What is a Bluebell?

Bluebells are in the Asparagus family, their Latin name is Hyacinthoides non-scripta.  It’s no surprise that they’re relatives of the garden hyacinth, they share the same heady scent.

They are monocots; a division of plant that includes all the grasses, lilies, orchids, and tulips.  Shared characteristics include leaves with parallel veins, the distinct growth pattern of a seedling from a one-grained seed, fibrous roots, and flowers without differentiated sepals and petals.  These in-between structures are known as tepals.

Monocot plant variety with seedling in centre

Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta

The native Bluebell can grow up to 30cm tall.

It has glossy green strap-like leaves which are 7 – 15mm wide, with a pointed tip.  They can be 45cm long and there tend to be 3 to 6 leaves per plant. These start erect, but may flop and twist as the plant grows.

Illustrating a Bluebell leaf

The flowers are all on one side of the stalk, which often curves and droops at the top.  When mature, individual flowers dangle; as buds they can be more erect, often flushed with green.

Sketchbook study of Bluebell flowers

The flower shape is bell-like, but with parallel sides, and only opening at the mouth of the flower.  Each flower has 6 tepals, and tepal tips are strongly recurved which gives the plants that distinct frilly appearance.  They tend to be a deeper, darker blue than other Bluebell species.

Bluebell flower Hyancinthoides non-scripta

Anthers and the pollen they produce is a pale cream.

This matters because there are other species of Bluebell which can be confusingly similar.

Spanish Bluebell Hyacinthoides hispanica

The Spanish bluebell has flowers that grow all around the stem, and which point upwards.  They are often a far paler blue than H. non-scripta.  At maturity they gape with a much wider mouth than the native species.  Anthers are dark blue.  Leaves are significantly wider, up to 35mm across.

Spanish bluebell Hyacinthoides hispanica

Hybrid Bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana

Recently botanists have come to the conclusion that most flowers sold, and grown in gardens, are not Spanish Bluebell at all, but various hybrids.  This is because there is so much H. non-scripta pollen in the air that cross-fertilization, and back cross-breeding is almost inevitable. (Cumbria Botany – Telling Bluebells apart)

Hybrid Bluebells have erect stems with flowers growing all around them.  The mature flowers may droop, but don’t dangle vertically down as with H. non-scripta.  

Flowering spikes of native Bluebell H. non-scripta vs  the Hybrid Bluebell H. x massartiana

The mouth opens wider than the native species, but less wide than H. hispanica.  Tepal tips don’t curve back on themselves as much as with H. non-scripta, and anthers and pollen vary in colour from blue to dark grey, to a dirty pale yellow.  The flowers have a far weaker scent than the native Bluebell.

Hybrid bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana

For more on this, check out these useful guides to telling Bluebell species apart: Webidguides, and Cumbria Botany.  My Telling bluebell species apart blog, may be useful, although readers should substitute “Hybrid Bluebell” for “Spanish Bluebell”.

Flowers of H. non-scripta and H. x massartiana

Other names for Bluebells

Bluebells and Bluebell woods have been a part of the landscape in Britain for hundreds, or thousands of years.  They have a vast array of alternative names including English harebell, Wild hyacinth, Cuckoo’s boots, Granfer griggles, Witches’ thimbles, Lady’s nightcap, Fairy flower, and Cra’tae (Crow’s toe).  In Welsh, it’s Clychau’r Gog which translates as “Cuckoo’s bells” and references the fact that Bluebell flower around the same time that the first cuckoos come in from over-wintering in Africa.  (It’s important to note that the true Harebell Campanula rotundiflora is in a totally different family, it’s not even a monocot!)

Ancient oak woodland with Bluebells

Folklore of Bluebells

These flowers have long been associated with fairies and folk lore.  It’s said that if you pick a Bluebell flower the fairies will lead you astray, and you will be lost forever.  If you hear a bluebell ring, a bad fairy will visit you and you’ll die soon after.

Native Bluebell H. non-scripta

On a happier note, in the language of flowers they represent humility, gratitude, and constant love.  If you can turn a Bluebell flower inside out without it tearing, you will capture the heart of your one true love.

Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta in pencil

Finally, if you wear a wreath made of bluebells, you will be unable to lie.  Worth remembering.  (All these folklore facts come from the Woodland Trust’s website.)

Uses of Bluebell

Bluebells have been put to some unusual uses over the years.  In the Bronze age, arrow flights made of feather were glued on with Bluebell paste. Bookbinders used glue made from Bluebell stems.

Starch-rich Bluebell bulb

Elizabethan times saw enormous ruffs and collars which had to be starched.  Bluebell bulbs did the job perfectly.

Although Bluebells contain poisonous glycosides and can cause contact dermatitis, they have been used medicinally in the past.  They are diuretics, causing an increase in urination; and styptics too.  Styptics stop bleeding.

Pencil illustration of native Bluebell with specimen

The perfume industry sells perfumes claiming to be Bluebell scented, but the fragrance has proved too delicate and complex to reproduce commercially.  Bluebell perfumes are derived from their cousin, the hyacinth. (Premierpeu).

Bluebells and the law

When you walk through a woodland in April or May, it seems extraordinary that Bluebells need our protection.  But they do.

Bluebell wood with Redstart

Since the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside act, it has been illegal to dig up any bluebell bulbs in the UK.  It is also illegal to trade in H. non-scripta seeds and bulbs.  Although not against the law, it’s unnecessary and destructive to pick hand-fulls of the flowers.  Not only does this deprive insects like butterflies, bees and hoverflies from early spring sources of nectar, it also damages the leaves.  Once trampled, leaves struggle to recover and can no longer photosynthesize.  So tread with care!

Bluebells as indicators

The Bluebell is an indicator species, growing in areas which were once ancient woodland.  If you see native Bluebells growing in a field or by the side of a road, it’s proof that the area was once wooded with broadleaf species like Ash, Oak, Beech, and Birch.  They thrive in woodland over 400 years old, and are invaluable for ecologists trying to map habitats, and habitat loss.

Illustrating a Bluebell (bulb illustrated from 18th C engraving)

Kew gardens has been tracking the first opening of a Bluebell flower for 50 years, and use this data to help understand climate change.  Bluebells are opening 2 weeks earlier than they did 30 years ago.

Conclusion

Despite threats of habitat loss, climate change, and hybridization; Bluebells remain a firm fixture of the British countryside.  With over 50% of all native Bluebells growing in the UK, Bluebell woods are a visual treat to savour, and be proud of.

Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta

The post Bluebells appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

For plant anatomy, look at the basics of botany blog, and at fruit types.  What’s in a name 1 and part 2 discuss how Latin names work and why they are important

Some of the other families I’ve examined include the the Plantaginaceae (Plantains), Rosaceae (Roses), Ranunulaceae (Buttercups), Caryophyllaceae (Campions), Fabaceae (Peas), Brassicaceae (Cabbages), Apiaceae (Carrots); and the Asteraceae (Daisy family).  The Orchids will be the last in this series for a while.

I am a botanical illustrator, not a trained botanist.  So if you see a mistake, tell mw so I can fix it.  Thanks.

Fragrant orchid Gymnadenia conopsea

Wildflower families:Orchidaceae

The Orchid family is the most profuse on earth with 760 genus and more than 28,000 species globally.  They are members of the Monocots, along with grasses, sedges, rushes and lilies.  As well as having simple leaves with parallel veins, often in a basal rosette; many also have swollen root tubers called pseudobulbs.  There is much variety in the irregular flowers, but all have a mechanism for giving sacs of pollen to a visiting insect.  These are known as pollinia.  Seeds are tiny, held in a capsule.

Early Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp coccinea

Orchids are considered exotic so are popular house plants.  Many homes have a couple of Moth orchids, Phalaenopsis, on a window sill.  Dendrobium, Cattleya, Oncidium, and Miltonia are other hot house varieties.

The flavouring Vanilla comes from the pod and seeds of Canilla planifolia which is grown commercially.  Likewis, the starch-rich tubers of some Dactylorhiza and Orchis species are ground up and used for cooking and medicine.

Early Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp coccinea with swollen pseudobulbs

Orchidacea overview

Plants in this family have simple linear alternate leaves, with some reduced to scales.  The veins are parallel.

Orchid flowers are bisexual and irregular and amazingly diverse.  They can be solitary or in a raceme.  Generally, they consist of two whorls of 3, and often twist as they develop.  Pollen is held in adapted Pollinia which are produced by one, occasionally two or three stamen.  Ovaries are inferior.

Cretan orchid Cephalanthera cucullata

The name Orchidaceae comes from the Greek word “Orchis” meaning testicle.  This refers to the bulbous shape of the swollen root or pseudobulb that you see in many species.

Early purple orchid Orchis mascula

Orchidaceae Leaves

Orchid leaves are pretty similar; all are simple with parallel veins, tend to be fleshy and don’t have stipules or a petiole.  The leaves en-sheathe the stem.  Leafless orchids reduce their leaves to scales and take an even more intimate relationship with mycorrhizal fungi which provide them with a lot more nutrients than in regular fungi-orchid symbiosis. In leafless orchids, roots are photosynthetic organs.  (Many thanks to Max Rykaczewski for this clarification!)  Some species have markings on the leaf, like the Spotted orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii.

Common spotted orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Orchidaceae Flowers

The two whorls that make up the orchid are an outer ring of Petaloids, and an inner ring of petals. Petaloids are a cross between sepals and petals. Outer and inner whorls often have the same colouring.  One of the inner petaloids has a projection, like a spur.

Orchid diagram

Orchids also have a large lip.  This grows at the top of the Orchid flower, but twists 180 degrees as it grows so that by the time the plant needs pollinating the enlarged labellum can act like a landing strip for pollinating insects.  In some single-flowered Orchids, the flower stem bends back on itself and over the stem to achieve the same result. This process is called Resupination.

Orchid flower of Early marsh orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp coccinea

Pollinia can be highly evolved to dovetail with one specific pollinator.  Sometimes the plant glues these sacs of pollen to an insect head, at other times to a bird’s beak.  Smooth surfaces like eyes and mouthparts make good adhesion sites.  The only birds that pollinate orchids are Hummingbirds, and although they pollinate a mere 3% of Orchid species, it makes for around 1000 species using bird pollination.

Diagram of a Pollinia and within an orchid flower

The plant produces a viscous glue, and once the pollinarium is attached, this dries out and rotates the structure into the ideal position for pollinating the next stigma visited.  There is a pair of Pollinium per flower.  For more on Pollinia attachment check out this brief overview from iNaturalist.

Orchid bee Euglossa cybelia with Cycnoches guttulatum orchid and pollinia attached to the abdomen

The ovary is inferior and has 3 fused carpels.  Monocots often present floral parts in multiples of 3, eudictos in multiples of four or five.

Orchidaceae Fruit

Orchid seeds are produced in capsules which get shaken by the wind.  Seeds are tiny, like dust, and are perfectly suited for wind dispersal.

Common lizard Lacerta vivipara in field with grasses buttercup and orchids

In the wild, seeds rely on symbiotic fungi to germinate as the embryo is tiny and there’s almost no endosperm for nutrient storage.  Humans sometimes germinate them in sterile environments, in nutrient rich agar! (For more on germinating orchid seeds look at this Orchidbliss blog.)

Jersey orchid Anacamptis laxiflora

Orchidaceae: Other species

In the UK we have 15 common orchids, as listed in this BBC Countryfile article.  Sometimes several species grow in abundance oat one site, like at Hartslock Nature Reserve where over 7 species grow on one slope.

Many tropical orchids are epiphytic, growing on trees, and acting like clambering vines.

Pyramidal orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis

Conclusion

I’ve never spent an enormous amount of time with the Orchids.  When I see them growing in a field I am always delighted, but they don’t seem to fill the pages of my sketchbook.  Perhaps it’s time for that to change.  References for this blog and all the others in this series include my FSC botany course delivered by Iain Powell, the Common Families of Flowering Plants by Michael Hickey & Clive King, and the excellent Naturespot website.

Bee orchid Ophrys apifera

The post Wildflower families: Orchidaceae appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

If you’ve come from the youtube film and just want a printable PDF to work with, please scroll to the bottom of the page)

Learning about Orchids

I decided this was the perfect time to try and learn a bit about orchid flowers, so I could stop being scared of them.  Consulting Common Families of Flowering Plants by Hickey & King, Understanding the Flowering Plants by Bebbington, and The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms by Hickey & King I pieced together a diagram.  I drew it up and labelled it, and will use it anytime I’m asked to illustrate and orchid.

The take home message is that the whole orchid flower is twisted upside down.  Yes, I know.  But if you look at its’ pedicel (where the inferior ovary is) you can even see the twisted striations.  Why?  So that the large, flat Labellum petal can act as a broad landing mat for pollinators.  Different types twist in different ways.   Our Marsh orchid has managed a Resupinate twist, basically a 180 degree flip.

