Walking down the Weymouth Road last Sunday I was amazed to see three spikes of Butterbur by the Sewage Pumping Station.
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| Butterbur. Photo. John Elliott | |
This is one of the earliest of flowers to bloom, usually in the spring, preceeded only by the snowdrops of which there is no sign yet. To see it before Christmas is most unusual. It will be interesting to see if the large leaves which follow the flowers appear early or linger into Febuary or so.
Its Dorset name of 'Early Mushroom' arises from the flowering stems as they push thrtough the soil looking like 'small button mushrooms of a livid and unusual colour' (Gerard).
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