Plants and Flowers
We have a wonderful variety of plants and grasses on our reserves - 270 species or more! Through careful management, we nurture three distinct types of habitat with their own special varieties of plants:
- Ancient Woodland - with indicator species such as Dog's Mercury and Sanicle
- Traditional Limestone Grassland - with species such as Common Spotted Orchid and the wonderfully-named Ploughman's Spikenard!
- Acid Heathland - supporting species such as Bell Heather and Tormentil
Click on a photo, below, to scroll through this gallery of our less common plants and to learn a bit about them.
- In springtime, the brilliant white flowers appear before the leaves and in autumn the blue/black sloes cover this very thorny small tree.
- Bluebells can be found in several countries fringing the northern Atlantic Ocean but it is only in Britian where they grow in the great profusion we see in our woodlands. The brightly coloured blue (or sometimes white) bell-shaped flowers hang from the lower side of a tall, drooping stem. The long, narrow leaves sprout from a white bulb and appear before the flowers come into bud. They typically grow 20cm-50cm tall and flower between April and June.
- This spectacular orchid can produce large, pink flower spikes in good years and it gets its name from the abundance of purple spots that can be found on its leaves.
- This was once a common sight in the English countryside but our modern agriculture practices have made this spectacular hardy annual a rare find today.
- According to legend, Saint Peter dropped the keys to Heaven and the first cowslip grew from where they fell. Like the primrose, the cowslip has both male and female flower-heads designed to inhibit self pollination and ensure pollination is achieved by insects. Each stem can carry up to 30 deep yellow drooping flowers with the petals spread less widely than the primrose. They typically grow 10cm-30cm tall and flower between April and May.
- The dog’s mercury flower also appears very early with their small green flowers growing on spikes and they can also be a good indicator of ancient woodland.
- Flowers of the beautiful early purple orchid can be seen growing on either side of the path up to the Jubilee Stone. These exotic spring flowers have a three-lobed lip on which insects land and a blunt-ended spur which holds the nectar. Even before the flowers arrive this orchid can be readily identified by the purplish blotches on the upper surface of their narrow green leaves. The plant sprouts from a creamy-white bulb, typically grow 15cm-40cm tall and flower between April and June.
- The small, perennial Flea Sedge is found in Wales, Scotland and Ireland but is less common in central and southern England. Flea sedges prefer alkaline soils in boggy ground. It also grows in wet moorlands, wet rock ledges and damp, unimproved meadows. The flowers resemble fleas attached to its stem, hence its name. The plants are wind pollinated and the ripe seeds spring off the plant when disturbed. Size : 15cm Flowering season : May Status : Uncommon
- This impressive purple knapweed can grow to 90cm in height and has the characteristic ‘rayed’ flower heads.
- The beautiful and delicate looking Harebell, in its typical habitat of our dry, limestone wildflower meadows.
- The toothed, heart-shaped leaves, similar to those of stinging nettles give this superb bellflower its name. The lower leaves are on long stalks, whilst the upper leaves are smaller and have short stalks. The large (30-40mm) bell-shaped, blue/purple flowers stay on the plant from mid to late summer. Size : 50 – 100cm Flowering season : July to September Habitat : Woodland clearings Status : Uncommon
- A wonderful display close to Badgers Wood
- Ploughman's spikenard is a striking, downy plant with foxglove like leaves and a purplish stem growing to about 1.2m high. The flower heads are arranged in a loose umbel and each head is dull yellow, lacks ray florets (petals) and is backed by rows of purple-brown bracts. Flowering occurs from July to late September and is followed by numerous dandelion like seeds.
- Once a common sight in our cornfields, this hardy annual is much less common today but is unmistakable with its bright scarlet papery flowers.
- Ramsons spend most of the year as bulbs underground in ancient, damp woodlands, only emerging to flower and leaf from April onwards. This early spring flowering allows them to make the most of the sunlight that is still able to make it to their forest floor habitat and attracts the attention of plenty of pollinating insects including hoverflies, butterflies and longhorn beetles. Millions of bulbs may exist in one wood, causing the white, starry carpets and strong garlic smell we so keenly associate with this flower.
- Originating from the Mediterranean, this hardy plant can often be found growing in walls and dry meadows.
- One of the characteristic drought-resistant plants to be found on our dry limestone meadows. Despite its name, it is not a rose at all, but is a great favourite with insects due to its abundant pollen.
- Symbol of the Tudor monarchs and since then of England itself. Producing large pink flowers in the summer leading to the classic scarlet rose hips in the autumn.
- Now very common in our woodlands, this unusual shiny-leaved umbellifer has been credited with exceptional curative powers.
- The Common Toad Flax is a striking, tall plant simular to the garden 'snapdragons'
- This strange cream or pale pink plant has no chlorophyll and gets its nutrients from being parasitic, mainly on hazel roots. As the flowers bear a resemblance to teeth, the plant was once thought to be a remedy for toothache.
- The plant is named after St Benedict and in the 15th century was widely used to ward off evil spirits.
- The beautiful wood anemone is another ancient woodland indicator which, unfortunately, spreads very slowly.
- This plant gets its name from the sound produced by the ripe seeds inside their capsule. It is a partially parasitic plant attaching to the root systems of grasses.
- These are both very characteristic plants of acid soil. Gorse can be in flower pretty much any month of the year and when combined with the purple-flowering heather in late summer, they make a spectacular display.
- Its name means ‘first rose’ and is one of the plants to herald the arrival of spring.
- Our reserves presently contain three types of orchid - common spotted, early purple and the common twayblade. However, just a few metres outside our boundaries are the rarer Pyramidal & Bee Orchids which we are hoping will soon make a return to our restored meadows.
- This introduced plant has large yellow flowers which are both scentless and contain no nectar and are pollinated by wasps and a single species of bee.
- Our rarest plant - a strange parasitic plant with no chlorophyll!
Read more about:
- The Somerset Rare Plants Group Visit in June 2022
- The English and Spanish Bluebells in our woods
- Our rarest plant - the Yellow Bird's Nest
- A participant's view of the Grass Identification Course held on-site in 2016
- Our fabulous New Wildflower Meadow