Reposted by Sam Thomas
There have been convincing records in 2026 of Buff-tailed Villa (V. hottentotta) in Kent and Essex. Please check carefully if you find something that looks like Dune Villa (V. modesta) but in locations away from the dune habitats.
![A screen shot of a key to the British and Irish taxa of Hypopitys monotropa (Yellow Bird’s-nest) from a recent BSBI News article by Fred Rumsey.
Text:
1 Floral parts glabrous subsp. hypophegea
1 Floral parts with some hairs 2
2 Stem and external surfaces of flower finely pubescent var. tomentosa*
2 Stem and external surfaces of flower glabrous 3
3 Inner petal surfaces, style and ovary conspicuously prickly hairy, ovary taller than wide, style
equalling to exceeding ovary, flower narrowly urceolate, petals usually 11–13 mm subsp. monotropa
3 Inner petal surfaces and other floral parts with scattered prickly hairs, showing various
combinations of the characters given above but not all, flower shorter and more campanulate,
petals usually 10 mm or less ‘intermediate’ [? sub-var piligera]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:37mahy2jicl6obsuv3gnan7j/bafkreiesypocsl7pwjcm7xtwotnlscpvdhbn4np2vkxufj3ruc5qig4edu)
