My first chiff-chaff of spring sings somewhere beyond a blackthorn. Up on Scout Scar it will be some while before blackthorn flowers.
Some years ago, as I was writing About Scout Scar, I was photographing blackthorn flowers hugging close to a fragment of limestone pavement when I noticed tiny white flowers on a rosy succulent in a mossy depression in the rock. Rue-leaved saxifrage, Saxifraga tridactylites. In her Illustrated Flora, Marjorie Blamey describes it as 'stickily hairy annual, often reddish.' Let's see what the pictures show.
Some years ago, as I was writing About Scout Scar, I was photographing blackthorn flowers hugging close to a fragment of limestone pavement when I noticed tiny white flowers on a rosy succulent in a mossy depression in the rock. Rue-leaved saxifrage, Saxifraga tridactylites. In her Illustrated Flora, Marjorie Blamey describes it as 'stickily hairy annual, often reddish.' Let's see what the pictures show.
The above image of Rue-leaved saxifrage, Saxifraga tridactylites, shows the habitat of the rock-buster, which is the meaning of the Latin saxifrage. And the three-lobed leaves with a faint tinge of red. My images shows the plant's structure clearly, and those sticky hairs.
I was delighted to find this saxifrage on Scout Scar. Next year, I found the plant growing in a ruin that resembled an Iron Age structure, a trio of stone cells open to the sky. There was an altar- slab, and tiny white flowers bloomed in its fine gravels. It's a secret place, this altar of rue-leaved saxifrage.
Today's find I'll share with you all. On Queen's Road, in Kendal, there's a fine view over chimneys toward the fells. Beside the road, there's a high stone wall and beyond it an orchard of old trees. The wall is a marvel of ferns, it's top-stones sheltering a few of these lovely rue-leaved saxifrage. Anyone may see them, but they are often overlooked because they're minute. No need to go searching Scout Scar, where you'll probably not find them. Try the roadside wall on Queen's Road.
Today's find I'll share with you all. On Queen's Road, in Kendal, there's a fine view over chimneys toward the fells. Beside the road, there's a high stone wall and beyond it an orchard of old trees. The wall is a marvel of ferns, it's top-stones sheltering a few of these lovely rue-leaved saxifrage. Anyone may see them, but they are often overlooked because they're minute. No need to go searching Scout Scar, where you'll probably not find them. Try the roadside wall on Queen's Road.
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