Wednesday 14 April, at 6.30 p.m., Roy Vickery talks about Forgotten Rescources: Uses of Great North Wood Plants, part of the virtual Festival of the Great North Wood, organised by the London Wildlife Trust.

Report:  This free event was fully booked, but of the  150 who had booked only about 55 turned up.  Roy spoke for about 45 minutes, emphasising that it was the most common plants which featured most in folklore – the ‘folk’ did not seek out rarities, but used plants growing in local hedgerows and woodlands.  He demonstrated this by discussing the uses and folklore of such plants as brambles, Rubus spp., hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, and stinging nettle, Urtica dioica.  Lively discussion took place on chat, and during the question time.

Friday 16 April, at 11 a.m., Wonderful Weeds, walk led by Roy Vickery, Tooting Common, south London (nearest station Balham), a South London Botanical Institute event, see http://www.slbi.org.uk/events/

Report:  Five, the maximum number permitted, booked for this event, but only four turned up, and spent a pleasant 90 minutes wandering around the Common discussing weeds and potential weeds.  These included the invasive garden form of yellow archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon ssp. argentatum, and evergreen oak Quercus ilex, which is also invasive and being evergreen shades out herbaceous plants  which try to grow under it.  The leader was particularly pleased to see wall-rue, Asplenium ruta-muraria, a fern not previously recorded on the Common (see image).