Cymbalaria muralis, with common names ivy-leaved toadflax, Kenilworth ivy, coliseum ivy, Oxford ivy, mother of thousands, pennywort, wandering sailor, is a flowering plant native to Mediterranean Europe and widely naturalised elsewhere.
It spreads quickly, growing up to 5 cm (2.0 in) tall – it commonly grows in rock and wall crevices, and along footpaths. The leaves are evergreen, rounded to heart-shaped, 2.5 to 5 cm (1.0 to 2.0 in) long and wide, 3–7-lobed, alternating on thin stems. The flowers are very small, similar in shape to snapdragon flowers. Flowers from May to September.
This plant has an unusual method of propagation. The flower stalk is initially positively phototropic and moves towards the light. After fertilisation, it becomes negatively phototropic and moves away from the light. This results in seed being pushed into dark crevices of rock walls, where it is more likely to germinate.
Cymbalaria muralis is native to south and southwest Europe, the southern Alps, eastern Yugoslavia, southern Italy and Sicily. It has spread throughout the world as an invasive plant, including the United States and the British Isles.
Carpobrotus acinaciformis (commonly known as Elands Sourfig, Elandssuurvy or Sally-my-handsome) is a succulent perennial of the family Aizoaceae, native to South Africa.
This species of Carpobrotus ("Sour fig") bears bright pink-purple flowers and, like its relatives, forms a sprawling succulent groundcover. It can be distinguished from its related species by its short, stout, gray-green leaves. These are acinaciform: mildly curved and shaped like a sabre, and having the shape of an isosceles triangle in cross-section, if cut perpendicularly.
Its natural habitat is the coastal dunes of the Western Cape, South Africa. Here it can be found as far north as Saldanha, across the Cape Peninsula, and as far eastwards as Mossel Bay.
The pink or purple flowers are very showy and the plant is frequently cultivated, especially in mild coastal climates. Its fruits are edible and are used in southern Africa to make a traditional jam. In the wild they are grazed by tortoises and other southern African herbivores. In some areas, such as the south-west of England, it has become naturalised on sea cliffs and can outcompete native species.
Sempervivum tectorum (common houseleek) is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to the mountains of southern Europe.
Growing to 15 cm (6 in) tall by 50 cm (20 in) broad, it is a rosette-forming succulent evergreen perennial, spreading by offsets. It has grey-green, tufted, sessile leaves, 4–10 cm (2–4 in) in diameter, which are often suffused with rose-red. In summer it bears clusters of reddish-purple flowers, in multiples of 8-16, on hairy erect flat-topped stems. The species is highly variable, in part because hundreds of cultivars have been propagated, sold, and traded for nearly 200 years.
Sempervivum tectorum was described in 1753 by Linnaeus, who noted that its leaves are ciliate, that is, fringed with hairs.
S. tectorum is one of several houseleek species to be cultivated. It is valued as groundcover for hot, dry places. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Genista monspessulana (syn. Cytisus monspessulanus or Teline monspessulana) also known as French broom, Montpellier broom and Cape broom, is a woody perennial shrub and a legume. The species is native to the Mediterranean region, and is considered an invasive plant in most places where it has been introduced.
French broom, Genista monspessulana, grows to 1–2.5 metres (3 ft 3 in–8 ft 2 in) tall, with slender green branches. The leaves are evergreen, trifoliate with three narrow obovate leaflets, 1–2 centimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long. The flowers are yellow, grouped 3-9 together in short racemes. Like other legumes, it develops its seeds within a pod. The pods are 2–3 cm long, tough and hard, and are transported easily by flowing water and animals. They burst open with force, dispersing the seeds several metres. The plant begins seed production once it reaches a height of approximately 40 centimetres (16 in), and each plant can live for 10–20 years. One mature plant can produce 10,000 seeds per season. The generous seed production and the plant's ability to re-sprout after cutting or burning help it to invade new habitat vigorously when introduced.
It is related to the common broom and Spanish broom. This suite of plants is common in European shrublands. French broom was originally distributed throughout Mediterranean Europe and northwest Africa, the Azores, and the Canary Islands. Due to its lower tolerance for frost than other broom species, it is common in warmer, lower elevation areas. It is found on coastal strips and in sunny inland areas, and does best with plentiful rainfall and sandy soils.
Conium maculatum (hemlock or poison hemlock) is a highly poisonous biennial plant herbaceous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa.
