Butterbur - A Female Flower Spike

You may have been wondering what a Butterbur female flower spike looks like(?). Well, I found this rather fine specimen on the river bank, at Stretford, yesterday and thought I'd post a photograph.

These particular flowers have probably already been fertilised as the local male flower spikes are already turning brown and are fading (suggesting that they have shed their pollen). In the next few weeks the female spike will elongate into a 'tassel' and produce seeds to be dispersed on the wind.

Dave Bishop, March 2009

Butterbur

A plant which is appearing and coming into flower now, in late March, is the Butterbur (Petasites hybridus). Although it is fairly closely related to Coltsfoot (see my article dated 19th March 2009) it is an altogether stranger affair. There is something a bit fungoid about it and, indeed Geoffrey Grigson (1) reports that that an old Dorset name for it is ‘Early Mushroom’ – and it’s not hard to see why. It is particularly common on the river banks and some of the few (relatively) undisturbed areas that we have left.
Butterbur, like Holly (see my article dated 26th February 2009), is dioecious, that is male and female flowers occur on different plants. The squatter, pinker male plants tend to turn brown and shrivel once they have shed their pollen whilst the taller, more open female flower-spikes tend to elongate into ‘tassels’ once they have been fertilised and begin to bear seed. The top picture shows three male flower spikes whilst the bottom picture shows a group of female plants whose flowers have recently been fertilised. I have observed, over the years, that males and females tend to form separate colonies. A few years ago, near to the towpath of the Bridgewater Canal, there used to be a colony of male plants right next to a colony of female plants. I used to picture them as a group of nervous teenagers eyeing each other across a dance floor. Unfortunately, this site is now overgrown with brambles and the Butterbur is gone.
Once the business of reproduction is over, both sexes produce huge, rhubarb-like leaves (which I will discuss in a later article).
It is a curious fact that while Butterbur is quite common in many parts of the UK, female plants tend to be less so. As Professor Clive Stace (2) puts it: “male plant frequent throughout most of [the] B[ritish] I[sles]; female plant frequent in N[orth] & C[entral] E[ngland], very sporadic elsewhere.”
Fifty years ago, in a classic book on British wild flowers (3), John Gilmour and Max Walters discussed this distribution; they wrote:
“Professor Valentine has shown ... that the male plant of this species occurs quite commonly throughout the British Isles, but the female plant has a curiously restricted distribution, chiefly in the north-west of England – it is, for example, quite common around Manchester. Within this main area the female plants apparently produce abundant seed which in tests has germinated freely to give both male and female plants in the progeny. Valentine suggests that the restriction of the female must be due to some climatic factor which does not operate in the same way on the more adaptable males. He also suggests that some of the wide distribution of the male plant may be due to its having been planted to provide early nectar for bees.”
I am not aware of any more recent work on this question – but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been carried out (any information gratefully received).
Nevertheless, Butterbur is not only a curious and interesting plant but it is also, as the above passage suggests, of great local significance. It is a very characteristic of the Mersey Valley and is, I would also suggest, a key element of our local biodiversity.

Dave Bishop, March 2009
References:

1. ‘The Englishman’s Flora’ by Geoffrey Grigson, Paladin 1975 (first pub. 1958)

2. ‘New Flora of the British Isles’ by Clive Stace, Cambridge University Press, 1991

3. ‘Wild Flowers’ by John Gilmour and Max Walters, Collins, 1959

Ted Brooks: Local Bird Photographer

Last week I was walking near Sale Water Park and met a man photographing the herons on Broad Ees Dole. Seeing that he was using a rather nice digital SLR and a long lens, and me being a complete camera 'geek', I stopped to have a chat and to compare cameras. He introduced himself as Ted Brooks and told me that he lives in Chorlton. I asked him how he got interested in bird photography and he said:

"I am a member of Chorlton Golf Club and in 2003 I was made captain. After a very good year I found that I was getting very tired when playing golf. It was confirmed that I was diabetic so I decided to have a holiday in Kenya and it took off from there. As for photography, I have been interested and was semi-pro since the mid 1950s up to 1966 when I moved from London to Manchester."

