Garrya elliptica, outside the library I am working in, SE London. Winter flowers of the male, the one most frequently planted; it's wind-pollinated in its original range, strictly limited to the west coast of California and Oregon, close to the ocean. I guess many species evolved in the area and were locked in west of the Rockies. From a very small family of plants; connected by genetics to the Asian dist. genus of shrubs Aucuba, also familiar as planted shrubs. #FlowerReport #Botany

Winter Heliotrope, Petasites fragrans #Asteraceae -- in flower at Phoenix Gardens, a wonderful sanctuary behind busy shopping streets, close to St Giles in the Fields, London. It is a close relative of #Butterbur, a plant I would like to see more often. #WildFlowerHour #FlowerReport