Ear to the Ground: A hint of the Med in valley bottom
There is a shrub in a garden in Market Street, Hebden Bridge which took a bit of identifying. Plant loving readers may also be curious.
It is the large bush in the space where the buildings are set back on the right facing the Todmorden direction.
In May and early June it is a solid mass of yellow flowers, twice as tall as the average person. It is obviously in the broom family, but with a strong trunk and a flattened canopy. It is quite different in shape from the common broom of the hillsides, which as many will know, has upright stems and green twigs.
My final resort to identify things has always been Hillier's Manual of Trees and Shrubs, a thick, unillustrated book, but there is nothing that matches the characteristics of the Hebden Bridge shrub in either of the two broom families, Genista and Cytisus. There are 24 species in Genista, and 28 in Cytisus, including nine colour varieties of our local wild one.
It was not until I was given a copy of "Shrubs" by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, which has good colour photos of over 1900 shrubs that I discovered that there is another genus of brooms named Teline (two species in Phillips) and there is one that fits the description called Teline canariensis.
It comes from Gran Canaria and Tenerife originally where it grows on north coasts at heights of 500 to 1500 metres, a bit higher than the highest moors in Calderdale, which peak at 479 metres. Of course it is nearer the equator in the Canaries, which means this Teline can probably only grow in the valley bottom here, and then in a spot surrounded by buildings, which no doubt warm the street a little in winter.
Phillips says it is hardy only in Mediterranean areas to minus 5C (23F). The other possibility that would affect its hardiness would be how far up the mountain the seed came from. Perhaps some seeds were brought back by a holidaymaker, either intentionally or by accident. It might even have originated from Gordon Rigg's! It would be interesting to know.
We can rule out the seed floating across the sea in this case, though this does happen, or it being carried by a bird, though the Canary Islands do have birds which might arrive in the UK (when I went to Fuerteventura I saw many whimbrels and turnstones, both waders. Shrubs are usually spread by perching birds that swallow berries containing seeds).
The seeds of this family are generally spread simply by falling from the dry pod or, as in our native broom, being flung a good distance when the pod splits with an audible snap on hot sunny days.
Some other brooms which are great in gardens are Cytisus battandieri, a tall one with larger than usual flowers scented of pineapple. It can be trained against a warm south or west wall, and being deep rooted, can have other plants at its feet.
The tiniest one I know is Genista villarsii, a rockery gem which forms tight mats only about 10cm (4 inches) high. This comes from SE France and Western Balkans and flowers in May, whilst C.battandieri flowers in July and is a wild plant of Morocco, growing high in the Atlas Mountains.
All this family can be pruned to keep them in bounds, but not into their woody parts, and your shears or secateurs need to be good and sharp.
The big family these plants belong to is Leguminosae, which includes peas and beans, lupins, gorse, and trees like the poisonous seeded Laburnums and the tree with white flowers similar to a Laburnum but growing much bigger, which is Robinia from America. This was originally brought here to add to our timber trees, though it was found to be not good for that, so is now only planted as an ornamental. There is a popular garden variety, Robinia 'Frisia', of smaller stature with bright yellow leaves, unnaturally bright to some eyes.
The expansion of native woodland has big support in Calderdale. I hope the planters will leave plenty of acres of sunny hill top edges where gorse and broom can flower in summer, nourishing bees and, in the case of gorse, providing safe prickly nest sites for some of our rarer songbirds like stonechats and linnets.
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Weather for Halifax
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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