CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

  Sweet violets  Viola odorata  produce two types of flower - the familiar scented kind that are amongst the first wild flowers to appear in...

A field on the edge of Durham city, full of thousands of dandelion 'clocks', waiting for a breeze to carry their plumed seeds aloft....

I first read Weeds and Aliens , a volume in the New Naturalist series written by Sir Edward Salisbury , a former...

This is the time of year when yew 'berries' begin to become conspicuous. Yew is one of only three British native species belonging...

Thursday's Guardian Country Diary focuses on bird cherry Prunus padus , which has produced an exceptionally fine crop of its beautiful...

Cranesbills are wild flowers with a particularly violent method of dispersing their seeds, that involves a catapult mechanism and is particu...

Summer is over and it's time for plants to disperse their seeds. Some just release them on a feathery parachute , to drift away on...

Meadow Crane'sbill catapults discharged Meadow Crane'sbill catapults primed and ready to go The meadow crane’sbill Geranium praten...