Mauve flowers

Three species flowering now at Filnore:

Beloved of butterflies the Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis)

Each flowerhead is made up of up to 50 tiny flowers - short ones in the middle and long ones round the outside.  The male stamens stick out, which earns the plant the name of 'lady's pin cushion'.

Rather more common are the flowers of the Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense).  Seen here amongst the grasses and willow herbs, this is what produces the thistledown now blowing across Filnore Woods.  Thistles spread by seed and also with their creeping roots.

But the flowers are great for butterflies, and goldfinches love the seeds.

Our third mauve butterfly flower is the Greater Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa).  

Like the scabious it has shorter florets in the centre and long ones round the edge.