London: Tower of London to St Pancras

12 September 2014

From Bank tube station we walked east along Leadenhall Street.  This is one of the sites where London Ragwort Senecio x subnebulosus has been recorded, but nowadays there is not a ragwort in sight, or even a plant at all, the whole of the City being kept super-tidy.  Only in some planters off the street did we find a flower, Least Yellow-sorrel Oxalis exilis.  We turned south towards the Tower of London.  At least Trinity Square Gardens could not be completely devoid of free-living plants, although mostly carefully tended. 

Trinity Square Gardens

The main tree was, as usual, London Plane Platanus x hispanica, while a few Walnut Juglans regia saplings at the north-east corner looked self-sown.  (They had the mite-gall Aceria erinea.)  A little searching revealed Bilbao's Fleabane Conyza floribunda (possibly now the commonest of this genus in the London area), Recumbent Yellow-sorrel Oxalis corniculata, Common Storksbill Erodium cicutarium, Dwarf Mallow Malva neglecta, and Gallant Soldier Galinsoga parviflora.

The Tower was surrounded by a moat of red poppies celebrating the centenary of the start of the First World War, but these were of the artificial variety. 

Sea of poppies for WWI at Tower of London

Crossing Tower Bridge we took the southern embankment west along the Thames as far as London Bridge, views dominated by the new skyscrapers of The Shard, Gherkin, Cheesegrater and WalkieTalkie.

 

Tower Bridge

Tower of London dwarfed by the new skyline: from left, Walkie Talkie, Cheesegrater, Gherkin

South embankment with The Shard

Embankment walkway beside Thames

This tourist area was again very bare of plants - there was even a person employed to remove nascent seedlings from between paving-stones with a special tool!  Central London seems to be engaged in a war on nature and is winning hands down.  Hay's Galleria, a shopping mall beside the walkway, had the 1987 sculpture "Navigators" by David Kemp, celebrating London's maritime history, a theme continued in the HMS Belfast moored beside London Bridge. 

"Navigators"

Just one spot of unused land immediately before this bridge gave free rein to plants.  Some must have been planted here originally and had spread - Corsican Hellebore Helleborus argutifolius, Garden Lady's-mantle Alchemilla mollis, and Heuchera micrantha 'Palace Purple'.  But many others had clearly found their own way here - Tall Nightshade Solanum chenopodioides, Pellitory-by-the-wall Parietaria judaica, Wall Lettuce Mycelis muralis, Buddleia Buddleja davidii, Mexican Fleabane Erigeron karvinskianus, Hartstongue Asplenium scolopendrium, Guernsey Fleabane Conyza sumatrensis, Bristly Ox-tongue Helminthotheca echioides, Oxford Ragwort Senecio squalidus, Annual Mercury Mercurialis annua and Sun Spurge Euphorbia helioscopa.

Tall nightshade

Crossing London Bridge we walked by Monument and Mansion House stations and down Queebn Victoria Street to the small sunken oasis of Cleary Gardens, created in the 1970s by Fred Cleary, who planted up many of London's bomb-sites.  There are some young Swamp Cypress Taxodium distichum here, Trailing Bellflower Campanula poschkyarna, Dusky Cranesbill Geranium phaeum and Red Valerian Centranthus ruber. 

Cleary Garden

Just past here a line of young elms was set along the pavement, being the disease-resistant Ulmus 'New Horizon' planted in 2004.

New Horizon elms, Queen Victoria Street

Leaves of New Horizon elm

We walked up Pulpit Hill towards St Paul's Cathedral.  At the point where the modern rebuilt road merged with the old Sermon Lane young Ginkgo Ginkgo biloba had been planted. 

St Paul's with ginkgo leaves in foreground

The gardens around the Cathedral were a green haven with interesting trees and full of office-workers on their lunch-break.  In one corner Meadow Saffron Colchicum autumnale was flowering.  Apart from the standard London plane, there were Tulip Tree Liriodendron tulipifera, mature Ginkgos, Strawberry Tree Arbutus unedo, Evergreen Oak Quercus ilex, and two more unusual trees: Trifoliate Orange Poncirus trifoliata (bearing Black Scale Saissetia oleae, a pest on the continent of olives and citrus) and Sweetgum Tree Liquidamabar styraciflua.  The thorny Poncirus originates from China and has a very bitter fruit (made into marmalade) but is very hardy and used as a stock for propagating Citrus trees.  Sweetgum, named after the resin it exudes, is common in the SE United States.  It has star-shaped leaves and spiky globular fruits.

