Puzzles

[Carol Shaw]

Oh they could be Maggi...

[Roma]

Claytonia sibirica, Anthony?

[Maggi Young]

I bet you're right, Roma... that's a synoym for Montia sibirica, isn't it? And that's an annual, which is more than can be said for my Cardamine pratensis suggestion!

[Lesley Cox]

Luit, if yours is a salvia, it's a very nice one. Flowers are salvia-like but I don't know that foliage. Please, time now to reveal all.

[Anthony Darby]

Stachis monieri Luit?

Here's a closer view.

[Lvandelft]

Please, time now to reveal all

Well, when such a kind Lady is requiring, who am I to refuse?   
Wim was not far away from the solution, but he did not know the spcies of Ajuga.

This seems to be a very nice, newer hardy introduction among the many perennials.
It needs light shady places and is flowering in May for several weeks.
I don't know if it is flowering again in summer and I know nothing about the origin of this
plant, just that Ajuga incisa might come from Japan.
Any more information is welcome.

[Lvandelft]

Claytonia virginica sibirica is with me about 15 to 20 cm. high. If this is what Anthony pictured they are looking much higher .
Here is a picture I made under the hedges here around the garden:
Claytonia virginica sibirica

Maybe Anthony pictured Allium? But that is not annual.

[Anthony Darby]

Please, time now to reveal all

Ajuga incisa might come from Japan.

Aha. No wonder we didn't know it.


Right pic, but wrong name. The pic Luit has is not Claytonia virginica. It is, however, what I have photographed. It is a native annual that is found in damp woods. Spot the bluebells.

[Lvandelft]

Right pic, but wrong name. The pic Luit has is not Claytonia virginica. It is, however, what I have photographed. It is a native annual that is found in damp woods. Spot the bluebells.

Boasting can be helpful.
But to be serious, this plant came somehow to me and I knew it is a relative of the white Claytonia perfoliata.
Visitors told me it was C. virginica or C. sibirica, but I never looked it up because its weedy behaviour.
Since some years I pull all the white plants out and let the pink one seed around because it is nicer and not so weedy as the white one.
Now I know that I have C. sibirica which is much lower as Anthony's Claytonia virginica.
Never to old to learn

Will edit my former picture too

[Paddy Tobin]

Anthony, Stitchwort?

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

I don't think the Claytonia is a British native, Anthony, I believe it's a naturalised escapee 

[Anthony Darby]

You got it correct when you said Montia sibirica (pink purslane) Roma, and Luit's corrections are correct. It is now called Claytonia sibirica and is widespread and spreading in Scotland. Yes Maggi, it is thought to have been introduced into Scotland in the 18^th century, though the fact that it found its way into this wood, which is half a mile from any dwelling would suggest it is good at self-dispersal. It has also been around long enough to acquire local common names.

[Roma]

Not usually thought of as an alpine though it is found at high altitude in its native land.  This cultivar has very attractive young foliage.

[Lvandelft]

Not usually thought of as an alpine though it is found at high altitude in its native land.  This cultivar has very attractive young foliage.

Looks very much like a Solanum tuberosum??

[Maggi Young]

Are you not going to venture a variety, Luit?