BSBI News April 2023

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CONTENTS April 2023 No. 153

Plant Atlas

and the New Year Plant Hunt 2023;

Sagina filicaulis (Slender Pearlwort) – a seed variant; Green-flowered form of Scrophularia nodosa (Common Figwort); Check on your alien Pyrus and Sedum; Lepidium didymum (Lesser Swine-cress) – two variants; Galium species

Cover photo: An abundance of Scilla autumnalis (Autumn Squill) flowering on stabilised sand dune grassland, St Helen’s Duver, Isle of Wight (v.c. 10), Colin Pope. See ‘Introducing My Vicecounty’, p. 38

The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) is the leading charity promoting the enjoyment, study and conservation of wild plants in Britain and Ireland. BSBI is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (8553976) and a charity registered in England and Wales (1152954) and in Scotland (SC038675). Registered office: 28 Chipchase Grove, Durham, DH1 3FA. All text and illustrations in BSBI News are copyright and no reproduction in any form may be made without written permission from

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Wellthe snow has melted and spring has resumed, so I hope you’re all out enjoying the spring flora. But what a spring! We now have a brand-new Plant Atlas 2020 which was well and truly launched, with all seven venues deemed a big success. The headline ‘over 50% decline in native species’ certainly hit a chord with the media. In Ireland we did two national television and four national radio interviews; one on Radió na Gaeltachta and at least seven local radio shows – and it’s still appearing in the print media. In Britain, it was also headline news on the BBC and there were countless local radio interviews. Feedback from the public was great, including a Kerry farmer asking for advice on how to increase biodiversity on her farm. By publishing the Atlas and the summary reports, we want to reach members of the public, farmers, policymakers, foresters and people who’ve never given biodiversity much thought until now. So it’s up to us to follow it through and work with everyone to reverse these alarming trends (53% native species in decline in Britain; 56% in Ireland).

But isn’t the Atlas fabulous?! Having the hard copy, with its superb covers, is a joy to explore, with so much information for each species, beautifully laid out, with the species descriptions carefully updated by the relevant authors. Online, we can find much more, such as distribution by date class, as well as trend graphs, indicating the increase/ decrease in Ireland or Britain. The change maps are fascinating, as they show, on a per-hectad basis where a given species has increased, decreased or not changed; and there’s lots more.

So where else in the world is this available in such detail? I am familiar with the Portuguese

website (flora-on.pt), with its fabulous photographs, but neither that nor the French sites give anything like the detail that Plant Atlas 2020 does. So take a bow Pete, Kevin, Tom, Oli and Richard; terrific hard work that paid off immensely. It also makes all of us recorders, VCRs and supporters feel that all our hours of fieldwork were truly worthwhile.

But one striking thing is that not all botanists think in terms of plant distributions. Recently, with about 200 enthusiastic botanists, I attended a two-day conference (‘Convergences Botaniques’) in Nancy, France – and hardly anyone spoke about mapping, let alone on a grid basis. That in itself was fascinating: they carry out local field work and population studies, but don’t have many local recording projects.

BSBI is now part of a small international group of botanical organisations and the Société Botanique de France offered two places on an excursion to the French Pyrenees. Sadly, no-one could commit in time for their deadline. But it’s worth keeping up such links and thinking outside the hectad every so often.

I wish you all a great field season and hope to see very many of you converging on Killarney in May for the BSBI Annual Summer Meeting (bsbi.org/annual-summer-meeting), where we’ll give you a grand welcome. I aim to attend some of the longer meetings in Britain and will see more of you there. And … happy reading!

Micheline Sheehy Skeffington michelinesheehy@gmail.com

Changing ideas of Changing Forget-me-not and evidence for Myosotis dubia

ANDY JONES

Forget-me-nots (Myosotis spp.) are easy to recognise as a group, but less so as species. ‘M. arvensis, ramosissima and sylvatica run into one another’ (Sell & Murrell, 2009) and so too do M. laxa, secunda and scorpioides to the extent that, even relatively recently (e.g. Bentham & Hooker, 1945), field guides could describe them as one single species. Of the other commonly-encountered forget-me-nots, M. discolor can sometimes only be separated from M. ramosissima on small pollen differences (Chater pers. comm. in Sell & Murrell, 2009) – although this must be a relatively rare occurrence (e.g. with dried-up or damaged specimens). In general, M. discolor is one of the more distinctive species, with yellow or creamcoloured flowers that turn blue with age (hence its common name Changing Forget-me-not).

For all this, there do seem to be differences within M. discolor s.l., apart from the presence of yellow or cream-coloured flowers. These are not mentioned or illustrated in many field guides and references, e.g. Clapham, Tutin & Warburg (1952), Ross-Craig (1965); Rose (2006); Poland & Clement (2020), etc., but various authors have recognised two distinct variants with differing flower colour, corolla width and cauline leaves (Clapham, Tutin & Moore, 1987; Sell & Murrell, 2009), and also habitat (Silverside, 1998), called ‘subsp. discolor Pers.’ and ‘subsp. dubia (Arrond.) Blaise’ (Table 1).

Unfortunately, however, these differences are not always present in all individuals and populations of M. discolor s.l. The habitat is by no means definitive (Chater, 2010); some yellow-flowered plants lack

Table 1. Main differences of Myosotis discolor subspecies, as described in field guides

Figure 1. ‘Myosotis discolor subsp. discolor’ (left) and ‘M. discolor subsp. dubia’ (right) in cultivation, before subsp. dubia has reached its full height, 4 April (3-inch pot for scale). Andy Jones

Changing ideas of Changing Forget-me-not and evidence for Myosotis dubia

opposite upper leaves, and, at least in parts of west Wales, there are populations of both variants with flowers approximately the same size (Figure 2). To paraphrase Sell & Murrell: ‘M. discolor subsp. discolor’ runs into ‘M. discolor subsp. dubia’ – at least in these very simple terms. It is no surprise then that both taxa seem to be under-recorded in Britain and Ireland.

On closer inspection, however, and especially by growing a few plants from seed (Figure 1), there are clearly more differences than are generally described.

The yellow-flowered variant, for instance, comes into flower much earlier, with 8 leaves or less, and the terminal inflorescence(s) then lengthens to more than 50% the height of the mature plant. The cream or pale-flowered variant on the other hand, usually has more than 8 leaves or bracts, ascending to over half the height of the mature plant. The yellow-flowered plant is also generally smaller, more slender and significantly less hairy than the pale-flowered plants, with the corolla usually becoming deeper blue with age (Figure 2). In the yellow-flowered variant the calyx teeth are frequently spreading in fruit whereas in pale-flowered plants they tend to be closed. These differences are summarised in Table 2.

And this all makes sense in terms of their differing life-strategies. The yellow-flowered variant is typically a short-lived plant of open, summerdroughted sites in annual-dominated communities (e.g. with Ornithopus perpusillus, Bird’s-foot). It comes into flower early in the year and typically completes

its life cycle before the end of June. By contrast, the pale-flowered variant is a longer-lived plant of damper, perennial communities (although often with Juncus bufonius, Toad Rush), such as trampled and base-poor meadows.

Both plants are relatively weedy, however, and are also found in disturbed sandy places, on tracksides and in other man-made habitats. Where they do (rarely) co-occur, there is generally a clear separation between pale-flowered variants in seasonally damp areas and the yellow-flowered plants on drier, betterdraining sites.

The two variants can often be recognised on flower colour alone (Figure 2), but this is not always obvious (e.g. in strong sunlight) and, in practice, identification still usually requires a combination of characters. From a review of M. discolor s.l. in NMW and CGG and in south/central Wales (especially v.cc. 44, 46 and 47), the best or most consistent differences (after flower colour) seem to be density of patent stem hairs and lengths of inflorescence, as a proportion of total stem height (Figures 3 & 4), but these are both relative differences and there is much individual and perhaps population-scale variation.

For these reasons, therefore, it is good to report another, very recently published character from a large study of M. discolor s.l. in Germany and the Netherlands (Dirkse et al , 2022). This found that, despite overlaps in most measurable characters, the two variants differ consistently in flower colour and stem hairs (as we have seen), and also, importantly, in the relative lengths of calyx lobes (Figure 5).

Table 2. Differences between Myosotis discolor s.l. variants

Corolla at first primrose to golden yellow, turning deep blue (sometimes mauve) with age

Flowers (2–) 3–4 mm diameter

Flowering (March) April–May

Generally less than 8 cauline leaves

Topmost 2 leaves usually subopposite

2 uppermost cymes normally subequal, at least half the height of the mature plant

Relatively slender stems, ≤1 mm diameter

Scattered patent hairs on leafy part of stems, generally <1 mm in length

Calyx teeth often spreading (campanulate) in fruit

Height (10–) 20–30 (–45) cm

Corolla at first white, then cream and finally pale blue with age

Flowers 1.5–2 (–3)mm diameter

Flowering (April) May–June

Usually more than 8 cauline leaves

Topmost 2 leaves alternate

2 uppermost cymes unequal (1 in stunted plants), less than half the height of the mature plant

Relatively thick stems, ≥1 mm diameter

Dense patent hairs on leafy part of stems, some >1 mm in length

Calyx teeth often convergent (pyriform) in fruit

Height (15–) 30–40 (–60) cm

This character can be observed as soon as the corolla tube has opened, but it is probably best seen amongst ripening seedheads. For such short-lived plants, the calyx teeth are visible over a relatively long time, at least compared to flower colour differences and, to a certain extent, stem hairs. The

Dutch/German study found clear differences in the distribution of stem hairs but this may not always be evident in Britain (pers. comm. Peter Leonard), and density of stem hairs seems to be a more reliable character.

There is more to this study, however, than just plant identification and, if you are not a Dutch speaker, it is well worth looking up the Dirkse et al. (2022) reference and translating it online. Most significantly, perhaps, this paper argues that M. discolor subsp. dubia should be restored to its former status as a species: Myosotis dubia Arrond. (and the name Myosotis discolor only used for what was called M. discolor subsp. discolor). Apart from their distinct morphological and other differences, the two taxa have different ploidy levels (dubia 2n = 24; discolor 2n = 72) that represent an effective reproductive barrier – and, from an evolutionary standpoint, it is hard to see how a diploid taxon can be the subspecies of a hexaploid.

Myosotis dubia is already accepted as a valid taxon in France (Tison & de Foucault, 2014) but it is still a new concept in Britain and Ireland where, until recently, even ‘subsp. discolor’ and ‘subsp. dubia’ were said to ‘deserve at most varietal rank’ (Stace, 2010). The latest ‘New Flora’ (Stace, 2019) does at least recognise the two subspecies and, just as it went to press, Clive Stace said (pers. comm.) that he was now ‘willing to believe that … Myosotis discolor cover[s] two good species in our flora’. Despite this, M. dubia was not included in the subsequent Concise Flora (Stace, 2022), and the consensus here (with Sell & Murrell, 2009) is that it remains a subspecies of M. discolor. This new evidence may tip the balance, however, and it will be interesting to see how it stands up to further scrutiny. The two variants are both widespread in Britain and most likely Ireland (Silverside, 1998; Forbes & Northridge, 2012), but Myosotis dubia – as we may call it – appears to have a relatively restricted global distribution, from Morocco to north-west Germany (Kew.org, 2023; Dirkse et al., 2022). In the words of the most recent Guidelines for SSSI Selection (Taylor et al., 2021), this is a plant for which we may have an ‘international responsibility’.

Figure 3. Stem hairs on ‘M. discolor subsp. discolor’ (left) and ‘M. discolor subsp. dubia’ (right), 16 April. Arthur Chater

Figure 2. ‘Myosotis discolor subsp. discolor’ (left and centre) and ‘M. discolor subsp. dubia’ (right) showing typical colour difference, 14 May (but note that subsp. dubia corolla diameter is atypically wide). Andy Jones

Changing ideas of Changing Forget-me-not and evidence for Myosotis dubia

A key to the two species taken from the Dirkse et al. (2022) study is presented below, kindly translated by Gerard Dirkse (with adjustments for GB populations in square brackets by the author).

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Fred Rumsey, John Poland, Alan Leslie, Chris Preston, Julian Woodman and Karen Heppingstall for helpful discussions, Sally Whyman (National Museums and Galleries of Wales Herbarium) and Lauren Gardiner and Amber Horning (Cambridge University Botanic Garden Herbarium) for hospitality and access to specimens, Gerard Dirkse and Peter Leonard for shared research, illustrations and the key, and Arthur

Chater for specialist photography, literature and comments on the text.

References

Bentham, G. & Hooker, J.D. 1945. Handbook of the British Flora (7th edn, revised, A.B. Rendle). L. Reeve & Co. Ashford. Chater, A.O. 2010. Flora of Cardiganshire. Privately printed, Aberystwyth.

Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. 1987. Flora of the British Isles (3rd edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. & Warburg, E.F. 1952. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Dirkse, G.M., Zonneveld, B.J.M. & Duistermaat, H. 2022. Myosotis dubia Arrond. (Boraginaceae), Bleek vergeet-mijnietje, in Nederland en Duitsland en hoe deze soort te onderscheiden van M. discolor Pers. (Veelkleurig vergeetmij-nietje). Gorteria 44: 16–33.

Figure 4. Myosotis discolor subsp. discolor (left) and M. discolor subsp. dubia (right) showing inflorescence to leafy stem ratio and uppermost leaf character, 14 May (plants shown at the same scale). Andy Jones

5 cm

• M. dubia: Ratio of calyx length to calyx teeth up to c.50%; range 42–54%, mean 49% (illustration shows a calyx towards the lower extreme).

