Oxslips arefound in the woods

WANDERING through the woods this morning with the dew shining on the toecaps of my boots, the blackcap warblers whistling in all directions from the bushes and the cock pheasants crowing and deafening the wood pigeons cooing, what should I come upon but the family of mules.

Or should I call them hinnies. The proud parents are top right and bottom left.

I refer of course to the group of false oxlips, the children of the cowslip and the primrose.

This year, these bunchy, flamboyant flowers, more like polyanthus than their own wild parents, have become quite common in the coppice woods and even on the downs.

They’re lovely and showy, with arching sprays of flowers bunched in clusters, radiating out in one grand display, much better than anything their parents can produce.

But unlike their parents, they don’t have the staying power. Two or three years at the most, and they struggle, sending up a quarter of what they have in the past. However, they may go on for years even so.

You will see from my photograph developed on the black box made in China that the two oxlip children are slightly different.

The one on the left has a slightly larger central custard filling than the other. It seems you never really know what sort of offspring will be produced from the genetic stocks.