Beauty in harsh places.

[goosey]

Seeing this lovely image of Pauls the other day got me thinking how wonderful nature is, and what beautiful things can be found in seemingly harsh conditions.
1.


Here are two photo's I took this summer in England. The first was growing from under limestone rock in North Yorkshire. I think it could be Ajuga reptans?
The second, Sea holly, Eryngium maritimum on the beach at the North Walney Nature reserve.
2.



3.


Plants are so resilient, and can grow anywhere it seems, you only have to look at the cracks between pathing stones to see a dandy lions and moss etc growing happily.

[goosey]

The plant in photo No.2 has been identified by Paul M as "possibly" self-heal, Prunella vulgaris, I tend to agree now I have checked it out. Excellent, something else I have learned today .

[paul m]

I said that I thought it was self-heal.

It's an interesting point you've made - relates to a lot of deep ecological thinking One theory is that the greatest diversity of species is in habitats with intermediary levels of disturbance and/or stress. i.e. you don't get many (or any) plants (insects &c &c) at the extremely stressed sites (deserts [hot or cold] &c) but in the stable, climax habitats (e.g. forests of various kinds) there are also not many species - go and count the numbers of species of plants in your local semi-natural woodland and compare it to what you find in gardens (cheating ), heathland, ancient meadows ...

By one calculation, the Australian scrublands are the most species diverse in the world .... others would be coastal dune systems (as you, Goosey, will know), maintained heathland, limestone grassland - partly disturbed but not enriched chemically.

One fortunate thing is that most of these places are useless for housing or agriculture .....

Originally Posted by goosey

The plant in photo No.2 has been identified by Paul M as selfheal, Prunella vulgaris. Excellent, something else I have learned today .

[ericrovve]

This is a pretty harsh place, corner of my balcony: Sedum dasyphyllum like S. anglicum, but leaves opposite!

[goosey]

Originally Posted by paul m

It's an interesting point you've made - relates to a lot of deep ecological thinking

I think I shall take this as a compliment!

Originally Posted by goosey

The plant in photo No.2 has been identified by Paul M as selfheal, Prunella vulgaris. Excellent, something else I have learned today .

Originally Posted by paul m

I said that I thought it was self-heal.

It looks very much like Self-heal to me now I have checked it out, but point taken I shall edit my post .

[goosey]

Originally Posted by ericrovve

This is a pretty harsh place, corner of my balcony: Sedum dasyphyllum like S. anglicum, but leaves opposite!

It just goes to prove the point Eric, a good example! Just looking at the thumbnail it looked a bit dubvious but it is a pretty little plant .

[ericrovve]

Bare calcerous sandstone. Amazing how anything can grow here.
Anyone any idea what it is? I can't find a sedum with transparent petals.

[paul m]

I'm always struck by the numbers of trees growing on roofs in Sheffield - usually birch or, in this case, Buddleja davidii. [In this case I think the crow was waiting for a forest to grow ... ]


But possibly the strangest thing I've seen is this Erinus alpinus - as its name implies, should be in Eric's neck of the woods but in fact was in lowland Northamptonshire!

[paul m]

Originally Posted by ericrovve

Bare calcerous sandstone. Amazing how anything can grow here.
Anyone any idea what it is? I can't find a sedum with transparent petals.

No don't recognise that - the flowers actually look quite papery .....

[ericrovve]

I have Erinus alpinus as introduced into Britain. I haven't found it here yet, but it's supposed to be around. Re the sedum(?)Lost a bit of quality in uploading. They are actually semi-transparent petals.
Eric