Just spotted this gorgeous little flower protected under the tree’d canopy on the woodland floor ~
They have a ‘splodgy’ variegated leaf
They only stand about 8 – 10cm tall
The flower reminds part of cowslip – part red campion!
The mix of coloured flowers on the one stem is simply beautiful
And to see them so early in the spring…
Anyone know what they’re called? 🙂
Many thanks to Kirsty Wilson and John Shortland who have left comments to this post having identified this flower as a Pulmonaria officinalis, which is from the Lungwort family 😀
HI Linda, I think I have an answer for you re this plant. Courtesy of some friends in Dorset! It is ‘PULMONARIA OFFICINALIS’ or has a common name of ‘Lungwort’. This is what she shared – “According to my Keble Martin reference, it is an escapee from the garden and has naturalised in the woods, chiefly in the Southern half of Britain. It flowers (here) between April – May. Leaves broadly ovate, always with pale blotches. Flower pale purple, or pink. I notice from my rather old edition of Keble Martin that it is fairly rare, however it has always grown here in Dorset and is quite common in gardens and in the woodlands. It seems to be hardy too – as it is blooming on time, despite the v. cold winter conditions this year.” 🙂
Kirsty – you are spot on the money !!! Linda’s newly discovered mystery plant is definitely from the Lungwort family and is the Pulmonaria officinalis where it’s usually called Pulmonaria.
It gets that name from the blotches on the plant’s leaves which resemble what is seen on human lungs infected with a pulmonary disease.
The flowers are pink when in bud and change to a bright blue colour when fully open.
Many linked thumbnails to larger images are here on Wikimedia Commons:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pulmonaria_officinalis
A Wikipedia image:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lungwort-oliv.jpg
Wikipedia says: Pulmonaria officinalis is an evergreen perennial species of lungwort, native to locations throughout Europe – more info with links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonaria_officinalis
Thanks so much Kirsty (and friends in Dorset!) and John for enlightening me 🙂
I feel a bit unobservant that I hadn’t noticed that it was the flowers that were in bud that were pink and those that were in full bloom were the ones that had changed to blue ~ I was simply amazed that there were different colours all on the same stem – and such pretty colours too!