The torment of Trailing Tormentil

Trailing Tormentil and fungi

Plants can be ranked in the ease or difficulty of identifying them. One of the attractions of using common names is that often they skip these difficulties in identification - a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So while a buttercup is a buttercup it could also be one of several species.

The problems with identifying Trailing Tormentil is that it can be a hybrid - a cross between two species - and this can make identification tortuous for a beginner like myself. Two possibilities for the plant in Falmouth Cemetery are Potentilla x mixta or P x italica. I have tried posting photographs including the one above to canvass opinions. However it was then pointed out that the orange patches on the underside of the leaves might be the fungi, Phragmidium potentillae - so now I have two identifications to find this year.

Andrena labiata on Trailing Tormentil flower

My interest in the Tormentil is heightened as its flowers are visited by a species of solitary bee, Andrena labiata that nests in the cemetery. This is a scarce species and has only been recorded at one other location in Cornwall this century. One consequence of the Tormentil being a hybrid is that it appears its seeds are sterile. As there are only two small patches of it in the cemetery I am considering trying to propagating it from cuttings and trying to establish a few more patches in the cemetery.

This last week I found a few plants flowering that I missed in my New Year Plant Hunt.

Ivy-leaved Toadflax flower - Cymbalaria muralis

Some patches of Ivy are still producing flowers

A few violets are flowering

While many wildflowers have common names this is not so with hoverflies. The only one that comes readily to mind is the marmalade hovery, Episyrphus balteatus. It is one of the few species that is about in the winter, another being Meliscaeva auricollis. In the last week I have seen both in Fox Rosehill gardens. 

Marmalade hoverfly - Episyrphus balteatus

Winter active hoverfly: Meliscaeva auricollis

It has generally been a mild start to the year and on the 3rd January I saw honeybees foraging on Camellia flowers in the cemetery. In Fox Rosehill Gardens the Mahonia flowers attract a steady stream of buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). On the 8th there were three workers on the flowers at 16.10 with the last one leaving about 16.26, sunset was at 16.36.

Honeybee on/in a Camellia

Bumblebees are foraging until nearly sunset