NOTES ON THE SUFFOLK LIST OF COLEOPTERA
59
A Mystery Solved In the summer of 2002 a small rosette of silvery leaves appeared in one of the vegetable plots in my garden at Sotherton, in North east Suffolk. As a botanist I never pull up any plant I do not recognise, so I continued to hoe round it as it grew slowly through periods of frost and snow. As spring came and I sowed and transplanted vegetables nearby, my mystery plant now looked very thistle like and grew to overshadow my red beet. The buds finally opened in early June to reveal quite large and beautiful heads of delicate pink flowers, above very narrow spiny foliage with distinctive silver markings on the upper surfaces. Flowering coincided with a Committee Meeting of the Southwold Group of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust at our home and before we went inside to talk, all interest focussed on our climbing roses and the mystery thistle. Its identity was soon revealed by Peter Lawson, who recognised it from holidays in various parts of the Mediterranean region and was later able to confirm it as Galactites tomentosa Moench, a relatively common composite of waste ground in Southern Europe. There are no previous records for Suffolk and only one for Norfolk. It is still flowering as I write in early August 2003. A romantic dream is that seeds were dropped by a migrating bird, but the reality of its being a birdseed alien is much more likely, as we feed our wild birds regularly. Wherever it came from, this plant is a most attractive and garden-worthy flower. (see Plate 6). [This attractive species has established itself in my garden in Ipswich from a single plant I introduced a few years ago and I now regularly find seedlings Ed.] G. Peck Church Cottage, Sotherton, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 8ES.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 39 (2003)