The Labellum, or base petal, often has a spur growing back from it.  There are two wing petals, in the case of my Early Marsh orchid these are help up above the flower, like hands flung up in an act of surrender.  Then there’s the Outer perianth and inner perianth(also referred to as the Median and lateral sepal).  Inside these are the paired Polliniums.

Diagram of a Pollinia and within an orchid flower

Orchid Reproduction

Orchids don’t always need insect pollinators and some can self-fertilize, but when they do want pollinating they are incredibly clever.  Some mimic female insects to lure lust-filled males to them, then glue the pollinium to them.  Others, like the Fragrant orchid, will glue the pollinium to the tongue of a feeding butterfly, perfectly positioning it to fertilize the sticky stigmatic area on the next orchid it visits. Pollinium get attached to legs, eyes, backs…and carried onto the next orchid where fertilization occurs.

Orchid bee Euglossa cybelia with Cycnoches guttulatum orchid

Pencil roughs and alterations

The first pencil rough needed tweaking as the plant was too tall.  This involved ditching a pair of leaves and re-drawing the bottom of the stem and the orchid bulb (pseudo bulb).  Getting feedback from botanists is very welcome, it means I feel confident in the accuracy of my illustrations.

Pencil rough with feedback

Materials

I’m using Stonehenge Aqua hotpress watercolour paper, Winsor & Newton pans (topped up from tubes), and (incredibly for me) use the synthetic Princeton Neptune Round brush throughout.  (For more on this, please check out my blogs on Synthetic alternatives to the Winsor & Newton series 7 sable brushes)

Leaves

The leaves of this plant are described as a light, spring green, although they seem to vary a lot in the photos.  However, unlike the Spotted orchids (close relatives), they are entirely green.

Common spotted orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Mixing Sap green, Cobalt blue, and Cadmium lemon, I start by outlining wach leaf then plotting in the longditudinal parallel veins. Once dry, I make a lighter tint of this green by adding lots of water, and a touch of Cerulean blue.  I paint this over all the leaves, then leave it to dry.

Another paler wash goes on top of this, and the difference between the underside and top of the leaf blade is suggested with a slight difference in colour (a little milkier and bluer below)

Once dry, I pick out the darks by mixing Sepia with Cobalt blue and a touch of Winsor Green (yellow hue).  Go easy, you really just want these dark areas to show definition, not to darken the leaves.

Roots

Each root is outlined in a brown made from Sepia, the green mixed for the leaf, and Yellow ochre.  The pseudobulbs and plotted in with a pale brown made from Yellow ochre and Naples yellow.

Whilst wet, I use tiny blobs of the darker root brown to add texture.  When the paint is dry, I suggest shadows with a mix of Sepia and Cobalt blue.

Stem

Using a dilute and yellowish tint of the greens, I paint in the stem, being sure to suggest the parallel veins and a slight shadow on the right hand side.  traditionally, the light source in botanical illustration comes from the top left, so shadows behave accordingly.

Flowers

There are between 10 and 70 flowers per inflorescence on this species of Orchid, so it’s worth pulling out one flower and paitning it in more detail.  I do this, and emphasize the twist in the column,  The colour is vital in this sub-species, being described as “bright red”, “brick red”, “scarlet”, “orange-infused red”, and “markedly redder than other orchids”.  Close and repeated consultation of all my reference gives it as something of a reddish maroon.  I make this hue from Alizarin crimson, Cadmium red, and Opera rose.

The other vital diagnostic in the Early Marsh Orchid is that the sides of the Labellum are inflexed, curled back on themselves.  This means the flower looks narrower than many similar orchids, and that the central keel of the labellum is raised, almost like the keel of a boat.  This proved excrutiatingly tricky to illustrate, although I tried my best.

Flowers vs Bracts

I feel a bit weak looking at that big inflorescence, it’s s hard to figure out what’s orchid and what’s bract, or flower column. First thing to do is separate them out.  So I paint in the bracts, thinking carefully all the time about what is and isn’t the flowering part.  I use the same yellowish green as on the stem – sap green, cobalt blue, cadmium yellow and a whole lot of water.  I add a touch of Daniel Smith Spring green watercolour.  Once outlined, I paint over the tips of the top bracts in Alizarin crimson, aware that the flowering heads look red all over and no areas of clear green are visible.

Then I in fill with a dilute version of the initial green hue.

Once dry, I add more red to the bracts.

Flowers: The Labellum

The literature suggests that the labellum is a deeper red than the upper petals and sepals. This means I add a tiny bit more Cadmium red and a touch of Permanent carmine to the red mix.  Although it doesn’t really succeed, I try to suggest the reflexing of the labellum edges as I paint.  I’m worried that the flowers all look too orchid-typical, and not oblong enough.

Flowers in their entirety

The other sepals and petals are outlined with a pinker colour.  This means adding more Opera pink, and water to the mix.

As always, colours are allowed to completely dry.

Now use tints of the red and of the pink to fill in the orchid flowers, leaving a white area at the centre of each flower.  A dab of yellow green at the top of these central areas is enough to suggest the complexities of the pollinium, and a pale area is left below this.

Next come the distinctive markings on the labellum, easily added sing Permanent magenta straight form the pan.

Now I need to knock the whole thing back, and make the inflorescence red and purple instead of green.  Everything gets covered with a tint of Alizarin crimson and Opera rose.  Once dry, there follows a very long period of adding darker shades of Alizarin crimson.   Then I pick out shadows with a mix of Cobalt blue and the magenta.  I also added a touch of the reds to the sheath area down by the pseudo-bulb.  This helps unite the image.

A few drop shadows made from Cobalt blue and Permanent magenta, and we’re done.

Conclusion

Knowing a little about the structure of orchids proved really helpful in this job.  Right after finishing, I spilled most of a jar of water on the illustration. I was amazed and delighted to find that, after very loud swearing and judicious application of clean loo roll, no damage had been done.

Early Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp coccinea

I’m glad to have completed this illustration.  I don’t think it’s my best orchid to date, but it passes muster.  Fingers crossed that the client thinks so too!

To see a film of me illustrating this orchid in real time, please see below.

Below is a pdf of the finished orchid illustration.  Feel free to print it off and trace (it’s for use as an art template only).

Early Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp coccinea

The post Orchid Botanical Illustration Step by step appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Plants have been on this planet for more than 500 million years, first appearing as red seaweeds and diversifying into the plethora of forms and species we share our planet with today.

