WINTER heliotrope – Petasites fragrans – is out in bloom now, writes Ray Roberts

Its alternative name is fragrant butterbur and it grows where the soil is wet but can also be seen sprouting out from the wet hedge creep alongside minor roads.

Sometimes its leaves can reach 30cm across and the lilac/pink flowers have a strong scent that reminds one of almonds.

This is another plant that has escaped from gardens and is now classed as an invasive plant as it quickly takes over patches of waste ground, especially that near to streams and rivers.

We walked beside the River Lynher near Callington Newbridge where there were several stinking hellebore – Helleborus foetidus – plants out in bloom with their yellow/green cup-shaped flowers.

Growing in the wooded area, this plant is very aptly named as its smelly flowers, with even stronger smelling leaves when crushed, attract flies and early pollinating bees.

The flower has a unique way of spreading its seeds as they secrete an oil that attracts snails so when they consume the oil, seeds attach themselves to the sticky mess and get carried away to a new site to grow.

I took a look in the adjoining disused quarry where some many-zoned polypore fungus was growing on a rotten tree trunk.

This bracket-like fungus grows in tiered groups and can be seen all year round in a variety of colours ranging from brown to grey.

After a walk down the path beside the river, we returned to the car and the road where, on the left, is a wooded area that stretches up to the Cadsonbury Iron Age fort and on the bank beside the road were some early lesser celandine – Ranunculus ficaria – flowers.

I think these must have been in bloom for a couple of weeks as the yellow petals were beginning to lose their sparkle.

I thought this was a bit early but when we got home, I looked at my previous columns and found that I recorded finding them in bloom on December 5 in 2020.

The lesser celandine was, of course, the favourite flower of poet William Wordsworth and he wrote three poems about them.

He only wrote one poem about daffodils so why did we all have to learn this one when we were at school and not one of the other three?

I took a short walk on my own the following day. It was still damp weather and I noticed some teasel flowers that had dried and gone to seed on their tall stalks.

Some of their seeds had already germinated and were showing their leaves on the prickly container.

I know variegated periwinkle is not strictly a wild plant but there were some pretty pink and white flowers on a garden hedge near Venn Hill.

They were lovely to see beside the road.