No need for AI when nature can do this! A totally joyful Ophrys cretica seen near Heraklion 20.04.26. #orchid #ophrys @withylake.bsky.social

Copper beech with bluebells

Lunchtime walk today.

four orange-brown and cream colored flower spikes growing among a layer of old, fallen oak and beech leaves. each of the thick spikes is covered in spirals of numerous flowers that stick out sideways from the stout central stem. there are no leaves, but beneath every flower there is a large brown scale. each flower is set in a cream colored calyx that turns papery and brown near its small triangular lobes. the flower is a cream colored tube with a hood-like upper lip and a diminutive lower lip which barely part.

a single flower posed on an old brown tree leaf for close inspection. the calyx and petals have been disrupted and torn to reveal the stamens and style that hide within the tubular flower. four stamens with white filaments and brown anthers accompany a thicker white style with white stigma.

view from barely above leaf litter on the forest floor, looking across at tilting bear corn stalks poking out from underneath layers of oak leaves, with a moss covered tree trunk on the right. two flower spikes are close by and in focus; others can be seen in the background. each of the thick spikes is cream colored, with spiraling columns of tubular cream-colored flowers that stick out sideways from the stalk. the flowers sit in calyces that turn papery and brown at their tips, and there is a relatively large brown scale beneath each flower. the flowers have a hood-like upper lips that barely part from the smaller lower lips. at the top of each spike are buds still developing; the flowers bloom bottom to top.

🌼 bear corn 🌿
Conopholis americana

no chlorophyll, parasitic on oaks

#nativeplants #ecoregion71

Herb-Paris (Paris quadrifolia) in a rather manky chalk scarp wood nr Alvediston, Wiltshire today. Unhelpfully likes hiding amongst dense Dog's Mercury Mercurialis perennis, which can make things difficult. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A macro photo of Liverleaf flowers that are more pink or purple than the usual blue.

It's officially spring here when the "blue-veis" (Liverleaf) and the "white-veis" (Wood anemone) cover the woods. Usually they are blue and white, but sometimes they are more purple or pink.
#MacroMonday #ColorADay #PinkMon #minimalmonday #blueskymonday #flower

A macro photo of a Liverleaf flower that is more pink or purple than the usual blue.

It's officially spring here when the "blue-veis" (Liverleaf) and the "white-veis" (Wood anemone) cover the woods. Usually they are blue and white, but sometimes they are more purple or pink.
#MacroMonday #ColorADay #PinkMon #minimalmonday #blueskymonday #flower

Line of small purple with yellow iris flowers among grassy meadow.

Western Blue-eyed Grass (an iris) was peaking on Sonoma Mtn. Saturday. #WeekPforPurple #AlphabetChallenge

Plant info. here...
www.calscape.org/Sisyrinchium...

#NativePlants #CaliforniaNativePlants #NaturePhotos #Bloomscrolling #Wildflowers #iNat 📷🌱

Globe showing the Atlantic Ocean with arrows depicting the AMOC circulation: warm surface currents (pink/red) flowing northward from the tropics toward the Arctic, and cold deep return currents (blue/purple) flowing southward. The background shows sea surface temperature trends, with a prominent blue cold patch, the "cold blob", south of Greenland, contrasting with warming (orange/red) across the rest of the ocean.

1/ There's a system of ocean currents in the Atlantic that shapes Europe's #climate, drives monsoons, and keeps sea levels stable along the US coast.

In the last 5 years, the scientific evidence that it could collapse has shifted dramatically.

Most people have no idea. 🧵

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula) by the roadside. Hanworth - Norfolk @norfolknats.bsky.social

Nice to compare two different Maidenhair Spleenwort subspecies yesterday in Teesdale. The delicate subsp. trichomanes on its well-known unmortared wall and the commoner subsp. quadrivalens. #ferns

We’ve seen the rare Taraxacum wallonicum on most sites visited on #DandiFest’26 in Essex. This impressive specimen a street weed seen nr the pub in Maldon. Erythrosperma with pollen, white petioles recurved bracts & neat clear mid-green leaves. A ‘Channel endemic’ in SE England & the Low Countries

Pasque Flowers, Pulsatilla vulgaris, on the Devil's Ditch, Newmarket, contrasting with the Oil-seed Rape field behind. #WildflowerHour

Common Solomon's Seal Polygonatum multiflorum. Crab Wood SSSI, Sparsholt, Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Early Purple Orchids Orchis mascula. Nr Sparsholt, Hampshire today. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour @ukorchids.bsky.social

Field Gromwell, Buglossoides arvensis, against the pub fence in Cherry Hinton #Cambridge #WildflowerHour 🍒🏘️

The Cornish endemic Western Ramping-fumitory (Fumaria occidentalis) is my contribution to this week's #wildflowerhour. This colony is probably the best known in the country, having grown on a car park edge on the Lizard for decades!

Spring vetch

Tiny spring vetch @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Arum maculata plant

Arum maculata @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Cuckoo flower @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Spring sedge flowering

Spring sedge @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Changing forget-me-not

Changing forget-me-not @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Suffocated Clover Trifolium suffocatum flowering this morning. Specatcular stuff 🤣. Hiltingbury, Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Herb Paris, Paris quadrifolia in an ancient woodland near Alton, Hampshire. I love walking in this bluebell wood at this time of year. #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Mousetail, Mysurus minimus, by a well trampled gate in Dorset this morning #wildflowerhour

Ophrys sicula variation, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn

Golden Ophrys sicula variation looking every inch the trophy #orchid for my @mariposanature.bsky.social Orchid Conservation Alliance #OrchidsOfRhodes guests today here in Rhodes. 🏆

Some fine examples of the colour range to be found in Orchis quadripunctata. Great time with @rogercharding.bsky.social at Rethymno prefecture, Crete, 19.04.26. #orchid #orchis @withylake.bsky.social

It is always nice to stumble across a healthy patch of Fir Clubmoss (Huperzia selago) #botany

Pow!

Took a bit of a gamble today with a jaunt up to Upper Teesdale, not expecting too much if truth be told. But even a handful of these was enough to make the journey worthwhile.

📸 Spring Gentian (Gentiana verna)

#botany #wildflowerhour

One purple orchid with bluebells among the grass

Purple orchids and Bluebells on a slop next to a fence

Thousands of Bluebells on a hill with a valley and another hill in the distance

Flower spike with white buds at the top and purple ones lower down

More Early Purple today, 19/4/26, NW Worcestershire.
A lovely hillside by the Worcestershire Way. What a glorious way to spend a Sunday afternoon 😀

Duke of Burgundy flying at Butser Hill - Hants today