June: Yellow Archangel
Angel in Ancient Woods
(Lamiastrum galeobdolon, Order: Lamiales, Family: Lamiaceae, Genus: Lamium )
The flower buds are like tiny cream-yellow balls. The flower looks like a cream-yellow armchair with a roof. The flower clusters are somehow like a tower of armchairs. Flower fairies would rest their wings on the chairs....
June is a transitional month, from the early summer to the summer. When the carpets of bluebells and white wild garlic flowers faded toward the end of May, woodlands are settled in the colour of green. Around woodlands, hedgerows, and meadows are gradually filled with colourful flowers.
Yellow archangel grows at edges of ancient woodlands or shady hedgerows. It's more often seen than herb-paris, but one of precious wild plants.
I find them at some road banks near by woods and at the edge of my favourite woodland, just alongside dog's mercury, red campion, ground ivy and some other wild plants. The yellow flower brightens up the shady place.
The leaves, crinkled with tiny hair on the surface, have similarity to lamiaceae family such as basil, mint, marjoram etc. They are also look like stinging dead nettle, but are not stinging. Two leaves attach to the stems like a pair of wing, one above the other. If you look the plant from above, each two-paired leaves descends by 90 degree to the bottom, which look like a lot of propels. The flowers sit in between.
I find them at some road banks near by woods and at the edge of my favourite woodland, just alongside dog's mercury, red campion, ground ivy and some other wild plants. The yellow flower brightens up the shady place.
The leaves, crinkled with tiny hair on the surface, have similarity to lamiaceae family such as basil, mint, marjoram etc. They are also look like stinging dead nettle, but are not stinging. Two leaves attach to the stems like a pair of wing, one above the other. If you look the plant from above, each two-paired leaves descends by 90 degree to the bottom, which look like a lot of propels. The flowers sit in between.
The flower buds are like tiny cream-yellow balls. The flower looks like a cream-yellow armchair with a roof. The flower clusters are somehow like a tower of armchairs. Flower fairies would rest their wings on the chairs....
Yellow Archangel....., I have looked my Edith Holden's books (See my blog in March), The Nature Notes of An Edwardian Lady and The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady, whether she mentioned this plant in her book. Almost overlooked her small water-colour illustration with the name, 'Yellow Weasel's Snout'. (The author, Edith Holden was a naturalist and illustrator in the early 20th century.)
It is resemble to yellow rattle in her books. But yellow rattle grows mainly in sunny meadows, while yellow archangel prefers shady places like at the fringe of woodland or in shady hedgerows.
Weasel'a snout, a plant, is also in Lamiales Order as yellow archangel is. The plant has pink flowers, but the shape is resemble. I try to imagine a snout of a weasel of animal, though, it looks hardly like this pretty flower!
It is resemble to yellow rattle in her books. But yellow rattle grows mainly in sunny meadows, while yellow archangel prefers shady places like at the fringe of woodland or in shady hedgerows.
Weasel'a snout, a plant, is also in Lamiales Order as yellow archangel is. The plant has pink flowers, but the shape is resemble. I try to imagine a snout of a weasel of animal, though, it looks hardly like this pretty flower!
In olden days this plant would be commonly called yellow weasel snout. But I like call this plant ' Yellow Archangel' The name just suits the appearance, like an angel with a pair of green wings, don't you think? If you look at the upper half, an angel with a yellow clown to be fly away at any moment, and if looking at the upper half, an angel with an arched green collar is resting its green wing on its back.
Confusing species is 'variegated yellow archangel', of which flowers are almost same as of yellow archangel, but it has white variegated leaves. It is popular as garden plant and easily spreads in the countryside. A wild plant conservation organisation, Plantlife, warns that this subspecies is an offence to the other wild plants. (Though, I cannot find this name in the UK's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.) Hopefully these cultivated species won't invade this ancient plant.
Yellow Archangel is thought to be an indicator for ancient woods. It must have existed for many many years in the woodland, possibly since a tiny woodland formed. Interestingly I find yellow archangel as well as herb-paris (see my blog in May) in the ancient wood, while none of them is seen in a park near by my house, which used to be a limestone quarries until 1970 and was developed after the closure.
As I research on woodlands, I realise that a woodland hasn't been created in a instance and also it's not simply an cluster of trees. A woodland is a ever growing living biodiversity's cluster unless it is crucially damaged, possibly by human.
Confusing species is 'variegated yellow archangel', of which flowers are almost same as of yellow archangel, but it has white variegated leaves. It is popular as garden plant and easily spreads in the countryside. A wild plant conservation organisation, Plantlife, warns that this subspecies is an offence to the other wild plants. (Though, I cannot find this name in the UK's Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.) Hopefully these cultivated species won't invade this ancient plant.
Yellow Archangel is thought to be an indicator for ancient woods. It must have existed for many many years in the woodland, possibly since a tiny woodland formed. Interestingly I find yellow archangel as well as herb-paris (see my blog in May) in the ancient wood, while none of them is seen in a park near by my house, which used to be a limestone quarries until 1970 and was developed after the closure.
As I research on woodlands, I realise that a woodland hasn't been created in a instance and also it's not simply an cluster of trees. A woodland is a ever growing living biodiversity's cluster unless it is crucially damaged, possibly by human.
