Strange Plant

I first noticed this strange Arum-like plant a few years ago.  It was growing on the banks of the the top lake just below the pile of boulders that is known as the Grotto.  I had some difficulty in identifying it as it was obviously not a native to the UK.  I eventually found it mentioned in this post on the Whiteknights Biodiversity blog at Reading University as Lysichiton americanus, otherwise known as western or yellow skunk cabbage because of its smell (though I didn't notice an particularly strong smell while taking these photos).  It is a member of the Aracea, the Arum family.

This is a close-up of the tiny flowers:

Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-04-06.

Horsetail

A fertile shoot of horsetail, Equisetum arvense.

I took a specimen home with me.  This is a close-up of the sporangiophores:

It yielded spherical spores of about 50x50um (magnification x600, field width 86um):

Some seemed to be entangled with some tubular structures:

First photo and specimen taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-04-06.

Leaf-Spot Fungus

Light-brown spots on leaves of Arum maculatum, probably caused by the fungus Spermosporina aricola.

I took the following leaf home with me to look at more closely:

This is a close-up of the spots on the upper surface:.

And this is the lower surface:

Unfortunately I was unable to get any spores from them.

First photo and specimen taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-04-05.

Leaf Mines on Dock

From last summer: a leaf mine on a dock leaf (Rumex sp).  The yellowish larvae can be seen in the lower right. The black particles are are waste matter that the larvae have excreted.  The larvae are probably those of a species of fly, maybe a Pegomya sp (Diptera: Anthomyiidae).

This is the full dock plant:

I took one of the mined leaves home with me, put it in a plastic tub and left it for a few days to see what developed. 

After about a week I found the following larva in the tub:

And also several puparia like this:

Then I forgot all about the tub and didn't look again at it until several months later.  What I found then will be the subject of tomorrow's post.

First photo and specimens taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2013-06-23.

Snake's Head Fritillary

Flowers of snake's head fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2014-03-15.