The first featured crop is Ginseng, Panax ginseng.

Ginseng: Description

Ginseng is a member of the Apiaceae, or carrot family.  It has three to six palmate leaves with serrated leaflets; each leaf has 3 to 5 leaflets.  Clusters of 30 to 50 small red flowers are borne on long peduncles, and produces bright red berries, with white kidney-shaped seeds.  The plant reaches up to 60cm in height.  However, it’s not the leaves, flowers, or berries that are the focus of ginseng use.  It is the root, which tends to be cylindrical and have 2 branches.

Leaf of ginseng plant

Ginseng: Distribution and History of use

The ginseng is native to temperate mountainous woodland zones in Korea, NE China, and the far east of Russia.  It is now cultivated in many other countries where growing conditions can be met; including Canada, Japan, and the USA.

The first written mention of ginseng is from 2,000 years ago, although there is evidence is was used as far back as 4,500 years ago (Journal of Ginseng research. March 2013).  It’s Latin name, Panax ginseng, contains the etymological root “Panax” meaning all-healing.  This is also the same root as the word for a cure-all, a panacea.

Ginseng: Preparation and cookery

Ginseng root can be used fresh or dried.  In its’ fresh form, raw ginseng, it is 75% water, so can’t be stored for long.  It is used in traditional Chinese and Korean recipes, often in soups.

There are two dry forms. White ginseng is sun-dried from raw, and thinly peeled.  It can be straight, curved, or semi-curved. Red ginseng is steamed before being dried, and can last up to 20 years.  This red ginseng makes up the majority of health food supplements and nutritional additives which are sold in many forms.  It can be eaten in teas, drinks, as tablets, in candy, as powder, and as extracts.

Ginseng: Medicinal uses

As a cure-all, the ailments treated with ginseng are wide-ranging.  They include kidney, liver, reproductive and cardiovascular ailments; as well as a tonic for general well being.  It’s also been claimed it is a cure for alopecia; and a preventative for flu, diabetes, and cancer.  In ancient China and Korea, it was used as a love potion, and more recently it has been used to treat erectile dysfunction (“Red ginseng for treating erectile dysfunction: a systematic review” British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2008).  For more on the history of Ginseng use, click here.

Ginseng root contains antioxidants and vitamins (such as B1, B2, B3, B5, and B12).  Trace elements found in ginseng include zinc, copper, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, vanadium, potassium, sodium and phosphorus; along with volatile oil polysaccharides, pectins, and sterols. (Journal of Ginseng Research 2023).  They also contain ginsenocides which may be useful in combating disorders due to old age. ( “Panax ginseng and aging related disorders: A systematic review” de Oliveira Zanuso et al Experimental Gerontology 2022)

Ginseng root

There is little clinical proof of the medicinal benefits of ginseng use (“Panax ginseng”. MedlinePlus, 2024), although it may have some effect on general health and in reducing stress levels.  It can react unfavourably with other drugs such as anticoagulants like Warfarin, with diabetic medicines, and over 100 drugs are known to interact with it (Drugs.com).

 As with many established folk medicines, the fact that it has been in constant use for over 2,000 years carries some weight.

Ginseng berries

Ginseng: Commercial considerations

Four countries produce 99% of the world’s ginseng.  In 2013 this was 80,080 tons, with a value of $2,084 million.  Canada, the USA, and South Korea run second to South China where roughly half of the world’s ginseng is produced.

As the Journal of Ginseng Research puts it, over ten years ago, “Since the interests in alternative medicine and healthy food is increasing globally, the consumer market of ginseng…is expected to expand continuously.” (Journal of Ginseng research. March 2013)

Conclusion

Before illustrating this plant, I knew little about it.  I know you can get ginseng tea, and that it is important in Chinese and Korean traditional medicine.  The wide ranging cures and effects attributed to it amaze me, as does the commercial importance of this crop.  I am equally surprised by the appearance of the plant, with those stunning scarlet berries!

Botanical illustration is full of surprises, and doing the Ginseng illustration for the Crops Trust is another example of just that.  Keep an eye out for blogs on the other three crops illustrated; namely Pearl millet, the Date palm, and the Olive.

The post Crop Trust illustration: Ginseng appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Third page of the FSC guide to Socttish Urban plants

Why a guide to urban plants?

Plants are incredibly resilient, and many species have managed to carve out a niche despite all the tarmac and concrete in our towns and cities.  We often overlook these plants, or disregard them as “weeds”.  But there is an enormous amount of variety in the plants of urban spaces, and they’re well worth examining closer.

As the guide points out, “Although urban plants are easy to dismiss as ‘weeds’, they have many fascinating adaptations that are worthy of a second look. Some have a fast lifecycle, tolerating limited space, not much soil, and highly fluctuating temperatures and moisture. Others spread quickly through stolons and rhizomes to form large stands. Old walls have specialist plants all of their own, especially where there is soft lime mortar.” (FSC publications 2025)

Wall rue Asplenium ruta-muraria

What makes a plant an Urban species?

As the write up on FSC’s site states, “Since 2015 the Botanical Society of Scotland has been recording urban plants in Scotland, defined as settlements with at least 1000 inhabitants. Volunteer recorders have searched streets, car parks, golf courses, cemeteries, waste ground and many other places. Anything deliberately planted was excluded, but anything that had spread by itself was included.

