BSBINews - BSBI Archive - Botanical Society of the British Isles

BSBINews 

September 2009 No. 112 

Edited by Trevor James & Gwynn Ellis

Group photograph of BSBI members on the steps of the Guildhall, Berwick at the 2009 AGM 

(seep. 61) 

White-flowered Polemonium caeruleum, nr Horton-in-Ribblesdale (v.c.64) with close-up 

of flowers. Both photos N.A. Thompson ' 2008 (see p. 11)

Editorial & Diary................................................... 2 

Notes 

Taraxacum cymbifolium in Scotland 

.......................................... M.B. Usher & 1. Richards 3 

Another site for Allium schoenoprasum (Chives) 

in S. Northumb .................................. G. Young 4 

'Juncus fasciculatus Koch (?)' in Cliffe 

Castle Museum, Keighley .............. .. M. Wilcox 5 

Juncus acutiflorus ................................. M. Wilcox 7 

Epipactis leptochila complex in Britain 

................................ J. Richards & J. Squirrell 8 

On the flora of railway banks .... ........... J. Combes 9 

Alchemilla micans at Keepershield Quarry, 

S. Northumb. (v.c.67) .................. J. Richards 10 

Polemonium caeruleum .............. N.A. Thompson 11 

New records of Monotropa on an industrial 

site at Newport .................... T.G. Evans et al 12 

Progress report on habitat management projects 

......................................................... B. Laney 13 

Squirrel-stripping of trees ...................... J. Oliver 14 

Rare species at Barry Docks, Glamorgan (v.c.4l) 

................................. S.1. Tyler & T.G. Evans 18 

Tliple trouble over Onobrychis identification 

................................................... E.J. Clement 19 

Colonisation of the ramparts and walls of 

Berwick-upon-Tweed ............ D. W. Shimwell 20 

Teratology - a revival? ...................... J. Presland 23 

The abortive 'Penguin' Flora of the British Isles 

........................................................... D. Alien 25 

Symphytum - a corrigendum ................ c. Westall 27 

Gravel weeds by Loch Linnhe ........ ...... F. Anstey 27 

'Forensic botany' - a correction .. D.Hawksworth 27 

Botanical Crossword 13...................................... 28 

Aliens 

Habitat of Cochlearia megalosperma naturalised 

in Britain ................................ .. M. Braithwaite 29 

Stranger on the shore .............. ........ S.1. Bungars 30 

Planted aliens ............................ ........ .A. C. Leslie 30 

Vegetative identification of Buddleja species 

....................................................... .1. Poland 31 

Botanical delights at Seafield Park, Fareham 

(v.c.ll) .............................................. P. Budd 32 

Urtica membranacea Poiret in Cambridgeshire 

(v.c.29) ........................................ A.c. Leslie 33 

First British record for self-sown Melica altissima? 

...................................................... P.R. Green 34 

Small Project Grant Reports 

Plant communities of urban river walls and 

embankments ........ ..................... R.A. Francis 34 

Botany in Literatnre - 51 

Arthur Conan Doy le's 'The Adventure of Wisteria 

Lodge' .................................... M.E. Souchier 35 

CONTENTS 

Requests & offers 

Volunteer Co-ordinator needed for new survey of 

alien plants ...................................... P. Brown 38 

BSBI journals for free ............................ F. Slater 38 

Publications for disposaL ...................... .1. Osley 39 

Spare copies of BSBI journals for disposal 

....................................................... V. Livesey 39 

West Cork B & B ................................. S. Cobley 39 

Flowers and Photography Holidays in Menm'ca 

.......................................................... P. Dunn 39 

Notices 

2010 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowships 40 

Excursion to Almeria - ApriI201O ...... T. Farino 40 

BSBI trip to Mallorca April 201O .......... J. Bailey 41 

Estonia: bogs, fens & mires, July 2010 

................................ 1. Bennallick & P. Green 41 

Field meeting reports: 2008 

Lindisfarne area (v.c.68)C. Metherell & M. Smith 

42 

Field meeting reports: 2009 

Conifer Day, CYlil Hart Arboretum (v.c.34) 

................................. c. Kitchen & T. Titchen 45 

Chiltern Hills of mid-Bucks (v.c.24) ...... C, Boon 46 

E. Norfolk & Suffolk (v.c.c. 25, 27).A. Copping 47 

Parsonage Moor and Dry Sandford Pit, Berkshire 

(v.c.22) .................. .1. Edgington & J. Killick 48 

Nidderdale (v.c.64) and Wensleydale (v.c.65) 

.............. P. Abbott, L. Robinson & K. Walker 49 

Bog and fen in Co. Clare (v.c.H09) 

.......................................... S. Ward & S. Parr 50 

Report of overseas field meeting - 2009 

Paramos of Northern Castile ....... .T. Farino et al 51 

BSBI Spring Conference Report........................ 59 

Profile of new Honorary Member 

Ann Conolly .......................................... J. Bailey 65 

News of Members 

Y olande Heslop-Harrison .................... .. J. Bailey 66 

Paul Green .............................................. .1 Green 66 

Book Notes 

British field crops ................................ S. Francis 66 

BSBIIWFS Presidents' Prize ....... M. Braithwaite 67 

Recorders and Recording 

Panel of Referees and Specialists. M. C. Sheahan 68 

Panel of Vice-county Recorders ............ D. Pearman 68 

Obituary notes ...................................... M. Briggs 68 

Important Notice 

Results of the questionnaire about the 

Annual Exhibition Meeting .............. J. Bailey 69 

Notes from the Officers 

BSBI Plant Unit.. ................................ K. Walker 70 

Co-ordinator's Corner ......................... A. Lockton 71 

Drawings of wildflower seedlings 

Urtica dioica .......................................... S. Evans 74 

Deadline for contribution to News 113............... 75 

Cover picture- Taraxacum cymbifolium on steep grassy slope (665m) on Ben Vrackie, Perthshire. 

Photo M. Usher © 2008 (see p. 3)

2 Editorial/Diary 

EDITORIAL 

TREVOR JAMES (Receiving Editor), 56 Back Street, Ashwell, Baldock, Herts., SG75PE 

Tel.: 01462742684; trevorjjames@btinternet.com 

GWYNN ELLIS (General Editor), 41 Marlborough Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF235BU 

Tel. 02920496042; rgellis@ntlworld.com 

What a treat the Spring Conference and AGM at 

Berwick-upon-Tweed was for the 86 members 

and guests who attended. The very full Saturday 

programme included many interesting and 

informative talks. One which stood out because 

of it's taxonomic significance was the paper by 

James Cullen on the taxonomy of Rhododendron 

ponticum (Rhododendron) as naturalised in 

Britain. This should have been given at the 

October conference on 'Understanding our alien 

flora' but had to be postponed because of illness. 

A summary of this and all the other events of the 

weekend are on pages 59-64 of this issue. Our 

President is to be congratulated on organising 

such a successful event. 

The editors would like to commend members on 

the variety and the overall stimulating interest of 

things that have been submitted for this issue and 

to encourage them to continue to do so. Please 

remember that all submissions should be made 

to the Receiving Editor (TJ) , and not to the 

General Editor (GE). May we also remind all 

contributors that photos need to be good quality 

JPEGs, sent as separate files and not embedded 

in emails or documents. We still get quite a lot 

of these. 

We are grateful to new member Colin Jacobs for 

the following information on 'message-boards' 

and how to access them. 

'I was pleased to see the BSBI mentioned in 

several threads on the BBC Springwatch internet 

messageboard during the Springwatch TV 

Programme at the end of May. I hope that by 

Diary 

publicising the Society in this way the BSBI may 

get many more new members. With over 4 

million viewers I expect there were a lot who 

used the message board. One thread bemoaned 

the fact that plants are never mentioned on 

Springwatch but if anyone wants to learn botany 

the BSBI are a good, if not the best, Botany 

society to join in the UK. What a great free way 

of advertising the work of the society. 

Go to www.bbc.co.uk/springwatch then to 

messageboards and register a username. An 

email will be sent to your address, you click on 

the link and you can then add to any threads.' 

Another new member, Stuart CampbeIl, put a 

request in the last issue for some copies of 

Watsonia. He emailed - 'BSBI News received 

safely last Friday; members kindly phoned me 

on the same day (and others over the weekend) 

and both issues of Watsonia secured. The system 

works!! Thanks to all who responded' 

Afield key to the grasses of the East Midlands: 

Barry Dickerson' s address for ordering a copy of 

this key should have read - B. Dickerson, 27 

Andrew Road, Eynesbury, St Neots, Cambs., 

PEl9 2QE. Our apologies to anyone who had 

difficulty contacting him. 

Grasses of the British Isles, BSBI Handbook 13, 

should be published by the time you read this 

and will be posted very shortly. Fumitaries of 

Britain and Ireland and The Vegetative Key to 

the British Flora were both posted to members 

in May. 

N.B. These dates are often supplementary to those in the 2009 Calendar in BSBI Year Book 

2009 and include provisional dates of the BSBI' s Permanent Working Committees. 

7 Oct Records Committee, London 7 Nov* Scottish Exhibition & AGM 

90ct Committee for Wales, Aberystwyth 11 Nov Council, London 

13 Qct Publications Committee, London 21 Novt Annual Exhibition Meeting, London 

28 Oct Executive Committee, London 

4 Nov Database Subcommittee, Leicester 

7 Nov Committee for Scotland 

* Note change of venue (see enclosed lflet) 

t Note change of date (see enclosed lflet)

Notes - Taraxacum cymbifolium in Scotland 3 

NOTES 

Taraxacum cymbifolium in Scotland 

MrCHAEL B. USHER, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, 

Stirling, FK94LA 

JOHN RICHARDS, High Trees, South Park, Hexham, NE46 lBT 

Taraxacum cymbifolium (a dandelion) has 

been known from a single locality in Scotland. 

Dudman & Richards (1997) state that this is 

"at 1,000m (3,200ft) in the south-west corrie 

of Ben Lawers, Perth, on calcareous schist". 

The register of rare plants, kept by the Nature 

Conservancy Council prior to 1991, gave a 

single 6-figure grid reference, which corresponds 

with Dudman & Richards' description. 

T. cymbifolium is one of the six species of the 

genus Taraxacum in section Taraxacum, all of 

which are confined in the British Isles to the 

mountains of Scotland. Three of the species 

could be described as being relatively widely 

distributed in Scotland, one with a very 

restricted distribution, and two have been 

recorded in only a single lOkm grid square 

(T. cymbifolium and T. clovense). 

T. cymbifolium has a most unusual distribution. 

As Dudman & Richards (1997) say, "this 

species shows a remarkable disjunct distribution 

in the Arctic. The Ben Lawers station is 

10° latitude south of any other in Europe". 

Checking out the species name on a 

commonly used intemet search engine, a 

number of websites mention the species. 

These include www.sva1bardflora.net. which 

maps it as occurring on Bear Island, and 

www.srgc.org.uk, which refers to it as the 

'Bear Island Dandelion'. It is, however, given 

the name 'Ben Lawers Dandelion', both by 

Sell & Murrell (2006) and in 

www.biodiversityscotland.gov.uk.Itis 

recorded as being in the IUCN category 

'vulnerable' by www.plantnetwork.org, but 

this classification might be better as 'data 

deficient'. Sell & Murrell (2006) record the 

species as occurring in Faeroes, Iceland, 

Norway and Svalbard (but the latter reference 

is probably to Bear Island rather than Sva1bard 

sensu stricto), and www2.nrm.se also records 

it from Finland. 

Given these comments about the species, it 

is notable that it is now known to occur in at 

least a second site in Scotland. On 16 th May 

2008 MBU was searching for some of the 

earlier-flowering alpine plants on Ben 

V rackie, Perthshire. A number of dandelions 

were in flower, but he did not attempt identifications 

in the field. Two specimens of apparently 

different species were collected, pressed 

and later identified by JR. As he said in a 

letter to MBU, "there is no doubt that the 

creme de la creme is a second station for that 

most extreme disjunct (Svalbard, N. Iceland) 

T. cymbifolium" (see Front Cover). The 

specimen is now in the herbarium of the Royal 

Botanic Garden Edinburgh (E). 

The location was at an altitude of approximately 

665m, at national grid reference 

NN950629, on a steep, grassy, herb-rich slope. 

It was growing in a mixed population with 

T. brachyglossum, and lower down the 

mountain, at an altitude of about 400m, a 

second species of section Taraxacum was 

growing (T. ceratolobum). Unfortunately 

MBU did not make a count of the possible 

number of T. cymbifolium in this grassy sward 

- a further visit in 2009 proved to be too early 

to find any of the dandelions in flower. 

From a conservation perspective, this dandelion 

species is now known from two sites in 

Scotland, approximately 34 km apart, and at 

different altitudes. There appear to be few 

pressures on these popu1ations, other than by 

trampling by people searching for the more 

widely known rare alpine plants. Clearly what 

is needed is a survey of T. cymbifolium in its 

two localities, and in time an estimate of 

whether or not the sizes of the populations are 

changing. There would also be merit in 

searching for this species in other base-rich 

communities in the Scottish Highlands and at 

a variety of altitudes. It is now known from

4 Notes - Taraxacum cymbifolium in Scotland / Another site for Allium schoenoprasum in v.c.67 

two localities that are very frequently visited 

for their rare arctic-alpine plants, and both 

localities have very base-rich substrates by 

Scottish montane standards. There remains 

the possibility that the species, which flowers 

in May, could be found on other mountains 

with such habitats and collections of arcticalpine 

plants. 

References: 

DUDMAN, A.A. & RICHARDS, A.J. (1997). 

Dandelions of Great Britain and Ireland. 

BSBI. Handbook No. 9. 

SELL, P. & MURRELL, G. (2006). Flora of 

Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 4, 

Campanulaceae - Asteraceae. Cambridge 

University Press, Cambridge. 

Another site for Allium schoenoprasum (Chives) in S. Northumb. 

(v.c.67) 

GORDON YOUNG, 81 Lynn Road, Billy Mill, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE29 8HP 

Northumberland has long been known to have 

Allium schoenoprasum (Chives) at three sites: 

Walltown and Great Bavington in the south of 

the county (v.c.67), and Spindlestone in the 

north (v.c.68). However, reference was made 

to an undated record for Winshields Crags in 

the Flora of Northumberland (Swan, 1993). 

This was attributed to William Robertson, a 

Newcastle botanist who did his botanising 

mainly in the Newcastle and Tynedale areas. 

Living in the early part of the 19 th century (he 

died in in the late 1840s), he entered records as 

annotations to his personal copy of The 

botanist's guide through the counties of 

Northumberland and Durham VoU (Winch, 

Thomhill & Waugh, 1805). In this guide, 

there were no records at all for Allium 

schoenoprasum. Robertson, however, made 

two entries for the species (both of which he 

attributed to J.Thompson), and one of these 

was for "Winshields Crags, near to Twice 

Brewed" - a roadside public house. As was 

stated in the Flora of Northumberland, 

nothing more was known about this site, 

although, in the Northumberland Wildlife 

Trust Whin Grassland Survey report in 1980, 

East Bog Farm was suggested as being the 

possible 19 th century site. 

However, in 2001, when cattle and sheep 

were removed from the countryside because 

of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, the 

farmer at East Bog Farm (NY7467), on the the 

dip-slope of Win shields Crags, and some 

400m from Twice Brewed, made a report to 

the National Trust (the landowners) of what he 

thought was Chives. The following year, 

Andrew Poad, the National Trust property 

manager, visited the site with the N.T. ecologist, 

and confirmed the sighting. 

This is quite an exciting 'find', as there are 

no records for this site in the subsequent 

county Floras (Winch, 1831; Baker & Tate, 

1868). In fact, in the latter, the species is 

stated to be "rarely, or quite extinct in some of 

the old stations". At East Bog it is to be found 

on five of the exposed whin outcrops, and in 

reasonable quantity. On a national basis, of 

the UK.'s 3,900+ lOkm squares, Allium 

schoenoprasum is to be found in 18, with 

Nortumberland having three. This now stands 

at 19 and four respectively. 

References: 

BAKER, J.G. & TATE, G.R. (1868). A new 

flora of Northumberland and Durham, with 

sketches of its climate and physical geography. 

Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Northumb. 2: 

1-316. 

SWAN, G.A. (1993). Flora of Northumberland. 

Natural History Society of Northumbria. 

WINCH, NJ. (1831). Flora of Northumberland 

and Durham. Hodgson, Newcastle-upon 

Tyne. 

WINCH, NJ., THORNHILL, J. & WAUGH, R. 

(1805). The botanist's guide through the 

counties of Nortumberland and Durham. 

Vol. 1. Hodgson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Notes - Juncus fasciculatus Koch in Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, Skip ton 5 

'Juncus fasciculatus Koch (?)' in Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, 

Skipton 

MICHAEL WILCOX, 32 Shawbridge Street, Clitheroe, BB7 lLZ (michaelpw22@hotmail.com) 

A funGus specimen in Cliffe Castle Museum 

(CCM), labelled 'funcus Jasciculatus Koch 

(?)', from Glamorgan, v.cAl, was of great 

interest, as the specimen appeared to be funcus 

pygmaeus Rich. funcus pygmaeus has apparently 

only ever been known from the Lizard in 

Cornwall, v.c.l. The authenticity of the specimen 

may have been in doubt and further steps 

were taken to discover if the specimen was 

genuine. 

Firstly, the specimen was found by the well 

known Yorkshire botanist, EA. Lees (Arnold 

Lees). The date given was May 1872 and, as 

can be seen from the label, (fig. 1, p. 7) it 

describes the location as; 'Sandy moor, near sea 

between Oystermouth and Pennard Castle, 

Glamorgan' . The label is actually stuck over 

the specimen and is in Arnold Lees' own hand 

writing. The label appeared to be very white, as 

if modern, but could not be, as the handwriting 

is Lees' and it has since discoloured, (by taking 

the specimen out three times), suggesting it was 

just because it had been in the dark all this time. 

The name 'funcus buJonius' has been written 

on the sheet in 'ink' in the lower right corner, 

but no details are given, though it seems to be a 

modern [in-]correction. One of the doubts 

surrounding the specimen was to discover if 

Lees was in Wales at that time and to find out 

more information on the name, '1. Jasciculatus 

Koch (?)'. 

The description on the label seems to be 

fairly specific, at least in the location given, 

and is clearly not a mistake for anywhere in 

Cornwall. The issue of whether Arnold Lees 

was in the area seems to be unquestionable, as 

Draba aizoides, was collected in 1871 by Lees 

from 'the walls of Pennard Castle', a well 

known site. Specimens of this latter species 

have been seen in both MANCH and the 

herbarium at the Leeds Discovery Centre. 

The name 'funcus Jasciculatus' is a complicated 

situation mostly surrounding the 

f. buJonius agg., with the associated species 

now part of funcus subg. Agathyron, section 

Tenageia; though it has implications relating 

to f. pygmaeus also, which is in funcus subg. 

funcus section Ozophyllum (Kirschner, 2002a, 

b). However, f. pygmaeus is distinct from all 

taxa in the f. buJonius agg., as it has unitubular 

leaves, whereas those in the f. buJonius agg., 

have bifacial leaves. Largely in the UK, the 

treatment of the f. buJonius agg. has been 

divided in to three taxa: J. Joliosus Desf., 

f. buJonius L. and f. ambiguus Guss., (Cope & 

Stace 1978, Stace 1997). Currently, the first 

two species appear to have been retained under 

those names, though the latter species has now 

revelied to f. ranarius Songeon & E.P. Perrier 

in Kirschner (2002b), and is accepted as such 

here. 

Within the f. buJonius agg., the name 

'Jasciculatus' is also associated with f. hybridus 

Brot., an alien taxon rarely ever seen in the UK. 

The name 'Jasciculatus' has occurred at various 

ranks relating to f. buJonius, f. ranarius (within 

f. buJonius s.l.), and f. tingitanus Maire & 

Weiller, a non-native that is very similar to and 

in the same section as 1. pygmaeus. Both these 

latter two species have unitubular leaves. The 

names relating to 'Jasciculatus' given in 

Kirschner (2002a, b) are given below under 

each taxon they relate to: 

funcus subg. Agathyron section Tenageia: 

f. hybridus: 1. Jasciculatus Bertol., Fl. Ital. 

4: 190 (1839), nom illeg. 

f. buJonius ssp.Jasciculatus 

K. Richt., PI. Eur. 1: 176 

(1890), nom illeg. 

f. ranarius: f. buJonius var. Jasciculatus 

Koch, syn. FI. Baden 1: 336 

(1857), nom illeg., non 

Thunb. (1820). 

Juncus subg. Juncus section Ozophyllum: 

J. tingitanus: J. Jasciculatus Schousb., ex 

E.Mey., syn. Junc. 28 (1822), 

nom illeg., non Schrank (1789). 

It is worth noting here that the name 'var. 

congestus' is likely to refer to some plants in 

this group as the name 'Jasciculatus' relates to

6 Notes - Juncus fasciculatus Koch in Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, Skipton 

having a 'fasciculate' (congested) inflorescence. 

The name is given under f. bufonius 

and f. ranarius, usually at varietal or unranked 

status respectively (Kirschner, 2002b). 

As the Cliffe Castle specimen was from 

Britain it is unlikely that the name was intended 

for f. tingitanus, (and it does not belong to that 

species based on the size of the tepals and 

anthers). The name 'fasciculatus' is likely to 

have been applied in error for one of the species 

in the f. bufonius agg. The most likely misapplication 

of the name by F.A.Lees was for that 

given under f. ranarius, since he was unsure of 

the authority ("Koch (?)") and it seems the rank 

also (given as a species by Lees), and 

f. ranarius usually has small clusters of flowers. 

Even today the most likely error for 

f. pygmaeus would be f. ranarius 

(f. ambiguus), which, although part of the 

f. bufonius agg. (only as a variant at the time of 

Lees), was at that time not separated from 

f. bufonius s.s., although it suggests Lees and 

possibly others thought it different from 

f. bufonius s.l. Today the separation is clearer 

for the species in the f. bufonius agg., (Stace 

1997) (although the group is still a complex of 

possibly evolving species) and in any case 

f. bufonius and f. pygmaeus belong to different 

Sections, (see leaf types above and Kirschner 

(2002a, b) for other differences). No species in 

the f. bufonius complex has unitubular leaves. 

The CCM specimen has unitubular leaves, and 

the tepal type is that of f. pygmaeus. There is 

no doubt it is that species. 

An examination of plants with the name 

funcus bufonius var. fasciculatus in LIV (five 

plants found) showed that three are 

f. ranarius, one is f. bufonius and the other 

one is f. foliosus. This suggests that the 

congested inflorescence, while typical for 

f. ranarius, is also found in other members of 

this group. Whether these would grow true or 

not is uncertain as I have seen no modern 

records for the latter two species with 

'fasciculate' inflorescences. If they were to 

grow true then perhaps the names 'var.fasciculatus' 

for f. bufonius and 'var. congestus' for 

f.foliosus would be as good as any! 

It seems clear that the specimen in Cliffe 

Castle is f. pygmaeus and, while the prove- 

nance and habitat may be disputed, it seems to 

be a genuine collection of this species, 

mistaken for a f. bufonius-like plant. In 

MANCH a specimen [EM305628] has been 

seen of f. pygmaeus that is labelled; "funcus 

pygmaeus, Land's End, Cornwall, W. Curnow, 

1877 -" and so it may have occurred outside 

the Lizard on more than one occasion and 

further validates the possibility of it having 

occurred in Wales. However, there were two 

botanists with the name 'Wo Curnow' and the 

name Land's End was often used for the 

Lizard. Notwithstanding this, there is also 

another specimen [EM95462] of a W.M. 

Curnow (written, wm Curnow, as are other 

specimens of this collector) and this is labelled 

'The Lizard, June 61877' and suggests that W. 

Curnow was the other Cornish botanist and the 

collection may have been genuine for Land's 

End. J. Cunnack precedes these two in 

MANCH with a 'Lizard' collection of June 

1873 [EM305648]. 

It may be worth looking at other herbarium 

specimens, particularly those under the names 

given above for the f. bufonius agg., to see if it 

may have been overlooked and occurred 

elsewhere. The Cliffe Castle specimen 

suggests an extension of the range for this 

diminutive little rush, albeit retrospectively. A 

search in the area of south Wales might be 

worthwhile. Like the scattered distribution of 

f. capitatus, since refound in Anglesey 

(Pearman et al., 2002), and recently re-discovered 

in Land's End Cornwall by Ian Bennallick 

(pers. comm.: Rose Murphy), it seems 

plausible that f. pygmaeus, a vulnerable and 

often ephemeral species, may have once 

occurred in Wales and Land's End in Cornwall. 

Acknowledgements: 

Special thanks to Dr Gerard McGowan of 

CCM, and Dr T. Rich. Also thanks to Drs 

C.D.Preston, C.A.Stace, and to Clare Stringer 

(Leeds Discovery Centre-Museum) and 

Dr Leander Wolstenholme (MANCH), staff at 

LIV, and Rose Murphy. 

References: 

COPE, T.A. & STACE, C.A. (1978). The funcus 

bufonius L. aggregate in western Europe. 

Watsonia 12: 113-128.

Notes - Juncus fasciculatus Koch in Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley, Skipton I funGus acutifolius 7 

KIRSCHNER, J. (2002a). 'Juncaceae 2: funcus 

subg. funcus'. Species Plantarum: Flora of 

the World. Part 7: 1-336. 

KIRSCHNER, J. (2002b). 'Juncaceae 3: funcus 

subg. Agathryon'. Species Plantarum: Flora 

of the World. Part 8: 1-192. 

PRESTON, C.D., PEARMAN, D.A. & DINES, 

T.D. (eds.). (2002). New atlas of the British 

& Irish flora. Oxford University Press, 

Oxford. 

STACE, C.A. (1997). New flora of the British 

Isles (2 nd ed.). Cambridge University Press, 

Cambridge. 

Fig. 1. funGus pygmaeus Rich. Specimen in Cliffe Castle Museum 

luncus acutiflorus 

MIKE WILCOX, 32 Shawbridge Street, Clitheroe, BB7 lLZ (michaelpw22@hotmail.com) 

funcus acutiflorus (Sharp-flowered Rush) is 

recorded as a widespread and very common 

species in most areas. Its hybrid, f. x surrejanus, 

with f. articulatus (Jointed Rush), is 

recorded as scattered and much less common, 

some areas recording it more than others. 

However, I suspect that the hybrid is more 

common than the species in many areas, (as I 

have seen only a few convincing plants of the 

species). In order to assess these two taxa I 

would be grateful for specimens particularly 

(only) of f. acutiflorus (although, if you think 

it is a hybrid I don't mind seeing this as well); 

but collect from any stand of rushes thought to 

be one or the other. They need no special 

pressing, no need for the whole plant, collect 

from the upper leaf on the stem including the 

inflorescence. Many plants can fit on A4 

sheets loosely sellotaped, as many as you like, 

save up over the season (Aug-Oct only) to post 

in one go. Postage paid - I challenge you to 

find f. acutiflorus (please)! Further work 

might reveal if any partially fertile plants are 

hybrids or the species as well.

8 

Notes - Epipactis leptochila complex in Britain 

Epipactis leptochila complex in Britain 

JOHN RrCHARDS, High Trees, South Park, Hexham NE46 lBT (hightreesga:den@btinternet.com) 

JANE SQUIRRELL, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh EH3 5LR (J.SqUlrrell@rbge.ac.uk) 

In BSBI News 111: 12-14 (April, 2009), Simon 

Harrap attempts to bring up to date and clarify 

the present situation regarding several helleborine 

taxa in Britain, including Epipactis 

leptochila (Narrow-lipped Helleborine), 

E. dunensis (Dune Helleborine), E. dunensis 

ssp. tynensis (Tyne Helleborine), E. sancta 

(Lindisfarne Helleborine), and E. muelleri. 

Simon Harrap rightly points out that modem 

authoritative accounts in general use, such as 

Preston et al. (2002) and Stace (2004) have 

become outmoded in this regard. A molecular 

analysis of these taxa (Squirrell et aI., 2002) 

encouraged some Continental authors 

(Delforge & Gevaudan, 2002; Kreutz, 2007) to 

subject British populations to taxonomic treatments 

that have not been publicised widely, 

although they were discussed in part by 

Hollingsworth et al. (2006). 

We agree with Simon Harrap that it is time 

that the present consensus with respect to these 

taxa is made known more widely. However, 

we do not fully concur with all of his conclusions, 

or those of the Continental authorities. In 

particular, we would like to emphasise that all 

the taxa under discussion here are very closely 

related, and can usefully be regarded as belonging 

to the same species complex (for which the 

prior name would be E. leptochila s.l.). 

Nevertheless, at present this complex has 

been split, and first we would like to re-emphasise 

those matters that are common 

ground, and with which we agree. 

• Epipactis leptochila and E. dunensis are 

very closely related, but at present are best 

treated at specific rank. 

• E. leptochila s.s. is a plant primarily of 

southern beech woods and does not occur 

north of Shropshire. 

• Plants from wasteland sites in North 

Lincs., SE Yorks. and South Lancs. (the 

latter not mentioned by Harrap) are 

E. dunensis, as are plants associated with 

metal spoil or metalliferous river gravels in 

northern England. 

• E. muelleri does not currently grow in 

Britain (a few individuals that may have 

been this species were found on the south 

coast of Sussex in the 1970's) 

Populations of 'E. dunensis' on Scottish bings 

(re-colonised coal spoil) are more complex. 

Morphologically there are plants there with 

the appearence of E. dunensis, but there are 

also plants with intermediate morphologies. 

Genetic analysis showed that E. dunensis-like 

plants in Scotland lacked the classic 

homozygous and uniform genetic signature of 

English E. dunensis. Instead they are heterozygous 

for the same set of alleles as was found 

in sympatric plants of E. helleborine and 

E. helleborine var. youngiana. Scottish 

'E. dunensis' may be relict hybrids of 

E. dunensis with E. helleborine s.1., or they 

may represent independent origins of the 

E. dunensis phenotype. 

However, there are two taxa discussed by 

Simon Harrap with which we would take 

issue. Classic E. dunensis from the west coast 

dunes of Cumberland and Lancashire is 

morphologically inseparable from plants from 

metalliferous sites in the South Tyne valley 

('E. dunensis ssp. tynensis'). These two taxa 

could not be separated by their isozyme 

profiles, had identical sequences of chloroplast 

DNA, and differed only by 1 bp (the 

minimum possible substitution) in the trnL 

region of nuclear DNA. This was interpreted 

as 'a single origin followed by a mutational 

divergence'. We submit that as this is the only 

detectable difference between the taxa (apart 

from geography and ecology), no case can be 

made for the 'Tyne Helleborine'. Inland 

plants from sites in northern England should 

be regarded as E. dunensis. 

The question of the identity of the plants on 

Lindisfarne, in North Northumberland, is 

more problematic. These resembled west 

coast E. dunensis in their isozyme profile, but 

displayed an unique chloroplast DNA

Notes - Epipactis leptochila complex in Britain I On the flora of railway banks 9 

sequence which was unlikely to have derived 

from other sequences in this group. Nevertheless, 

the 'Lindisfarne Helleborine' (E. sancta) 

is not as distinct from west coast E. dunensis, 

molecularly, as E. dunensis is from E. leptochila 

and E. muelleri. 

If the 'Lindisfarne Helleborine' were 

morphologically identical to west coast 

E. dunensis, this would raise the interesting 

question as to whether two plants of different 

origins but closely convergent morphology 

should be regarded as the same or different 

species. However, it is the opinion of JR that 

the 'Lindisfarne Helleborine' does not resemble 

E. dunensis very closely, having in particular 

a less dense inflorescence with fewer 

flowers, which is relatively longer in relation 

to the leafy part of the stem. This contention 

requires detailed analysis, and until this is 

published, we would welcome the taxon 

E. sancta with some considerable caution. At 

present, we regard it as a useful 'workname' 

rather than a proven species. 

References: 

DELFORGE, P. & GEVAUDAN, A. (2002). 

'Contribution taxonomique et nomenclaturale 

au groupe d'Epipactis leptochila'. Les 

On the flora of railway banks 

Naturalistes Belges, hors-serie - special: 

Orchidees. 83 (Orchid 15): 19-35. 

HOLLINGSWORTH, P.M., SQUIRRELL, I, 

HOLLINGSWORTH, M.L., RICHARDS, AJ. & 

BATEMAN, R.M. (2006). Taxonomic complexity, 

conservation and recrurent origins of selfpollination 

in Epipactis (Orchidaceae). In: IP. 

BAILEY & R.G. ELLIS (eds.). Current 

taxonomic research on the British and Europeanflora. 

pp.27-44. BSBI, London. 

KREUTZ, C.AJ. (2007). Epipactis dunensis 

(T. & T.A. Stephenson) Godfrey subsp. 

tynensis Kreutz, eine neue Epipactis-sippe 

aus Nordengland und Sudschottland. 1. Eur. 

Orchid. 39(1): 123-134. 

PRESTON, C.D., PEARMAN, D.A. & DINES, 

T.D. (2002). New atlas of the British & Irish 

flora. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 

SQUIRRELL, I, HOLLINGSWORTH, P.M., 

BATEMAN, R.M., TEBBEITT, M.C. & 

HOLLINGSWORTH, M.L. (2002). Taxonomic 

complexity and breeding system transitions: 

conservation genetics of the Epipactis leptochila 

complex. Molecular Ecology 11: 

1957-1964. 

STACE, C.A. (2004). 'Interactive flora of the 

British Isles.' ETI (CD-ROM). 

JEAN COMBES OBE, 5 Crofton, Woodfield Lane, Ashtead, Surrey, KT21 2BH 

I have never learnt to drive, so I travel everywhere 

by train from my home in Surrey, and I 

am a diligent observer of wild plants from train 

windows. I have three daughters, who live in 

Sussex, Birmingham and Lancashire respectively, 

and I visit them from time to time. I 

have also visited Scotland 25 times, and have 

observed many floral delights from the train. 

In March and April, en route to Sussex, I see 

masses of bank-side Primula vulgaris 

(Primrose). This is my favourite wild flower, 

so obviously the sight delights me. Travelling 

up to London from my Surrey home there are 

miles of Equisetum telmateia (Great Horsetail) 

on the banks, and many aliens, including 

Artemisia verlotiorum (Chinese Mugwort), 

Senecio squalidus (Oxford Ragwort), Conyza 

canadensis (Canadian Fleabane) and Solidago 

canadensis (Canadian Golden-rod). 

Going to stay at Birmingham, the train 

travels along a cutting through the Chiltern 

Hills, and a delightful chalk flora can be seen, 

including Thymus spp. (thymes), Viola spp. 

(violets), Campanula spp. (bell-flowers), and 

Origanum vulgare (Marjoram), etc. 

