Columbine

Close to Mapperley Reservoir, there are a few Aquilegia plants growing in among the trees.  Commonly called 'Columbine' which comes from the Latin for Dove and is a reference to it's petals which are supposed to resemble five Doves in a circle, perhaps sipping from the top of the flower.  There are Blue ones, which are the closest to the true species type Aquilegia vulgaris...

and there are white ones which are perhaps a little more 'showy', but all are rather beautiful.

I mentioned the Mountain Ash trees in yesterday's post, so I thought a close-up picture of it's flower head would be in order.  It's amazing how so many trees and shrubs have such similar arrangements of flowers.  These for instance look very similar to the Hawthorn flowers and the Blackthorns too.

One last flower for today and it's a beauty.  The Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) isn't a plant you will see every day, but when you do, it's always well worth it.  The blue of these flowers - which resemble large Forget-me-Nots - is so vivid, it can almost look as if they had been painted. Sometimes called Dyers Bugloss, it's name derives from the Old Spanish (and by association from the Moorish) 'alcaneta' a diminutive form of the word meaning Henna, a more well-known Dyers plant.  Not a native to the UK, it is a welcome addition all the same.