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Strictly for the Nerds: our wild service tree which the council planted just over a year ago as a Sorbus torminalis, had already been removed from the genus Sorbus (rowan, whitebeam) and placed in its own genus Torminalis where it now glories in its new name of T. glaberrima (glaber meaning smooth, hairless). Such has been the tree’s fascination to botanists and taxonomists that according to Wikipedia, at various times it's also been a hawthorn, a pear, an apple and a medlar. It is a native species and quite rare (ours is looking a bit as if it spent too long wrapped in a net waiting to be bought). 
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Just what you wanted to know... One plant now forming a small colony on the common carries a bit of a health warning. Ecballium elaterium – the squirting cucumber – is NOT edible and is a ‘potentially harmful’ (but not seemingly notifiable) irritant to both humans and pets, and is toxic if swallowed. The small, hairy ‘cucumbers’ disperse their seeds by exploding violently (stand clear!), from early autumn squirting a jet of slimy liquid containing the ripe seeds.  |
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