How Old Is That Meadow?
How old is that meadow?
Ever wondered how old that meadow is? A new method should give you an idea. Count the number of Creeping Buttercups with more than 5 petals in any hundred and multiply by 7. So if you find 2 buttercups in any hundred the age of the meadow is roughly 14 years.
The first challenge is to know your Creeping Buttercup. There tend to be 3 types of buttercup in our meadows. Bulbous Buttercups are quite uncommon in our parish but look behind the petals and if the sepals are folded back it is Bulbous. It is much more likely that you have either Meadow or Creeping Buttercups. Look online to see the differences but the easiest indicator is to see if there is a groove or furrow in the stalk leading to the flower. If there is you have Creeping Buttercup. Most buttercups have five petals but occasionally they will turn up with more than 5 and as these buttercups can spread by cloning, each new plant from these will also have over 5. Scientists have correlated the numbers with meadows whose age is known to confirm the formula.
Why not try this out with the children? All they have to do is check for a groove and then count the petals. Simple!