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This unobtrusive little plant is Bastard-toadflax Thesium humifusum.

It flowers in June and July, but is unlikely to be noticed when not in flower as it sprawls hidden amongst the grass on chalky turf sites. It has tiny leaves, sometimes less than 1cm long by 1mm wide. The flowers are also very small, about half a cm across.

It`s an indicator of high-quality habitat, and likes well-grazed habitats, which are increasingly rare.

Like lots of grassland species (Yellow-rattle, Eyebright, Lousewort, Bartsia, and Cow-wheat) this plant is hemi-parasitic, meaning it adds to its` energy supplies by taking nutrients from the grasses is grows with.

This illustration will appear on the FSC Publishing fold-out guide to the flora of Cranbourne chase, a high quality chalkland turf site, which will be published later this year.

#botanicalillustration #botanicalart #bastardtoadflax #chalkland #wildflowersuk #thesiumhumifusum ...

I`ve just made a film and blog reviewing Paul Reuben`s "YouLan Artist Watercolour set" which they gave me to try.

I was impressed; they`re good quality and reasonably priced.

To see my honest, unbiased review; watch me painting an Early gentian in real time; and access a limited time 10% discount code; please take a look:

https://youtu.be/OjDVVFmbWbU

and read the accompanying blog:

https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2024/03/paul-reubens-artist-level-youlan-series-watercolour-box-review/

#artequipment #review #paulreubens #watercolour #watercolorpainting #paintbox #botanicalillustration #botanicalart #gentian #paulreubens

@paulrubensart ...

This is the Juniper Juniper Juniperus communis, one of a recent set of wildflower illustrations completed for The Field Studies Council

It`ll be used on one of their fold out identification guides, this time a guide to the flora of Cranbourne chase. It`s an area of chalkland, a habitat I`m not very familiar with, so many of the plants on the species list were new to me.

The juniper was not, I`ve painted it several times before because there`s something so appealing about the blue-black berries and their leaves. These have a distinctive white stipe on the top half and surprisingly sharp points.

Juniper is useful not only in cooking, but (as I`m sure you all know) is has also been used to flavour gin for centuries.

#wildflowers #juniper #juniperuscommunis #botanicalillustration #botanicalart #identification #floral #gin ...

Field fleawort, Tephroseris integrifolia, an asteraceae yellow flower with furry leaves in a basal rosette.

I add the furry hairs ontop of the watercolour with white gouache and a tiny brush.

This is one of a series of wildflowers recently completed for a Field Studies Council guide to an area of Chalk land plants, so it`s a challenge as I`m much less familiar with these species.

#botanialillustration #botanicalart #wildflowers #fleawort #tephroseris ...

This is the Early gentian, Gentianella amarella subspc. uglinosa

It`s another plant that`s been reclassified recently, and is ever so similar to the Autumn gentian, but flowers early in the year.

The main I.d. feature is that the top internode makes up 40%+ of the entire plant height, and the mouth of the corolla has a fringe of white "hairs".

As its nor in season it was tricky to decide on what shade of purple to work with - the ref suggested a mauve rather than a violet hue.

#gentian #wildflowers #earlygentian #gentianella #flowers #flowerpainting #flowerart #chalkflowers #botanicalillustration #botanicalart ...

This is the Chalk stream water-crowfoot Ranunculus penicillatus subsp.pseudofluitans.

It`s one of a series of plants illustrated for an identification guide to Braunton Burrows, being produced by FSC publications.

How to tell this one from other water-crowfoot species? Complicated.

They`ve all been renamed recently by the BSBI, so the latest is that our subsp: has no emergent leaves. Sepals not or only slightly reflexed. Leaves all made of linear segments, divided 6 to 8 times. The one bit I couldn`t quite fit on this illustration was the detail of internode in relation to leaf length - it`s needed to see if you`re looking at R. pencilliatus subsp. pencillatus or subsp.pseudofluitans.

I love a botanical challenge and this was one - from the botany separating species to showing the plant above and below water to being sure each leaf segment was 6 - 8 x divided. Flower painting. So relaxing.

#crowfoot #watercrowfoot #botanicalart #botanicalillustration #wildflowers #aquaticplants ...

New blog out, written by guest blogger Nina James Summer, all about the symbolism and cultural significance of flower shapes:

https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2024/03/flower-shapes-symbolism-cultural-significance/

From the sunflower to the hibiscus, there`s plenty of stuff that was new to me. Writing by Nina, illustrations by me.

#botanicalillustration #flowershapes ...