Grass-of-Parnassus
What are they?
This unusual little plant is our sole member of a genus of plants that are moslty confined to eastern Asia. The relationshops of Parnassia species are rather obcure, it seems and for a long time they were placed in their own family, the Parnassiaceae, or considered to be closely related to the saxifrages. However, recent taxonomists place them in the Celastraceae and it feels weird to think of them as relatives of the spindle bushes!
Where are they found?
Grass-of-Parnassus is mostly a species of wet, upland grassland, especially where chalky groundwater occurs over acid soils. Such habitats are rare in East Anglia and this species is likely only to be found on a small handful of well-managed wetland nature reserves. Sadly the species is declining due to the drying out of its habitat from excessive water extraction.
Identification
When in flower, this is an easy species to identify, due to the unique pattern of boldly etched veins on the petals and the unusual arrangement of yellow-tipped structures called staminodes, which appear in little, fan-like structures at the bease of the petals.
Grass-of-Parnassus Parnassia palustris
Native. Rare and declining in species-rich, wetland nature reserves but where it occurs it may be quite numerous and form small colonies of plants. Flowers July to October. A very distinctive plant with the flowers carried singly at the top of long stems that arise from a basal rosette of slightly succulent, heart-shaped leaves.
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