Thursday 7 March 2019

Avens above that ain't Wintercress

Guess who this garden visitor is?

In the Garden or in the wild there is one leaf I have been focusing on recently:





Country path

For a start I thought it was a perfect match with Wintercress (Barbarea vulgaris) but it turns out to be Wood Avens - Geum urbanum.  The confusing issue is that the winter rosette terminal leaves are rounder than the later terminal leaves which are more clearly three lobed (not unlike strawberry leaves).  Smaller opposite leaf pairs appear down the leaf stem :





Researching the internet the clincher is that a cress being a brassica has a four leaf yellow flower whereas Wood Avens  (a member of the rose family) has a five petal yellow flower and then a characteristic burr seedhead.  I don't need to wait for flowering as these burrs are all to familiar in our garden each summer.  If I needed further proof I could taste the leaves  (neutral for avens, peppery for cress) The root of Wood Avens is said to smell strongly of cloves, perhaps leading to its reputation as a remedy for both dog and snake bites.  Herb Bennet!




Here is the best summary of the features of Wood Avens I could find: wildfooduk 


4 comments:

  1. I’m presuming garden germs descend from this as the keaves etc are very similar

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    1. Yes its a Geum with the same characteristic leaves, which is precisely how it gained immunity from weeding in previous years: I thought I might be pulling out a prize specimen.

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  2. Shows how much I know I thought you had some very early strawberries in flower from that first photo!

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    1. The flower is from a neighbouring primula - both do well in damp shady conditions. I do have high hope of my "Temptation" strawberries grown from seed last year but I can confirm that they are not flowering yet!

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