• M. discolor: Ratio of calyx length to calyx teeth normally >50%; range 52–78%, mean 60% (illustrations show average and more marginal examples).

Key

Ross-Craig, S. 1965. Drawings of British Plants (Part XXI Boraginaceae). G. Bell & Sons, London.

Sell, P. & Murrell, G. 2009. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 3: Mimosaceae–Lentibulariaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

M. dubia

Young corolla lobes pure white, calyx teeth 1.6–2.7 mm long, 42–54% of total calyx length, upper leaves alternate, [dense] patent hairs up to highest leaf of main stem. Mainly on moist or wet sandy or peaty soil in hayfields, or by ditches.

Young corolla lobes pale yellow, calyx teeth 2.0–3.5 mm long, 52–78% of total calyx length, upper leaves often opposite or nearly so, patent hairs [scattered or] absent some distance below highest leaf. Usually on dry sandy soil in road verges, meadows and by gardens. M. discolor

Forbes, R.S. & Northridge, R.H. 2012. The Flora of County Fermanagh. Nicholson & Bass, Belfast.

Kew.org 2023, Plants of the World Online: Myosotis discolor subsp. dubia (Arrond.) Blaise: powo.science.kew.org/taxon/ urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:874908-1 [accessed 28/1/2023]

Poland, J. & Clement, E.J. 2020. The Vegetative Key to the British Flora (2nd edn.). Privately published, Southampton.

Rose, F. 2006. The Wild Flower Key (Revised edition with Clare O’Reilly). Frederick Warne & Co., London.

Silverside, A.J. (1998). Myosotis discolor subspecies, in Rich, T.C.G. & Jermy, C.J., Plant Crib 1998. Botanical Society of the British Isles, London.

Stace, C.A. 2010. New Flora of the British Isles (3rd edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Stace, C.A. 2022. Concise Flora of the British Isles. C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Taylor, I., Leach, S.J., Martin, J.P., Jones, R.A., Woodman, J. & Macdonald, I. 2021. Guidelines for the Selection of Biological SSSIs. Part 2: Detailed Guidelines for Habitats and Species Groups. Chapter 11 Vascular Plants. JNCC, Peterborough.

Tison, J.-M. & de Foucault, B. (eds) 2014. Flora Gallica: Flore de France. Biotope

R. Andrew Jones aberystwyth1234@gmail.com

Éditions, Mèze.

Figure 5. Relative lengths of calyx lobes in Myosotis dubia (left) and M. discolor (centre and right). Measurements taken when fruit has darkened. Illustration by Peter Leonard, after Dirkse et al. (2022)

Myosotis stricta Link ex Roem. & Schult. (Upright Forget-me-not)

new for Britain and Ireland

ANDY JONES, FRED RUMSEY & NEIL FORBES

Followingthe short note on early 20th century specimens of Myosotis stricta discovered in the BM herbarium (Jones & Rumsey, 2019), one of us (NF) made a repeated search of Sandscale Haws NNR, from where the first specimen was found, and finally identified a likely candidate (confirmed by FJR) in May 2019. This proved to be part of a very small population of 10–15 plants, confined to a narrow, species-rich habitat. We have subsequently searched this large area and found only two other sub-sites, bringing the Sandscale population to fewer than 30 plants. M. stricta has not since been found in surveys of other dune sites in west Wales (AJ), south-west, north-west and north-east England (AJ, Phill Brown, FJR), including neighbouring Walney Island. This suggests a very rare and potentially vulnerable plant, but it could still be easily overlooked in extensive areas of apparently suitable habitat elsewhere.

Readers should look for a small 0.5–5.0 (–12.0) cm high plant, with a distinctive grey, hoary appearance (caused by the numerous, almost microscopically hooked hairs on the stems and leaf undersides) and very upright inflorescence and capsules. The inflorescence axis has some conspicuous patent hairs and the capsules, which are a little larger than those of M. ramosissima, are almost sessile. The preferred habitat at Sandscale appears to be sunny, south-facing areas of decalcified fixed dunes, with numerous associates, including Vulpia fasciculata (Dune Fescue), Euphorbia portlandica (Portland Spurge), and especially Syntrichia ruraliformis (Sand-hill Screwmoss). At Sandscale it is very rare compared to the relatively abundant M. ramosissima, but searching amongst populations of M. ramosissima is perhaps a good way to discover further populations of M. stricta in Britain and Ireland – if they exist. Further details will appear soon in British & Irish Botany but we refer

readers to the earlier published notes and illustration (Jones & Rumsey, 2019).

References

Jones, R.A. & Rumsey, F.[J.] 2019. Myosotis stricta: a likely native and overlooked forget-me-not in Britain. BSBI News 141: 8–9. R.

Myosotis stricta (Upright Forget-me-not), May 2021. Phill Brown

Problems with identification in Mentha

BOB LEANEY

Oneof the most difficult problems regularly encountered during Norfolk Flora Group (NFG) surveys is the separation of Mentha arvensis (Corn Mint) from M. × verticillata (Whorled Mint). This has been the stimulus for the present account, but there are also frequent problems in distinguishing between M. spicata (Spearmint) and M. × piperata (Peppermint) – even experienced botanists are often unaware that the latter has long petioled leaves, so that discussion quickly degenerates into discussions about the scent.

Discussions on M. arvensis and M. × verticillata are also regularly bedevilled by M. × gracilis (Bushy Mint) and M. × smithiana (Tall Mint) coming into the picture, because Stace separates these four taxa on very difficult calyx measurements. In actual fact, M. × gracilis and M. × smithiana are unmistakable once seen although they have virtually ceased to occur in Norfolk this century, either in the wild or in cultivation. The same would seem to be the case elsewhere, although they may occur more in the south-west of England and Wales.

The old problem of separating M. suaveolens (Round-leaved Mint) from M. × villosa (AppleMint) will also be revisited. The native M. suaveolens is spreading north-eastwards from its old strongholds in the south-west of England and Wales and could be mis-recorded for M. × villosa. The two are quite similar, but easily distinguished with experience.

Taxonomy

There are only four native species of mint in Britain and Ireland: M. pulegium (Pennyroyal), M arvensis, M. suaveolens and M. aquatica (Water Mint). Most of the other eight mints considered here and of regular occurrence in the wild, have arisen as hybrids between the last three of the native species and M. longifolia (Horse Mint), a species no longer considered to occur in the wild. Many confusing cultivars occur

and polyploidy further complicates the picture. Even M. spicata, although given specific status, is probably an old hybrid between M. suaveolens and M. longifolia and is just as variable as the recent hybrids.

The hybrids dealt with in the Key have the following parentage:

Mentha × verticillata (Whorled Mint): M. arvensis × M. aquatica

Mentha × gracilis (Bushy Mint): M. arvensis × M. spicata

Mentha × smithiana (Tall Mint): M. arvensis × M. aquatica × M. spicata

Mentha × piperata (Peppermint): M. aquatica × M. spicata

Mentha × villosonervata (Sharp-toothed Mint): M. spicata × M. longifolia

Mentha × villosa (Apple-mint): M. spicata × M. suaveolens

Hairiness

All four of the hybrid parents are very hairy; ‘glabrous’ taxa are the result of selection for culinary purposes (e.g. M. × piperata var. citrata and M. × smithiana). Old herbarium specimens of M. spicata from the early part of the last century are frequently large and hairy, but plants escaping from cultivation nowadays are likely to be small and glabrous. Finding an occasional hair on the leaves or stems, or inconspicuous scale-like hairs on the stem, should not preclude the identification of a glabrous taxon.

Scent

The peppermint smell of M. × piperata and the spearmint smell of M. spicata can be useful but occur in other taxa. Scent is difficult to describe and also to remember and so is limited as a descriptive character. Another categorisation used is into pleasant-scented plants and those with an unpleasant smell – usually attributed to M. arvensis and M. suaveolens – although

Problems with identification in Mentha

MENTHA VISUAL KEY (see p. 16)

Mints 1–6: Stems without terminal inflorescence

1–2 Lower stem leaves <12 (15) mm long

3–4 Lower stem leaves 15–30 mm long

5–6 Lower stem leaves 30 –80 mm long

• Height <12 cm

• Procumbent, matforming, rooting at nodes

• Leaves tiny (<7 mm long), suborbicular, entire

• ≤6 flowers per node

• Calyx bell-shaped, teeth equal, 1–1.5 mm long

Mints 7–12: Stems with terminal inflorescence

7–8 Leaves petiolate (petioles >3 mm)

9–10 Leaves subsessile (petioles <3 mm); leaf teeth acute;

11–12 Leaves subsessile; teeth blunt to subacute

• Height <30 cm

• Erect to procumbent, not mat-forming

• Lower stem leaves small, elliptic, subentire

• Calyx tubular to bellshaped, hairs in throat, 2–3.0 mm long

• Lower 2 calyx teeth narrow and longer

• >6 flowers per node

• Height 10–15(60)cm

• Erect to decumbent

• Leaves ovate, cuneate-based, deeply toothed (c.f. M. pulegium); always very hairy

• Calyx bell-shaped, 1.5–2.5 mm long, densely longhairy (hairs in throat); teeth equilateral triangular

• Height, habitat, leaf size and hairiness as in M. arvensis

• Leaves ovate, rounded to truncate based, lower stem leaves medium sized

• Calyx tubular, 2.5–3.5 mm long; sparsely to densely long hairy; teeth narrowly triangular acuminate

1. Mentha requienii

3. Mentha arvensis

4. Mentha × verticallata (arv. × aqu.)

2. Mentha pulegium

• Height <90 cm

• Erect, very tall, bushy, much branched, ± redstemmed

• Leaves lanceolate, sparsely hairy

• Calyx bell-shaped, 2.5–3.5 mm long; teeth very hairy, narrowly triangular, ± short acuminate

• Height <150 cm

• Erect, very tall, ±unbranched, nearly always red-stemmed

• Leaves ovate, glabrous, often red flushed

• Calyx tubular to bellshaped, 3.5–4.5 mm long, teeth long, ±hairless, with long acuminate tips

• Height 15–50(90)cm

• Heads of 2–3 globose clusters

• Leaves ovate, broadly cuneate to subcordate at base

• Calyx tubular, 3–4.5 mm long, teeth acuminate

• Height 15–50(90)cm

• Flowerheads very variable: conical, globose or cylindrical

• Leaf shape also variable: lanceolate, oblonglanceolate or ovate

• Leaf apex obtuse to subacute

• Calyx tubular to bellshaped, 2.5–4.5 mm long, subulate

var. citrata: glabrous, truncate-based, ovate leaves; spherical heads; lemon-scented

5. Mentha × gracilis (arv. × spic.)

7. Mentha aquatica

6. Mentha × smithiana (arv. × aqu. × spic.)

8. Mentha × piperata (aqu. × spic.)

Problems with identification in Mentha

• Height 15–50(90)cm

• Inflorescences narrowly cylindrical

• Leaves glabrous to very hairy, lanceolate to ovate

• Leaf teeth sharply pointed, forward-directed

• Leaf tip acute to acuminate

• Calyx bell-shaped, always very small (1–3 mm long)

• Like M. spicata in habit, leaf and inflorescence, but always very hairy

• Leaves lanceolate (never ovate)

• Leaf teeth very long, acuminate and curved outwards to ±patent

• Malformed anthers, calices tiny (<2 mm long)

• Height 30–100 cm

• Flowers virtually always white

• Leaves ovate to orbicular, dark green, shiny, strongly rugose

• Leaf teeth narrowly triangular, most bent down so edge looks crenate to serrate from above

• Calyx <2 mm long

• Height 60–150(200) cm

• Flowers pink

• Leaves oblong to orbicular, mid green, dull, weakly rugose

• Leaf teeth ovate, forward-pointing so edge serrate from above

• Calyx <3 mm long

Narrow-leaved forms with oblong-ovate to oblonglanceolate rather than suborbicular leaves, are otherwise identical (see text)

9. Mentha spicata

11. Mentha suaveolens

12. Mentha × villosa (spic. × suav.) var. alopecuroides

10. Mentha × villosonervata (spic. × long.)

even this feature is strongly debated amongst the group. The most easily described scent is the lemon fragrance of M. × piperata var. citrata.

Sources

The identification characters used here in the discussions and visual key come from: notes and drawings of NFG specimens and from the Norwich Castle Museum Herbarium (NWH); standard keys and descriptions (Stace, 2019; Sell & Murrell, 2009; Clapham, Tutin & Moore, 1989); and standard illustrations (Clapham, Tutin & Warburg, 1963; RossCraig, 1967). Drawings and descriptive characters for M. suaveolens are from numerous specimens found this year in Ariège, south-west France.

The standard descriptive characters for mints are mainly the result of work carried out in the 1960s and 70s by R.M. Harley, who is still the BSBI Referee. His account in the Hybrid Flora (Stace et al., 2015) is extremely helpful when confronted by a hybrid and in it he remarks that ‘the absence of a modern identification guide is probably a reason for the comparative neglect of the mints’ in recent years. I hope that the Visual Key drawings will help somewhat to remedy the situation, especially as regards calyx and calyx teeth shape, which have never been adequately illustrated; also as regards leaf-tooth shape in M. suaveolens, which is very distinctive, but not easy to describe.

The main problems

Mentha arvensis and M. × verticillata

Both these taxa occur mainly on arable, usually on cereal stubble or field margins from August until October after harvest; however, both occur also on damp meadows, pastures or woodland rides near arable. In both mints, the main stem terminates in leaves (or occasionally a minute group of flowers), rather than in a proper terminal inflorescence or ‘head’.

