An extra Wisley

Having failed to log in to the library at Wisley to see if my book about trees was due back, and having got half way through the flat pack story at reference 1, we decided on an impromptu visit. The alternative being a visit to the branch at Vincent Square - which did not particularly appeal for some reason. Getting good value from our membership this year, what with the library and the last visit being not much more than a month previously, as noticed at reference 2.

The first item of the day were the Wellingtonia scored at reference 3.

The second item was the discovery that Wisley buy at least some of their shopping trolleys from Spain, from, the people at reference 4, rather than using Wanzl, like most of the better supermarkets.

Then onto tea and (wholemeal) rock cake at the café at the entrance. From where we were able to admire a very orderly crocodile of children arriving. We learned that they were from the Bishopgates preparatory school, named for the road where they are located.

The minders were very nicely spoken and the children were very nicely behaved too, all very much of a size, being a single year group, and we were told that they came from Windsor. Checking, from the eastern edge of the Great Park yes, but a good deal nearer Egham than Windsor. Come to that, quite handy for Legoland. I wonder this morning whether the £4,000 plus for a term at the nursery includes VAT. Do such places incur VAT?

The bit of phyllotaxis of the day in the form of a spurge, aka Euphorbia rigida 'Sardis'. Not to be eaten. See reference 6.

Top view of a striking lily. Google Images struggles a bit - fair enough given the unhelpful camera angle - but his suggestions do include the pineapple lily.

Which is the right answer. A valued member of the asparagus family - which had not occurred to me. Zomlefer suggests that there is taxonomic contention between the asparagus and lily families, while Hortus Third does not list this particular sub-species but does put the Eucomis in with the lilies.

Taking the middle panel of the triptych above, Google Images goes for dahlia, without really trying for the variety or cultivar.

Two more lead shoots for the library of same, supporting the odd-pinnate investigation.

Another curiosity, looking to me like a mutant tomato.

Google Images needed to be told about the spikes, but that done he did well enough. Hortus Third gives more than two double column pages to the Solanum, including the second of the species mentioned by Google but not the first. 1,700 species said to be tricky taxonomically speaking. I go for some sort of spiny Solanum, but I have failed to find one that looks quite like this one. Have to find the label next time we come across it. Or maybe it will turn up in the 270 pages of reference 10, assuming the qualifier 'tropical' does knock it out of contention.

Some leaves which are truly opposite. Plus axil buds, plus leader. It being the form which of interest here, rather than the identification.

Onto the library where they were quite happy to give me my PIN number on presentation of BH's membership card. A very pleasant and relaxed attitude to the world. No need to present photo ID or anything like that. On the other hand, I did not remember the PIN number at all and can't think from where I might have taken it. Perhaps it was just assigned to me when I signed up for the library. Returned my book without penalty and, on this occasion, did not take out another.

Although I did notice a couple of multi-volume floras on the sale shelf, one for South Sudan and one for Cyprus, presumably the work of botanically minded colonial civil servants of yesteryear. A bit too dear for me to buy as a curiosity. Cyprus, I think, is snapped above. The archers left are alive and well at reference 11, but I fail to compute the connection.

Onto to cafeteria next door, where we both took the lentils and rice. Substantial and very reasonably priced - a popular item.

There was a line of medlar trees at the edge of the apple field. Who would have thought that there was much call for them - that is to say fruit which has to be slightly rotten before you can eat them. last spotted something over a year ago on the southern island, for which see reference 12.

A plant of unstable phyllotaxy, with whorls mostly of five leaves, but sometimes six. Culver's root, aka Veronicastrum virginicum 'Diane'. Hortus Third gives it just a column inch, telling me that the whorls mostly have five leaves, which fits.

On this flower head, the secondary floral shoots were all the axil buds of a whorl of four small leaves. With two of them to the axil right. And one missing.

Has the lead flower shoot starved its leaves?

Oddly, Google Images does badly on the first of the snaps, where I had thought it had plenty to go on. And does not do any better on the third, where he gets a good view on both the whorled leaves and the flower heads.

Nearing the exit, we came across a couple of child minders, cheerful ladies of middle years, one of whom at least was a member, which meant that they and their charges - under fives - could get in for free - and for children of this age there was plenty to see and do. So that was what they did most fine days. On this occasion, three of the charges were very cute little blonde girls, playing and running around together in a very happy fashion. Not like little boys of that age at all.

