Albino plant
- Padfield
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Albino plant
Nothing to do with butterflies, but I wondered if anyone could shed any light on this plant I found today while looking for chanterelles in woodland at about 1400m or so:
As you can see, apart from brown discolouration, the entire plant is pure white, leaves and all. Since it has leaves, I presume it is not supposed to be pure white and would therefore be an albino. Can anyone identify it? It looked to me like some species of orchid but I'm having difficulty nailing it down.
Thanks,
Guy
As you can see, apart from brown discolouration, the entire plant is pure white, leaves and all. Since it has leaves, I presume it is not supposed to be pure white and would therefore be an albino. Can anyone identify it? It looked to me like some species of orchid but I'm having difficulty nailing it down.
Thanks,
Guy
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
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Re: Albino plant
Remarkable. No idea about the ID but, it appears like a ghost of some Orchids I've seen up on the nearby Limestone Hills in Gloucestershire...see here :~
http://www.hoganphoto.com/lillyleaf_twayblade.jpg
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/183366
Could it be a casual introduction of a garden or ornamental plant?
Be very interested to know what it is.
Good grief, a further search revealed this plant ~ picture taken on the same hillside I've seen them ...Can see it from my bedroom window ~ just three miles from my house.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/435688
.
http://www.hoganphoto.com/lillyleaf_twayblade.jpg
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/183366
Could it be a casual introduction of a garden or ornamental plant?
Be very interested to know what it is.
Good grief, a further search revealed this plant ~ picture taken on the same hillside I've seen them ...Can see it from my bedroom window ~ just three miles from my house.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/435688
.
Cotswold Cockney is the name
All aspects of Natural History is my game.
All aspects of Natural History is my game.
- geniculata
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Re: Albino plant
hi guy,
it appears to be one of the helleborine clan, maybe broad-leaved going by stem and leaf arangement, not sure what your local species would be, as you would no doubt have a greater range where you are, but seems to have been infected with a virus in its early development producing a plant with complete lack of green chlorophyll in its tissue.
viruses also being the main determining factor in leaf varigation in cultivated variatys of plants.
would be interesting to see how the flowers develop at a later date.
gary
it appears to be one of the helleborine clan, maybe broad-leaved going by stem and leaf arangement, not sure what your local species would be, as you would no doubt have a greater range where you are, but seems to have been infected with a virus in its early development producing a plant with complete lack of green chlorophyll in its tissue.
viruses also being the main determining factor in leaf varigation in cultivated variatys of plants.
would be interesting to see how the flowers develop at a later date.
gary
Re: Albino plant
It's not a variety of toothwort is it?
Bill
PS - Found my first ever Chanterelles last weekend, not many but enough for a taster.
Bill
PS - Found my first ever Chanterelles last weekend, not many but enough for a taster.
- Padfield
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Re: Albino plant
Thanks CC. I did think of some kind of helleborine but it didn't seem to match in the details.
It was certainly a striking plant and there was nothing similar around it, though I have found other helleborine species in that wood and elsewhere.
I only found a handful of chanterelles, but wow! They taste sublime fresh from the woods compared with the tough, lanky ones they sell in the market.
Guy
EDIT - the other posts crossed. Thanks geniculata and Bill. I'll keep my eyes peeled for other helleborines, whether albino or not, for comparison.
It was certainly a striking plant and there was nothing similar around it, though I have found other helleborine species in that wood and elsewhere.
I only found a handful of chanterelles, but wow! They taste sublime fresh from the woods compared with the tough, lanky ones they sell in the market.
Guy
EDIT - the other posts crossed. Thanks geniculata and Bill. I'll keep my eyes peeled for other helleborines, whether albino or not, for comparison.
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
Re: Albino plant
....interesting - plants such as Broomrape are parasitic and therefore do not need chlorophyll...these tend to be yellowish/white or pink in colour. But they also tend to grow in complete shade in the under-brush...so unlikely...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broomrape
N
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broomrape
N
"Conservation starts in small places, close to home..."
Re: Albino plant
Count yourself lucky that the market has supplies of wild(?) mushrooms, I have to find all my supplies.padfield wrote:
I only found a handful of chanterelles, but wow! They taste sublime fresh from the woods compared with the tough, lanky ones they sell in the market.
