Dog's Mercury
Dog's Mercury - Mercurialis perennis
Low to short rhizomatous hairy plant. Leaves lanceolate stalked, crowded towards the stem tops. Flowers greenish 4 to 5 mm, the female solitary or 2 to 3 together, the male in long tassel-like spikes.
Shaded habitats, woods, hedge bottoms.
February to April
Perennial
Common throughout much of Britain, but rare in northern Scotland and in Ireland.
Quite common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 259 of the 617 tetrads.
In the current checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native, locally abundant
Melinda Bell
Whitwick,Hermitage,Lake
21 March 2025
Mike Higgott
Thurcaston
19 March 2017
HAPeacock
Gilroes Cemetery
30 March 2012
Barbara Cooper
Charley Woods NR
11 April 2019
female flowers
David Nicholls
Cloud Wood
04 May 2015
David Gould
Wood Close Plantation, Leicester.
28 April 2018
Ken Charity
Wardley Wood.
20 April 2016
Graham Calow
Burbage Common and Woods
07 April 2015
Ian Harding
Sheet Hedges Wood
05 May 2021
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Additional images
 Burbage Wood (taken 4.2.2008),.JPG)
All NatureSpot records
Melampsora populnea
Thie rust fungus Melampsora populnea causes galls on the alternate host plants Dog's Mercury and (rarely) Annual Mercury. These are pale orange-yellow, white edged swellings up to 2 cm across, on leaf tips, distorted petioles and sometimes on stems. The swellings carry spermogonia and orange aecia. The primary hosts, bearing uredinia and telia, are White Poplar, Aspen and the hybrid between the two, Grey Poplar.