Burdocks can grow very large, over six feet tall, with enormous leaves. The hooked hairs on the calyx develop into the burrs which attach themselves to passing animals including dogs and humans in order to disperse the seeds. Thistle, spear , Cirsium vulgare The commonest large thistle. The scentless flower-heads are upright, in contrast to those of Musk thistles which hang down. The only native British balsam, although doubtfully truly native in Ryedale, where it is not common.
Yellow balsam grows in marshy places and ditches.
It is a much smaller plant than the increasingly common pink Himalayan balsam, only reaching two feet or so, and often only about a foot tall. Meadow Vetchling or Yellow Pea , Lathyrus pratensis The only common yellow vetch-like flower, meadow peas have pinnate leaves and long curling tendrils with which they scramble up the tall grasses and other plants with which they grow on verges, along the edges of woodland rides etc. The flowers occur in clusters on stalks emerging from the leaf axils. Bellflower, greater , Campanula latifolia A striking plant, rather like a tall Canterbury bell. Great bellflowers are common in old woodland, especially on limy soils along the edges in dappled shade.