 

Trifoliate Orange - unripe fruit, leaves & black scale

Sweetgum tree beside St Paul's

Leaves and fruits of sweetgum tree

Strawberry tree beside St Paul's

Strawberry tree leaves, flowers and fruit

From the Cathedral we walked up Cheapside to the corner of Wood Street, where there is a large London Plane, now closely surrounded by buildings, but once the perch of a thrush celebrated by William Wordsworth, whose poem is quoted on a plaque.

The site was once a church and then preserved as a tiny churchyard.

London plane, corner of Wood Street

We then walked back to St Paul's tube station, west along Newgate Street and north up Giltspur Street to Smithfield and the Rotunda Garden, once the site of public executions.  There are some old Fig trees Ficus carica and a Hybrid Wingnut Pteryocarya x rehderiana (a North American tree in the walnut family first propagated by Alfred Rehder in 1879).

Hanging spikes of winged seeds of hybrid wingnut

Bole of old fig, Rotunda Garden

Fig leaves, Rotunda Garden

We returned south to Ludgate Circus and walked west to Aldwych to get a lunch at Delaunay, which is open all day, before continuing south to Inner Temple Garden, which closes at 3pm.  While we arrived there on time we found it closed that day for maintenance.  We therefore had to return the next week just to explore this site and add it to this itinerary, although a massive thunderstorm curtailed our visit even then!  The Inns of Court provide a haven of peace and quiet only a short distance from the roar of traffic on the main roads, including pleasant green spaces.  The Inner Temple Garden once housed an old orchard, of which many fruit trees were supposed to have survived, but in fact we found that very few of these trees now remained.  We only found an old Black Mulberry Morus nigra supported by struts, a large Walnut Juglans regia and in a far corner an Almond Prunus dulcis. 

Old black mulberry, Inner Temple Garden

Other trees here were (again) lots of London Plane, Tulip Tree, Atlas Cedar Cedrus atlantica, Silver/Sugar Maple Acer saccharinum, Sargent Cherry Prunus sargentii and Indian Bean Tree Catalpa bignonioides. 

Tulip tree

Sargent cherry: the leaves have deeply impressed veins

Indian bean tree, Inner Temple Garden

Ground plants managing to spread themselves included Mexican Fleabane, the candelabra-like Hungarian Mullein Verbascum speciosum, Balkan Spurge Euphorbia oblongata, Argentinian Vervain Verbena bonariensis, and Orange-peel Clematis Clematis tangutica, while a planted cultivar of Polystichum setiferum had managed to get established on nearby walls.

Balkan spurge

Clematis tangutica

We then walked NW past the Royal Courts of Justice to Lincolns Inn Fields, a more traditional London park.  There are old planes here which include a parent of the London plane, Oriental Plane Platanus orientalis, with their pyramidal trunks very wide at the base.  A large one of these that we measured was 5.88m in girth. 

Measuring an oriental plane, Lincolns Inn Fields

There were also 40-year-old Sugar Maples planted in 1973 and a much younger Rock Maple Acer saccharum planted in 1998. 

Sugar maple

Rock maple

The natural ground flora was the most interesting we had seen so far, as it was given room to cohabit with planted beds.  There was a large area with Meadow Saffron, the hairy form of Black Nightshade Solanum nigrum ssp schultesii, Great Woodrush Luzula sylvatica, Grey Sedge Carex divulsa ssp divulsa, Shaggy Soldier Galinsoga quadriradiata, Canadian Fleabane Conyza canadensis, Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervivum, and Butcher's Broom Ruscus aculeatus.  An unusual planted bulb was the autumn-flowering Turflily Liriope muscari 'MonroeWhite', looking like a white plantain.