It is a herbaceous biennial plant that grows to 1.5–2.5 m (5–8 ft) tall, with a smooth, green, hollow stem, usually spotted or streaked with red or purple on the lower half of the stem. All parts of the plant are hairless (glabrous). The leaves are two- to four-pinnate, finely divided and lacy, overall triangular in shape, up to 50 cm (20 in) long and 40 cm (16 in) broad. The flowers are small, white, clustered in umbels up to 10–15 cm (4–6 in) across. When crushed, the leaves and root emit a rank, unpleasant odor often compared to that of parsnips. It produces a large number of seeds that allow the plant to form thick stands in modified soils.
Conium maculatum is native in temperate regions of Europe, West Asia, and North Africa. It has been introduced and naturalised in many other areas, including Asia, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It is often found on poorly drained soils, particularly near streams, ditches, and other surface water. It also appears on roadsides, edges of cultivated fields, and waste areas. It is considered an invasive species in 12 U.S. states.
Poison
Hemlock seed heads in late summer
Conium contains the piperidine alkaloids coniine, N-methylconiine, conhydrine, pseudoconhydrine, and gamma-coniceine (or g-coniceïne), which is the precursor of the other hemlock alkaloids.
Coniine has a chemical structure and pharmacological properties similar to nicotine, and disrupts the workings of the central nervous system through action on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. In high enough concentrations, coniine can be dangerous to humans and livestock. Due to high potency, the ingestion of seemingly small doses can easily result in respiratory collapse and death.
Coniine causes death by blocking the neuromuscular junction in a manner similar to curare; this results in an ascending muscular paralysis with eventual paralysis of the respiratory muscles which results in death due to lack of oxygen to the heart and brain. Death can be prevented by artificial ventilation until the effects have worn off 48–72 hours later.
For an adult, the ingestion of more than 100 mg (0.1 gram) of coniine (about six to eight fresh leaves, or a smaller dose of the seeds or root) may be fatal.
Effects on animals
Conium maculatum is poisonous to animals. In a short time, the alkaloids produce a potentially fatal neuromuscular blockage when the respiratory muscles are affected. Acute toxicity, if not lethal, may resolve in the spontaneous recovery of the affected animals provided further exposure is avoided.
It has been observed that poisoned animals tend to return to feed on this plant. Chronic toxicity affects only pregnant animals. When they are poisoned by C. maculatum during the fetus' organ formation period, the offspring is born with malformations, mainly palatoschisis and multiple congenital contractures (MCC; frequently described as arthrogryposis). Chronic toxicity is irreversible and although MCC can be surgically corrected in some cases, most of the malformed animals are lost. Such losses may be underestimated, at least in some regions, because of the difficulty in associating malformations with the much earlier maternal poisoning.
Since no specific antidote is available, prevention is the only way to deal with the production losses caused by the plant. Control with herbicides and grazing with less susceptible animals (such as sheep) have been suggested. C. maculatum alkaloids can enter the human food chain via milk and fowl.
Balsamorhiza sagittata is a North American species of flowering plant in the sunflower tribe of the aster family known by the common name arrowleaf balsamroot. It is widespread across western Canada and much of the western United States. A specimen was collected by explorer and botanist Meriwether Lewis near Lewis and Clark Pass in 1806.
The plant's native range extends from British Columbia and Alberta in the north, southward as far as northern Arizona and the Mojave Desert of California, and as far east as the Black Hills of South Dakota. It grows in many types of habitat from mountain forests to grassland to desert scrub. It is drought tolerant.
This is a taprooted perennial herb growing a hairy, glandular stem 20 to 60 centimeters tall. The branching, barky root may extend over two meters deep into the soil. The basal leaves are generally triangular in shape and are large, approaching 50 centimeters in maximum length. Leaves farther up the stem are linear to narrowly oval in shape and smaller. The leaves have untoothed edges and are coated in fine to rough hairs, especially on the undersides.
The inflorescence bears one or more flower heads. Each head has a center of long yellowish tubular disc florets and a fringe of bright yellow ray florets, each up to 4 centimeters long. The fruit is a hairless achene about 8 millimeters long. Grazing animals find the plant palatable, especially the flowers and developing seed heads.
Lechenaultia biloba, commonly known as the blue leschenaultia, is a plant in the family Goodeniaceae native to Western Australia. It was described in 1839 by John Lindley. The species name refers to the two corolla lobes of the flowers. It is a very variable species.
No type specimen was originally recorded, but David Morrison in his 1986 paper on the genus selected a lectotype that was collected in 1839 by James Drummond near the Swan River. Augustin Pyramus de Candolle described L. grandiflora from a collection from the Vasse River, which was synonymised with L. biloba by George Bentham and subsequent authors.
