My North - white carpets in the woods

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'Wood Anemone'

 

The wood anemone through dead oak leaves

And in the thickest woods now blooms anew,

And where the green briar and the bramble weaves

Thick clumps o'green, anemones thicker grew,

And weeping flowers in thousands pearled in dew

People the woods and brakes, hid hollows there,

White, yellow and purple-hued the wide wood through.

What pretty drooping weeping flowers they are:

The clipt-frilled leaves, the slender stalk they bear

On which the drooping flower hangs weeping dew,

How beautiful through April time and May

The woods look, filled with wild anemone;

And every little spinney now looks gay

With flowers mid brushwood and the huge oak tree.

 

John Clare (1793-1864)

 

The Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa) is a beautiful species that may carpet a deciduous woodland in spring with its beaming star-shaped flowers. It is in fact a key indicator species of ancient woods, pointing to the fact its special habitat has been continually forested for the last 400 years. It's one of the first to bloom in March, taking full advantage of the open canopy and volume of light arriving at the forest floor. Indeed, by May, as the ever-expanding foliage of the forest closes up, the Wood Anemone is finally deprived of light, its flowering over. It seems to display a human trait, appearing happiest when the sun is shining, for its flowers droop gracefully until awakened by the sun's light. This makes it slow-growing in the extreme - it may take a hundred years or more to spread a couple of metres across the woodland floor. Unfortunately for the Wood Anemone its seeds are frequently infertile and it relies on the extension of its rhizomes (modified horizontal underground stems) to promote new growth, though it's highly susceptible to trampling.

Side by side with the wood anemones I have found another beauty. Wood sorrel grows in woods throughout the Lower Saxony and is particularly associated with ancient woodland, as it relies on undisturbed soil. A lover of cool, damp spaces, wood sorrel is one of the few herbs able to grow in the deep shade of conifer plantations. Fresh green clusters of wood sorrel can also be spotted in grasslands, hedgerows and even gardens.

Not only are these forests ancient, but these thousands of flowers are also a paradise for insects and butterflies. We must protect those places. 

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Eure Isabella 

Linked with:  Image-in-Ing - My Corner of the World  - Travel Tuesday -

 Sunday Best No. 426- Skywatch Friday - Mosaic Monday Nr. 132

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