The most important character defining M. arvensis is the very short (≤2.5 mm) campanulate calyx, with a flared tube and equilateral triangular teeth that are not drawn out into an acuminate point. M. arvensis is always an extremely hairy plant, with long, dense

hairs on the calyx and petals; it also has quite narrow cuneate bases to the leaves.

In contrast, the calyx of M. × verticillata is more tubular, with narrowly triangular teeth slightly drawn out into an acuminate tip, and sometimes a sparse semi-appressed hairiness; the leaf bases tend to be more truncate to rounded. The included (non-protruding) stamen character is not invariably present, for fertile forms occur (see Stace et al., 2015).

As will be seen from the photos, both taxa, when found on arable, are very small, decumbent plants, <15 cm high and often much smaller, with a remarkably similar appearance except for leaf-base and calyx characters. This small stature is clearly a phenotypic or genotypic adaptation to the necessity of flowering and seeding quickly after harvest. The two plants shown here were selected because they were found growing close together, with M. aquatica growing close by as well; and both had the full range of diagnostic characters as regards calyx length, calyx shape and leaf base shape. I think the M. × verticillata here was an F1 hybrid, but much more commonly one finds examples of this taxon which approach one or other parent, due presumably to inbreeding and segregation or to backcrossing. Frequently one finds plants showing the classic calyx and calyx teeth shape of M. arvensis, but with calyx length of 2.5–3.0 mm. These segregates or introgressives are very near to M. arvensis, but should nevertheless be recorded as M. × verticillata.

A possible cause of confusion between these two taxa and M. × gracilis/smithiana is the fact that both can grow very tall on non-arable land. In this connection, it should be noted that the lower main stem leaves of tall M. arvensis and M. × verticillata remain very small, whereas these leaves in M. × gracilis/smithiana are always very large (see below).

Mentha × gracilis and M. × smithiana

Bushy Mint and Tall Mint also have stems without a terminal flower head. Using the Stace (2019) key, there is a great likelihood of confusion between these two mints and M. × verticillata, for the three taxa are separated by calyx shape and length, calyx tooth length and calyx tube length-to-breadth ratio,

all very difficult characters to elicit. Botanists not familiar with Mentha × gracilis and M. × smithiana are liable to assume that they otherwise resemble M. × verticillata, which they very much do not!

In fact, photos online, and numerous specimens in the NWH Herbarium, show that Mentha × gracilis and M. × smithiana are utterly different from M. × verticillata (see photos). Both are extremely tall (usually 90–150 cm), robust and thick-stemmed plants, nearly always erect, and with very large lower stem leaves (30–80 mm long) – these leaves in M. × verticillata are only 15–30 mm long. M. × smithiana nearly always has red stems (never a feature of M. × verticillata),

Mentha suaveolens vs M. × villosa

Mentha suaveolens (left), Carcassone, SW France. Note small stature, darkgreen, shiny, strongly bullate, ovate to suborbicular leaves; conical terminal inflorescence with white flowers. Bob Leaney

Mentha × villosa (right), UK. Much taller, with mid grey-green, dull, slightly bullate and very hairy leaves; terminal inflorescence cylindrical, with flowers tiny and pink. Mike Crewe

Mentha arvensis vs M. × verticillata

Mentha arvensis (left) and Mentha × verticillata (right) from Hooks Well Meadows SSSI, W. Norfolk (v.c. 28). Both plants with no terminal inflorescence and very hairy. Similar structure and habit, with medium-sized leaves, but M. × verticillata showing broadly rounded to truncate leaf bases as spotting feature; identification confirmed by calyx length and shape. Bob Leaney

and is usually particularly tall and unbranched; M. × gracilis can have red stems, but always seems to be long-branched from low down.

The NWH herbarium specimens from around the 1970s, that appear reliably identified, and showing the above features, showed short, broad, campanulate calices in M. × gracilis and long tubular calices in M. × smithiana (see drawings).

Mentha suaveolens and M. × villosa

M. suaveolens and the common widespread variety of M. × villosa (var. alopecuroides) are similar in habit, structure and general appearance. Both have more

Mentha

gracilis and Mentha × smithiana specimens from Castle Museum (NWH) Herbarium. M. × gracilis confirmed by R.M. Harley; M. × smithiana confirmed by E.L. Swann. Both plants with no terminal inflorescence, but distinct from Mentha arvensis and M. × verticillata in being ± hairless, tall, erect, largeleaved plants; M. × gracilis bushy with long branches from low down; M. × smithiana virtually unbranched; separated by calyx length and shape. Bob Leaney

or less round, hairy, rugose leaves and a muchbranched inflorescence, each branch bearing 3–5 (9) narrowly cylindrical or conical flowerheads – more in M. × villosa and fewer in M. suaveolens (often only 1–3). The leaf tooth characters used to separate these two taxa can be misleading, but in fact, once one has seen M. suaveolens, one realises that it is a very different looking plant. The leaves are smaller, shinier and more strikingly rugose-bullate, with a dark-green rather than mid greyish-green coloration. The main stem leaves seldom exceed 4 cm in length, whereas in M. × villosa some will be 4–6 (8) cm long. Leaf shape is also different in M. suaveolens, tending to ovate-suborbicular rather than elliptic suborbicular.

As regards the leaf teeth characters used in standard keys, it is not entirely true to say that the leaf edge is serrate from above in M. × villosa, but

crenate in M. suaveolens. As shown in the drawings, each crenation in M. suaveolens has a narrowly triangular tooth arising abruptly at its distal end. Most of these teeth are directed downwards but some are directed obliquely outwards so that they are clearly visible from above, especially near the base of the leaf.

Hairy, narrow-leaved forms of M. × villosa occur which are more or less identical to var. alopecuroides except for oblong, oblong-ovate or oblong-lanceolate leaf shape; var. nicholsoniana has a ± acuminate leaf apex and sometimes ± patent teeth; var. villosa is without these features (see Harley in Stace, 2015).

Vegetative identification

Although a few taxa, such as M. aquatica, M. requienii (Corsican Mint) and M. × piperata, may be reliably

Mentha × gracilis vs M. × smithiana

×

Problems with identification in Mentha

identified before flowering, on the whole it seems best to regard any vegetative identification as provisional and revisit the plant during flowering, especially if the record is an unexpected one. The standard keys use a mixture of flora and vegetative characters and the latter generally involve main stem leaves on flowering stems. The early leaves in spring, or on regrowth in autumn, may be atypical.

Photos and material

Standard whole-plant photos, even if close-up and well-focused are seldom good enough on their own to allow a determination. They do not usually show the basal leaf shape or whether the leaves are sub-sessile or petiolate; they are unlikely to provide sufficient definition to determine calyx or calyx-lobe shape and will not show calyx length. These limitations may be avoided if a few main stem leaves, with any petioles, are stripped off and photographed separately. It may also be possible to photograph detached mature calices on a ruler, although this is better done at home.

Fresh voucher material to send to the VCR or Referee should consist of a whole flowering stem if a number of stems are present. If not, one can take an inflorescence branch from a branched plant, plus a few lower main stem leaves; or with an unbranched plant a few lower main stem leaves and a good ‘pinch’ of the largest and most mature calices, putting the latter in a small bag. Calices should be from the lowest whorl of flowers or from the lowest part of a terminal head. Photos of the whole plant should be taken if possible, especially if a whole stem is not being sampled.

Notes should be made of habitat type, associated species, any putative parent plants in the vicinity and maximum height.

Use of the Visual Key

This key deals with the 12 generally encountered taxa which are first divided into six taxa without terminal flowerheads and six with. Those without are divided into three pairs on the basis of leaf size. Those with terminal flowerheads are also divided

into three pairs; two with ‘proper’ long petioles >3 mm; two with acute, narrowly triangular leaf teeth and two with blunt crenate or serrate teeth. Apart from the pair M. requienii and M. pulegium, the taxa are dealt with in pairs of ‘confusables’. M. pulegium is more likely to be confused with dwarf, small-leaved forms of M. arvensis or M. × verticillata than with M. requienii. It is hoped that this simple categorisation will help in the field identification of commoner taxa and also in deciding when to take photos and voucher material. Please note that none of the drawings are in scale.

Mentha × suavis (M. aquatica × M. suaveolens), not dealt with in the key, most resembles M. aquatica, but with more rugose, cordate based leaves, shorter petioles and a terminal flowerhead that is narrowly ‘spikiform’ rather than composed of 2–3 globose flower clusters; it should be looked for where both parents frequently occur (south-west England and Wales). Mentha × rotundifolia ( M. longifolia × M. suaveolens False Apple-mint) is like a robust and superhairy M. × villosa var. alopecuroides, but with leaf apices that are subacute to obtuse rather than rounded; it is most likely to be encountered in northern England and Scotland, presumably because it was sold in these regions as Apple Mint in times gone by.

References

Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. 1989. Flora of the British Isles, Third Edition (first paperback edn with corrections). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Clapham, Tutin & Warburg (1963), Illustrations III. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Ross-Craig, S. 1965. Drawings of British Plants (Part XXIV). G. Bell & Sons Ltd., London.

Sell, P.D. & Murrell, G. 2009. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 3: Mimosaceae–Lentibulariaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Stace, C.A., Preston, D.C. & Pearman, D.A. 2015. Hybrid Flora of the British Isles. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Bristol.

Bob Leaney

122 Norwich Road, Wroxham, NR12 8SA

Vascular plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a

Following previous updates (listed under ‘References’ below), the GB Red List group for vascular plants has agreed further changes to the GB Red Data List covering years 16 and 17 (2021–22) of the annual amendments process. As usual, these are being submitted to JNCC to be incorporated into the master list on the JNCC website; in addition, a copy of the latest version of the Red Data List, including the Waiting List, is posted on the Taxon lists page of the BSBI website (bsbi.org/taxon-lists).

The main additions and amendments are summarised below. They fall into four categories:

lists, see Cheffings & Farrell (2005) and Pearman & Leach (2017). It should be noted that, as usual, all new and amended threat statuses have been determined in accordance with the IUCN threat criteria used to compile the original GB Red Data List (IUCN, 2001; 2003).

(b) amendments to taxa already on the Main List;

(a) additions to the Main List;

(c) additions to the Waiting List; and

(d) other changes, including removal of taxa from Main List or Waiting List to the Parking List. For an explanation of the various

Threat categories are abbreviated as follows: EX/EW , globally Extinct/Extinct in the Wild (not applied to any species in this report); RE, Regionally Extinct (i.e. extinct within GB but still extant somewhere else in the world); CR, Critically Endangered; EN, Endangered; VU, Vulnerable; NT, Near Threatened; DD, Data Deficient; LC,

summary of amendments in years 16 and 17 (2021–22) of the annual amendments process

Sagina nivalis (Snow Pearlwort) is an arctic-alpine species that seems to be in precipitous decline, with climate change being a major factor. Sarah Watts

Least Concern (= not threatened). See Cheffings & Farrell (2005) for definitions of these categories and Stroh et al. (2014, p. 10) for a tabular summary of the IUCN threat criteria A–D and the various sub-criteria within these. References below to Stace’s New Flora of the British Isles are abbreviated NF, the four editions being shortened to NF1 (1991), NF2 (1997), NF3 (2010) and NF4 (2019). Within each of the following sections taxa are dealt with in roughly alphabetical order.

Additions to the Main List

• Alchemilla falsadenta (False-toothed Lady’smantle), A. mebii (Margaret’s Lady’s-mantle) and A. neomanifesta (Revealed Lady’s-mantle) are three recently described endemic Lady’smantles (Lynes, 2021; 2022). Two are English endemics: A. falsadentata is known only from Grass Wood near to Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales, while A. mebii is restricted to a single locality close to the shore of Malham Tarn. A. neomanifesta is a Scottish endemic recorded from just two hills in the Ben Lawers area (Creag na Caillich and Creag an Lochain). All are added to the Main List as EN under criterion D. They fall within the compass of A. acutidens agg. (as in Sell & Murrell [2014, p. 347]), a taxon previously added to the Waiting List (Leach, 2017) but which we believe can now be safely removed to the Parking List. In any case, A. acutidens s.s. is apparently a species restricted to the French Alps that does not, and never did, occur in GB – see Lynes (2022, pp. 202–3) for further lively discussion of the matter.

• Orobanche artemisiae-campestris is a name which has confusingly been misapplied in the past to the taxon now called O. picridis (Oxtongue Broomrape). However, it is believed that the mainland-European O. artemisiae-campestris ‘sensu stricto’ also occurs, or occurred, very rarely in GB, with several East Anglian records of ‘O. minor’ parasitic upon Artemisia campestris (Field Wormwood) being referable to this species (Thorogood & Rumsey, 2021; F.J. Rumsey, pers. comm.). We think it more

likely that this is a previously overlooked native rather than deliberate introduction and, with the most recent record of it being in 1954, it is being added to the Main List as RE

• The mode of arrival of Serapias vomeracea (Longlipped Tongue-orchid), discovered in Kent in 2020 (Kitchener et al., 2021; Stroh & Leach, 2021), is unclear, but we think it plausible that it could have reached Britain as a natural colonist via wind-blown seed or by ‘hitchhiking’ on vehicles arriving in GB from the near Continent. The presumed-native range of S. vomeracea extends to northern France so it was always a likely contender to follow in the footsteps of S. lingua (Tongue-orchid) and S. parviflora (Small-flowered Tongue-orchid), two other tongue-orchids recently added to the GB Red List (Leach, 2021). Thus, we are now also adding S. vomeracea to the Main List as ‘Native or Alien’ and with a threat status of CR under criterion D.