FSC Guide to Ancient Woodland plants I illustrated showing a whole range of plants

Plant Evolution time line: Non-flowering plants

If we follow a time-line, we can have some idea of the course of plant evolution on earth.

Let’s start way way back, in the Ordovician, about 500 million years ago.  Nothing grew on land, but in the oceans algae, which we recognize as red seaweeds were growing.  Green plants evolved from these, and adapted into more algaes and plants we still have today, like the Charophytes.

Jump to 470 million years ago, the Silurian.  Plants have colonized land!  They still need water for reproduction, and can’t grow to enormous sizes, but the green takeover has begun.  In this time we see the emergence of Bryophytes: Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.

Grimmina pulvinata and Tortula muralis

The next enormous milestone in plant evolution is the development of vascular tissue.  Plants are now able to grow tall, creating forests.  Clubmosses (or Lycopods, they’re not mosses at all) now emerge in the fossil record, about 350 million years ago.  Lycopods now are small plants, but at their peak they could grow into trees up to 30m tall.

Vascular vs non vascular plants diagram showing cross section of the stem with vascular bundles

Ferns and Horsetails emerge next.  Enormous tree ferns change the land,  shading out the bryophytes.  Even today, tree ferns can be enormous, and back in the Carboniferous they could grow to gigantic sizes.  They still need water for spore dispersal, but are able to colonise drier habitats.

Plant Evolution time line: Seed producing plants

A massive change occurs; the seed evolves.  This is, as Chris Thorogood puts is, “a little plant within a box”.  Suddenly plants can live in dry environments.  They can live as dormant seeds for years.

Gymnosperms; the conifers, cycads, and ginko appear around 320 million years ago, in the Permian.  Their seeds aren’t enclosed in a fruit, but in cones.

Jack Pine Pinus banksia tree

Jump forward to the Triassic and Jurassic 280 million years ago, and the Cycads are in the ascendency.

Plant Evolution time line: Flowering plants

No-one knows quite when, but around 130 to 100 million years ago something extraordinary happens.  Flowering plants appear in the fossil record.  With tough seeds, flowers for pollinators, and the ability to exploit almost every habitat on earth; these take over.  These comprise Magnoliids, Paleoherbs, Monocots and Eudicots.  And they take over the planet, remaining dominant to this very day.

Plant evolution: Red algae

Red algae are marine seaweeds.  It’s a bit of a catch-all phrase and covers most of the red seaweeds, unicellar and multi-cellular organisms.  Brown seaweeds are a little different, and are thought to have evolved through endosymbiosis with red algae.  A common red algae is Dulse, which is also edible.

Dulse Palmaria palmata

Plant evolution: Green algae and Charophytes

On a microscopic level, tiny green algae can be stunning.  Many, like Desmids, are unicellular.  Take a look at this film of Volvox (some Volvox are unicellular whilst others live colonially) or photos of Pediastrum, a green algae living in colonies

Some green algae are larger, forming mats in ponds and pools.

Charophytes appear in this group, and are considered the oldest living relatives of land plants.  They pop up in the fossil record 500 million years ago and have remained unchanged until now.

Delicate Stonewort Chara virgata

Plant evolution: Bryophytes

Bryophytes are mosses, liverworts and hornworts.  I’m yet to illustrate a liverwort or a hornwort, but they can be really pretty, like green leathery cloaks across the ground.  They like moist environments, and often decorate cliffs by streams and waterfalls.

Mosses are subjects that I have been asked to illustrate.

Red bog moss Sphagnum capillifolium tuft

For many millions of years, land masses on planet earth were covered in moss, without any other plants in existence.  It is an almost impossible mental image.  Moss reproduce with spores, and need water to reproduce.  Spores appear in tiny capsules which are held above the blanket of moss below.  Bryophytes are haplodiploid, which means there’s an alternation of haploid and diploid generations, and like all the other early plants they have neither flowers nor seeds.

Common haircap moss Polytrichum commune

Plant evolution: Lycopods

Lycopods come to dominate after the mosses and liverworts.  They have vascular tissue so could grow high, into enormous tree-like structures.

The Club mosses we see today are far smaller, and can grow horizontally.  You might see them growing on moorland or heath, especially in Scotland.  For more the Stag’s horn clubmoss, one of our commonest Lycopods, click here.

Stags horn clubmoss Lycopodium clavatum

Plant evolution: Ferns & Angiopteris (Tree ferns)

Ferns are still much in evidence today, again, favouring moist habitats where their spores can fertilize aquatically, often in a thin film of water.  There’s an abundance of variety in the form of ferns, some having divided and sub-divided leaves, others with smooth complete fronds.

Harts tongue fern Asplenium scolopendrium

Tree ferns can grow to massive heights to this day, in the right undisturbed habitats.  There are enormous ones in the rain forests of Kalinga, Philippines.

Illustrating Bracken Pteridium aquilinum

Plant evolution: Horsetails

Horsetails are often referred to as “living fossils”, and they are indeed truly ancient.

They produce spores from a cone or strobilus.  Most prefer moist environments, and in the UK they rarely grown higher than about 1m tall.  In Mexico, some species reach over 8m!

Horsetails have a distinctive appearance, with bristles or leaves coming off a central ridged stem.  For more on horsetails click here.

Water horsetail Equisetum fluviatile

Plant evolution: Gymnosperms

Gymnosperms are the first plants to bear seeds.  This enabled a massive explosion in the places these colonising plants could grow.

They’re pollinated by wind, and seeds are borne in cones.  The seeds themselves are referred to as “naked” as they’re not enclosed in a fruit.  However, animals have evolved to exploit this rich food source – just consider the Red squirrel or the Crossbill.

Dwarf Pine subspecies cones

Conifers, Cycads, and the Ginko tree (yet another plant always called a “living fossil”) are all Gymnosperms.

Gingko Ginko biloba

Of course, the most enormous plants on earth are Gymnosperms; the Giant Redwood tree.  These heights owe everything to the earlier evolution of vascular tissue which put ferns, horsetails and eventually Gymnosperms head and shoulders above the competition.

Giant Redwood Sequoia sempevirnes

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants (Angiosperms)

Modern seed bearing plants are incredibly successful, clothing and dispersing their seeds in an astonishing variety of ways.  Many advertise their pollen to insects, birds and mammals with complex and glorious flowering structures.  Others rely on the wind.  There’s not enough room to even begin a comprehensive overview here, but I’ll touch on the four main groups of flowering plants.

