Cuckoo Flower around the Lakes

Sunday, 29 April 2018

The Cuckoo flower, also commonly known as 'Lady's-smock'

It is a pretty springtime perennial of damp, grassy places like wet meadows, ditches and riverbanks, as well as roadside verges. Its pale pink flowers bloom from April to June and are thought to coincide with the arrival of the first cuckoo - a sure sign that spring has arrived.

The cuckoo arrives in Britain during the second part of April from Africa south of the Sahara, and leaves in September. We have not yet had a glance of the cuckoo...........but the pretty cuckoo flowers are in abundance around our lakes at The Victorian Barn.

The Latin name of the cuckoo flower is Cardamine pratensis, it is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia. The specific name pratensis is Latin for "meadow."