Puzzles

[Stephenb]

Reminds me of Burnet Saxifrage.

No, not salad burnet
No, not saxifrage
No, not burnet saxifrage (good try)

[Gunilla]

Wild parsley     But not sure if it's edible.   Ed. No it's definitely not.

[Anthony Darby]

Perhaps Giant Hogweed?

[Stephenb]

Reminds me of Burnet Saxifrage. No size reference, so could just be Hog weed  (Heracleum sphondylium)?

Anthony: You must have added the Hogweed bit whilst I was answering! Common old (but rather splendid) Hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium is indeed the correct answer! Congratulations! Picture taken in Hampshire last summer. Apart from Maggie who had the totally wrong branch of the tree of life, all had the correct family!

...yes, it is edible - at least it's included as an excellent spring green in Roger Phillips Wild Food and various Heracleum species have been traditional important food plants in northern regions (North America, Europe to the Far East), fermented like sauerkraut in some areas. However, it does contain some dubious carcinogens.....

[Maggi Young]

Apart from Maggie who had the totally wrong branch of the tree of life, all had the correct family!

stuff and nonsense....now Stephen showed the white form

 
 but look.... here is the tessellated version.....
 

......it's a baby I tell you!

[Lesley Cox]

I was thinking along the lines of Hesperis this morning but the name eluded me . Just as well.

I delightful baby Maggi, whose is she?

[Stephenb]

Apart from Maggie who had the totally wrong branch of the tree of life, all had the correct family!

stuff and nonsense....now Stephen showed the white form

......it's a baby I tell you!

Apologies! That really is an astonishing likeness...

So what is the evolutionary advantage of developing such appendages (sorry, tesselations)? More likelihood of being fed nektar perhaps? Interestingly, the honeycomb (bees, nektar) is a tesselated structure...

[Maggi Young]

An anonymous baby, Lesley, chosen merely to illustrate my theory. Such creatures abound!

In this species, the tessellation is caused by the use of colour in the warp threads only, resulting in these attractive markings; so, here it is the result of a mechanical application, rather than a genetic modification. All rather interesting, though, I'm sure you will agree!  



 

[vivienr]

I was sorting through some old photos that we had managed to recover after a computer crash last year. There are hundreds of photos which have all been shuffled like a pack of cards so it is very difficult to find things.

I came across a picture of this Scottish garden we went to a few years ago and wondered if anyone could recognise it???

[Lesley Cox]

Of course I don't, but I'd give a fair bit for the walls.

[vivienr]

This is a garden that is known by millions but probably visited by very few.

This is the view from the front garden.

[Lvandelft]

Vivien, famous garden, (far away for many of us) this could be Inverewe Garden, which I hope to visit once?

[Lesley Cox]

If it's Inverewe, I SHOULD know it, as I visited in 1981, but that is, after all, 29 years ago.

[angie]

More clues please
Angie

[vivienr]

Good try Luit, but it is not Inverewe - that gets many visitors. It is a bit further south and on the shore of a loch rather than the sea. It is perhaps more famous by a fictional name rather than its real one.

Unfortunately, the rest my pictures of the garden have been lost but this was taken just outside - I think this is where all that stone for the walls came from, Lesley.