Some professional talk with BH about there always being one parent who was a bit careless about times, perhaps turning up half an hour late in the morning or an hour late in the evening. All very disruptive and tiresome.

All in all, another fine visit. Always something new to look at, even when, as on the occasion, the flashy herbaceous borders were starting to calm down a bit.

PS 1: the old chairs, snapped at reference 1, have now made it to the tip. Rather to my surprise, I was able to get all four of them on the back seat. At the tip, despite their tubular steel construction, they counted as upholstery rather than as scrap metal.No doubt they know what they are doing.

PS 2: it occurred to me yesterday that our car registration numbers are the length and shape they are because they are a good balance between carrying lots of information while not being too big for working memory. If you look at a number plate there is a good chance that you will remember it for long enough to write it down or tell your telephone.

PS 3: another sort of botany at reference 7. Striking the right balance between evil chemicals and evil pests of an important food crop. In this case, Wimmera ryegrass. See also reference 8, where they put a more positive spin on the stuff. Snap above from reference 9. Google Images does well enough, putting several hits with the right answer at the top of its list.

PS 4: somewhere along the line, what looked like a mutant grey wagtail, something I think we first came across under the bridge across the River Tavy at Tavistock, for which see reference 13.

PS 5: some time later: been doing some more digging around solanums, using regular Google, Bing and Google Images, this last with just a detail taken from the snap above, rather than the whole thing. All this gets me to reference 14 where I find Solanum atropurpureum, aka stately malevolence.The pictures of the thorns and the fruit look right. Wikipedia does not add much at reference 15. 

The string 'atropurpureum' occurs just once at reference 10, in the middle of a list of Solanums, snapped above, seemingly as an Indonesian variety of Solanum melanocarpum, itself mixed up with No.19, the Solanum insanum of 1767, snapped below. Which makes two mental health flavoured names. 

The images turned up by Google on 'solanum atropurpureum' look about right. 

Webster's tells me that the prefix 'atro' is to do with black, although the word as a whole is absent. And that 'purpureum' is too do with purple. OED much the same, adding that atropine is the active ingredient of the related deadly nightshade. Also that the prefix 'acro' for pointed or terminal, as in acropolis, might have been more appropriate. 

None of this seems to make it to the long list in Hortus Third, the nearest name there being the (edible) garden huckleberrry, Solanum melanocerasum. 

A regular tangle, but I go with stately malevolence for the moment. 

Another case of the AI assistant to Google Images sounding rather more knowledgeable than he is and being rather more definite about things than he should be. To be taken with a pinch of salt! The integration of information about pixels with the words which are said to describe those pixels is clearly very much work in progress. And I am very much still learning how best to get the best out of all this (fast moving target). That said, his opening gambit, snapped further above, did put me on the right track, even if it did wind me about a bit on our way forward. Maybe reference 16 will turn out to be helpful.

PS 6: the group search key 'botanicsk' is new today. There will not be much, if any, retrofitting.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-flatpack-story.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/09/visitor-attraction.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/wellingtonia-132.html.

Reference 4: https://marsanz.es/en/portfolio/shopping-trolley/.

Reference 5: https://www.bishopsgateschool.com/.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_rigida.

Reference 7: Australia battles ‘superweeds’ threat to key wheat exports: Bans on harmful chemicals and growing herbicide resistance leave farmers with fewer tools to combat invasive species - Nic Fildes, Financial Times - 2025.

Reference 8: https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/pastures/Html/WimmeraAnnual_ryegrass.htm.

Reference 9: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolium_rigidum.

Reference 10:  A revision of the “spiny solanums” of Tropical Asia (Solanum, the Leptostemonum Clade, Solanaceae) - Xavier Aubriot, Sandra Knapp - 2022. To be found at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9849010/pdf/phytokeys-198-001_article-79514__.pdf.

Reference 11: https://lamorbeyparkarchers.club/.

Reference 12: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/08/haseley-manor.html.

Reference 13: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/05/tavistock-day.html. One of the rare occasions when I had to wait for Google to open the 'May' tab right. Maybe as long as 30 seconds.

Reference 14: https://www.robsplants.com/plants/spinysolanum.php.

Reference 15: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_atropurpureum.

Reference 16: https://solanaceaesource.myspecies.info/solanaceae/solanum-melanocarpum-var-melanocarpum. 

Group search key: botanicsk.