Currently there are nearly 80,000 records, with over 1200 vascular plant species found so far. This guide covers the most common non-woody species among these records.” (FSC publications 2025)

FSC broke the urban plants featured into categories depending on their habitat and provenance.

Chinese bramble Rubus tricolor

Urban plants: Walls and Buildings

Every one of the species in this section grows on the churchyard wall opposite my house.  This makes life very much easier as I can get fresh material to work with both when drawing up roughs, and when adding colour.  It also shows something of the geographical spread of these plants.

Common polypody Polypodium vulgare

There are several similar species of Polypody fern in the UK, and I struggled to be certain which one I was drawing.  The BSBI produce “crib sheets”, pdfs comparing and contrasting similar species.  The one on Polypody ferns proved very useful.  There’s also a good video from the Botanical Society of the British Isles on these ferns if you’d like to learn more.

Wall lettuce Lactuca muralis grows at the base of the churchyard wall, and was just coming into flower.  I recognized it immediately, but had never stopped to i.d. it before.  One of the many things my job gives me is a reason to stop and look at plants differently and closer than before.

Wall lettuce Lactuca muralis

Growing on the wall in my garden is the Wall bellflower Campanula portenschlagiana.  In late May, the whole of the front garden wall is blue with it.  I was surprised to find there are two similar bell flower species.  Again, time was needed to untangle them and ensure I was illustrating the correct species.  Online resources such as the Botany in Scotland blog proved very helpful.

Wall or Dalmatian bellflower Campanula portenschlagiana

Urban plants of Scotland i.d. guide : Walls & buildings, and Garden escapes

Urban plants: Garden escapes

Many of the plants seen in urban settings are garden escapes.  This isn’t surprising.  However, it does mean lots of urban plants are quite blousy.  One example is the Opium poppy Papaver somniferum.

This is a plant I’ve been wanting to paint for a long time, but never had the opportunity.  I was surprised to find the commonest colour of the bloom is mauve, not a deep red.  Like many plants, the Opium poppy has glaucous, waxy leaves.  This means using lots of Cobalt Blue and even some white when it comes to colour mixing.

Opium poppy Papaver somniferum

Another garden escape is the Hybrid bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana.  This is a cross between the UK’s native bluebell, and the Spanish bluebell which is often grown in gardens from bulb.  Telling your Spanish bluebell from your native species, and figuring out whether or not you’re looking at a hybrid is mighty confusing.  I did a blog a few years back, trying to untangle them.

Hybrid bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana

It was interesting to see that the Welsh poppy Meconopsis cambrica appears in this section.  Where I live, on the border between England and Wales, the Welsh poppy is a wild flower, not a garden escape.

Welsh poppy Meconopsis cambrica

Urban plants: Pavements

The species in this habitat were also a bit tough to untangle as superficially Thale cress, Hairy bitter-cress, and Shepherd’s purse look alike.  It doesn’t take long with a botany bible like Stace’s New Flora of the British Isles and the gorgeous line drawings of Stella Ross-craig to be able to tell them apart with no trouble. Two of them grow, by chance, in pots in my garden.  Thale cress I had to look for a little harder.  It’s an important plant as it’s used as a model in genetics research.  The genome of Thale cress was the first plant genome to be sequenced.  A small weed with a big impact.

Thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana Hairy bittercress Cardamine hirsuta and Sherherds purse Capsella bursa-pastoris

Annual meadow grass was one of only 4 grass species on the whole list.  I can’t believe I’ve not illustrated it before, it’s very common and very pretty!  I started on these illustrations in the depth of winter, and as Annual meadow grass is the only UK grass species to flower year round, it made identification super-easy.  The crinkled leaf blade is another useful diagnostic.

Annual meadow grass Poa annua

Urban plants of Scotland i.d. guide : Pavements

Some of the pavement species are ones I’ve illustrated before.  This includes the Pineapple weed Matricaria discoidea, Broad-leaf Willow-herb Epilobium montanum, and Chickweed Stellaria media.  I know I always go on about it, but an illustrator gets paid for each illustration used, whether or not it already exists.  Hang onto your copyright, illustrators!  Re-use fees make the notoriously low-paid job of an illustrator (almost) a viable career.

Pineapple mayweed Matricaria discoidea

Urban plants: Grassy places & parkland

Some of the prettiest species featured in the guide grow in this ecological niche.  I’d completed all but one of the plants featured in this section for other jobs; it was a pleasure to re-assess them and make sure they still pass muster. One of my favourite wildflowers, Fox and Cubs Pilosella aurantiaca, makes an appearance.  After years of cajoling, I finally have a flourishing population of these flowers in my garden.

Orange hawkbit Fox and Cubs Pilosella aurantiaca

Likewise, with some careful neglect, I now have a healthy amount of Self heal Prunella vulgaris and White clover Trifolium repens growing in my lawn.  It makes me happy, helps protect the grass from drought, and is good for the pollinators.

Self heal Prunella vulgaris

The species in this section that I’d not yet painted is the common Daisy, Bellis perennis.  It’s odd, with the species I get asked to illustrate, sometimes the most ubiquitous plants fall through the cracks.  I’ve been illustrating plants for 25 years, and this is the first time I’ve been asked to illustrate a daisy.  It was a real joy to find the perfect specimen on the lawn and rectify the situation. The illustration takes the basal rosette of one plant and the flowering heads of another.  The benefits of illustrations instead of photography (for more about my feelings on this, check out my FAQ section, but be prepared for a balanced view.  Both are vital tools.).