I then told him about FoCM and this blog and mentioned that I thought that we didn't have enough pictures of birds and he very generously offered to send me some. I have posted Ted's beautiful pictures on the Picasa web album attached to the blog. To see these pictures go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/friendsofchorltonmeadows/birds

I am particularly pleased to be able to post some pictures of the kingfishers which are such a feature of Chorlton Brook and elsewhere: they are our very own 'living jewels' and never fail to delight everyone who sees them. I have long dreamed of taking such pictures myself - but Ted has beaten me to it!

Dave Bishop, March 2009

Snakes in the Valley: South Manchester Reptiles survey

It feels like spring has well and truly sprung into life this week with bumble bees fizzing around, more flowers emerging and the arrival of summer migrant birds such as the chiff chaff, but one question that some of the Friends are mulling over is are there any snakes or lizards in The Mersey Valley?

The answer is, we don’t know, and no one, we think, has previously carried out a survey to try and find out. In light of this, throughout the spring and early summer, a few of us have decided to carry out a survey which we hope will go some of the way to answering the question.

The UK only has 6 native reptiles, and we can say with a degree of certainty that if we are extremely lucky we might find 1 or 2 species in the Mersey Valley. Why? Because the others are either extremely rare and localized, like the smooth snake, or have very specific habitat requirements, like the sand lizard. Species that we might find are common lizard (Lacerta vivipara), slow worm (Anguis fragilis) and grass snake (Natrix natrix). For more detailed pictures and descriptions of all native reptiles visit: http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/identification.htm

All reptiles are cold blooded, a characteristic in finding them we hope to exploit! They need to get enough warmth and energy into their bodies to move and go looking for food. The common lizard, for example, likes to bathe on sunny banks. Therefore, to maximise our chances of having positive surveys, we will be placing pieces artificial refugia on certain habitats. In other words, pieces of corrugated tin and tiles of carpet will be dotted around the meadows and a few other selected sites in the valley. Reptiles use these objects to either hide under, or to bask on so they can warm up enough to become active. Another element in successfully surveying for reptiles is the weather. It’s no good looking on a sunny, warm day because they will be active and unlikely to be seen, similarly on cool, wet days they will be hiding away conserving energy. The perfect weather is broken cloud and not too warm, whether that be early in the morning in the summer, or the middle of a spring day. On these days reptiles have to spend much more time basking, and the pieces of tin and carpet are places where we might find them doing just that.

Any findings will of course be posted onto the blog, but if you want more information about amphibians and reptiles then there are some useful links below, including a link to the recently formed Amphibian and Reptile Group of South Manchester.

If you, or anyone you know, has any sightings of reptiles in and around the Mersey Valley area, please let us know – any such data will of great use to our survey.

Richard Gardner

Amphibian and Reptile Group of South Manchester
http://argsouthmanchester.blogspot.com/

Amphibian and Reptile Group of South Lancashire
http://www.argsl.org.uk/

The Herpetological Conservation Trust
http://www.herpconstrust.org.uk/

Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK
http://www.arg-uk.org.uk/

Coltsfoot

I spotted my first Coltsfoot flowers of the year today. They were at Hardy Farm on a patch of land adjacent to the river and near to Jackson’s Boat Bridge. Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) is an early (but, as we have seen, by no means the earliest) spring flower. It is a member of the botanical family Asteraceae and is, hence, related to Daisies and Dandelions. It is a plant of rough grassland and waste places.

The 17th Century herbalist, John Gerard wrote an excellent description of Coltsfoot in his ‘Herbal’ (1636):

Tussilago or Fole-foot hath many white and long creeping roots, somewhat fat; from which rise up naked stalkes (in the beginning of March and Aprill) about a spanne long, bearing at the top yellow floures, which change into down and are caried away with the winde: when the stalke and seed is perished, there appeare springing out of the earth many broad leaves, greene above, and next the ground of a white hoarie or grayish colour, fashioned like an Horse foot; for which cause it was called Fole-foot and Horse-hoofe: seldome or never shall you find leaves and floures at once, but the flours are past before the leaves come out of the ground ...

Gerard also described “The Vertues” (i.e. the medicinal uses) of Coltsfoot:

A decoction made of the greene leaves and roots, or else a syrup thereof, is good for the cough that proceedeth of a thin rheume.
The green leaves of Fole-foot pound with hony, do cure and heale inflammations.
The fume of the dried leaves taken through a funnell or tunnell, burned upon coles, effectually helpeth those that are troubled with shortnesse of breath, and fetch their wind thicke and often.
Being taken in a manner as they taketh Tobaco, it mightily prevaileth against the diseases aforesaid.