Overview of a Eudicot flower

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants: Magnolias

Magnolia are considered one of the oldest flowering plants.  They’re truly ancient, dating back 95 million years.  Although they have petals and sepals, these aren’t clearly distinguished from each other.  They are pollinated by little beetles.

Magnolia grandiflora

One of the many magnificent facts about the Magnolia is the longevity of its’ seeds.  Remember how we referred to a seed as a “box with a plant inside”?  Well, magnolia seeds which fell from the tree thousands and thousands of years ago can be planted up, and will grow to a successful adult tree.  This blows my tiny mind.

Magnolia

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants: Paleoherbs

Paleoherbs are also known as Basal angiosperms and, like Magnolia, are very ancient.  This whole group was entirely new to me, and exists as many of the plants referred to as Paleoherbs share features of the eudicots and of the monocots.  Plants in this group include the Aristolochiales (Dutchman’s pipe), Piperales (Black Pepper, Wild ginger), and Nymphaeales (lotus and Waterlilies) For more on Paleoherbs, have a look at the introduction from Berkeley College, California.

White waterlily Nymphaea alba

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants: Monocots

And so we arrive, finally, at the true flowering plants.  These are divided into two main groups, the monocots and the eudicots.

Monocots tend to have parallel leaf veins, leaves often grow from the base of the plant, flowers are three-partite.  They grow from grains or bulbs.

Spring squill Scilla verna

Orchids, flowering blubs like tulip, Arums, iris, and my favourites the grasses, sedges and rushes are all monocots.  It’s worth remembering most of our food crops (rice, maize, wheat, barley, rye, oats) are also monocots.

Grasses: Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata, Deschampsia, Agrostis

Plant evolution: Flowering Plants: Eudicots

Eudicots mostly have leaves with a branching or netted vein pattern.  Their flowers have parts (eg, stamens, petals) in multiples of 4, 5, or 7.  Plants grow from a seed with two sides (think of a bean seed).

Some Eudictot families have heads with lots of flowers held together, in an inflorescence; not just one flower on the end of a stalk.  This is true of the Asteraceae, the daisy family.  Each of the outside “petals” is a ray floret, each tiny spot in the centre is a mini flower.  Take a look with a hand lens, it’s amazing.

African daisy Gerbera

75% of flowering plants are Eudicots, and they cover plants as diverse as the Cactus to the Lime tree, the Creeping thistle to the Potato, the Pomegranate tree to the daisy.

Prickly pear Opuntia ficus-indica

For more on the differences between Monocots and Eudicots, please check out my blog.

It’s the combination of that strong, safe seed; and co-opting animals or the wind to help pollination that’s led to this dominance.  Flowers are a by product that we get to enjoy, and to illustrate.  Fruit and nuts work for seed distribution, and feed us.  With these adaptations there are hardly any habitats on earth that the Eudicots can’t exploit.  They are indeed dominant.

Common Blue-sow thistle Cicerbita macrophylla

Conclusion

But I’m more in awe of the amazing variety and persistence of the plants that live on this planet.

From the unicellular green algae, still living in ponds and puddles as they did 400 million years ago.  To the Charophytes, unchanged and still growing in waterways.  The mosses which once blanketed the world and which still swaddle vast tracts of tundra and moorland.  Ferns, in all their beauty and variety remain massively successful – just look at Bracken on UK hillsides.  The strangely beautiful Lycopds and Horsetails.  Conifers and cycads, shedding cones as they have done for millenia.  Magnolia, enticing beetles with pollen all those millions of years ago.

Sphagnum magellicum

Please don’t disregard these plants, simply because they’ve not put their energies into growing pretty flowers to entice pollinators.  Instead, be awed by the majesty and history of the entire varied kingdom.  And perhaps we should all feel a little humbled by these temporal giants, too.

Enormous thanks are due to Chris Thorogood and to Julia Trickey – without Julia’s amazing series of talks I’d have never got to learn any of this fascinating information.  And without Chris and his extraordinary knowledge and ability to engage and enthuse, I wouldn’t have even known where to begin.

Euglena, a unicellular aquatic green algae

The post Plant Evolution: A brief overview appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Moncots vs Eudicots

There are several main differences between these two enormous groups.  The leaves of a monocot mostly have veins running parallel to each other, not branching or netted as they are in Eudicots.  They often spring from the base of the plant.  Vascular tissue in monocots is arranged in bundles, not rings, and doesn’t form wood.  The seedlings differ – monocots grow from a grain (or bulb) while eudicots grow from a two-sided seed.  Each side is known as a cotyledon (hence the name).  Monocot roots are fibrous and lack a main tap-root.  Flowering parts of monocots tend to be in multiples of three, not of four, five, or sevens (eudicots).  For more on telling monocot and eudicot plants apart, click here.

Seedlings: germination

As well as the plants, a seedling from each group needed to be drawn.  Amazingly, there’s very little good reference online to show the vital differences between Monocot and Eudicot seedlings.  Most of the images are so diagrammatical as to be meaningless, and photo references were blurry and unclear.

Only one thing to do.  Germinate my own.  So I put a pea and a maize grain on blotting paper to germinate, and indeed that’s what they did.  The maize grain seedling emerges from the grain, and sends out roots.  Its leaves are elongate and green with parallel veins

Germinating Maize grain

The Eudicot, the pea, looks very different.  it is perhaps more what one thinks of as a “typical seedling”.  there are two leaves, emerging opposite each other.  The seed is composed of two sides or cotelydons.  Again, roots grow away from the plant (unfortunately I’ve lost my photo of this).  With eudicots, there’s far more branching on the initial roots.

In both cases the roots grew sideways which I had to take into account at drawing.  This lateral growth was simply cause they were growing on wet paper on a solid surface, so were unable to send roots downwards.

Seedlings

Once the pencil drawings had been tweaked and given the go-ahead, I added colour.  Seedlings are a very specific bright shade of green.  Capturing this was difficult, but I think they came out ok.

Eudicot and monocot seedling comparison

Monocot variety

The commissioner gave me a list of different monocot plants I could choose from to include in the piece.  We agreed we wanted a grass species, a sedge, and a rush. (Of course I agreed, you know about my obsession with Grasses sedges and rushes!)

Sweet vernal grass sketch Anthoxanthum odoratum

One of the great things about working with the grasses and sedges is that you can manipulate their form a little more freely than with many plants.  For the composition, I needed three plants either side of the central portrait of a seedling.  The curve of the stem of the Mountain sedge was the perfect tool to frame the left side.