Lechenaultia biloba is the type species in the section patentes in the genus. Its closest relatives (according to a cladogram based on morphological features) appear to be L. stenosepala, L. expansa and L. pulvinaris.
Lechenaultia biloba grows as a spreading shrub, anywhere from 15 cm to 1 (or rarely 1.6) m high. The grey-green to green leaves are linear and 6 to 15 mm long and 1 mm wide. Flowering takes place from July to December. The flower colour varies from dark blue to light blue to cream, with a range of colours sometimes appearing in a single population of plants. Cream-flowered forms are found on the western sandplains.
Lechenaultia biloba is found across a wide swathe of Western Australia, from the Geraldton sandplains south through to the southwestern corner of the state and east to Esperance. It grows on granite- or laterite soils, where it is found on hills or flat areas.
The most familiar member of the genus, L. biloba is commonly grown in Australian gardens. Renowned for its vivid blue flowers, it was first grown in the United Kingdom in the 1840s. Many cultivars were sold in the 1960s that are no longer available. It grows best in well-ventilated locations with very good drainage, otherwise it is prone to fungal disease, in particular grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) of the branches and soil-borne Phytophthora and Pythium, and is often short-lived,[5] lasting four to six years in a good location, or perishing within a year in a poor one. It is readily propagated by cuttings.
Lechenaultia biloba is grown in rockeries or hanging baskets.
Actinotus helianthi, known as the flannel flower, is a common species of flowering plant native to the bushland around Sydney.
Despite its appearance, it is not a member of the daisy family but rather a species of the Apiaceae (formerly Mackinlayaceae) family, the same family as the carrot. Its generic name, meaning "furnished with rays", is derived from the Greek stem aktin-/ακτιν- "ray" or "spoke of a wheel" or "sunbeam", while its specific epithet is derived from its resemblance to the genus Helianthus. An iconic Sydney plant, its floral display has horticultural appeal which has seen limited use in the home garden and cut flower industry. It grows alongside the related lesser flannel flower (A. minor).
The flannel flower is generally a herbaceous shrub growing up to 50 cm (18 in) high, although rare specimens can be found to be 1.5 m (5 feet) high. The stem, branches and leaves of the plant are a pale grey in colour, covered in downy hair (rather like flannel in texture). The attractively lobed leaves are up to 10 cm (4 in) long and 7 cm (3 in) wide, with daisy-shaped flowerheads around 5 or occasionally 8 cm (2–3 in) in diameter. The bracts are cream to white in colour. Flowering occurs in spring and may be profuse after bushfires.
Flannel flowers grow in sandstone heathland in coastal New South Wales and Queensland, and are commonly seen around the Sydney basin in spring.
Plants may be propagated by seed or cutting and grow in a well-drained sunny position, and are suitable for use in a rockery or cottage garden. The Mount Annan Botanic Garden has been involved in selecting and breeding cultivars for the home garden and the cut flower industry.
Echium plantagineum, commonly known as purple viper's-bugloss or Paterson's curse, is a species of Echium native to western and southern Europe (from southern England south to Iberia and east to the Crimea), northern Africa, and southwestern Asia (east to Georgia). It has also been introduced to Australia, South Africa and United States, where it is an invasive weed. Due to a high concentration of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, it is poisonous to grazing livestock, especially those with simple digestive systems, like horses. The toxins are cumulative in the liver, and death results from too much Paterson's curse in the diet.
Echium plantagineum is a winter annual plant growing to 20–60 cm tall, with rough, hairy, lanceolate leaves up to 14 cm long. The flowers are purple, 15–20 mm long, with all the stamens protruding, and borne on a branched spike.
Echium plantagineum contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids and is poisonous. When eaten in large quantities, it causes reduced livestock weight and death, in severe cases. Paterson's curse can kill horses and irritate the udders of dairy cows and the skin of humans. After the 2003 Canberra bushfires a large bloom of the plant occurred on the burned land, and many horses became ill and died from grazing on it. Because the alkaloids can also be found in the nectar of Paterson's curse, the honey made from it should be blended with other honeys to dilute the toxins.
It is an evergreen trailing plant with loose terminal clusters of bright yellow, saucer-shaped flowers. In the flower centre is a tight cluster of orange stamens, which are sensitive to the touch, and spread outwards to reveal the tall stigma in the middle. The plant is common on chalk downs, and occasional in other grasslands, always on dry, base-rich soil. The wild species has yellow flowers, but garden varieties range from white through yellow to deep red.
