lunchtime botany: ivy leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) is one of my favourite common urban plants. You'll find them all over the place on walls and in pavement cracks. Look out for neat little ivy-shaped leaves and purple snapdragon flowers. My favourite fact about these plants is how they spread so effectively: the flower heads face the light like most flowers when in bloom, but specifically tries to get away from light when seeds develop, burrowing into wall cracks and crevices and leaving seeds there. It's thought they were introduced to the UK this way, in Italian marble statues. Apparently their leaves are also edible but I'd avoid the ones at dog pee height on street corners... #botany #pavementplants #wildflowers #plants #flowers #Edinburgh #Scotland #naturalhistory (at Edinburgh, United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvtolLEA0Sk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xltz1hpf2hsu
