Prestwich Botanical Society

Prestwich Botanical Society Reviving the study of local wild plants in Prestwich and Whitefield. A space for plant enthusiasts to meet and share their findings.

We've been a little quiet on here whilst we work to get our website up and running. Here are some sneak previews of the ...
12/08/2022

We've been a little quiet on here whilst we work to get our website up and running. Here are some sneak previews of the mobile version!

We're also in the process of buying a house, so fingers and toes crossed it all goes through 🤞

Have you noticed how much more comfortable the temperature is in woodland areas during these heatwaves? For me, it really hammers home the need to ditch as much hard landscaping as possible in our own gardens. Greenery is the way! 🌿🌱☘️🌳

Common wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) grows in woods and shady places in the Northern hemisphere. We spotted this one i...
15/07/2022

Common wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) grows in woods and shady places in the Northern hemisphere. We spotted this one in Prestwich Clough mid-April. It's also known as Alleluia because it blossoms around Easter time.

The 'Acetosella' part of its name refers to its sour taste; people used to extract "sal acetosella" or "sorrel salt" from the plant through boiling. As with other species of wood sorrel, the leaves are sometimes eaten.

This plant is sometimes referred to as a shamrock and given as a gift on St Patrick's Day, due to its clover-like leaf. However it's generally thought that the plant described as shamrock is actually a species of clover.

You might have spotted this delicate-looking plant whilst walking through Prestwich Clough. If not, keep an eye out for ...
15/07/2022

You might have spotted this delicate-looking plant whilst walking through Prestwich Clough. If not, keep an eye out for it in flower this summer.

It's an annual herb called purple vetch, which grows as an understory plant in forests and other habitats. We spotted this one in a more open part of the Clough though. It's used to reclaim land altered by human activities such as mining or construction.

It's also an effective w**d suppresser and a nitrogen fixer, often used as a cover crop and green manure to improve soil quality. You can make a turquoise-green dye from the flowers, so maybe it was also used by the local dyers 🤷‍♀️

Looking further into the dyeing industry in Prestwich, it turned out that the local flora had plants that were particula...
15/07/2022

Looking further into the dyeing industry in Prestwich, it turned out that the local flora had plants that were particularly useful in dye production - such as Rubia tinctorum or dyer's madder.

The root extract of dyer's madder was used to make 'turkey red' - a vibrant red dye made using techniques from Turkey that are thousands of years old.

Image: Rubia tinctorum from Kohler's Medicinal Plants

I began looking into the history of Prestwich to find inspiration for my garden from the local geography. I wanted to fi...
15/07/2022

I began looking into the history of Prestwich to find inspiration for my garden from the local geography. I wanted to find out what types of stone are typical to the area, what plants grow in the woods, what the soil is like and what used to be in the area now covered by houses. My first discovery was an OS map from 1848, which showed Bunkers Hill Dye Works.

We want Prestwich Botanical Society to be less formal than its name! Basically a club where people can meet and learn ab...
15/07/2022

We want Prestwich Botanical Society to be less formal than its name! Basically a club where people can meet and learn about the local plant-life. So you don't need to know plant names - this is all about knowledge sharing.

Our mission is to
- connect people who have an interest in plant-life and the local environment
- explore and learn from the nature on our doorstep
- share learning in a friendly, inclusive and welcoming space
- promote the area's rich history of botanists and naturalists

If this sounds up your street, keep an eye out for meetings over the next few months 🌿

John Horsefield created Narcissus Bicolor Horsfieldii, which went on to become one of the most popular and extensively g...
15/07/2022

John Horsefield created Narcissus Bicolor Horsfieldii, which went on to become one of the most popular and extensively grown varieties of daffodil. The cultivar was obtained from hybridising Narcissus pseudonarcissus with N. bicolor and was one of the earliest hybrid daffodils to be cultivated.

He also created the plant Trigridia Conchiflora var Watkinsoni, a hybrid between a Tiger Lily (Pavonia) and a Shellflower. This new hybrid lily was raised in his garden and as John was poor he sold the corms to Manchester nurseryman Thomas Watkinson for £10. Watkinson then registered the new plant with the RHS in his own name, so sadly John received no other credit financial or otherwise for his work.

Image 1: Photo of Narcissus Bicolor Horsfieldii on a black background, copyright Tom Stettner 2011.
Image 2: Drawing of Trigridia Conchiflora var Watkinsoni on a white background from Paxton's Magazine of Botany, vol 14.

Sources: Wikipedia and prestwich.org.uk

The Prestwich Botanical Society has been inactive for many years - possibly since the start of WW1 although it's hard to...
15/07/2022

The Prestwich Botanical Society has been inactive for many years - possibly since the start of WW1 although it's hard to find exact dates online. On the Global Biodiversity Information Facility website an inactive version of the Society (Prestwich and Pilkington Society) is listed as no longer existing.

It sounded like a group I'd like to join so I decided to revive it.

Image description: A scanned photo of the Prestwich Botanical Society postcard. Members balanced on a fallen tree over a river. Credit to Aristolochia on Twitter for the scan.

The Prestwich Botanical Society was founded by a Whitefield man named John Horsefield on 11 September 1820. The previous...
15/07/2022

The Prestwich Botanical Society was founded by a Whitefield man named John Horsefield on 11 September 1820. The previous year he'd obtained his own garden at the weaver's cottage where he lived. It's unclear whether this was leased or a gift from a patron as John was very poor.

Society members were working class men with little or no formal education, who had taught themselves to read and then learnt about the plants in their local area from borrowed books and knowledge sharing. Mere Clough was renowned amongst Victorian botanists for the diversity and abundance of its plant life.

In 1852 Society meetings were held at Besses o'th'Barn Inn. Later they were held at what is now known as the Railway and Naturalist Inn in Prestwich, where the Society had a library of several hundred books.

Plant specimens were brought together for identification and those who couldn't read were taught the science of botany by those who could.

Photo description: The blue plaque outside The Railway and Naturalist marking the meeting place of the Prestwich Botanical Society

Sources: Wikipedia, prestwich.org.uk

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Prestwich
Manchester

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