rgcooper2023's Journal

Described is a solitary wild snail progressing across garden paving stones following uprooting of unwanted plants in a garden bed. This non-threatened species has a shell height (15-16 mm), width (16-22 mm). It possesses a glossy, smooth shell, which has five variable spiral dark bands and a white lip around the shell opening. The body of the snail is usually greenish-grey becoming yellow towards the rear. This snail lives in a range of densely-vegetated habitats, including waste ground, woodland, hedgerows and grassland. In dry conditions it is observed tightly attached to rocks, tree trunks or fences. The preferred food plants of this snail include Nettles, Ragwort and Hogweed. Although these snails posses both male and female organs, and are capable of self reproduction, they usually mate with another snail between spring and autumn. Courtship begins with a snail piercing the skin of its partner with a 'love dart' made of calcium carbonate. Once this ritual has taken place mating can begin. The snails then part ways and both partners lay their eggs buried in soil. A clutch is often in excess of 100 eggs takin ca. 1 month to hatch. Juvenile snails develop a soft shell which hardens and grows with them as they mature. The white-lipped snail is not currently considered under threat.

Reported is a germinated example of Hypericum sp. like calycinum (Rose-of-Sharon, St John's Wort) germinated from wild seeds collected from a un-cultivated semi-woodland area in Walsall, UK. This is classically a prostrate or low-growing, evergreen, woody shrub (60cm in height, 1.2m spread) widely grown in Mediterranean climates and southeast Europe, but has also become a popular, evergreen hardy shrub globally. In the wild, it grows in the Strandja Mountains along the Bulgarian and Turkish Black Sea coast. It is a fast-growing, spreading groundcover shrub with evergreen to semi-evergreen long, oval-shaped dark-green sticky leaves. Bright rose-like yellow, five petalled flowers with a prominent calyx and whorl of sepals, bloom throughout summer-autumn. The flowers produced in June-September in UK, are 3–5 cm in diameter with numerous yellow stamens, and are either single or in clusters of 2-3. Its red berries turn black in autumn. Its green, ovate leaves grow in opposite pairs, with the undersides of the leaves been net-veined. In the sun and shade, the leaves are a vibrant green and lighter yellow-green, respectively. Hypericum spp. have been used since ancient times as herbal remedies to attenuate muscle spasms and for the treatment of asthma. It is an economically valuable plant and may be used used for ornamental reasons or landscaping in order to stabilize hills. It grows ideally in full sun to partial shade and in well-drained sandy-loamy soils. It may become invasive, due to its ability to grow rapidly by stolons and, therefore, needs pruning. It is pollinated by honey bees. It can produce adhyperforin, a medicinal compound. Furthermore, UV pigments from its flowers stave off predators like mites and aphids. These pigments also serve a dual function to attract pollinators, as they are visible to insects and not humans. Another chemical, DIP (dearomatized isoprenylated phloroglucinols), is a category of pigments alongside flavonoids, which was found to be toxic to a species of caterpillar. Ethanol-extracts have antidepressant properties and are as effective as desipramine and trimipramine.