Daisy Bellis perennis

Urban plants of Grassland and parks: In defence of Ragwort

I wish I’d been able to add the caterpillar of the Cinnibar moth Tyria javobaeae when I illustrated Common ragwort Jacobeae vulgaris.

Ragwort Jacobeae vulgaris or Senecio jacobaea

They’re black and yellow striped, and are really common on the plant.  I know there is a lot of anger towards Ragwort, as the plants can be toxic to livestock.  Sadly, this has been massively over-emphasized, and the mass clearance of this plant has had dreadful effects on the beautiful black and red Cinnibar moth.

Cinnibar moth Tyria jacobaeae

As the Botanic Gardens of Wales say, “Butterfly Conservation’s 2006 report on the state of Britain’s larger moths showed that the cinnabar had declined by 83%, classing it as ‘Vulnerable’.  While this dramatic change is likely due to many reasons, there is little doubt that misconception surrounding the toxicity of ragwort to livestock is a contributing factor to its decline. Farmers and landowners have been encouraged to eradicate the plant to minimise the risks of poisoning. However, ragwort poses little threat to livestock or humans unless considerable amounts are consumed daily, and the only real risk is posed when dried in hay, where it loses its acrid taste. As cinnabar caterpillars feed exclusively on ragwort and groundsel their slow eradication from our countryside poses a major threat to the survival of this species.”

Urban plants of Scotland i.d. guide : Grassy places and parklands pages

Conclusion

What surprised me as I worked on this guide, was just how many of the Urban plants noted in Scotland were equally common here in mid Wales, and down in London.  It’s a testament to the incredible adaptability of some of our plants.  They are filling niches that didn’t exist 150 years ago, and thriving.  Many more species can not make the transition, however, and become rarer and rarer as the urban sprawl continues to eat into the countryside.  Even more reason to care for the wild flower species we do still have, and to celebrate those that we get to see in our cities as well as in the countryside.  And to stop labelling them all as weeds, and trying to eradicate them from our pavements, walls, brownfield sites, and parkland.

Purple toadflax Linaria purpurea

The post Guide to Urban Plants of Scotland illustrations appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

And, of course, I do botanical illustrations of them rather frequently.

Selection of grasses

I went on an FSC course recently, this time on identifying grasses (other grass courses by FSC are available here).  And one of the things I learned was some really quick tips to help identify some fairly common grasses.  So I’m going to share them.

Common grasses: Cocksfoot

I think Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata is one of the easiest grasses to learn.  It forms thick clumps, and is rather blueish.  Leaves are folded as they grow.  They’re sometimes crinkled, as if the grass is being pushed up.  But the give away is the way the flowering heads branch.  They almost always have two lower branches which come out at wide angles from the stem.  this explains the name as people reckon the branches look like the divergent toes of a cockerel.  It grows from 15 – 140cm.  The ligule is quite long, white, and looks “torn” or ripped.

Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata

The lower stem is often pale or even white.

Detail of Cocksfoot ligule

My two illustrations of separate plants show this diagnostic lower branch pattern pretty clearly.  The flowering spikelets are often tinged pink or purple, but be aware that this is true for quite a few grass species.

Common grasses: Rye grass

Rye grass Lolium perenne is ubiquitous.  It’s planted for grazing and also makes up the bulk of grass seed for lawns.  It’s incredibly tough, and will often be the grass still standing after being mown.  You often see residual flowering spikes all through the winter.  If unmown, it will grow to 10 – 90cm.

Rye grass Lolium perenne

Rye grass is really shiny green, especially when young.  Unlike most grasses, its flowers cling very closely to the stem.  They don’t branch out or droop.  The only other species that bears its flowers in a similar pattern is the Italian Rye grass.

Italian Rye grass Lolium multiflorum

The main difference between these two is that the Italian rye has spines or “awns” on its spikelets.  But you can see how similar the form of the flowering spike is.

Common grasses: Sweet Vernal Grass

Sweet vernal grass Anthoxum odoratum is another common grass.   It’s one of the first grasses to flower.  This species can grow up to 80cm high.  As the name suggests, it smells rather strongly of hay.  This comes from high levels of cumarin which is what gives hay its distinctive sweet smell.  Crush a blade of Sweet vernal grass and, in theory at least, you should be able to smell it.

Sweet Vernal grass Anthoxanum odoratum

It also has a “beard” of hairs around it’s ligule.  The only other UK grass to have a similar beard is the Heath grass Danthonia decumbens which only grows in arid places.

Detail of ligule of the Sweet vernal grass

Common grasses: Common Reed

Common reed Phragmites australis grows in rivers, canals, and ponds, and damp places.  It has broad blue-ish leaves.  It is a really big plant, growing to 2 – 3 m tall.

Common reed Phragmites australis

Reed flowers are quite easy to see too.  The outer layers are often flushed maroon which gives the flowering head a purplish look, and the spikelets have long spines or awns.

The big give-away with the reed is its ligule.  Unlike most grasses, it doesn’t have a membraneous one.  Its ligule is a simple circle of long hairs.  It’s the only UK grass that has this feature.  Coupled with it’s love for moist habitats, you can recognize the Common reed with no trouble.

Detail of an individual spikelet and the ligule of hairs of the Common Reed

Common grasses: Yorkshire fog

Yorkshire fog Holcus lannatus is one of my favourite grasses.  It feels different to almost all the other grasses (except the closely related Creeping soft grass Holcus mollis which tends to grow in woodlands not meadows), as if it’s made of incredibly fine velvet.  It grows from 20 – 100cm tall.