Though the individual blooms are short-lived, the plant produces a mass of flowers through the summer. It needs a dry, sunny place, like a south-facing rockery or meadow. As the Latin name Helianthemum suggests, these are sun-flowers. This is a good nectar source for bees and there are several species of small beetle that feed on the foliage. Common rock-rose is also the food plant for the larvae of several species of moth and butterfly.
It flowers from May until July.
Dampiera linearis, commonly known as common dampiera=or wedge-leaved dampiera,= is an erect perennial herb in the family Goodeniaceae. The species, which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia, grows to between 15 and 60 cm (6 in–2 ft) high, with its blue to purple flowers appearing between July and December. It adapts readily to cultivation, particularly containers such as hanging baskets.
The prolific botanist Robert Brown described Dampiera linearis in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. Its species name is the Latin adjective linearis "linear". He described a D cuneata at the same time,which has been synonymised with D. linearis. Plants sold commercially were mislabeled as D. cuneata for many years. Dutch botanist Willem Hendrik de Vriese described two further plants—D. azurea and D. eriophora—from the Swan River and Perth environs in the 1845 work Plantae Preissianae, which are also now considered D. linearis
The prolific botanist Robert Brown described Dampiera linearis in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. Its species name is the Latin adjective linearis "linear". He described a D cuneata at the same time, which has been synonymised with D. linearis. Plants sold commercially were mislabeled as D. cuneata for many years. Dutch botanist Willem Hendrik de Vriese described two further plants—D. azurea and D. eriophora—from the Swan River and Perth environs in the 1845 work Plantae Preissianae, which are also now considered D. linearis
Patersonia sericea, commonly known as the purple flag, native iris, silky purple flag or native flag is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae which is endemic to eastern Australia. It is relatively easy to cultivate, and even the type specimen provided to the taxonomist, Robert Brown was "...furnished us by Messrs. Lee and Kennedy, of Hammersmith, [West London] who received the seeds, from which they raised it, from Port Jackson".
The purple flag is a densely-tufted perennial herb growing to a height of about 60 cm. It has stiff, erect grass-like green leaves 15–60 cm long and 2–6 mm wide, that are finely stiated, glabrous except for the margins which have fine hairs and near the base which is covered with short white hairs. The flower stalk is 3–55 cm long and the petals (strictly outer tepals) are roughly oval in shape, 20–30 mm long, 15–25 mm wide and blue-violet in colour. The flowers appear in spring and summer and each lasts for less than a day.
Patersonia sericea is an attractive species for the garden in a well drained, sunny or semi-shaded position with assured moisture. The species is tolerant of at least moderate frost.
Propagation is relatively easy from seed which does not require any special pre-treatment. Division of large plants is also a successful method.
Thysanotus is a genus of about 47 species all of which occur in Australia. Two of these species also occur outside of Australia. They are perennial herbs with 'lily-like' flowers that are characterised by the distinctive fringed margins to the flowers.
Thysanotus tuberosus is the most commonly encountered species. It has narrow, linear leaves to about 50 cm long arising from a tuberous rootstock. The flowers occur on branched stems up to 80 cm long, each stem bearing up to eight flowers. Flowers are mauve to purple, about 25 mm diameter and usually occur in spring and early summer. Each flower only opens for a single day but new flowers are produced over an extended period.
Fringe lilies are not often seen in cultivation despite their obvious beauty. Generally they have proved to be difficult to maintain in cultivation. T.tuberosus should be grown in a well drained sunny position. It is also suited to growing in a container.
Propagation is relatively easy from seed which does not require any special pre-treatment.
Grevillea robusta, commonly known as the southern silky oak or silky oak, or Australian silver oak, is the largest species in the genus Grevillea of the family Proteaceae. It is not closely related to the true oaks, Quercus. It is a native of eastern coastal Australia, in riverine, subtropical and dry rainforest environments receiving more than 1,000 mm per year of average rainfall.
It is a fast-growing evergreen tree, between 18–35 m (59–115 ft) tall, with dark green delicately dented bipinnatifid leaves reminiscent of a fern frond. It is the largest plant in the Grevillea genus, reaching trunk diameters in excess of 1 m (3 ft). The leaves are generally 15–30 cm (6–12 in) long with greyish white or rusty undersides.
