Dyer's Greenweed

Day #8 of #30dayswild. After a morning spent at the Parish Council Neighbourhood Conference, where I spoke on ways of improving urban biodiversity, I had a late afternoon visit to Collyweston Quarries NR, recording quadrats in open-structured vegetation with a significant component of spring ephemeral species. At one point three dog walkers stopped me to tell me I'd chosen the wrong spot, as there was too much bare ground -they were very surprised to hear that this I'd recorded over thirty plant species in a very similar sample!

Collyweston Quarries is noted for the very large population of Dyer's Greenweed. Some was flowering beautifully, but much appeared to have been badly affected by its associated bug Heterocordylus genistae, which is a very local species that only lives where there are large populations of its host plant. The plant, as its Latin and common names suggest, has been used from ancient times for producing a yellow dye, which combined with woad also provides a green colour.