Yorkshire fog Holcus lanatus

The spikelets are often flushed a beautiful pink.  It’s worth noting that the flowering spike hides inside the sheath of a leaf blade before flowering, so you often see if very compressed.  Once in full flower, it has a wide spreading flowering head.

Yorkshire fog Holcus lanatus

But if this velvety texture doesn’t convince you, there’s another way to check you are looking at Yorkshire fog.  Have a rummage right down at the base of the plant, and look closely at the stems. If you see pink stripes, like old fashioned pyjamas, then you’ve got Yorkshire fog.  In fact, the whole plant is flushed pink, but again, that alone isn’t a species diagnostic.  The pyjama stripes are.

Pink “pyjama stripes” at base of Yorkshire fog

Common grasses: False Oat grass

False Oat grass Arrhenatherum elatius is everywhere.  You’re very likely to find it on road verges and in recently disturbed places, or unmanaged land.  It’s known as a ruderal species.  Although the flowering head is branched, the branches come close together once fertilized.  This makes the flowering heads look like graceful silvery arches. The leaves are flat and a dull green.

False Oat grass Arrhenatherum elatius

 The spikelets have really long awns, as long as the entire spikelet.  The long awns give the grass the effect of being very silvery as it catches the light. Each spikelet only holds two florets, one of which has the reproductive flowering parts.  Here’s a close up of the flower, showing the distinctive long awn:

Flower and lemma of the False Oat grass Arrhenatherum elatius

But there’s one more trick to identifying False oat grass.  Look at the roots.  The base of this grass has yellow-orange roots.  these are really distinctive, and may also be swollen into round bulb-like structures. For me, the yellow roots are the final piece of jigsaw that helps me i.d. this one right every time.

Yellow roots of the False Oat grass

Common grasses: Spotting your Meadow grasses

This is a bit of a cheat as it won’t take you to an actual specific species.  But many of our UK species are Poa, or members of the Meadow grass family.  So how can you tell if a grass is a Poa?  It’s mostly down to the distribution of the branches on the flowering spike.  If they grow in whorls, and the inflorescence is like a christmas tree in shape, then you’re likely to have a Meadow grass.

Rough meadow grass Poa trivialis

One other group of UK grasses are also whorled in growth, the Bents.  However, Bent grasses (like Common or Creeping bent Agrostis capillaris) flower later in the year.  They also have tiny flowers, much smaller than the Meadow grasses.  Also, Bent grasses only have one floret per spikelet.  Poa have many more.  The meadow grass above, Rough meadow grass Poa trivialis, can be identified by rubbing the stem on your upper lip.  if it’s rough, then it’s likely to be P. trivialis rather than any other meadow grass.

Meadow grasses are another of the species who have really obvious flattened and keeled leaves (like the Cocksfoot).  These blades are said to be “boat shaped”, with a distinct prow.  They look as if they’ve been folded in half.

Conclusion

So there you are.  A whistle stop tour of some of our commonest grasses, and how to identify them.  There are others that are crazily easy – the Bearded couch Elytrigia repens has extremely purple nodes (at least in woodland habitats).  It has distinct claws where the leaf blade meets the stem, and very little in the way of ligules.  These claws (“auricles”) are also flushed a vibrant purple. Look out for it in woodlands.

The Quaking grasses are easy too, mainly because they look so dissimilar to everything else.  They tremble in the breeze, grow in dry heathland, and are one of our prettiest grasses.

Quaking grass Briza media

And the Crested Dog’s hair Cynosurus cristatus is another one to keep an eye out for.  At a push it might be confused with Rye grass, but it’s distinctive zig-zag inflorescence feels very different.

Crested Dog’s hair grass Cynosurus cristatus

I hope I’ve managed to share some of my love of these diverse and glorious plants.  Not only are they fabulous and frequently overlooked, but they’re also wonderful to illustrate!  Now you;re able to identify a few species, give it a go.  You may well find yourself entirely bewitched by grasses, like I am.

The post Common Grass species identification: Some easy shortcuts appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

The chart is very closely based on one provided by the course tutor, Fiona Gomersall.

Do remember that this is a brief overview.  To get into the details of these fabulous plants you really need to work through keys and use clear identification guides.  Lots of other sites have more on this, check out Nature’s calender, BCWF Wetlands video, Naturespot’s gallery of photos, and the BSBIs guide to grass resources.

Comparison table

This table compares the leaves, ligules, stems and flowers of Grasses, sedges, and rushes.  For more on each group, please check out past blogs: Grasses, Sedges, Rushes.

Although it looks pretty overwhelming at first sight, it’s actually not too bad.  And it’s great to have all the information together in one place.  The general description is something we won’t be looking too closely at, and whilst trying to identify and key out grasses on the course, deciding if a species was an annual or a perennial proved quite a challenge!  I guess it does show that if you have something that looks like a grass but is woody (like Bamboo, Bambusa vulgaris), then it’s going to be a grass species.

Leaf shape: Grass

Grasses have leaves made of two clearly distinct parts.  There’s the blade, with it’s parallel veins and often with a central rib or keel.  Then this folds, and surrounds the stalk of the grass.  This enclosing part of the leaf is called the sheath.  Sheaths can be open, with a clear slit, or fused shut, like a tube.