Its flowers are golden-orange bottlebrush-like blooms, between 8–15 cm (3–6 in) long, in the spring, on a 2–3 cm long stem and are used for honey production. Like others of its genus, the flowers have no petals, instead they have a long calyx that splits into 4 lobes. The seeds mature in late winter to early spring, fruiting on dark brown leathery dehiscent follicles, about 2 cm long, with one or two flat, winged seeds.
When young it can be grown as a houseplant where it can tolerate light shade, but prefers full sun as it grows best in warm zones. If planted outside, young trees need protection on frosty nights. Once established it is hardier and tolerates temperatures down to −8 °C (18 °F). It needs occasional water but is otherwise fairly drought-resistant.
Grevillea robusta is often used as stock for grafting difficult-to-grow grevilleas.
Care needs to be taken when planted near bushland as it can be weedy.
The tree has been planted widely throughout the city of Kunming in south-western China forming shady avenues.
Erysimum cheiri syn. Cheiranthus cheiri (common name "wallflower") is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae), native to Europe but widespread as an introduced species elsewhere. It is also widely cultivated as a garden plant. It is known as giroflée and ravenelle in French, Goldlack in German, alhelí in Spanish and violacciocca in Italian.
This is a popular ornamental plant, widely cultivated for its abundant, fragrant flowers in spring. Many cultivars have been developed, in shades of yellow, orange, red, maroon, purple, brown, white and cream. It associates well in bedding schemes with other spring flowers such as tulips and forget-me-nots. It is usually grown as a biennial, sown one year to flower the next, and then discarded. This is partly because of its tendency to grow spindly and leggy during its second year, but more importantly its susceptibility to infections such as clubroot.
This is a herbaceous perennial, often grown as a biennial, with one or more highly branching stems reaching heights of 15–80 cm (6–31 in). The leaves are generally narrow and pointed and may be up to 20 cm (8 in) long. The top of the stem is occupied by a club-shaped inflorescence of strongly scented flowers. Each flower has purplish-green sepals and rounded petals which are two to three centimeters long and in shades of bright yellows to reds and purples. The flowers fall away to leave long fruits which are narrow, hairy siliques several centimeters in length.
A miniature yellow double leafed wallflower was rediscovered by Rev. Henry Harpur-Crewe (before 1883) and is now named "Harpur Crewe". Other bred varieties may vary quite a bit in appearance from the wild plant. One cultivar, 'Chelsea Jacket', is a winner of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Other varieties such as 'Blood Red Covent Garden' are easy to grow and often benefit from being sown and left to their own devices, growing on patches of empty land with little effort required to maintain them, providing aesthetically sound blooms which produce heady scents.
Allium ampeloprasum is a member of the onion genus Allium. The wild plant is commonly known as wild leek or broadleaf wild leek. Its native range is southern Europe to western Asia, but it is cultivated in many other places and has become naturalized in many countries.
Allium ampeloprasum is regarded as native to all the countries bordering on the Black, Adriatic, and Mediterranean Seas from Portugal to Egypt to Romania. In Russia and Ukraine, it is considered invasive except in Crimea, where it is native. It is also native to Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Iraq. It is considered naturalized in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Czech Republic, the Baltic States, Belarus, the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, China, Australia (all states except Queensland and Tasmania), Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the United States (southeastern region plus California, New York State, Ohio and Illinois), Galápagos, and Argentina. In tidewater Virginia, where it is commonly known as the "Yorktown onion", it is protected by law in York County.
The species may have been introduced to Britain by prehistoric people, where its habitat consists of rocky places near the coast in south-west England and Wales.
Allium ampeloprasum has been differentiated into three cultivated vegetables, namely leek, elephant garlic and kurrat.
Wild populations produce bulbs up to 3 cm across. Scapes are round in cross-section, each up to 180 cm tall, bearing an umbel of as many as 500 flowers. Flowers are urn-shaped, up to 6 mm across; tepals white, pink or red; anthers yellow or purple; pollen yellow.
The spring gentian (Gentiana verna) is a species of the genus Gentiana and one of its smallest members, normally only growing to a height of a few centimetres.
The short stem supports up to three opposing pairs of elliptical or lanceolate leaves. The conspicuous vivid blue (sometimes purplish-red or rarely white) flowers are 1–2 cm in diameter, with a deeply five-lobed corolla; they are produced in late spring to early summer. The flowers attract butterflies and bees (particularly bumblebees) for pollination. Ants are responsible for the spreading of its seeds.
