 Photo ©
Carl Farmer |
Widespread but not numerous, in marshy places. Height c 15-40 cm. Lowest petal c 4-8 mm wide (without straightening it) Skye ID: Lowest petal soon bent back at sides (sometimes not when first opens), and only weakly 3-lobed, having a pattern of dots within a lined border as shown. Lowest bracts longer than flowers. Other features: Leaves long and narrow, with or without spots. Bent-back sides of lowest petal is best ID feature. Three kinds occur here: pink (common), purple (frequent) and red (very rare). The red ones are ssp coccinea and the purple ones are ssp pulchella. The pink ones have traditionally been regarded as ssp incarnata, and they key out to this in the books. However some experts believe that all our pink ones are a form of ssp pulchella, and this is supported by the fact that they frequently form what appears to be a single population with the purple ones. |