Common bent Agrostis capillaris

Here’s a close up of the blade and sheath of another grass, Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata.  Grass blades vary in shape enormously.  Think of the broad and flat leaves of the Common reed Phragmites australis in comparison to the wiry needle-like leaves of something like Mat grass Nardus stricta.  Some grasses leaves grow rolled, and will emerge and may flatten out at maturity. Other leaves don’t flatten out, but remain needle-like through life (like the Fescues).  Other blades grow as flattened, laterally compressed shoots.  The easiest to bring to mind is Cocksfoot.

There are also ligules in the mix, thin (mostly) membranous structures at the fold between sheath and blade, but we’ll come back to them in a bit.

Leaf shape: Sedge

The leaves of sedges also have the same two distinct parts.  The blade, and the sheath.  The sheath is fused closed in all but one small African genus of sedges.  The blade is often “pliate”, or pleated.  This means that if you took a cross section of a sedge leaf it might look a little like a zig-zag.

Glaucous sedge Carex flacca

Below is a close up of the blade and sheath of the Dioecious sedge Carex dioica.  The sheaths are fused closed.  As with grasses, the shape of the leaf blade varies enormously.  Some sedges have very thin, needle-like leaves whilst others like the common garden plant, Pendulous sedge Carex pendulosa, have broad ones.  Colour varies too, from the almost blue leaves of the Carnation sedge Carex panicea to the bright yellow-green of the Long-stalked Yellow sedge Carex lepidocarpa.

Dioecious sedge Carex dioica

Leaf shape: Rushes

Rushes generally only have one part to their leaves.  The blade doesn’t have two distinct zones, but simply extends to a sheathing base around the stem.  However, there’s a lot of variety in the rushes leaves, mostly dictated by whether they are Juncus (rush) or Luzula (wood-rush) species.  I don’t think a true rush would be easily mistaken for a grass, they have a very different feel, and their leaves are round and needle like, and cylindrical in cross section.

Blunt flowered rush Juncus subnodulosus

Below is a close up of the leaf and sheath of another of the Juncus rushes, Three-leaved rush Juncus trifidus. As you can see, there’s no clear definition between the blade and the sheath, the two blend into one.

Three-leaved rush Juncus trifidus

The Wood-rushes are a little trickier as they have wider leaves and it can be hard to see if they have blades and sheaths or not, because the leaves are often low down on the plant.  The big give away with the Wood-rush leaves is the long white hairs.  All Wood-rush leaves have these, and they are very distinctive.  I don’t think even the hairiest of sedges or grasses produces leaves with these distinctive long, silky leaf hairs.

Greater wood rush Luzula sylvatica

These hairs are also apparent on the stem.  Below is a close up on the leaf of the Hairy wood rush Luzula pilosa.

Leaf of Hairy wood rush Luzula pilosa

Ligule: Grasses

Ligules are structures at the junction of the leaf and the stem.  They are mostly membranous in grasses, although sometimes will be replaced by a ring of hairs (as with the Common reed).  Sometimes they have hairs and membrane, and there’s a whole lot of variety in the shape of ligules.  They can be pointed or rounded, long or short, smooth or torn.  Ligules of grasses are often “free”, unfused to the leaf blade.

Marram grass Ammophila arenaria

Marram (above) has a long and pointy ligule which is really easy to see.  (It’s worth noting that Marram is one of the grasses we mentioned sporting rolled leaves, which you can see here in cross section.)

Below is an array of grass ligules to show their variety.

Grass ligule variety

Some cling closely around the stem, others are much looser.  Some are thin crescents of membrane, others are far more substantial.

Ligule: Sedges

Sedges also have ligules.  these tend to be less obvious, and are never free.  In all cases, sedge ligules are fused to the leaf blade.

Sedge ligule variety

However, like grasses they have a variety of shapes. Some are pointed, some are rounded.  They too are membranous.

Ligule: Rushes

Rush ligules are membranes at the top of a sheathing leaf base.  These tend to be really small and inconspicuous.  Checking through all my illustrations of rush species, I can’t find any where the botanist has asked for a close up of a rush ligule.

Stems: Grasses

The stems of grasses, sedges and rushes are possibly the quickest way of telling them apart.  They are also at the root of the common botanist’s ditty, “Sedges have edges, rushes are round, grasses have knees from their tips to the ground”.

So what exactly does “having knees from their tips to the ground” mean?  It refers to the nodes.  Nodes are found in all grasses, between the sections of the stem (or “Culm”).  Often the growth direction may change at a node, although this is far from inevitable.  Nodes may be flushed with colour.  In the Meadow foxtail Alopecurus pratensis, the nodes are ochre.  In some species they’re purple.  Some grasses have smooth nodes.  Others are thick with hairs, or positively velvety like the Creeping soft grass, Holcus mollis.

Grasses have nodes.  Sedges and Rushes do not.

Variety of grasses nodes

The other important point to note is that all grass stems are round in cross section, and hollow.  Rush stems are also round, but not always hollow.  And the stems of sedges are altogether rather different.

Stems: Sedges

Sedge stems are wonderfully triangular in cross section.  They are also solid, not hollow in most cases.  So a good way to check to see if you have a sedge is to run your fingers up the stem.  if it feels like there are edges there, it’s a sedge.  You can go to the trouble of taking a cross section of the stem, but sometimes sedge stems aren’t “in your face” triangular, so you may be disappointed.

Detail of the stem and cross section of Greater Tussock sedge Carex paniculata

And there are no nodes.

