Common Alder

Flower: Yellow and pendulous (male catkins). Green and oval (female catkins). Male and female catkins present on same tree, and grouped in clusters of 3-8 on each stalk. Fruit: In winter the catkins turn into hard, dark, cone-like fruit which eventually release the seeds. Leaves: Deciduous. Round, dark green, leathery, smooth, serrated edges.

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Bog Asphodel

Flower: Deep yellow spike of flowers, often tinged orange. Flowers are star-like with 6 petals and orange anthers. Fruit: Egg-shaped and bright orange. Leaves: Long and slender, grass-like.

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Scottish Asphodel

Flower: Small, greenish-white or yellowish-white flowers in a short but dense terminal spike. 6 petals (3 are actually sepals). 6 stamens. Fruit: A roundish, 3-parted, greyish capsule, up to 3mm long. The seeds are tiny. Leaves: Flattened, hairless, iris-like leaves. Most leaves are basal leaves. They are stalkless and toothless. Up to 3 alternate stem leaves. The leaves are 3 to 7-veined. The erect stems are flat and hairless. Perennial.

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Alpine Bartsia

Flower: Dark purple flowers with leafy bracts. The flowers are occasionally yellow. 4 stamens. Fruit: A dark brown, oval capsule. 2 valves. Leaves: A downy perennial plant with purple-tinted, oval, untoothed leaves. Unstalked. The leaves appear together in opposite pairs along the stems.

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White Beak-sedge

Flower: White Beak-sedge (Rhynchospora alba) features small, inconspicuous flowers with pale to creamy-colored petals, typically arranged in compact clusters or spikelets at the tips of its slender, grass-like stems. The flowers are delicate and often go unnoticed due to their subtle appearance, but they ad... Fruit: The fruit of White Beak-sedge consists of small, nut-like achenes. These achenes are typically dark brown or black and are attached to the plant's stem in clusters. They have a hard, seed-like shell and are dispersed by wind or water, contributing to the plant's reproductive cycle. Leaves: The leaves of White Beak-sedge are long, slender, and grass-like in appearance. They are typically dark green and have a linear shape. These leaves grow in dense tufts and arise from the base of the plant, forming an attractive clump. The leaves are typically smooth and narrow, adding to the overall...

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Fen Bedstraw

Flower: Loose clusters of white flowers. Each flower is up to 3mm across. Yellow anthers. Fruit: The fruits are low-domed warts. Leaves: Whorls of leaves in groups of 6 to 10. Leaves are one-veined. The linear leaves have prickly edges. Similar to Marsh Bedstraw (Galium palustre) but Fen Bedstraw often has rougher, purplish leaves. Fen Bedstraw is also a shorter plant.

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Marsh Bedstraw

Flower: Small, white flowers. Up to 4mm in diameter. Fruit: Small, globular fruit, slightly wrinkled. Leaves: Rough-margined leaves, in whorls of 4 to 6. Stems are without prickles. The similar-looking Fen Bedstraw (Galium oliginosum) does not have prickles on the stems. Perennial which sometimes grows in water.

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Great Marsh Bedstraw

Flower: The flowers are small and white, appearing together in clusters. The flowers are larger than those of Marsh Bedstraw (Galium palustre). Fruit: The fruit is a wrinkled nutlet. Leaves: The leaves are configured in whorls of 4 to 6. They have rough margins. The stems are without prickles. This is a perennial species, sometimes growing in water. It can be found throughout all parts of the British Isles.

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Velvet Bent

Flower: Purplish spikelets and awned florets. Spikelets measure between 2 and 2.5mm in length. Fruit: The fruit is a caryopsis. A type of dry, one-seeded fruit. Leaves: The leaves are very narrow. They each have a jagged, long, pointed ligule.

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Bilberry

Flower: One or two reddish-pink bell-shaped flowers on short stalks at leaf bases. Fruit: Small, round, dark blue, flat-topped berries. No larger than 1cm in diameter. Leaves: Small, light green and short-stalked oval to elliptical leaves with netted veins. Leaf margins are finely serrated.

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Hedge Bindweed

Flower: Usually pure white but occasionally pink with 5 white stripes, up to 6cm, trumpet-shaped. Sepals often purple tinged and only half-covered by two large bracts. Often hybridizes with Hedge Bindweed making identification difficult. Fruit: A capsule which contains 1 to 4 seeds, rarely more than 1cm long. Leaves: Long stalked, arrow-shaped leaves and sharp-tipped, not hairy. The bases of the leaves have angled lobes.

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Downy Birch

Flower: Male and female catkins appear on the same tree. Erect female catkins are shorter and green. Male catkins hang loosely in groups of 2-4. Often hybridizes with Silver Birch making identification tricky. Fruit: Small dry one-sided winged fruits, called 'achenes'. Leaves: Deciduous. Ovate, pointed and with serrated margins. Light green in spring, darkening and then turning yellow or orange in autumn. Leaves are often hairy underneath.

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Silver Birch

Flower: Male yellow catkins hang loose, female catkins much shorter and erect. Often hybridizes with Downy Birch making identification somewhat difficult at times. Fruit: The female catkins develop hundreds of winged seeds as their fruit. Leaves: Deciduous. Stalked and triangular in shape with doubly serrated margins. Leaves turn yellow in autumn. Downy Birch leaves have got serrated margins only, not doubly serrated as with Silver Birch.

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Dwarf Birch

Flower: Greenish-brown erect catkins, up to 1.5cm long. Smaller than the catkins of Downy Birch and Silver Birch. Wind pollinated. Fruit: The fruit is a small winged achene (a type of one-seeded, dry fruit). In fruit from July to September. Leaves: Small, round, hairless and deeply toothed. They are downy when young. Up to 1.5mm across. The leaves turn yellow, orange or red in autumn.

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Large Bittercress

Flower: 4 white petals which are very occasionally purple, up to 12mm wide. Flowers clustering together at the top of the plant. 6 stamens, purple anthers. Fruit: Long, thin, flat seed pods that eventually split open lengthwise. Leaves: Without a basal rosette, as with Hairy Bittercress and Wavy Bittercress. The basal leaves are long-stalked and the upper stem leaves are very short-stalked. The leaves run alternate along the stem and have up to 5 paired leaflets, plus the terminal leaflet. The individual leaflets are elliptical in ...

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