Alchemilla neomanifesta, one of three lady’s-mantles being added to the GB Red List. Mark Lynes

• Amongst those taxa languishing on the Waiting List, we have long agonised over the native/alien status of Stachys alpina (Limestone Woundwort). Clapham et al. (1962) were inclined to call it ‘native’, as were Sell & Murrell (2009). Stace, to begin with anyway, seemed happy to follow suit, with NF1 and NF2 also listing it as ‘native’; but then in NF3 an element of doubt crept in and it was given as ‘possibly native’, while in NF4 it had turned into an out-and-out ‘neophyte’. This shift may have been influenced by Kay & John (1995) and the New Atlas species account (Walker, in Preston et al., 2002), both of which pointed toward S. alpina being in all probability a relatively recent introduction, as did the later assessment by Pearman (2007). Others have continued to take the opposite view, arguing that its GB occurrences could

be native outliers of a distribution in mainland Europe that extends to Belgium and northern France. And while S. alpina wasn’t recorded in the wild in GB until 1897, its extreme rarity and population dynamics – with short-lived appearances and long periods of dormancy –could have been contributory factors behind the relatively late first record. Examination of the available evidence, including a recent and very detailed report on the Welsh S. alpina (Rich, 2022), has forced us to accept that its true status in GB will probably always be intractable. As such, we are now adding it to the Main List as ‘Native or Alien’ and EN under criterion D (< 250 plants). Surviving populations have been much augmented in the past and can fluctuate markedly from year to year; indeed, in some years it could be close to CR (<50 plants).

• Publication of the Field Handbook to British and Irish Dandelions (Richards, 2021) has necessitated a large number of additions to the lists of Taraxacum spp. We cannot list them all here, but suffice to say that 45 species previously considered ‘alien’ are now thought to be ‘native’ ‘native?’ or ‘probably native’, so are being added to the Main List as LC. Similarly, twelve species previously on the Waiting List due to uncertainties over their native/alien status are being added as LC. And lastly, T. pseudoproximum, a rare ‘Erythrosperm’ with one population on the Hampshire coast regarded as ‘probably native’ (Richards, 2021, p. 29), is added to the Main List as ‘Native or Alien’ and DD

Amendments to taxa already included on the Main List

• Population size and number of locations for Centaurium tenuiflorum subsp. anglicum (Slender Centaury) have been updated as a result of surveys reported by Downey et al. (2021). With up to 30,000 plants across c.16 sites, its status of LC is unchanged.

• We have similarly revised population and location data for Helosciadium repens (Creeping Marshwort) following the welcome discovery

Stachys alpina (Limestone Woundwort), a species which has received considerable attention from botanists and conservationists over the decades, is finally being admitted to the GB Red List. Fred Rumsey

Vascular plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a summary of amendments in years 16 and 17 (2021–22)

of a new population in Suffolk (Woodward & Webster, 2021). Although subject to marked annual fluctuations, in a good year there could be hundreds (maybe thousands) of plants across the three extant sites; for now, though, its threat status of EN under criterion B2ab(iv) remains unchanged.

• Myosotis stricta (Upright Forget-me-not) was added to the Main List as DD in 2019 (Leach, 2019) on the strength of old herbarium specimens (Jones & Rumsey, 2019). Surveys in 2022 confirmed the presence of a small population at a single locality (Jones et al., 2023; see this issue, p. 8), suggesting this species could be CR under criterion D (<50 plants). But with most botanists still unfamiliar with how to tell it apart from M. ramosissima (Early Forget-menot) and M. discolor (Changing Forget-me-not), and with large areas of apparently suitable sand dune and other open habitats still to be searched, we think it best, for the moment, to leave its threat status as DD

• We have amended the threat status of several Orobanche (broomrape) species, following (unpubl.) reviews by F.J. Rumsey. Previously

NT under criterion D, O. caryophyllacea (Clovescented Broomrape) was initially re-assessed as EN under criterion B due to contraction of geographical range (Thorogood & Rumsey, 2021), but this was subsequently changed to VU under criteria C2(ai) and D1 following discovery of a new population in Kent. O. picridis (Oxtongue Broomrape) has been amended from VU under criterion D1 to NT under D after it was found, new to Wales, in Glamorgan (Port Talbot) in 2021 – although it may well have been present at this site for some years before that; it is now known from five localities in GB with a total population size in excess of 1,000 plants. O. rapum-genistae (Greater Broomrape) remains as NT, but this is now best justified on grounds of total population size (criterion D) rather than ‘decline’ (criterion A). And lastly, O. reticulata (Thistle Broomrape), previously NT under criterion D, is being given a threat status of EN under criteria B1b(i-iv+?v) + B2b(iiv+?v) as recent surveys by F.J. Rumsey and others show a continuing and marked decline in the extent of suitable/occupied habitat and number of known locations/populations within its highly restricted range. (And, while on the subject of broomrapes, Phelipanche purpurea remains on the Main List as VU, but now under criterion C2(ai) as well as D.)

• Previously VU under criterion A2c, Sagina nivalis (Snow Pearlwort) has undergone a recent marked decline with climate change almost certainly being one of the main drivers. Repeat surveys since the mid-1990s have shown that the total population across the Ben Lawers range has halved, with half of colonies extinct and a further third in significant decline (Mardon & Watts, 2019; Watts et al., 2022). As such, the threat status is amended to EN under criterion A2a.

• While we were debating the native/alien status of Serapias parviflora (Small-flowered Tongue-orchid), it disappeared from its sole known British locality, in Cornwall. So when we finally decided it should be admitted to the

Orobanche caryophyllacea (Clove-scented Broomrape) is clearly more threatened than previously thought, despite the recent discovery of a new population in Kent. This clump of flowering spikes was photographed on a sand dune in Brittany, France. Pete Stroh

Main List as ‘Native or Alien’ in 2021 it was, unfortunately, with a threat status of RE. And then, miraculously, within weeks of that decision being published two tiny new populations of this orchid were discovered in SE England (see Storer, 2021; Stroh & Leach, 2021). Both these sightings could relate to natural occurrences via wind-borne seed from the near Continent, rather than to deliberate introductions – despite one of the new colonies turning up on the ‘green roof’ of a bank in central London! It is with a sense of quiet optimism, therefore, that the threat status of S. parviflora is now amended to CR under criterion D.

• Population data for Sorbus cambrensis (Welsh Whitebeam) and S. stenophylla (Llanthony Whitebeam) are amended in line with recent estimates by Lepsi & Rich (2022), although in neither case does this alter the threat status.

• A ‘mixed bag’ of amendments to dandelions already on the Main List include the following eight species previously listed as GB endemics that are now near-endemics as they also occur in Ireland: Taraxacum argutum, T. hesperium, T. hexhamense, T. inopinatum, T. lancastriense, T. nigridentatum, T. palustrisquameum and T. richardsianum. Two species thought to be restricted to Britain and Ireland have recently been found in France, so are no longer listed as GB nearendemics: T. ronae and T. subbracteatum. Two species previously only in England have been recorded in Wales: T. acutum and T. atrocollinum Old records of T. drucei in England are thought to refer to T. ronae, meaning that within GB T. drucei now appears to be restricted to (mainly western) Scotland. T. clovense, a Scottish endemic, is still listed as VU but it now includes material previously referred to the Norwegian species T. xiphoideum. In terms of threat statuses there have been the following changes: T akteum, previously VU under criterion D2, is amended to DD as now recorded in >5 localities; T. beeftinkii, previously DD, is amended to RE as presumed extinct at its sole GB locality, in Essex, where it was last seen in 1976; T. cherwellense, a localised

endemic previously listed as LC, is amended to DD as it has ‘not [been] seen for many years … [and] badly needs refinding’ (A.J. Richards, pers. comm.); T. nietoi, previously VU under criterion D2, is amended to RE as presumed extinct from its sole GB locality, in Flint. There has also been one name change: T. dahlstedtii is now T. stenoglossum

Additions to the Waiting List

• Orobanche gracilis (Slender Broomrape) is added to the Waiting List on the strength of a fleeting occurrence in 2015 of a solitary flowering spike in chalk grassland on the Wiltshire/Hampshire border. It was initially misidentified as O. alba (Thyme Broomrape) (Thorogood & Rumsey, 2021; F.J. Rumsey, pers. comm.), and has been searched for since without success. To quote the statement in the BSBI Handbook: ‘Whether [this] constitutes a recent natural extension of range, or an arrival through introduction, remains unclear.’

• Taraxacum aesculosum is an Irish endemic, but there is also one GB record, in Carmarthenshire, where it is thought to be ‘possibly introduced’. A few other mainly Irish dandelion species have recently been found to also occur as presumednatives in western Britain, e.g. T. inclinorum and T. pietii-oosterveldii, so we are inclined to keep an open mind about T. aesculosum, adding it to the Waiting List while its native/alien status in GB is clarified.

Other changes, including removal of taxa to the Parking List

• As already noted, Alchemilla acutidens (agg.) is superseded by A. falsadentata, A. mebii and A. neomanifesta on the Main List, so can now be removed from Waiting List to Parking List.

• Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima (a Field Wormwood) is also being removed from Waiting List to Parking List as the evidence seems to point to it being a recent introduction rather than a previously overlooked native or natural colonist (Jones & Rumsey, in press).

• Similarly, we remain unconvinced by assertions that long-established Cornish populations of Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda-grass) might be native. The case for possible native status was well put by Walls (1999), and it was categorised as ‘Native or Alien’ in the New Atlas (Preston et al., 2002). But we find the counter-arguments far more persuasive and it is given as ‘neophyte’ throughout Britain and Ireland in Stroh et al. (2023); we have therefore removed this species from Waiting List to Parking List.

• Collier et al. (2021) reported the discovery in 2020 of a small population of Dianthus gallicus (Jersey Pink) at Hengistbury Head (v.c. 11), the first occurrence of this species in mainland Britain. This is a coastal species with a native distribution stretching along the Atlantic seaboard of Spain and France; on hearing news of its discovery we thought it not implausible that this could be another case of natural colonisation. Yet this is considered most unlikely by Collier et al. (2021), although they do admit that such an occurrence would be ‘consistent with its northward spread in France’. Instead they offer other possible explanations – e.g. garden escape, seed introduced with imported sand – before concluding that ‘asking how or why … seldom yields a convincing answer’. We are therefore adding D. gallicus to the Parking List on the grounds that those reporting the discovery think it probably a deliberate or inadvertent introduction rather than a natural extension of range.

• Arguments around the status of Euphorbia stricta (Upright Spurge) have proved equally problematic, but we are finally persuaded that, on balance, this species is likely to be a ‘neophyte’ rather than native (Pearman, 2007; Jones, 2020). Previously assessed as ‘Native or Alien’ and on the Main List as LC, it is now removed to the Parking List.

• Pancratium maritimum (Sea Daffodil), like Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima, is moving from Waiting List to Parking List following a review of its native/alien status by Pearman (2022). For this

and several other species, however, it is going to become increasingly difficult – if not downright impossible – to determine whether future new records originate from existing populations in GB deemed to be ‘alien’, or from expanding populations in northern France presumed to be ‘native’. Yet making this distinction is important when we are trying to decide on matters of native/alien status and whether species should be Red-listed. Also, we are not blind to the fact that we do seem to more readily accept the possibility of long-distance dispersal for some species (e.g. Serapias spp.) than for others. What can we say? We’re doing the best we can, but we are not infallible!

• Less contentious, we hope, is the removal of the dandelions Taraxacum cenabense, T. gotlandicum and T. xiphoideum from the Main List to the Parking List: GB records of T. cenabense probably refer to T. parnassicum, those of T. gotlandicum are now recognised as T. limbatum, whilst, as already noted, Scottish records of T. xiphoideum have been re-determined as T. clovense (Richards, 2021).

Looking ahead

Although stymied somewhat by the pandemic, we have continued to work on revised threat statuses for hawkweeds, taking account of the 2nd edition

Pancratium maritimum (Sea Daffodil), a mainly Mediterranean species that is now being removed to the Parking List. Simon Leach

of the Hieracium Atlas (McCosh & Rich, 2018) and the string of papers and reports by Tim Rich (et al.) updating population and/or location data for so many species. With thanks to David Earl, we are also making good progress on producing, for the first time, a list of taxa and threat statuses for Rubus (subgenus Rubus). We anticipate that assessments for both these challenging groups will be finished by the end of the year.

The 2005 Red Data List broke new ground in that, unlike earlier Red Data Books, ‘[f]or the first time, all … taxa [were] analysed, not just those that had already been identified as rare or scarce’; and this was only ‘made possible by the publication of the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora’ (Cheffings & Farrell, 2005, p. 3). Essentially, without the New Atlas there would have been no GB Red List (and, incidentally, no Red Lists for Wales and England either). Since its publication we have attempted, through this pernickety and sometimes tedious annual amendments process, to keep the Red List up to date, making sure the names are right, that threat statuses take account of the latest published information, that when new taxa are described or discovered they are properly assessed and added to the list, and so on. However, apart from some changes arising from work done for the England Red List (Stroh et al., 2014; Leach & Walker, 2015) we have to admit that for most species – especially the common ones – the threat assessments have continued to rely on the increasingly out-of-date information given in the (not so new) New Atlas

But no longer! Fast-forward two decades and, hot off the press, we now have Plant Atlas 2020 (Stroh et al., 2023). We hope this important publication (and the wealth of data underpinning it) will enable fresh threat assessments to be made across all species, leading, ultimately, to the production of a completely new GB Red List – one that even better reflects the enormity of the botanical changes that have taken place in recent decades.

