LNHS - London's Plants

Learn about London's Wild Plants

About half the Society's 1000 members include botany among their natural history interests.

Our Botany Section organises indoor meetings, talks by visiting botanists and plant identification or study sessions.

We don't have to go very far to find London's wealth of wild plants. There are field meetings to a variety of sites in and around the capital and sometimes further afield.

Plant Portraits

Lobelia (Lobelia erinus), seen here growing in a crack in a pavement, is one example of various species of plants that escape from cultivation and can occasionally be found in city pavements and walls. Recording these 'pavement plants' makes an interesting subject of study. Misletoe on Hawthorn tree

Misletoe (Viscum album) is a parasitic plant that grows on trees, particularly apples, hawthorns, and Robinia. It can be seen on trees in London's streets, parks and churchyards but is nowhere common. Its sticky white berries are attractive to birds, especially the Mistle Thrush.

A constantly changing flora

London is a complex mosaic of land surfaces and uses. No part of the LNHS area has a truly ‘natural’ flora, and there are few traces of the ancient flora in the urbanised centre. Nevertheless the ever-changing urban flora of adventive species (plants that have come from elsewhere, either as a result of commerce or as escapes from gardens) continues to provide much of interest in the inner city.

Our study area embraces a wide variety of habitats and the very activity which has caused the demise of many of the native species found two hundred years ago is responsible for the occurrence and establishment of numerous non-natives. Rodney Burton's 1983 "Flora of the London Area" (published by the LNHS) listed just over two thousand species, but recent additions and taxonomic changes make the current total considerably more than this.

A major factor influencing the range of wild plants found in London is the ‘heat island’ effect: the city is appreciably warmer than the surrounding countryside, having more frost-free days, more days above the minimum temperature for plant growth and higher Summer maxima.

In contrast, to the south of our study area the North Downs include many areas of easily accessible chalk grassland where there are many kinds of wild flowers, providing some fine examples of flower-rich semi-natural habitats. (Some chalk grassland flowers from the North Downs are illustrated in the masthead at the top of this page).

LONDON'S CHANGING FLORA..
MORE ABOUT LONDON'S HABITATS..

Botanists of the future

As the effects of climate change become more apparent, the need for systematic recording of the changes in the distribution of our flora is urgent, and naturalists' societies such as ours have a vital role to play. Our field trips allow us to record London's changing flora while providing experience and learning opportunities for the budding botanists of the future. During 2008 we will be running some workshops specifically for beginners, with no prior knowledge required, but whatever your level of knowledge you should find something of interest at all our meetings.

Whatever your botanical interests, you will find a warm welcome.