This was a rather curious annual event in the 1940s and 1950s - perhaps it stemmed from the Evacuation, when girls must have taken an interest in the flowers and grasses in their rural surroundings.

"The competition lasts for two days, during which time every girl in the school has the opportunity to examine the flowers displayed in jars numbered from one to a hundred, laid out in the Biology lab. Each competitor attempts to name as many specimens as possible, giving, if possible, the family name, the ordinary name, and the Latin name. The two forms - one Junior, one Senior, gaining the highest marks win pictures for their form rooms, while the girls with the highest marks receive individual prizes. No talking is allowed, and one’s eyes must be kept on one’s own paper, or woe betide."
from the 1954 magazine

This picture was the prize for the Junior Wild Flower Competition.
It was held by the winning form for a year.

"My dad had all the books, so I had an advantage, I always used to win."
from a 1940s pupil

"It was compulsory. Why they didn't keep it to those who were interested I don't know. Our form used to think up the most stupid names we could, every year, and they didn't take a blind bit of notice..."
from a 1950s pupil

A Botany field trip: collecting wildflowers

It later mutated...
"The new version of the Wild Flower competition, in which, for the Form awards, specimens had to be brought in by the girls, instead of given specimens having to be named. The individual awards are going to the best entries of either nature-diaries, or for example, pressed-flower collections, or among the seniors, some piece of original field work."
from the 1961 school magazine

The Wild Flower Competition was last heard on in 1970...

Plate on the reverse of the prize picture.
It lists winning forms from 1945 to 1970