Butcher's broom

Turflily

Lincoln's Inn Hall

We could walk north from here to Bloomsbury and another series of park-like Squares.  Russell Square contained some old Yews Taxus baccata and Evergreen Oak.  Nettle-leaved Michaelmas-daisy Aster schreberi was spreading itself from planted beds.  It is distinct from all the other Michaelmas-daisies because of its long-stalked cordate lower leaves.  Red-necked parakeets flew screaming among the tree-tops. 

Flower & leaf of Nettle-leaved Michaelmas-daisy

Brunswick Square had both Oriental and London Planes.  One of the latter is said to be the second oldest in Britain, planted around 1800; we measured it at 7.44m girth.

Measuring an old London plane, Brunswick Square

The streets north of Brunswick Square had more Gallant Soldier.  We continued north towards StPancras along Judd Street.  Here at the junction of the pavement and garden walls we found two uncommon alien grasses close together - Cockspur Echinochloa crus-galli and Knotroot Bristle-grass Setaria parviflora.

Cockspur

Knotroot bristle-grass

London: Hampton Court to Teddington

9 September 2014

From Hampton Court railway station we crossed the Thames, the bridge having Bilbao's Fleabane Conyza floribunda growing on it.  Entering Hampton Court itself we walked past the house to the grassland and flower-beds to the NE.  Meadow saffron Colchicum autumnale was naturalised in part of this area.  A row of Large-leaved Limes Tilia platyphyllos had abundant Mistletoe Viscum album, which could also be found, more unusually, on a Field Maple Acer campestre and a Rowan Sorbus aucuparia. 

Mistletoe on rowan

An artificial canal beyond these, marking the boundary of the grounds of the house, had both Fat and Greater Duckweeds Lemna gibba and Spirodela polyrhiza, and also provided opportunities for a grey heron. 

Grey heron, Hampton Court

To the south of the lime-trees were rows of old Yews Taxus baccata cut into curious conical shapes. 

Conical yews, Hampton Court

Flower-beds closer to the house, while well weeded, still supported a number of wild annuals, such as Henbit Lamium amplexicaule, Many-seeded Goosefoot Chenopodium polyspermum and Guernsey Fleabane Conyza sumatrensis, as well as escaped French Marigolds Tagetes patula. 

Many-seeded goosefoot

To the south of the house was the more formal Privy Garden, even more thoroughly weeded, but walls of the balustrade above hosted Wall-rue Asplenium ruta-muraria, Ivy-leaved Toadflax Cymbalaria muralis and Procumbent Yellow-sorrel Oxalis corniculata.

The Italianate Privy Garden, Hampden Court

We then crossed the road to the north of Hampden House and entered Bushy Park, a large park with both Fallow and Red Deer. 

Red deer stags, Bushy Park

At the entrance gate was Gallant Soldier Galinsoga parviflora.  Large trees here included scattered ancient Pedunculate Oaks Quercus robur, Limes Tilia x europaea with more Mistletoe (the fourth host), and Horse-chestnuts Aesculus hippocastanum. 

Veteran oak, Bushy Park

The Longford River had Gypsywort Lycopus europaeus and more Fat Duckweed. 

  

Fat duckweed

We walked on through more grassland to the SE entrance to the Woodland Garden, which runs either side of another branch of the Longford River. 

River through the Woodland Garden

There were several interesting planted species.  These included Swamp Cypress along the riverside itself, their aerial roots forming palisades; the tallest Montpellier Maple Acer monspessulanum in Britain; several large old London planes Platanus x hispanica, one of which we measured at 6.24m girth; Big-cone Pines Pinus coulteri just south of Duck Bridge half-way along the river; and shrubs like Chinese Bramble Rubus tricolor, Gloryflower Clerodendron bungei and Beautyberry Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii. 

Swamp cypress with aerial roots

Swamp cypress foliage and fruit

  

Montpellier maple just overtopping the cedar behind

 

Montpellier maple leaves and fruit

Old London plane

Grove of big-cone pines

Beautyberry

Gloryflower

By Duck Bridge was Tall Tutsan Hypericum x inodorum (almost entirely in seed), some leaves mined by the moth Ectoedemia septembrella, Hemp Agrimony Eupatoria cannabinum, Water Mint Mentha aquatica, Gypsywort, and Orange and Indian Balsams Impatiens capensis & glandulifera.  In the shade of trees along the riverside walk was some Three-nerved Sandwort Moehringia trinervia.  Notable fungi were Parasol Mushroom Macrolepiota procera and Golden Scalycap Pholiota aurivella. 