Acknowledgements

The present note is written on behalf of the GB Red List Group for vascular plants, coordinated by

BSBI and involving representatives from the BSBI, Natural Resources Wales, Natural England, Natural History Museum, NatureScot, Plantlife, RBG Kew and RBG Edinburgh. Thanks to the following for assistance in gathering together relevant information and contributing to the decisions taken by the Group, and/or for helpful comments on the draft: Elizabeth Cooke, Mags Cousins, Mike Fay, Aline Finger, Andy Jones, Iain Macdonald, Alex Mills, Tim Pankhurst, David Pearman, Alex Prendergast, Tim Rich, John Richards, Fred Rumsey, Pete Stroh, Ian Taylor, Kevin Walker and Julian Woodman.

References

Cheffings, C.M. & Farrell, L. (eds), Dines, T.D., Jones, R.A., Leach, S.J., McKean, D.R., Pearman, D.A., Preston, C.D., Rumsey, F.J. & Taylor, I. (2005). The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain. Species Status 7: 1–116. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. & Warburg, E.F. 1962. Flora of the British Isles (2nd edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Collier, P., Garnett, R. & Rand, M. 2021. Dianthus gallicus (Jersey Pink) newly recorded from mainland UK. BSBI News 147: 12–14.

Downey, E.L., Pearman, D.A. & Rich, T.C.G. 2021. Conservation status of the rare endemic Centaurium tenuiflorum subsp. anglicum , English Centaury (Gentianaceae). British & Irish Botany 3: 161–167.

IUCN 2001. IUCN Red List Categories. IUCN Species Survival Commission. As approved by the 40th meeting of the IUCN Council, Gland, Switzerland.

IUCN 2003. Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Jones, R.A. 2020. Native or Neophyte? Euphorbia stricta, the Tintern Spurge. BSBI Welsh Bulletin 105: 21–24.

Jones, R.A. & Rumsey, F.[J.] 2019. Myosotis stricta: a likely native and overlooked forget-me-not in Britain. BSBI News 141: 8–9.

Jones, R.A. & Rumsey, F.J., in press. Is Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima (syn. Artemisia crithmifolia), Asteraceae, native in Britain? British & Irish Botany

Jones, R.A., Rumsey, F.J. & Forbes, N. 2023. Myosotis stricta Link ex Roem. & Schult. (Upright Forget-me-not) new for Britain and Ireland. BSBI News 153: 8.

Kay, Q.O.N. & John, R. 1995. The conservation of scarce and declining plant species in lowland Wales: population genetics, demographic ecology and recommendations for future conservation in 32 species of lowland grassland and related habitats. Science Report No. 110. Countryside Council for Wales, Bangor.

Vascular plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a summary of amendments in years 16 and 17 (2021–22)

Kitchener, G., Mills, D., Buckingham, S., Johnson, D. & Lemon, S. 2021. Serapias vomeracea Burm. F. (Briq.) (Longtipped Tongue-orchid): first wild record for Britain and Ireland. BSBI News 146: 7–10.

Leach, S.J. 2007. The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain: Year 1 amendments. BSBI News 104: 19–21.

Leach, S.J. 2010. The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain: Year 2 amendments. BSBI News 113: 43–44.

Leach, S.J. 2017. Vascular plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a summary of amendments in years 10 & 11 (2015–16) of the annual amendments process. BSBI News 135: 59–62.

Leach, S.J. 2019. Vascular plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a summary of amendments in years 12 and 13 (2017–18) of the annual amendments process. BSBI News 141: 3–7.

Leach, S.J. 2021. Vascular plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a summary of amendments in years 14 and 15 (2019–20) of the annual amendments process. BSBI News 147: 27–35.

Leach, S.J. & Walker, K.J. 2011. Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a summary of year 5 amendments, covering years 3, 4 and 5 (2008–10) of the annual amendments process. BSBI News 116: 51–56.

Leach, S.J. & Walker, K.J. 2013. The vascular plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a summary of amendments in years 6 and 7 (2011–12) of the annual amendments process. BSBI News 123: 17–21.

Leach, S.J. & Walker, K.J. 2015. The vascular plant Red Data List for Great Britain: a summary of amendments in years 8 and 9 (2013–14) of the annual amendments process. BSBI News 128: 47–54.

Lynes, M. 2021. Three new species of Alchemilla (Rosaceae) from northern Britain. British & Irish Botany 3: 334–348.

Lynes, M. 2022. Alchemilla – Lady’s-mantles of Britain and Ireland. BSBI Handbook No. 24. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Durham.

Mardon, D.K. & Watts, S.H. 2019. Population dynamics and life history of the rare arctic-alpine plant Sagina nivalis (Caryophyllaceae) in the Ben Lawers range, Scotland, UK. British & Irish Botany 1: 50–69.

McCosh, D.J. & Rich, T.C.G. 2018. Atlas of British and Irish Hawkweeds (2nd edn). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Bristol.

Pearman, D.A. 2007. ‘Far from any house’ – assessing the status of doubtfully native species in the flora of the British Isles. Watsonia 26: 271–290.

Pearman, D.A. 2022. The status of Pancratium maritimum L. (Sea Daffodil) in Britain and Ireland. BSBI News 150: 66–68.

Pearman, D.[A.] & Leach, S.[J.] 2017. The Red List group and their work. BSBI News 134: 62–63.

Preston, C.D., Pearman, D.A. & Dines, T.D. 2002. New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Rich, T.C.G. 2022. A review of Limestone Woundwort Stachys alpina L with special reference to Wales. NRW Report No. 463. Natural Resources Wales, Cardiff.

Richards, A.J. 2021. Field Handbook to British and Irish Dandelions. BSBI Handbook No. 23. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Durham.

Sell, P. & Murrell, G. 2009. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 3: Mimosaceae–Lentibulariaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Sell, P. & Murrell, G. 2014. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 2: Capparaceae–Rosaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 1991. New Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 1997. New Flora of the British Isles (2nd edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 2010. New Flora of the British Isles (3rd edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Storer, R. 2021. Orchid thought to be extinct in UK found on roof of London bank. The Guardian, 17 June 2021.

Stroh, P.A., Leach, S.J., August, T.A., Walker, K.J., Pearman, D.A., Rumsey, F.J., Harrower, C.A., Fay, M.F., Martin, J.P., Pankhurst, T., Preston, C.D. & Taylor, I. 2014. A Vascular Plant Red List for England. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Bristol.

Stroh, P. [A.] & Leach, S. [J.] 2021. Wildlife reports: Flowering plants – England. British Wildlife 32 (5): 377–379.

Stroh, P. [A.] & Leach, S. [J.] 2021. Wildlife reports: Flowering plants – England. British Wildlife 33 (2): 142–144.

Stroh, P.A., Walker, K.J., Humphrey, T.A., Pescott, O.L. & Burkmar, R.J. 2023. Plant Atlas 2020: Mapping Changes in the Distribution of the British and Irish Flora. Princeton University Press, Princeton, in association with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland.

Thorogood, C. & Rumsey, F. [J.] 2021. Broomrapes of Britain & Ireland. BSBI Handbook No. 22. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Durham.

Walls, R.M. 1999. Cynodon dactylon, in Wigginton, M.J. British Red Data Books: 1 Vascular plants (3rd edn) Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

Watts, S.H., Mardon, D.K., Mercer, C., Watson, D., Cole, H., Shaw, R.F. & Jump, A.S. 2022. Riding the elevator to extinction: disjunct arctic-alpine plants of open habitats decline as their more competitive neighbours expand. Biological Conservation 272: doi.org/10.1016/j. biocon.2022.109620

Woodward, I. & Webster, M. 2021. A ‘natural regeneration’ approach to wild flower meadow creation results in the appearance of Helosciadium repens (Creeping Marshwort) in West Suffolk. BSBI News 146: 3–6.

Simon J. Leach

15 Trinity Street, Taunton, TA1 3JG

simonleach@phonecoop.coop

Distinguishing Veronica agrestis from V. polita (and notes on V. persica)

MICHAEL WILCOX

The two species Veronica agrestis (Green Fieldspeedwell) and V. polita (Grey Field-speedwell) can be confused. Aspects of the two species have been examined before using sepal characters (Leaney, 2010) and styles included vs exserted (Berry, 2014), though no illustration of the capsules or flowers were given. The two species are illustrated here with photos of the capsules and flowers to aid the identification. V. persica (Common Field-speedwell) is included as late season plants with flowers smaller than typical could be confusing.

Veronica agrestis

Veronica agrestis capsules (Figure A1), have a tight notch with a short more or less parallel part (touching early on so as not to see the gap) before curving out; thus at the apex of the sinus (distal end) the inner part of the lobes can look almost straight before curving outwards. As the capsule splits, when mature, the notch can look deeper with a wider gap, especially if pressed (see Stace, 2019 Figure 631, which appears to be from a pressed specimen). The style is short and stout but it is often as long to slightly longer than the capsule lobes (not ‘included’ as in Berry (2014); the proximal part of it is ‘squeezed’ between the lobes in fresh plants). The sepals (calyx lobes) are oblanceolate and more or less blunt (not distinctly ovate and (sub-)acute). The capsule has mostly longish glandular hairs*, though a few short erect eglandular hairs can occur; in some plants the glandular hairs are all over the capsule and in others confined to near and or on the ridges. The flowers (Figure A2) are often said to be white or whitish, which from a distance seems to be true, (and some may stay whitish) but they can have 1–3 petals with a pale to mid-blue colour (Stace, 2019) in the distal third to half.

*Note that whether simple or glandular, hairs are septate in these Veronica species.

Veronica polita

In Veronica polita the capsule (Figure B1) is quite different, with distinctly ovate (sub-)acute sepals. The capsule has a very shallow notch and thus, shallow, distinctly low rounded lobes with a style that is relatively long (c.1.5 mm), and which extends well beyond the lobes. The capsule hairs are a mix of longish glandular hairs with very short eglandular hairs (both are usually numerous). The flowers (Figure B2) are usually a strong blue colour (Figure B2). Both these two taxa are rather small, but stems can be up to 50 cm in sprawling plants on open ground.

Veronica persica

Veronica persica can look small, and the few remaining flowers, when mostly in fruit, become smaller late in the season. The calyx lobes are similar to V. polita in shape (± ovate and (sub-)acute), but they often have long hairs on the edges below (Figure C1). The capsule is distinctly wider than long, having widely diverging lobes with a relatively deep notch (sinus), often diverging (70–)80–90°, and the apex of the lobes can almost look like they are bluntly angled. The other two taxa have capsules about as long as wide. The style is very long in V. persica at about 2.5 mm, and often lays to one side over one of the lobes along the ridge. V. persica can have mixed glandular and eglandular hairs but the latter are usually sparse (occurring more densely in V. polita), and these hairs are often said to be ‘crispate’ (curled at the tip) or arched (Stace, 2019). Crisped hairs may occur and/ or be the product of drying out and or pressing, but in my experience they are often just more or less very short and straight. The flowers (Figure C2) are often a bright blue with at least some white on at least one to three petals (and occasionally all four). Some plants are said to have all blue flowers;

Distinguishing Veronica agrestis from V. polita (and notes on V. persica)

however, I have seen some where they are blue and blue and white on the same plant and it does not appear to be significant.

While the key (p. 620) and b/w photos (Figure 631) in Stace (2019) are sufficient, the photographs shown here should help with the identification of these taxa. Becoming familiar with one will often aid the finding and identification of the other(s).

References

Berry,

125: 36.

Michael Wilcox

43 Roundwood Glen, Greengates, Bradford, BD10 0HW

michaelpw22@hotmail.com

M. 2014. Veronica polita/agrestis – an extra identification character. BSBI News

Leaney, B. 2010. Common problems with identification in the field – experience with the Norfolk Flora Group. BSBI News 114: (3–)10–11.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles. C & M Floristics, Middlewich Green, Suffolk.

Figures A–C. Not to scale. Capsules (above) and flowers (below) of Veronica agrestis (left), V. polita (middle) and V. persica (right) (all photographed in the Bradford area (v.c. 63/64). Michael Wilcox

agrestis

Hosts and hot-spots of Mistletoe (Viscum album) in Britain

BRIAN SPOONER

The article by Tim Harrison in a recent issue of BSBI News (Harrison, 2019) raised some interesting points concerning the distribution of Mistletoe (Viscum album) as well as the range of hosts on which it has been reported. Harrison refers to what he terms ‘hot-spots’, areas with abundant Mistletoe, and ‘not-spots’, where it is absent, or virtually so, despite the presence of potentially suitable hosts. He also records a list of 20 host species from a single monad (SU8792) in Buckinghamshire (v.c. 24), with the suggestion that this may represent the largest number of host species of any monad in the UK. The article received a response from Jonathan Briggs (Briggs, 2019), who addressed the ‘hot-spot’ phenomenon and some salient aspects of dispersal, development and spread of Mistletoe; it also prompted articles by Pamela Taylor concerning Mistletoe and its hosts near Burnham Beeches, Bucks (Taylor, 2019), and by Anne Kell (2020), reporting a preliminary survey of Mistletoe in Suffolk. In further response, there are some points raised by

these articles, with regard, especially, to host range and to ‘not-spots’, which are worth further comment.