On the high-speed train to Lancashire and 

Scotland, the great speed of the train hinders 

identification, except when it slows down. One 

of the first signs of reaching Scotland is Oreopteris 

limbosperma (Lemon-scented Fern), with 

its yellow-green fronds, but the many other 

Scottish delights are too numerous to mention. 

Car drivers must obviously focus on the road 

ahead, so they miss most of the roadside 

plants, and I arrive at my many destinations 

thinldng rail travel is the best method of transport, 

and, of course, is better for the environment 

too.

10 Notes - Alchemilla micans at Keepershield Quarry, S. Northumb. (v.c.67) 

Alchemilla micans at Keepershield Quarry, S. Northumb. (v.c.67) 

JOHN RrCHARDS, High Trees, South Park, Hexham, Northumberland NE46 lBT 

(Hightrees garden @btinternet.com) 

Alchemilla micans Buser, previously known as 

A. gracilis Opiz, is the most recently discovered 

and most localised of the rare lady's 

mantles of north-east England. It was originally 

discovered by Professor G.A. Swan at a 

site known as The Scroggs (NY8972), about 

10 km north-west of Hexham in 1976. It has 

since been recorded in three other sites in the 

same area. At one, a road-verge, there are only 

about five plants. The other two sites are close 

to one another. They are heavily grazed so the 

plants are very small, and probably contain not 

more than 150 plants. All the sites are grasslands 

over shallow soils overlying Whin Sill 

(dolerite), particularly close to the junction 

between the Whin Sill and adjacent limestones. 

The original site, the Scroggs contained the 

largest population, which in good (wet) springs 

could contain several hundred plants, usually 

very dwarfed by rabbit grazing, drought and 

low nutrients. Close by, the flat Whin Sill was 

exposed in horizontal plates, around which a 

number of other localised species occurred 

including Scleranthus annuus (Annual 

Knawel), Trifolium striatum (Striated Clover), 

Geranium columbinum (Long-stalked Crane' sbill) 

and Allium vineale (Crow Garlic). 

However in dry years, the population of the 

a1chemilla could become very much reduced. 

On one occasion I could only find about 20 

individuals. 

At the Scroggs, A. micans occurred together 

with three other species of alchemilla, 

A. filicaulis ssp. vestita, and on deeper soils, 

A. xanthochlora and A. glabra. It is readily 

separable from the last two species by being 

notably hairy on the upper surface of the leaf. 

Unlike A. filicaulis ssp. vestita, the upper parts 

of the inflorescence (peduncles and pedicels) 

are glabrous, although a proportion of the 

urceoles do have some hairs, in contradiction 

to most published descriptions. With practice 

it can also be distinguished from A. filicaulis 

ssp. vestita by the yellow-green leaf-colour 

(blue-green in the latter). From the potentially 

much larger rare species which also have 

leaves hairy above (although much less so), but 

glabrous inflorescences, A. acutiloba and 

A. subcrenata, A. micans is best distinguished 

by the narrower funnel-shaped base to the 

urceole when in mature fruit, longer filiform 

pedicels (especially in fruit), and the rather 

erect hairs on the petioles, although the latter 

character is by no means constant. 

The Scroggs was adjacent to a large 

whinstone quarry, although hidden behind a 

belt of trees. In the 1990s, the quarry owners, 

then Alan Davison Construction, reactivated a 

dormant permission for mineral extraction 

rights involving the ground to the west of the 

quarry, including the Scroggs. The quarry then 

changed hands in 1994 when it was bought by 

ARC, part of the Hanson group and owners of 

nearby Swinburne quarry. Hanson consulted 

with the Northumberland Wildlife Trust 

(NWT) , Natural England, Northumberland 

County Council and specialist ecologists 

Humphries Rowell regarding the translocation 

of the plants and it was agreed that the most 

interesting plant communities, including all the 

Alchemilla micans, should be transplanted 

onto bare level Whin Sill within the Keepershield 

Quarry, in a marginal site that would 

form part of the final restoration plan for the 

site and would remain unquarried. 

This work was undertaken by Humphries 

Rowell of Leicester over two years from 1998 

to 2000 at a total cost of £70,000. The turf at 

the Scroggs was stripped and stored, and the 

shallow topsoil taken to the new site, where the 

turf was relaid. Separately, all the a1chemilla 

plants were dug up by volunteer students from 

Germany, potted temporarily, and then 

replanted in the new site (as only A. micans and 

A. filicaulis ssp. vestita can be found at the new 

site, it seems that the students only preserved 

plants that had leaves that were hairy above). 

I confess that I was sceptical about the likely 

success of this exercise, and thought privately 

that the main British locality for A. micans had

Notes - Alchemilla micans at Keepershield Quarry, S. Northumb. (v.c.67) I Polemonium caeruleum 11 

probably been lost. Despite ongoing interest 

from Natural England, and one early site visit 

by representatives of NWT, little if any information 

about the success of the scheme had 

filtered through to the Botanical community, a 

process not helped by the considerable security 

attending access to the Keepershield site. 

Although it is a priority BAP species, no information 

as to its current status is found for 

either the 2005 or 2008 surveys, nor does the 

Plantlife website reveal any accurate information. 

I have meant to visit the site for several years, 

and finally arranged a meeting with Bruce 

Lowdon, the Unit Manager for Hanson Aggregates 

who now own the Quarry, on June 9 th 

2009. The North-East of England had enjoyed 

a particularly dry spring, so that although some 

rain had fallen during the previous week, most 

Whin sites were sere and the annual communities 

typical of the shallowest soils were in poor 

condition. 

Bruce Lowdon proved to be very welcoming, 

and was knowledgeable about the translocation, 

and indeed many of the plants that had 

been moved. It would be fair to say that he was 

very proud of the translocated site, and I 

thought he had every right to be. The translocated 

site is about 2 ha in extent. Most of it is 

high quality Whin grassland with a high diversity, 

but in which species such as Sanguisorba 

minor (SaId Burnet), Galium verum (Lady's 

Bedstraw), G. cruciata (Cross-wort), Helictotrichon 

pubescens (Downy Oat-grass), Briza 

media (Quaking Grass), Koeleria macrantha 

(Tufted Hair-grass), Carex flacca (Glaucous 

Sedge), Thymus polytrichus (Common 

Thyme), Primula veris (Cowslip) and Centaurea 

nigra (Common Knapweed) were 

abundant, while Orchis mascula (Early Purple 

Polemonium caeruleum 

Orchid) also occurred. At one end, limestone 

rocks had been imported from the limestone 

side of the original site to form a low cliff, and 

in this several species of fern had established. 

Alchemillas in excellent health and vigour 

abounded throughout the site. These were 

roughly half A. micans and half A. filicalis 

ssp.vestita. Although most plants were flowering, 

many small seedlings of both species 

could be found. There were not less than 500 

flowering size plants of both species present; 

maybe more. 

Cleverly, soil depths, slopes and aspects had 

been varied at the far (west) end of the site, and 

here could be found the remains of abundant 

annual communities, including the locally rare 

Geranium columbinum. Several healthy 

patches of Trifolium striatum were also found, 

but no Scleranthus annuus. The latter species 

was difficult to find at the original site during 

dry years, so it may not have been lost. 

In my opinion this translocation has been a 

resounding success, and might well serve as a 

model should similar exercise prove necessary 

elsewhere. What has been created from 

scratch is one of the best examples of a whin 

grassland still in existence. My only reservation 

is that the communities have now reached 

the point at which they would benefit from 

autumn and winter grazing (at present they are 

locally strimmed at the end of the season). 

Bruce Lowdon is well aware of this, and 

promises to initiate discussions with local 

farmers. Unfortunately, the adjacent land is 

presently ungrazed by the tenant. 

Bruce Lowdon welcomes prearranged visits 

by interested parties, and there is much more to 

admire than just Britain's rarest lady's mantle. 

He can be contacted on 01434 681893 or 

07764241936. 

NORMAN A.THOMPSON, 6 The Grove, Marton-in-Cleveland, Middlesbrough, TS78AA 

Donald Pigott wrote in the January BSBI 

News (110: 23): "My study of native habitats 

in England had shown them to be almost always 

on steep, north-facing, often rather unstable 

slopes, with seepage of water ... " 

I found the white variety of Polemonium 

caeruleum (Jacob's-ladder) on 19 th June 2008. 

The clump was growing on the roadside verge 

on the main road from Horton-in-Ribblesdale, 

far from steep slopes and cliffs (see inside 

Front Cover).

12 Notes - New records of Monotropa hypopitys ssp. hypophegea at Newport (v.c.35) 

New records of Monotropa hypopitys ssp. hypophegea (Yellow 

Bird's-nest) on an industrial site at Newport (v.c.35) 

TREVOR G. Ev ANS, La Cuesta, Mountain Road, Chepstow, Gwent, NP 16 5BS, 

ROGER JAMES, SINEAD LYNCH & STEPHANIE 1. TYLER 

On 10 th July 2009 Trevor Evans (TGE), Stephanie 

Tyler (SJT) and Roger James (RJ), 

together with Sinead Lynch from Newport 

City Council, visited the lagoons and 

surrounding areas at the former Alpha Steel 

(now Mir) works at Newport (ST337845) to 

carry out a botanical survey. In the mid- 

1980s, Martyn Jones, TGE and SJT had botanised 

at the site, when thousands of plants of 

Epipactis palustris (Marsh Helleborine) 

occurred on deposited material around the red 

lagoons and 500-1000 Dactylorhiza praetermissa 

(Southern Marsh-orchid), Anacamptis 

pyramidalis (Pyramidal Orchid) and Ophrys 

apifera (Bee Orchid) grew in surrounding 

grassland (Evans, 2007). Much tipping has 

occurred at the site in the intervening years, 

destroying much of the immediate surroundings 

of the lagoons. Areas of grassland have 

also developed into Betula pendula (Silver 

Birch), B. pubescens (Downy Birch) and Salix 

cinerea (Grey Willow) scrub. 

We found many fewer orchids - a scattering 

of Epipactis palustris and hybrid Dactylorhiza 

fuchsii x D. maculata (Common Spotted x 

Heath Spotted-orchids), a small number of 

Dactylorhiza praetermissa, and two flowers 

of Ophrys apifera. However, in a narrow strip 

of scrub woodland carpeted with Hedera helix 

(Ivy) RJ noted some 'broomrapes'. We were 

excited to see about 100 emerging Monotropa 

hypopitys (Yellow Bird's-nest). Later, at a 

different location, we found three more 

Monotropa concentrations numbering about 

300 plants. SJT then noticed a patch of Pyrola 

sp. (wintergreen) with 10-20 flowering spikes, 

but all still in bud in denser birch woodland. 

Unknown to us at the time, Heather Colls, 

when taking a botanical walk around the 

nearby Newport Wetlands Reserve on 7th July 

had discovered another 100 plant popUlation 

of the Monotropa in scrub birch/willow 

woodland on ash from the former Uskmouth 

Power Station. 

On 17th July TGE and SJT returned to the 

Mir site to check the subspecies of Monotropa 

and to see whether the Pyrola buds had 

opened. The Monotropa was ssp. hypophegea, 

and it was evident that two areas with 

Monotropa were in the form of a circle around 

Salix cinerea and birch bushes. The wintergreen 

proved to be P. rotundifolia (Roundleaved 

Wintergreen). 

In Monmouthshire (v.c.35) Monotropa is a 

rarity, being confined to limestone woodland 

under Fagus sylvatica (Beech) at Blackcliff 

(Evans, 2007). The discovery of this species 

at two former industrial sites near Newport is 

therefore of some interest and reminiscent of 

the discovery of Monotropa hypopitys ssp. 

hypophegea in 2004 by P. Jones in a fairy ring 

on pulverised fly-ash under birch and willow 

trees at Pwll near Burry Port in West Glamorgan. 

Jones (2008) discussed the relationship 

between Monotropa and Tricholoma fungi. 

Pryce (2005) reported on a visit in July 2004 

to see the recently discovered popUlation of 

Monotropa at Pwll. On that visit both Pyrola 

minor (Common Wintergreen) and P. rotundifolia 

were also found. In Monmouthshire, 

Pyrola rotundifolia was known from just one 

site (Evans, 2007), so the discovery of the 

species at Mir Works is also of note. 

The future of the lagoons and surrounding 

areas at Mir Works near Newport are uncertain. 

Foreign investors have bought this area 

from Mir and presumably intend to develop it. 

Apart from the species noted above, the site 

has much else of interest - extensive patches 

of Lathyrus sylvestris (Narrow-leaved 

Everlasting-pea) and abundant Lotus glaber 

(Narrow-leaved Bird's-foot-trefoil), as well as 

occasional plants of Sisymbrium altissimum 

(Tall Rocket). More than 140 plant species 

were found in July 2009. 

On the phone Phyl Abbot informed TGE that 

Grass Wood, Yorkshire, also produced an

Notes - New records of Monotropa at Newport (v.c.35) I Progress report on habitat management 13 

projects 

unexpected, large colony of Monotropa this 

year. Are there any more surprise populations? 

References: 

EVANS, T.G. (2007). The Flora ofMonmouthshire. 

The Chepstow Society. 

JONES, P. (2008). Monotropa hypopitys 

(Yellow Bird's-nest) and tree/fungus 

partners. BSBI News 109: 40. 

PRYCE, R. (2005). Carmarthenshire Recording 

Week, Glynhir. BSBI News 99: 59. 

Progress report on habitat management projects 

BRIAN LANEY, 5 South Close, Long Buckby, Northants., NN6 7PX 

Since 2001 the number of voluntary habitat 

management projects I am involved in seems 

ever growing. In 2009 some of the projects 

seem to be paying off. 

Arabis glabra (Tower Mustard) has done 

very well at its site south of Gerrard's Cross in 

Bucks., with at least 200 rosettes and 26 

flowering plants on the 2 nd August 2009, in an 

open disturbed strip that was created for the 

species back in November 2008 by myself and 

Dave Shute. Rabbits do occur on the site and 

some flower heads do get knocked back, but 

disturbance they create can awaken dormant 

Tower Mustard seed. I am hoping with help 

from fellow botanists to create further open 

strips for this species in late 2009. 

Allium oleraceum (Field Garlic) has also 

done extremely well on the A3400 roadside 

bank in Warwickshire in 2009. On the 27th 

July I lost count at around 1032 flowering 

plants, the best count I have had at this site for 

this species since I started working on the site 

back in 2001. Even though the bank is cleared 

in November by myself and other helpers, it 

must have been completely cut some time in 

June this year by the grass cutting contractors. 

This has not been a bad thing for the species as 

the vegetation was short on my July visit and 

the Field Garlic has benefited from this late 

cutting this year. 

Orchis anthropophora (Man Orchid) at 

Ufton Fields, its only site in Warwickshire, is 

gradually increasing in number. A few years 

ago myself and Paul Stanley could only locate 

one rosette of this species. Since my involvement 

with habitat management for the species 

at Ufton Fields, the population is up to 15 

rosettes this year, a number of these being 

juvenile rosettes around more mature ones. 

There was one nice flowering specimen, much 

admired by members of the Hardy Orchid 

Society, who were queuing to photograph it on 

a meeting I was leading for the society on the 

13 th June. The Man Orchid areas are caged 

during flowering time but are opened up 

during the winter to let the grazing rabbits 

back in. Any long vegetation is also cut and 

raked off. 

Himantoglossum hircinum (Lizard Orchid) 

near Bristol in Gloucestershire is doing O.K., 

even though the number of flowering plants 

each year drops a bit. Fellow botanists have 

recorded seven flowering plants this year. 

However, the number of wintergreen rosettes 

in February 2009 stood at 36. A number of 

these were new rosettes, buried in blackthom 

scrub, which was cleared to let more light onto 

these rosettes. The roadside bank for this 

species is cut and raked off in February each 

year, which is also a good time to locate 

rosettes of this species, which need the scrub 

or rank vegetation cleared away from them. I 

do hope one year the medium-sized 

Sycamores on the Lizard Orchid bank do get 

removed. The large fallen sycamore leaves 

bury even large Lizard Orchid rosettes quite 

easily! 

Sadly on a number of visits to Brogborough 

in Beds, I could not locate any plants this year 

of Melampyrum arvense (Field Cow-wheat). 

I have been involved with this species, cooperating 

with Graham Bellamy, the Beds. 

Conservation Officer and others over recent 

years, trying to get habitat management conditions 

just right for this species here. I do hope 

this species is not completely lost from 

Bedfordshire. 

I must thank all the help I have had from 

fellow botanists and their useful advice over 

the years.

Notes - Squirrel-stripping of native, naturalised, plantation and exotic trees 15 

purpurea (1), Cercidiphyllum japonicum (2), 

luglans cinerea (1), Salix acutifolia (2), Salix 

cap rea (2), Salix irrorata (1), Salix pentandra 

(4) (see Colour Section, Plate 1). All were 

wholly or mainly skeletonised down to the 

tree-guard level. All recovered from below. 

Despite dense twigginess, the two Cercidiphyllum 

(Katsura) trees were vulnerable. One 

was wholly ring-barked, but amazingly still is 

leafy above the ring-barking zone after a full 

year! (See Colour Section, Plate 1). 

Basal ring-barking and deaths 

Chamaecyparis thyoides (1), Cupressus 

macrocarpa (1). Grey squirrels were almost 

certainly responsible for other conifer deaths, 

due to basal ring-barking, but I cannot wholly 

exclude contributions from rabbits, hares, rats 

and voles, all present and keen to sharpen their 

incisors on the rarest trees. I rescued the 

largest rare Paulowniafargesii before squirrel 

basal ring-barking was complete (basal 

circumference 70cm, 60% ring-barked). Two 

Populus alba (White Poplar) trees died after 

patchy squirrel damage, but there seem to 

have been secondary infections contributing to 

their demise. 

High ring-barkings and fractured main 

stems, trees surviving 

Populus nigra ssp. betulifolia (4), Populus 

xgenerosa (2), Salix alba ssp. caerulea (1). 

Skeletonised 3 -Srn lengths off the tops of these 

seven trees were broken by the wind and 

visible form the A4 road in May 2009. An 

eighth tree, a Populus 'Columbia', was badly 

gnawed and stripped on one side at 1m. In a 

subsequent gale, the tree suffered a greenstick 

fracture at that point and has survived, now at 

a 60° angle, but supported by willows (see 

Colour Section, Plate 1). 

Conspicuously defended trees in the arboretum 

Gleditsia triacanthos (Honey Locust) has its 

hard, sharp 5-lOcm spines in ones and threes, 

said to be effective in deterring raccoons! 

Robinia pseudoacacia also has sharp thorns 

set as opposed pairs. The six representatives 

of the Crataegus genus all have twiggy defensive 

zarebas set with thorny armature. Prunus 

xfruticans, the unpopular local Wiltshire 

hybrid between Damson and Sloe, has thorns 

so dense, sharp and hard that they sometimes 

penetrate tyres. Of the conifers represented, it 

is hard to imagine how a squirrel could 

penetrate the defences of Abies pinsapo 

(Spanish/Hedgehog Fir). 

Three genera not yet attacked 

I have selected for consideration three wellrepresented 

but contrasting genera: 

Pyrus (pears): six species, eight taxa, 40 

individual trees; foliage irresistible to herbivores, 

but no trees targeted by squirrels; dense, 

twiggy, tough bark; some weak thorns. 

Prunus: 11 species, 13 taxa, 70 individual 

trees; very few defended by thorns (see above 

for one); health and safety regulations forbid 

humans from working with Prunus laurocerasus 

(Cherry Laurel) within any confined space 

because of release of HCN (Prussic Acid) 

from the bitter, cyanogenic glycosides in 

leaves, shoots and bark (Frohne & Pfander, 

1984. It seems likely that other trees from the 

genus, e.g. Prunus avium (Wild Cherry) have 

similar bitter components in the bark, at least 

providing some deterrence to squirrels. No 

arboretum Prunus was seen to suffer any 

obvious experimental bites. 

Tilia (limes, basswood): 33 species, 79 taxa, 

250 trees, the best-represented genus in the 

arboretum. So far I have not found or been 

informed of reports of grey squirrel attacks on 

these big and beautiful trees (from which the 

family of Linnaeus had taken their name). 

Like Rob Guest (see quote above), I have 

never seen grey squirrel damage to any lime 

within or beyond the arboretum. Limes all 

have juicy bark, which is even more easily 

stripped than willow bark, summer or winter. 

Pigott (2005) gives details of the use of bast 

(or bass) by man, the fibrous inner lime bark. 

There were two squirrel dreys in the arboretum, 

both situated in high, narrow-angle forks 

of Tilia species - but all stripping and gnawing 

on other tree species. 

Controls 

Shooting, poisoning and trapping (squirrel 

hoppers) are discussed in detail in several 

publications (FARS, 2009; Forestry Commission, 

1996; Pepper, 1990). Most reports are

16 Notes - Squirrel-stripping of native, naturalised, plantation and exotic trees 

pessimistic, with the exception of the opportunity 

of total eradication of grey squirrels in 

Anglesey. I suspect there could be dangers, 

uncertainties and impracticabilities in the (re-) 

introduction of arboreal predators, such as 

beech and pine-martens. Our cat killed two 

adult and three young grey squirrels in three 

days by ambush and raiding a drey, but two 

other local cats suffered injuries, including eye 

damage, in tree raids. 

Lure crops, (e.g. sycamores and Norway 

maples) are of very limited value. The table 

shows that 45 Aeer were not attacked, whereas 

65-72 non-Aeer trees were damaged. In order 

to protect some rare tree taxa against deer and 

grey squirrels, I use a method which would be 

commercially impractical, and aesthetically 

inappropriate for specimen trees. Very closely 

adjacent pear trees (best), apples (too spreading) 

or hawthorns (too fiercely rampant) act as 

guard trees and prevent ring-barking and 

skeletonising. In response to the basal 

gnawing and stripping by grey squirrels, I 

have ceased clearing nettles and other tall 

weeds from around trunk bases. 

Summary 

With the probable exception of densely thorny 

species, no tree species can be considered 

wholly immune from biting and stripping by 

grey squirrels, which attack trees (over 2m in 

height) of all ages, and at all levels. The best 

that can be said is that genera such as Aeer and 

Fagus tend to be more susceptible than Tilia 

(inexplicably), Pyrus and Prunus. In this 

study, the most vulnerable genus by total 

numbers and percentage of trees damaged or 

severely damaged was Populus. P. nigra ssp. 

betulifolia (most trees about 17 years since 

planting) was, by far, the species suffering the 

highest number of harmed specimens, usually 

at high levels. Eleven trees from two Aeer and 

five Salix species were skeletonised, all eleven 

recovering from the base; but lesser damage 

could kill conifers. In 216 years, 39 different 

types of tree were damaged, 19 severely so. 

Postscript: bridging the gap? - a botanical 

mystery 

Total ring-barking cuts off the phloem and 

cambium, and kills trees above the level of the 

ring-barking, whether or not they re-sprout 

from below. Depending on the weather, the 

foliage of conifers so-damaged shows 

evidence within 1-2 months. Ring-barked 

broadleaved trees wither and die above the 

ring-barked zone sooner. Sycamores so-damaged 

show the evidence within days in spring, 

summer or early autumn, following grey 

squirrel stripping. 

One tree in my arboretum has behaved 

differently. A Cercidiphyllum japonicum 

(Katsura) was severely stripped in or before 

May 2008, with total ring-barking of the main 

trunk for at least 50cm above the tree-guard. 

An adjacent sister Katsura was also badly 

stripped, but not wholly ring-barked. Both 

trees are about 7m tall. There is no strip of 

continuous bark linking the ring of branches at 

the bottom of the photo ofthe ring-barked tree 

to the peeled strips at the top. After 18 

months, the foliage of the top Srn of both trees 

looks identical and healthy. Not only that, but 

attached strips and islands of bark above the 

ring-barked zone show the slightly swollen 

edges or lips of healing bark tissues, characteristic 

of wounded tree trunks, or recovery 

below ring-barked zones. 

I still expect the top 5m of the tree to die 

("absolutely no chance whatsoever" - 

independent commentator), but after 18 

months it is little different from the sister tree. 

Acknowledgements: 

My thanks for help from Katy Cena and Rob 

Guest. 

References: 

FARS [Friends of the Anglesey Red Squirrel]. 

(2009). 'Grey squirrel damage to woodland' 

(Web information: www.redsquirrels.info/ 

barkstripping .html Accessed 17/6/2009. 

Mainly ch. 4. 

FORESTRY AUTHORITY. (1996). Controlling 

grey squirrel damage to woodlands. Forestry 

Commission Research Information Note 

180(1). 

FROHNE, D. & PFiNDER, HJ. (1983). Colour 

atlas of of poisonous plants. Wolfe Publishing 

Ltd., London and Stuttgart. 

PEPPER, H.W. (1990). Grey squirrel damage 

control with waifarin. Forestry Commission 

Research Information Note 180 (2). 

PIGOTT, D. (2005). Lime. Sage Press, Rye.

18 Notes - Rare species at Barry Docks, Glamorgan (v.c.4l) 

Rare species at Barry Docks, Glamorgan (voc.4l) 

STEPHANIE J. TYLER, Yew Tree Cottage, Lone Lane, Penallt, Monmouthshire, NP254AJ 

TREVOR G. EVANS, La Cuesta, Mountain Road, Chepstow, Gwent, NP16 5BS 

Barry Docks in Glamorgan has long been by us on 29 th July 2008, on a grassy bank at 

known as an interesting site for native and ST127667 (see Colour Section, Plate 1). This 

alien species. SJT carried out fieldwork at pea is also local, with only two records from 

Barry Docks as part of an Environmental South Wales depicted in the National Atlas. 

Impact Assessment for a proposed develop- On 18 th June 2009 we noted the same patch in 

ment, mainly along the eastern harbour wall flower and two other patches nearby on the 

and immediately inland of the seawall, bank along the access track. Other aliens 

monthly between October 2007 and Septem- included two interesting grasses - Cynosurus 

ber 2008, and again from March 2009 until echinatus (Rough Dog's-tail), of which two 

September 2009. TGE accompanied SJT on patches were found along the breakwater 

three occasions. The harbour wall and break- track, and Anisantha madritensis (Compact 

water, in ST1266, support both maritime and Brome). 

calcareous grassland plants. This note reports Ruderal vegetation on banks of coal waste 

on some of the more interesting plants, was dominated by Lepidium draba (Hoary 

notably aliens, that were found. Cress) and L.latifolium (Dittander),Hirschfel- 

Stace (1991, 1997) noted that the only site in dia incana (Hoary Mustard) and Dipsacus 

Britain and Ireland for Echium rosulatum (Lax fullonum (Teasel), with occasional Diplotaxis 

Viper's-bugloss) was Barry Docks, where he tenuifolia (Perennial Wall-rocket). Extensive 

noted 'it may now be extinct'. In October areas of the breakwater bank have been 

2007 SJT found more than 50 plants, many colonised by Rubus spp. (brambles),Buddleja 

still flowering, along the harbour wall track davidii (Butterfly-bush), Clematis vitalba 

and the track running from a container yard (Wild Clematis) and other shrubs, much 

along the eastern edge of the harbour to the sea restricting the grassland track at the base. Five 

wall. In 2008 a similar number of plants was clumps of Helleborus foetidus (Stinking 

found. On 12th June 2009 SJT counted 35 Hellebore) were found on the bank. 

plants in 30m of the outer harbour wall and The calcareous grassland, restricted to a 

another 15 plants in c.l20m along the access narrow strip between the sea wall and coal tip, 

track on the eastern edge of the harbour. supported a wide range of native plants, such 

There were also several plants on the seaward as Centaurea scabiosa (Greater Knapweed) 

side of the tip face and three plants behind the and C. nigra (Common Knapweed), Centautip 

face inland of the sea wall. At least three rium erythraea (Common Centaury), Blackplants 

were also seen in 2009 along the stoniaperfoliata(Yellow-wort),Linumbienne 

entrance road to the docks (see Colour (Pale Flax), Daucus carota (Wild Carrot) and 

Section, Plate 1). Spiranthes spiralis (Autumn Lady's-tresses), 

Reseda alba (White Mignonette) was quite along with taller species such as Tanacetum 

frequent in rocks and on soil just behind the vulgare (Tansy), Senecio jacobaea (Ragwort), 

sea wall from the harbour entrance eastwards S. erucifolius (Hoary Ragwort), Foeniculum 

to the edge of the docks, and it was abundant vulgare (Fennel), Picris hieracioides 

on banks of the coal tip and on piles of rubble. (Hawkweed Ox-tongue) and P. echioides 

At least 12 plants were found in 2007 along (Prickly Ox-tongue). Alien species, such as 

the sea wall, whilst in 2009 the count exceeded Securigera varia (Crown Vetch) and 

20 plants. Flowers were evident as early as 1 st Medicago falcata (Sickle Medick), were also 

March 2009 (see Colour Section, Plate 1). present. 

A large patch (3x2m) of Lathyrus tuberosus The maritime influence was evident in the 

(Tuberous or Fyfield Pea) was found in flower flora by the presence of Trifolium squamosum

Notes - Rare species at Barry Docks (v.cAl) / Triple trouble over Onobrychis identification 19 

(Sea Clover), large patches of Trifolium 

seabrum (Rough Clover), Elytrigia atheriea 

(Sea Couch), Carex arenaria (Sand Sedge) 

and Plantago eoronopus (Buck's-horn 

Plantain), the latter being dominant over large 

areas of the entrance track and harbour wall 

track, where the ground is stony. Catapodium 

maritimum (Sea Fern-grass) grew along the 

harbour wall track and in the shade of some 

rocks and concrete blocks. 

Two other interesting national rarities have 

been found by Sharon Pilkington elsewhere in 

Barry Docks. 

Triple trouble over Onobrychis identification 

ERIC J. CLEMENT, 54 Anglesey Road, Gosport, Hampshire, PO 12 2EQ 

The first record of the Onobryehis vieiifolia 

Scop. aggregate in Britain is to be found in 

John Gerard's The Herball : 1064 (1597). He 

describes it as "Onobryehis sive Caput-Gallinaeeum, 

upon Barton Hill, fower miles from 

Lewton in Bedfordshire on both sides of the 

hill". Also here (p.1062) was Astragalus 

danieus (Purple Milk-vetch). To quote such 

an obscure locality, it was clearly an unusual 

find, and not part of a farmer's crop. 

C.Abbott, in Flora Bedfordiensis (1798), still 

regarded it as rare. Much later, J.GDony's 

Flora of Bedfordshire (1953) found it, as an 

escape, as "common", but for the "native 

form", just four localities are given. Similarly 

C.Merrett, in Pinax rerum naturalium Britannieum 

(1666), wrote: "In some mountainous 

parts of Surrey, plentifully". 

The cultivated strain was introduced from 

France into England in c.1650, under the 

French name 'St Foyn', which quickly 

corrupted into 'Saintfoin', and finally 

'Sainfoin'. Can Margot Souchier provide us 

with some early, precise literature references 

for both countries? I notice that J.E.Smith 

remarks in The English Flora (ed. 2), 3: 293 

(1829) that the name 'Cock's-head' "by which 

it was before known as a native of England is 

become obsolete", giving way to the cropplant 

name "Saint-foin". 

This historical record was (unfairly) summarised 

in Stace's New flora (ed. 2): 405 (1997) 

as: "Possibly native". Surprisingly, the 

"native form" never attracted a scientific name 

in Britain (and hence went largely un-recorded) 

until 2009, when P.D.Sell and G.Murrell's 

Flora 3: 38-39 provided us with no less than 

three subspecies of 0. viciifolia, two of them 

alien. As few members can afford the work 

(publisher, please note!), I will quote their key 

(in a modified, trichotomous format): 

Stems robust, ± erect; lflets 15-35 x 4-8mm, 

oblong to elliptic-oblong; corolla 12- 

16mm. Hay crop relicts. - ssp. vieiifolia 

Stems slender, decumbent or ascending; 

lflets 10-30 x 2-7mm, linear-oblong; 

corolla 1O-12mm. Wild flower mixes. 

- ssp. deeumbens (Jord.) P.D.Sell 

Stems slender, prostrate; lflets 5-15 x 2- 

5mm, linear-oblong; corolla 8-12mm. 

Native of broken chalk turf. 

-ssp. eoUina (Jord.) PD.Sell 

The lack of discrete characters in the key is 

typical of many Onobryehis taxa in Eurasia. 

But, maybe, more careful field observations 

may reveal other differences. I strongly 

suspect that ssp. viciifolia has a chromosome 

number of 2n=28, whereas the other two have 

2n=14. If so, this could show up as minute 

differences in anther, pollen and stomata sizes. 

Continental literature suggests that the crop 

plant can be separated from the other two by 

possessing leaflets becoming ± flat (not 

persistently V-shaped), with their tips 

minutely mucronate (not ± acuminate), inflorescence 

before flowering long-ovoid (not 

fusiform), peduncles 1-2 x the subtending leaf 

(not 2-3 x) and fruit 5-8mm, with 6-8 marginal 

teeth of 0-1mm length (not 4-6mm, with 4-6 

marginal teeth of 0.5-2mm length). Other 

identification characters may exist in tiny 

differences in relative petal lengths (the standard, 

the near-obsolete wings and the keel), and 

even the stance of the petals (the standard is 

more strongly rolled backwards in ssp. viciifolia?). 

Flower colour reports are conflicting. I

20 Notes - Triple trouble over Onobrychis identification I Colonisation of the ramparts and walls of 

Berwick -upon-Tweed 

should add that E.Milne-Redhead (Kew) and 

others have confirmed the constancy of the 

native form when in cultivation, and no intermediates 

(hybrids?) have been claimed. 

Unhappily, P.W.Ball, in Flora Europaea, 2 

(1968): 187-191, and 441 (Index), differs in 

his nomenclatural choice. He 'lumps' 

o. collina lord., O. viciifolia var. collina 

(lord.) St.-Lager, O. decumbens lord. and 

o. viciifolia var. decumbens (lord.) Rouy all 

into O. arenaria (Kit.) DC. ssp. arenaria, 

giving a distribution from C. France to E. 

Europe. This decision is widely accepted, 

although O. viciifolia ssp. arenaria (Kit.) 

Thell. was proposed back in 1912. I hasten to 

add that, if we all should stick to specific 

names only, the subspecific 'clutter' all disappears! 

Use the Group concept that I have 

proposed in the past. 

An author citation of o. decumbens Wallr. is 

given in Index Kewensis (1895), with 

O. decumbens lord. given as a synonym. I 

presume this has been rejected on reliable 

grounds. 

English names have yet to be selected. 

'Cock's-head' already exists, but 'English 

Sainfoin' may be preferable. 'French (or 

Cultivated) Sainfoin' seems a good choice 

(but it appears not to be known as a definite 

native anywhere in the world - a south-west 

Asian origin is possible, or is it a cultigen?). 

