It seems like no time at all since the first butterbur flower spikes began to appear along riverbanks in early spring, but now they are ready to shed their seeds. These impressive seed spikes were growing in woodland beside the river Wear at Durham Wildlife Trust's Low Barns nature reserve last week.
There are separate male and female plants of butterbur, which spreads via creeping underground rhizomes. Large areas of England have only male plants, thought to have been transplanted long ago outside of the plant's natural range by beekeepers, because butterbur is a prolific producer of pollen and nectar for honeybees. In Country Durham we have both sexes of the plant so seed set is common, although the female plants only become conspicuous when they elongate and produce these tall seed heads in late spring.
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