Mountain or soft leaved sedge sketch Carex montana

And finally, a rush.  The habit of this plant is less flexible, so I stuck it out on the end of the composition.

Wood rush sketch Luzula sylvatica

We also wanted to add a dash of colour.  The Bluebell and an Orchid would provide this.

Bluebell sketch Hyacinthoides non-scripta

The bluebell also has a drooping and curved flowering head.  Perfect for framing the other side of the monocot seedling.

Fragrant orchid sketch Gymnadenia conopsea

Balancing the colour of the composition

As well as thinking about how the composition would frame the seedling, I also had to be sure that the colour flowed across the page.  The locally abundant monocot Autumn crocus was brilliant for this.  it echoed the pink of the orchid.

Autumn crocus or meadow saffron sketch Colchium autumnale

Other monocots which don’t grow wild in Brecknockshire include tulips, palms, lilies, and iris.

The completed monocot variety illustration looks like this:

Brecknockshire flora: Variety of monocots with seedling

But it’s not just an illustration of monocot variety.  It needs to be Monocot and Eudicot variety!

Eudicot variety

The variety of eudicots in astonishing.  It was really tough deciding what species to include.  We needed to show ones which are locally important, and also pretty ones.  We also wanted to suggest the variety, as we did with the monocots.  I angled to include some of my favourites, and the client put forward his.  Eventually we whittled it down to six.  Then came the difficulty of making the composition work.  Again, I needed the seedling framed by other plants, within a circle in the middle of the composition.

Eudicot plant variety with eudicot seedling

Individual Eudicots

There was the same issue of balancing the colours.  I was able to have yellow flowers flanking the composition on either end, and blueish flowers surrounding the seedling.

The Globe flower used to be abundant across the area, less so as a result of new farming practices.  It is rarely fully open, so this needed a tweak between initial pencil rough and final illustration, to close the petals around the stamens.

Globe flower sketch Trollius europaeus

Meadow saxifrage is another locally important wild flower.  I’ve seen it growing wild, and it’s very pretty.  Including white flowers at such a small scale was difficult so I left them outlined lightly in graphite (for more on painting white flowers check out my blog).

Meadow saxifrage sketch Saxifraga granulata

The next flower, Ivy-leaved Bellflower, was a gift.  Not only is it really important for Brecknockshire, but it also has little leaves and a sprawling habit or growth.  this allowed me to play with the leaves and to manafacture a frame of sorts on the left side of the seedling.  It’s a tricky blue to mix as there’s plenty of purple in it, but I was so pleased to include it as I have it growing in my garden.

Ivy-leaved Bellflower sketch Wahlenbergia hederacea

Other side of the seedling and we find a vetch.  This ends up forming the right hand side of the seedling’s frame, but it feels a touch artificial to me.  The botany is correct, but I feel I played a little too much with the lie of the leaves.  I did, however, love popping in the distinct white hairs where they overlap the shaded parts of the leaves.

Wood or Upright Bitter-vetch sketch Vicia orobus

The Welsh poppy was on both of our lists.  A Welsh species, a pretty flower, and it also has fabulous curved buds.  Including it was a no-brainer.  It also echoed the yellow of the Globe flower.

The last flower had to be a member of the dandelion family.  I can’t tell them apart, but luckily the guy who commissioned this illustration for the Brecknockshire flora, can.  He settled on one of the Hawkweeds and gave me plenty of pointers and ref to ensure I illustrated it correctly.

Hawkweed sketch Hieracium

Conclusion

So you can see that just within these two simple illustrations there’s a world of variety.  The format, long and thin, was pre-set and a bit challenging.  Seedlings had to be grown.  The species had to be whittled down.  Monocot and dicot variety needed be shown.  But the eventual result is a couple of illustrations I’m really pleased with.  And I also learned loads as I completed the images – perfect!

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Hairy Wood rush Luzula pilosa

Anatomy of Rushes:  Overview of the Plant

Rushes are erect perennial herbs.  They have slender un-jointed cylindrical stems (or culms).  Rush stems are always round in cross section. They tend to grow straight and to be tufted in habit.  Although frequently grouped with grasses and sedges, they have a lot in common with the tulip and lily families, which are close relatives.

They often have creeping rhizomes.  Rushes will have few (if any) stem leaves.  If leaves are present they tend to be clustered around the base of the plant.  They can closely resemble the stem.  Leaves are cylindrical, channelled, or grass-like.  They have a sheathing base that clasps the stem.  In some rushes basal scales have replaced leaves.  Here, the stems take over the job of the leaves, photosynthesizing in their absence.

They have a flowering head, or inflorescence.  This may have an involucral bract directly below.

They produce fruits called capsules.

Rushes tend to favour woodland or damp habitats.

Anatomy based on the Sharp-flowered rush Juncus Acutiflorus.

Capsules

Rush capsules consist of three valves which open to release seeds.  Each capsule is enclosed by six papery perianth segments.

Diagram of a rush capsule, surrounded by perianth segments.

These capsules, and the perianth segments surrounding them, vary from species to species.

A variety of rush capsules from different species

Rush flowers

Rush flowers are bisexual and small.  They cluster and crowd together in one terminal inflorescence.  Sometimes these inflorescences look lateral, coming out of the side of the rush culm.  The flowers are wind-pollinated, so tend to be small and green, brown, or yellowish.  There’s no need for bright colours to attract pollinators.

They can be produced in a lateral inflorescence (as with the Hard rush Juncus inflexus), or a terminal inflorescence (appearing at the top of the plant).  Terminal inflorescence form varies between species.  You may see a cymose inflorescence. This is where the central floret opens first and those clustered around open afterwards, as in the Heath rush Juncus squarrosus.   You might clock a loose branched inflorescence (as in the Greater wood rush Luzula sylvatica).

Terminology here is a little patchy.  Different sources refer to these flower clusters in different terms.  The thing to note is how the inflorescence looks, rather than the terms used to describe it!

Inflorescence types in rushes (Hard rush Juncus inflexus, Heath rush Juncus squarrosus, & Greater wood rush Luzula sylvatica)

Structure of a rush flower

Each flower (or Floret) consists of six papery tepals, six stamens, and one superior ovary which bears three stigmas.  In rushes, (just to complicate matters) these tepals are often referred to as “perianth segments”.

