Botanical Marvels at Dartford Heath 2nd May 2015
To most people Dartford Heath is somewhere to walk the dog and many let their dogs mess everywhere which is a shame. The obvious flower most of the time is Gorse, the rest looking like parkland grass. What you don't obviously see if there are hundreds of thousands of flowering plants in the grasses, most very small and easily missed. Some are rare in Kent and nationally. However, I'll start off with the commoner plants. After all, if you see the rarities now you might not read the rest! Common Storksbill were flowering in large numbers, their tiny pink flowers glistening in the sunlight of this pleasant Spring day. Erodium cicutarium This is Common Mouse-ear, another common plant. Also present were numerous sticky Mouse-ears with glandular hairs and tightly bunched tiny flowerheads. Cerastium fontanum There were hundreds of tiny Dovesfoot and Round-leaved Cranesbills (pictured) dotting the grasses with pink flowers. This one is a varian