Stems: Rushes

Rushes have cylindrical, round stems, like the grasses.  However, they never have nodes.  And in many cases they have supporting internal structures, pith.  this may fully fill the cavity in the stem, or be distributed in species-specific patterns.  These can be seen if you take a longditudinal section down a rush stem.  Some rushes also have lateral pithy supports.  These can be felt clearly is you run your fingers up the stem.  They’re known as the jointed rushes and include species like he Sharp-flowered rush Juncus acutiflorus.

Sharp Flowered Rush Juncus acutiflorus

Below is a selection of rushes in cross section.  All are members of the Juncus rather than the Luzula tribe.  The spaces between the pith are air pockets.

Cross sections of Juncus rushes

So you can see that using the stems as an instant diagnostic between grasses, rushes, and sedges can be incredibly useful.  Nodes are grasses.  Edges are sedges.  And round stems without nodes are going to be rushes.

Flowers: Grasses

Now, when it comes to the structures of the flowering parts of these three groups, it’d be very easy to go down an anatomical rabbit hole.  I’m keen to avoid this.  For more on the botany and structures of grasses flowers, sedge flowers, and rush flowers, check out the relevant blogs I wrote a while ago.

Grass flowers can be single or held in assemblies known as spikelets.  The way these are arranged on the stem is important when it comes to species identification, some will cling close to the stem (like Rye grass, Lolium perenne), others will be on the end of long branches (like Hairy wood brome Bromopsis ramosa).

Hairy wood brome Bromopsis ramosa

All spikelets have male and female flowering parts.  The male parts are stamens, often with drooping anthers.  There are usually three stamens.  This helps the wind disperse the pollen.  The female parts are the ovary and two long feathery stigma (to catch that pollen).  The flowering parts are held within papery scales called glumes and lemma, and within these another scale called the palea.  Don’t worry too much about all of this.  The take home message is that grass flowers have male and female parts in one place.  And that they are bilaterally symmetrical.

The diagram below shows the outer “scales” that surround the flowering parts as well as the stamens and ovary.  I’m assuming I intended it to show a fertilized flower, or there would also be stigma coming from the ovary.  The spikes that in some grasses come from the glumes are called awns and deserve a blog of their own as they vary enormously from species to species.

Grass spikelet structure

Flowers: Sedges

Sedge flowers are either unisexual male or female.  Or, in some groups, bisexual, having female and male flowering structures together.  Often all the male flowers will be held in one spike, and the females in another spike.  these are frequently on the same plant. Don’t be fooled by the unisexual flowers though, you will sometimes have sedge species where female and male flowers are held in the same flowering spikelet (like the Brown sedge Carex disticha).  But if you look closely at the flowers of these unisex species, each individual one will have either all male parts or all female parts.

Female (above) and male (below) sedge flowers

Like the grasses, these flowers are enclosed in glumes.  Unlike the grasses, the female flower sends stigmas out from the Utricle, a vase-like structure which develops into the seed if fertilized.  Female flowers come from utricles which have two or three stigma.  this helps identify species, so be aware of it.

Sedge with Unisexual flowers, Common sedge Carex nigra

You can tell the spikes of male flowers from the spikes of female flowers without too much trouble.  The male flowers tend to be far thinner, and are often above the fatter female flowers (see above).  Although not always.  And be careful!  Sometimes unisexual male and female flowers are all mixed in together!  An example of this is the Brown sedge, Carex disticha.

Brown sedge Carex disticha

Other sedge species have bisexual flowers, like the grasses.  Cyperus Umbrella sedges bear bisexual flowers, as do the spike rushes, Eleocharis.  For more on sedge flowers check out this blog from plant i.d. net.

Few flowered Spike rush Eleocharis quinqueflora

These spike rushes are rather confusing because they look so different from other members of the sedge family, but they are instantly recognizable.  Unlike true rushes, they too hold their flowers within glumes.

Diagram of a sedge bisexual flower

Flowers: Rushes

You’ll be relieved to hear that rush flowers are rather simpler than sedge flowers.  All are bisexual.  Unlike grasses and sedges, their flowers are held within six “tepals”.  These tepals are not petals, although they might be mistaken for petals.  The difference is that petals are part of the corolla, and separate from sepals, the bits that you can often see lurking behind petals and which make up the enclosing bud before flowering.  In some plants, like rushes and tulips, there’s not distinction between a petal and a sepal.  So these structures are called Tepals.  Easy once you know!  And think about it, tulip buds aren’t encased in green sheaths are they?  It’s cause the whole flower is built of tepals, not sepals and petals.

Back to the rushes!

Rush flowers can be carried at the top of the stem, come out the side (like the Hard rush Juncus inflexus and the Soft rush Juncus effesus), or even be carried in the junction between stem and leaf.  This is the case for the Three-leaved rush Juncus trifidus. The hard rush on the left, Juncus inflexus, bears lateral flowers.  the Heath rush Juncus squarrosus has its flowers in a tight flowering head at the top of the plant.  The Greater Wood-rush Luzula sylvatica bears its flowers in a much floppier and looser terminal flowering head.

Three rushes showing different patters of flowering

Individual rush flowers are not bilaterally symmetrical like the flowers of grasses and sedges.  They are radially symmetrical.

Flowers are the same structure in a true rush flower (Juncus) or a Wood-rush flower (Luzula).  Below is a close up diagram of a Juncus flower.  You can see it has 6 tepals, 6 stamens, and a central female flower with 3 stigma.  Don’t worry about the perianth stuff, it’s another name for the tepals.