That leaves us only with 'Decumbent 

Sainfoin' . 

Whatever the name, we have herein a 

precious native, and so far removed from other 

populations that it could be an endemic 

variant. It demands our attention, before it is 

lost from yet more locations. Already 

O. arenaria is a protected species in Germany. 

Colonisation of the ramparts and walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed by 

native and alien trees and shrubs 

D.W. SHIMWELL, High House Farm, Satley, Bishop Auckland, DL13 4HL 

(shimwell44@tiscali.co.uk) 

The pamphlet A history and guide to 

Berwick's wild flowers, published by The 

Berwickshire Naturalists' Club (2006), 

comments upon the "fastidious tidiness' 

which 'has removed most of the weedy 

species and severely depleted the meadow 

species" on the northern ramparts of the town 

since the earliest times of local botanical 

recording in the first half of the nineteenth 

century. The Elizabethan ramparts comprise 

lengths of curtain wall revetment (or scarp) 

running roughly in an arc of a circle between 

two terminal mounds - Meg's Mount and 

King's Mount - and punctuated by three 

arrowhead shaped bastions - Cumberland, 

Brass and Windmill Bastions. Each bastion 

has two flankers which were single storey 

enclosures with two embrasures for cannon, 

and functioned as protected gun positions 

from where to enfilade or fire along the revetment 

between bastions. On top of the bastions 

are enormous earth platforms called cavaliers, 

which were added to the defences in 1639 to 

mount the main guns. The ramparts provide a 

variety of habitats, each with its own specific 

ecological features: the outer ditch, the imposing 

stone revetment, topped by the steeplysloping, 

grassy parapet, and backed by the 

closely manicured, amenity grass banquettes, 

along which the main access footpaths run. 

In the late afternoon of Saturday, 9 th May 

2009, as a part of the BSBI Spring Conference 

on 'Alien trees and shrubs', I joined a field 

excursion which battled against almost galeforce 

winds along the length of the ramparts, 

being unable to give the flora little more than 

a cursory glance. When Sunday morning 

dawned bright and calm, I took the opportunity 

to revisit the ramparts and to make observations 

on the flora with a lesser risk of being 

blown from the parapet. I was able to concur 

with the fastidious tidiness factor (FTF) as 

playing a major role in determining the 

relative paucity of the flora, particularly with 

respect to the colonisation of the revetment 

stonework by seedlings and saplings of both

Notes - Colonisation of the ramparts and walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed 21 

native and alien trees and shrubs. The uncommonness 

is partly due to the nature of the 

bonding of the large, dressed, sandstone 

blocks with narrow, well-mortared joints and 

the comparative lack of weathering of the 

blocks. The stonework of the flankers is 

generally built of coarser sandstones and as a 

result is more prone to weathering and colonisation 

by bryophytes and higher plants. It also 

provides better locations than the revetment 

for perching birds, and hence the dissemination 

of berried plants. In a total length of over 

one kilometre, I was able to record only 

twenty individual plants of nine species, five 

of which are considered alien by Clement and 

Foster (1994). The number of individual 

plants is in sharp contrast with the total 

numbers recorded on the much shorter lengths 

of wall around the Parish Churchyard and 

those of Coxon Lane Car Park, on the site of 

the former Good Templar Hall, both localities 

being within 100 metres of the ramparts. 

Further, the two sites are quite different from 

each other in terms of both species and 

frequency of species. For example, Buddleja 

davidii (Butterfly-bush) is rare on the churchyard 

wall, yet dominant on the car park walls; 

Acer pseudoplatanus (Sycamore) is the most 

common species on the former, but absent in 

the latter location. Similarly, Sycamore was 

the most commonly encountered species on 

the rampart walls, but I did not see Buddleja. 

Rampart walls from King's Mount to Meg's 

Mount (20 plants/9 species/5 aliens): Acer 

pseudoplatanus 6; Cotoneaster horizontalis 

(Wall Cotoneaster) 4; Fraxinus ornus (Manna 

Ash) 3; Rosa canina agg. (Dog-rose) 2; Fraxinus 

excelsior (Ash), Ribes sanguineum 

(Flowering Currant), Rubus fruticosus agg. 

(bramble), Sambucus nigra (Elder), Sorbus 

intermedia (Swedish Whitebeam) 1, 

(excluding the popUlation of young Sycamore 

and Elder growing on the grassy parapet, 

rather than the northwest revetment of Meg's 

Mount). 

Cromwellian Parish Churchyard Walls (51 

plants/6 species/3 aliens): Acer pseudoplatanus 

17; Sambucus nigra 16; Sorbus aria 

(Whitebeam) 8; Ulmus glabra (Wych Elm) 7; 

Cotoneaster horizontalis 2; Buddleja davidii 1. 

Good Templar Hall (Coxon Lane) Car Park 

(48 plants17 species/5 aliens): Buddleja 

davidii 27; Cotoneaster simonsii (Himalayan 

Cotoneaster) (+ inderminate plants) 9; 

Cotoneaster horizontalis 7; Rubus fruticosus 

2; Fuchsia magellanica (Fuchsia), Leycesteria 

formosa (Himalayan Honeysuckle), Sambucus 

nigra 1. 

Without doubt, the most interesting record in 

these three samples is that of Fraxinus ornus, 

two individuals of which were seen on the 

stonework of the eastern flanker of Windmill 

Bastion and one nearby on its parapet. The 

seed source is clearly one of two parent trees 

planted less than twenty metres away as 

shelter for the formal circle of shrub borders 

and seats at the western end of The Ditches. 

One specimen is a mature standard tree, some 

six metres tall and with a trunk girth at breast 

height (gbh) of 1.6m; the other is depauperate 

and cankered at a height of 1.3m where the 

gbh is 0.7m. No juvenile seedlings and 

saplings were seen growing beneath the 

parents or in adjacent shrub borders. Both 

specimens are hermaphrodite plants and were 

flowering profusely on 10 th May 2009. 

Considerable research has been recently 

undertaken by the EU funded project FRAXI 

GEN (2005) into the breeding biology of 

populations of the three European Ash 

species, Fraxinus excelsior in northern and 

central Europe, and F. angustifolia (Narrowleaved 

Ash) and F. ornus in central Europe 

and the Mediterranean region. Manna Ash is 

androdioecious, a rare breeding system, in 

which some populations contain individual 

trees which bear hermaphrodite flowers and 

others which are male only, or staminate. 

Other populations are apparently either wholly 

hermaphrodite or wholly staminate and, 

obviously, only the hermaphrodites set fruit. 

The occurrence of staminate flowers in mixed 

populations is considered to be an adaptation 

to increasing the likelihood of wind pollination 

(W allander, 2001), but the true situation 

is far from clear . Working on populations in 

southern France, a region in which the species

22 Notes Colonisation of the ramparts and walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed 

is rapidly expanding its range, Dommee et al. 

(2002) have demonstrated self-compatibility 

in hermaphrodite flowers, whilst Wallander 

(2008) notes both anemophily and ambophily, 

that is, both wind pollination and insect pollination 

by syrphid flies and small beetles. The 

fruit (samara) is usually dispersed by wind, 

seldom to a distance greater than 30m 

(FRAXIGEN, 2005), but there is strong 

evidence that dispersal by water is mainly 

responsible for its rapid invasion along river 

systems in southern France (Thebaud and 

Debussche, 1991). 

Anemophily, ambophily or self-compatibility, 

whichever is the case at Berwick, there can 

be no doubt that this native tree of Mediterranean 

Europe, north Africa and south-west 

Asia (Polunin, 1969) produces viable fruits 

that are able to colonise suitable habitats, at a 

latitude of 55 0 46'. It has long been known to 

be hardy in Britain, but there seem to be few 

records of its fruiting and regeneration. It 

would be interesting to know to which of the 

five native chloroplast genome hap10types the 

plants belong (FRAXIGEN, 2005), or if they 

are one of the fifteen cultivars listed by 

McArdle and Santamour (1984), or of an 

additional four cultivars offered for sale by 

Barcham Trees of Ely. Whatever, dare one 

suggest that its regeneration at such a latitude 

is an indication of climate change? It is a fact 

that would seem to imply at least three incentives 

for future action. First, its status in Stace 

(1997) should perhaps be elevated from the 

'other species' category to merit a full description. 

Secondly, it may be possible to find out 

from society members whether regeneration 

from seed has been observed or reported in 

other parts of Britain and Ireland. One gets the 

impression that garden and street trees are 

mainly of the showy, whiter-flowered, staminate 

type, rather than the more dowdy, greenish-white 

hermaphrodite type, which is 

labelled by European landscape gardeners as 

being a liability on account of its propensity to 

produce many unwanted seedlings, particularly 

in samara mast years (Mitchell and More, 

1985, FRAXIGEN 2005). If this view is 

accepted in Britain, then regeneration is likely 

to be only localised. Thirdly, the question 

arises whether the regeneration from seed 

observed at Berwick-upon-Tweed might be 

encouraged and developed as a small breeding 

programme which makes use of the private 

spaces of the unused bastion flankers? 

References: 

CLEMENT, EJ. & FOSTER, M.C. (1994). Alien 

plants of the British Isles. Botanical Society 

of the British Isles, London. 

DOMMIE, B., GESLOT, A., THOMPSON, ID., 

REILLE, M. & DENELLE, N. (2002). Androdioecy 

in the entomophilous tree Fraxinus 

ornus (Oleaceae). New Phytologist 143: 

419-426. 

FRAXIGEN (2005). Ash species in Europe: 

biological characteristics and practical 

guidelines for sustainable use. Oxford 

Forestry Institute, University of Oxford. 

McARDLE, AJ. & SANTAMOUR, F.S. IR. 

(1984). Checklists of cultivars of European 

Ash (Fraxinus) species. Journal of Arboriculture 

10: 21-32. 

MITCHELL, A. & MORE, D. (1985). The 

complete guide to trees of Britain and northern 

Europe. Limpsfield, Surrey. 

POLUNIN, O. (1969). Flowers of Europe: a 

field guide. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 

THE BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS' CLUB. 

(2006). A history and guide to Berwick's 

wildflowers. Berwick. 


Isles. 2 nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 

Cambridge. 

THffiAUD, C. & DEBUSSCHE, M. (1991). 

Rapid invasion of Fraxinus ornus L. along 

the Herault River system in southern France: 

the importance of seed dispersal by water. 

Journal of Biogeography 18: 7-12. 

WALLANDER, E. (2001). Evolution of wind 

pollination in Fraxinus (Oleaceae) - an 

ecophylogenetic approach. PhD Thesis, 

Goteburg University, Sweden. (http:// 

herbaria .plants .ox .ac .uklfraxigen/fraxinus) 

WALLANDER, E. (2008). 'Systematics of 

Fraxinus (Oleaceae) and evolution of 

dioecy'. Plant Systematics and Evolution 

273: 25-49.

Notes - Teratology - a revival? 23 

Teratology - a revival? 

JOHN PRESLAND, 175c Ashley Lane, Winsley, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire BA15 2HR 

Introduction 

Abnormalities in plants have evoked a wide 

range of human responses, from fascination 

verging on adoration to abhorrence at departures 

from a God-given scheme. Their study 

achieved some prominence in the 19 th and 

early 20 th Century, under the name 

'teratology', but has only occasionally been 

noticed since. The last major work was 

Worsdell's (1915-16), and Heslop-Harrison 

(1952) may be the only professional botanist 

to have published anything on the subject 

since those early days. Even he offered no 

particular reason for a revival. The subject has, 

however, received a recent boost by the initiation 

of the periodical That Plant's Odd by 

Martin Cragg-Barber (now Martin Barber) in 

1993. It has now run to over 40 issues. Out of 

that work has come a book providing a 

systematic up-to-date account of the field 

(Presland, Oliver & Barber, 2009). This 

article describes a few abnormalities selected 

from the many in that book and raises some of 

the associated issues. 

Examples of abnormalities 

A double-flowered Centaurium erythraea 

(Common Centaury) 

Double flowers have the petals or other 

conspicuous floral parts much increased in 

number compared with a normal flower. A 

good example was on a Common Centaury on 

a steep bank on a protected roadside verge at 

Winsley in Wiltshire (Colour Section, Plate 2). 

It had ten petals instead of the usual five, and 

perhaps an extra two or more below. 

Proliferation in Taraxacum sp. (Dandelion) 

Proliferation is the growth of plant organs in 

places where they do not normally occur. An 

additional leaf, flower stalk and flower 

appeared on what is normally an unadorned 

flower stem in a garden in Bradford-on-Avon 

in 2006. A photo (Colour Section, Plate 2) 

shows the normal and abnormal forms. 

Peloria in Linaria vulgaris (Common Toadflax) 

Peloria is a term coined by Linnaeus for just 

this abnormality, discovered in Sweden in 

1742. It is Greek for "monster". The most 

useful definition is the development of radially 

symmetrical flowers in plants whose flowers 

are normally bilaterally symmetrical. Bilaterally 

symmetrical (or zygomorphic) means that 

there is only one vertical line through which 

cutting the flower in half will produce identical 

halves (or, to be pedantic, mirror images). The 

condition contrasts with radially symmetrical 

(or actinomorphic) in which any vertical cut 

through the centre produces at least roughly 

identical halves - as in buttercups. In Linaria 

species, the petals are normally joined into a 

tube dividing at the top into an upper lip and a 

lower lip, with a single nectary spur descending 

from the bottom, the result being a bilaterally 

symmetrical structure. In a peloric Linaria 

vulgaris, which I found at Winsley (Colour 

Section, Plate 2), the two lips were replaced by 

five lobes and there were five spurs at the base. 

Both these changes can be envisaged as corresponding 

to five hypothetical petals arranged in 

a radially symmetrical pattern. The normal 

form has four stamens in two pairs, again part 

of the bilaterally symmetrical pattern. In the 

peloric plant there were five, corresponding to 

the five hypothetical petals. The orange bulge 

which is at the top of the lower lip in a normal 

flower is replaced in the peloric form by one at 

the top of each lobe, united into a regular circular 

mouth, looking like pouting lips from above. 

A chimera in Daucus carota (Wild Carrot) 

A chimera is an organism whose tissues are of 

two genetically different kinds. For instance, 

the surface tissues may be of one kind and the 

deeper lying tissues of another (a periclinal 

chimera), or a sector or sectors of the stem and 

leaves may be different from the rest of the 

plant (a sectorial chimera). It is named after a 

character from Greek mythology that was part 

lion, part goat and part serpent. A sectorial

24 

chimera on a Wild Carrot inflorescence from 

Barry Docks in 1986 is shown in the photo 

Colour Section, Plate 2). One sector is red, 

one white and there is a pink zone which may 

be overlap between the two sectors or be a 

third sector. 

What can we learn from teratology? 

Masters (1869), in perhaps the best known 

early teratological treatise, claimed teratology 

was important because: 

• Many cases can be considered reversions 

to the ancestral form and thus help determine 

affinities between plants. 

• Cases can be the start of new races and 

species. 

• Cases can throw light on the process of 

development. 

• Irregularities may be useful for new garden 

forms or crops. 

Plainly, irregularities may be useful for new 

garden forms or crops. Garden plants are 

sometimes deviations from the normal form of 

the species concerned, which have been 

maintained by horticulturalists. Though it is 

more usual for crops to be bred selectively for 

particular normal variations that are desirable, 

abnormalities may be useful in some cases. 

We know almost nothing for certain about 

how particular plants species evolved. 

However, if a number of different species in a 

family all produce deviations of the same 

form, it is arguable that this indicates a 

common ancestry. This could be the case in 

the Scrophulariaceae, where a number of 

different species, particularly of Linaria, can 

develop peloria. This may resemble an ancestral 

condition from which the normal form 

evolved. We do not need this deviation to tell 

us that the different species of Linaria are 

related and are likely to have a common ancestor. 

However, the ancestor is no longer around 

to be seen, and the peloric flower of, say, the 

abnormal flower described in Linaria 

vulgaris, may be the nearest thing to it that we 

are likely to encounter. 

It is not clear how abnormalities could throw 

light on the process of development. A normal 

Linaria has never been peloric, and a normal 

Notes Teratology a revival? 

Cowslip has never been fasciated. Such 

abnormalities do reflect the plasticity of plants 

during their development and enable us to 

document it more thoroughly, but they don't 

really explain it. 

Just as abnormalities can be selected by 

horticulturalists to become new cultivars, so 

they could be selected according to Darwin's 

theory of evolution by succeeding in competition 

with normal specimens, and thus produce 

new species. Such an occurrence would be 

very rare, since most aberrations are no help in 

survival and often hinder it. However, current 

views of evolution include the possibility of its 

occurrence through rare changes of a radical 

nature. The subject is too large to be taken 

further here. However, De Vries (2005) 

claims to have produced new species in the 

genus Oenothera by selective breeding of 

departures from the normal form. There is, of 

course, still no satisfactory definition of the 

concept of a species, so it is not too difficult to 

claim that a particular form is a new one. 

In our book, Jack Oliver notes that most 

obvious mutants or "sports" are doomed to a 

solitary existence as transient curiosities. 

Most are ill-equipped to face competition in 

the wild. If they can be vegetatively propagated, 

they need horticultural or agricultural 

protection or nurturing. However Jack 

describes six Wiltshire aberrant taxa which 

defy the trends and show sustained botanical 

significance rather than existing as "dead-end" 

phenomena. One of these is the polystachion 

of Equisetum palustre (Marsh Horsetail). 

Horsetails normally have only one fertile cone 

at the tip of their central bottlebrush stem. 

More rarely, E. palustre can have one or two 

smaller cones on branch tips. In Wiltshire and 

west Berkshire, patches or.populations can be 

found in which the peripheral branch tip cones 

are arranged in whorls, the whorled polystachions. 

In the Cotswold Water Park near 

Ashton Keynes in August 2006, separate 

patches of 2-whorl polystachions were easily 

found at different sites. In addition, there were 

the occasional 3-5 whorl polystachions. A 

4-whorl polystachion is shown in Colour 

Section, Plate 2. We do not know how fertile

Notes - Teratology - a revival? / The abortive 'Penguin' Flora of the British Isles 25 

the lateral cones were, but the vegetative 

growth of these uniquely aberrant colonies 

was often the dominant ground cover in the 

immediate localities. These polystachions 

continue to thrive beyond a quarter of a century, 

can reproduce themselves and can hold 

their own in the wild against competition. 

Jack felt that a plant bearing them was a good 

candidate for varietal taxonomic status. 

Whatever the rules for classification, it seems 

to be a good example of potential evolution in 

action, and Nature breaking her own pre-existing 

patterns. 

To conclude 

Teratology is a subject which fascinates many, 

has horticultural application and may have 

potential for illuminating some developmental 

and evolutionary processes. It is more common 

now for the phenomena it studies to be treated 

as part of the wider topic of plant variation. 

Briggs and WaIters (1997), for instance, in their 

textbook on variation, virtually ignore it. 

Divisions between areas of study, are, however, 

largely man-made and can change. Those who 

work with fungi, for instance, used to be 

botanists but are now mycologists. It is hoped 

that publication of recent work in the area will 

stimulate others to look for examples and to 

record and draw and photograph them or press 

and dry specimens - whatever the label under 

which they operate. Contributions of this kind 

should be sent to the editor of That Plant's 

Odd: Martin Barber, 1 Station Cottages, 

Hullavington, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 

6ET (martin@ worldmutation. demon.co.uk) 

(tel.: 07800 583999). 

References: 

BRIGGS, D. & WALTERS, SM. 1997. Plant 

Variation and Evolution (3 rd ed.), 

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 

DE VRIES, H. 2005. Species and varieties: 

their origin by mutation. Ebook #7234. 

HESLOP-HARRISON, J. 1952. 'A reconsideration 

of plant teratology'. Phyton 4: 19-34. 

HOPKIRK, T. & CRAGG-BARBER, M. 1999. 

Flora Anomala Updated. That Plant's Odd, 

Chippenham. 

MASTERS, M.T. 1869. Vegetable teratology: 

an account of the principle deviations from 

the usual construction of plants. Robert 

Hardwicke, for the Ray Society, London. 

*PRESLAND, J., OUVER, J. & BARBER, M. 

2009. Abnormalities in plants. Wiltshire 

Botanical Society, Bradford-on-Avon. 

WORSDELL, W.C. 1915-1916. The principles 

of plant teratology. Vols. 1 and 2. Ray 

Society, London. 

*Available from Summerfield Books. 

The abortive 'Penguin' Flora of the British Isles 

DAVID ALLEN, Lesney Cottage, Middle Road, Winchester, Hampshire, S022 5E] 

Five years ago (in BSBI News 97: 61), Mary 

Briggs expressed curiosity about an illustrated 

'Flora of the British Isles' in an astonishing 20 

volumes that had received passing mention in 

the obituary in The Times of Frances Partridge, 

the last surviving member of the 'Bloomsbury 

Group', who had recently died at the impressive 

age of 103. She found herself far from 

alone in having never heard of such a venture 

or, for that matter, of its would-be author. 

In response to her note, however, several 

members wrote to say that they had known 

Mrs Partridge personally and were able to 

confirm that she had continued to be an ardent 

field botanist till well into her nineties. It also 

turned out that another member even 

possessed a proof copy of the first volume of 

the publication in question, so it must have 

proceeded at least that far (BSBI News 100: 

57-58). 

As a full-scale biography was reportedly in 

preparation, it seemed likely that more would 

be learned from that in due course about this 

intriguingly little-known episode in the annals 

of botanical literature. Four years later, that 

prospective volume has now duly materialised, 

with Ann Chisholm revealed as the 

author; and, sure enough, between pages 203 

and 221, at intervals, the sorry inside story can 

at last be pieced together. 

It transpires that the project had its birth in 

1944 (not 1942, as stated in the obituary), and

26 Notes - The abortive 'Penguin' Flora a/the British Isles 

that it was Penguin Books that made the initial 

approach to Mrs Partridge. As so often 

happens, some paintings of outstanding 

quality - in this case of British wild flowers - 

had come to the notice of a publisher, and it 

was now seeking someone able and willing to 

produce a text to accompany them. Although 

that firm was closely identified with the lowpriced 

paperbacks that had been the publishing 

sensation of 1935 and were by then already a 

household name, it could well be that its 

founder, AlIen Lane, hankered after a complement 

to that success in the shape of beautifully-produced 

books with ravishing colour 

plates, of the kind that 19 th century predecessors 

had brought out to lasting acclaim (an 

ambition which we know his contemporary 

and rival, Billy Collins, nursed as well). 

Natural history was a field that traditionally 

offered excellent scope for that line of publishing, 

and it may have been no coincidence that 

only a year or two earlier Nelson had brought 

out a lusciously-illustrated one-volume work 

on British birds, at a far from prohibitive price, 

by re-using the paintings originally produced 

for a fore-runner on the eve of the First World 

War. It was, similarly, in the middle of World 

War 2 that George Lodge and David Bannerman 

are known to have hatched the idea of 

their magnificent 12-volume work on the birds 

of Britain and Ireland that appeared eventually 

in 1953-1963 from Oliver & Boyd. Perhaps 

wartime austerity was productive of pipedreams 

in British publishing circles at just 

around that time. It does appear, at any rate, 

that the wild flowers project was very much 

AlIen Lane's personal initiative, for it was 

with him that the author evidently dealt 

throughout, and it was to her house that he 

drove to meetings in its connection, instead of 

the other way around, as would be more usual. 

The artist proved to be a young man recently 

out of art school, a Richard Chopping, and he 

and Mrs Partridge luckily took to one another 

at once and became firm friends. "Exquisite" 

though she found his paintings, he soon turned 

out to be taking a worryingly long time to 

finish each one. As the plan was to cover 

every species of higher plant on the British 

Isles list, and to accord every painting a whole 

page, that rate of progress implied it would be 

12 years before the intended 20 volumes were 

completed. When this news was broken to 

AlIen Lane, some two years after the start, he 

was taken aback. Paper was still in short 

supply, and conditions continued to be difficult 

for the book trade more generally; but it 

may also have been that the publisher had 

been under a misapprehension that there were 

roughly as many kinds of wild flowers 

needing to be depicted and described as there 

were of birds. His immediate reaction, at any 

rate, was to rule that the coverage had to be 

reduced, and the trees were to be the sacrificial 

victims. Though the other two protested 

vehemently, they did so in vain. Perhaps 

fearing that this economy measure would 

endanger the project's scientific standing, 

Lane nevertheless suggested they find a 

professional botanist to act as adviser. As a 

result, Noel Sandwith, renowned for a firstclass 

knowledge of British flowering plants 

dating from childhood, was recruited to the 

team and regularly accompanied the other two 

on their specimen-hunting forays. 

Even so, AlIen Lane continued to have 

misgivings, and, by the summer of 1949, with 

the publishing trade experiencing a 40% rise 

in production costs under the impact of the 

Korean War inflation, he was finally forced to 

face the fact that the venture was irretrievably 

uneconomic. By that time, the first volume 

was in proof and the text for the next four was 

already written, so the decision to proceed no 

further came as a shattering blow. Outraged, 

Frances Partridge turned to the Society of 

Authors for help, and at least had the satisfaction 

of extracting £1,500 from Penguin Books 

by way of recompense for the five years of 

work she had put in. How much, if anything, 

the artist received, however, the biography 

does not disclose. 

In retrospect, a multi-volume project had 

probably been a mistake from the start, given 

the still high cost of colour-printing at that 

period. Sixteen years later, George Rainbird

Notes - The abortive 'Penguin' Flora of the British Isles / Symphytum - a corrigendum / 

Gravel weeds by Loch Linnhe (v.c.97) / 'Forensic botany' - a correction 

was to show what could nevertheless have 

been done, if only AlIen Lane had thought of 

compressing all the paintings into just a single 

volume - as W. Keble Martin had had the 

forethought to make feasible when he started 

his own painting of the British Isles flora, 

many years earlier. With just the one, quartosized, 

portable product to push, with a set of 

paintings probably hardly less exquisite, and 

no less comprehensive in their coverage of the 

British Isles flora, Rainbird succeeded in 

propelling that through the supposed cost-ceil- 

Symphytum - a corrigendum 

ing for fine colour printing by resorting to 

every marketing ploy available, to achieve the 

mass sale that was necessary. The number of 

copies of 'Keble Martin' that would eventually 

be bought totalled not far short of a 

million and a half. 

Reference: 

CHISHOLM, A. (2009). Frances Partridge: 

the biography. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 

London. 

CHRISTOPHER WESTALL, 1 Rushford Avenue, Wombourne, Wolverhampton, Staffs., WV50HZ 

(westa1l792@btinternet.com) 

Subsequent to my piece about the genus 

Symphytum in the last issue of BSBl News 

(111: 33), it has been pointed out to me that I 

should have been more precise about the 

determination of S. asperum. There are 

indumentum characters and calyx characters 

that have to be taken into account. Also I 

overlooked the fact that the 'Norfolk 

Comfrey' (BSBI News 105: 6-9) also has all 

leaves petiolate. 

Gravel weeds by Loch Linnhe (v.c.97) 

FAITH ANSTEY, The Old Smithy, Dalguise, by Dunkeld, Perthshire, PH80JX 

Last year we acquired a log cabin by the shore 

of Loch Linnhe (v.c.97), which was 

surrounded by about 100 square metres of 

freshly-laid gravel. This remained untouched 

until, in July this year, I decided to weed it. 

Sprouting through the gravel, I found a total of 

53 species: six tree/shrub seedlings, 12 

grasses/sedges/rushes, one fern (too immature 

to be identified with certainty) and 34 forbs. 

'Forensic botany' - a correction 

The most unexpected of the latter was Conopodium 

majus (Pignut), but as the land had 

formerly been croft grazing, it was presumably 

in the seedbank below: interesting to see it 

just inches away from a clump of Isolepis 

setacea (Bristle Club-rush), for example. The 

only species clearly of garden origin were 

Meconopsis and a Cotoneaster. 

PROFESSOR D .LHA WKSWORTH CBE, University of Gloucestershire. 

I just noticed the "Forensic botany" item in BSBI 

News 111: 21. I think it is most unfortunate that 

the note did not mention that the "female forensic 

botanist" featured, Patricia EJ. Wiltshire, lli a 

BSBI member herself of some 16 years standing. 

With regard to the actual case (murder of Joanne 

Nelson) referred to in the feature, it was not Mr 

Jones (the BSBI recorder), but a botanist at the 

University of Hull who helped in that case. 

However, Ms Wiltshire has had help from 

several BSBI recorders and English Nature 

personnel in the past. 

I felt that the record should be put straight. 

27

28 Botanical Crossword 13 

Across 

BOTANICAL CROSSWORD 13 

7. Weld a deer's breakage (6) 

8. You and I were responsible, it's said, for 

having removed plants growing in the wrong 

place (6) 

9. Look over leaf through scope (4) 

10. Just like paper to injure with debts (8) 

11. Filter drug to make able to reproduce (7) 

13. Mistakenly exalt a distinction between e.g. 

Taraxacum and Crepis (5) 

15. Species of rich rock produced by nonflowering 

plants (5) 

17. Offer a bribe for species of Arecaceae? (3, 

4) 

20. It's about getting head round it, head-like 

(8) 

21. Not on level grass (4) 

22. What Galium aparine burs may do to your 

clothes (6) 

23. Create hybrid Potentilla, for example (6) 

byCRUCIADA 

Down 

1. Further education's prompt to grass (6) 

2. Style that's part ofleaf (4) 

3. Bonnets you will be told to wear, gathering 

this type of seed (7) 

4. Make minor adjustment to hardwood case 

for whisky (5) 

5. Temptress puts fish on wall of fruit (8) 

6. Be green, perhaps, over time, like Callitriche 

leaves (6) 

12. Fatal at the end (8) 

14. Medicine - real dose distilled from Erica 

for instance (7) , 

16. Everlasting joy to be had at these gates, 

maybe (6) 

18. A French male comes in behind time 

waxing and waning (6) , 

19. Like conifer seeds in the buff (5) 

21. Swollen-rooted plant may exist as alien (4)

Aliens - Habitat of Cochlearia megalosperma naturalised in Britain 29 

ALIENS 

Habitat of Cochlearia megalosperma naturalised in Britain 

MICHAEL BRAITHWAITE, Clarilaw, Hawick, Roxburghshire, TD98PT 

Cochlearia megalosperma (Maire) Vogt 

(Cochlearia glastifolia L. var. megalosperma 

Maire (Tall Scurvygrass), which is endemic to 

Morocco and south-east Spain, has been 

reported in Britain as "well naturalised by road 

at Humbie Kirk (East Lothian), found 1994, 

also in cultivated and waste ground in Notts.". 

It is reported as having first come to be 

naturalised in Britain by escaping from the 

Pharmacy Garden on the University of 

Nottingham campus, to where it had been sent 

as seed from a collection at Gatersleben. The 

source of later colonies is not known, but it 

was being offered for sale by Salley Gardens 

organic herb nursery, which is not far from the 

university and had obtained seed from there. 

This species has now been found naturalised 

by the River Tweed at Tweedmill in v.c.S1 

Berwickshire (NTS4), on rocks dripping with 

water, apparently at variance with this suggestion 

of a ruderal habitat, so comment seems 

called for. 

A series of superb images of 

C. megalosperma in Spain is presented in the 

Flora of Almeria web site at http://www. 

floresdealmeria.comljoyas/cochlearia-megalosperma. 

html. Here it is depicted growing 

by a tiny rocky stream in the hills in more or 

less immediate contact with the water (noted 

to be a rare habitat in Almeria). This is not 

unexpected for a plant that can grow as an 

annual or short-lived perennial to l.S-2.0m in 

a season. 

The Tweedmill plant was first found in 2006 

by Georgina Hargreaves when salmon-fishing 

with her husband. It could have been carried 

to this site by the extreme floods in October 

200S, but the ghillie's recollection suggests it 

may have arrived a few years earlier. The 

excellent photos she sent me in 200S, when 

she saw it again in greater quantity, showed 

that it was growing on rocks, but not that they 

were especially wet (see Colour Section, Plate 

3). I did not visit the site until2S th April 2009, 

when I noted: 'It is rather amazing. There are 

great patches of the plant, typically Sx 1m each 

along lS0m of a dripping, crumbling rock 

face, cut by gullies, where most of the plants 

are. The whole is more or less shaded by 

trees. The plant seems to have been spreading 

fast, but to have now colonised almost all the 

suitable habitat at this locality. Associates 

include Eupatorium cannabinum (Hemp 

Agrimony), Cardamine amara (Great Bittercress), 

Chrysosplenium oppositifolium 

(Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage) and 

Impatiens glandulifera (Himalayan Balsam). 

Stems are already 1m tall and the dead stems 

from last year are consistent with the height of 

1.S to 1.Sm reported to me. This is a rare 

habitat and there was no sign of the plant in 

dryer habitats nearby'. 

Humbie, v.c.S2 (NT46) is not too far away, 

so I visited the site for C. megalosperma on 

26 th May 2009 to see the habitat there for 

myself. The plant was up to 2.0m high and 

just coming into flower, and was growing 

luxuriantly at the immediate foot of a wall 3m 

tall (it is the wall of a former walled garden) 

for about SOm. There was noticeable percolation 

of ground water in a number of places 

from the bank behind. These places were just 

where the Cochlearia was growing. There 

was no spread into the verge adjacent to the 

wall, which was dominated by Symphytum 

tuberosum (Tuberous Comfrey). There is a 

wooded dean close by with a variety of good 

habitats. I saw plenty of S. tuberosum there 

too, but there was no sign of the Cochlearia. 

The C. megalosperma habitat at Humbie, 

with its dripping stone, thus has many similarities 

with the Tweedmill site. In addition, both 

are sheltered and more or less south-facing, so 

they are places that tend to be warm, and this 

may favour a plant from southern climes, 

which needs to ripen seed that will germinate

30 Aliens - Habitat of Cochlearia megalosperma naturalised in Britain / Stranger on tbe shore / 

Planted aliens 

in the autumn and grow on as a rosette in the 

winter. 

However, the Nottingham colonies 

described by Julian Shaw are in garden ground 

and ruderal habitats nearby, so the habitat 

choice is not clear-cut. 

While I might wish to pass over the difficulties 

I had in identifying this plant, as they stem 

in part from my custom of using the first 

edition of 'Stace' (which, unlike the second 

edition, does not include this species), I must 

thank those who have helped me, especially 

Dr Dmitrij German, a specialist in Brassicaceae 

from the Barnaul University in Russia, 

who identified the plant correctly as belonging 

to the Cochlearia glastifolia aggregate, but 

also Petr Pysek and Jiff Danihelka in the 

Stranger on the shore 

Czech Republic, Teresa Farino in Spain, Prof. 