With regard to the impressive host list for monad SU8792, it may well be currently the greatest in Britain for such an area but, as noted by Jonathan Briggs, the botanic garden at the University of Oxford once laid claim to a similar host diversity and in a very small area. This is the oldest botanic garden in Britain, founded in 1621, and covers just 1.8 ha. Way back in 1901, Mistletoe in the Garden (and just outside) was documented from 15 hosts by T.E. Jefferies (Anon, 1901; Baker, 1901), with a further five added by Warner (1930). It evidently spread from an initial introduction on apple (Malus sp.) and Jefferies noted that it is ‘now on a greater number of different kinds of tree than could be seen in a similar area anywhere’. Warner (1930) similarly stated that there is ‘No other place in the world where it can be seen growing on such a variety

Mistletoe (male flowers) on Hawthorn. John Norton

Hosts and hot-spots of Mistletoe (Viscum album) in Britain

of trees’. These trees included many exotics, hosts from which Mistletoe has been rarely recorded since, including Cladrastis tinctoria (American Yellowwood), Juglans nigra (Black Walnut) and Ostrya carpinifolia (European Hop-hornbeam). Whether this great host diversity at Oxford still holds true has not been ascertained.

Viscum album, as also noted by Briggs, has the greatest host range of any Mistletoe worldwide, an astonishing 450 species in 44 families listed by Barney et al. (1998). In Britain, the host range is not concisely documented but is in the region of 200 taxa (Briggs, 2003), some common and others rare or perhaps even unique. They include, it might be added, at least seven conifer species (Spooner, 2018) Conifers are host not to typical V album subsp. album but to V. album subsp. abietis and V. album subsp. austriacum, neither of which are recognised as present in Britain, and their status here would be worth clarifying if any of these reported coniferous hosts can now be verified.

Most of the Mistletoe hosts known in Britain are exotics, the list of native hosts being much smaller, only c.30 species as gleaned from the various surveys that have been carried out, and from local Floras (see Spooner, 2018; 2019). It is a curious situation and tells us something of the requirements of V. album, the hosts being mostly in more open areas, parkland, gardens, orchards and arboreta rather than in the wider countryside and woodlands, as found also by Anne Kell in Suffolk (Kell, 2020). Yet, despite the extensive host range of Mistletoe, not all potential woody hosts can be successfully colonised by it and some only very rarely so, apparently for reasons other than just their frequency and availability. There are various barriers to successful Mistletoe colonisation, none, perhaps, fool-proof, but which generally hold true. They include thickness of bark and lignified fibres, as in Fagus sylvatica (Beech), for which there are vanishingly few records and probably none verifiable or now current, as well as physiology and chemistry. Pyrus communis (Pear), for example, is a comparatively scarce host, due it seems to its response to infection, apparently reacting to toxins in the Mistletoe berries, effectively cankering and killing the bark at that point

and preventing further development of the sinker (Paine, 1950). These are more fully considered in Spooner (2018, 2019).

Among the hosts listed by Tim Harrison are several which are of particular interest and surely worth further comment, viz: Acer negundo (Ashleaf Maple), Ligustrum ovalifolium (Garden Privet), Salix cinerea subsp. oleifolia (Grey Willow), Tilia cordata (Small-leaved Lime) and T. tomentosa (Silver Lime). These all have few if any previous records in Britain, though L ovalifolium was reported as a host from a garden in Sutton, Surrey in 2022 (Spooner, 2022). Also notable in Harrison’s list are Alnus glutinosa (Alder) at Wraysbury, a rather scarce British host, though recorded previously in Buckinghamshire by Druce (1926), and, in particular, Populus nigra ‘Italica’ (Lombardy Poplar). Harrison gives this as ‘heavily infested’ in the Thames Valley, which is a remarkable situation. True Black Poplar (P. nigra subsp. betulifolia) is considered virtually immune to colonisation by V. album. Cooper (2006), for example, simply states ‘Native black poplar does not support Mistletoe’. This immunity is apparently due to high flavonoid production in this species (Hariri et al., 1991; Sallé et al., 1994) and its cultivars including ‘Italica’ as well as ‘Plantierensis’ and ‘Gigantea’. There are earlier records from Populus nigra but these must be suspect as the species was not well differentiated from the hybrids (P. × canadensis agg.) which are

Mistletoe on Populus × canadensis (Hybrid Blackpoplar), West Molesey (v.c. 17), March 2023. Brian Spooner

common hosts due to their much lower flavonoid production. It may be noted, though, that Druce (1926) reported both as hosts, and ‘Italica’ has, in France and Poland at least, been reliably reported as a host (Dickson & Lecrivain, 2013). A further host of note is included by Ann Kell in the list of 25 host taxa she cites for Suffolk, viz. Photinia beauverdiana, for which no previous record appears to exist, in Britain or elsewhere.

The ‘hot-spot’ around Hampton Court mentioned by Briggs and noted by Crawley (see Harrison, 2019) is quite noticeable and rather impressive, with Mistletoe-laden Tilia × europaea (Lime) being common, and Robinia pseudoacacia (False-acacia) and Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn) also frequently heavily infected, though other hosts much less so. Mistletoe is no longer present in the famous chestnut avenue (Aesculus hippocastanum, Horse-chestnut) in Bushy Park where it was first reported by Jesse (1844), but does still occur on at least three trees of this species on the periphery of the Park (Spooner, 2018). Other hosts are less evident, but on the south side of the Thames in East Molesey, for example, it can be found on Acer pseudoplatanus (Sycamore), A. saccharinum (Silver Maple), Amelanchier lamarckii (Juneberry), Fraxinus excelsior (Ash), Salix caprea (Goat Willow), S. fragilis (Crack Willow), S. × sepulcralis (Weeping Willow), and even on Prunus padus (Bird Cherry) and the black-fruited Cotoneaster obtusus, the last two of which may be unique hosts in Britain. Others, such as Acer opalus (Italian Maple) and Ulmus glabra (Wych Elm), were given by Jesse (1844) who clearly knew this hot-spot, though not all of these hosts are present today. The spread of Mistletoe in Home Park beside Hampton Court Palace on young trees of Tilia × europaea planted in 1987 has been quite rapid and is documented by Marris (2007, 2008). Not uncommonly, though, such trees may occur adjacent or close to scarcely infected or even uninfected trees of the same species. What factors may govern initial colonisation and spread are uncertain but may include chance according to bird feeding, perhaps also to the genetics and susceptibility of the individual tree which are known to vary (see Ramm et al., 2000), and, what is less

often mentioned, the potential spread within the tree by cortical strands. These strands, though not often discussed, are noted, for example, by Vere (2008) who reports on the perceived explosive spread of Mistletoe in Essex since the mid-1990s. The reasons for this are not fully understood but, he suggests, may include climate change and the increase in numbers of Blackcaps, evidently one of the main vectors now that they are commonly overwintering in Britain. This spread is further discussed by Adams (2015) who, in addition, lists 22 Essex Mistletoe hosts, these being the usual suspects but also including some rare ones such as Betula pendula (Silver Birch), Prunus spinosa (Blackthorn), Rosa canina (Dog Rose) and, especially, Berberis sp. The last is possibly unique in Britain, and in Europe apparently only B. vulgaris (Barberry), from Belgium, has been recorded as a host. The role of cortical strands in the spread of Mistletoe seems uncertain. How far and how

Hosts and hot-spots of Mistletoe (Viscum album) in Britain

A Mistletoe-laden Tilia × europaea (Lime), Fetcham, (v.c. 17), March 2022. Cally Harris

Hosts and hot-spots of Mistletoe (Viscum album) in Britain

rapidly can they travel in a tree and how much of a Mistletoe-laden tree is due to them?

With regard to ‘not-spots’, Briggs suggests that these are simply areas outside the main range of Mistletoe and where it has not yet been introduced. However, it would seem that may not be the whole story and that there may be other, more subtle, factors involved. Not far from the hot-spot area around Hampton Court, for example, towards Walton-onThames, Weybridge and Hersham, Mistletoe soon becomes noticeably scarcer, still present but only as very occasional single plants, mostly on widely scattered trees. Kew, also, is given as a ‘not-spot’. However, although Viscum is given by Cope (2009) as now extinct in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens, he also states that it was once abundant. It was first recorded in 1823 on Populus alba (White Poplar) – ‘wreathed in Mistletoe’ – which is a rare host, then in 1906 on poplar and lime, and also on Salix purpurea (Purple Willow), which is yet another very rare and perhaps unique host in Britain. Viscum is actually still present at Kew, though currently in small quantity, having been recorded recently on two hawthorn species, Crataegus brainerdii, first noted in 2016 by Arthur Chater (pers. comm.) and apparently another unique host in Britain, and C. monogyna Perhaps it was overlooked and never lost there from the hawthorns which were known as a host at Kew in 1873 and were still so listed in 1940 (Cope, 2009). Further comments on Mistletoe in Buckinghamshire are given in Showler (1996), with some main hosts noted and possible factors influencing its distribution discussed.

References

Adams, K. 2015. The Essex mistletoe explosion. Essex Botany, Bryology & Mycology 1: 3–5.

Anon. (Jefferies, T.E.). 1901. Mistletoe in the Oxford Botanic Gardens. Gardener’s Chronicle Ser. 3, 29: 193.

Baker, W.G. 1901. Mistletoe at Oxford. Gardener’s Chronicle Ser. 3, 29: 290–291.

Barney, C.W., Hawksworth, F.G. & Geils, B.W. 1998. Hosts of Viscum album European Journal of Forestry & Pathology 28: 187–208.

Briggs, J. 2003. Christmas curiosity or medical marvel? A seasonal review of mistletoe. Biologist 50(6): 249–254.

Briggs, J. 2019. Viscum album (Mistletoe) – with or without hot-spots. BSBI News 142: 28–30.

Cooper, F. 2006. The Black Poplar. History, Ecology and Conservation. Windgather Press, Macclesfield.

Cope, T.A. 2009. The Wild Flora of Kew Gardens. A Cumulative Checklist from 1759. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Dickson, J. & Lecrivain, G. 2013. Observations on European Mistletoe (Gui): biodiversitybc.blogspot.com/2013/12/ observations-on-european-mistletoe-by.html

Druce, G.C. 1926. The Flora of Buckinghamshire. T. Buncle & Co., Arbroath.

Hariri, E.B., Sallé, G.C. & Andary, C. 1991. Involvement of flavonoids in the resistance of two poplar cultivars to mistletoe (Viscum album L.). Protoplasma 162(1): 20–26.

Harrison, T. 2019. Viscum album hot-spots and not-spots in south Buckinghamshire (v.c. 24). BSBI News 141: 19–21.

Jesse, E. 1844. Scenes and tales of Country Life; with recollections of natural history. Ed. 1. John Murray, London.

Kell, A. 2020. Viscum album (Mistletoe) – a preliminary survey in Suffolk. BSBI News 143: 25–28.

Marris, T. 2007. Survey of mistletoe Viscum album platyspermum Kell. at Hampton Court Palace. London Naturalist 86: 35–46.

Marris, T. 2008. A further survey of mistletoe Viscum album platyspermum Kell. at Hampton Court Palace. London Naturalist 87: 53–56.

Paine, LA. 1950. The susceptibility of pear trees to penetration and toxic damage by mistletoe. Phytopathologische Zeitschrift 17(3): 305–327.

Ramm, H., Urech, K, Scheibler, M. & Grazi, G. 2000. Cultivation and development of Viscum album L. in: Bussing, A. (ed.). Mistletoe. The Genus Viscum. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants – Industrial Profiles, Vol. 16. Harwood, pp. 75–94.

Sallé, G.C., Hariri, E.B. & Andary, C. 1994. Polyphenols and resistance of poplar (Populus spp.) to mistletoe (Viscum album l.). Acta Horticulturae 381: 756–762.

Showler, A. 1996. Mistletoe in Berkshire & Buckinghamshire. BSBI News 73: 31–32.

Spooner, B.M. 2018. Hosts of mistletoe in Britain – common, rare and puzzling. Cecidology 33(2): 56–66.

Spooner, B.M. 2019. Mistletoe (Viscum album) and its hosts in Britain. Haustorium 76: 10–12.

Spooner, B.M. 2022. Some notable new hosts for Mistletoe (Viscum album). Cecidology 37(1): 74–78.

Taylor, P. 2019. Viscum album near Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire. BSBI News 142: 31.

Vere, D.W. 2008. A numerical analysis of the recent spread of mistletoe Viscum album L. in Essex and north-east London. London Naturalist 87: 57–64.

Warner, H.H. 1930. The Mistletoe and its Hosts. Gardener’s Chronicle Ser. 3, 88: 512.

Brian Spooner

The BSBI Archive

CLIVE STACE

Asmentioned in BSBI News 150 (April 2022, p. 76–77) the BSBI Archive has been in existence for around 50 years. The aim is to conserve a record of the publications of the BSBI by depositing hard copy in one place, where it can be consulted by members and future generations of taxonomists, bibliographers, biographers and historians, etc. The full list of publications either already included in the Archive (black text) or items still to be obtained (green or purple text) is shown on the following pages, grouped under five categories (see below). Date of compilation: 17 March 2023.

The BSBI Archive is quite separate from the archive of certain items now being stored electronically, which has a different purpose. It was for a long time stored at the Natural History Museum, where it was kept up to date by Mary Briggs (Hon. Gen. Sec, 1972–1997). Several years ago the NHM decided it could no longer house the Archive and it was eventually transferred to its present location at the BSBI office in Harrogate.

A recent census of the Archive revealed a sorry picture. Much 20th century literature had never been archived, and little had been added since then. It was decided that it would be a very worthwhile project to remedy that situation. Due to some senior members passing away and others downsizing their libraries, many of these missing publications were accumulated, and nearly 50 titles (involving nearly 300 items) have now been transferred to Harrogate. At present the Archive contains about 120 titles, and the total of individual items numbers about 800.