Rush flower

Flowers of the Wood-rush are similar, but often feel more star-like and open.  However, the underlying radially symmetrical structure is the same.

Conclusion

So there you have it!  Lots of pointers on how to tell your grasses, sedges, and rushes apart.  I still think the rhyme about “sedges have edges…” is the easiest way in.  But inevitably, once you get out in the field and start looking at all these plants, telling them apart will become easier and easier.

it’ll also give you a chance to crawl about on your knees being awed by how stunning all of these often over-looked plants are!

The post Sedges, Grasses and Rushes: Telling the families apart appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Sketchbook study of the Common hop

Overview of Hop plants

Hops are members of the Cannabaceae family, and are native to the Northern hemisphere.  There are three species of hop, and any number of varieties of the Common hop.  This is due to the plant’s history in brewing beer; different varieties of common hop create different flavours.

Hops are climbers, supporting their spiralling growth on whatever comes to hand (well, to tendril).

Common hop tendril

Both plants get big, with 6 m in height being the average.  Japanese hop can grow up to 10 m in one growing season.  This depends on how high the substrate or support they’re twining around is.  If it’s a telegraph pole or tree, then the plant can get close to its maximum height.

Scale illustration of Japanese hop with grown man of 180 cm

Stems

Both these species are vigorous climbers, aided by their spiny twining stems.  They are perennial climbers, sometimes referred to as bines.

Their stems are non-woody and have four sides, with backward pointing prickles that help the plants to climb in a clockwise direction.  (Interestingly, bines which grow anticlockwise, such as Virginia creeper, use suckers and tendrils rather than spines.)

However, the Japanese hop has hairs on its stem alongside the spines; in Common hop these are absent.

Japanese hop vs Common hop stems

Shoots grow at a prodigious rate, the Common hop can grow 20 – 50 cm a week in summer.  These shoots are edible, and a tasty edition to salads or eaten as a green vegetable.

Japanese hop seedling

They have lobed leaves which grow in opposite pairs, and as male and female flowers are borne on different plants, they’re dioecious.

Leaves

Japanese and Common hop have lobed leaves; Common hop leaves are a little smaller than those of the Japanese hop, being 5 – 13 cm instead of 10 – 15 cm.  They’re both rough to the touch.  Common hop leaves are more or less glabrous above and have downy hair that follows the lines of the veins below.  They also have little yellow glands on the underside.  Japanese hop leaves are described as finely hairy, with minute hooked bristles on the upper and lower leaf surface.  The glands on the underside of their leaves are white.

Both species have lobes.  Common hop have three to five lobes, although most have three.  Japanese hop leaves have three to seven lobes.  Most leaves have five, but leaves toward the top of the plant may have only three.

Japanese hop leaf vs Common hop leaf

The teeth on the margins of Common hop are blunt, while those of Japanese hop are pointier.

Although the leaf stalk or petiole is long in both species, it’s generally longer in the Japanese hop.  In fact, it’s longer than the leaf blade itself.  Common hop stipules are far shorter than the leaf blade.  Some sources suggest that the stipule at the petiole base can be used to tell the two species apart.  Common hop stipules are smaller, hairless, and drop off pretty soon.  They split before being shed.  Those of the Japanese hop curve downward, are triangular and persistent, and are covered in hairs.

Male flowers

Being dioceious, male and female flowers are borne on different plants.  As it’s the female flowers of the Common hop that produce what we consider “hops”, they’re the plants that have been encouraged over the years.  In fact, male Common hops were prohibited in Ireland under the Noxious weeds act of 1965.

Male flowers of both species look similar and are borne in loose-branching clusters.  Those of Common hop are borne on drooping branches with clusters of 20 – 100 flowers, while those of the Japanese hop are said to be held erect.  Again, it’s a cluster of 20 – 100 flowers.  Both have five spreading sepals, and five stamens.  These are pale yellow with darker yellow glands in the case of Common hop. The sepals of the Japanese hop are hairy, those of the Common hop are not.

Male flower of the Japanese hop

Female flowers

Female plants can be propagated with vegetative reproduction.

Male hops were discouraged as if the hop plant produced seeds, the fatty acids within the seeds could alter the flavour of the hops and thus distort the brewing process.

Japanese hop seed

Female flowers are pistillate, having no stamens, with 2 thread-like styles.  They’re borne in cone-like spikes which appear at the top pf branches that grow from the leaf axils.  There are a few to several flowers per cluster.  The female flowers lack petals, and each is surrounded by a green bract.

Female flower of the Common hop (without basal bracts)

Female Common hop flowers have 10 – 50 pairs of flowers per cluster, and each pair of flowers has a glabrous pale green bract at its base, with a blunt tip and yellow glands at its base.  The bracts of Japanese hop are more pointed, and covered in sparse white hairs.

Maturing female flower of the Common hop

Fruit

The fruit of the Common hop is the part used in brewing beer.  They’re called strobilus (plural strobili) meaning cone.  If you look at one next to a pine cone, this makes sense.

Common hop strobili are pale green, papery, and up to 3cm in length.  They are hairless and each bract is blunt.

Simplifies illustration on Common hop strobili

Japanese hop strobili are a darker, bright green.  They’re hairy, with most hairs at the base of each bract.  The bract tips are acuminate.

When seen together, the difference between the two species is clear.