(A tepal refers to a flower part which is neither definitely a sepal nor a petal.  Tepals often look the same whether they’re growing in the outer floral whorl where the sepals normally grow, or on the inner floral whorl where one normally finds petals. What we think of as tulip “petals” are often referred to as tepals.)

Rush flowers have 3 outer perianth segments, and 3 inner perianth segments.  Mostly, these look identical to each other and it really is only whether they’re in the outer floral whorl or the inner floral whorl that allows you to tell them apart.

Diagram of the flower of a Wood-rush (in this case of the Field Wood-rush Luzula campestris)

(Image based on reference from “The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms” by Michael Hickey and Clive King.)

Diagram of the flower of a True rush (this is the Hard rush Juncus inflexus)

(Image based on reference from “The Colour Identification Guide to the Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns” by Francis Rose).

Why two flower diagrams, which are (in truth) very similar to each other?  Well, rushes are split into two separate genus with different characteristics, and it’s important to know which one you’re looking at.

True-Rushes: Juncus

True-rushes are familiar to anyone who has been out walking in damp or boggy areas.  They have very smooth, hairless stems which form clumps.  Their leaves, when they have them, are cylindrical, or channelled (as with the Heath rush Juncus squarrosus), and hairless.  In fact, the whole plant is glabrous.

Blunt-flowered rush Juncus subnodulosus

Leaves can be hollow, have internal partitions, or be smooth in cross section.

A selection of cross sections of leaves from different Juncus species

In some species leaves are reduced to basal scales.

Soft rush Juncus effusus

The culm is full of pith, a spongy soft white substance.  This may have internal cross walls or structures to help provide strength; so, as with the leaves, a culm in cross-section can be important in telling species apart.

The capsule of the True rushes bears loads of tiny seeds when ripe.

Diagram of the mature capsule of a Juncus species, with numerous seeds

Three-leaved rush Juncus trifidus

Wood rushes: Luzula

Wood rushes, as the name suggests, tend to favour woodland habitats (although they can be found in meadowland).

They have leaves which resemble the blades of grass, and which are often hairy, especially towards their base.  These leaves are flat and comparatively wide, or folded over.  They have short sheathing bases.

Greater wood rush Luzula sylvatica

The capsules of the Wood rushes have three large seeds at maturity rather than the numerous smaller ones borne by the True rushes.

Luzula seed capsule with three large seeds inside

How to Identify Rushes

So what should one look out for in the field, when identifying a rush?

1. Leaves

Are the leaves present?  If so, are they wide and flat or cylindrical?  Do they have hairs?  Are they stem-like, or do they appear as basal scales?

Take a leaf apart and examine the pattern of the pith within, this can be a give-away with Juncus species.

2. Inflorescence

Where does the inflorescence appear, on the top or side of the plant?  Is it a tight cluster or loose and branched?

3. Perianth segments

Check out the shape of these segments, and how they enclose the fruit capsule.  Also look at their length in relation to the capsule.  Colour can be important, but there’s often planty of variation between plants, so don’t rely on this too heavily.

4. Capsule

What shape and colour is the capsule?  Is it bearing three large, or numerous tiny seeds?

Heath rush Juncus squarrosus

Hopefully this introduction will have peaked your interest about the beautiful rushes we so often overlook.  I only started looking at rushes when I was commissioned by Field Studies Council to illustrate rushes, sedges and grasses for their lovely range of fold-out identification charts (on which many of these illustrations appear).

If you’re interested in learning more about British and European rushes, there are some really good reference books: Colour Identification to the Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of the British Isles by Francis Rose, Collins Guide to the Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe by Fitter, Fitter and Farrer. You could also look at Collins Flower Guide by Streeter.

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(We should also mention the rushes and sedges.  These are also monocots.  For a beginners guide to sedges click here, for a beginners guide to rushes follow this link.)

Drawing a plant is one of the best ways to begin to understand it.  I hope this crash course in grass anatomy will help.

Anatomy of Grass:   Overview of the Plant

Grasses have long leaves or blades, straight thin roots, a rounded (often hollow) stem (or culm), and a flowering spike.  Lots of people may not realise that the top region of a grass plant happens to be the plant’s flowers and seeds.  It becomes obvious when you think about a grass like wheat, but other species might fall under the radar.

Bread wheat Triticum aestivum

The culm of a grass has “knees”, these are known as nodes.  These nodes might be at a bend in the culm, or just on a straight run of the stem.  The culm tends to be swollen at the nodes.  They may be hairy or smooth, depending on species.  This bending at the nodes is known as genticulate growth.  Some people confuse grasses with sedges and rushes; remember that grasses are the only one of these groups which can “bend at the knees”.

The space between these nodes is called the internode.  Its length can help differentiate between species of grass.

Blades (leaves) of grass tend to be flat and linear.  They are rranged alternatively up the culm, and have parallel and unbranching veins.  Blades can be broad, or needle like.  In some species they roll in on themselves to make bristle-like leaves.  Noting if they are hairy or smooth helps determine the species.

The blades of grass grow up the culm like a tube, then grow outward.  This encircling or tubular covering is known as a sheath. Sheaths may cling tight to the culm.  They may be loose and inflated.  This is yet another thing to look out for if you’re trying to i.d. a grass plant.

Overview of the anatomy of a grass (Meadow oat grass Avenula pratensis)

Grass Ligules

Ligules are little flaps of membranous tissue that form at the top of the sheath and the base of the leaf blade.  They are very cool as their shape varies a great deal from species to species.  In many cases they’re tiny, so a hand lens might be handy if you’re going to take a closer look.  Some ligules are pointed, some are rough edged, some very thin, some broad and easy to spot.  Some species have no ligule, or have a ligule which is reduced to a ring of hairs.

Sometimes the edges of the leaf blade cling to the culm and surround the ligule (as in the second illustration below); these structures are called auricles.

Ligule variety in different species of grasses

Inflorescence variety in Grasses

The flowering part of a grass plant is called the panicle, flowering spike, inflorescence or flower-head (many of these terms also apply to other families of plant, and botanists use them somewhat differently at times, which can be confusing). These flowering heads consists of lots of tiny grass flowers which are called spikelets.

Diagram showing flowering spike diversity in the Grasses family: Spreeading panicle, flowering spike, Raceme & Compact panicle

If the flowering spike is unbranched, with each individual spikelet attached to the central stem by a stem (or rachis) it’s known as a raceme (as with Rye grass Lolium perenne and Tor grass Brachypodium pinnatum).

