The number of cuckoo pints at by the roadside at Kewstoke has now increased to 179 and I'm going to stop counting them.
Last year North Somerset Council mowed the verges after the plants had flowered, but before they'd produced any berries. I only hope that they don't do the same this year.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
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3 comments:
Keith, what's a cuckoo pint?
It's a very common plant of woodlands and hedgerows in the UK and the flowers look like this
http://tinyurl.com/dkxgjx
I've always been aware of them, but I've never paid them much attention before. What surprised me was that I first saw this year's plants on 29 December, which seems to be very early, particularly as we're now being told that this is the coldest winter since 1997.
Despite what I said last week I did try to count them again yesterday, but gave up when I got to 300. I clearly need to do some research on their normal growth patterns.
As for the name, "pint" rhymes with "mint", and it's short for "pintle", but I'll leave you to look that up in the dictionary for yourself.
AHHHHHhhhhh...I thought you were referring to something to do with birds :)
I think a lot of the flora are more than a bit confused with the temperature fluctuations right now.
Thanks for teaching me something new!
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