Our August plant walk starting from the Woodfield Pavilion, on Tooting Common, will leave the Common to explore plants growing on the pavement of nearby Abbotswood Road.  There will be two opportunities to do this, one starting at 11 a.m. and the other starting at 2 p.m.  For further information see the Events page on this website.

Report:  Only two people turned up for the morning walk, though a passerby joined for a short while later on, and only one person turned up for the second.  However, the weather was good and we enjoyed a slow walk along the pavements discussing the various plants found there.  These included a wide range of both native and introduced species.

Image: Argentinian vervain (Verbena bonariensis, native to South America, grown as an ornamental in British gardens since the 1730s), greater plantain  (Plantago major, native), green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens, native to southwestern Europe, introduced to Britain, presumably as an ornamental, late in the sixteenth century), fallen fruits of hornbeam, Carpinus betulus, native but grown here as a street-tree), petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus, an ancient, pre-1500, and presumably unintentional introduction, now widespread in temperate regions), pheasant’s tail (Anemanthele lessoniana, native to New Zealand, cultivated as an ornamental and first recorded in the wild in Britain in 1974), and red valerian (Centranthus ruber, native to the Mediterranean area, introduced as an ornamental late in the sixteenth century).