G. verna is one of the most widespread gentians, found on sunny alpine meadows and moorland throughout Eurasia from Ireland to Russia. It is common in central and southeastern Europe, such as in low mountain ranges like the Jura and Balkans, and up to an altitude of 2,600 metres (8,500 ft). It is also to be found in mountainous regions ranging from the High Atlas of Morocco to the mountains of Turkey, Iraq and Iran. In northern Europe, it is very rare, confined to Teesdale in northern England and a handful of locations in western Ireland.
It tends to thrive on dry meadows with chalky soil; it is also known to grow in silicaceous soils. Its scarcity has led to protection in a number of European countries as an endangered species.
Glebionis segetum (syn. Chrysanthemum segetum) is a species of the genus Glebionis, probably native only to the eastern Mediterranean region but now naturalized in western and northern Europe as well as China and parts of North America. Common names include corn marigold and corn daisy.
Glebionis segetum is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall, with spirally arranged, deeply lobed leaves 5–20 cm long. The flowers are bright yellow, produced in capitulae (flowerheads) 3.5-5.5 cm in diameter, with a ring of ray florets and a centre of disc florets.
Glebionis segetum is widely naturalised outside of its native range, colonising western and central Europe with early human agriculture; it can be an invasive weed in some areas.
Glebionis segetum was formerly treated in the genus Chrysanthemum, but under a 1999 decision of the International Botanical Congress, that genus has been redefined with a different circumscription to include the economically important florist's chrysanthemum (now Chrysanthemum indicum).
The corn marigold appears to have been a serious weed during the 13th century in Scotland, as suggested by a law of Alexander II which states that if a farmer allows so much as a single plant to produce seed in amongst his crops, then he will be fined a sheep.
In Crete and Greece, the leaves and the tender shoots of a variety called neromantilida (νερομαντηλίδα) are eaten raw in salads or browned in hot olive oil by the locals.
Ulex europaeus (gorse, common gorse, furze or whin) is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to portions of Europe from the northern United Kingdom south to Galicia in Spain and Portugal, and from the western Republic of Ireland east to Galicja in Poland and Ukraine.
Growing to 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) tall, it is an evergreen shrub. The young stems are green, with the shoots and leaves modified into green spines, 1–3 centimetres (0.39–1.18 in) long. Young seedlings produce normal leaves for the first few months; these are trifoliate, resembling a small clover leaf.
The flowers are yellow, 1–2 centimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long, with the pea-flower structure typical of the Fabaceae; they are produced throughout the year, but mainly in early spring. The fruit is a legume (pod) 2 centimetres (0.79 in) long, dark purplish-brown, partly enclosed by the pale brown remnants of the flower; the pod contains 2-3 small blackish, shiny, hard seeds, which are ejected when the pod splits open in hot weather. Seeds remain viable for 30 years.
Like many species of gorse, it is often a fire-climax plant, which readily catches fire but re-grows from the roots after the fire; the seeds are also adapted to germinate after slight scorching by fire. It has a tap root, lateral and adventitious roots. An extremely tough and hardy plant, it can live for about thirty years.
This plant is used for hedging, boundary definition and groundcover in suitably sunny, open locations. Cultivars include 'Strictus' (Irish gorse), a dwarf form, and the double-flowered, non-fruiting 'Flore Pleno', which has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Veronica persica (common names: birdeye speedwell, common field-speedwell, Persian speedwell, large field speedwell, bird's-eye, or winter speedwell) is a flowering plant native to Eurasia. It is widespread as an introduced species in the British Isles where it was first recorded in 1825, in North America and eastern Asia, including Japan and Taiwan.
The cotyledons are triangular with truncated bases. The short-stalked leaves are broadly ovate with coarsely serrated margins, and measure 1 to 2 cm long. The leaves are paired on the lower stem and are alternately arranged on the upper parts. The plant has weak stems that form a dense, prostrate groundcover. The tips of stems often grow upright.
The flowers are roughly a centimeter wide and are sky-blue with dark stripes and white centers. They are zygomorphic, having only one vertical plane of symmetry. They are solitary on long, slender, hairy stalks in the leaf axils.
The seeds are transversely rugose and measure between 1 and 2 millimeters long. There are 5 to 10 seeds per locule in the fruit.
V. persica can be distinguished from similar species by its heart-shaped fruit with two widely-separated lobes.
Cymbalaria muralis, with common names ivy-leaved toadflax, Kenilworth ivy, coliseum ivy, Oxford ivy, mother of thousands, pennywort, wandering sailor, is a flowering plant native to Mediterranean Europe and widely naturalised elsewhere.
