Unknown plant from Dorset

[Stephenb]

Anyone know what species this is? Picture taken at Durdle Door on the Dorset coast, right next to the beach.

[Diane Clement]

the leaves look like Picris echioides

[Paddy Tobin]

Looks very like it at any rate.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Is it usual for the spines to be so red? Is that only at a certain time of year, perhaps?

[fermi de Sousa]

Looks like one of the weeds in our "paddock"!
cheers
fermi

[Stephenb]

Thanks, Diane. The leaves certainly resemble the Bristly ox-tongue! However (as Maggie) I can't find any pictures that show such a Red Bristly Ox-tongue... Maybe it's related to its environment quite near the high tide level and high levels of salt.

Fermi: It certainly is an invasive species in Australia!!

A minor edible plant too - used in a springtime ritualistic Italian dish called Minestrella in which up to 40 wild herbs are used. Doesn't look very edible at this stage, does it? Bristly Ox-Tongue soup anyone?

[Lesley Cox]

I do like the name of its area, Durdle Door. Any thoughts about that please?

[Stephenb]

That's simple - here's a picture (with Daucus carota on the cliff top). I could perhaps be persuaded to show a few more plant/scenery pictures if anyone is interested (when I get a bored moment...). Not sure what the Durdle bit means, but you won't have a problem understanding the Door bit:

Wikipedia to the rescue: The name Durdle is derived from an Old English word 'thirl' meaning bore or drill.

NB! The Bristly Ox-tongue was found at the base of this cliff.

[Lesley Cox]

Ah yes, pretty obvious when the picture is added. The carrot is very handsome too.

[Lesley Cox]

I just went out to take a picture of my (not unknown) plant from Dorset, the 'Studland' form of Anagallis tenella, one of my most favourite things. But it's still not opened its flowers even though the pink dots have been there for many days. It's not raining today - so far - in this most miserable of summers we've had for many years in the south of the South Island, only 2 or 3 days without some rain for all of January. Nothing like the present heatwaves in Australia.

Maybe a picture in a few more days if we could only have some sun!

[TheOnionMan]

That's simple - here's a picture (with Daucus carota on the cliff top). I could perhaps be persuaded to show a few more plant/scenery pictures if anyone is interested (when I get a bored moment...).

Hi Stephen, what a pristine beach!!!  Actually, I spotted something in your photograph that sends me googling for an answer.  Why is it that your Daucus carota looks so magnificent there (enormous domed heads, and pink flowers), when this cosmopolitan introduced weed here always looks the same, with smaller flat to "dished" or concave heads, invariably white with the single dark red floret in the center.  A quick google search reveals a pink form, so there is more to Daucus carota than what meets the eye!

I have one part of the garden, slated for a total redo this year, where it is so infested with Daucus carota, and some other weeds, that it is a losing battle.  I have the feeling that D. carota's seeds are able to germinate over a very long time, maybe even years, as I've been diligent about pulling this plant out once they start to bolt and show any flowers, thus no seeds, but somehow they just keep coming up.

http://www.missouriplants.com/Whitealt/Daucus_carota_page.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daucus_carota
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Umbella.jpg

[Stephenb]

Hi Mark: I suggest that the domed heads are an adaptation to the very windy conditions on the cliff edge. Most plants are dwarfed by the conditions. The flower colour was quite variable and, as you can see varies with age of the inflorescences. We had a discussion about the flower colour of carrots on another forum and it seems to be correlated with the root colour. A friend has a variety "Spanish Black" and he tells me that the flowers are pink throughout. It would be interesting to cultivate these wild cliff carrots away from their windy environment - are they still dwarfed (anyone know?). I collected seed of an unknown plant that was about 20-30cm high at the same spot years ago. It turned out to be Verbascum thapsus and grew to its full height (2m) in my garden and has since gone semi-wild.

[Stephenb]

A few more pictures of the Dorset cliff top ancestral vegetable garden, with pictures of Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea); Wild (or Sea) Beet (Beta vulgaris maritima) and Samphire (Crithmum maritimum)

[TheOnionMan]

A few more pictures of the Dorset cliff top ancestral vegetable garden, with pictures of Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea); Wild (or Sea) Beet (Beta vulgaris maritima) and Samphire (Crithmum maritimum)

Great pics!  A weed or not, I would definitely grow Daucus carota if it looked like the plant in your photos.  I do see in your second photo of this plant, that the young inflorescences are convex or cup shaped.

[Lesley Cox]

Would one of my favourite plants, Crambe maritima, grow in a place like this Stephen? Or is it solely a beach (i.e. just above the tide line) plant? And does it grow in sand or shingle or both?