Mark Williamson in York, Tim Rich in 

Cardiff, Douglas McKean in Edinburgh and 

Helen Jackson in Musselburgh. 

References: 

SHAW, J.M.H. & KONUKLUGIL, B. (1994). 

Alien pharmaceutical plants at Nottingham. 

BSBI News 65: 42. 

SHAW, J.M.H. (1994). Cochlearia glastifolia 

naturalised at Nottingham. BSBI News 67: 

56-57 (with line drawing). 


Isles. Cambridge University Press, 

Cambridge. 


Isles, (2 nd ed.). Cambridge University Press, 

Cambridge. 

STEPHEN J. BUNGARD, Ceol-na-Mara, West Suisnish, Isle of Raasay, IV40 8NX 

(suisnish@waitrose.com) 

In June 2006 I discovered a patch of a crucifer 

growing strongly at the top of the shore near 

Armadale on the Isle of Skye. Since it was 

unknown to me and I couldn't key it out from 

any literature in my possession, I sent images 

of the plant and its distinctive fruits to various 

fellow botanists, including at least one with a 

special interest in crucifers. However, this 

drew a complete blank. 

I took pressed specimens and large photographs 

to the Scottish Annual Meeting in 

Edinburgh that year and was delighted when 

Ian Hedge identified it as a Peltaria (a Shieldwort). 

There was some doubt about whether 

it was P. angustifolia (Narrow-leaved Shieldwort) 

or P. alliacea (Garlic Cress). A photograph 

and further specimen taken in 2009 

allowed Ian Hedge to confirm that the plant is 

P. alliacea. 

Planted aliens 

Correspondence with Eric Clement provided 

no information of previous records in the 

British Isles. This plant is native to eastern 

Europe and I have seen it described as an 

invasive weed in north America. How it came 

to be on Skye is something of a mystery, but it 

can be bought from nurseries, and local sources 

suggest that it has been grown in hotel grounds 

in Portree, about forty miles from the site. The 

shore at Armadale has some other plants of 

garden origin (e.g. Aquilegia & Gunnera) so 

the Peltaria seems most likely to have come 

from a garden, either by seed or as a throw-out. 

The three photographs (see Colour Section, 

Plate 3) show the general appearance of the 

plant; a fruit, which explains why members of 

this genus are called shieldworts; and the 

diagnostic upper stem leaves, which are 

sessile, cordate and sagittate. 

ALAN C. LESLIE, 109 York Street, Cambridge, CBI2PZ 

Am I the only member to be concerned about 

the way planted aliens are being indiscriminately 

recorded and claimed as 'new county 

records'? Increasingly, I see in county records 

lists plants which are acknowledged as clearly 

planted, but which are haled as new to their 

counties. Whilst I understand the desire to be 

aware of and identify all that one finds, and

Aliens - Planted aliens I Vegetative identification of Buddleja species 31 

that a great deal more than is often admitted is 

actually planted, I feel it is devaluing our 

historical records of alien plants in our flora to 

lump evidently planted individuals with 

records for plants of the same species that 

have succeeded in reproducing themselves, by 

whatever means, out of cultivation. One can 

argue of course about where cultivation begins 

and ends, and it is not always easy to be sure 

about status. But it seems we have let these 

difficulties weigh so heavily that we have 

given up even trying to distinguish the most 

obvious cases. If, as can happen, recorders 

then do not state that the record is clearly of 

planted origin, we have no chance of picking 

up and following the naturalisation of new 

species in our flora. By all means record what 

one finds planted, but surely we do not have to 

make them part of our formal lists and claim 

new British records every time a local Council 

gets hold of some novelty to plant on a village 

green or along the local bypass. If I go and 

plant the Balearic endemic Carex rorulenta, 

which thrives in my garden, onto the dry, 

sunny bank in my local park, can I then write 

that up as new to Britain? Surely not, yet in 

effect that is what is happening. These 

remarks come from someone as keen an alien 

recorder as anyone, but I and all the alien plant 

enthusiasts I have known would never claim 

new records if they were not convinced the 

plant they saw had got there other than by the 

deliberate hand of man. It may seem a fine 

line to draw but I find fellow enthusiasts have 

no trouble understanding its value. Without it 

one might just as well list everything you grow 

in the garden, and if a species is missing from 

your county flora, just go out and plant it on a 

local roadside and hey presto you can put it on 

your list. 

Indeed I think this uncritical attitude towards 

alien records has led many into a ready acceptance 

that it does not really matter how any 

plant gets to where we find them and thus the 

recent trend to promote so-called wild flower 

mixes being sown everywhere, whether of 

supposed local origin or not, is again making 

a nonsense of plant distributions and our 

ability to interpret and draw conclusions about 

their ecology. We should not be condoning 

such practices in the countryside. 

Vegetative identification of Buddleja species 

JOHN POLAND, 91 Ethelburt Ave., Southampton, Hants S016 3DF 

(jpp197@alumni.soton.ac.uk) 

Since the publication of the Vegetative Key to 

the British Flora (Poland & Clement, 2009), 

inevitably a few more vegetative characters 

for separating similar species have come to 

light. Some of these include the identification 

of naturalised Buddleja species. Although 

everyone will be familiar with B. davidii 

(Butterfly-bush), fewer may be familiar with 

the widely planted B. globosa (Orange-balltree) 

unless in flower. Below is a simple 

vegetative key based primarily on the rugosity 

('wrinkliness') of the leaves. The hybrid 

(B. weyeriana (Weyer's Butterfly-bush)) is 

intermediate in all respects (including flower 

characters not included in this key). A third 

species of frequently planted Buddleja: 

B. alternifolia (Alternate-leaved Butterflybush), 

is quite distinct in having alternate 

leaves, as the name suggests, and consequently 

is not keyed out here. B. fallowiana, 

B. lindleyana and B. spectabilis are considered 

too rare to be included. 

Shrub evergreen (or ± so). Lvs 0pp., toothed, white- or yellow-felted below with stellate 

hairs 

.Lvs strongly rugose above, with 3° veins raised below, yellow- or white-felted below, 

crenate. Twigs mostly without interpetiolar stipules ....................................... Buddleja globosa 

.Lvs not or weakly rugose above, with 3° veins not or weakly raised below, white-felted 

below, serrate. Twigs mostly with interpetiolar stipules .................................. Buddleja davidii

32 Aliens - Botanical delights at Seafield Park, Fareham (v.c.ll) 

Botanical delights at Seafield Park, Fareham (v.c.ll) 

PHIL BUDD, 488 Bitterne Road East, Bitterne, Southampton, SO 18 5EP 

During the course of the spring and summer of 

2008, I was contracted to carry out an invertebrate 

survey for Fareham Borough Council in 

south Hampshire (v.c.11). My survey covered 

four public sites, including an area of about 

lOha of scrub, rough grassland and amenity 

land close to the Solent coast at Seafield Park, 

Stubbington (SU550020). Historically the site 

was an area of cultivated land dug in W orId 

War 2 as part of the 'Dig for Victory' 

campaign, and then maintained as allotments 

for a relatively short period, extending into the 

1950's and possibly 1960's. Since then the 

area had grassed over and turned into patchy 

scrub. 

In 2007 contractors working on behalf of 

Fareham Borough Council cleared a large area 

of invading mixed scrub to try to restore a 

more open grassland habitat. This scrub 

consisted of Rubusfruticosus agg. (Bramble), 

Ulex europaeus (Gorse), Cytisus sp. (Broom), 

Spartiumjunceum (Spanish Broom), Cortaderia 

selloana (Pampas-grass), Pyracantha sp. 

(Firethorn), etc. Later that summer one of the 

rangers noticed some very attractive, but 

unfamiliar, flora emerging in one particular 

cleared area adjacent to a footpath. 

On 15 th July 2008, during preparations for a 

public moth event nearby, I noticed some 

unusual flora in an area about 15x30m in 

extent. I noticed the odd sprig of Lactuca 

sativa (Lettuce), as well as Centaurea cyanus 

(Cornflower), something pink that looked like 

Clarkia, and various other annuals still in leaf. 

When I questioned the ranger she said that 

most of the unusual plants that she had seen in 

2007 were in this same area. 

On 28 th July, during a break in the invertebrate 

surveying, I examined the area more 

closely. Although many of the unfamiliar 

species were yet to flower, I did recognise the 

sage Salvia viridis (Annual Clary), Nigella 

damascena (Love-in-a-mist), Lavatera trimestris 

(Royal Mallow) and Coreopsis tinctoria 

(Annual Tickseed). In addition a very attractive 

'Chrysanthemum' was later named as 

Ismelia carinata (Tricolour Chrysanthemum) 

two different Clarkia species were found, as 

was a scarlet-flowered flax that turned out to 

be Linum grandiflorum (Crimson Flax). 

A follow-up visit to the site with Eric 

Clement on 11 th August revealed further 

species now in flower, including three plants 

of Ammi visnaga (Toothpick Plant), Consolida 

ajacis (Larkspur) and also Gypsophila 

elegans (Annual Baby's-breath). In addition, 

the two Clarkia species were determined as 

C. amoena (Godetia) and C. unguiculata 

(Clarkia). Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed 

Susan), Callistephus chinensis (China Aster) 

and Xeranthemum annuum (Immortelle) were 

amongst the new species identified, but still 

not in bloom. Eric was very impressed with 

the array of flora in this small area, and since 

many of these plants are varieties and species 

rarely seen in gardens today, he thought it 

likely that they had germinated from buried 

seed that had remained viable for perhaps as 

long as half a century. 

By 31 st August both the Callistephus and the 

Xeranthemum were in flower. For those not 

familiar with it, X. annuum is a somewhat 

silvery-greyish cornflower-like annual with 

carnation-pink flowers. By 7th September 

both pink and white flowered varieties of the 

somewhat more familiar Cosmos bipinnatus 

(Mexican Aster) had appeared a short distance 

away, and some of the Nigella had come to 

fruit and could be re-determined as N. sativa 

(Black-cumin). Around this time, Eric 

Clement visited the site with Mike Shaw, who 

took the excellent photographs that accompany 

this article (see Colour Section, Plate 4). 

On 16 th November I noticed that theXeranthemum 

annuum and Coreopsis tinctoria were 

still in bloom, despite the early frosts. 

Three of the species were certainly new to 

SU50, i.e.: Ammi visnaga, Callistephus 

chin ens is and Cosmos bipinnatus. According 

to the database held by Martin Rand (v.c.Il 

recorder), the Ammi visnaga is only the second 

Hampshire record, the first being dated 1970.

Aliens - Botanical delights at Seafield Park (v.c.ll) I Urtica membranacea Poiret in v.c.29. 33 

One of the other species seen, Xeranthemum 

annuum was so unusual that it was not recognised 

by 'MapMate', and may well have been 

new to Hampshire altogether. Unfortunately 

I have not yet found time to see what has come 

up here this year. On last year's evidence it 

may be better to wait until August or September 

before doing so. 

Urtica membranacea Poiret in Cambridgeshire, v.c.29 

MAN C. LESLIE, 109 York Street, Cambridge, CB1 2PZ 

Two sites for the annual Mediterranean nettle 

Urtiea membranaeea have recently been 

discovered in the city of Cambridge. The 

details ofthese finds are as follows: a) numerous 

plants in crack between pavement and the 

front wall of the Sir Isaac Newton public 

house and the adjacent hair salon ("Lyndsey 

McDermott"), Castle Street, Cambridge, 

(52/44415933), 22 nd March 2009, A.C. Leslie 

- later discovered to be in smaller quantity in 

car parks behind these buildings; b) numerous 

plants in cracks between pavement and the 

brick wall of a house on the east side of 

Herbert Street, at its southern end (the building 

is actually the side of 187 Chesterton 

Road), Cambridge, (52/45465955), 29 th 

March 2009, A.c. Leslie (CGE) , also 

scattered on either side of Herbert Street as far 

as numbers 16 and 17, as well as around the 

base of an Aeer negundo (Ashleaf Maple) 

planted in the pavement at the south end of the 

street. 

In BSBI News 103: 29-30 (2006) Ann 

Boucher and James Partridge described apparently 

the first British record for this alien 

nettle, made in April that year from a street in 

Warwick (v.c.38), in circumstances clearly 

very similar to those described here. In the 

Cambridge sites, the species seems naturalised; 

both populations are best developed at 

the base of warm, west-facing walls and their 

early flowering may mean they have a fighting 

chance of setting seed before the first wave of 

Council spraying. There is no evident source 

for the plant in either place and the spread of 

plants locally suggests they have been in each 

site for a couple of years at least. The illustrations 

in BSBI News 103 show the characters of 

the plant well. The following is a description 

taken from the Cambridgeshire material: 

An erect monoecious annual; stems 3-40cm 

tall, simple in very small plants but otherwise 

often with spreading-ascending branches from 

the base, often purple in full sunlight, with 

sparse, simple, rather weakly stinging hairs. 

Leaves broadly ovate, up to 77x75mm (but 

often much smaller), truncate to cordate at the 

base, deeply and sharply toothed, a rather deep 

almost glossy green above, ciliate, the upper 

surface with sparse, spreading, long, stinging 

hairs and rather more numerous, very short 

simple hairs, much less hairy below; petioles 

from about half as long as the blade to longer 

than the blade in mid-stem leaves. At the 

nodes, on each side of the stem, is a pale, ovate 

stipule, up to 7mm long, sometimes bifid at 

the tip, which is interpreted as the result of 

fusion between stipules from each opposing 

leaf. The clustered, unbranched, erecto-patent, 

terminal male racemes much exceed the 

petioles and are often tinged purple, making 

them conspicuous, especially when contrasted 

with the white anthers; the male flowers are 

borne unilaterally on an expanded, pale green 

membrane (hence the specific epithet); on 

vigorous stems there will be whorls of male 

racemes at one or two nodes below the apex 

and these can be longer and curve downwards. 

The much shorter, spreading to sharply 

reflexed, female racemes are borne below the 

male flowering nodes. Flowering March to 

April. 

Despite searching the area around and 

between these two sites no other plants have 

been found. However it seems likely that this 

species may be overlooked elsewhere both 

within Cambridgeshire and elsewhere in the 

British Isles. A hybrid with U. urens 

(V. xtremolsii Sennen) is claimed in Spain 

and might be the next target to aim for!

34 Aliens - First British record for self-sown Melica altissima? / Small Project Grant Reports- 

Plant communities of urban river walls and embankments 

First British record for self-sown Melica altissima? 

PAUL R. GREEN, 46 Bewley Street, New Ross, Co. Wexford (paulnewross@eircom.net) 

In BSBI News 111, an article by Ionathan 

Shanklin and Alan Leslie: 'Melica altissima 

found in Cambridgeshire (v.c.29)', reports 

that the Melica altissima L. 'Atropurpurea' 

Ionathan found appears to be the first British 

record of self-sown plants of any form of this 

species. 

I can report that I found the same form 

self-sown on the roadside outside Ascog 

Garden (NS 1072.6297) on the island of Bute 

(v.c.100), on 27th August 2005. Also seeded 

onto the roadside was Verbena bonariensis 

(Argentinian Vervain). Both were growing in 

Ascog Garden, where, I take it, they had both 

escaped from. 

Reference: 

SHANKLIN, I. & LESLIE, A. (2009). Melica 

altissima found in Cambridge (v.c.29). BSBI 

News 111: 38 

SMALL PROJECT GRANT REPORTS 

Plant communities of urban river walls and embankments 

ROBERT A. FRANCIS, Department of Geography, King's College London, Strand, London, 

WC2R2LS 

River walls in urban areas have been observed 

to support vegetation, but no studies have 

looked at the plant species that are found on 

river walls, or the biodiversity of such plant 

communities. This may prove of interest, as 

urban river walls may represent one of the few 

remaining habitats for riparian plant species in 

highly urbanised systems. As an initial investigation 

of the plant species found on the walls 

of a heavily engineered urban river, field 

surveys of plant species growing on the walls 

and embankments of the River Thames 

through central London took place in August 

2008. 92 walls over 16 sites along the Thames 

between Mortlake and Woolwich were 

surveyed, with 500m of wall frontage 

surveyed at each site. A total of 90 plant 

species was found, most with low frequency 

and abundance, with a few notable exceptions 

(Buddleja davidii (Butterfly-bush), Conyza 

sumatrensis (Guernsey Fleabane), Lycopus 

europaeus (Gypsywort), Parietaria judaica 

(Pellitory-of-the-wall) and Rumex hydrolapathum 

(Water Dock) were all frequent on the 

walls). 

The majority of species had ruderal and/or 

competitor functional strategies, and were 

mainly species that occur in urban waste 

grounds or gardens, with the exception of a 

low number (11) of riparian/aquatic species. 

Plant diversity was significantly higher on 

brick walls than on sheet piling, though the 

majority of walls surveyed supported some 

plant species, regardless of construction 

material. Plant establishment and diversity 

were primarily linked to fractures in the wall 

surface, or gaps where mortar had degraded 

and formed gaps for seeds to lodge and roots 

to subsequently develop. Species diversity 

was also higher on those sections of the wall 

above the mean high tide line, presumably due 

to the lack of flow disturbance. Urban river 

walls therefore support a range of plant 

species and may represent suitable habitat for 

novel habitat improvements. A paper summarising 

the findings of this survey has been 

submitted to Landscape and Urban Planning, 

and hopefully a more descriptive report will 

follow in Watsonia.

Botany in Literature - 51- Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge' 35 

BOTANY IN LITERATURE - 51 

Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge' - eine 

kleine Botanik - (and very few plants ... ) 

MARGOT E. SODCHIER, 26A Dryden A venue, London, W7 1 ES 

'The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge', the first of 

the Sherlock Holmes stories in the volume His 

Last Bow* (1917), was completed by Conan 

Doyle on the 17 th of April 1908, with a view to 

its being published in the Strand Magazine 

Summer issue of that year, but, instead, it was 

kept back, appearing in two parts in the 

September (1. The Singular Experience of Mr 

John Scott Eccles) and October (2. The Tiger of 

San Pedro) issues. Set deep in the Surrey 

countryside, between Esher and Oxshott, it is A 

Study in Scarlet (see Conan Doyle 2001a; 

Souchier, 2007a) type of adventure, entering 

into the Conradian world of immigrants and 

their policies, and thereby telling of an act of 

revenge being carried out for crimes and injustices 

committed in distant lands. This time the 

tyrant, Don Murillo, hails from Spain, as does 

the avenger, Garcia, although he is acting at the 

bequest of an Englishwoman, the governess, 

"Miss Bumet", whose proper name, as widow 

of a Spaniard, is Signora Victor Durando. In 

creating his characters, for what Holmes admits 

to Inspector Gregson is "on the face of it" a "not 

very complex" case, Conan Doyle drew on 

details from his own personal life. John Scott 

Eccles, the staunchly Conservative Englishman 

coming from Lee, an area of Blackheath where 

Conan Doyle's second wife, Jean Leckie, had 

family, and the name of Durando, being derived 

from the Italian runner Dorando Pietri, whose 

case of disqualification from the Olympic 

Games held in London in July 1908 Conan 

Doyle took up. Thus, whether from casualness, 

or a deliberate attempt to hide the origin of the 

name, Conan Doyle gave an Italian name to a 

Spaniard, and, changing the name, as he did, in 

proof [seemingly] misspelt it (Lycett, 2007). 

Wisteria Lodge itself, as we learn, is an old 

tumbledown fair-sized house "standing back 

from the road, with a curving drive which was 

banked with high evergreen shrubs". In a 

marked state of disrepair, with a grass-grown 

drive, and a "blotched and weather-stained 

door", it is hardly the grand English manor, so 

it is perhaps not surprising that it is in actual 

fact sans the Wisteria (or at least no mention 

is made of it). Garcia, the tenant of the lodge, 

all too rapidly befriends Eccles, and invites 

him to stay at the lodge, in order, it later turns 

out, to provide himself with an alibi. The 

story is told conventionally enough by the 

narrative of Watson, but it is due to the lack of 

any striking action on the behalf of Holmes, 

which perhaps marks it, if one is to be candid, 

as a less than satisfying Holmes adventure. 

This may be due to the fact that Holmes goodnaturedly 

shares the limelight with Inspector 

Baynes of the Surrey Constabulary, "a stout, 

puffy, red man, whose face was only 

redeemed from grossness by two extraordinarily 

bright eyes, almost hidden behind the 

heavy creases of cheek and brow", who 

chuckles and flushes with pleasure when 

Holmes praises him for his methodical and 

clever work. Thus, although Holmes actually 

solves the mystery, it is simultaneously done 

so by Baynes, with the result that Holmes is 

somewhat compromised and the reader 

deprived not only of Holmes's glory, but, as it 

is, in a sense, we who sit comfortably in Baker 

Street, "competent and assured", and "it is 

ourselves who are there, full of a tremendous 

capacity for wisdom, complacent in the 

presence of our humble Watson", (and it is 

therefore "our tobacco in the Persian slipper") 

with the "swirling fog without and the acrid 

smoke within" (Edgar W. Smith quoted by 

Anonymous in Conan Doyle, 1976), we too 

are deprived of the glory. 

There is also, as already intimated, a certain 

lack of precision, which, as the following 

extract shows, makes the story less convincing 

(although no less of "a tangled skein"), and

36 Botany in Literature - 51- Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge' 

thus less riveting than some of the more wellhoned 

adventures: 

One morning he [Holmes] spent in town, 

and I learned from a casual reference that 

he had visited the British Museum. l Save 

for this one excursion, he spent his days in 

long and often solitary walks, or in chatting 

with a number of village gossips whose 

acquaintance he had cultivated. 

"I'm sure, Watson, a week in the country 

will be invaluable to you," he remarked. "It 

is very pleasant to see the first green shoots 

upon the hedges and the catkins on the 

hazels once again. 2 With a spud,3 a tin 

box,4 and an elementary book on botany,S 

there are instructive days to be spent." He 

prowled around with this equipment 

himself, but it was a poor show of plants 6 

which he would bring back of an evening. 

Notes: 

1. British Museum: It is not until the end of the 

story, when Holmes enlightens Watson (in 

customary fashion) as to the significance of 

"The tom bird, the pail of blood, the charred 

bones, all the mystery of that weird kitchen?", 

that he reveals that the purpose of his 

visit to the British Museum was to consult 

"Eckermann's Voodooism and the Negroid 

Religions". The Museum (BM), which 

opened in Bloomsbury, London, in January 

1759 in Montague House from the bequest 

of Hans Sloane, also features in The Hound 

of the Baskervilles in respect to Stapleton 

(a.k.a. Vandeleur; by way of clarification, 

this name is derived from "the respected 

African explorer and Irish Guardsman 

Lieutenant-Colonel Cecil Vandeleur" (d. 

1901) (Lycett, 2007» as an authority on 

Entomology (see Conan Doyle, 1999: 138; 

Souchier, 2007b: 28). 

The setting of a room as a museum is used 

by Conan Doyle not only in The Hound of 

the Baskervilles (ibid.: 132-3; Souchier, I.e.), 

but in 'The Adventure of the Three 

Garridebs' (Conan Doyle, 2007: 387 (Case 

Book), viz.: 

The room was as curious as its occupant. It 

looked like a small museum. It was both 

broad and deep, with cupboards and cabinets 

all round, crowded with specimens, 

geological and anatomical. Cases of 

butterflies and moths flanked each side of 

the entrance. A large table in the centre was 

littered with all sorts of debris, while the tall 

brass tube of a powerful microscope bristled 

up amongst them ... 

(For a further Watsonian reference to a 

microscope note 'Sherlock Holmes had been 

bending for a long time over a low-power 

microscope' (Conan Doyle, 2007: 504 

(Case-Book) and for details on microscopes 

generally, see Souchier in BSBI News 111: 

46-49 (2009». 

2. green shoots upon the hedges and the 

catkins on the hazels once again: The story 

is set in March, hence, as Watson relates, 

apropos of a nocturnal expedition, there was 

a sharp wind and a fine rain beating down 

upon our faces ... " 

3. a spud: Gardeners, and ostensibly amateur 

botanists, are known to insert the blade of 

their knife into a potato as a means of 

safeguarding themselves from injury. There 

are, however, other uses. 

4. a tin box: An essential item for the Victorian 

naturalist for carrying botanical specimens 

in. Such a box is used by Stapleton in 

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Conan 

Doyle, 1999: 55; Souchier, 2007b: 28). 

5. an elementary book on botany: It is doubtful 

whether one would take precisely such a 

volume outside; more likely a field guide 

would be employed to greater advantage. 

6. a poor show of plants: Not a single plant, at 

least botanically speaking, is mentioned in the 

episode. Of course, this maybe explained by 

Holmes's avowed confession of his true 

purpose: "My frrst days in the village were 

devoted to a series of walks, in which in the 

intervals of my botanical researches I made a 

reconnaissance of all the large houses and an 

examination of the family history of the 

occupants". However, in A Study in Scarlet, 

Watson's list (Conan Doyle, 2001a: 18; 

Souchier, 2007a: 23) reveals Holmes's 

knowledge of Botany to be "Variable". In 

'The Resident Patient' (Conan Doyle, 2001b: 

416 (Memoirs», Watson states of Holmes

Botany in Literature - 51- Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge' 37 

"Appreciation of Nature found no place 

among his many gifts, and his only change 

was when he turned his mind from the evildoer 

of the town to track down his brother of 

the country", a sentence which is repeated 

verbatim in 'The Adventure of the Cardboard 

Box' (Conan Doyle, 2007: 46 (His Last 

Bow) ). Yet, as part of the development of his 

character, which I have already remarked 

upon (Souchier, 2007b: 27), when, in 'The 

Adventure of the Naval Treaty' Holmes 

exclaims "What a lovely thing a rose is!", 

Watson comments "He walked past the couch 

to the open window, and held up the drooping 

stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the 

dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a 

new phase of his character to me, for I had 

never before seen him show any keen interest 

in natural objects". 

Perhaps it is that the retired Holmes in 'The 

Adventure of the Lion's Mane' provides an 

answer to the conundrum himself when he 

says, narrating his own adventure on this 

occasion: "It occurred after my withdrawal to 

my little Sussex home, where I had given 

myself up entirely to that soothing life of 

Nature for which I had so often yearned during 

the long years spent amid the gloom of 

London". (Conan Doyle, 2007: 462 (Case 

Book)), and proceeds in accordance with this 

declaration to solve the mystery, whereby the 

miscreant, which "can be as dangerous to life 

as, and far more painful than, the bite of the 

cobra" is actually scientifically named via an 

extract from a book by the author of "Out of 

doors", the "famous observer, J.G. Wood": 

If the bather should see a loose roundish 

mass of tawny membranes and fibres, 

something like very large handfuls oflion's 

mane and silver paper, let him beware, for 

this is the fatal stinger, Cyanea capillata. 

"Could our sinister acquaintance be more 

clearly described?" 

(ConanDoyle, 2007: 484 (Case-Book)), previous 

to which Holmes has cried out "Cyanea ... 

Cyanea! Behold the Lion's Mane" (which is 

via the zoological vernacular more fully 

known as Lion's Mane Jellyfish, although it is 

to Cyanea lamarckii Peron & Lesueur, which 

it closely resembles, other than in colour, 

(C. lamarckii being blue-white, instead of 

C. capillata's brick-red-yellow), that the 

cautionary note "It can inflict severe stings" is 

appended (Campbell, 2005: 87), thus raising 

the question as to whether C. cap illata 

(Linnaeus) also stings or whether Conan 

Doyle, in choosing the species with the 

vernacular (and a memorable one at that), 

confused the facts. 

Perhaps, one might argue, Holmes is better 

off producing his monographs on various 

topics (see Souchier, 2007a: 24), including 

bee-keeping and the volume Practical 

Handbook of Bee Culture, a copy of which, 

when posing as the Irish-American Altamont 

in the adventure 'His Last Bow', he presents 

to the German Van Bork, who was then 

"gripped at the back of his neck by a grasp of 

iron, and a chloroformed sponge was held in 

front of his writhing face". (Conan Doyle, 

2007: 229 (His Last Bow)): Holmes at his best! 

*The problem of pronunciation presented by 

the clever double-entendre of bow is solved 

very nicely by Conan Doyle himself: "I fear 

that Mr Sherlock Holmes may become like 

one of those popular tenors who, having 

outlived their time, are still tempted to make 

repeated farewell bows to their indulgent 

audiences". (Conan Doyle, 2007: 247 (Case 

Book: preface)). 

References: 

BROWN, P.A. (2009). The Natural History 

Museum, London's Entomology Collections: 

The Origin or What has been. NatSCA 

[National Sciences Collections Association] 

News 17, (August): 29-33. 

CAMPBELL, A. (2005). Phillip's Guide to 

Seashores and Shallow Seas of Britain and 

Northern Europe. Phillip's, London. 

CONAN DOYLE, A. (1976). The Complete 

Sherlock Holmes Treasury [a facsimile of 

the original publication in Strand Magazine, 

1901-1905]. Avenel Books, New York. 

CONAN DOYLE, A. (1999). The Hound of the 

Baskervilles. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 

Ware, Hertfordshire. 

CONAN DOYLE, A. (2001a). A Study in 

Scarlet. Penguin Classics, London.

38 Botany in Literature - 51- Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge' / 

Requests & Offers - Volunteer Co-ordinator needed for survey of alien plants / BSBIjournals for free 

CONAN DOYLE, A. (2001b). The Adventures 

of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of 

SherlockHolmes. Penguin Classics, London. 

CONAN DOYLE, A. (2007). His Last Bow and 

The Case-Book ofSherlockHolmes. Penguin 

Red Classics, London. 

LYCETT, A. (2007). Conan Doyle: The Man 

Who Created Sherlock Holmes. Weidenfeld 

and Nicolson, London. 

SOUCHIER, M.B. (2007a). Botany in Literature 

- 45: Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet 

REQUESTS & OFFERS 

- Sherlock Holmes and Botany - Affinities 

with Freud. BSBI News 105: 22-24. 

SOUCHIER, M.B. ( 2007b). Botany in Literature 

- 45 [sic]: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 

Botany and Botanists in (1) The Hound of 

the Baskervilles and (2) The Lost World and 

Other Stories - Naturalism and Doyle's 

oscillation between Botany, Zoology (and 

Entomology). BSBI News 106: 27-29. 

V olunteer Co-ordinator needed for new survey of alien plants 

PETER BROWN, 34 Longfields, Ely, CB63DN 

(petermjbrown@googlemail.com) (Tel.: 01353 610668) 

A new survey focusing on non-native species 

is being launched in 2010. The BSBI is 

helping with this web-based project, which 

will involve the public in recording a small 

selection of non-native species. The project is 

a collaboration between the Biological 

Records Centre, the National Biodiversity 

Network Trust and the GB Non-native Species 

Secretariat, and involves the recording 

schemes for various plants and animals. 

The two primary aims of the project are to 

inform the public on non-native species, and 

to gather additional useful data on the distribution 

and ecology of the chosen species. Two 

plant species and four animal species will be 

the initial focus of the project, but further 

species may be added later. 

Members of the public will be asked to 

submit records of either of two easily-identified 

non-native terrestrial plants (species to be 

confirmed but see Colour Section, Plate 3) via 

BSBI journals for free 

an online recording form, with the facility to 

upload a photograph of their sighting. 

A keen co-ordinator for the new survey is 

required, with work starting in spring or early 

summer 2010. The role would be carried out 

from home, involving a few hours a week, and 

will involve dealing with the processing of 

records via a secure webpage. The position is 

voluntary (unfortunately no funding is available 

for a paid position). 

The basic requirements of the post are: 

• Plant identification skills - identification 

from photographs will be needed. 

• Basic computer proficiency. 

• Access to a computer, with use of the 

intemet (ideally broadband). 

• A few hours spare time per week. 

No handling of plant specimens will be 

required. If you are interested, please get in 

touch with me, the project organiser, by early 

October 2009, for further information. 

FRANK SLATER, 38 Kilfield Road, Bishopston, Swansea, SA3 3DN 

(slater.frank@btintemet.com) 

Anyone interested in a complete set of Watsonia 

from Vol. 11, Part 3 to now i.e. Vo!. 27, 

Part 3, including indices, plus BSBI News and 

Welsh Bulletin? They can be picked up from 

my Swansea home - postage would no doubt 

be expensive.

Echium rosulatum (Lax Viper's-bugloss) © 2009 Lathyrus tuberosus (Tuberous Pea) © 2009 Reseda alba (White Mignonette) © 2008 

Bay Willow, verticals partly 

skeletonized by grey squirrel 

stripping (see p. 15) 

All photos taken at Barry Docks (v.c.41) by T.O. Evans (see p. 18) 

Katsura Tree, grey squirrel 

ringbarking 

(see p. 15) 

Zelkova serrata, grey squirrel 

stripping (ringbarked near base) 

(see p. l7) 

All photos taken at Clatford Arboretum, Wilts. by J. Oliver © 2008 

Populus 'Columbia', grey squirrel 

not beaver damage! 

(see p. 15) 

n 

o 

0' 

>= 

.., 

CIJ 

Cl> 

Cl 

g. 

:::s

Peltaria alliacea at Annadale, Isle of Skye (v.c.l04) with fruit inset © 2006 and detail of leaf base © 2009. All photos S Bungard (see p. 9) 

Cochlearia megalosperma at Tweedmill (v.c.S1) with close-up of flowers and fruit. 

Both photos Mrs G. Hargreaves © 200S (see p. 29) 

Potential plant for public participation nonnative 

species survey: LYSlchiton americanus 

(American Skunk-cabbage). Photo © GB 

Non-native Species Secretariat (see p. 3S) 

n 

o 

0' 

..., c:: 

CIl 

(ll 

(") 

o. 

o 

;:I 

lJ.l

Ammi visnaga (Toothpick Plant) 

Callistephus chinensis (China 

Aster) Clarkia amoena (Godetia) 

Clarkia unguiculata (Clarkia) 

Ismelia carinata Rudbeckia hirta 

(Tricolour Chrysanthemum) Lavatera trimestris (Royal Mallow) (Black-eyed Susan) Salvia viridis(Annual Clary) 

All photos taken at Seafield Park, S. Hampshire (v.c.lI) by M. Shaw © 2008 (see p. 32) 

.j::>. 

n 

o 

0' 

c 

.., 

VJ 

a 

o· 

::;

Requests & Offers - Publications for disposal / Spare copies of BSBI journals for disposal / 39 

West Cork B & B / Flowers and Photography Holidays in Menorca 

Publications for disposal 

JOHN OSLEY, 30 Ffordd Tan'r Allt, Abergele, Clwyd, LL22 7DQ 

The following pUblications are surplus to my 

requirements. If anyone wishes to have them 

before I send them for recycling (deadline one 

month from the date of this BSBI News), they 

are either welcome to make arrangements (via 

e-mail: johnthebot@yahoo.co.uk or j.osley@ 

ccw.gov.uk) to collect, either from my home 

address in Abergele or office address in Mold 

or for the cost of postage (mainland UK only): 

Plantlife Members' Magazine 1990 (1) to 

2006 (44) in three green binders. 

