Trolley fest

A big day Sunday just past, seeing five trolley sightings and four captures. The biggest haul since the termination of registered trolley life.

Starting with a couple of trolleys from M&S on the way into town.

Having dealt with them, I headed through town and up East Street, where I passed on a clutch of trolleys from Sainsbury's in the creationists smoking den. But then paused to admire the East Street hollyhock, a lot bigger than anything on offer in Meadway, It must like the shelter of the wall behind.

We also had some energetic ground cover, not that there was much ground visible, to the left of the hollyhock.

Google Images, after being given some clues, offered:

Based on the visual characteristics and your description of the plant's recent rapid growth on a south-facing Epsom pavement, the plant is likely Asiatic Jasmine (Trachelospermum asiaticum) or the closely related Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

The snap of the first of these from Wikipedia looks fairly warm, but my plant - under zoom at least - appear to have veins on the leaves which are absent from that in Wikipedia. Have to go back for a closer look. The flowers ought to be pretty conclusive, if it survives that long.

Then I picked up a Wanzl hire trolley, which I returned to Sainsbury's, from where I assumed it had come. Why have these hire trolleys suddenly become more visible? Has the maintenance deal between Sainsbury's and Wanzl been refreshed, along with the trolleys?

At this point, opted for the footbridge leading to the gas depot and Travis Perkins, by I was diverted by another trolley from Sainsbury's at the foot of the footbridge.

Admiring all the new growth on the large-leaved ivy on the way. A shady spot so it can't be the sun which brings out the large leaves.

There was quite a clump of this stuff, with the isolate above snapped for identification. I thought about wild garlic, but Google images says three cornered leek (Allium triquetrum of reference 4).

Certainly not white bluebells, another possibility that crossed my mind. Which Gemini explains is a variant, or a mutant, rather than a distinct species.

Gemini agrees with his cousin about the leeks, and looking again at my snap I agree with the both of them. Wild garlic (Allium ursinum of reference 5) in woods, three cornered leeks in hedgerows. Both edible. But the latter is a listed plant and it is an offence to plant or otherwise propagate it in the wild. Anybody would think the stuff was recreational rather than culinary.

The light was just right for the footbridge, making it look rather impressive for once.

Returned the last trolley (made in October 2014, ancient by the standards of M&S), and headed for home down Middle Lane and the Screwfix Underpass.

Not to mention the Screwfix Whitebeam.

Toad in the hole for lunch. The two of us did the whole lot in one sitting, after which there was a bit of a siesta. Slept well the night following too. Must have been all the spring greens we took with the toad in the hole.

PS 1: Gemini mentioned the star-like flowers of the wild garlic. Which seems to be what we had at reference 1. Furthermore, the wilderness at Hampton Court is more woodland than hedgerow.

PS 2: the greens were finished off today in my lunch time bubble and squeak. Very good bubble and squeak it was too, helped along by some unusually thick sliced bacon from Sainsbury's. Most of their ham and bacon is cut far too thin - maybe, being cynical, as a precaution against one being able to taste it.

Yet another large dose of the Starmer Saga in today's Guardian, visible top right.

I had thought perhaps the bacon at reference 2 from Bristol, but, checking, I find it is own brand, but using the name Scaife on the packaging. A name which certainly exists out on the Internet, but I don't think reference 3 is right.

But the Gemini story, the start of which is snapped above, fits with what I have seen. Sainsbury's bought the rights to use the name on their packets of bacon. Perhaps standards are going up. No more white froth! No more ultra-thin slicing! At least, that is, if you steer clear of their economy range.

PS 3: Thursday morning: I have now consulted Bentham and Hooker (reference 6) about the onions, with the supplement providing useful drawings of both plants. I had not picked up from Gemini the fact that the garlic leaves are broad, while the leek leaves are narrow, making distinguishing the two easy enough in the field.

A reminder that a botanical drawing can be a lot more help than a photograph.

The only catch is that Bentham and Hooker talk of the range of the leek being the Mediterranean basin, with it unknown in France. Confined to Cornwall and the Channel Islands in this country, which makes its exclusion from France odd. The short Wikipedia entry talks of it having been introduced to various other places. Nevertheless, Bentham and Hooker may well have been right back in 1930.

As they were probably right to include the onions with the lilies at that time, since moved to be with the amaryllis family of reference 7.

Google turns up good corroboration for the distribution at reference 8, from which the snap above is taken. Noting the shift of name from leek to garlic.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/05/hampton-court.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/02/not-dahl.html.

Reference 3: https://barnesofkeighley.co.uk/pages/about-us.

Reference 4:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_triquetrum.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_ursinum.

Reference 6: Handbook of the British Flora - Bentham and Hooker - 1930, 1954.

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaryllidaceae. '... three subfamilies, the Agapanthoideae (Agapanthus), Allioideae (onions, garlic and chives) and Amaryllidoideae (amaryllis, daffodils, snowdrops)...'.

Reference 8: https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.ezp.

Reference 9: https://plantatlas2020.org/. Looks to be a useful resource.'This website provides access to the results of Plant Atlas 2020, the most comprehensive survey of plants (flowering plants, ferns and charophytes) ever undertaken in Britain and Ireland. It is based on over 30 million records, collected mainly by volunteer recorders of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) between 2000 and 2019, as well as previous nationwide surveys undertaken in the 1950s and 1990s....'. Lots of enthusiasts out there!