'Beggar's Ticks Dodder'

Dodders are parasitic plants. They don't have roots nor leaves, and their thin stems garland around their host plants. And they suck the saps of those. Let's call this one 'Beggar's Ticks Dodder' (Cuscuta scandens) because it often seems to grow on Beggar's Ticks (Bidens frondosa).

It is considered as an invasive plant, like the plant it has chosen to grow on here, for that matter. The Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), with its big leaves is a serious pest in many parts of France.'Beggar's Ticks Dodder' is still quite uncommon in Perigord, but its numbers are increasing. It grows in some places on the Dordogne banks, and the river helps it to go elsewhere.

Many little white flowers will give many round seeds.

St Bernard Lily

A white cloud under the Pine trees...

Thousands of little white flowers open now. The St Bernards Lily (Anthericum ramosum) is in full bloom. They are not always so many, quite often you find only a few plants together.

It is a bulbous plant, with thin stems, grassy leaves and delicate flowers.

It is not really a Lily but looks much like it. At least, it has a bulb and six petals and parallel-nerved leaves.

'Truncate Selfheal'

There are not that many flowers in chestnut woods, but sometimes there are.  Here, among the green leaves of very young trees a Selfheal. It has no English name, so let us call it 'Truncate Selfheal' (Prunella hastifolia).

It is difficult to see in the image, but in fact it has truncate leaves.

However, the big blue flowers do like some sunshine. This one grows in an open space between the trees.

Broadleaf Helleborine

You easily miss it. Even if it is a rather big plant, until 80 cm high. Broadleaf Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) blends well into its environment, it grows in the shade of trees and has rather inconspicuous colours.

But it is a beauty, when you look from nearby!

Every plant is different, even if the flowers are always some shade of green, red and purple with a touch of yellow.


It flowers from the second half of June to well into July. This year it will not go on flowering for long, it is too hot and too dry.

Stiff Hedgenettle

In the last rays of the evening sun, on a dry grassy hillside.

The Stiff Hedgenettle (Stachys recta) is a member of the Lamiaceae family thart grows in meadows and fields on calcareous soil. Like most plants of this family it has an angular stem en opposed leaves.

If you look from nearby, you can see its little flowers have an intricate design, creamy white with a pattern of dark red stripes and dots. The stamina under the upper lip spread like open arms to receive pollinisating insects.

Mountain Germander

This very low bush grows on a stony and dry hillside at ground level.

The branches of Mountain Germander (Teucrium montanum) are like glued to the soil.

In June it flowers with clumps of creamy-coloured flowers, Like other germenders they have a big lower lip, but no upper lip. The stamina jut out from the flower.

A tragedy

In most flowers, pollen is a kind of fine dust. If an insect comes along it will be powdered by it, and thus it can carry it to another flower to pollinize it.

In orchids you can find in every flower two polliniums shaped like little clubs. On one side of each pollinium there is pollen, on the other side a kind of glue. When an insect visits the flower, the pollinium detaches itself from the flower and sticks to the insect's head. Right on spot. The insects continues with one or two protrusions on its head. When it forages on another flower, the end of the club with pollen touches its stigma and it will be pollinized. If everything goes well.

See here a small butterfly, a Meadow Fritillary (Mellicta parthenoides) on a Pyramidal orchid (Orchis pyramidalis) in soft evening light. Yes, it is beautiful!

But it does not move at all! Is it asleep? No, it is exhausted, maybe starving amidst flowers full of nectar.

After a while it starts to move a bit and it tries to enter its proboscis in a flower. The nectar is hidden deep in a long and narrow spur. He can't get in, there are obstacles on its proboscis, it has become too large to be used.


Orchid polliniums are sticking on the proboscis and make it impossible to put it into the spur and get to the nectar. In the pictures they are visible like small yellow and violet objects.

The butterfly tries to get rid of the polliniums, it rubs one of its legs against them. In vain, the glue is too strong.

 Another try. No, it does not work.

It has no more energy to go on. It can't even fold its proboscis in the right way. Is it going to survive? No, if the glue does not unstick, this butterfly will die from hunger, thirst and exhaustion.

You can not help it with tweezers, it is too delicate. And you can't take wild butterflies to the vet. No, impossible.