Parasol mushroom spreading its white spores on the grass

Golden scalycap

A café in the gardens gave us a chance of refreshments before we left at the east end and walked north up Chestnut Avenue between the Limes and Horse-chestnuts, with deer much in evidence.

Fallow does, one melanic, Chestnut Avenue

At the exit on Sandy Lane we went left and then north again up Park Road to the centre of Teddington.  Along here we recorded Annual Mercury Mercurialis annua, Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervivum and Buddleia Buddleja davidii.  In Teddington we turned east along the High Street to Ferry Road and a slipway into the Thames, where there lots of marsh plants, although it was damper than usual because a high spring tide, coinciding with our visit, brought the water-level far up the bank and even stranded one fisherman from his rod and nets.  Flowers here included Orange and Indian Balsams, Water Mint, Gypsywort, Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria, Black Horehound Ballota nigra, Brooklime Veronica beccabunga, Water Chickweed Myosoton aquaticum, Shaggy Soldier Galinsoga quadriradiata, Hedgerow Cranesbill Geranium pyrenaicum, Redleg Persicaria maculosa and a Water-pepper that appeared to be a hybrid P. x hybrida between the Common P. hydropiper and Tasteless P. mitis, which has been reported before from Surrey.

Redleg among water-pepper (perhaps Persicaria x hybridum)

Thames at Teddington Lock

From here a bridge took us over to a narrow island in the Thames (Creweyte or Swan Ait), which had been colonised by Chinese Bramble and Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus, but also had Bladder-senna Colutea arborescens, Tansy Tanacetum vulgare, and Hoary Mustard Hirschfeldia incana. 

Distinctive waisted seed-pods of hoary mustard

Although Chinese Mugwort is recorded from this island, we could only find the common Mugwort Artemisia vulgaris.  There were some conspicuous moth leaf-mines here - Chrysoethsia sexguttella on Spear-leaved Orache Atriplex prostrata, the very common Phyllonorycter coryli on hazel, and Coptotriche marginea on bramble.

Chrysoethsia sexguttella mines on spear-leaved orache

Coptotriche marginea mine on bramble

The bridge continued to the towpath south along the east bank of the Thames.  There was more Hoary Mustard along here, but most striking was the series of fruiting trees along the side of the path away from the river - both apple Malus pumila and pear Pyrus communis.  The latter had the prominent orange galls caused by European pear rust Gymnosporangium sabinae. 

European pear rust galls

Among them were Evergreen Oak Quercus ilex (with leaf-mines of the moth Bucculatrix ulmella) and Turkey Oak Quercus cerris. 

Bucculatrix ulmella mines on evergreen oak

On the bank of the river several Berlin Poplars Populus x berolinensis, with sticky balsam-scented shoots, had been planted.  The fruit theme was continued in Dewberry Rubus caesius and Hop Humulus lupulus, quite common alongside London waterways and the Thames.

Hops

Sweetbriar Rosa rubiginosa had finished flowering, but Tall Tutsan here were still in flower.

Tall tutsan

Other plants by the river were Skullcap Scutellaria galericulata, Beggarticks Bidens frondosa, Confused Michaelmas-daisy Aster novi-belgii, Water Dock Rumex hydrolapathum, Water Figwort Scrophularia aquatica, Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris and a few Garden Angelica A. archangelica. 

Beggarticks

By the path were also Pampas-grass Cortaderia selloana, Round-leaved Cranesbill Geranium rotundifolium, Vervain Verbena officinalis, Pellitory-by-the-wall Parietaria judaica and Common Polypody Polypodium vulgare.  At the side of the water where there was a shallow shelf, the shells of the water-snail Common Bithynia Bithynia tentaculata were frequent.

Common bithynia

On reaching Kingston Bridge we re-crossed the Thames and returned via Broom Road to Teddington High Street, where we ate at the friendly Retro Bistrot.