More Atroruben specials today on Hutton Roof.

Specimen 46 is a new found (today) - Epipactis Schmalhauseneii

Just look at this beauty I found, just as I was about to call it a day. I love the boldness of it all, especially with the very large Basal and Secondary.  In fact there that big they more or less outdo the late Schmalhauseneii No.1. You can see so much Helliborine within this Atrorubens! A typical Schmalhauseneii and to be numbered Specimen 46 (confirmed Schmal).  Here below is another closer picture which highlights the size of the basal leaf and secondary leaf.

More closer to show the colossal size of the basal and secondary leaves

This specimen above No.46 shows lots of helliborine mix with the thick green stem and large overpowering leaf structure. Also note the deep grooved leaves which are far more prominent grooving than usual (resulting from being on the very edge of shadowing canopy plus more often than not there can be a deeper green colouring as well, I believe it has something to do with photosynthesis). After saying all that there is still lots of atroruben's if you look at the small "tucked" basal showing plenty of purple veined and edging, and even more with the bottom 4" of the stem being purple, and in the flower itself.  So I would reckon we have a near enough 50/50 one here. Big, Bold, Brash and Beautiful! = Schmal. This is from a area were we got some stunning "purpurea" helliborine variants from last year.

Light green fragile specimen No. 37 - Click over to enlarge

I found this on Friday specimen No. 37 which is a very small slim fragile plant with lots of green especially in the stem and the ovary. Its height is 10" which is very typical of the majority of these fragile small light green specimens which are turning up.  It has been considered that these could even be "Schmals", but if that be the case which I would not argue against, but I have got to say that for me these types of plants which are springing up all over the place, wherever there are established "bold" Schmals closeby.  I would have to say that they could not be more leaning to the opposite side of the spectrum, like what may be said in the term "as different as chalk and cheese" in any familiar comparisons to the already well established bold specimens of what I consider to be the true schmalhauseneii.  I personally don't think at this stage these light green weaker/fragile specimens are just straight forward Schmals, thats if they could even be straight forward.  I need to keep a "open mind"on this at present.  They are definitely far different to any standard or regular atrorubens and in my eye are very weak, flimsy and sometimes from experiences last year showed that if you just touched them ever so slightly to try and measure them they just fell dead within hours of your visit and this is why I think it possible we may have a hybrid cross back situation (F1), going on.  Granted this year they do seem to be slightly stronger and accepting more handling or inspection.

I am still recording these as a "very special specimens" because they will turn out to be something really special once we get on to them, so for now making plenty of notes on them, but by the same token I am steering well away from the "hybrid or Schmals theory" as if the schmals are not complicated enough, these are even far more complex.

Some more interesting facts about these fragile light green specimens is that I only started to notice them coming through last year (2014), but this year they seem to becoming more prolific wherever you are in the vicinity of the strong established bold "Schmals" these fragile green specimens are making ground.  In fact I was finding that many this morning, I just did not have time to photograph and measure them all.  I will need to go back in the next day or two and try and get them recorded. I think last year on the same pavement I may have had two or three of these light green small specimens, whereby so far this year on this same single pavement I have probably had no less than 20 of these and still there is plenty of work to do, so there will be more.  Lets get them recorded and we will try and work it out later.

Now for some really bad news!  Just look at this photo:

This is whats left of Schmals 15 and 16 which were slow this year, but sadly to slow to bloom

We checked them out on Friday and they were in fine order and just days away from giving off their true bloom. It looks very much like Mr. Hare could have been around, Schmal No.16 has been snipped and eaten whilst Schmal No.15 has just be destructively snipped and left dangling.  At first I thought perhaps the deer but usually they snip straight across the stems, whereby with these the snips on both plants have been at a sharp angle - depressing because they to me were considered perhaps the best flowering specimens on Hutton Roof with no less than 56 flowers. Just look at the photo below to show just how they came through in 2014.

Schmals No.15 and 16 last year.

So here now are a few photos of the specimens found this morning:

This one is close to the Schmals No.15 and 16

Specimen 40 - Not considered Schmal at this stage

Another of Specimen 40 showing more the "boss and epichile" and such lovely contrasting colours

It is a beautiful plant but sadly suffering from Black Aphid predation like so many others this year.

Another of the light green specimens (No.36)

Also today besides all the epipactis I found these Harebells on the pavement.  Normally I would not think much about it, but on this occasion I had to look twice seeing as they were growing at 16" high with the ground being short cropped no large surrounding vegetation. Long Stalked Harebells!

16" tall Harebells

HAVE A NICE DAY.........