A Year in the Valley

Walking back up the ramp, tiny shocking pink flowers caught my eye.  Nestling jewel-like in a setting of green finger-like leaves, they were so minute that I had to look again, close-up to be sure I hadn’t imagined them.   They are found on waste ground, roadsides, and rough grassland, so that describes our ramp.  It has five notched ‘Barbie’ pink petals and the sepals, which are the leaf-like structures that cup the flower, have tiny red bristles on the ends.  Some sources say the leaves are deeply-divided into seven fingers, but Collins Wildflower Guide makes no mention of this, and the illustration shows random divisions, just like the ones I have seen and photographed.  It is in the same family as Herb Robert.