Racemes: Tor grass Brachypodium pinnatum and Italian Rye grass Lolium multiflorum

Panicles often refer to grasses whose spikelets are borne at the end of stalks on a branching flowering head.  They show an enormous amount of variety both in individual plants (depending on the age and developmental stage of the plant), within species, and (obviously) between species.

Variety of panicle shape: Yorkshire Fog Holcus lanatus showing one panicle still within the sheath, one fully spread at maturity.

Some other grass species with spreading panicles include Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata, Common bent Agrostis capillaris, and Wavy hair grass Deschampsia flexuosa.

Spreading panicles in Cocksfoot Dactylis glomerata, Common bent Agrostis capillaris, and Wavy hair grass Deschampsia flexuosa

Panicles can also be very compact, and look like one tight structure.  This is particularly true of the Meadow foxtail Alopecurus pratensis.

Tight panicle shown by Meadow foxtail Alopecurus pratensis

Some other grasses with tight panicles include Crested Dog’s tail Cynosurus cristatus, Twitch grass Alopecurus myosuroides, and the Foxtails.

Tight panicles shown by Crested Dog’s tail Cynosurus cristatus, Twitch grass Alopecurus myosuroides

Grass Spikelets

Each individual spikelet, or flower, is made of distinct parts.  The stalk of each flower is called the rachis, and flowers are arranged alternately, or in a zig-zag fashion along it.

The base of each spikelet, be it one or several distinct flowers, is held in a pair of glumes.  These paired glumes have distinct upper and lower glumes, and these structures are important in determining grass species.

The glumes may have bristles or spikes attached to them.  These are called awns, and can be long or short, bent or straight, twisted (as with many Oat Avenaspecies), or absent.

Diagram of an individual grass flower or spikelet

Inside the glumes is the floret, which is the stamens and styles of each flower enclosed by two further scales or bracts, the lemma and the palea.  You’re down to hand lens work now, but characteristics to look out for are nerves along the middle (or lack of nerves), awns (or lack of awns), hairiness or not, and colour.

Normally, there are three stamens bearing anthers per spikelet; these often hang out beyond the flower; look closely to find purple ones (Timothy grass and Meadow Foxtail), orange ones (Orange foxtail), white, or cream anthers (many of the Bromes). False oat grass Arrhenatherum elatius has bright yellow stamens.

False oat grass Arrhenatherum elatius with yellow stamens and Meadow Foxtail Alopocerus pratensis with purple ones

Tillers

Some grasses put out lateral shoots, sometimes at quite a distance from the main plant.  These are known as tillers, and grow from horizontal rhizomes, or root-like stems which grow along the ground.  Grasses can rapidly colonise new habitats with this vegetative form of growth.

Tiller and rhizomes, shown on the Rough meadow grass Poa trivialis

Identifying grasses species: Features to look out for

Habit and habitat

What area is the grass growing in?  Is the ground wet or dry?  Calcareous or acidic?  Disturbed?  What season is it?

What shape and height is the plant?  Is it erect, tufted, or droopy?  Likewise, are the panicles tight or drooping, compact or loose, many branched or not?

Does it have rhizomes and tillers?

Leaves

How long and how wide are the leaves?  Are they hairy or smooth? Flat or inrolled and bristle-like? What colour are they?

Ligules

Fold the leaf blade back from the stem and find the ligule.  Look for its size, shape, edge, presence…

Spikelet

How are these arranged on the stem?  How big are they?  What colour? What texture?

Spikelet parts

Compare the size of the 2 glume scales, the number of nerves, awns or not, hairy or not.  Are the palea and lemma  awned or not?  How many nerves do they have?

Spikelets of False oat grass Arrhenatherum elatius and Common Oat grass Avena fatua

If you’re interested in learning more about British and European grasses, there are some really good reference books out there.  The “bible” of grasses is C.E. Hubbard’s Grasses; Colour Identification to the Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of the British Isles by Francis Rose, Collins Guide to the Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe by Fitter, Fitter and Farrer. You could also take a look at Collins Flower Guide by Streeter although it’s rather arrogant of me to suggest this as the grasses plates were all completed by me (with a great deal of help from David Streeter!)

I hope you’ll give the grasses a chance, and end up loving them as much as I do,  their beauty and diversity is mind-boggling.

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IAPI organise a Grasses day out

IAPI (the institute for analytical plant illustration) is a fabulous organisation for botanists, botanical illustrators, and anyone interested in these disciplines.  On September 21st I go along to their masterclass on grass, presented by the Summerfields of Westshores nurseries.   This couple specialise in growing, selling, and propagating grass since 1996.

John and Gail Summerfields of Westshores Nursery

Differences between reeds, sedges, and grasses

First, we are reminded of the difference between reeds, sedges and grasses.  Reeds are round with open sheaths, 2-3 ranked, with solid node-free stems.  Sedges have edges and closed sheaths.  Their leaves are 3-ranked, and the stem (culm) is solid and node-free.  Grasses are round with (usually) open sheaths, 2 ranked leaves, and a hollow cylindrical culm.  Grass stems have nodes.

We then discuss different genera of grasses, and get to examine them under the dissecting microscope.

We are shown examples of the seven main genera of ornamental grass, and see photos of specimens from each.

Ornamental grasses in Britain

All have to be hardy to survive in the UK, and the Summerfields are experts on what traits you find in their different grasses.

The seven genera are: Panicum and Miscanthus (both tough plant groups.  These species have long-lasting panicles which look gorgeous after the seeds are spread).  Then Pennisetum which prefer the warm season, and Calamagrostis which thrive in cooler, well-drained soils.  We have Molinia which are tufty and hardy.  There are some large species classed as Stipa; and finally Eragrostis which are very hardy and like well-drained sites in direct sun.

Drawing sketchbook studies of grass

I draw some of the specimens.

Sketchbook study of Calamagrostis brachytricha AGM

I am delighted by one of the grasses; Pennisetum setaceum “Rubrum”.  This is because it has such enormous flowers that it is easy to see the details under the microscope.  Its  dramatic red feathery stigmas are particularly note worthy.

Pennisetum setaceum “Rubrum” sketchbook study

C4 and C3 grasses

We discuss grass anatomy, and have a fascinating talk by Peter Mitchell about C4 and C3 grasses (more of which in next week’s blog).   We get to buy  ornamental grasses provided by the Summerfields.

As I drive home, I amagain delighted by just how happy these IAPI meetings make me.  Other people are also passionate about botanical illustration, and ar ewilling to share their expertise and knowledge.  It’s a fabulous organisation and I’d suggest any British botanical artists join.

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