The Flora of Castlewarden

Latin:  Vicia sepium Irish:  Peasair fhiáin   This is a native perennial that can be seen, often as dense clumps, in hedges and overgrown grassy areas throughout the country.  It has slightly hairy, straggling stems that grow up to a length of up to 80cm.  The leaves are pinnate, consisting of 5-7 pairs of leaflets that tend to be broadest towards their base.  Each leaf terminates in a branched tendril, a thread-like structure that twines around other plants to climb or for support. From May onwards,

Latin:  Veronica serpyllifolia Irish:  Lus an treacha   This is a native Veronica species.  It is a hairless perennial with a short creeping stem and upright flowering branches.  Its normal habitat includes waste places, lawns, cultivated areas and roadsides. The leaves are slightly toothed, oval, have very short stalks and grow in opposite pairs.  The flowers, which appear from May onwards, are small (about 6mm across) and have 4 light blue or, sometimes, white petals with dark veins.   Collected in the Builder’s Paddock during May when

Latin:  Veronica persica Irish:  Seamar chré   This is a small, prostrate, widely distributed annual that often occurs as a weed in tilled fields but also occurs in grassland.  It has tiny (10-12mm across) but very attractive flowers with 3 sky-blue petals and 1 white petal.  Although individual flowers endure for only a short time, seeds germinate and flowers open during most of the year (March – September). It is not native and is believed to have been introduced from south-west Asia several centuries ago. It is

Latin:  Veronica beccabunga Irish:  Lochall   This native is a rather fleshy perennial with stout spreading stems that is usually found growing by the side of streams, lakes and ditches and other wet areas.  The stems can grow to a length of 50cm and carry oval, glossy, toothed leaves in opposite pairs.  Racemes of small (7mm across), bright blue flowers are produced from June onwards in the leaf axils – they are very similar to the flowers on other Veronica species that are seen at Castlewarden, such

Latin:  Urtica dioica Irish:  Neanntóg The Stinging Nettle is a dark green native perennial that grows to a height of 60-100cm and has oval, pointed, strongly toothed leaves that are covered with stinging hairs, as is the stem.  In June numerous, small, greenish or brownish flowers are produced in dense axillary inflorescences. These hairs on the leaves and stems act like hypodermic needles that inject histamine and other chemicals that produce a stinging sensation when contacted by humans or other animals.  Anyone experiencing this sensation and the

Latin:  Senecio jacobaea Irish:  Buachalán buī   This native perennial is from the same family as the daisy (Compositae) is an abundant and colourful resident of roadsides, pastures and waste places.  It grows to a height of 30-150cm.  Its leaves are cut into mostly blunt, toothed lobes and have no, or a very short, stalk.  Dense, flat-topped clusters of deep yellow flowers are produced during June to September. Since Ragworth is a “noxious weed” there are legal consequences for landowners on whose land it grows but there

Latin:  Senecio vulgaris Irish:   Gronnlus This is a native annual that is closely related to Ragworth that is often found on open, disturbed ground.  Although a considerably smaller plant (10-30cm tall) and can be found in flower in any month of the year its flowers and leaves, in particular, do bear a striking resemblance to those of Ragworth.  It is a very common garden weed that can multiply rapidly because it can set seed even in the absence of pollination and its seeds can remain

Latin:  Tussilago farfara Irish:   Sponc   Coltsfoot flowers can appear as early as February and are one of the earliest spring flowers that one sees at Castlewarden but they are often mistaken for small dandelions.  It is a native perennial that grows abundantly on roadsides, on gravely banks and in damp fields.  The flowers, on scaly, purplish stems, are yellow, solitary and relatively small (25-40mm across) and appear before the leaves.   As the seed matures they are surrounded by a white, feathery pappus just like

Latin:  Taraxacum officinale Irish:  Caisearbhán   The yellow flowers, the lobed leaves, the hollow flower stems that exude latex (milky substance), and the downy seeds of Dandelion are very familiar to most people.  It is a native species that is, generally, not regarded as very attractive but Dandelions are special in several ways. Their biology is very complex; for example, in Co. Dublin alone over 70 sub-species have been recorded and these can set seed without pollination and they never, therefore, interbreed.  Dandelions are also special in

Latin:  Viola riviniana Irish:  Sailchuach chon   Dog Violet, a native perennial, is the most common species of Violet in Ireland.  The garden Pansy, a close relative, is a hybrid involving a number of Violet species though usually not V. riviniana.  It is a small plant whose leaves, that are broadly oval or heart-shaped, grow in a rosette close to the ground. The flowers are violet and appear in March or April.  They have 5 somewhat unequal petals – the lowest of which is elongated to