Dear Readers, you might think that North London would be a poor place for plants, but not a bit of it – there are a wide range of habitats, and a considerable number of ‘aliens’ who have made the pavements of East Finchley their home. Some might call them ‘weeds’, but for me they a valuable reminder of the extraordinary resilience and adaptability of life.

So, for this week’s quiz, see if you can identify the plants in the photographs below. I am going to make it a tad harder by not making it multiple choice this week, which is fiendish I know, but you’re all doing far too well. However, I will give you a little clue under each photo. So, ‘all’ you have to do is to name the plants.

You have until 5 p.m. UK time on Friday 15th April to pop your answers into the comments (as usual I will disappear them as soon as I see them) and the results will be published on Saturday  16th April.

Have fun!

1). Smelly but pretty?

2) The only native member of the cucumber family.

3. St Simeon’s Herb

4. Its leaves are so soft that some people call it the Andrex plant.

5) Also known as ‘moneywort’ and ‘herb twopence’.

6) The foodplant of the Wood White butterfly

7) Used to flavour beer and wine, and to sweeten the beds of our ancestors

8) Lemon-flavoured

9) Popular with birds, but beware of the cyanide….

10)This native might sound Scandinavian, but it’s the salt that it likes….. (we’re after the white plant, not the pink one :-))