Had a quick walk around the Doghouse range at lunch time to see some of the areas specialities which are now starting to flower. Coincidentally, all of today's plants seem to be named after animal parts.
Smooth Cat's Ear is quite unusual, particularly in Oxfordshire and is like a taller, but smaller-flowered Dandelion. There quite a lot of these around the car park.
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| Smooth Cat's ear Hypochaeris glabra [Doghouse Range] |
If you look very closely anywhere on the range you are likely to find a tiny vetch called Bird's Foot. A few are now in flower including this one, with a golf tee behind for scale.
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| Bird's Foot Ornithopus perpusillus [Doghouse Range] |
Stag's Horn Plantain is more usually found by the sea, but is found by the car park on the short turf. It is so named because of the shape of its leaves.
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| Stag's Horn Plantain Plantago coronopus [Doghouse Range] |
Another of the rare plants is Little Mouse-ear. This one is growing in a patch of Subterranean Clover - it is the tiny white flower that the tee is pointing to.
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| Little Mouse-Ear Cerastium semidecandum [Doghouse range] |
Very similar, but slightly larger, with longer leaves and more styles is Common Mouse-ear.
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| Common Mouse-ear Cerastium fontanum [Doghouse range] |
