Convallaria majalis Lily-of-the-valley

A well known and much loved plant that has been a popular garden plant in the past and which produces one-sided spikes of drooping, white, bell-like flowers that give off a heavy fragrance. It is a native in the British flora in some parts of the country where it grows in dry, calcareous or sandy woodland, scrub and in the grikes of limestone pavement. Each individual plant produces two erect, broadly-elliptical leaves. By virtue of its strong rhizomatous growth it can form extensive clonal colonies where it is established. It has a scattered distribution in Britain but it is rather local in Wales as a native species. However, it also occurs widely as a garden escape. There are no native populations in West Glamorgan but established colonies derived from garden plants are recorded occasionally and can persist for a long time, e.g. woodland on sandy soil on Crtmlyn Burrows. The leaves of Lily of the Valley conatin a cardiac glycoside and if consumed will cause raised blood pressure which can lead to heart failure.

Neophyte in West Glamorgan (but native elsewhere in Wales)