Long before Gerard’s day Coltsfoot had been used in cough remedies and, generally, for diseases of the bronchial tract. The first part of the scientific name, Tussilago, is from tussis – the Latin word for cough. I also believe that the second part of the name, farfara is onomatopoeic – that is it is supposed to represent the sound of someone coughing.
It is still possible to buy ‘Coltsfoot Rock’ as a cough remedy in the UK, but in Central Europe, where they take their herbal remedies very seriously, it is often present in cough syrups. A few years ago I was on holiday in Slovenia (once the northernmost republic of Yugoslavia, but now an independent country). I had had a chest infection and had been left with a persistent cough which was spoiling my holiday. Eventually, I went to a local pharmacist who sold me a bottle of sticky, brown cough medicine. I couldn’t read most of the label (which, of course, was in Slovenian) but I could read the scientific names of the plants (i.e. plant extracts) that it contained; these included Primula veris (Cowslips) and Tussilago farfara. This concoction worked just fine and the cough went away.
I don’t know if anyone these days actually smokes dried Coltsfoot leaves as a remedy for asthma; it seems unlikely – but you never know!

Dave Bishop, March 2009

Common Whitlowgrass Re-visited

OK, so I've discussed this already - but I went back to the site (the concrete 'raft' on the river bank) a couple of days ago and was amazed by how many more plants had come into flower. Not only that but, in the bright sunshine, all of the flowers were fully open and displaying their characterstic, deeply-notched petals.

It may be my imagination but the plants also seemed to have a 'scent' - and not a very pleasant one. As I got down close to these tiny plants, in order to photograph them (again), I became aware of a faint odour - a bit like acrid, sweaty feet (I'm fairly certain that it wasn't anything to do with my feet!). I've forgotten a lot of my chemistry but I think that the smell may have been characteristic of certain fatty acids (Palmitic or Oleic ... possibly?). Anyway, it's probably a good thing that the plants aren't any bigger or everyone would be complaining about the pong!

Dave Bishop, March 2009

The Spring Crocus

In my article on the Autumn Crocus (1) I related how, in the Middle Ages, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem acquired land in the Southern Pennines. They grew the South Western European species Crocus nudiflorus as a source of saffron which they valued for its medicinal properties. Because I had not seen any evidence for the presence of the Knights of St. John in the Mersey Valley I have always assumed that our Crocus plants were washed down the Pennine watershed in winter floods, and I still think that that is the most likely origin of many of our colonies.
Nevertheless, an article which appeared in a natural history magazine several years ago added a new twist to the story. The article (2) was written by Steve Alton, a Nottinghamshire Conservation Officer. Mr Alton related how C. nudiflorus was once common in the flood meadows of the River Trent near the city of Nottingham but in that location it was usually accompanied by the Spring Crocus (Crocus vernus). It should be noted, of course, that the two species don’t actually flower together but in the spring C. vernus produces both flowers and leaves whilst in the case of C. nudiflorus only the distinctive leaves are visible at that time. In his article Mr Alton states that the Spring Crocus in the Nottingham area appeared to have spread out from Lenton Priory, which was owned not by the Knights of St. John but by monks of the Cluniac order. The priory was founded between 1108 and 1114 by William Peverel, son of William the Conqueror. This order originated in Cluny, in Burgundy (South Western France) where both the Spring and Autumn Crocuses grow wild. In addition it appears that the monks owned two hermitages – one in caves near the priory and the other across the Pennines at Kersall in Salford. This is almost certainly a reference to Kersall Cell in the Irwell Valley. Apparently there was a well-used road between the priory and Kersall and there are nine Autumn Crocus sites along its route.
After reading the article cited above it occurred to me to start looking for Spring Crocuses in the Mersey Valley and, in particular to look for sites where both species grow together.