Bulletin of the British Mycological Society 

Volume 8 (Spring 1974) to Volume 20 

(October 1986). 

Mycologist (A5 format) Volume 1 (January 

1987) to Volume 7 (November 1993) and 

(A4 format) Volume 8 (February 1994) to 

Volume 20 (part 3) (August 2006). 

Field Mycology Volume 1 (2000) to Volume 

7 (2006) (parts 1& 2 only). 

Bulletin of the British Bryological Society 

Volume 51 (February 1988) to Volume 81 

(July 2003). 

Field Bryology Volume 82 (March 2004) to 

96 (October 2008). 

Journal of Bryology (medium format) Volume 

16 (1990) to Volume 20 (1998) and (large 

format) Volume 21 (1999) to Volume 30 

(2008). 

Spare copies of BSBI journals for disposal 

DR V ALERIE LIVESEY, Y Felin, Cwmrheidol, Aberystwyth, SY233NA 

Tel: 01970 880564; v.livesey@btinternet.com 

I have a good range of Watsonia, BSBI 

Abstracts, BSBI News and Welsh Bulletins for 

'rehoming', due to shortage of space. Too 

many books and journals and no more room 

for bookshelves! Collection preferred, as 

there are rather a lot. Or could split into bits to 

post perhaps, if postal charges are refunded. 

West Cork B & B 

Watsonia Vol13 (3) Jan 1981 - Vo126(3) Feb 

2007 

BSBI Abstracts Part 11 (July 1981) - 29 

August 2001 

BSBI News No. 27 Apr 1981- No. 105 Apr 

2007 

Welsh Bulletin No. 44 Winter 1986 - No. 80 

June 2007 

MRS SUSAN COBLEY, Ravens Oak, Derryishal, Bantry, West Cork, Ireland 

(Tel: 00353 2753809) ( info@ravens-oak.com) (www.ravens-oak.com) 

Owned by BSBI member, all modern facilities 

and lovely garden. Convenient, scenic 

location 10 minutes from Bantry and central 

for exploring West Cork. 

Flowers and Photography Holidays in Menorca 

PHILIP DUNN, 'Treesbank', Tongland Road, Kirkcudbright, DG64UU 

Tel: 01557 331343, http://www.inspiration-holidays.comlbotany-holidays 

BSBI Vice-county Recorder David Hawker & 

professional photographer Philip Dunn have 

teamed up to offer Flowers and Photography 

Holidays in lovely Menorca. The 2010 date is 

7 th - 14th May. Learn more about the wild 

flowers of Menorca and how to photograph 

them. 

Small discount for BSBI members.

40 Notices - 2010 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowships / Excursion to Almerfa - April 2010 

NOTICES 

2010 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowships 

We have been asked to draw people's attention 

to the call for applications for these 

Fellowships. These are available for UK 

citizens, to enable them to travel overseas "to 

undertake study projects related to their 

profession, trade or particular interest". The 

current round has ten categories, and applications 

need to be made ru!h October. The 

categories most likely to be relevant to 

botanists might be: 'Adventure, exploration 

and leaders of expeditions', 'Education, and 

Excursion to Almeria - April 2010 

vocational training', 'Environment, food and 

rural affairs', and 'Science, engineering and 

enterprise'. Grants average over £5,000 each, 

covering travel and living expenses for a visit 

of 4-8 weeks. Further information can be 

found at www.wcmt.org.uk or by contacting 

the Winston Churchill Memorial trust, 15 

Queen's Gate Terrace, London, SW7 5PR 

(020 7584 9315) (email: office@wcmt. 

org.uk). 

TERESA FARING, Apartado de Correos 59, 39570 Potes, Cantabria, Spain; 

(Tel.: +34942735154) (teresa@iberianwildlife.com) 

A one-week field meeting in south-eastern Spain 

is proposed for spring 2010, to run from Thursday 

15 th April to Thursday 22 nd April. 

Almerfa is perhaps the most arid region of 

Western Europe, experiencing more than 3,100 

hours of sunlight and just 250mm of precipitation 

annually. Not surprisingly, the vegetation is very 

distinctive, harbouring many endemic species. 

Of the thousand-odd species of vascular plant 

known to occur in the Cabo de Gata natural park, 

for example, around 12% are unique to Iberia. 

From our base in the fishing village of San 

Jose, in the western sector of the Cabo de Gata 

park, we are ideally placed to explore all the 

principal habitats of the region. Coastal sanddunes 

harbour clumps of Ziziphus lotus and 

several endemic species of Salsola, parasitized 

by the curious Cynomorium coccineum 

(Cynomorium), plus Mesembryanthemum 

nodiflorum and M. crystallinum (Ice-plant), 

Otanthus maritimum (Cottonweed), Frankenia 

corymbosa, Limonium sinuatum, Thymelaea 

hirsuta and Andryala ragusina, while stony 

steppes behind the shore boast Limonium 

lobatum, Genista umbellata, Haplophyllum 

linifolium and the endemic, winter-flowering 

Androcymbium europaeum. 

We will also explore the volcanic hinterland of 

the park, where the vegetation includes several 

plants known only from Cabo de Gata - Ulex 

canescens, Teucrium charidemi and Antirrhinum 

charidemi - as well as Periploca laevigata, 

May tenus senegalensis (May tenus), Phlomis 

purpurea ssp. almeriensis, Phlomis lychnitis, 

Withania frutescens and the cactus-lilce Caralluma 

europaea. Excursions further inland will 

take in the badlands of Tabernas - the backdrop 

to many a 'Spaghetti Western', where notable 

plants include Euzomodendron bourgaeanum, 

Limonium insigne, Cistanche phelypaea ssp. 

lutea and Lygeum spartum (Albardine) - as well 

as the nearby Sierras of Glidor and Los Filabres, 

where enclaves of more typically Mediterranean 

vegetation can be found. 

We will be staying at the Hotel Santuario in the 

fishing village of San Jose, where all rooms are 

en suite and most have a terrace or balcony. The 

cost will be 1,075 € per person, plus a singleroom 

supplement of 125 €, to cover half-board 

accommodation, picnic lunches, transport by 

hired minibus throughout, all entry fees and the 

services of the leaders (Teres a Farino and James 

Parry), but excluding flights to Almeria and 

travel insurance (obligatory). Deposits can be 

paid in sterling, and the balance converted to 

sterling at the time it is due, using 

www.oanda.com. For further details, please 

contact me by post, phone or email, as given 

above.

Notices - BSBI trip to Mallorca I Estonia - bogs, fens & mires! 41 

BSBI trip to Mallorca - approximate dates 2Ist - 26 th April 2010 

DR JOHN BAILEY, Biology Department, University of Leicester, LE1 TRH Upb@le.ac.uk) 

Richard Gornall and myself have been taking 

parties to Mallorca to study the wildlife there for 

many years, and have a good knowledge of the 

plants and where to find them. Accommodation 

will be full board in the 3-star Hotel Pollensa 

Park Hotel in Puerto Pollensa, which is on the 

coast of northern Mallorca and close to the 

historic town of Pollensa. The north of Mallorca 

abounds with spectacular limestone mountains 

and gorges, which in turn are host to some very 

rare and extraordinary species. Special attention 

is given to the Balearic endemics. We would 

expect to see up to five species of Ophrys, five 

hedgehog plants, Dracunculus muscivorus, 

Cytinus, the famous Naufraga balearica and a 

host of other interesting and attractive plants. 

We also plan a visit to the idyllic Botanic Garden 

in SaIler. In addition to the tonic of the Mediterranean 

in the spring, this trip also offers excellent 

bird-watching opportunities. Whilst no climbing 

is required, there will be some walking up and 

down hillsides on uneven ground, so a reasonable 

level of fitness is required. 

If interested in joining this excursion please 

contact me at the address above. 

Estonia: bogs, fens & mires! July 5 th - 15 th 2010 

Leaders: rAN BENNALLlCK AND PAUL GREEN 

Lahemaa's atmospheric landscape of bogs, 

forests and unspoilt bays, with still traditional 

fishing villages, has been spared the ravages of 

the 20 th century by dint of being the first 

national park designated in the former Soviet 

Union. 34 out of36 of Estonia's orchids occur 

on the limestones of Saaremaa Island. Dark 

Red Helleborine and Fly Orchid are 

widespread and we'll see the Baltic endemics 

Dactylorhiza longifolia and Dactylorhiza 

ruthei. We will find Fen Orchid and Dactylorhiza 

curvifolia amongst fine displays of 

Marsh Helleborine and Musk Orchid. Colonies 

of Silver-studded and Large Blues live amid a 

colourful mosaic of bellflowers, campions and 

cinquefoils. Of particular interest will be the 

extensive complexes of mires, fens and raised 

bogs made accessible by a series of trails and 

boardwallcs. A rich and distinctive community 

makes this its home, from Sundews and Oneleaved 

Bog Orchids to the endemic Rhinanthus 

osiliensis and the skullcap Scutellaria hastifolia. 

Estonia has a wealth of sedges probably 

unmatched in Europe. British rarities such as 

Carex flava and elegant Carex buxbaumii sit 

alongside less familiar species such as Carex 

rhynchophysa and Carex globularis. Chamaedaphne 

calyculata will be going over but other 

Ericaceae will be in full bloom including Bog 

Rosemary, Labrador Tea and both species of 

Cranberry. Paths through lichen and Cowberry 

under open pine forests will reveal Creeping 

Lady's-tresses, and lovely Twinflower are no 

less attractive than seven Wintergreens, whilst 

roadsides are awash with stands of four species 

of Cow-wheats, among them colourful Crested 

Cow-wheat and the garish purple and yellow 

Melampyrum nemorosum. 

The focus of the holiday is the flora; also 

dragonflies and butterflies. Walking is relaxed 

and easy; up to three or four miles a day and 

always at a slow pace, perfectly suited to 

photographers. Included in the price are all 

flights, all transport, meals and accommodation 

in Estonia and the services of the leaders. 

Drinks, tips and items of a personal nature 

including insurance, are not included. Group 

size: minimum five and maximum 15. Only 

one leader will accompany a group of six or 

less. Accommodation, for the first half of the 

tour is at the 16 th century Kohala Manor. Set in 

peaceful countryside with ponds, rivers, woods 

and fields, there will be plenty of fauna and 

flora to interest us. All rooms have en suite 

facilities. The climate is warm and sunny with 

occasional evening thunderstorms. Flower, 

dragonfly, butterfly, bird and mammal checklists 

are available. 

For further information and a tour itinerary: call 

01298 83563 or visit www.greentours.co.uk

42 Field meeting reports: 2008 - Lindisfarne area (v.c.68) 

FIELD MEETING REPORTS: 2008-2009 

Reports of field meetings are collated by Dr 

Alan ShowIer, and copy for these should be sent 

to him direct, not to the editors of BSBI News. 

His address is: 12 Wedgwood Drive, Hughenden 

2008 

Valley, High Wycombe, Bucks., HP14 4PA (tel.: 

01494562082). Copy for day meetings should 

generally be up to 500 words, and for weekend 

meetings, up to 1000 words. 

Lindisfarne area, N. Northumberland (v.c.68), 13 th - 17th August 

CHRlS METHERELL (v.c. Recorder) and MARY SMITH 

Wednesday, 13 th August 

On a sunny afternoon a substantial number of 

botanists gathered in the car park at 

Warkworth Dunes for the first afternoon's 

stroll of what was to prove both a profitable 

and sometimes exhausting week! Looking 

around it was obvious that we had an excellent 

mix of local botanists and those from further 

afield. Maps and hit lists were handed out and 

off we set. We were split into five teams to 

allow a wide coverage of the ground. 

Erigeron acer (Blue Fleabane) was found in 

four sites ('sites' refers to lOm square records 

throughout), Allium oleraceum (Field Garlic) 

in two and Calystegia soldanella (Sea 

Bindweed) in three. This last had not been 

seen here since 1977 and so were particularly 

useful finds. Regrettably, we failed to confirm 

old records of Lathryus japonicus (Sea Pea), 

Eryngium maritimum (Sea-holly) and Atriplex 

praecox (Early Orache), though we were 

probably too late in the year for the last one. 

We had more success with Dianthus deltoides 

(Maiden Pink), famous in the dune slacks, 

seen in six sites, and with Parapholis strigosa 

(Hard-grass) at one of its only two sites in 

v.c.68. Martyn Stead also spotted Lathyrus 

latifolius (Broad-leaved Everlasting-pea), last 

recorded here in 1987, despite it being a wellbotanised 

area. 

In all 70 sites were accumulated, 39 being 

new records for NU2505, the least recorded 

lkm square within the area. 

En route to Lindisfarne, the convoy of cars 

stopped to admire and photograph Asplenium 

xclermontiae (Maidenhair Spleenwort x Wallrue) 

at its only station in the UK (and possibly 

Europe?). The single plant was flourishing 

this year, after a couple of poor seasons. 

On arrival at the Lindisfarne Hotel we were 

greeted by Michael Braithwaite, who had 

found Cardamine corymbosa (New Zealand 

Bitter-cress) in the hotel car park! This was 

not new to the vice-county but new to the 

island. 

Those who did not already know each other 

became acquainted over dinner, which was 

enlivened by some bottles of wine. 

Afterwards several of us went on a dusk 

walk. The most remarkable alien for those not 

familiar with this area was Acaena novae-zealandiae 

(Pirri-pirri-bur). We soon got to know 

it, and cursed it often. Assorted Euphrasia 

(eyebrights) were found and debated. This 

complex group became a sub-theme of the trip 

for Chris. 

Thursday, 14th August 

On another bright day three groups set out to 

record the northern and central sections of 

Ross Links. The SE section of the dunes had 

already been visited in 2008, but that left a 

very large area for which there were few localised 

records. 

The north end of the links was visited by two 

groups. Strangely we found very little Equisetum 

variegatum (Variegated Horsetail), which 

had been recorded in the past; however we 

accumulated eight sites for Astragalus danicus 

(Purple Milk-vetch), a TPP species, and an 

excellent find was Carex viridula ssp. viridula 

(Small-fruited Yellow-sedge), last recorded 

here in 1968, the only site found during the 

week. Another RPR species, Cynoglossum 

officinale (Hound's-tongue) was recorded

Field meeting reports: 2008 Lindisfarne area (v.c.68) 43 

from 86 sites. Similarly, Salsola kali (Prickly 

Saltwort) was found in 43 sites. Two 

Gentianella species: G. amarella ssp. septentrionalis 

(Autumn Gentian) and G. campestris 

(Field Gentian), feature on the RPR, and were 

well-recorded during the day. Samolus 

valerandi (Brookweed) was last seen here in 

1991, but we had to wait until the end to find 

one large patch around a pond. 

Other RPR species recorded were: Erigeron 

acer (1 site), Euphrasia confusa (1 site) and 

Euphrasia tetraquetra (3 sites). 

Several species from old records were 

searched for: Anagallis minima (Chaffweed), 

Pyrola rotundifolia (Round-leaved Wintergreen), 

Radiola lino ides (Allseed), Apium 

inundatum (Lesser Marshwort), Botrychium 

lunaria (Moonwort), and Hyoscyamus niger 

(Henbane), but they all eluded us, if they were 

there at all. 

However, both Bob Ellis's and Kevin 

Walker's survey teams made single records 

for Ornithopus perpusillus (Bird's-foot), 

although Bob is not now sure that this was not 

an error for A. danicus. If correct, this is a 

particularly exciting find, as the plant is very 

rare in v.c.68, with only one old site many 

miles away from Ross Links. Additionally, 

Michael Braithwaite noted possible Viola 

canina (Heath Dog-violet) hybrids. 

We accumulated 120 sites, an amazing total 

and a grand record total of 520 taxa, of which 

331 were new records for one or more of the 

lkrn squares making up the larger site. 

Meanwhile John Richards visited Dunstanburgh, 

providing, amongst a long list of sites, 

several for Torilis nodosa (Knotted Hedgeparsley) 

and Euphrasia tetraquetra, both TPP 

species. However, John was also able to 

report a number of species, previously known 

in the area, which could not be refound, or for 

which no suitable habitat now existed. For 

example, a pond known to have contained 

Potamogeton coloratus (Fen Pondweed) had 

been drained, and suitable habitat no longer 

existed for Scleranthus annuus (Annual 

Knawel). 

Another dusk walk followed dinner for a few 

of us. We wanted to see if we could find 

Epipactis sancta (Lindisfarne Helleborine), 

now accepted as a separate endemic species. 

We got rather wet in the subaquatic slacks, but 

eventually we saw some chicken-wire 'hats', 

in most of which were brown remains of 

orchids, which we assumed were our targets. 

We were underwhelmed, but the other orchids 

(E. palustris (Marsh Helleborine), Dactylorhiza 

fuchsii (Common Spotted-orchid) and 

D. purpurella (Northern Marsh-orchid)) were 

beautiful. 

Friday, 15 th August 

Today the group was split into three teams, 

each heading in a different direction. The 

main body set off up Cheviot, specifically 

intending to visit the Hen Hole Corrie 

(different geology) to do some square bashing. 

The route proved interesting, both the drive 

into the College Valley Estate and especially 

the ascent through thigh-high rushes and 

grasses, slippery with recent rain, and no path 

after the first lOOm. This was exhausting or 

exhilarating, depending on one's fitness. At 

the rocky outcrop at 700m altitude we were 

allowed to eat lunch, in the rain and mountaintop 

wind, at 2: 15pm. Descending into the 

watersmeet of Hen Hole Corrie was even more 

exciting or terrifying, but one of us slid down 

on her butt, which was much easier and safer 

than trying to walk. Although a relatively 

well-recorded area, records needed to be 

added to the existing list for the main tetrad, 

NT8.2V, whose taxa rose from 41 to 127. We 

also bashed NT8.2W to a lesser extent, whose 

taxa rose from 13 to 129, including a single 

site record for Myosotis stolonifera (Pale 

Forget-me-not), an RPR target. We were 

particularly pleased to record Carex bigelowii 

(Stiff Sedge), another RPR species, although 

we did not have time to conduct an extensive 

search for more. Several sites for Diphasiastrum 

alpinum (Alpine Clubmoss) were 

accumulated. Regrettably, poor time management 

by the leader (!) meant that we did not 

have sufficient time to search for many of the 

target species. It also meant that we caught 

another rather unpleasant piece of weather on 

the way down, and this, combined with the

44 Field meeting reports: 2008 - Lindisfarne area (v.c.68) 

amount of water in the burn made the descent, 

shall we say, entertaining! 

Bob Ellis and Kevin Walker set off in 

pursuit of Crepis mollis (Northern Hawk'sbeard), 

both an RPR and TPP plant. Although 

they ranged far and wide, visiting the area 

around Langleeford, and the Upper Coquet 

Valley (which made them rather late for 

dinner) only one of the known sites came up 

trumps. This was an excellent meadow near 

Langleeford, although they reported that the 

Coquet Valley site looked promising and 

might be revisited. Another interesting record 

was for Myosotis secunda (Creeping Forgetme-not), 

a TPP species not previously known 

from the Langleeford area. 

Michael and Paddy Braithwaite opted for a 

lowland day, visiting Dunstanburgh and 

Newham Fen. The latter produced excellent 

site records for Carex lasiocarpa (Slender 

Sedge), Potamogeton coloratus, Salix 

myrsinifolia (Dark-leaved Willow) and 

Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea (Purple 

Moor-grass). Indeed, Michael brought back a 

specimen of the latter for us to argue about 

over dinner. Dunstanburgh turned out not to 

be so interesting; however it turned up two 

further site records for Torilis nodosa, at 

different locations from those recorded by 

John Richards the day before. They also 

provided a record which, although in itself not 

remarkable, shows just how much work 

remains to be done in North Northumberland: 

Galium palustre ssp. elongatum (Common 

Marsh-bedstraw). Astoundingly there are no 

previous records of this plant from Newham 

Fen! 

We had ordered dinner at the Crown and 

Anchor, but we had to phone to say we would 

all be late. However, we got there eventually, 

tired and hungry, although those who had 

studied the coastal areas had a sunny, easy, 

day. We sank back in the warm comfort of a 

little alcohol, good food and plenty of botanical 

discussions. 

Saturday, 16 th August 

This was our first day of serious Holy Island 

botany, and a hot one too. We grew in 

numbers as locals joined us over the two days 

of the weekend. We began by working the 

slacks in the dune system at the west end of the 

Island, known as The Snook. This was where 

we seriously cursed the Acaena that stuck to 

socks, rucksacks, anything that went near the 

ground. One person eventually abandoned a 

pair of socks that were too stuck up to be 

worth restoring. Each slack had been 

allocated a number and marked on an aerial 

photograph and armed with these, several 

parties set off into the dunes. The first lesson 

learned was that it would have been a good 

idea to mark grid lines on the photograph to 

aid identification of the numbered slacks! 

Notwithstanding this a number of slacks were 

monitored and a large number of sites for RPR 

species accumulated. Equisetum variegatum 

proved much more abundant than on Ross 

Links, with 10 sites, and l3 sites for Euphrasia 

tetraquetra, including some magnificent 

specimens, showing just what a distinctive 

plant it can be in the right environment. 

However the winner for the most records went 

to Gentianella amarella ssp. septentrionalis, 

with no less than 34 sites! 

After the heat of the dunes, it was a relief in 

the afternoon to hit the slight breeze on the 

north coast of the island. Two groups found 

the same patch of Pulicaria dysenterica 

(Common Fleabane), probably the only one on 

the island and one of only a handful in the 

Vice-County. Lots more sites of Gentianella 

amarella ssp. septentrionalis and several new 

sites for Blysmus compressus (Flat-sedge) 

were found, which, over the week, proved to 

be much commoner on the Island than expected. 

But the finds of the afternoon were 

undoubtedly Polygonum oxyspermum ssp. raii 

(Ray's Knotgrass), which had not been found 

on the north coast before: the fifth site for the 

v.c.; and a very interesting hybrid Equisetum, 

which provoked much thought. 

At 7pm we were back at the Crown and 

Anchor, but not as tired or hungry as the day 

before. So we mostly chose more subtle dishes 

this time, rather than huge hearty ones. 

Sunday, 17th August 

This was our last day in v.c.68. We began by 

examining the south shore, to see whether we

Field meeting reports: 2008 - Lindisfarne area (v.c.68) / 45 

2009 - Conifer Day, Cyril Hart Arboretum, West Gloucestershire (v.c.34) 

could find Blysmus rufus (Saltmarsh Flatsedge). 

We couldn't! Eventually the group 

became strung out along the west shore of the 

mainland of the island, some stopping to view 

Zostera noltii (Dwarf Eelgrass), for which the 

mudflats around the Island are well-known, 

whilst others shared an excellent discussion of 

Atriplex hybridity by Bob Leaney, which 

resulted in the discovery of A. xhulmeana 

(Spear-leaved Orache x Grass-leaved Orache) 

which was a first v.c. record (with thanks to Dr 

Leaney for his subsequent correspondence in 

connection with this plant). 

In the afternoon some people had to leave to 

get back to the mainland while the tide level 

allowed, some went sightseeing, and the 

remainder set off in different directions. 

Paddy Braithwaite and Mary Smith studied 

the east shore and recorded Sorbus intermedia 

(Swedish Whitebeam), for which there is only 

one previous v.c. record, another site for 

Torilis nodosa and another site for Salsola kali 

near the Castle. The main group toured the 

remaining sections of the north shore, and 

were rewarded, amongst the Gentianella and 

Blysmus records, with Dactylorhiza viridis 

(a.k.a. Coeloglossum viride, Frog Orchid), 

which was last recorded on the island in 1991. 

2009 

John Swindells, ever vigilant, noted Galinsoga 

growing in a garden in the village, but 

did not note the species. If it turns out to be 

Galinsoga quadriradiata (Shaggy-soldier), it 

will be a new v.c. record, although G. parviflora 

(Gallant-soldier) has been seen on the 

island before. 

Dinner was in the Lindisfarne Hotel for our 

last night. The wine flowed while we ate the 

salmon and the strawberry shortcake, and 

reminiscences ofthe few days were shared and 

final plant details discussed. The surprise 

entertainment followed. Chris, our leader, 

with three Northumbrian colleagues, gave us a 

short concert on the Northumbrian pipes and 

drum! This recital was much enjoyed and 

appreciated by all, and was a fitting end to an 

excellent few days. Thank you, Chris, from all 

of us. 

Postscript: 

Fiona Aungier had monitored the Blysmus 

compressus at Cockburnlaw later, and had 

included some excellent photographs, one of 

which is shown in the Colour Section, Plate 2. 

John Richards visited Ross Links with a group 

later and found several more plants including 

another site for Carex viridula ssp. viridula. 

Conifer Day, Cyril Hart Arboretum, West Gloucestershire 

(v.c.34), 15 th March 

CLARE KITCHEN & TONY TrTCHEN, with help from MARK KITCHEN 

The morning was spent at the Cyril Hart 

Arboretum in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire 

with the kind permission of The Forestry 

Commission, who have planted the arboretum 

with a representation of commonly planted 

conifer trees, as well as some specimen trees 

of more unusual species. Fifteen members 

and the leaders attended the meeting. John 

Poland had allowed us to trial his key to the 

vegetative features and we were able to familiarise 

ourselves with the terms used in it. The 

party concentrated their attention on those 

taxa most frequently planted in the Forest. 

In the afternoon, having become thoroughly 

acquainted with these common trees, we 

proceeded to Shakemantle Quarry, where we 

were able to use our newly acquired skills to 

identify several invasive species established 

there. Amongst these were Pseudotsuga 

menZleS!l (Douglas Fir), Thuja plicata 

(Western Red-cedar), Pinus nigra ssp. laricio 

(Corsican Pine), Pinus sylvestris (Scots Pine) 

and Picea abies (Norway Spruce). In addition 

we found a further two-needled pine species 

which we were not able to name confidently as 

it was too young to show all the features. We 

also noted some young Larix trees clinging to

46 Field meeting reports: 2009 - Conifer Day, Cyril Hart Arboretum (v.c.34) I Chiltern Hills (v.c.24) 

the sides of the quarry, too high up on the face 

to be safely inspected. Investigation of the 

steep beech covered slopes above the quarry 

revealed young plants of Tsuga heterophylla 

(Western Hemlock-spruce) growing amongst 

a few plants of Calluna vulgaris (Heather) and 

Luzula sylvatica (Great Wood-rush). 

Chiltern Hills of mid-Bucks (v.c.24), 16 th May 

About 30 attendees met with the leaders, Roy 

Maycock, Aaron Woods, Rodney Sims and 

Gareth Luscombe in the new bam at College 

Lake reserve. College Lake, and the nearby 

Pits tone Fen, were among the first worked-out 

chalk pits in the country to be conserved and 

developed into nature reserves. After brief 

introductory talks on the history of the 

reserves, the arable weed project and what 

plants we should see during the day, plus a 

welcome cup of coffee and biscuits, the group 

walked in Indian file along the busy road to 

the first site, Pitstone Fen reserve, which is a 

small calcareous fen. 

Although rather early in the season for many 

plants to be in full flower, there was an excellent 

general flora present. The first plant of 

interest was an extensive colony of the hybrid 

horsetail Equisetum xlitorale (E. fluviatile x 

arvense) (Water x Field Horsetail) (identity 

later confirmed by Pat Acock). As well as 

other wetland plants, such as Eupatorium 

cannabinum (Hemp-agrimony), Lycopus 

europaeus (Gipsywort) and Ranunculus 

trichophyllus (Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot), 

there was a good selection of calcicoles 

of drier habitats, such as Agrimonia eupatoria 

(Agrimony), Cirsium acaule (Dwarf Thistle), 

Leucanthemum vulgare (Oxeye Daisy), 

Polygala vulgaris (Common Milkwort), 

Primula veris (Cowslip) and Sherardia arvensis 

(Field Madder). The orchids present were 

many Dactylorhizafuchsii (Common Spottedorchid), 

leaves showing only, and two plants, 

in bud, of D. praetermissa (Southern Marshorchid). 

Also, in full flower, were many 

Listera ovata (Common Twayblade). At the 

far end of the reserve were the magnificent 

leaves of Cirsium eriophorum (Woolly 

Thistle). The two commonest plants in full 

flower were Carex flacca (Glaucous Sedge), 

CHRIS BOON 

which was everywhere, and large patches of 

Fragaria vesca (Wild Strawberry). 

After a picnic lunch at College Lake, the 

party was shown the Arable Weed Nursery, 

where the most showy plant was Ranunculus 

arvensis (Corn Buttercup). Also in the beds 

were Agrostemma githago (Corncockle), 

Lithospermum arvense (Field Gromwell), 

Scandix pecten-veneris (Shepherd's-needle) 

and Valerianella locusta (Common Cornsalad). 

Over many years seeds from these 

nursery plants have been scattered on a field 

nearby and all these plants were observed 

there in a more natural habitat. 

On the walk back to the car park for the 

second part of the day's excursion we were 

shown Lithospermum purpureocaeruleum 

(Purple Gromwell) and, in a disturbed area 

near the lake, a large area of Tetragonolobus 

maritimus (Dragon's-teeth). The latter looked 

very well established but its origin on the site 

is unknown. 

After a short journey by car and a delightful 

walk to the chalk downland near Ivinghoe 

Beacon to Income Hole we were rewarded by 

the feathery fruits of Pulsatilla vulgaris 

(Pasqueflower) and, in flower, two plants of 

Tephroseris integrifolius (Field Fleawort). 

Other species of interest were Hippocrepis 

comosa (Horseshoe Vetch), Polygala vulgaris 

(Common Milkwort) and several Sorbus aria 

(Common Whitebeam) in full flower. At the 

final stop on Steps Hill there was a good 

colony of Gentianella anglica (Early 

Gentian). Initially only two plants were seen 

but eventually at least a dozen were found, all 

in bud. Returning to the car park, in the rain, 

we passed some good specimens of Lithospermum 

officinale (Common Gromwell) to round 

off a very enjoyable visit to Buckinghamshire.

Field meeting reports: 2009 - East Norfolk and East Suffolk (v.c.c. 25, 27) 47 

East Norfolk and East Suffolk (v.c.c. 25,27), 6 th June 

A full complement of 15 members met at 

Wortham Ling, an area of sandy heathland in 

v.c.25, for this grass identification day. 

Anisantha, Bromus, Festuca and Vulpia were 

the main focus of attention, and the leader 

began by explaining the structure of the grass 

plant by using locally gathered material of 

Anisantha diandra (Great Brome) andA. sterilis 

(Barren Brome), which he distributed 

among members of the group. In addition 

specimens of A. madritensis (Compact 

Brome) and A. tectorum (Drooping Brome) 

collected during May in Spain were passed 

round for comparison. Heavy rabbit grazing 

and lack of rain had reduced the Ling to near 

desert so the stay there was brief, talcing in a 

Bromus population conforming to Stace's 

description of B. xpseudothominei (Lesser 

Soft-brome ), where it is known to have 

persisted for over 50 years , and a roadside 

colony of Vulpia ciliata ssp. ambigua 

(Bearded Fescue). The latter was augmented 

by plants of V. myuros (Rat's-tail Fescue) 

collected the previous day in Lowestoft and 

one of V fasciculata (Dune Fescue) brought to 

the meeting from Southwold by Graham Peck. 

Curiously we were unable to find any 

V. bromoides (Squirrel-tail Fescue)! In 

passing we noted dwarfed plants of Aira 

caryophyllea (Silver Hair-grass) and 

A. praecox (Early Hair-grass), as well as 

Koeleria macrantha (Crested Hair-grass), 

whose panicles were in various stages of 

development. 

The party then moved to Shelfanger Town 

Meadows (v.c.27), unimproved damp grassland 

bisected by a stream. The area was 

dominated by flowering Ranunculus acris 

(Meadow Buttercup), presenting a 'sea of 

yellow' in which were found Bromus commutatus 

(var. commutatus and var. pubens Wats.) 

(Meadow Brome) as well as B. racemosus 

ARTHUR COPPING 

(Smooth Brome). The latter proved quite 

elusive, and was very short, with the panicles 

bearing few spikelets, possibly a consequence 

of the drying out of the site. In one place 

B. commutatus and B. hordeaceus ssp. hordeceus 

(Soft-brome) were growing intermingled 

, obligingly revealing their differences. To 

complete the Bromus picture, the leader 

passed round a cultivated plant of B. lepidus 

(Slender Soft-brome), which seems now to be 

very rare in the wild. Festuca pratensis 

(Meadow Fescue), F. arundinacea (Tall 

Fescue) and xFestulolium loliaceum (Hybrid 

Fescue) completed the targeted Shelfanger 

taxa. After lunch we moved to Knettishall 

Country Park in West Suffolk (v.c.26), an 

extensive heath on the border of Breckland. 

There waves of Deschampsia flexuosa (Wavy 

Hair-grass) greeted us, but amongst it grew 

Festuca ovina (Sheep's fescue) and 

F. filiformis (Fine - leaved Sheep's-fescue). 

At this point cultivated material of F. longifolia 

(Blue Fescue), sourced in Guernsey and the 

Suffolk Breckland, as well as F. brevipila 

(Hard Fescue), originally from Felixstowe, 

were circulated for comparison, together with 

F. heterophylla (Various-leaved Fescue), to 

contrast with the F. rubra (Red Fescue) we 

had seen at intervals during the day. We then 

moved west in the country park, where the soil 

was more basic, and saw Helictotrichon 

pubescens (Downy Oat-grass) and H. pratense 

(Meadow Oat-grass) growing together. In 

conclusion, before dispersing and as a relief 

from agrostology, we admired a patch of 

Astragalus danicus (Purple Milk-vetch) 

dotted among the short turf. The society 

wishes to thank Mr WJ.Butler of Shelfanger 

Hall for granting access to Shelfanger Town 

Meadows and permitting us to park cars at the 

Hall.

48 Field meeting reports: 2009 - Parsonage Moor and Dry Sandford Pit (v.c.22) / 

Nidderdale (v.c.64) and Wensleydale (v.c.65) 

Parsonage Moor and Dry Sandford Pit, Berkshire (v.c.22), 27th 

June 

The surface geology of the Cothill region, west 

of Abingdon, consists of Jurassic "coral rag" 

overlying deposits of oolitic sandstone. At 

Parsonage Moor, digging of post-glacial peat 

deposits has allowed a base-rich fen to develop 

within more acid surroundings, while at Dry 

Sandford, quarrying activity reached the water 

table in some places, resulting in a mire fed by 

calcareous springs surrounded by species-rich 

grassland. Both sites are SSSIs and BBOWT 

reserves. On an oppressively warm day 17 

members explored their remarkable flora with 

John Killick, the Recorder for Oxfordshire, 

who lives nearby. We donned wellingtons to 

wade through Parsonage Moor in the morning, 

while after lunch we visited Dry Sandford Pit 

in the company of Steve Grigson, the volunteer 

warden. 

