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Greater Water Parsnip: note on 31 July 2021
At one time greater water parsnip, Sium latifolium, was a common plant but its populations have declined rapidly over the last 200 years due to drainage of wetlands and loss of habitat.
In July 2021 a splendid specimen could be seen thriving in the Park, having been introduced here on the initiative of Judy Webb, FoMFNP's coordinator of volunteering, who is the Flora Guardian for the plant within the Oxfordshire Flora Group of the Ashmoleum Natural History Society of Oxfordshire (ANHSO). Judy counted 95 umbels (flowerheads) on it during her visit to the park on 31 July 2021. Sium latifolium is a very popular food source for pollinators. It can reach a height of 2m in the right conditions. This one was only about 35 cm tall when planted here in August 2020. 31 July 2021.
Sadly, it suffered during the dry weather in 2022 but was sprouting up again in early 2023.
3 July 2021 Professor Peter Somogyi, one of the enthusiastic volunteers among the Friends of Milham Ford Nature Park, reported 'I found two of the most enormous bee orchids in the park, one has 13 flowers/seed pods' - click here
Greater Water Parsnip: note on 31 July 2021
At one time greater water parsnip, Sium latifolium, was a common plant but its populations have declined rapidly over the last 200 years due to drainage of wetlands and loss of habitat.
In July 2021 a splendid specimen could be seen thriving in the Park, having been introduced here on the initiative of Judy Webb, FoMFNP's coordinator of volunteering, who is the Flora Guardian for the plant within the Oxfordshire Flora Group of the Ashmoleum Natural History Society of Oxfordshire (ANHSO). Judy counted 95 umbels (flowerheads) on it during her visit to the park on 31 July 2021. Sium latifolium is a very popular food source for pollinators. It can reach a height of 2m in the right conditions. This one was only about 35 cm tall when planted here in August 2020. 31 July 2021.
Sadly, it suffered during the dry weather in 2022 but was sprouting up again in early 2023.
3 July 2021 Professor Peter Somogyi, one of the enthusiastic volunteers among the Friends of Milham Ford Nature Park, reported 'I found two of the most enormous bee orchids in the park, one has 13 flowers/seed pods' - click here
22 June 2021 Judy visited Milham Ford Nature Park to check on what species were in flower. Full sized versions of the photos she tweeted later are available here. Two lovely flower photos by Ross Mackenzie taken in the park on 25 June have been added at the end of that album.