Globe flower and meadow saxifrage

 Teesdale is a favourite destination for botanists in spring, principally because it is home to the stunning blue flowers of spring gentian Gentiana verna, which is usually at its best in the first two weeks of May. But the dale is full of botanical treasures, including the beautiful globe flower Trollius europaeus (below). Last week we found it in a place where we've never seen it before, on the bank of the river Tees downstream from Egglestone abbey bridge.

This has also been a wonderful late spring for meadow saxifrage Saxifraga granulosa (below). While not nationally rare, it is a declining species. We found one meadow absolutely full of its elegant white flowers, which remind me of the finest porcelain. Meadow saxifrage reproduces by seed and also by tiny vegetative buds called bulbils, at the base of the leaves. I suspect that one of the reasons why the plant sometimes reaches high densities in meadows is that the bulbils are transported and dispersed on mud on the hooves of livestock, that traditionally graze the 'aftermath' in hay meadows after the hay has been cut. 

Meadow saxifrage

Thursday's Guardian Country Diary is all about this very attractive little flower, meadow saxifrage Saxifraga granulata. It's a species of meadows and pastures that has been in continuous decline for decades thanks to the 'improvement' of old grasslands with fertilisers and selective herbicides, which favour grasses and lead to a decline in wild flower diversity.

Fortunately there are still a few places in Teesdale where you can see it in profusion and one of the best sites is in the meadows that surround ....

.....the ruins of Egglestone Abbey in Teesdale.

You can read more about the history of the abbey by clicking here.

Meadow saxifrage thrives on the slopes leading up to the castle walls....

...... covering them in a haze of white flowers ...

..... and merging into the buttercups in the meadow below.

The most picturesque way to approach the abbey is via the footpath that runs over this tiny packhorse bridge, next to a more recent road bridge.

The packhorse bridge spans Thorsgill which flows into the river Tees about fifty metres downstream from this point.

The view from the bridge, along this little valley, can't have changed very much since the White Canons, who worshipped in the abbey, last passed this way over 500 years ago.

The valley has a fine population of meadow saxifrage too. It tends to grow in dense groups in the grass because it produces clusters of tiny buds called bulbils (the granules that the specific name granulata refers to) when the flowers and foliage die down in July, so when they sprout next year a whole group of plants grow up where only one existed before. The bulbils are also carried around in mud on the feet of cattle, which unwittingly plant it in their footsteps. 

Ambush

Saxifrages tend to be associated with mountains - after all their Latin name refers to their habit in growing in rocky crevices - but this species, meadow saxifrage Saxifraga granulata, thrives in grass. It's a declining wild flower but it still has some strongholds up here in North East England, in Teesdale in particular.

Meadow saxifrage has its own distinctive technique for growing and flowering before being shaded out by other vegetation. If it just reproduced from seed it would struggle to compete with grasses but at the end of flowing dozens of tiny buds called bulbils (the 'granules' of granulata), form at the junction of the leaves and stem and when the rest of the plant withers away these sit on the soil surface over the winter. When spring comes they sprout leaves and flowers quickly, stealing a march on the grasses. The flowers still produce large numbers of tiny, widely dispersed seeds and for this they need pollinators, but this particular flower was a potential death trap for an unwary hoverfly visitor.....

... with a spider lurking under the petals, waiting to ambush visitors.