Cedrus libani - Cedar of Lebanon

Cedrus libani - Cedar of Lebanon

Location: Kew Gardens, London. C. libani is a statement of wealth, in 1638 the tree was introduced to Britain for its ornamental features, only the rich could afford it and the space for it to grow in.
The evergreen conifer can grow up to heights of 40m.

An easy way to distinguish it amongst other look a like cedars is buy it's fanning branches that appear in a horizontal fashion.

Long sinuous grey/brown ridged bark.

Male cones are round, greyish and up to 5 cm long, we know that this specimen is female because the cones are pinkish/brown when mature.

It's been quite dry for the past few days, we can tell this by observing how the ridges of the cones are slightly flared. Otherwise they would naturally close in wet conditions.

Needle like foliage is 3cm long and normally blue/green.

Lagarosiphon major - Curly waterweed

Lagarosiphon major - Curly waterweed

Location: Dunham Massey National Trust/ Manchester. It can grow in a depth of 6.5m but can only manage 1m in gloomy water, this means that it prefers to grow in full sunny conditions. It grows as a single rhizome anchored to the ground. The semi evergreen aquatic perennial is an excellent water oxygenator that can be used for the sole purpose of phytoremediation.

L. major grows best in clear still/slow moving water.
Here we can see that the canal has been poorly maintained and L. major has colonised most of the space in the water, unless it has been deliberately planted to decontaminate the water.

Why is it called 'Curly' Waterweed? It gets its name from the inward curling foliage as seen above.

Equisetum arvense - Mare's tail

Equisetum arvense - Mare's tail

Location: Dunham Massey/ Manchester. E. arvense is an invasive deep rooted weed, the rhizomes of this plant can be as deep as 2m underground and are extremely hard to get rid of; they can spread this way into neighbouring gardens. They can grow up to heights of 60cm and appear as bushy fir tree shoots in the Summer.

These images were captured in Spring. In this season Mare's tail shows up as a colony of vertical light green pencils. It was growing in a trench that had poorly drained soils and traces of oil spilled into it, this makes it a hardy species.

They have small triangular black marks that go around the stem. Lateral shoots can be seen emerging paralleling the triangles.

Pointed tips.

Phragmites australis - Norfolk reed

Phragmites australis - Norfolk reed

Location: Silverdale - North/West of Leeds. Phragmites australis is an invasive grass species that can grow up to heights of 3 meters. They prefer to grow in full sunlight conditions with poorly drained soils.

The conditions for this massive colony of P. australis are perfect for it to grow in, there is little or no shade cast from the surrounding trees (alnus glutinous and salix spp.) and its in this wet boggy terrain that it much loves to be in.

The reed has been allowed to colonise in this area of Silverdale for phytoremediation, it is the direct use of plants to stabilise or decrease the contamination in surrounding environments.

Acer platanoides - Norway Maple

Acer platanoides - Norway Maple

Location - Longford Park/Manchester. A large deciduous tree that grow over 12 meters tall and have a spread of 8 meters. It's capable of growing in many different types of soils and in either part shade or full sun, this specimen was found in part shade and in moist loam/sand type soil amongst Fagus spp. and Quercus spp.

The leaves often grow in pairs and have 5 lobes with various pointed edges.

The buds are brown, large and robust.

The bark is smooth and grey.

This specimen has grown almost straight and upright but other examples are found with a more spread out crown.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides - Dawn redwood

Metasequoia glyptostroboides - Dawn redwood

Location - Longford Park/Manchester. Dawn redwood is a commonly planted deciduous tree that looks like a conifer (it closely resembles a swamp cypress). The conical tree can grow to heights of 25m, it prefers full sunlight and can tolerate well drained/poorly drained soils. This dawn redwood is well looked after and in good condition.

The trunk grows almost perfectly vertical with the later trunks growing horizontally.

The bark is redish-brown and fibrous. These fibres can make good tinder for fire if enough is collected.

Flat conifer like foliage, it has pale green leaves that are set opposite each other.

The buds are light brown and rounded with a point at the end.

Pteridium aquilinum - Bracken

Pteridium aquilinum - Bracken

Location - Longford Park/Manchester. Bracken is a native British perennial and can grow over 1.5 meters in height. It can be found growing almost all over the world; it can tolerate many soil types and climates.
This specimen was found growing just fine with a Prunus spp. in a raised planter, its fronds are ready to die back for winter and produce new ones in spring.

The fronds contain carcinogens and should not be eaten by livestock or humans; they make good compost however but the stems shouldn't be used because they are too thick.

This plant reproduces by spores that are emitted into the air by the brown clusters of balls called sori; they are found underneath at the base of the fronds.

Triangular shaped fronds.

Thick bright green, robust stems; unlike the common growing characteristics of other ferns, bracken grows from the ground with single stout stems that produces lateral stems growing opposite each other.