Miscellania

Before anyone gets excited, I am not referring to the island of Miscellania referred to in the Online game of Old School Runescape. I am simply describing the odds and sods seen on this morning's walk.


First up was a nice example of fasciation. I had included in yesterday's blog this picture of Purple Toadflax at the base of a wooden fence beside Christchurch Drive.

Purple Toadflax brightens up the foot of a fence in Christchurch Drive,

Daventry.  4 June, 2020

What I failed to notice at the time that one of the inflorescences was distorted in a peculiar manner.

The stem was flattened, forming a typical example of fasciation and it will be interesting to observe the flowers over the next few days. Will they develop any further and will the resultant flowers be normal in structure? Watch this space (or not!). The causes of fasciation are still rather obscure. It can sometimes cause startling effects, as in this zinnia which I found on the internet.

The capitulum on this zinnia has been distorted by

fasciation.





On to Meadow X. This is a name I am using as a temporary measure until I can establish whether the area has an official name. It is the field which lies on high ground between Christchurch Drive and the A45 Daventry ring road.

At this time of the year elder is a striking feature of hedgerows and

scrub.

What I found striking today was the beauty of a large Elder, Sambucus nigra, in a hedgerow beside the field. We tend to take elders for granted. We shouldn't.  Richard Mabey described it as a 'mangy, short-lived, opportunist and foul-smelling shrub' (Mabey, 1996) . Indeed the leaves do have an odd odour but a number of local authorities have used it for roadside planting and the restoration of landscapes. The berries form an important part of the diet for blackbirds and other birds, and their droppings are frequently stained purple at the height of the season. And as for wine, Richard Mabey made up for his disparaging remarks by suggesting that elderflowers 'make what is indisputably the best sparkling wine beside champagne' (loc.cit.). Pharmacists once used it as an alterative, i.e. something which brings about a change in bodily functions. Just what those alterations might involve is not clear!

Hard by the elder was a lovely specimen of Field Maple, Acer campestre. Some strains of the plant bear lovely winged fruit of an orange-red colour and these are often marketed under such names as 'Red Shine' and so on.

The lovely fruits of Field Maple brightened up a patch of scrub.

Near Christchurch Drive, Daventry. 5 June, 2020

A closer look at the leaves showed that many bore infestations of the mite Aceria myriadeum. The mite causes a rash of tiny galls but the tree shows no apparent ill-effects. The mite seems not to attack Sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanum.

Aceria myriadeum is a very common gall on Field Maple.

 

One of the hedgerows contains a good deal of Snowberry, Symphoricarpus albus. A single leaf (and one leaf only) bore a wiggly speckled band. I puzzled over this before concluding that it was caused by the browsing of a snail as it worked its way across the leaf.

Snail damage? It seems the most likely cause. On Snowberry, 5 June, 2020

And then it began to rain! I hadn't planned anything other than a brisk walk and so, rather than get wet, I called it a day and damply set off for home. Time for snails to emerge again.