Guy
Not too difficult though I had some pretty big hauls last year,
Bill
- Padfield
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Re: Albino plant
I'm not sure where they come from, but chanterelles are available from June in grocery shops here. They are tough and grey compared with the delicious yellow treats that push up under the moss in the woods but I occasionally buy them anyway. They never have maggots, unlike the ceps you can buy by the roadside (or even the ones you pick in the woods, normally!).
In about a month the local woods will abound with Sarcodon imbricatum - what the locals call 'éperviers'. I've no idea what the English is. The Swiss pickle this mushroom (and I've done that in the past) but I prefer to use it as a really powerful mushroom flavouring straight into casseroles. Then come the ceps and the saffron milk caps and the hedgehogs... I can't wait! A few years ago I was proud to have eaten over 40 species of wild mushroom in a season. Now I'm getting picky and I only eat the best!
Guy
In about a month the local woods will abound with Sarcodon imbricatum - what the locals call 'éperviers'. I've no idea what the English is. The Swiss pickle this mushroom (and I've done that in the past) but I prefer to use it as a really powerful mushroom flavouring straight into casseroles. Then come the ceps and the saffron milk caps and the hedgehogs... I can't wait! A few years ago I was proud to have eaten over 40 species of wild mushroom in a season. Now I'm getting picky and I only eat the best!
Guy
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
Re: Albino plant
Excellent. As you say Ceps are often maggoty I've found Bay Boletes to be more plentiful and have less maggots. But Wood Hedgehog is still my favourite I think.padfield wrote:I'm not sure where they come from, but chanterelles are available from June in grocery shops here. They are tough and grey compared with the delicious yellow treats that push up under the moss in the woods but I occasionally buy them anyway. They never have maggots, unlike the ceps you can buy by the roadside (or even the ones you pick in the woods, normally!).
In about a month the local woods will abound with Sarcodon imbricatum - what the locals call 'éperviers'. I've no idea what the English is. The Swiss pickle this mushroom (and I've done that in the past) but I prefer to use it as a really powerful mushroom flavouring straight into casseroles. Then come the ceps and the saffron milk caps and the hedgehogs... I can't wait! A few years ago I was proud to have eaten over 40 species of wild mushroom in a season. Now I'm getting picky and I only eat the best!
Guy
Bill
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Re: Albino plant
It could be a Birds-nest Orchid. http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/scottis ... orchid.htm
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Re: Albino plant
Interesting plant that ~ one of the ones that came to mind when I first saw the white example :~Butterfly Gardener wrote:It could be a Birds-nest Orchid. http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/scottis ... orchid.htm
Flowering stem ....Leaves are clearly present in the Op's posting ~ snow white too ~ with smaller leaves interspersed within the flower spike ~ not present in the Bird's-nest orchid..description wrote:The only time you are likely to see a Bird's-nest Orchid is in early summer when it puts up its pale yellow-brown flowering stem.
Cotswold Cockney is the name
All aspects of Natural History is my game.
All aspects of Natural History is my game.
- Padfield
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Re: Albino plant
Thanks again, all.
I'm currently thinking of something like Epipactis viridiflora, here pictured under its synonym, E. purpurata:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 130805.jpg
I also considered E. helleborine (broad-leaved helleborine). To be certain, I should really go back up there and look at the flowers once they are out, but it is a very long walk uphill from my house and it is probably over by now anyway.
Guy
I'm currently thinking of something like Epipactis viridiflora, here pictured under its synonym, E. purpurata:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 130805.jpg
I also considered E. helleborine (broad-leaved helleborine). To be certain, I should really go back up there and look at the flowers once they are out, but it is a very long walk uphill from my house and it is probably over by now anyway.
Guy
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
- Neil Hulme
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Re: Albino plant
Hi Guy,
I'm no botanist but my gut feel is that it's Broad-leaved Helleborine lacking chlorophyll. The lack of chlorophyll in Violet Helleborine results in a quite spectacular and vivid deep lilac colouration. I've seen photographs of this form, taken in one of my local woods.
Neil
I'm no botanist but my gut feel is that it's Broad-leaved Helleborine lacking chlorophyll. The lack of chlorophyll in Violet Helleborine results in a quite spectacular and vivid deep lilac colouration. I've seen photographs of this form, taken in one of my local woods.
Neil