Botanising in a cemetery

For some, botanising in a cemetery on a Sunday morning in early Spring may seem a touch bazaar but burial grounds can be rich pickings for an inquisitive naturalist. The interest in such sites lies within the blend of remnant semi improved grassland, parkland type trees and the variety of introduced memorial plants that have naturalised this type of setting. 

Panteg Cemetery on the outskirts of Pontypool is large and old. It still accepts burials but for a naturalist its the aged parts that keep the attention the most. Primroses frequent grave surfaces and have colonised extensively throughout the cemetery. A large patch of the non-native three-cornered leek occurs under a tree with individual outlying plants some distance away suggesting that it won't be too long before it become more widespread. As its early Spring some small stands of snowdrops were in flower. Another grave was covered in the winter flowering sowbread. Red valerian was widespread with many displaying evidence of the gall Trioza centranthi.

There was certainly enough on show to whet the appetite of a naturalist and diary mark further visits during the coming Spring and Summer.

 

Three-cornered Leek (Allium triquetrum)

Abraham-issac-jacob (Trachystemon orientalis)

Wood Surge (Euphorbia amygdaloides)

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis)

Sowbread (Cyclamen hederifolium)

Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) with leaf roll (Trioza centranthi)