission of Anne Riley), but the female without the orange tips can be confused with other white butterflies. In this case you need to take a look at the blotchy camouflage pattern on the underwings, which allows for positive identification.

Never stop being inquisitive about our natural world.

www.wharfedale-nats.org.uk