Best time to see: Mar to May

Key facts

Inconspicuous low carpet-making plant of woodland rides and shady banks, with flowers like a four-faced clock

One of the first flowers to bloom in spring and nearly always before April: hence 'Good Friday plant'

Can grow in very large colonies but distribution now very scattered

Extras

Green flowers in tight heads of five - one up, four to each side - on a long stalk, and smelling faintly of musk; 5–7 mm

Three-lobed light green leaves

Creeping, mat-forming habit