Problem pairs of plants – solved

Stuart Hedley is running a series of plant monitoring training days for us this summer so Group members and farmers in the Meadow Making pilot can use a rapid plant monitoring technique to assess their meadows before and after enhancement see the Survey and Monitoring page for more details and his how to video  

Stuart’s working herbarium sheets include many problem pairs of plants that seem hard to distinguish at first glance. But with a lens and an eye for the detail it’s possible to master identification using these sheets

They are for Herefordshire Meadows’ members to use in the field and not intended for wider circulation.

lesser trefoil – black medick

buttercups

vetches

plantains

docks

stitchworts

bulbous buttercup – all of them !

trefoils

dandelion family

cat’s ear

buttercups 3

dandelion sow thistle

vetches2

autumn hawkbit

rough (greater) and lesser hawkbits

mouse ears

beaked hawksbeard and autumn hawkbit 

common and greater bird’s foot trefoil     

bulbous buttercup             

Stuart Hedley has also kindly drawn up a simple Key to common yellow “dandelion-flowered” composites of Herefordshire