Parsonage Moor immediately yielded one of 

its iconic species, Schoenus nigricans (Black 

Bog-rush), together with funcus subnodulosus 

(Blunt-flowered Rush) and Oenanthe lachenalii 

(Parsley Water-dropwort), the latter rarely 

found so far inland. Where the ground was not 

submerged, Pedicularis palustris (Marsh 

Lousewort) and Anagalis tenella (Bog Pimpernel) 

were in flower, and Pinguicula vulgaris 

(Common Butterwort) in fruit. These species 

are quite rare in central England. Among the 

sedges were Carex distans (Distant Sedge), 

C. pulicaris (Flea Sedge) and C. rostrata 

JOHN EDGINGTON & JOHN KILUCK 

(Bottle Sedge), while searches of drier ground 

yielded Cirsium dissectum (Meadow Thistle) 

and Serratula tinctoria (Saw-wort). A good 

find was Eriophorum latifolium (Broad-leaved 

Cottongrass), easily distinguished from 

E. angustifolium by its rough peduncle. We 

failed, however, to find totally convincing 

specimens of Dactylorhiza traunsteineri 

(Narrow-leaved Marsh orchid) which has been 

recorded here. 

Previous reconnaissance had located two of 

Dry Sandford Pit's specialities, Triglochin 

palustre (Marsh Arrow-grass) and Equisetum 

variegatum (Variegated Horsetail), so the afternoon 

began by going straight to these, trying 

not to damage the fragile calcareous mire 

where they grow. This was dominated to a 

remarkable extent by the massed flowers of 

Epipactis palustris (Marsh Helleborine) - over 

10,000 plants at the last census - and dense 

colonies of the stonewort Chara hispida. This 

and other stoneworts also grow at Parsonage 

Moor, as does Potamogeton coloratus (Fen 

Pond weed) , found in a nearby pool. Like the 

Equisetum, its nearest stations are over a 

hundred miles away. Specimens were taken of 

a Polypody that looked suspiciously like the 

hybrid Polypodium xshivasiae, before the day 

ended with tea under the shade of the largest 

bush of Berberis vulgaris (Barberry) any of us 

had seen. 

Nidderdale (v.c.64) and Wensleydale (v.c.65) 4th - 5 th July 

PHYL ABBOTT, LINDA ROBINS ON & KEVIN WALKER 

Even at an altitude of 400m at Greenhow in 

Nidderdale, we soon realised we were in 

dockland. Right by the parking area were 

several examples of Rumex longifolius 

(Northern Dock). While driving to the site 

from the south, several of us had noticed 

R. pseudoalpinus (Monk's Rhubarb), with its 

broad cordate leaves. Both species have large, 

sturdy heads of flowers and fruits. As we 

entered Duck Street Quarry, a disused 

limestone quarry, now a privately owned nature 

reserve, the first plant we examined was the 

glabrous Lady's-mantle easily identified as 

Alchemilla glabra. Later we found large leaved 

A. xanthochlora, with hairy petiole and leaf 

undersurface and with pointed leaf lobes, and 

the smaller A. filicaulis ssp. vestita, with 

rounded leaf lobes. The numerous Listera 

ovata (Twayblade) made it difficult to spot the 

far less frequent Coeloglossum viride (Frog 

Orchids) lurking amongst them. Bill helped 

with the hawkweeds, most of which were forms

Field meeting reports: 2009 - Nidderdale (v.c.64) and Wensleydale (v.c.65) 49 

of Hieracium vulgatum. We moved across the 

road to a small field to feast our eyes on a 

glorious crimson mass of Cirsium heterophyllum 

(Melancholy Thistle) which made a splendid 

foreground to the willows Salix cinerea ssp. 

cinerea, S. cinerea ssp. oleifolia (Grey 

Willow), and what is probably the only specimen 

of S. lanata (Woolly Willow) growing in 

a wild situation in England. It is believed to 

have been introduced many years ago and is 

now well naturalised. Back to the quarry for 

lunch, then a few roadside plants en route to 

Cock Hill lead mine, an industrial heritage site. 

The first Rosa mollis (Downy Rose) we saw 

may have had a few canine genes but there were 

more convincing specimens nearby. Myrrhis 

odorata (Sweet Cicely) leaves were crushed 

and the aniseed scent provoked an exchange of 

recipes, using parts of the plant instead of sugar 

in fruit pies. While we were admiring Cephalaria 

gigantea (Giant Scabious) and Geranium 

x oxonianum (Druce's Crane's-bill), which had 

escaped from the garden across the road, 

Graeme keyed out Sedum hispanicum (Spanish 

Stonecrop), which was adorning a nearby wall. 

Cochlearia pyrenaica ssp. pyrenaica (Pyrenean 

Scurvygrass) was on the edge of a roadside 

ditch. A short walk over more acidic terrain, 

due to glacial drift, brought us down to the mine 

site where there was a more calcicole flora 

again. A splendid display of Cystopteris fragilis 

(Brittle Bladder-fern) enhanced the entrance 

of an adit. Both Minuartia verna (Spring 

Sandwort) and the similar Sagina nodosa 

(Knotted Pearlwort) were scattered across the 

area. We managed to find two disappointingly 

poor specimens of Dryopteris submontana 

(Rigid Buckler Fern). On the uphill walk back 

to the cars a good excuse to pause for breath 

was provided by the entirely yellow form of 

Viola lutea (Mountain Pansy) and Mentha 

xvillosonervata = M. spicata x M. longifolia 

(Sharp-toothed Mint), which has distinctive 

whitish leaves but was not yet in flower. We 

moved across to Upper Wharfedale where 

Kevin showed us the meadow where he had 

monitored Crepis mollis (Northern Hawk'sbeard) 

last year. There was Crepis paludosa 

(Marsh Hawk's-beard) for comparison, as well 

as several other "yellow daisies". The weather 

had stayed fine all day and we only had a heavy 

shower while we were waiting for our table to 

be ready at the Fountaine Inn at Linton where 

we had a good meal in good company. 

On Sunday we re-convened at the Ballowfield 

Local Nature Reserve in Wensleydale, 

and, having made our way round a group of 

hippies who had been camping there, we 

admired the orchids: Dactylorhiza fuchsii 

(Common Spotted-orchid), D. purpurella 

(Northern Marsh-orchid) and, of course, 

hybrids. The reserve includes large areas of 

calaminarian grassland supporting colonies of 

Armeria maritima (Sea Thrift), Thlaspi caerulescens 

(Alpine Pennycress), Minuartia verna 

(Spring Sandwort) and Botrychium lunaria 

(Moonwort). By the stream, Bill Thompson 

spotted the hybrid Equisetum xlitorale (Shore 

Horsetail), possibly the first record for the 

vice-county. Under the guidance of Deborah 

Millward, we then made our way up to the ridge 

above Haw Bank, which was resplendent with 

Helianthemum nummularium (Rockrose). 

However, we were searching for Orobanche 

alba (Thyme Broornrape). There was no sign 

of the four spikes which Deborah had seen a 

week earlier, but eventually Graeme earned his 

gold star when he spotted two very small specimens 

hiding amongst the Thyme. On the way 

down John Newbould spotted another "odd" 

Horsetail on some mineral workings. Although 

yet to be confirmed, this looked like Equisetum 

xrothmaleri. If so, it would be the second new 

county record for the day! We then moved on 

to Marsett, where the first target was Carum 

carvi (Caraway) on the village green. This was 

duly sniffed and tasted, which reminded some 

of us of wartime Britain when seedcake was an 

occasional tea-time treat. Then on to Marsett 

Rigg SSSI, a steep species-rich hillside reserve 

covered in flushes. funcus acutiflorus (Sharpflowered 

Rush) was dominant in the damper 

areas, but the Orchids seen earlier were there 

too, as well as a good population of Dactylorhiza 

viridis (Frog Orchid) and Gymnadenia 

conopsea ssp. borealis (Heath Fragrant 

Orchid). A "silvery" Lady's-mantle noticed 

last year by Linda Robinson turned out to be 

Alchemilla glaucescens. This was strikingly 

pale, due to the fact that it is hairy on the upper

50 Field meeting reports: 2009 - Nidderdale (v.c.64) and Wensleydale (v.c.65) / 

Bog and fen in Co. Clare (v.c.H09) 

surface of the leaves as well as below, and even 

the pedicels in the tight cluster of flowers are 

hairy. This is an excellent record for a species 

that is very uncommon outside v.c. 64. The 

flushes were rich in sedges, and good specimens 

of Carex hostiana (Tawny Sedge), 

C. viridula ssp brachyrhyncha (Long-stalked 

Yellow-sedge) and the hybrid C. xfulva were 

all duly noted, growing with C. pallescens (Pale 

Sedge), C. nigra (Common Sedge), C. panicea 

(Carnation Sedge), C. flacca (Glaucous Sedge) 

and C. dioica ((Dioecious Sedge). Other 

goodies included Primulafarinosa (Bird's-eye 

Primrose) and Trollius europaeus 

(Globeflower). We were gradually edgeing 

towards a Hawthorn where Pseudorchis albida 

(Small White Orchid) was known to be. Sure 

enough, we found half a dozen, past their best, 

but still with a few flowers remaining. A good 

finale, and to see us cheerily on our way home 

there was some Schrecklich comment about 

Tussilago goingfarfaraway! 

Bog and fen in Co. Clare (v.c.H09), 11th - 12th July 

STEPHEN WARD & SHARON PARR,joint v.c. recorders for Co. Clare 

Grey skies and Common Gulls with newly 

fledged chicks heralded our arrival. We stood at 

the edge of a fen, with whale-backs of limestone 

protruding amidst beds of Cladium (Saw-sedge) 

and Phragmites (Common Reed) which stretch 

some four miles away to the south-west. To the 

north is the scenic backdrop of Mullagh Mor . 

Whilst there is much more to fieldwork than 

clocking-up species, it is a measure of the diversity 

of Rinecaha (R3692) that, in a walk of less 

than half-a-mile, we recorded 138 species in 

vegetation ranging from limestone pavement 

and rich fen to acid bog. Highlights included 

Eriophorum latifolium (Broad-leaved Cottongrass; 

funcus subnodulosus (Blunt-flowered 

Rush); all three species of Drosera (sundews); 

Utricularia minor (Lesser Bladderwort) and 

U. intermedia (Intermediate Bladderwort); 

orchids, including Dactylorhiza fuchsii 

(Common Spotted-orchid), D. incarnata ssp. 

pulchella (Early Marsh-orchid), D. maculata 

(Heath Spotted-orchid), Epipactis helleborine 

(Marsh Helleborine), Gymnadenia conopsea 

(Fragrant Orchid); Gentiana verna (Spring 

Gentian) in seed on the limestone grasslands; 

Calluna (Heather) with Narthecium ossifragum 

(Bog Asphodel), Rhynchospora alba (White 

Beak-sedge) and Osmunda regalis (Royal Fern), 

Schoenus nigricans (Black Bog-rush), and 

Selaginella selaginoides (Lesser Clubmoss); as 

well as a variety of sedges, including Carex 

dioica (Dioecious Sedge), C. echinata (Star 

Sedge), C. hostiana (Tawny Sedge), C. leporina 

(=ovalis) (Oval Sedge), C. pulicaris (Flea 

Sedge) and C. viridula ssp. brachyrrhyncha 

(Long-stalked Yellow-sedge). 

Lunchtime found us sheltering from the rain 

borne on an increasingly blustery westerly gale, 

which somewhat curtailed our afternoon recording. 

Beside Loch Muckanagh, where the land is 

cattle-grazed, we recorded 145 species, by 

which time we were soaked. Here, highlights 

included Utricularia vulgaris (Common 

Bladderwort), Anacamptis pyramidalis 

(Pyramidal Orchid), Carex rostrata (Bottle 

Sedge), Potentilla fruticosa (Shrubby Cinquefoil) 

and Hydrocharis morsus-ranae (Frogbit). 

The next day, we visited Dromore Woods 

NNR and ventured down to the banks of River 

Fergus, flanked with Schoenoplectus lacustris 

(Common Club-rush), with the occasional 

Baldellia ranunculoides (Lesser Water-plantain) 

and Butomus umbellatus (Flowering Rush). In 

Dromore Loch, both Nuphar lutea (Yellow 

Water-lily) and Nymphaea alba (White Waterlily) 

were in flower, and Lythrum salicaria 

(Purple Loosestrife) gave vivid splashes of 

purple. Heavy showers alternated with bright 

sun, but the exceptionally high water levels 

limited exploration of the wetlands. 

The group comprised Sharon Parr, Fiona 

Devery, Michael Archer, Jenny Seawright, 

Megan Morris, Margaret Marshall, Mary 

Vaughan and Stephen Ward. 

Footnote: 

On a visit to Rinecaha just four days later, 

Sharon recorded Utricularia australis 

(Bladderwort) in flower, making a total of four 

Utricularia species in all.

Report of overseas field meeting - 2009 - Paramos of Northern Castile (Spain) 51 

REPORT OF OVERSEAS FIELD MEETING - 2009 

Paramos of Northern Castile (Spain), 13 th May - 20 th May 

Thirteen members joined leaders Teresa 

Farino and Jon Cox for a week to explore this 

relatively unknown area of northern Spain, 

which straddles the confluence of the 

provinces of Palencia (P), Burgos (Bu) and 

Cantabria (S). The high limestone plateaux of 

this region are known as pdramos, where the 

'bones' of the land protrude through the thin 

soils, creating a charismatic landscape of crags 

and buttresses, interspersed with low-intensity 

cereal cultivations, species-rich grasslands 

and fragments of evergreen oak forest. We 

also visited more montane habitats in the 

Cordillera Cantiibrica to the north - both on 

limestone and siliceous bedrock - as well as 

the impressive river canyon carved out by the 

infant Ebro. 

Mid-May normally sees the cereal fields of 

the paramos teeming with arable weeds, but 

we found the season to be abnormally late, 

following one of the hardest winters in recent 

years. All agreed, however, that despite the 

lack of colourful displays of poppies and 

cornflowers, there was more than enough of 

botanical interest to keep us on our toes. 

The taxonomy used in the following report 

follows Flora Iberica as far as possible. 

Teresa and Jon would like to extend their 

heartfelt thanks to Lynne Farrell for collating 

each day's findings in the evenings, resulting 

in a total species list for the week of almost 

600 taxa. 

13 th May - Hoyos del Tozo (Bu) 

Having collected everyone from Madrid 

airport, we drove up the Al to Burgos, then 

spent an hour or so botanising on a dry 

limestone plateau and small canyon near 

Hoyos del Tozo, on the southern margin of the 

Paramo de La Lora. In what was to become 

the pattern for the week, no sooner had the 

minibuses ground to a halt than botanists 

fanned out in all directions, in search of bot anical 

gems. Those of us who stayed fairly close 

to the vehicles in the first instance found a 

wealth of orchids - many of which were of 

inordinately small stature following the hard 

winter - including Anacamptis moria; 

(=Orchis moria; Green-winged Orchid), 

Orchis anthropophora (=Aceras anthropophorum; 

Man Orchid), Dactylorhiza insularis 

(Barton's Orchid), Ophrys tenthredinifera 

(Sawfly Ophrys), Ophrys lutea (Yellow 

Ophrys) and Ophrys sphegodes (Early Spiderorchid). 

Among the other monocots growing here 

were stately Asphodelus albus and A. aestivus 

(White and Common Asphodels), Aphyllanthes 

monspeliensis (Blue Aphyllanthes) and 

Muscari comosum (Tassel Hyacinth). The 

low-growing, white-flowered Spiraea hypericifolia 

ssp. obovata was the predominant 

shrub on the plateau, in the shelter of which 

grew a number of scarce British species, 

notably Viola kitaibeliana (Dwarf Pansy), 

Trinia glauca (Honewort) and Carex humilis 

(Dwarf Sedge). Incredibly, some attempt had 

been made to cultivate cereals on the exceedingly 

thin soils here, with these more disturbed 

areas turning up the shepherd's-needle 

Scandix australis ,Asterolinon linum-stellatum 

(Asterolinon) and Neatostema apulum 

(Yellow Gromwell). 

The walls of a small limestone gorge nearby 

were decorated with bushes of Amelanchier 

ovalis (Snowy Mespilus) in full flower, among 

which flourished the eye-catching creamy 

flowers - up to 4cm in diameter - of Thalictrum 

tuberosum, plus Hornungia petraea 

(Hutchinsia), the fleshy-leaved Saxifraga 

cuneata (see Back Cover) and Globularia 

vulgaris (Common Globularia). Such was the 

enthusiasm engendered by this first taste of the 

pdramos that it took quite some time to round 

everyone up to drive the final few kilometres 

to our hotel in the converted convent of Santa 

Maria de Mave, but eventually we were 

tucking in to our first delicious evening meal 

of the week.

52 Report of overseas field meeting - 2009 - Paramos of Northern Castile (Spain) 

14th May 2009 - Las Tuerces (P) 

Our first full day in the field dawned fair, but 

with a brisk north-easterly wind. We drove 

just a short distance to the foot of the 

limestone 'sculpture city' of Las Tuerces, 

where Leslie gave us a succinct introduction to 

the willows growing along the margins of the 

Rio Pisuerga, for the most part Salix atrocinerea, 

Salix fragilis (Crack Willow) and 

S. purpurea (Purple Willow). The river itself 

sported lush ribbons of Ranunculus penicillatus 

(Stream Water-Crowfoot). 

We spent the morning strolling through the 

village of Villaescusa de las Torres, where the 

dry-stone walls were festooned with Sedum 

dasyphyllum (Thick-leaved Stonecrop), 

Telephium imperati, Saxifraga tridactylites 

(Rue-leaved Saxifrage) and Campanula erinus 

(Annual Bellflower). The more natural rockgardens, 

by contrast, were a gloriously colourful 

melange of yellow-flowered Stachys recta 

(Perennial Yellow Woundwort), the Iberian 

endemic toadflax Linaria badalii and the 

composite Pallenis spinosa, startling blue 

Linum narbonense (Beautiful Flax), Marrubium 

vulgare (White Horehound) and the starof-Bethlehem 

Ornithogalum narbonense. 

The dominant shrubs here were the horribly 

spiny Genista scorpius, Amelanchier ova lis 

and Jasminumfruticans (Wild Jasmine), while 

the margins of the track hosted annuals such as 

Papaver argemone (Prickly Poppy), Silene 

conica (Sand Catchfly), Petrorhagia prolifera 

(Proliferous Pink), Euphorbia serrata, 

Scandix pecten-veneris (Shepherd's-needle), 

Anchusa arvensis (Bugloss) and Centranthus 

calcitrapae (Annual Valerian). Those of the 

group who were investigating a parallel route 

along the crest of the adjacent limestone ridge 

were rewarded with a brief glimpse of a small 

Lataste's Viper, as well as that rare British 

umbellifer Bupleurum baldense (Small 

Hare's-ear). 

After lunch we explored the labyrinth of 

limestone pillars and buttresses on the summit 

ofLas Tuerces. One of our target species was 

the curious little fern Asplenium seelosii ssp. 

glabrum - a rather scarce species in Spain - 

for which Teresa had found an old record from 

the area, despite it not being listed as present 

in Palencia in Flora Iberica. Martin's sharp 

eyes soon located the first specimen, and we 

went on to discover a dozen or so clumps 

growing in shady nooks on the north-facing 

exposures of several outcrops. 

The wind-swept upper plateau of Las 

Tuerces boasted Ranunculus gramineus and 

R. paludosus (Grass-leaved and Jersey Buttercups), 

silvery-leaved Plantago monosperma 

ssp. discolor, Valeriana tuberosa, with small, 

pink heads, the montane cornflower Centaurea 

triumfetti, the conspicuous yellow flowers 

of the viper's-grass Scorzonera hispanica, the 

Afro-Iberian endemic Poa ligulata and 

Ophrys fusca (Dull Ophrys), as well as drifts 

of diminutive Muscari neglectum (Common 

Grape-hyacinth) and Tulipa sylvestris ssp. 

australis (Wild Tulip), the latter unfortunately 

past their best. Areas of seepage harboured 

Schoenus nigricans (Black Bog-rush) and 

Adiantum capillus-veneris (Maidenhair Fern). 

15 th May - Fontibre and Alto Campoo (S) 

For a complete change of scenery, we drove 

north to Alto Campoo, at the head of the valley 

that runs west from Reinosa towards the peak 

of Tres Mares, stopping briefly en route at 

Fontibre: the source of the Rio Ebro, from 

which the Iberian Peninsula gets its name. 

Despite being essentially a poplar plantation, 

Fontibre boasts a rather rich ground flora, 

among which we located Ophioglossum 

vulgatum (Adder's-tongue), Helleborus 

foetidus (Green Hellebore), Saxifraga granulata 

(Meadow Saxifrage), Cruciata laevipes 

(Crosswort) and many other shade-tolerant 

species familiar from the UK. Brighter 

splashes of colour announced the presence of 

purplish Pulmonaria longifolia (Narrowleaved 

Lungwort) and yellow Symphytum 

tuberosum (Tuberous Comfrey). 

More interesting, however, for most of us, 

were the splendid specimens of Orchis pallens 

(Pale-flowered Orchid) and O. provincialis 

(Provence Orchid), the former with broad, 

unspotted leaves and robust spikes of lemonyellow 

flowers, and the latter with short, 

relatively few-flowered spikes of delicate, 

long-spurred flowers, the lip of each being


speckled with orange. Some well-grown 

plants of Polygonatum multiflorum 

(Solomon's-seal), clumps of pale-blue Scilla 

verna (Spring Squill) and a sheet of Fritillaria 

pyrenaica (Pyrenean Snakeshead), the flowers 

sadly well past their best, completed the list of 

monocots found here. 

Teresa confessed to some anxiety as to what 

we would find at the head of the valley, above 

the Alto Camp60 ski station, because 

snowfalls had been heavy and lingering. 

However, the sun shone and snowmelt-fed 

streams cascaded over the igneous rocks and 

peaty soils, revealing the first flushes of a flora 

quite different to that of the limestone we 

visited most other days. The short turf at 

around 2,OOOm was studded with the nodding 

pink-purple heads of Erythronium dens-canis 

(Dog's-tooth-violet) and drifts of the smallest 

of all trumpet daffodils, Narcissus jacetanus 

ssp. vasconicus, with straight cylindrical 

trumpets and thin, transparent or browning, 

spathes, as well as a few of the tiny hooppetticoat 

daffodil: N. bulbocodium ssp. nivalis. 

Leslie pointed out that, like many montane 

species, these narcissi have the simplest 

genetic make-up, both being diploids. 

Here too we came across splendidly floriferous 

clumps of Spring Gentian (Gentiana 

verna) , as well as Thlaspi caerulescens 

(Alpine Penny-cress), Pinguicula grandiflora 

(Large-flowered Butterwort), Ajuga pyramidalis 

(Pyramidal Bugle) and Cruciata glabra. 

Several pteridophytes were seen only here 

during the week, notably Selaginella selaginoides 

(Lesser Clubmoss) Cryptogramma 

crispa (Parsley Feru) , Dryopteris oreades 

(Mountain Male-fern) and, curiously, given 

the granite bedrock, Polystichum lonchitis 

(Holly-fern) . 

A little further down the valley we paused to 

examine the head-high scrub of pink-flowered 

Erica australis (Spanish Heath; in full bloom), 

white-flowered E. arborea (Tree Heath; still 

in bud) and the greenweed Genista obtusiramea, 

endemic to north-western Iberia, among 

which were growing less lofty Erica vagans 

(Cornish Heath), Calluna vulgaris (Ling), 

Pterospartium tridentatum, with undulate, 

toothed wings on the stems, and Genista 

anglica (Petty Whin). A second stop at the 

Mirador de la Joyanca turned up some delightful 

Narcissus triandrus (Angel's-tears), as 

well as the striking Daboecia cantabrica (St 

Dabeoc's Heath), plus Moenchia erecta 

(Upright Chickweed), Arenaria montana 

(Large-flowered Sandwort) and white-flowered 

Potentilla montana, whose leaves are 

toothed only at the tip. 

On our return trip to Mave we visited an area 

of wet, acid pastures to the north of Salcedillo, 

dominated by Nardus stricta (Mat-grass). 

Colour was provided by pink and purple 

Lathyrus linifolius (Bitter-vetch), Vicia 

orobus (Upright Vetch), Pedicularis sylvatica 

(Lousewort), Dactylorhiza maculata (Heath 

Spotted-orchid) and some lovely pale-rosetinted 

Orchis morio, plus yellow Pedicularis 

schizocalyx (an Iberian endemic), Scorzonera 

humilis (Viper's-grass), Dactylorhiza 

sambucina var. lutea (Elder-flowered Orchid) 

and Narcissus bulbocodium ssp. bulbocodium. 

There was just enough time left for a quick 

visit to the Romanesque collegiate church at 

Cervatos, which is renowned for the 'erotic' 

gargoyles that decorate the eaves; frankly we 

were astonished that such graphic sculptures 

should adorn a place of worship! 

16 th May - Paramo de La Lora (Bu & S) 

Although the day started with heavy cloud, it 

steadily improved to become sunny and warm, 

but was very windy throughout. Our first stop 

was on a grassy hillside amongst limestone 

outcrops on the southern margin of the 

Paramo, where we found striking clumps of 

Adonis vernalis (Yellow Pheasant's-eye) and 

the lovely scarlet peony Paeonia officinalis 

ssp. microcarpa. Orchids were abundant, in 

particular Orchis purpurea (Lady Orchid), 

o. mascula (Early Purple Orchid), Anacamptis 

morio and Orchis anthropophora, plus 

Ophrys lutea, O. jusca and O. sphegodes. 

Along the edges of the cereal fields we 

encountered Ranunculus arvensis (Corn 

Buttercup), with its 'spiny' carpels, the Iberian 

endemic mignonette Reseda barrelieri, 

Androsace maxima (Annual Androsace) and 

Asperula arvensis (Blue Woodruff).


From Sargentes de la Lora, we turned north 

along dusty tracks and parked on the Paramo 

de La Lora proper: slabs of baked limestone, 

punctuated only by scattered rocky outcrops, 

a few small copses of stunted Quercus ilex ssp. 

ballota (Western Holm Oak) and some diffident 

attempts at cultivation of the thin soils. 

There was little vegetation above knee 

height, but the predominant woody species 

were Juniperus communis (Common Juniper), 

Spiraea hypericifolia ssp. obovata, Genista 

hispanicus ssp. occidentalis (Spanish Gorse) 

and G. scorpius. Ranunculus gramineus and 

Linum narbonense were accompanied by 

Iberis saxatilis, the Spanish endemic stork's 

bill Erodium daucoides (see Back Cover) and 

Parentucellia latifolia (Southern Red Bartsia). 

Wherever there was enough soil to sustain 

them, there were dense drifts of orchids, 

principally the Orchis and Ophrys species 

seen earlier, but with the addition of Neotinea 

maculata (Dense-flowered Orchid), and the 

yellow Dactylorhiza insularis. 

Lunch was taken atop a small limestone 

cliff, at the base of which flourished a huge 

colony of Cystopterisfragilis (Brittle Bladderfern). 

In the afternoon, some members of the 

group explored a nearby stream, encountering 

a flora a little more familiar to us from northern 

Europe: Carex paniculata (Greater 

Tussock-sedge), Carex viridula ssp. brachyrrhyncha 

(= c. lepidocarpa; Long-stalked 

Yellow-Sedge), lemon-yellow Tetragonolobus 

maritimus (Dragon's-teeth) and a solitary 

spike of Neottia ovata (= Listera ovata; 

Twayblade). 

Turning 'homewards', we visited one of the 

many Neolithic dolmens of La Lora, its central 

chamber lined with huge vertical slabs of 

stone; these laborious constructions are 

thought to have been of great religious or 

ritual significance to the people of that time. 

Nearby was a spring of clear water, around 

which we found the attractive crucifer Sisymbrella 

aspera ssp. aspera, Mentha pulegium 

(Pennyroyal), Senecio aquaticus (Marsh 

Ragwort) and a lemon-yellow hoop petticoat 

daffodil, which Leslie declared to be the tetraploid 

Narcissus bulbocodium ssp. citrinus. 

17th May - Puerto de Piedrasluengas (P) 

Sunday saw us heading back towards the 

mountains, this time to the limestone-dominated 

pass of Piedrasluengas (1 ,355m). 

Emerging from Quercus pyrenaica (Pyrenean 

Oak) woodlands around Cervera de Pisuerga, 

we headed up into the stream-side meadows 

just below the pass, where large numbers of 

the spectacular Narcissus pseudonarcissus 

were growing amongst vivid clumps of 

Euphorbia hyberna (Irish Spurge), and we 

indulged in a little Narcissus-based taxonomic 

controversy: were they in fact ssp.leonensis or 

nobilis? Cardamine raphanifolia (Greater 

Cuckooflower), Trollius europaeus 

(Globeflower) and Dactylorhiza incarnata 

(Early Marsh-orchid) were just coming into 

bloom along the margins of the stream. 

From the mirador at the head of the pass, 

surrounded by beechwoods and jagged 

limestone crags, we admired the view of the 

Picos de Europa to the north. Soon we were 

hopping from crag to crag in search of alpine 

delights, but again the lateness of the season 

was evident, even on the southerly exposures. 

The northern Spanish endemic Saxifraga 

canaliculata was everywhere, but barely in 

bud, while the lime-encrusting Saxifraga 

paniculata (Livelong Saxifrage) had to rely on 

its undoubted vegetative appeal. However, 

Anemone pavoniana was flowering very 

prettily on the cliffs and there were bright 

splashes of yellow from the crucifer Erysimum 

duriaei. Both species are unique to the 

Cordillera Cantabrica. Other crucifers in 

flower were the dainty Pritzelago (= Hutchinsia) 

alpina ssp. auerswaldii, growing alongside 

'pincushions' of the local endemic Draba 

dedeana, and we were also delighted with the 

Iberian endemic grass Oreochloa confusa, 

distinguished by its neat, two-ranked spikes. 

More widespread montane plants here 

included sheets of Potentilla crantzii (Alpine 

Cinquefoil), Ribes alpinum (Mountain 

Currant), the delicate pink-and-white Potentilla 

micrantha and Astragalus depressus 

(Sprawling Milk-vetch). Acinos alpinus 

(Alpine Calamint) and Chaenorhinum origanifolium 

(Malling Toadflax) looked good


together on the rocks, and several early spikes 

of Himantoglossum hircinum (Lizard Orchid) 

decorated one sunny slope. As we descended 

to the road, the banks were full of deep-purple 

Viola bubanii (Violet Mountain Pansy), yet 

another northern Spanish endemic. 

Despite the exciting novelties of the 

morning, the highlight of the day for many of 

us was the afternoon's walk through a small 

valley to the south of the pass: a little Arcadia 

of stream, meadow and beechwood. In 

damper spots we found white-flowered 

Ranunculus aconitifolius (Aconite-leaved 

Buttercup) and nodding Geum rivale (Water 

Avens), with Geranium sylvaticum (Wood 

Crane's-bill) and Crepis paludosa (Marsh 

Hawk's-beard) yet to bloom. On one crag, 

Arabis scabra (Bristol Rock-cress) could be 

admired, while the beechwoods were carpeted 

with flowering Scilla lilio-hyacinthus 

(Pyrenean Squill), in fair imitation of an 

English bluebell wood (see Back Cover), but 

dotted through with Hepatica nobilis 

(Hepatica), Aquilegia vulgaris (Columbine), 

Corydalis cava (Hollow-root), Cardamine 

impatiens (Narrow-leaved Bitter-cress) and 

Primula elatior (Oxlip). 

In the woodland glades, the leaves ofAdenostyles 

alliariae (Adenostyles), Lilium martagon 

(Martagon Lily) and Paris quadrifolia 

(Herb-Paris) gave promise of things to come, 

as did the sheets of glaucous-leaved Allium 

scorzonerifolium (= A. stramineum) in the 

adjacent meadow. It was with horror, therefore, 

that we learned that the road here was 

due to be straightened and widened, almost 

certainly resulting in the destruction of this 

beautiful spot, and all in the interest of speeding 

up - and no doubt increasing - traffic 

between the central plains and the coast. 

Having reconvened at a site for Aconitum 

lamarckii, the Iberian endemic Ranunculus 

gouanii (Gouan's Buttercup) and Fly Honeysuckle 

(Loniceraxylosteum), we set off for the 

Romanesque church of San Salvador de 

Cantarnuda. Although we expected this to be 

a strictly cultural activity, the north wall of the 

building turned up one of the real botanical 

surprises of the week: Dryopteris submontana 

(Rigid Buckler-fern). 

Our final stop of the day was at another little 

Romanesque chapel near Barrio de Santa 

Maria: a village that boasts an enormous 

number of nesting White Storks. As some of 

the group admired the intricately carved 

capitals of the chapel, others examined the 

crop of ruderal and arable weeds in the 

surrounding cereals, to be rewarded by 

Thlaspi perfoliatum (Perfoliate Penny-cress), 

Centaurea cyanus (Cornflower) and a scarletflowered 

pheasant's-eye - in the absence of 

ripe fruits, either Adonis flammea or A. aestivalis 

ssp. squarrosus - as well as a new grass 

for the week, suspected by Arthur to be 

Hordeum hystrix. 

18 th May - Hoces del Ebro (Bu) 

This was certainly the most strenuous day of 

the week, involving an llkm walk through the 

spectacular limestone canyon of the Roces del 

Ebro. Stuart Redley (Teresa's co-leader from 

our Benasque tour in 2008) and Graeme Deas 

also spent the day with us, providing extra 

botanical expertise. 

While Teresa and Jon refuelled the vehicles, 

the group explored a small area of acid heathland 

near Respenda de Aguilar (P), which was 

dominated by the beautiful Erica umbellata, 

Lavandula stoechas (French Lavender) and 

the white-flowered 'sun-rose' Halimium 

umbellatum. Arthur informed us that among 

the more interesting grasses here were Mibora 

minima (Early Sand-grass), Micropyrum 

tenellum (Gravel Fescue), Vulpia unilateralis 

and Aira elegantissima. As well as the rare 

British species Veronica triphyllos (Fingered 

Speedwell), we also found the skull of a large 

canine by the roadside and speculated as to 

whether it could have been that of a Wolf, as 

this part of Spain is known to harbour a 

healthy population of these carnivores. 