Japanese female cone or strobili vs Common hop strobili

I mentioned the number of seeds per bract; as stated earlier, hops used in the brewing industry are barren.

Conclusion

My main problem researching the hops is not the difference between these two species.  That’s easy enough; the leaves and stems are very different, as are the strobili.  No.  My main challenge was getting my head round the structure of the monoecious hop inflorescence, and understanding what structures were present (or were not) in each.

There were many rabbit-holes that I fell down whilst researching this blog.  Did you know that until 1915, in Finland, peasants had to provide Common hop as part of their annual tax bill?  Or that Common hop plants which germinated 8,000 years ago still have ancestors twining around alder trees?  (Both of these facts are from the excellent Natures Gate site).

The varieties of Common hop, some lost and some saved from the brink of extinction, are numerous and fascinating.

The uses of hop are numerous, not only for weaving tough fabric and brewing beer; but for making dye, medicine, and for their anti-bacterial properties.  Hops have been used to treat anxiety and sleep disorder, and to froth up beer, as well as to flavour it.

I love how one plant can open a hundred doorways.

Pencil rough of the Japanese hop

Resources

Lots of great online resources helped me here.  The Midwest Invasive Species Network, Minnisota Wildflowers has excellent pages on Common and Japanese hop, The Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health has lots of images for Japanese and Common hop; and there’s a rather lovely blog about the hops growing at the Met museum’s Cloister gardens.

These original illustrations are mostly available to buy.  Have a browse in the Original unframed sketchbook illustrations and Original unframed plant illustrations section of my website, using the search facility.

The post Comparing Common and Japanese Hops appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Overview of Canadian Goldenrod Solidago canadensis and Early Goldenrod Solidago gigantea

The focus of the illustration is the Canadian goldenrod.

Most Goldenrods are native to the Americas.  However, there’s one species native to Europe (Woundwort Solidago virgaurea).

Both Canadian and Early Goldenrod Solidago gigantea grow wild in Scandanavia.  Garden escapes were noted as early as 1910.  Although it’s an invasive, and can be a nuisance, Goldenrod does bring benefits.  It’s extremely good for pollinators, and attracts lots of butterflies.  As it flowers late in the year, it provides a welcome food supply for insects about to overwinter.  (To make your garden wildlife friendly, check out the Save the Bees guest blog.)

Goldenrod plants grows on waste ground.  Sometimes they form dense clumps along railway tracks and roads.

Canadian goldenrod flowers August to October.  However, Early goldenrod blooms from July.

Goldenrod is a member of the daisy or Compositae family.  As with other members of this large and successful group, its flowers are made of disc and ray florets.  For more on this, please check out my blog.

Canadian goldenrod

The Canadian goldenrod plant is tall, 30 – 150 cm.  Densely leafy, it’s covered in downy hairs which are more obvious toward the top of the plant.  Giant or Early goldenrod is glabrous.  It’s a larger plant, up to 250 cm high.  Often, its stems are blueish towards the base.

The plant reproduces by means of far-reaching rhizomes, and with seeds.  These have fluffy pappas which catch the wind and spread the seed widely.

Leaves

Canadian goldenrod leaves are alternate and toothed.  About 2/3 of the way down the leaf edge the teeth give over to leave a smooth margin toward the base.  As with the rest of the plant, they’re hairy.

Early goldenrod has teeth which carry round the entire margin of the leaf.  Any hairs follow the lines of the veins.

Early goldenrod and Canadian goldenrod leaf comparison

Canadian goldenrod leaves have three veins; while the Early goldenrod sports five.

Stems

The stem of Canadian goldenrod is covered in downy hairs.  It is often flushed red.  Stems of the Early goldenrod are hairless, and may be flushed red or a more intense purple.

Early goldenrod stem compared to Canadian goldenrod stem

Flowering spike

The flowering spike is similar in both species.  It carries lots of golden flowers, and tends to curve a little.

Canadian goldenrod with comparative notes on Early goldenrod

Individual flowers

Each individual flower is composed of ray florets around the outside edge, and disc florets within.  Both have 5 yellow stamen.  There are some noticeable differences between these golden blooms.

The Canadian goldenrod is 5 – 6 mm across and has 10 – 17 short ray florets per flower.  Tips of each are blunt, and rounded.  In shape, the capitulum is domed.  Flowers are carried in wide, pyramid-like panicles.

With the Early goldenrod, there are fewer ray florets per flower, 7 – 12 of them.  Each flower is a smaller 2 – 3 mm.  Ligules of the ray florets are significantly longer, with more pointed tips.  Another differnce is the capitulum, which are are more pyramidal than in Canadian goldenrod.  The flowering branches tend to be straighter and held more erect.  Branches may be slightly hairy towards their top.

Early goldenrod flowers compared to Canadian goldenrod flowers

Seeds

These are similar in both species, but the Early goldenrod has longer pappas.  Canadian goldenrod seeds have a slightly downy tip.

Currently in Sweden and Finland the cold weather comes before the Early goldenrod sets seed.  As global warming leads to longer summers this plant could become an increasingly problematic invasive in Scandinavia.

Early goldenrod cypsela vs that of the Canadian goldenrod

Resources

Naturespot has helpful and concise information on the Canadian goldenrod and on the Early goldenrod.  Yet again, Naturegate has great pages for both Canadian and Giant goldenrod.

This original sketchbook illustration is available for sale along with many other original illustrations.  Why not have a browse at Original Illustrations for sale?

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