Moon carrot is a rare wildflower

Although Seseli libanotis is rare, it is common near my house in Sussex and in June is easy to spot and numerous along the cliff path between Seaford and Hope Gap. You know you’re in the right area when you see the noticeboard about it, as I spotted on my May hike over Seaford Head.

Seseli libanotis likes chalk grassland

The unusual wildflower is happy on the South Downs and doesn’t seem to struggle with the salt laden sea winds. It is a relatively large plant – the ones I saw were about 50cm tall. It is from the carrot family, but is a more substantial plant than wild carrot, Daucus carota, with large divided downy foliage. What makes it easy to identify once you have spotted that it is a carrot, is the convex shape of the umbel. I recently heard it described as resembling a cauliflower – presumably it’s this shape that gives it the description “moon”. Some of the umbels were more noticeably rounded than others.