R is for Rare Wild Flowers – that is what R is for ...

Pasque Flower – appropriately flowers at

Easter time; it grows in chalky pastures

Life in general is in need of protection, but our wild flowers none more so – as they are so easily trampled by unsuspecting feet, or plucked by unaware pickers ... we have about the same number of different wild flowers here in Britain, 1,300 ...

...  as there are members in the A – Z Challenge .. not sure what that tells us – but something to ponder?!  Rare wild flowers also become extinct ... much like some of the challengers, who never started or fall away due to other circumstances ... completely understandable.

Drooping Saxifrage – 

to be found only on three 

mountains in the

Scottish Highlands

So often we do not realise what we’re doing – wantonly picking them, digging them up, or destroying habitats through building works, construction of reservoirs, or other types of development.  Do we think about the land beneath our feet that we use in so many ways each and every day ...

Spotting rare plants must be exhilarating, but we need to leave them for others – and ourselves – to enjoy on future occasions.  Each plant may well only exist in a few specific habitats, as we are beginning to realise each tiny organism has its own role to play and so will only support adapted  varieties.

Preferably never pick wildflowers, or disturb the area where they grow, letting the seedlings and mature plants live on.  If there’s an abundance in one area ... then pick cleanly, using scissors or a sharp knife, taking care to leave the roots.   I say don’t pick – leave be.

Spring Gentian – is very rare and

confined to a handful of locations

Use secateurs on woody plants to avoid tearing their bark; while - if picking dead stems for flower arranging – ensure all the seeds have been shed and the stem is really dead.

Our plants are essential to our lives, as are all living things – let us remember to protect those pockets of specialities, those tiny habitats of uniqueness.  There aren’t that many wild flowers here in Britain, but each and every one needs our care.

Here are a few of our Rare wild flowers that need our guardianship ...

These are Rare flowers – that is what R is for ..

Part of the ABC - April 2011 - A - Z Challenge - Aspects of the British Countryside

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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