Before I discuss my findings further I need to describe the Spring species in a bit more detail:
Crocus vernus is a central European species found from the Pyrenees to the Carpathians. It is a mountain plant found around snow patches and in mountain meadows and sub-alpine woods. It is taxonomically quite complex with many variants and at least two subspecies (3). Flowers colours range from purple through lilac to pure white; some plants are purple with white stripes. A major problem with looking for colonies which might be old is the fact that this species is still being planted as an ornamental and such planting could have occurred any time in the last century or so. Nevertheless, modern cultivars tend to be larger than the wild types and they are often planted with a yellow species (usually the hybrid Crocus x stellaris).
In Nottingham two of the areas where both Crocus species have lingered on are in churchyards and cemeteries, so I made a point of looking in Mersey Valley churchyards and cemeteries. My findings are as follows:

Heaton Mersey

There is a colony of Spring Crocuses in an overgrown site off Vale Road opposite an industrial estate. I’m not sure what the history of this site is except that there were bleach works in this area (hardly relevant, one would think, in this context). When I first found this site in the mid 1990s the plant colonies were clearly visible at the bases of some old gate posts but when Priscilla Tolfree and I visited it again a couple of years ago the plants were just holding their own against a sea of invading Ivy.

St. James Churchyard and Fletcher Moss Gardens, Didsbury

Apparently both the church and the churchyard have been much altered during the last few centuries (4) but there are a small handful of Spring Crocuses to be found in the upper part of the churchyard closest to the church. At the western end of the yard, furthest from the church, and at a lower elevation, there are some groups with the large cultivars and the yellow flowered hybrid, characteristic of modern plantings, referred to above.
On the lawn in front of the Old Parsonage nearby there is a large drift of Spring Crocuses of the ‘wild’ type – could these have been moved there during one of the periods when the churchyard was being altered? I suppose that this is possible but it must remain pure speculation.

Ford Lane and St. Wilfrid’s Churchyard, Northenden

Northenden is a ‘Crocus Hotspot’! The bank on the south side of Ford Lane (the opposite side from the river), near Didsbury Golf Course, is a good site for C. nudiflorus and slightly further on, around a gate leading on to the Golf Course, is a magnificent display of C. vernus (see top photograph above). These two populations do overlap slightly and are the best example that I know of the two species growing together in this area.
St. Wilfrid’s churchyard, in Northenden itself, has a huge population of C. vernus. I visited this churchyard most recently on Friday 6th March, 2009 and was greatly impressed by the magnificent and very beautiful drifts of this species. Equally impressive was the fact that, even this early in the spring, the flowers were being visited by a huge swarm of honey bees. Also present in the same churchyard was another species, C. tommasinianus (5). I suspect that some of the flowers that I saw were, in fact, hybrids between the two species. This is worrying because, in time, there is a chance that the C. vernus plants could be ‘hybridised-out’.

Southern Cemetery, Chorlton

This cemetery is rich in spring bulbs, particularly the north eastern boundary, adjacent to Nell Lane. There is little doubt that most of these have been planted fairly recently, by the local authorities, but there are drifts of C. vernus which I suspect may be older. There is certainly evidence that a substantial population of C. vernus was present in this area in the mid 19th century because the botanist Leo Grindon recorded such a population from “... a meadow opposite the gable of Hough End Hall” (6). I think that there is a very good chance that the Southern Cemetery plants are the remains of the same population. Again there is worrying evidence that these historic plants are being ‘hybridised-out’ by C. tommasinianus.

St. Michael’s Churchyard, Flixton

There is another population of C. vernus in this churchyard and Priscilla Tolfree found C. nudiflorus on the golf course nearby.

So, what are we to conclude? Frankly, it’s very difficult to know. The situation is like a giant jigsaw puzzle with many lost pieces. There may well have been (at least) two religious/monastic orders locally, who, between them, introduced two Crocus species into the Manchester area, almost certainly as a source of saffron. It will take a far, far better historian than me to sort it out! Nevertheless, I feel that these plants have great significance both in terms of local biodiversity and local history and heritage.

Dave Bishop, March 2009

References:

1. ‘The Autumn Crocus’ - FoCM Blog, Saturday 20th September, 2008

2. ‘Crocus Connections’ by Steve Alton, ‘Natural World’ No. 38, Autumn 1993

3. ‘The Genus Crocus’ by Brian Mathew, Batsford, 1982

4. ‘A History of Didsbury’ by Ivor R. Million, Didsbury Civic Society & E.J. Morten, 1969

5. ‘The Early Spring Crocus’ – FoCM Blog, Saturday 21st February, 2009

6. ‘The Manchester Flora’ by Leo H. Grindon, William White, 1859