Primula x digenea

Primula elatior

Primula x digenea, the hybrid between Oxlip and Primrose is a magnificent plant i met for the first time this weekend. Growing with a large population of the equally stunning Oxlip (Primula elatior), a plant I'd only met once before.
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Upright Chickweed

Annual Knawel

Pink Shepherds Purse

Adders Tongue and Green Winged Orchids

More fab plants seen whilst down South for a wonderful weekend of Dandelions. I've never seen so many Ophioglossum in one place 😍
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Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) 😍
Fabulous to spend some time with this beautiful plant on my way down to #DandiFest'26 #wildflowerhour

Water Avens (Geum rivale)

Early Purple Orchid (Orchid mascula)

Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

Wood Anemone (Anemone nemarosa)

Some exceptional colour on display in the woodlands around Dolgoch this weekend.
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Daphne Mezereum. Most flowers gone by now but a few plants were still in their pink.
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Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia).
About as good as it gets for spring flora 😍 Some fab patches just coming into flower in Shropshire.
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That's fab! I definitely had very little success when looking for it (had checked thousands of plants before first finding it) but it's easy to have a skewed view from own experiences.

Ooh interesting, I was near there when I first saw it (after LOTS of searching) and didn't see it again for years despite checking Conopodium pretty regularly. Hard to gage with these under-recorded groups

Interesting! I saw it a few years back in Cornwall, plant was on a sunny wall but this plant in co Mayo was in a fairly wet and shaded place.

Puccinia primulae on Primula vulgaris and Puccinia tumida on Conopodium majus. Both seem to be genuinely rare despite how widespread and abundant their host plants are.

One Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna) opened up for the sun this afternoon in the Burren
#wildflowerhour

Corsinia coriandrina, looking fabulous on the coast west of Sintra.

Two Portugese endemics on the walk to the beach this afternoon!
Violet Cress (Ionopsidium acaule) is endemic to the Portugese coast.
Armeria pseudoarmeria is endemic to a small area of central Portugal, most populations are around the Sintra national park.

The Champagne Orchid (Anacamptis morio subsp champagneuxii). The striking white lip is fairly distinctive and the inflorescences in general were quite dainty and lax.

Cape Ivy (Delairea odorata)

Asplenium hemionitis. A fabulous fern i had never heard of before this trip. Easily mistaken for some Ivy from above, and third pic shows a comparison between this plant, Ivy and the similar Cape Ivy (Delairea odorata) that were all growing nearby to eachother.

Irish Spleenwort (Asplenium onopteris)

Hutchinsia (Hornungia petraea)

Jersey Fern (Anogramma leptophylla)

Yellow Vetch (Vicea lutea)

Four species that would be jump in the air experiences back home, all seen in abundance around Sintra 😍 Hutchinsia was probably the commonest plant on parts of the Mouros castle walls!

Having an incredible time slowly getting my head around the plant diversity out here. Still can't help but take pictures of the Orchids no matter how many times we see them 😍

Sawfly Orchid (Ophrys tenthredinifera) - Sintra

Sword Leaved Helleborine (Cephalanthera longifolia) looking beautiful in the Arrabida hills.

Cytinus hypocistis. A fabulous plant that I met for the first time this week. Growing as a parasite on Cistus.

I've yet to do the Portland pilgrimage to meet this plant in Britain. So it was extra special to have my very first encounter completely as a surprise!

Exploring the limestone hills of Portugal there's an overwhelming diversity of Orchids and other vascular plants. However the most exciting plant I've met is this beautiful liverwort Southbya. Growing in some abundance over a few metres 😍 @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Marsh Flapwort (Biantheridion undulifolium) creeping through Sphagnum. Only a handful of known British sites for this wonderful liverwort.
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Rose Moss (Rhodobryum roseum) looking as stunning as usual in Shropshire today 😍
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I guess would ideally be moved to sites that are already being managed sympathetically? And if within known former range feels less artificial.

If it's doomed without appropriate habitat management at the native location and moves to doomed without appropriate habitat management at the translocation sites it's the same long term problem but requiring more resources. Unless it's moved to easier to manage sites? Would new pops be smaller too?

Lots of Claviceps spartinae on the Spartina in the Southport saltmarsh today. On a few plants the Claviceps was hosting Fusarium heterosporum too!

The smallest grass in the world - Mibora minima (Early Sand Grass) just coming into flower on the Sefton coast today. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The Radnor Lily or Early Star of Bethlehem (Gagea Bohemica) is a fabulous little plant. The leaves are small and grass-like and easily go unnoticed. But in mid winter a few of these plants pop up beautiful yellow flowers at their only known British site. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Wonderful to see the smut fungus Vankya ornithogali is still present on the only known British population of Gagea bohemica. This fungus is classed as critically endangered in Wales. Within Britain this species also occurs on G. lutea.

The fabulous Asplenium x murbeckii. This is the hybrid between A. septentrionale and A. ruta-muraria at it's only known British/Irish site.
#wildflowerhour