We stopped for elevenses in the dry Mediterranean 

scrub, high above the Ebro gorge, 

where we saw at least three species of juniper: 

luniperus communis, 1. phoenicea (Phoenician 

Juniper) and 1. oxycedrus (Prickly 

Juniper), although rather more eye-catching 

were the low clumps of yellow-flowered,


silvery-leaved Argyrolobium zanonii, Leuzea 

conifera (Cone Knapweed) and Allium roseum 

(Rosy Garlic). 

At the start of our trek, in Pesquera de Ebro, 

we set offthrough open fields full of magnificent 

stands of delicate Silene nutans 

(Nottingham Catchfly), Coronilla scorpioides 

(Annual Scorpion-vetch), the umbellifer 

Laserpitium eliasii, the shrubby plantain 

Plantago sempervirens, the distinctive grass 

Aegilops geniculatus and Ophrys scolopax 

(Woodcock Ophrys). On reaching the banks 

of the Ebro, we marvelled at the substantial 

patches of Lathraea clandestina (Purple 

Toothwort) that were parasitizing the roots of 

some ofthe Populus nigra (Black Poplar) trees. 

Although the other dominant canopy species 

of this riverine forest was Fraxinus angustifolia 

(Narrow-leaved Ash), the shrub layer and 

ground flora was rather similar to that of an 

English woodland, albeit belied by an 

abundance of scarce British species such as 

Lithospermum purpureocaeruleum (= Buglossoides 

purpureocaerulea; Purple Gromwell), 

Melittis melissophyllum (Bastard Balm) and 

Scirpoides holoschoenus (Round-headed 

Club-rush), and firmly disproven by clumps of 

Petrocoptis pyrenaica ssp. glaucifolia (Blueleaved 

Petrocoptis) and Sarcocapnos enneaphylla 

on a shady crag. 

Eventually the shady deciduous forest gave 

way to more open, evergreen vegetation, 

where we picnicked amid pink cushions of 

Saponaria ocymoides (Rock Soapwort) and 

yellow Helichrysum stoechas, with a pair of 

Egyptian Vultures circling overhead. Afterwards 

we made a brief side excursion to see 

Fumana ericoides, Ajuga ehamaepitys 

(Ground-pine), Orobanche gracilis (Slender 

Broomrape) and Limodorum abortivum 

(Violet Limodore). 

After lunch, most members of the group 

continued on through the gorge, with Teresa 

examining each and every Limodorum en 

route in the hopes of locating the L. trabutianum 

(Trabut's Limodore) she had found 

here in the past, but sadly none had the very 

short spur typical of the species. We did, 

however, encounter many other botanical 

gems along the way, including Equisetum 

variegatum (Variegated Horsetail), the birthwortAristolochia 

paucinervis, the silver-hairy 

mercury Mercurialis tomentosa, Arabis 

turrita (Tower-cress), Sorbus domestiea (True 

Service-tree), the linear-leaved, salmon-pinkflowered 

Lathyrus cieera and much larger, 

pink-flowered Lathyrus latifolius (Broadleaved 

Everlasting-pea), as well as Cephalanthera 

rubra (Red Helleborine) in bud. 

19 th May - Olleros de Pisllerga (P) and Peiia 

Amaya (Bll) 

Our last day in the pdramos of Northern 

Castile arrived. First, by popular vote, we 

visited the local market in Aguilar de Campoo, 

joining the influx of local inhabitants already 

making their way into the arcaded square. 

Lynne, however, spent this time delving into 

the depths of the Rio Pisuerga, turning up 

Groenlandia densa (Opposite-leaved 

Pondweed), while Arthur and Gerard 

rummaged along the banks, producing Carex 

acuta (Slender Tufted-sedge), C. acutiformis 

(Lesser Pond-sedge) and C. riparia (Greater 

Pond-sedge). 

After the market, we stopped to explore 

some hay-meadow-like grasslands in Olleros 

de Pisuerga. The most productive field 

supported a good population of Rhinanthus 

minor (Yellow-rattle), which had successfully 

reduced the vigour of the grasses, thus 

enabling less competitive plants to gain a 

foothold. As a result, we located Lathyrus 

aphaca (Yellow Vetchling), Malva moschata 

(Musk Mallow), a healthy population of Carex 

divisa (Divided Sedge), which is exceedingly 

rare in the UK, and the star-of-Bethlehem 

Ornithogalum orthophyllum. John also found 

Equisetum ramosissimum (Branched Horsetail): 

another exceptionally scarce British 

species, although its status as a native plant in 

the UK is doubtful. Our attempt to visit the 

renowned 6 th century 'cave church' here was 

foiled by the fact that the sacristan had broken 

her leg, but we did find Paronychia polygonifolia 

and Convolvulus lineatus growing 

around the entrance, and Arthur collected a 

species of Agrostis that he'd never seen before.


We ate Teresa's last splendid picnic lunch in 

the attractive gardens of El Convento, after 

which some of us flitted between flowerbeds, 

just like the butterflies we were trying to 

photograph. Not surprisingly, garden varieties 

of Dianthus barbatus (Sweet-William) and 

Hesperis matronalis (Dame's-violet) attracted 

the most insects, including Hummingbird 

Hawk-moths (Macroglossum stellatarum), 

Queen of Spain Fritillaries and a rather 

languid Cardinal (Argynnis pandora) , whose 

image was captured beautifully by Liz. 

After lunch we headed for the hills for the 

last time, our destination the magnificent twotiered 

limestone buttresses of Pefia Amaya. 

On the way, we stopped briefly in the extensive 

arable fields to the south, finding Pisum 

sativum (Garden Pea) and Vaccaria hispanica 

(Cow Basil), plus many of our old favourites: 

Ranunculus arvensis, Papaver argemone, 

Scandix pecten-veneris and S. australis. 

From the village of Amaya we drove almost 

to the top of the buttress, where the more agile 

members of the group made a beeline for the 

high crags. Most of us, however, lingered on 

the limestone pavement, where the greatest 

diversity of flowers was to be found. Here we 

encountered Ranunculus ollissiponensis, the 

clump-forming Dianthus pungens ssp. brachyanthus, 

Paronychia kapela ssp. kapela, with 

its white, papery bracts, an abundance of 

Arabis scabra and Draba dedeana, the 

delightful little Legousia hybrida (Venus'slooking-glass) 

and a scattering of the diminutive 

Senecio minutus. More spectacularly, 

Annette and Shirley located some splendid 

specimens of the Iberian endemic stork's-bill 

Erodium glandulosum. Our journey home 

was interrupted by a visit to the fabulous 

portico of the church in Rebolledo de La 

Torre: one of the most magnificent examples 

of Romanesque architecture in the province. 

The chef had prepared a splendid paella for 

our last meal at El Convento. It was tinged 

with regret, however, as we contemplated 

having to leave this extraordinary region, with 

its dramatic scenery and myriad places where 

botanical treasures were still flourishing. 

20 th May - Milagros (Bu) and Embalse de 

Pedrezuela (M) 

An early start gave us a little time in hand as 

we headed back to Madrid, so we stopped for 

coffee in Milagros, where a quick examination 

of the car park turned up the ruderal crucifers 

Descurainia sophia (Flixweed) and Calepina 

irregularis (White Ball Mustard), as well as 

Matthiola fruticulosa (Sad Stock), Reseda 

phyteuma (Corn Mignonette) and Lithodora 

fruticosa (Shrubby Gromwell). 

Once through the tunnel that traverses the 

Guadarrama at Somosierra, we turned off west 

for one last foray into the dry Mediterranean 

vegetation near the Embalse de Pedrezuela. 

The sandy soils here supported shrubby 

Lavandula stoechas, Thymus mastichina 

(Round-headed Thyme) and Osyris alba 

(Osyris), between which flourished more 

colourful Lupinus angustifolius (Narrowleaved 

Lupin), the annual, yellow-flowered 

toadflax Linaria spartea, Campanula rapunculus 

(Rampion Bellflower), C. lusitanica and 

the lemon-yellow composite Andryala integrifolia. 

Here Gerard collected a Stipa species taller 

than he was, which Arthur said was probably 

S. gigantea, and promptly added it to his 

bulging suitcase, full of specimens. Arthur 

has attended four of the five previous BSBI 

trips to Spain led by Teresa, from which he has 

furnished her with herbarium specimens of no 

less than 167 taxa of rushes, grasses and 

sedges, with Eric Clement providing confirmation 

of the identification of critical or 

doubtful material. No doubt many more taxa 

were added during this most recent foray, and 

Teresa looks forward to receiving the latest 

batch in due course. 

This report was written by Paul Bartlett, Liz 

Clark, Arthur Copping, Gerard Dirkse, John 

Edgington, Teresa Farino, Lynne Farrell, 

Annette Ford, Sue Helm, Sophie Hochstenbach, 

Martin and Clare Rand, Leslie Tucker 

and Shirley Watson, and was edited by Teresa 

Farino.


Pteridophytes seen during the Paramos of Northern Castille BSBI field meeting, 13 th _20tll May 

2009: John Edgington 

Sela/?inella sela/?inoides Peaty flushes, Alto Campoo (S) 

Equisetum variegatum 

calcareous seeps by hydro-electric plant, Roces del Ebro (Bu**); det. PJ, 

Acock 

Equisetum ramosissimum Roces del Ebro (Bu); field near Olleros de Pisuerga (P) 

Equisetum arvense 

Equisetum x litorale 

(E. arvense x E. fluviatile) 

flush above Villaescusa de las Torres (P*); fen below Piedrasluengas 

(P*); Roces del Ebro (Bu) 

marshy field-edges north of Mave Station (P) 

Equisetum .f1uviatile fen below Piedrasluengas (P) 

Equisetum palustre 

Ophioglossum vulgatum 

flush above Villaescusa de las Torres (P*); fen below Piedrasluengas 

(P*); Roces del Ebro (Bu) 

deciduous woodland, Fontibre (S) 

Polypodium interjectum epiphytic in beechwood south of Puerto de Piedrasluengas (P**) 

Polvpodium vuiJmre rocks, Alto Campoo (S) 

Cryptogramma crispa 

boulder scree, Alto Campoo (S) 

Adiantum capillus-veneris 

Pteridium aquilinum 

Aselenium trichomanes ssI!. quadrivalens 

Asl21enium trichomanes sso. vachvrachis rock crevices, Las Tuerces (p* *) 

flushed rocks above Villaescusa de las Torres (P); ditto by hydro-electric 

plant in Roces del Ebro (Bu) 

road to Alto Campoo (S); Paramo de la Lora (Bu); woodland at Pesquera 

de Ebro (Bu) 

rock crevices: Royos del Tow (Bu); Las Tnerces (P); Paramo de la Lora (Bn); 

Puerto de Piedrasluengas (P); Roces del Ebro (Bu); Pefia de Amaya (Bu) 

Asplenium adiantum-nigrum rock crevices, Alto Campoo (S); wall of cave chnrch, Olleros de Pisnerga (Bu) 

Asplenium seelosii sSP. f!labrum rock crevices, Las Tuerces (P**) 

Asplenium ruta-muraria 

rock crevices: Royos del Tozo (Bu); Las Tuerces (P); Paramo de la Lora 

(Bu); Pnerto de Piedrasluengas (P); Races del Ebro (Bn) 

Asplenium scolopendrium shady rock cleft, Las Tuerces (P**); near Valdelateja, Roces del Ebro (Bu) 

rock faces, often in full sun: Villaescusa de las Torres & Las Tuerces (P); 

Asplenium ceterach Paramo de la Lora (Bu); Puerto de Piedrasluengas(P); Pesquera de Ebro 

(Bu); Pefia de Amaya (Bu) 

Cystopteris fragilis ssp. jragilis 

damp shady places: Las Tuerces (P); Alto Campoo (S); Paramo de la Lora 

(Bul; Puerto de Piedrasluengas (P); Pefia de Amaya (Bu) 

Athyrium Jilix,femina beechwood south of Puerto de Piedrasluengas (P) 

Dryopteris.filix-mas beechwood south of Puerto de Piedrasluengas (P) 

Dryopteris oreades montane scree, Alto Campoo (S) 

Drvovteris submontana mortared wall, Church of San Salvador de Cantamuda (P) 

Dryopteris dilatata 

woods, rocky places: Alto Campoo (S); beechwood south of Puerto de 

Piedrasluengas (P) 

Polystichum lonchitis flushed rocks, Alto Campoo (S) 

Polystichum setiferum 

Polystichum aculeatum 

shady rock cleft, Las Tuerces (P); deciduous woodland, Fontibre (S); 

beechwood below Piedrasluengas (P); Roces del Ebro (Bu) 

deciduous woodland, Fontibre (S); beechwood south of Puerto de Piedrasluengas 

(P) 

Blechnum seicant leaf litter in beech wood south of Puerto de Piedrasluengas (P*) 

* I ** = doubtfully I never recorded in the province according to Flora Iberica: 

Bu = Burgos; P = Palencia; S = Cantabria (Santander). 

voucher taken of bold (underlined) taxa.

Conference Report - 2009 - BSBI Spring Conference on alien trees and shrubs, Berwick 59 

CONFERENCE REPORT 

BSBI Spring Conference on alien trees and shrubs, Berwick-upon 

Tweed, 9 th - 11th May 

Rarely has a BSBI meeting been held in such 

a grand setting. With chandeliers glittering 

overhead in the Guild Hall the President, 

Michael Braithwaite, welcomed 86 members 

and guests from several local societies and 

remarked on the excellent turnout. After a 

brief commentary on George Johnston, a 

former Mayor of Berwick and founder of the 

Berwick Naturalists' Club in 1831, he handed 

over to Jane Croft, BSBI Vice-president and 

chair of the morning session. 

She introduced the first speaker, Jeremy 

Ison, who confessed that, although a member 

for over 30 years, this was the first time he had 

assisted the BSBI on a specific project - a 

BSBI report on The status of some alien trees 

and shrubs in Britain. The uneven treatment 

of alien taxa in the New atlas had prompted the 

sending of a questionnaire over the winter 

period to all vice-county recorders asking for 

such information as: which alien trees and 

shrubs were becoming naturalised (not just 

planted), what habitats were being colonised 

by naturalising species, and for any changes in 

patterns of planting. 

Results were received from 48 vice-counties 

and ofthe 148 taxa included in the survey, 112 

were reported to be naturalised somewhere, 

and all had regenerated somewhere to some 

extent whether vegetatively or by seed. 

Amongst the problems, it was noted that 

Picea sitchensis (Sitka Spruce) was widely 

recorded as having a 'weedy' tendency, 

frequently colonising moorland habitats. 

Pinus contorta (Lodgepole Pine) regenerated 

well in wetter vice-counties. Quercus cerris 

(Turkey Oak) and Q. ilex (Holm Oak) were 

both reported to be spreading into lowland 

heaths in south-west England. Pseudotsuga 

menziesii (Douglas Fir) was regenerating well 

and becoming naturalised in many southern 

vice-counties. 

GWYNN ELLlS & MICHAEL BRAITHW AITE 

Biomass plantings were not well recorded, 

due to the difficulties in visiting sites and in 

determining which taxa are involved in the 

Salix hybrid plantations. 

The species most widely reported as regenerating 

were similar to those most widely 

reported as naturalised, with the addition of 

three of the species that spread vegetatively to 

form large patches: Fallopia japonica 

(Japanese Knotweed), F. sachalinensis 

(Sachalin Knotweed) and Spiraea agg. 

One of the main aims of the survey was to 

stimulate the study of regeneration of alien 

trees and shrubs and it is hoped that this is 

indeed the case. 

The next speaker was Maggie Magee, 

formerly of FW AG, but newly self-employed 

as a consultant, who gave a fascinating talk on 

species selection and sourcing for farm 

woodlands. Farmers have long relied on 

native woodlands as a source of timber for 

fencing and buildings, but only where grazing 

pressure has been greatest have they needed to 

look at re-planting woodland - Elm, Ash and 

Holly are all readily eaten by sheep. 

In the nineteenth century new species of tree 

were introduced from foreign parts and many 

of these were planted by owners of great 

estates and became the mainstay of planted 

trees in woodland. We now have semi-natural 

woodlands and plantations. Some of the trees 

planted were at the whim of the forester in 

charge at the time. Blocks of conifers were 

planted as shelter-belts, often monocultures of 

Sitka Spruce or larches, with (occasionally) 

some broad-leaved trees at the margins. 

Today, species choice is important, but so is 

proper management - woodland needs to be 

thinned if an economic timber crop is to be the 

end product. A woodland of native species 

needs to be planted at random, with Birch, 

Hazel and Blackthorn, for example, with no

60 Conference Report - 2009 - BSBI Spring Conference on alien trees and shrubs, Berwick 

regular rows, and this is not always easy. 

Re-planting of a clear-felled plantation poses 

particular problems, and care needs to be taken 

that the mix and density of species is done 

sensitively and enhances the landscape. 

Biomass plantations are a flourishing industry. 

Three to four different hybrids involving 

Salix alba (White Willow) are most frequently 

used, which put on over six feet in a season 

and are normally cleared after three years. 

Different cultures are used to try and avoid a 

build up of pests and diseases. 

Woods are also often used for farming 

livestock, especially pigs, and new native 

broadleaved plantations attract higher grants 

than conifers. The Forestry Commission have 

a 'Field Survey' pack to help farmers decide 

which taxa are best to plant in a particular 

habitat, and it is vitally important to take into 

account elevation, wind factor, drainage and 

surrounding trees. The minimum planting rate 

is 1,100 stems per hectare, and it is important 

to try to avoid planting in species rich habitats. 

Britain is divided into four main seed zones, 

which are themselves divided into 24 smaller 

zones, for providing seeds for planting in 

specific areas, and it is important that the 

provenance of all seeds and saplings is 

recorded for all plantations. It is preferable to 

use seed from local souces where practicable. 

Magee then went on to discuss what taxa we 

should be planting now, to take into account 

climate change, where we might, in the future, 

have vineyards rather than barley fields. Some 

research is presently being carried out, and it 

is suggested that seed from different provenances, 

especially from zones further south, 

might be used in addition to local strains, in 

order to widen the genetic base. It was also 

suggested that regeneration of local stock be 

used as this was obviously well suited to the 

present environment. She concluded by 

mentioning that a large estate in the Scottish 

borders was conducting trials on growing 

stands of Eucalyptus. 

The next speaker was Clare O'Reilly who 

gave a stimulating account on 'Identifying 

some look-alike native and alien trees & 

shrubs', which she said was inspired by Peter 

Sell's 2006 article in Nature in Cambridge- 

shire, 48, as reprinted in BSBI News 105 

(April,2007). 

She first concentrated on three very similar 

species of cherry with racemose inflorescences 

of white flowers - Prunus padus (Birdcherry) 

(native),P. serotina (Rum Cherry) and 

P. virginiana (Choke Cherry). The fruits of 

the latter were different from the other two, 

but as it is not mentioned in the 2 nd edn of 

Stace's New flora of the British Isles, it is 

likely to key out to P. padus. A sheet of colour 

photocopies of four Rosaceae leaves was 

handed out, and conference members were 

invited to pick the odd one out, which 

provoked much discussion and disagreement 

before Clare revealed that three of the leaves 

belonged to the species mentioned above and 

the fourth to Amelanchier lamarckii. There 

were in fact two odd ones out - taxonomic ally 

Amelanchier (not a Prunus) , and biogeographically 

Prunus padus (native). Clare went on to 

mention the brilliant new Vegetative key to the 

British flora by John Poland and Eric 

Clement, from which the vegetative characters 

she used to separate the taxa were taken, and 

remarked that it had taken her up to 'warp 

speed' in identifying plants to subspecies level 

in some areas, based purely on vegetative 

characters, although the book was very much 

a 'work in progress', and it was vital that the 

authors receive feedback so that any errors can 

be corrected in the next edition! 

The next group to be dealt with was Corylus 

avellana variants, with two alien variants 

often planted alongside the native one. Clare 

asked: 'Does it matter?', and went on to 

explain that infraspecific taxa are expressly 

included as part of biodiversity under the Rio 

Convention on Biological Diversity 1992, so 

arguably we should 'count' them as part of the 

diversity in a hedge, even if they are nonnative. 

But this affects judgements about the 

age (and therefore often conservation value) of 

hedges - clearly the method used to determine 

an 'ancient' hedgerow of counting the number 

of species per 30m section is flawed where 

there are multiple non-native taxa. The 

method is also unclear on whether hybrids and 

infraspecific taxa 'count' or not. Oliver 

Rackham has raised this point in his recent


New Naturalists book on ancient woodland. 

Most surveyors don't have the taxonomic 

skills to identify hybrids or infraspecific taxa, 

but this is not a reason to ignore them!! We 

should arguably just use better surveyors in 

order to comply with our international obligations 

on conserving biodiversity - there are 

plenty of them freelance these days. 

The next group mentioned by Clare was 

Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn), with its 

four subspecies and three varieties, which all 

grow in Cambridgeshire hedges, but only one 

of which is native. Again she asked: 'Does it 

matter?' , and pointed out that non-native taxa 

often flower much earlier than the native, and 

wondered if there was an issue relating to the 

Woodland Trust's Phenology Network recording 

scheme where the first flowering of 

hawthorn will have many erroneous records of 

the non-native subspecies. A Phenology 

Network statistician argued that, due to the 

size of the data set for hawthorn (over 100,000 

records) any 'bias' caused by recording the 

wrong taxon would not influence the outcome. 

It was also mentioned that the need for planting 

trees and shrubs of local provenance has 

become well-known and that most plantings 

are of native origin. While the statistical 

argument may hold, the latter claim does not. 

Nurseries are claiming, usually in good faith, 

to supply native plants, but they often are not 

- they simply do not have the identification 

skills to know otherwise. Clare emphasised 

this point by remarking that when she had 

tried to get Prunus serotina and P. virginiana 

specimens from nurseries, she found them all 

labelled P. padus, because, she was told, 'that 

is what people want'! 

After the Society'S AGM, posing for a group 

photograph (see inside Front Cover), and an 

excellent buffet lunch, delegates re-assembled 

for the afternoon session, chaired by another 

vice-president, John Bailey. He introduced 

the first speaker, James Cullen, the Director of 

the Stanley Smith (UK) Horticultural Trust, 

who gave an intriguing talk on the taxonomy 

of Rhododendron ponticum (Rhododendron) 

as naturalised in Britain. 

Rhododendron ponticum is a curiously 

unknown plant, considering its widespread 

distribution in the British Isles, and recent 

genetic analyses have indicated that our taxon 

is a mixture of three, maybe four species. 

There are over 1000 species of Rhododendron 

recognised today, with two main centres of 

population in New Guinea and China. Rhododendron 

taxa can be split into two main groups 

based on the presence or absence of tiny scales 

on the underside of the leaves, and while 

'scaly' taxa can hybridise freely with other 

'scaly' taxa, and 'non-scaly' with 'non-scaly', 

producing hybrids with great hybrid vigour, it 

is very difficult to get hybrids between the two 

groups. 

Rhododendron ponticum is a rather uniform 

'non-scaly' species, with leaves completely 

hairless beneath. British material is very 

vigorous and, unlike true Rhododendron 

ponticum, all British material comes from the 

Iberian peninsula, with slightly hairy (not 

hairless) ovaries. 

The British taxon is a hybrid produced in the 

second half of the 19 th Century by crossing 

R. ponticum with R. catawbiense, R. maximum 

and possibly R. macrophyllum, then backcrossing 

the resultant progeny with the parents 

and growing all of them side by side in plots, 

allowing cross-pollination to occur. This 

produced a whole range of hybrids with 

various characteristics, and it is now impossible 

to segregate any taxa within this 'ponticum 

soup'. This was the result of nurserymen 

wanting a hardy version of R. ponticum. This 

ponticum hybrid was also used as rootstock for 

better and more desirable taxa as they were 

introduced from abroad, and the rootstock 

often outlived the graft taxon and can still be 

seen today. Rhododendron was also found to 

be very good for pheasant cover and was 

widely planted for that purpose. 

The British hybrid, soon to be given a new 

name, is very difficult to eradicate and 

involves cutting back the parts above ground, 

three years of ploughing and the application of 

very nasty chemicals. The moral of this tale is 

not to indulge in genetic manipUlation - you 

might create a monster! 

The next speaker, former BSBI Coordinator 

Cameron Crook, gave a masterful introduction 

to the identification of conifers in Britain. He


started by stressing that there are only five 

native conifer taxa in Britain but over eighty 

alien taxa may be encountered and, although a 

prominent part of the landscape, are often 

overlooked. Conifers are important due to 

their influence upon semi-natural vegetation 

and other organisms. 

The aim of the talk was to provide a general 

introduction to conifers in Britain, together 

with an outline of the techniques used for their 

correct identification. He went on to explain 

that the Gymnospermae comprise three 

distinct Orders: Coniferales ( = Pinales), 

Ginkgoales and Taxales, and that the name 

'conifers' comes from the shape of the cone or 

possibly from the conical form of growth. 

Most, but not all, conifers are tall with 

evergreen needles. They occur in widely 

different habitats (e.g. tundra, boreal forest, 

mountains, arid land and temperate-rain 

forest), and the feature common to most is 

their tolerance of drought, low nutrient levels, 

low light levels, and heavy metals. 

He then stressed that to aid identification it 

was useful to reduce the number of possible 

species, to know which taxa were most likely 

to be encountered in your area and to learn to 

separate the genera, as each has only a few 

frequently encountered taxa and some are 

represented by only one or two taxa. These 

and their special characteristics were then 

detailed. 

Pinus: with (relatively) long, needle-like 

leaves, born in bundles of two, three or five, 

on very short shoots; Picea: with rigid, sharp, 

needle-like leaves born on peg-like structures 

which remain when leaves drop; Pseudotsuga: 

with needle-like leaves, un-stalked with no 

'pegs' that leave round scars when removed, 

and winter buds sharply pointed with papery 

scales; Abies: with leathery needle-like leaves, 

un-stalked with no 'pegs' that leave round 

scars when removed, and winter buds rounded 

at tip; Larix: with soft, deciduous leaves with 

dorso-ventral flattening that are born in whorls 

of> 10 on short peg-like shoots; Cedrus: with 

stiff, evergreen leaves, with 3-5 angles in 

cross-section that are born in whorls of 10 or 

more on short peg like shoots; Chamaecyparis: 

with scale-like opposite leaves, with resin- 

ous smell in flat (2D) fronds, and cones small 

and woody «l2mm); Cupressus: with scalelike, 

opposite leaves in 3D fronds, and cones 

woody (l5-20mm); xCupressocyparis: with 

features somewhere between Chamaecyparis 

and Cupressus; Thuja with scale-like opposite 

leaves in flat fronds with a sweet fruity smell 

when fresh, and cones upright and elongated 

(resembling small urns); Juniperus: with three 

dimensional twigs, leaves in whorls of three 

around the stem in juvenile foliage with 

mature foliage adpressed to stem, and a berrylike 

cone; Sequoiadendron: with sharp leaves, 

broader than thick, born singly along shoot; 

bark soft, and very spongy; Cryptomeria: with 

sharp, thicker than broad leaves born singly 

along shoot; bark stringy; Araucaria: with 

triangular, hard, sharp- pointed leaves over 

lcm wide at base and unlike any other tree 

occurring in Britain; Taxus: with needle-like 

leaves born singly on the stem, narrowed at 

base and tip; winter buds green surrounded by 

numerous small leaves, and with red berries 

and non-resinous wood; Tsuga: with single 

leaves, irregular in length, with short petiole, 

adpressed to shoot, and with pale stripes on the 

underside. 

Cameron then further stressed that in conifer 

identification several features must be checked 

which are seldom used in field botany (e.g. 

growth form, smell, bark). Flowers (strobili) 

and fruits (cones) are often inconspicuous and 

of less use in identification. 

Key identification features were then listed: 

Leaf form and arrangement: scale-like 

(Thuja, Cupressus, Chameacyparis, 

xCupressocyparis); needle-like in whorls on 

short shoots: (Cedrus, Larix); needle-like, 

single (Pseudotsuga, Abies, Picea, Taxus); 

needle-like, bundles (fascicles) of 2, 3 or 5 

(Pinus); needle-like, in threes (Juniperus, also 

in the juvenile foliage of Cupressus & 

Chamaecyparis) . 

Leaf features: stomatal lines on leaf underside 

(often white or pale blue bands e.g. Abies, 

Picea, Tsuga); resin canals in cross-section of 

leaf (e.g. Picea,Abies); leaf smell, very important 

in Cupressaceae.


Cone size, shape, texture, colour: distinctive 

in most genera and species; prickles on cone 

scale (e.g. Cupressus, Pinus contorta). 

Twig characteristics: pubescence, present or 

absent, colour, density, whether in grooves or 

all over the twig etc.; peg-like short shoots, 

present (e.g. Cedrus, Larix); colour of twig, 

especially new growth. 

Bud: shape, i.e. pointed or blunt; colour and 

layout of bud scales; texture - smooth, resinous, 

papery. 

Bark: deeply fissured (some Pinus); flaky 

(some Pinus, Picea, Abies); soft and spongy 

(Sequoiadendron); stringy (Cryptomeria); 

presence of resin blisters (Abies). 

Finally Cameron stated that there was no 

substitute for examining trees in situ and 

handling samples back at base to get a real feel 

for this group of taxa. Members should run 

through one of the field keys which cover 

British conifers (e.g. Stace, 1997; Mitchell, 

1972 & 1974; Poland & Clement, 2009), and 

once the identity has been determined, the 

specimen should be re-examined (either whole 

tree or voucher) in a more personalised way 

and notes made of key features which, to 

them, make it distinct from other species. 

John Bailey then introduced the last speaker 

of the afternoon session, Kevin Rideout, NTS 

ranger at St Abbs Head National Nature 

Reserve, which was one of the venues for a 

meeting on Monday. He gave an entertaining 

account of the nature reserve, starting with a 

colourful run-through of plants and habitats. 

He explained that the headland is a big chunk 

of volcanic larva surrounded by sedimentary 

rock and the hard volcanic rocks provide 

impressive sea cliffs. Thrift, Sea Campion and 

Roseroot grow on the cliffs, together with 

Scots Lovage, here near its southern limit. 

Inland cliffs and rocky outcrops provide 

habitats for Spring Sandwort and Purple Milkvetch. 

The grassland has been much modified 

by human activity but is still species-rich, with 

masses of Thrift and Hairbells, and also many 

ant-hills with quite a diversity of plants on 

their summits, including Wild Thyme and 

Lady's-bedstraw. Rock-rose is also prevalent 

and is the food plant of the Northern Brown 

Argus butterfly. 

He explained that sheep were the main 

management tools, except in late spring and 

early summer. To be successful, overgrazing, 

which can open the grassland to erosion, and 

undergrazing, which can allow coarse grasses 

to proliferate, must be avoided. Sheep must 

also be encouraged to graze where you want 

them to, not where they want to. With reduced 

grazing, Meadow Saxifrage and Common 

Whitlowgrass have declined. In the past there 

was a tendency to manage too much and the 

correct approach now appears to be to 'do 

nothing' as the 'default setting' and see how 

that works before doing anything else. The 

only exception is gorse clearance, which is an 

ongoing task. 

A large freshwater area used to be bog land 

but was drained around 1900, resulting in the 

disappearance of Lesser Water-plantain. 

However, the aquatic environment has 

improved the biodiversity of the site. 

Kitiwakes enjoy bathing in the fresh water and 

their droppings add nutrients. The ungrazed 

side of the mireloch has been given over to 

tree planting, during the early 20 th century, 

mainly Sycamore, Hawthorn and Grey Poplar. 

Then in the 1970s, Sea Buckthorn and 

Japanese Rose were planted, mainly to attract 

birds, and now the emphasis is on planting 

native Oaks and Birch. 

The meeting ended with an open forum for 

discussion. The many issues raised included: 

the need to monitor the spread of Robinia 

pseudoacacia; the fertility of Leyland Cypress; 

the zigzag branching pattern of Thuja; the 

importance of smell in identifying conifers; a 

mnemonic for splitting Picea and Abies - E.icea 

has 12egs and Abies fl,in't (referring to the 

presence or absence of 'pegs' from which 

leaves arise); the fact that Roe Deer and a beetle 

eat Rhododendron leaves, but not in sufficient 

quantity to do any harm; the mounting bureaucracy 

in getting grants and planning applications 

for planting trees, although it was recognised 

that some control was needed; the impending 

attack on Aesculus hippocastanum by an 

aggressive fungus disease that could decimate 

populations in southern Britain, aided by a 

small moth from the Balkans whose larvae 

were leaf miners; the use of cows instead of


sheep in habitat management and finally the 

possible use of Japanese Knotweed in biomass 

plantations. 

Parties were then made up to walk the town 

walls. During the walks Fraxinus ornus was 

noted self-seeding in a corporation planting. 

Dinner followed in the Conundrum restaurant, 

close to the spot where John Ray found Tofieldia 

pusilla in 1671. Table decorations of fresh 

Bluebells had providentially been provided by 

the owner's mother, little knowing that they 

matched the Society's logo, and the evening 

ended with a programme on the Northumbrian 

pipes by newly-elected BSBI Council member 

Chris Metherell and fellow members of 

Piper's Wynd. 

On Sunday a party of just over 50 members 

and visitors first visited High Cocklaw farm, 

where John and Sandy Izat showed us how 

they had developed woodland and hedgerows 

on their farm over twenty years from almost 

nothing. The plantings were mainly of a traditional 

mix of species with a little 'Leylandii' 

used as a windbreak. They maintained the 

plantings themselves to a high standard, utilising 

the thinnings for fuel. There were a few 

more exotic species such as Chamaecyparis 

nootkatensis (Nootka Cypress). Delegates 

were asked to consider how they would 

approach the field-recording of such 

woodlands. Curiosity was aroused by a strip 

of Cichorium intybus (Chicory) surviving 

from a 2008 wild-bird-mix sowing. 

Next we were welcomed at Harry Frew's 

Cheviot Trees nursery. Over 100 species are 

mass-sown in trays of plastic cells in high-tech 

poly tunnels. The customers are foresters and 

farmers in Britain and overseas. Less usual 

species noted included Juniperus communis 

(Juniper) for conservation plantings, Ulex 

europaeus (Gorse) for golf courses, the silverfirs 

Abies nordmanniana and A. fraseri for 

Christmas trees and Cotoneaster lacteus (Late 

Cotoneaster) for hedging. Eucalyptus gunnii, 

Miscanthus sinensis, Salix hybrids and two 

unfamiliar Populus clones were being trialled 

for biomass. The Corylus (hazel) grown is 

mainly Kent cobnuts, as Scottish native 

Hazels germinate poorly and nut output is low. 

