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Garlic Mustard
Also known as 'Jack-by-the-hedge' and 'Hedge Garlic'. Fresh leaves and the flowers can be eaten. It is a biennial - taking two years to complete its life cycle. Flowers don't appear until its second year.
How to ID: Pale green, kidney-shaped toothed leaves, which smell of garlic when crushed. Clusters of small white flowers: To 1m tall.
Where to see it: Hedges, woodland margins, shady places - flowering April - June.
Similar species: None.
Creeping Cinquefoil
The name tells you a lot about this plant (if you speak French!). Cinquefoil means 5 leaved and it is certainly a creeper, sending out long runners. It is a very short plant so does best near paths and at the edges of verges.
How to ID: Yellow flowers and 5 leaflets spread in a circle.
Where to see it: Path edges, bare or disturbed ground.
Similar species: None.
White Clover
This is a very useful plant for wildlife. Bees particularly feed on the white flowers and numerous insects feed on the leaves. Like all clovers, nodules on the roots take nitrogen from the air and convert it to nitrates, helping to fertilise the soil.
How to ID: Short growing. White, round flowers. Three round, hairless leaflets with fine teeth at the margins.
Where to see it: Grassland, verges, lawns.
Similar species: Red Clover has red flowers but also has hairy leaves and no teeth. (Red hair - White teeth!)
Common Nettle
Familiar to most people and an excellent wildlife plant. At this time of year it is recognisable by its leaves which grow larger in darker habitats.
ID: To 1m tall, patch forming. Square stems. Triangular, toothed leaves - the end tooth longer than the side teeth. Creamy catkins are long and thin.
