Well it didn't seem like a very promising day today, but I do think I've spotted my first Midland Hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata, found on my very own! Just a seedling right in the middle of the beech compartment, but its a start and now I can look for more!
Joyce Pitt has recorded it here before, but I wasn't thinking about its potential presence until I actually raised the camera towards its leaves, and thought - hey they look a bit odd!
Characteristics include a rather trilobed appearance to some leaves (this is not in the books but does appear in quite a few pictures), rather undivided leaves (lobes do not extend more than 50% towards the centre of the leaf), and veins curving upward toward the tip, rather than outward toward the sides of the leaf.
I should also check that there are no hair tufts in the vein axils on the underside of the leaves, as well as looking for the double styles in the smelly flowers if there are any!
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