Thursday 12 May 2022

16: STORKSBILL

This is a largish storksbill plant, missed by the mowers, but wilting a bit in the dry weather.  Storksbill is only an annual anyway.


In the image below you can see the shape of the pinnate leaves and on the left the cluster of seed pods that give the plant its name.


The flowers are a delicate pink with five petals . . . . .


. . . . . . but often shyly hidden in short turf.  There are a lot in the grass verges near Thornbury Tesco, by Daggs Allotments, and near the old market site and Streamleaze Court.


How many clusters of storksbill-shaped seed pods can you find in this picture?


The seeds have a remarkable way of planting themselves.  When each 'stork's bill' is ripe it splits apart explosively to spread the seed far and wide.  But then the clever bit:  attached to the seed is a strand of the seed pod.  This curls into a spiral which tightens and loosens according to the humidity.  And so the seed travels over the ground until the point of the spiral finds a little crack or hole and it then winds itself into the ground.  Bingo! Planted!

Photo: Plantlife











 

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