Henbane

Day #19 of #30dayswild was home-based finally having time to appreciate the diversity of grasses and wildflowers in our lightly managed garden, and to spot a few of the creatures who call this place home. 

Some of our wild plants have arrived by accident from sites that we have surveyed, their seeds caught on clothing or boots. The fabulous Viper's-bugloss plant that has turned up in our herb bed almost certainly originates from one of our regular railside monitoring sites. 


Other wild plants have been deliberately grown from gathered seed. My current favorite is a thriving plant of Henbane, an extremely toxic species with eerily beautiful green flowers veined with purple. This species is normally a biennial of disturbed ground (though two of my plants have flowered in their first year) and has declined dramatically in the wild as a result of increasing tidiness and herbicide use, and is now classified as Vulnerable in the UK Red List for Vascular Plants.