UEA Ecology Blog

Wildflower Hour During the wildflower hour session, we walked around campus starting by the cycle path on the south west edge of campus, where we found snowdrops and gorse in flower, we later moved round the lake, woods and the sports pitches where we saw a variety of flowering plants and shrubs; blackthorn (Prunus), Lesser…

Miners Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) Miners lettuce (claytonia perfoliata) is an edible  flowering plant belonging to the amaranthaceae family, and can commonly be found in damp and shady areas in late winter into early spring, it is not native to the UK or Europe but has been introduced and is not considered invasive, it is believed…

Purple Jelly Disc(Ascocoryne sarcoides) Purple Jelly Disc is a gelatinous fungus characterised by the disc structure of the fruiting body, with individual discs ranging from 5mm to 5cm in diameter, the colour of which can range from a burgundy red to a deep purple. They can commonly be found on fallen deciduous wood and stumps.…

Large Flowered Evening Primrose (Oenothera glazioviana) Identification and habitat Large Evening Primroses (Oenothera glazioviana) can be characterized by their large and distinctive yellow flowers and red striped sepals, they are a very hardy flower often growing in poor quality soil such as those found near construction sites, railways, waste grounds and in roadside banks, the…

Purple Toadflax (Linaria purpurea) Purple toadflax is a flowering perennial plant that mainlygrows in the banks around hedgerows, old brickwork, and waste grounds, purpletoadflax is part of the veronicaceae family, the leaves of purple toadflax arearound 4cm long, with shapes ranging from linear to linear-lanceolate itflowers between late spring and early autumn with bright purple…