The afternoon was spent at Kyloe woods, 

almost 1 ,000 acres of conifers managed by 

Scottish Woodlands for the Fleming family, 

with harvesting by small coupes rather than 

large-scale clear-felling. Peter Hale and Ian 

Robinson walked us through an area near the 

fine crags of the whin sill where many of the 

more exotic of the 100 conifer species in the 

woods introduced by the Leyland family well 

over a century ago have been allowed to 

mature. Many species usually encountered as 

single specimens, if at all, are here planted in 

numbers. Notable species included Araucaria 

araucana (Monkey-puzzle), which had 

naturalised on the crags and self-seeded much 

more widely; Pinus muricata (Bishop Pine), 

with old cones surviving for many decades 

and thus being noted on the main trunk as well 

as branches (as reported by A F Mitchell); a 

major stand of Sequoiadendron giganteum 

(Wellingtonia); and Picea orientalis (Oriental 

Spruce), with short non-prickly needles. The 

ground flora under the mature conifers was 

notably varied, giving the whole very much 

the feeling of a true living woodland. In the 

more commercial forestry, regeneration is 

used as far as possible to re-stock after felling, 

with a mixture of species being grown together. 

Pseudotsuga menziesii is a favoured crop 

species but Tsuga heterophylla (Western 

Hemlock) self-seeds more abundantly and is 

something of a problem. 

On Monday a party of ten visited St Abbs 

Head NNR, where we were welcomed by the 

ranger Kevin Rideout. The highlights were the 

bird-cliffs, with massed Guillemots and Razorbills, 

colonies of Sedum rosea (Roseroot) on 

cliffs near the lighthouse, Astragalus danicus 

(Purple Milk-vetch) just coming into flower, 

Minuartia verna (Spring Sandwort) on inland 

cliffs and a hybrid horsetail Equisetum xlitorale 

by Mire Loch, where a Wall Brown butterfly 

was seen. These butterflies have only recently 

colonised north into Berwickshire. 

A further party of forty visited Lindisfarne 

[no report available].

Profile of new Honorary Member - Ann eanally 65 

PROFILE OF NEW HONORARY MEMBER 

Ann Conolly 

JOHN BAILEY, Biology Department, University of Leicester, LE1 7RH 

Born in 1917, Ann Conolly took an MA at 

Newham College Cambridge in the 1930s, at 

a time when degrees were not awarded to 

women. Late in her retirement, when 

Cambridge made amends for this omission, 

she greatly enjoyed her delayed degree 

ceremony. Ann undertook postgraduate 

research in quaternary botany at Cambridge 

with Professor Godwin, earning particular 

acknowledgement in Godwin's groundbreaking 

book, the History of the British Flora in 

1956. Apparently destined for a successful 

career in Quaternary botany, Ann was 

appointed to a lectureship at the then University 

College of Leicester in January 1947. 

Shortly afterwards in 1948 she joined the 

BSBI, and is currently the 10 th longest standing 

member of the society. Whilst she 

maintained her studies of plant remains up to 

her retirement, her last significant paper in the 

area was in 1970. Always one to spot a 

connection, however remote, Ann's interests 

multiplied as time went on, expanding into 

two other aspects of the British flora. The 

Flora of the Lleyn Peninsula was her life's 

work, commenced in the early 1950s and 

continued as long as she was able to drive long 

distances. In Wales Ann owns a remote 

farmhouse in the middle of a field at the base 

of Garn Fadryn, and many is the botanist who 

has blessed Ann for the comfortable free 

accommodation so generously offered in that 

idyllic spot. After retirement from the university, 

Ann was faced with the prospect of 

emptying the office and laboratory that she 

had occupied for many years. Ann never 

threw anything away, and as she cheerfully 

lugged away 40 year old boxes of soil samples 

to the cottage, remarked that if she didn't get 

around to looking at them they would be a 

welcome addition to the thin soil of her Welsh 

garden. Unfortunately, the temptation for just 

one more recording season, her absolute 

perfectionism and her many other interests, 

meant the Flora never got written. The area of 

her Flora also included the Island of Bardsey 

and Ann was co-opted onto the council as a 

botanist, and was also active in the Welsh 

meetings of the society. Through the work on 

the Flora Ann developed other 'spin offs', the 

distribution of Lamium album in Wales, the 

association of medicinal plants with ancient 

habitation, and perhaps most significantly the 

history and distribution of those large alien 

Polygonaceous herbs - most notably Japanese 

Knotweed - leading to her much cited 1977 

paper. In the late 1970s the arrival of a new 

technician in the Botany department led to a 

long-lived and extremely successfully collaboration 

on Japanese Knotweed and all its 

works; happily crowned by the surprise publication 

of the name Fallopia xconollyana to 

fortuitously coincide with her 84th birthday. 

Ann's research interests and collaborations are 

closely mirrored by the titles of her AEM 

exhibits. A formidable performer at Exhibition 

meetings (as those unwise enough to 

interrupt her whilst she was preparing her 

exhibit will testify!), she produced no less than 

44 exhibits in 51 years. In spite of her professional 

status and connections, Ann would 

genially start up a conversation with 

absolutely anyone she met, often discovering 

unexpected connections, and receiving new 

leads in her investigations. Dressing for 

comfort rather than style, for many years the 

slightly stooped figure in her 'hallmark' stout 

boots, ankle socks, tattered anorak, and adder 

stick was instantly recognisable at BSBI field 

meetings (see inside Back Cover). 

Ann was reported to be very pleased about 

the news of her Honorary Membership - 

exclaiming that she wouldn't have to pay the 

subscription any more! She is currently in 

poor physical health and has been moved from 

her house to a nursing home. Her new address

66 Profile of new Honorary Member - Ann eonolly / News of Members - 

Yolande Heslop-Harrison / Book Notes - British field crops 

is Harley Grange, 25 Elms Road, Leicester, 

LE2 3JD (0116 270 9946). 

Anyone wishing to visit should first contact 

the solicitor: Mr Louis Brandt, Wilson & 

Butler, 8 Huntingdon Street, St Neots, PE19 

NEWS OF MEMBERS 

Yolande Heslop-Harrison 

lBH (01480 219229) in order to get permission 

to visit, since access to her is strictly 

restricted, and most of her old friends are 

forbidden to visit. 

JOHN BAILEY, Biology Department, University of Leicester, LE] 7RH 

Yolande Heslop-Harrison is pictured at her 90 th 

Birthday party in Leicester on 18 July 2009 (see 

inside Back Cover). 30 friends and family were 

assembled to see her presented with a birthday 

cake in the shape of a Lilium pollen grain! 

Y olande is still very active and living unaided 

in her own home. In addition to the fundamental 

research into pollination biology that she did 

with her husband, Y olande also has her own 

specialist research areas of insectivorous plants, 

the genus Rubus and British water lilies. Her 

most recent paper, the Biological Flora account 

of Pinguicula was published in 2004, and she is 

Paul Green 

still involved in writing papers. Y olande is also 

a trustee of 'Caring for God's Acres', a charity 

which promotes the conservation of the biodiversity 

of Britain's unique churchyards. In addition 

to producing well over a hundred 

scientific papers, she also found time to produce 

the next generation of Heslop-Harrison 

professors - Pat - who lives nearby with his 

wife Trude and boys William and George. 

[Editor's note - Is it something about the air in 

Leicester? - this is the 3 rd 90 th botanical birthday 

of a Leicester botanist in as many years!] 

IAN GREEN, ]9 Bogmoor Road, Bogmoor, Spey Bay, Fochabers, Moray, IV32 7PA 

Paul Green was recently presented with the 

second Distinguished Recorder Award of 

Ireland 2009 by Prof. Liam Downey of the 

National Biodiversity Data Centre. This is an 

annual award that is to acknowledge the 

important contribution that recorders make to 

the conservation of biological diversity in 

BOOK NOTES 

Ireland. It was awarded especially for Paul's 

botanical work in Co. Waterford which culminated 

in his magnificent Flora of County 

Waterford. Looking on in the photo (see inside 

Back Cover) are Dr Liam Lysaght and Dr Una 

Fitzpatrick. 

British field crops: a pocket guide to the identification, history and 

uses of arable crops in Great Britain 

DR SALLY FRANCIS: (www.britishfieldcrops.co.uk) 

Dr Sally Francis has completely updated and 

expanded her popular title British field crops, 

first published in 2005. The second edition 

contains information on 80 crop species and 

covers established broad-acre crops like wheat 

and barley, alternative crops like miscanthus 

and borage and also 'forgotten' crops like rivet 

wheat and bristle-pointed oats. It details the 

crop's identification features, correct scientific 

name, origins and history, uses, plus

Book Notes - British field crops I BSBIIWFS Presidents' Prize 67 

information on sowing and harvest periods, 

estimates of acreages planted and the regions 

in which each crop may be found. The book 

has been carefully updated using new information 

from farmers, commercial companies, 

agricultural industry organisations, academics 

and the latest research findings. illustrated 

throughout with crisp, clear botanical 

drawings taken from life, British field crops is 

the only one-stop-shop for essential informa- 

tion on the wide range of food, feed, industrial, 

energy, game cover, green manure and other 

crops now being grown on British farms. 

British field crops: a pocket guide to the 

identification, history and uses of arable crops 

in Great Britain. ISBN 978-0-9550466-2-9. 

104 pages including identification keys and 

glossary. RRP £12. Available from Summerfield 

Books or directly from the author. 

BSBIIWFS PRESIDENTS' PRIZE 

Below is the text of the President's Prize 

Award address, AGM, 2009: 

"It is BSBl's President's turn to award the 

Presidents' Prize this year, so it falls to me. 

This is a truly invidious task as it has been a 

good year for new books, especially those that 

have really tried to communicate, from the 

beautiful but technical British alpine 

hawkweeds by David Tennant and Tim Rich to 

the colourful Picture guide to the wild flowers 

of north-east Yorkshire by Nan Sykes. As I 

write this I await John Poland's new book on 

vegetative identification, but I for one will 

wish to show my respect for his work by using 

his keys for a season or so before deciding 

what value to place on it. 

One that really captured my imagination was 

Paul Green's Flora of County Waterford. 

What sets it apart is not just the book, with its 

welcoming section on Paul's favourite places 

to botanise, but the project behind it, with so 

much achieved in just ten years. He has 

shared his data freely and efficiently, not just 

through his Flora and with the BSBI databases, 

but through the website of the fine new 

Irish National Biodiversity Data Centre. 

But I am not awarding him the prize as he 

had one in 1997 with his previous Flora. I am 

awarding the prize to a book that I purchased 

MICHAEL BRAITHW AITE, President BSBI 

at a railway station, but not the one in 

Berwick! It is Wild food, by Ray Mears and 

Gordon Hillman, and is the book of the BBC 

TV series. This was about the only TV 

programme I can remember that treats our 

native British plants with genuine love and 

attention to detail. The book goes further. 

Gordon Hillman has worked for 23 years at 

the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at 

King's College, London, on the nutrient status 

of wild plant foods, especially those used by 

stone-age man, and his species-by-species 

accounts are enthralling, combining a simple 

appeal with real science. While Richard 

Mabey covered some of this ground in 1972 

with his Food for free, these authors put a 

whole new slant on the subject. I can now 

vouch for the value of Golden-saxifrage 

Chrysosplenium as a salad plant and have had 

fun nibbling the tasty stem-pith of Rosebay 

Chamerion. Ray Mears, with his amazing 

bush-craft, has lifted the whole to popular 

fame. The two together have done a real 

service to botany. 

In awarding them the prize I will invite them 

to mount an exhibit at our London exhibition 

meeting in the autumn; meanwhile I am 

putting my copy of the book on a table for you 

to have a look at today".

68 Recorders and Recording / Obituary notes 

RECORDERS AND RECORDING 

Panel of Referees and Specialists 

MARY CLARE SHEAHAN, 61 Westmoreland Road, Barnes, London SW13 9RZ; 

mc_sheahan@hotmail.com 

We have two new referees: 

Mike Bell will do bamboos. His entry reads as 

follows: 

Bambusoideae: Mr M. Bell. Information is 

needed on the habitat, the height of the 

clump, whether it has an open structure or 

close compact canes; the size of branches, 

the number at each node and their angle to 

the stem; the size, texture and colour of 

leaves, both above and below. His address 

is Mr M. Bell, Beecroft, 3 Clarence Terrace, 

Park Road,Wadebridge, Cornwall PL27 

7NG 

Rodney Burton has offered to look at records 

from S.W. Turkey. His address is in the 

Yearbook. 

Panel of Vice-county Recorders 

Also: 

Allen Coombes has resigned as referee for 

Quercus, as he has moved to Mexico. 

However, he is prepared to help by looking 

at images of specimens - his new email 

address is: allen.coombes@hotmail.com 

Mike Hardman, referee for Viola, has moved 

to Cyprus. His new address is: Tremithos 

BI7-201, 8270 Tremithousa, Paphos, 

Cyprus. His new email address is: 

mike@mikehardman.com. 

Dr E Charles Nelson the referee for Ericaceae 

and Maritime Drift Seeds has a new email 

address - tippitiwitchet@phonecoop.coop 

DAVID PEARMAN, Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA; 01872 863388 

Changes 

v.c.38 (Warks). V acant. We very much regret 

to announce the death of Dr J ames 

Partridge, recorder since 2004. 

v.c.96. (Easterness). Mr Waddell retires (Ms 

S. Smyth continues as before) 

OBITUARY NOTES 

MARY BRIGGs, 9 Arun Prospect, Pulborough, West Sussex, RH20 1AL 

With regret we report the death of Dr J ames 

Partridge of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire 

who joined the Society in 1986 and had been 

our Recorder for v.c. 38 since 2004. 

It is also with much regret that we report the 

deaths of the following members notified to us 

since the last issue: Mr C.J. Bruxner of 

King's Lynn, Norfolk, a member since 1973; 

Mrs P.D. Law of Guisborough, Cleveland, a 

member since 1995; Mr F.T. Palmer of 

Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, a member 

since 1972; Dr L.E. Perrins of St Albans, 

Hertfordshire, a member since 1962; Mr W.F. 

Robertson of Glenalmond, Perth, a member 

since 1991; Mr M. Robinson of Macclesfield, 

Cheshire, a member since 1983; Mr P.J. 

Wisniewski of Burscough, Lancashire, a 

member since 2003 and Mrs A.C. Macpherson, 

a family member since 1991 and the wife 

of our former President Peter Macpherson. We 

send our sympathy to him and to the families of 

all those members mentioned above. 

Also with regret we report the death of Prof. 

C.J. Humphries; although not a member of 

BSBI, Chris was known to many as a botanist 

at the Natural History Museum where he was 

part of the B.M. Evolutionary Biology group. 

BSBI rare plant recording was helpful to Chris 

in planning his project on mapping pictorially 

Rare Species of the World.

Important Notice - Results of the questionnaire about the Annual Exhibition Meeting 69 

IMPORTANT NOTICE 

Results of the questionnaire about the Annual Exhibition Meeting 

JOHN BAILEY, Secretary: Meetings Committee, Biology Department, University of Leicester, 

LE1 TRH (jpb@le.ac.uk) 

Firstly we would like to thank the 45 members 

who took the time to answer and return the 

questionnaire; their responses are summarised 

in the Table. The reason for the different 

categories of expertise and length of membership 

was not to embarrass anyone, but to try 

and see if newer, less experienced members 

were looking for something different from 

more experienced members at our Exhibition 

meetings. Whilst we don't want to place too 

much weight on such a small sample of the 

membership, it is all we have to go on at the 

moment. There are certainly some clear 

patterns - all categories were in favour of 

slides and workshops. Support for lectures 

was more equivocal, though clearly favoured 

more by our newer members. In hindsight it 

was perhaps a mistake to say 'lectures after the 

meeting' in the questionnaire, since there is no 

reason why they couldn't be integrated into 

the meeting. Similarly the question 'are you 

satisfied with the current AEM?' may have 

had the unintended effect of putting off 

responses from people who had not previously 

attended one, and would perhaps have been 

Expertise 1 & 2 Expertise 3 & 4 

Yes No Yes No 

Satisfied with 65% 35% 88% 12% 

AEM 

Lectures 36% 64% 78% 22% 

Meal 41% 49% 44% 56% 

Workshops 65% 35% 77% 23% 

Slides 75% 25% 90% 10% 

better phrased as 'what would you like to find 

at an AEM?'. There was also support for a 

meal from some categories of membership, 

but whilst practical considerations make this 

too difficult in London it could certainly be 

explored in the out of London meetings. 

The BSBI is, of course, a very 'broad 

church' and there is no necessity that every 

member should want exactly the same things 

from a meeting. It is then more a question of: 

what should be available for members to chose 

from? Another point is that new technology is 

blurring the boundaries between such previously 

separate categories as exhibit, lecture 

and slide show. The Meetings Committee is 

committed to keeping the best components of 

previous exhibition meeting formats and to 

incorporating new features in order to make 

future AEMs more inclusive and relevant for 

our membership. 

We are particularly keen to hear from 

members who have not yet attended an 

Exhibition Meeting, about what would 

encourage them to come, and what they would 

find useful. 

Joined before Joined 1994 

1994 onwards 

Total 

Yes No Yes No Yes No 

77% 23% 70% 30% 70% 30% 

39% 61% 50% 50% 48% 52% 

54% 46% 27% 63% 43% 57% 

58% 42% 92% 8% 63% 37% 

73% 27% 83% 17% 80% 20%

70 Notes from the Officers - BSBI Plant Unit 

NOTES FROM THE OFFICERS 

BSBI Plant Unit 

KEVIN WALKER, BSBI Plant Unit, clo 97 Dragon Parade, Harrogate, North Yorkshire 

HGl 5DG. 01423 544902 (man-weds) 01904 328805 (thurs & fri), kevinwalker@bsbi.org.uk 

Threatened Plants Project 

Many thanks to those of you who have been out 

surveying TPP species this summer. I am now 

starting to receive lots of completed forms, and 

going by the number we should be on course to 

match last year's total of over 750. I have also 

received quite a number of completed forms 

for last year's species. These will be included 

in the analyses so please carry on surveying 

species from previous years if you run out of 

time. The more data we receive for a species 

the more meaningful the results will be. 

Please send completed forms to me at the 

address given above. Ideally we would like 

forms for 2009 species by the end of September 

so we have plenty of time to input the data. 

We are just about to start analyses of the 2008 

species. Although this is later than we hoped 

we should therefore be able to report preliminary 

results in the next News. 

Next year's species 

Many recorders have asked if we can provide 

the list of species for next year much earlier so 

that fieldwork can be scheduled into the 

meeting programmes. So here they are: 

Chrysanthemum segetum (Corn Marigold) 

Hordeum marinum (Sea Barley) 

Juniperus communis (Common Juniper) 

(lowland England only) 

Melittis melissophyllum (Bastard Balm) 

Meum athamanticum (Spignel) 

Herminium monorchis (Musk Orchid) 

Polystichum lonchitis (Holly-fern) 

Sibbaldia procumbens (Sibbaldia) 

Sium latifolium (Greater Water-parsnip) 

Viola lactea (Pale Dog-violet) 

You will notice a northern and western bias in 

the selection for 2010. This was intentional as 

we felt that there had been so many southeasterners 

in the previous two years. We have 

also tried to cover more habitats, in particular 

uplands as we haven't really covered these 

before. Meum is a good example of a northern 

species which seems to be genuinely threatened 

away from its core areas, but for reasons 

that remain unclear. The two montane species 

chosen, Sibbaldia and Polystichum were both 

classified as 'threatened' in the recent Red List 

again for reasons that were not entirely 

obvious. Declines might reflect an element of 

under-recording but also real threats posed by 

over-grazing or even climate change. We 

considered a few other options but both species 

seemed like indicators of the health of our 

montane flora: Sibbaldia because it might be 

vulnerable to changes in snow-patch cover and 

Polystichum because it seems so palatable to 

deer and livestock across a wider geographic 

range. Viola lactea is probably under-recorded 

but may be genuinely threatened by hybridisation 

combined with a loss of maritime heath to 

scrub. Melittis on the other hand seems to be 

declining due to lack of management of it's 

wood edge habitat although, as with Campanula 

patula (Spreading Bellflower), this needs 

to be investigated through more detailed 

survey. 

We have always wanted to include an arable 

species and after long deliberation Chrysanthemum 

was selected. Other strong candidates 

included Stachys arvensis (Field Woundwort) 

and Anthemis arvensis (Corn Chamomile) but 

Corn Marigold was favoured because it is still 

so widespread, occurring from Cornwall to 

Shetland, its distribution is less likely to be 

affected by planting (as opposed to Cornflower 

(Centaurea cyanus) or Corncockle 

(Agrostemma githago» and there are still sufficient 

populations for it to provide an indication 

of the state of low intensity farming systems 

throughout the UK. 

Over the next two years we will be working 

with Plantlife on a project to assess the status

Notes from the Officers BSBI Plant Unit / Coordinator's Corner 71 

of lowland populations of Juniper in England. 

Consequently, we have included these populations 

for next year to run alongside a more 

intensive survey of 'key sites' being carried out 

by Plantlife. This uses a rather more detailed 

survey method, focusing on the size, age, 

regeneration of individuals but the results from 

the TPP will be vital in providing a more 

comprehensive picture of what is happening to 

the species across its lowland range. 

Although Sium latifolium has received a lot 

of attention in the past we are not aware of any 

comprehensive analyses of its status and 

trends. We therefore felt that its inclusion 

would add greatly to our understanding the 

threats facing many fenland species. Likewise 

Hordeum marinum occurs in a suite of threatened 

coastal species for which we currently 

have very little information on recent trends 

(e.g. Bupleurum tenuissimum (Slender Hare'sear), 

Carex divisa (Divided Sedge), Spartina 

maritima (Small Cord-grass)). Detailed 

monitoring of Herminium by Terry Well's 

showed that this species has a cyclical lifehistory, 

apparently disappearing in some years 

only to return in the next. However, it does 

seem to be declining in some areas and it would 

be good to have more information on why this 

is the case. 

Over the next few months we will be selecting 

the sample sites for survey in 2010. These 

will be circulated to VCRs in October so that 

field meetings can be included in the Yearbook. 

Recording Strategy 

Given the Coordinator's comments on the 

death ofDC4, recorders should note that we are 

currently working on a plan of recording priorities 

for the next two decades (2010-2030). 

This 'strategy', for want of a better word, will 

provide a plan of how best to combine major 

recording activities such as a repeat Local 

Change and Atlas 3, alongside local projects as 

well as tricky issues such as date-classes and 

recording scales. The aim is not to be too 

prescriptive but to provide a flexibility of 

approach that acknowledges the great variation 

that exists in the intensity and practicality of 

recording within different parts of the country. 

Although there are likely to be key principles 

that should underpin good recording practice 

we expect that a workable plan will need to 

provide a range of options tailored to a range of 

local situations. Date-classes are just one 

example of where a 'one size fits all' approach 

is unlikely to work: we might expect a 10 year 

repeat hectad survey in a lowland county with 

lots of botanists but can we expect the same 

from a county twice the size in the uplands? 

And what would that tell us given the pace of 

ecological change in montane ecosystems? In 

the latter case a sampling approach, backed by 

targeted surveys over 20 years might be a much 

more realistic alternative. Watch this space. 

Coordinator's Corner 

ALEX LOCKTON, 66 North Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SYl 21L; coordinator@bsbi.org.uk 

The end of date class 4 is nigh 

We shall soon know whether date classes are 

workable or not. At the end of this year everyone 

should close any ongoing record cards 

they have open and start a new list afresh. For 

anyone who regularly puts their data into 

Map Mate or another database this is not an 

issue because they will probably keep the full 

date for each record, but even they need to 

start thinking about a programme of re-recording 

over the next decade. Records Committee 

is going to review progress and see what the 

options are for using date classes to monitor 

change in the flora. 

We would like you to use the next couple of 

years to finish off DC4 and encourage county 

recorders to submit any records that they hold. 

When I started working as co-ordinator, about 

ten years ago, I calculated that it took on 

average eight years for a record to make its 

way through to the BSBI. Now the average is 

less then one year, but the tail end of the graph 

is still fairly long. Do please send us your data 

as soon as you can - it is easy enough to 

correct errors and insert additions later on.

Notes from the Officers - Coordinator's Corner 

Committee is going to have to look hard at 

some of the counties and, in some cases, start 

looking for new people to assist with them. 

Species Accounts 

To complement the new maps on the Maps 

Scheme, I would like to now expand the 

Species Accounts section of our web site. 

There are lots of difficult, new and interesting 

species in the British and Irish flora that people 

would like to know more about. I think we have 

now got a unique and valuable formula that 

people appreciate. This is reflected in the usage 

stats on the web site. We get about 20,000 

people a month now visiting the BSBI's suite 

of web sites, and the two most popular features 

are the Maps Scheme and the Species 

Accounts. In the last month, for instance, some 

200 people will have read our account of Wild 

Gladiolus, Gladiolus illyricus. Add that up 

over a year, and include the folk around the 

world who do not have access to our paper 

publications, and you realise that this is a 

bigger audience than a paper in Watsonia or a 

BSBI Handbook will achieve. 

The web-based Species Accounts are also a 

surprisingly permanent feature. The web site is 

archived every week or so by the British 

Library and the Internet Archive, amongst 

others, which means that each account is 

permanent, date stamped, and available forever. 

If you write a novel idea into one of these 

accounts, you will be permanently identified as 

the author and inventor. So what I am hoping is 

that more BSBI members will adopt a species 

and write us an interesting account. Have a 

look at the one on Climbing Corydalis, Ceratocapnos 

claviculata, for instance. Some 30 

people have read it this August alone, and 

Nicole Voss tells me she has received data 

from five people and specimens for DNA 

analysis from three. The account is not a 

passive declaration of information about a 

plant, it creates an active flow of ideas and 

cooperation. 

If anyone would like to adopt a species, 

please get in touch with me. The BSBI has 

about 3,000 members and there are about this 

many species occurring in the wild, so if a 

reasonable proportion of members wanted to 

adopt one to study, that would just about get the 

job done. 

FISC Success 

We had some 35 people take a FISC exam 

again this summer. Eight different ecological 

consultancies have sent staff this year and some 

return every few years to see if they have 

improved. The highly structured approach used 

in the FISC enables people to decide what they 

need to learn. An important part of our process 

is to get plants from around the country, so that 

botanists who are familiar with the area where 

the test is taking place do not have an advantage. 

We are therefore enormously grateful to 

our collectors, John, Clare, David, Arthur and 

Kevin for continuing to support it. There will 

be more FISCs in 2010 and BSBI members are 

welcome to come along. The price remains just 

£50, which we think is highly affordable 

compared to any other qualification you could 

get. Talting a FISC is more than just finding out 

how good you are: the very process of having 

an independent assessment of your knowledge 

and skill makes you look at your work in a 

different way. 

iSpot 

One of my principles is that anyone who thinks 

of something new deserves our support, at least 

to an extent. If you come up with a new web 

site or database or even just a clever way of 

identifying plants then it behoves the BSBI to 

give you a chance. Well, a multi-million pound 

Lottery funded project isn't the sort of thing 

that would normally get (or need) my vote, but 

I have to admit that their iSpot web site seems 

to be a first. On this site people can post their 

photographs of animals or plants and ask for 

help in identification. The site is well 

constructed to apply the principles of biological 

recording and, from the material they have 

collected so far, it is clear that a huge number 

of species can be reliably identified this way. A 

record backed up by a photograph is often as 

good a record as you could want, and definitely 

better than a tick on a record card. So I wish 

them all the best. They are asking for BSBI 

members to register as referees and offer their 

expertise in identification. If you fancy doing 

this, I think it could really be a valuable educational 

tool. Visit ispot.org.uk. 

73

Crosswood solution & crib / Deadline for contributions to BSBI News 113 75 

Solution & Crib to Botanical Crossword 13 

Across 

7. RESEDA; 8. WEEDED; 9. SCAN; 

10. SCARIOUS; 11. FERTILE; 13. LATEX; 

15. SPORE; 17. OIL PALM; 20. CAPITATE; 

21. BENT; 22. CLEAVE; 23. ERECTA 

Across 

7. anag ADEERS; 8. sounds like 'we did' 

9. Three meanings of 'scan' - look over/ leaf 

through! scope; 10. SCARlIOUS; 11. anag 

FILTER + E(cstasy); 13. anag EXALT 

15. SP/ORE; 17. Like 'grease palm' 

20. CA(circa)PATE; 21. dishonest 

22. Cleavers; 23. anag CREATE 

Solution 

Crib 

Down 

1. FESCUE; 2. VEIN; 3. CAPSULE; 

4. TWEAK; 5. PERICARP; 6. RETUSE; 

12. TERMINAL; 14. CINEREA; 16. PEARLY; 

18. LUNATE; 19. NAKED; 21. BEET 

Down 

1. FE'S CUE; 2. 'style' as in 'manner' 

3. CAPS/sounds like 'you'll'; 4. TEAK 

(whisky = call sign for W); 5. PERI/CARP 

6. REUSE; 12. double definition; 

14. mediCINE REAl dose; 16. pearly 

everlasting/pearly gates; 18. LATE; 

19. double def; 21. BEIET (extra-terrestrial) 

CONTRIBUTIONS INTENDED FOR 

BSBI NEWS 113 should reach the Receiving Editor before 

December 1 st 

The General Editor Gwynn Ellis can be contacted by answerphone or fax on 02920 496042 

email: rgellis@ntlworld.com 

The Receiving Editor Trevor James can be contacted by phone on 01462 742684 or email 

trevorjj ames @btinternet.com 

All text and illustrations appearing in BSBI News and its Supplements are copyright and no 

reproduction in any form may be made without written permission from the General Editor 

Offers and special terms apply only to members of the Society and copies are not available on 

an exchange basis. 

BSBI News (ISSN 0309-930X) is published by the Botanical Society of the British Isles 

Enquiries concerning the Society'S activities and membership should be addressed to: The Hon. 

General Secretary, c/o Dept. of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London 

SW7 5BD Tel: 0207 942 5002. 

Camera ready copy produced by Gwynn Ellis and printed by J. & P. Davison, 3 James Place, 

Treforest, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan CF37 ISQ (Tel. 01443-400585; email: 

davison.litho@talktalkbusiness.net)

ADMINISTRATION and IMPORTANT ADDRESSES 

PRESIDENT 

Mr Michael Braithwaite 

Clarilaw, Hawick, Roxburghshire, TD9 8PT 

Tel.: 01450372129 

HON. GENERAL SECRETARY (General Enquiries) 

Mr David Pearman 

Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA 

Tel.: 01872 863388; DPeatman4@aol.com 

HON. TREASURER (All financial matters except Membership) Mr Anthony Nixon 

The Warwick Partnership, 1 Stonecross, St Albans, Hertfordshire, ALl 4AA 

Tel.: 01727 846194, Fax 01727 810885 

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY (Payment of Subs and changes of address) Mr Gwynn Ellis 

41 Madborough Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF23 5BU 

(Please quote membership number on all correspondence; see address label on post, 

or Members List in Year Book 2009) Answerphone: 02920496042; rgellis@ntiworld.com 

HON. FIELD SECRETARY (Including enquiries about Field Meetings) Mrs Jane Croft 

12 Spaldwick Road, Stow Longa, Huntingdon, Cambs., PE28 OTL 

Tel.: 01480860561; stowlonga@tiscali.co.uk 

HON. ASSISTANT SECRETARY (General enquiries) Mr Peter Fry 

BSBI PROJECT MANAGER & 

VICE-COUNTY RECORDERS 

(Comments and/or changes of address) 

PANEL OF REFEREES & SPECIALISTS 

(Comments and/or changes of address) 

WATSONIA RECEIVING EDITOR 

do Dept. of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD 

Answelphone only: 0207 942 5002 

Mr David Pearman 

Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA 

Tel.: 01872 863388; DPeatman4@aol.com 

Dr Mary Clare Sheahan 

61 Westmoreland Road, Barnes, London, SW13 9RZ 

Tel.: 020 8748 4365; m.sheahan@rbgkew.org.uk 

Mr Martin Sanford 

c/o SBRC, Ipswich Museum, High Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 3QH 

Tel.: 01473 433547; fax: 01473 433558; martin.sanford@et.suffolkcc.gov.u.k 

WATSONIA BOOK REVIEWS EDITOR Dr John Edmondson 

243 Pensby Road, Heswall, Wirral, CH61 5UA 

Tel.: 0151 3428287; a.books@mac.com 

BSBI NEWS RECEIVING EDITOR 

Mr Trevor J James 

56 Back Street, Ashwell, Baldock, Herts., SG7 5PE 

Tel.: 01462742684; trevOIjjames@btinternet.com 

BSBI NEWS GENERAL EDITOR 

Mr Gwynn Ellis 

41 Madborough Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF23 5BU 

Answerphone: 02920496042; rgellis@ntiworld.com 

BSBI HEAD OF RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT 

Mr Kevin J Walker 

97 Dragon Parade, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG15DG 

Tel.: 01423 544902; kevinwalker@bsbi.org.uk 

BSBI COORDINATOR 

Mr Alex Lockton 

66 North Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY1 2JL 

Tel. & Fax: 01743 343789; coordinator@bsbi.org.uk 

BSBI VOLUNTEERS OFFICER 

MrBob Ellis 

11 Havelock Road, Norwich, NR2 3HQ 

Tel.: 01603 662260; bob@elymus.demon.co.uk 

BSBI SCOTTISH OFFICER 

Mr Jim McIntosh 

do Royal Botanic Garden, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR 

Tel.: 0131 248 2894 (w); 0791 7152580 (mob); j.mcintosh@rbge.ac.uk 

RESEARCH FUND APPLICATIONS 

Dr Pete Hollingsworth 

Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR 

p.hollingsworth@rbge.ac.uk. 

BSBI PUBLICATIONS 

Mr Paul O'Hara 

Summerfield Books 2007 Ltd, 3 Phoenix Park, Skelton, Penrith, Cumbria, CAll 9SD 

Tel.: 01768484910; Fax: 01768 484909; info@summerfieldbooks.com 

BSBI WEB SITE ADDRESS www.bsbi.org.uk 

Registered Charity Number in England & Wales: 212560 and in Scotland: SC038675

Ann eonolly at the Boathouse, Bardsey Island 

(v.c.49). Photo P. Hope Jones ' 1996 

(see p. 65) 

Yolande Heslop-Harrison admiring her 90th 

Birthday Dpollen cakeD. 

Photo P. Heslop-Harrison ' 2009 (see p. 66) 

Paul Green being presented with the Distinguished Recorder Award ofIreland 2009 by Prof. Liam 

Downey with Dr Liam Lysaght (1) & Dr Una Fitzpatrick (r). Photo LP. Green' 2009 (see p. 66)

Scilla lilio-hyacinthus & Corydalis cava in 

beechwood, Piedrasluengas (see p. 54) 

Saxifraga cuneata, Las Tuerces (see p. 51) 

All photos taken in Spain by Teresa Farino I 2009 

Erodium daucoides, Pllramo de La Lora 

(see p. 54)

BSBINews - BSBI Archive - Botanical Society of the British Isles

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