The ground-pine (Ajuga chamaepitys) is found in only 32 sites in Britain and is endangered. Listed as one of 15 priority species in Bedfordshire, it sits alongside charismatic species such as the hazel dormouse, water vole, brown trout and nightingale. A member of the mint family, it is a primitive plant that appears in only three places in the county.
It was popular in Tudor times for its medicinal qualities and its smell of pine when crushed – hence its common name – although it is also called dwarf bugle, yellow bugle or bugleweed.
This year so far will probably have suited this plant, as it likes heat and is drought tolerant, growing in bare disturbed patches of ground. It looks like a miniature pine tree, and likes the chalky soils found in the Chilterns.
This is the peak time of year to see ground-pine, an annual plant that cannot stand frost and currently reaching its maximum size of 30cm. About this time, the yellow flowers with red or purple spots are disappearing, changing into tough seeds that look like small nuts.
These seeds can survive in the ground for a remarkable 50 years, waiting for the right conditions before germinating, and so ground pine could still crop up in unmapped sites and surprise us.