There are, however, six titles still missing, although four of these have recently been promised to us. If you think you can supply any of these missing items please contact me by email or post. Your response would be very welcome.

The Archive proper is divided into four categories

A-D: periodicals, handbooks, conference reports and one-off items, but there is in addition a fifth category

(E) of publications which were not published by BSBI, or on behalf of BSBI, but which are nonetheless intimately associated with us, e.g. Clapham’s 1946 Checklist of British Vascular Plants, and the Red Data Book (1999). This last list is obviously rather open-ended, but is also colour-coded as above; the items on it are not included in the above figures. The Archive has to be treated as a reference library and a research facility, not a lending library. If any member wishes to visit the Harrogate office to make use of the archive please contact Dr Kevin Walker at kevin.walker@bsbi.org, tel. 07807 526856.

Clive Stace

Appletree House, Larter’s lane, Middlewood Green, Stowmarket, IP14 5HB

cstace@btinternet.com

Colour code for table entries

Black – already in Archive

Green – items that should be added if obtainable Purple – items promised

Category A – BSBI Periodical Publications

Report. Thirsk Natural History Society, Botanical Exchange Club

Report of the Curators. London Botanical Exchange Club. Report for 1867; 1866 and 1868 missing

Report of the Curators. London Botanical Exchange Club. Reports for 1866 and 1868 as photocopies from Biodiversity Heritage Library

Report of the Curator. Botanical Exchange Club. N.B. Items 1, 2 & 4 in Category A are hardback bound in one volume.

Report. Botanical Locality Record Club Renamed Botanical Record Club in 1878

Reports of Botanical Exchange Club of the British Isles

Renamed B.E.C. & Society of the B.I. 1910–1913

Renamed Bot. Society & E.C. the of B.I. 1914–1948 In 15 bound volumes, x2

of BSBI (Supplement to Vol. 4(4) lacking) In

4 issues: Jan 1970, Jul 1970, Jan 1971, Jul 1971. Morphed into BSBI News in 1972

Nos 1–110 in 14 bound volumes

BSBI Annual Reports and Accounts & Annual Reviews. Review for 2014 was not issued

Hieracia Group Notes. Nos 14, 16 & 18 missing; probably never issued. Newsletters of the BSBI Hieracia Study Group. Edited by J. Bevan

Taraxacum Newsletters. Newsletters of the BSBI Taraxacum Study Group. Edited by C.C. Haworth (1–7), A. Dudman (8–10).

BSBI Vice-comital Census Catalogue Working Party. With other supporting data, including list of sources of records with their code nos.

Aliens. The Newsletter of the BSBI Alien Study Group. 8 pp. in BSBI News format. Only 1 part issued

New

Scottish Newsletter (42 not issued as hard copy)

BSBI Welsh Region Bulletin. Mostly photocopies.

BSBI Welsh Bulletin. Continuation of last. Some photocopies.

Category B – BSBI Handbooks

Category C – BSBI Conference Reports

Category D – Other items published or sponsored by

with BSBI

Vegetative Key to the British Flora Publ. by John Poland in association with BSBI

Key to the British Flora, ed. 2 Publ. by John Poland in association with BSBI

A Great Leap Forward – Biological Recording since the 1962 Atlas of the British Flora. Edinburgh 2012. Programme and Abstracts. Joint conference of BSBI & RBG Edinburgh. Maney Publishing.

50 Years of Mapping the British and Irish Flora. 1962–2012. Prepared for the 2012 Edinburgh conference above

Atlas 2000. Notes on Identification Works and Some Difficult and Under-recorded Taxa. In yellow paper cover

Flora of the British Isles

The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland

Threatened Plants in Britain and Ireland. Results of a Sample Survey, 2008–2013

The Field Key to Winter Twigs

Publ. by John Poland in association with BSBI

The Field Key to Winter Twigs, revised repr. Publ. by John Poland in association with BSBI

Plants of the British and Irish Lowlands

Category E – other related works (not published by BSBI)

These seem to be the most significant; many others could be added.

Supplement to Compendium of the Cybele Britannica (served also as Supplement 2 to Cybele Britannica)

Botany, ed. 1, 2 vols

Botany, ed. 2

Supplement 2 to last (photocopy)

Reports of Watson Botanical Exchange Club Vols 1–4 (49 parts). Vol. 1 has third and eighth reports (1887 & 1892) missing

Reports of Watson Botanical Exchange Club Vol. 1, third & eighth parts (1887 & 1892) as photocopies

Vol 1 with 20 parts, Vols 2 & 3 each with 12 parts; vol. 4 with 5 parts

[2 of 20 years]

Biological Flora of the British Isles (Journal of Ecology), 1–280 (nos. 270–279 missing – see below)

Biological Flora of the British Isles (Journal of Ecology), 270–279

Handbook of the British Flora, ed.7 revised by A.B. Rendle (1924), reprinted

Illustrations of the British Flora, ed. 2

Further Illustrations of British Plants, ed. ?

Checklist of British Vascular Plants. Intended as no. 15 of Biological Flora of the British Isles, but never marked as such

Flora of the British Isles. A set of all the different versions (i.e. new editions and reprints with corrections)

5 books in total

Ed. 1 (1952); 1957 reprint with corrections

Ed. 2 (1962)

Ed. 3 (1987) (Clapham, Tutin & Moore)

Ed. 3 (paperback version with corrections) (1989)

Excursion Flora of the British Isles. A set of all the different versions (i.e. new editions and reprints with corrections)

5 books in total

Ed. 1 (1959; 1964 reprint

Ed. 2 (1968); 1973 reprint

Ed. 3 (1981)

Grasses, ed. 1

Grasses eds. 2 & 3

A Bibliographical Index of the British Flora

Critical Species, Subspecies, Varieties, and Hybrids in the Durham Flora.

Predecessor of Wigginton & Graham (1981)

Guide to the Identification of Some Difficult Plant Groups

Predecessor of Rich & Rich (1988) (Category D)

The Botanists. A History of the Botanical Society of the British Isles Through 150 Years. Publ. by St Paul’s Bibliographies

The BM Fern Crib

BSBI Monitoring Scheme 1987–1988

Vol. 1 – Text

Vol. 2 – Maps and Tables

+ Print-out of Vice-county Lists for Plants

New Flora of the British Isles. A set of all the different versions (i.e. new editions and reprints with corrections)

11 books in total

Ed. 1 (1991); 1992 reprint; 1995 reprint

Ed. 2 (1997); 2005 reprint

Ed. 3 (2010); 2011 reprint

Ed. 3 (2016 reprint) (on thicker paper)

Ed. 4 (2019); 2019 reprint; 2021 reprint

Scarce Plants in Britain

A sample survey of the flora of Britain and Ireland. The Botanical Society of the British Isles Monitoring Scheme

1987–1988

UK Nature Conservation No 8. Publ. JNCC

CAS can provide the remaining 4 of these in due course

on a report to NCC by Rich & Woodruff, edited by Palmer & Bratton

INTRODUCING MY VICE-COUNTY

Isle of Wight (v.c. 10)

COLIN POPE

The Isle of Wight is the largest and second most populous island of England. It is a county in its own right and not part of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. Three vehicle ferry and two catamaran services provide regular links with the mainland. The Island (as it is referred to by residents), is roughly rhomboid in shape and covers an area of 380 km2 (150 square miles). Its landscapes are diverse and it is often described as ‘England in miniature’. A chalk ridge runs east/west across the Island terminating in The Needles chalk stacks at the western end and Culver cliff at the eastern end. To the north of the chalk ridge, clays predominate; to the south, sandy soils are widespread. A second smaller chalk outcrop at the southern end of the Island reaches a maximum height of 241 metres at St Boniface Down above Ventnor. The southern coastline is unstable with eroding cliffs. The northern coastline is low lying and estuarine in character.

Despite its small size, the Island has a remarkably rich flora, helped by its diverse geology, southern location and large tracts of protected coast and countryside. Ten thousand years ago, the Isle of Wight was not an island but was joined to the mainland by the central chalk ridge which extended westwards to Dorset. The Solent was, at that time, a river which flowed eastwards to reach the open sea somewhere off the present Sussex coast. As the climate improved, sea levels began to rise and by about 8000 years ago, the sea had flooded all the local river valleys and had broken through the chalk ridge to create an island. As sea levels rose muds and peats accumulated in the newly formed estuaries along the north coast.

A view of Tennyson Down and the Needles on the western tip of the Isle of Wight. Photographs by the author.

Today, the flora shows strong affinities with Dorset to the west. Spergularia rupicola (Rock Seaspurrey) occurs commonly along the south-west coastline. Pilosella peleteriana subsp. peleteriana (Shaggy Mouse-ear), Euphorbia portlandica (Portland Spurge), Carex humilis (Dwarf Sedge), Gastridium ventricosum (Nit-grass), Ophrys sphegodes (Early Spider-orchid), the brambles Rubus aequalidens and R. dumnoniensis and Asplenium marinum (Sea Spleenwort) are all present. The bryophytes Cephaloziella baumgartneri, Southbya nigrella, Lophocolea fragrans, Marchesinia mackaii, Gymnostomum viridulum, Pterygoneurum ovatum and Acaulon triquetrum can be found

St Helen’s Duver is a small sand dune system at the eastern end of the Island. It is a National Trust property with open access. It has long been considered to be the richest locality for plants for its size. Until recently, it was either the best or the only Island site for Trifolium suffocatum (Suffocated Clover), T. glomeratum (Clustered Clover), T. arvense (Hare’sfoot Clover), Moenchia erecta (Upright Chickweed), Oenothera stricta (Fragrant Evening-primrose), Anthriscus caucalis (Bur Chervil), Artemisia maritima (Sea Wormwood), Vulpia fasciculata (Dune Fescue) and Vulpia ciliata subsp. ambigua (Bearded Fescue). They are all still present but some of the annual species characteristic of dry, sandy soils have shown

significant range expansions in recent years and now occur more widely in suitable sites across the Island. St Helen’s Duver is also a good site to see Eryngium maritimum (Sea-holly) and Calystegia soldanella (Sea Bindweed) but the star plant is Scilla autumnalis (Autumn Squill) which grows in abundance on the stabilised sand dune grassland providing a stunning site in August/early September (see front cover of this issue).

Also at the eastern end of the Island and owned by the National Trust, Culver Down and the adjoining sandstone Redcliff to the south is a good botanical area. The chalk grassland is rich but for two species, Gentianella amarella subsp. anglica (Early Gentian) and Campanula glomerata (Clustered Bellflower), the latter a remarkably localised species on the Island (there are better sites for it on the chalk in west Wight). The chalk cliffs have Glaucium flavum (Yellow Hornedpoppy) and Euphorbia portlandica (Portland Spurge), the latter at its easternmost locality on the south coast. Thin chalky grassland at the top of the cliff has Valerianella eriocarpa (Hairy-fruited Cornsalad) where it is likely to be native. Culver Down and Redcliff together have our most extensive and one of the largest populations of Phelipanche purpurea (Yarrow Broomrape). This plant occurs at several Island sites, principally in East Wight but, as is typical for this

Gentianella amarella subsp. anglica (Early Gentian), Goldenhill Fort (left) and Phelipanche purpurea (Yarrow Broomrape), Compton Down (right).

species, numbers fluctuate from year to year. There is currently a larger population in a field near Sandown but populations in meadows tend to fluctuate in numbers over time whereas those at Culver have been reliable for well over a hundred years. Also at Redcliff, close to the cliff edge, is our largest and most accessible population of Silene nutans (Nottingham Catchfly). The thin sandy grassland here is worth

searching for annual clovers, Ornithopus perpusillus (Bird’s-foot) and Poa bulbosa (Bulbous Meadow-grass). Around the southern downs, the combination of the massive Upper Greensand overlying the plastic Gault Clay has resulted in huge landslips in the past. Spectacular landslips occur between Luccombe and Blackgang where massive blocks containing Upper Greensand and sometimes the overlying chalk have moved seawards giving rise to a series of irregular sloping terraces with large blocks of sandstone and limestone scattered amongst them. This area is referred to as The Undercliff, stretching for nearly 10 km along the coast. This sheltered area has an extremely mild microclimate, allowing a wide range of half-hardy and near tender species to be grown at Ventnor Botanic Garden, a good place to look for unusual alien species. Much of the Undercliff is covered by secondary woodland where Asplenium scolopendrium (Hart’s-tongue Fern) and Hedera hibernica (Atlantic Ivy) dominate the field layer. Arum italicum subsp. neglectum (Italian Lordsand-Ladies) and Orobanche hederae (Ivy Broomrape) are common components of the woodlands. At the western extremity in the vicinity of St Catherine’s Point there is more open ground, grassland and scrub which at one time would have been the characteristic vegetation along much of the Undercliff. Here can be found a few plants of Astragalus glycyphyllos (Wild Liquorice), Asplenium marinum (Sea Spleenwort) on a couple of coastal rocks, a small patch of Cyperus longus (Galingale), the hybrid horsetail, Equisetum × font-queri (E. palustre × telamateia), growing on a wet coastal ledge with Epipactis palustris (Marsh Helleborine), and a suite of Mediterranean-oceanic bryophytes.

Immediately above the Undercliff at St Lawrence Bank, a Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust reserve, holds the largest UK population of the spectacular Melampyrum arvense (Field Cow-wheat). Conservation work combined with favourable weather conditions have resulted in a population which can exceed 30,000 plants in good years. Field Cow-wheat has been known as an arable weed from this area since 1823 but these days it occurs in permanent thin grassland. There is another population growing on the inaccessible cliff-face at

Silene nutans (Nottingham Catchfly), Redcliff

Equisetum × font-queri, St Catherine’s Point

MY VICE-COUNTY: Isle of Wight (v.c. 10)

St Lawrence and in disturbed ground of a garden. These are the only surviving UK ‘native’ sites for this plant which is classified as a neophyte.

