11.
White Dead Nettle were large enough to be
significant in the context of their normally
too-dominant leaves. Nearby, Hedge Mustard,
as angular as a constable on point duty, was
softened with a late crop of yellow florets
above the normal size. Cow Parsley, long
past its spring flush, was already replacing
lost lace of spring with possibly premature
basal fronds of autumn. What at first I
took to be one of the less common Water Drop-
worts turned out to be an exceptionally fine
plant of (possibly) Stone Parsley, seen in
unfamiliar context. More at home were good
spikes of Purple Loosestrife and Marsh
Woundwort, some of the latter apparently
hybrid with the hedge species of that genus,
always a successful dash of marital trespass.
Trespass of a more territorial kind was
evident in the discovery of a stem of Bell-
flower, with purple blooms downpointed, not
a garden campanula as known to me, but hard
to accept as a truly wild flower. Masses of
flower spikes akin to Horseradish must surely
have been Dittander at that season. An extra
heartbeat was understandable just then, for
this is a notable Essex plant, which certainly
grows on estuarine walls not many miles away.
This need not be regarded as trespass, but it
was a welcome sight below the slopes of the
Castle mound.
"Yrw, Slx, Sowth, B'doc, Wtr Plntn" must
be rapidly passed over as my scribble for
Yarrow, Willow, Sowthistle, Burdock, and
Water Plantain. There is no space to allow
for other than a botanical wind-up as rushed
as my ten minutes at the pool were felt to
be at the time: Ragwort on a wall. Alder
crouched against the bridge; a floating
island of Redleg flowing in the sun; weaponry