The National Trust downland ridge at the western end of the Island encompasses some of our most spectacular scenery, terminating in the world-famous Needles chalk stacks and lighthouse. It is also a botanically rich area. The Military Road crosses Afton Down east of Freshwater Bay. The roadside verge here has a large population (over 1000

plants) of Orobanche picridis (Oxtongue Broomrape) which are easily seen. This is Britain’s rarest native broomrape; the only other site being in Kent.

Gentianella amarella subsp. anglica (Early Gentian) is also present in good numbers in favourable years on the thin south facing chalk slopes. The cliff edge is a good place to see Matthiola incana (Hoary Stock) which, together with Lobularia maritima (Sweet Alison) has been known from here since at least Victorian times. Hoary Stock was first recorded

here in 1823. Westwards of Freshwater Bay the long stretch of downland and chalk heath to the Needles is also productive. Pilosella peleteriana subsp. peleteriana (Shaggy Mouse-ear) grows on the clifftop

Melampyrum arvense (Field Cow-wheat), St Lawrence

Part of the large colony of Orobanche picridis (Oxtongue Broomrape) at Afton Down

Matthiola incana (Hoary Stock), Afton Down.

in the vicinity of the Tennyson Monument. Further west near the cliff edge, Marrubium vulgare (White Horehound) has a native site amongst rabbit warrens. Ophrys sphegodes (Early Spider-orchid) is becoming regular along this stretch. Around the battery at the westernmost tip of the Island, Frankenia laevis (Sea-heath) and Atriplex portulacoides (Sea-purslane) can be seen growing on the chalk clifftop from the

National Trust searchlight position viewpoint, a perched saltmarsh 62 m above sea level.

Newtown Estuary is an excellent example of an undeveloped Solent estuary with saltmarsh grading into ancient woodland in places. There is good access along footpaths. The saltmarsh below Walter’s Copse is a good place to look for the native Spartina maritima (Small Cord-grass) which has otherwise all but disappeared from the Solent.

Most of our semi-natural woodlands are located on the north side of the Island on heavy clay soils which traditionally were difficult to cultivate. Sadly, coppice woodland management is little practiced today after a surge of interest in the 1990s and many woods have once again become heavily shaded with a poor showing of spring flora. There are few well managed woods today but the National Trust’s Walters and Town Copses at Newtown and the Wildlife Trust’s Swanpond Copse, near Ryde, are worth a visit. A feature of Island woods is that some species which are frequent in Hampshire woods are absent. However, one showy plant is Pulmonaria longifolia (Narrow-leaved Lungwort), a very local species which is one of the Solent basin species. Lack of woodland management has resulted in a

Pilosella peleteriana (Shaggy Mouse-ear), Tennyson Down

Newtown estuary and Spartina maritima (Small Cord-grass).

dramatic decline of this species but two good sites to see it are at the entrance to Firestone Copse (Forestry England), where it grows with a fine display of Narcissus pseudonarcissus (Wild Daffodil), and on the railway embankments running alongside Swanpond Copse (Wildlife Trust). Sorbus torminalis (Wild Service-tree) is characteristic of most of our ancient woods bordering the creeks and inlets along the Solent shoreline. Lathraea squamaria (Toothwort) is a feature of many woods on the chalk. The Wildlife Trust’s Eaglehead Copse on Ashey Down is a good place to see it.

Acidic bogs are a very scarce and threatened habitat. They are centred around Rookley/Godshill in the centre of the Island and include Bohemia Bog, Munsley Bog and Cridmore Bog. They are the only place where plants such as Pinguicula lusitanica (Pale Butterwort), Drosera rotundifolia (Roundleaved Sundew), Wahlenbergia hederifolia (Ivy-leaved Bellflower), Narthecium ossifragum (Bog Asphodel), Eriophorum angustifolium (Common Cotton-grass), Myrica gale (Bog Myrtle) and a range of sedges and Sphagna survive. However, all these sites are in suboptimal condition and the long-term future for them is not good.

The plant for which the Island is perhaps best known is Clinopodium menthifolium (Wood Calamint), a species occurring nowhere else in Britain and Ireland. When first discovered in the Rowridge valley, a sheltered chalk valley in the middle of the Island,

it was described as being present ‘in vast quantity, for a greater part of the way towards the head of the vale, scattered over the hillside copses wherever there is shade and sufficient shelter but … always avoiding open and exposed situations’ (Bromfield, 1856). However, it has long been confined to just a couple of roadside verges where it is vulnerable to occasional heavy traffic. Targeted conservation work since 2000 has resulted in an increase of both the extent and the number of plants, assisted by woodland management, meaning that the threat level to the plant has been reduced from Endangered to Vulnerable.

Another plant for which the Island had special responsibility was Fumaria reuteri (Martin’s Rampingfumitory). Lake Allotments, near Sandown, was designated an SSSI purely for its population of the fumitory, at the time the only native site apart from one in Cornwall. It is still present, in quantity in some plots and the site is often visited by botanists. However, a better understanding of its distinguishing features and perhaps an increasing population, has resulted in it being recorded from a number of other Island sites and from many stations elsewhere in the UK in recent years.

Clinopodium menthifolium (Wood Calamint), Rowridge

Pulmonaria longifolia (Narrow-leaved Lungwort)

Another noteworthy arable species is Centaurea cyanus (Cornflower). Until recently, a few sandy fields west of Bleak Down, Rookley, were blue and yellow with Cornflower and Glebionis segetum (Corn Marigold) in favourable years. It was first recorded by botanists from here in 1907 but sub-fossil pollen has been found in quantity in nearby peat deposits dated to 300 years ago. Sadly, current agricultural practice has resulted in a rapid decline of Cornflower (but not Corn Marigold) although plants can still be found in small quantity in arable margins.

Some species-rich MG5 grasslands survive, principally on the north side of the Island and particularly around the Newtown Estuary. Perhaps the best of these is the suite of meadows on MOD land at Jersey Camp, Newtown camp and training area. These meadows were last ploughed around 1895 and since 1911 have been managed as hay meadows. Because they are situated on land used as firing ranges, aftermath grazing has not been possible and over many years the soil has become increasingly poor and slightly acidic. Anacamptis morio (Green-winged Orchid), although still present, has declined dramatically since the early 2000s when over 70,000 were regularly counted and the site was opened to the public on one day a year to see the

spectacle. Other species, in particular Genista tinctoria (Dyer’s Greenweed), have increased spectacularly. The plant is host to two threatened moths and other invertebrates. Cuscuta epithymum (Dodder) is also present in spectacular quantity. Formerly a pest of agricultural land, Dodder has today been largely banished to heathlands, chalk downland or fixed dunes on infertile soils. Jersey Camp is perhaps the only site left in this country where it occurs in unimproved meadows. Viola canina (Heath Dogviolet) survives in small quantity but sadly most populations have hybridised with Viola riviniana and the showy hybrid, V. × intersita is now more frequent. Gaudinia fragilis (French Oat-grass) is also a feature of the meadows. The first non-casual record of this grass was made on the Island in July 1917 and it has since been found to be a characteristic species of unimproved meadows on the north side of the Island. In more recent years it has spread to meadows on the south of the Island, assisted by agricultural practices. Jersey Camp meadows are very rich; a total of 90 different grassland species are recorded across the 15 ha. They are not open to the public but the adjoining National Trust Newtown meadows are also species-rich and publicly accessible.

The Island is a good place for botanists to visit. Its relatively small size means that everywhere can easily be reached. Large tracts of National Trust countryside make excellent places for botanising and exercising and there is an excellent network of well-signposted footpaths. Very often the weather is good, although this cannot be guaranteed of course! The most recent Flora (Pope et al., 2003) gives much more detail of plants, sites and botanical history.

References

Bromfield, W.A. (1856) Flora Vectensis. William Pamplin, London.

Pope, C., Snow, L. & Allen, D. 2003. The Isle of Wight Flora. Dovecote Press, Wimborne, Dorset

Colin R. Pope

Vice-county Recorder for Isle of Wight (v.c. 10)

14 High Park Road, Ryde, PO33 1BP

colinrpope@gmail.com

Centaurea cyanus (Cornflower) and Glebionis segetum (Corn Marigold) at Cridmore.

ADVENTIVES & ALIENS

Adventives & Aliens News 29

Compiled by Matthew Berry Flat 2, Lascelles Mansions, 8–10 Lascelles Terrace, Eastbourne, BN21 4BJ m.berry15100@btinternet.com

Ihope readers will forgive me if yet again I mention Silene dichotoma (Forked Catchfly) in the preamble, but as well as the records for v.cc. 28 and 57 in the following compilation, I note that it was also recorded new for v.c. 67 in 2022. There might also be other new records that have yet to be entered in the DDb. Quite suddenly it seems to have become a species botanists might add to their local lists, along with Epilobium brachycarpum, Cardamine occulta, Sisymbrium irio, Galium murale, Nonea lutea, Plantago afra, Gamochaeta pensylvanica, Cotula australis, etc.

I also refer you to Clive Stace’s note on alien Pyrus and Sedum on p. 70 of this issue. It mentions two species (with better known ‘look-alikes’) that might both be in cultivation in Britain and Ireland and also possibly overlooked by botanists.

I could not help being a little excited on learning of Simon Leach’s v.c. 5 record of Notobasis syriaca (Syrian Thistle) in 2022, written up on p. 62 of this issue. This handsome thistle, of Mediterranean/ south-west Asian origins, might be one we will see more of.

V.c. 1b (Scilly)

Persicaria odorata (Lour.) Soják (Vietnamese Coriander). St. Mary’s (SV92151104), 9/2022, P. Stroh (det. I. Bennallick/conf. J.R. Akeroyd): established close to stream, Higher Moors Nature Trail. It was first seen and photographed by Liz Askins in 2019, but not identified at that time. A rhizomatous east Asian subshrub (Polygonaceae) that has reddish-purple stems and strongly aromatic lanceolate leaves marked with dark chevrons. The interrupted spike-like inflorescences of small pink flowers (followed by shiny achenes) are unlikely to

Persicaria odorata, Higher Moors, St. Mary’s (v.c. 1b). Liz Askins

appear where the climate is temperate. Liz Askins comments that it is grown by keen gardeners in the islands and they are probably among the very few places in Britain and Ireland where P. odorata could overwinter. In east Asian cuisine the leaves, which when young have a pungent smell of coriander, are used to flavour stir fries, soups, spring rolls, etc. The first British and Irish record.

Senecio angulatus L. f. (Climbing Groundsel). St. Mary’s (SV9210), 1/2023, E. Askins (comm. E. Askins): growing in an old beach quarry where soil gets dumped, Porth Wreck. A succulent, climbing, S. African shrub (Asteraceae) and an as yet rare, frost susceptible garden plant in Britain. It seems to have become established in parts of southern Europe where it could be invasive. It has alternate shiny fleshy more or less hederiform leaves, 3–5 cm × 1–5 cm. In flower it differs from Delairea odorata (German Ivy) by the presence of yellow ligules and vegetatively by the truncate to cuneate leaf bases (vs

cordate) and the absence of pseudostipules. There are no other records in the DDb.

V.c. 2 (E. Cornwall)

Astilbe × arendsii (Red False-buck’s-beard).

Wadebridge area (SW98147127), 17/7/2022, D. Steere (comm. D. Steere): one plant on rural road verge with no habitation within c.0.5 km, near Polmorla. The first v.c. 2 record since 1996. An erect perennial herb (Saxifragaceae) with compound,

ternately divided leaves of sharply toothed leaflets and paniculate inflorescences of pinkish narrowpetalled ‘fluffy’ flowers with prominent coloured filaments. This specimen seems ill-grown in some respects perhaps because the situation is too dry (Astilbe being essentially pond- or stream-side plants by preference), a state of affairs which might have frustrated identification efforts. However a specialist nursery confirmed the hybrid when contacted by David Steere. It was initially thought to be Filipendula × purpurea. Stace (2019): 135.

V.c. 3 (S. Devon)

Cuphea ignea A. DC. (Cigar Plant). Sidmouth (SY126873), 6/10/2022, P.D. Stanley (conf. E.J. Clement/comm. P.D. Stanley): six plants at base of wall in market place, Fore Street; clearly selfsown but parent not seen. Possibly the first ‘wild’ British record. A Mexican subshrub (Lythraceae) with paired elliptic leaves and cylindrical scarlet white-tipped flowers (c. 20 mm × 3 mm) that arise singly on short pedicels from the leaf axils. It is a rare frost sensitive garden plant. As a genus Cuphea is distinguishable from Lythrum by the coloured (in this case scarlet) calyx (vs green) which is saccate at the base (vs not saccate).

V.c. 4 (N. Devon)

Silene armeria (Sweet-William Catchfly). Appledore (SS46513035), 14/10/2022, R.I. Kirby (conf. M. Berry): one self-sown in a pavement crack, Marine Parade. In this case it had clearly escaped from a nearby planter. The first v.c. 4 record. A glabrous European annual (Caryophyllaceae) with broadbased clasping stem leaves and compact flat-topped clusters of dark pink flowers, c.1.5 cm across. The slender ten-veined calyces are club-shaped (12–15 mm long) and have blunt teeth. Clement et al. (2005): 76. Stace (2019): 502.

Astilbe × arendsii, Wadebridge, East Cornwall (v.c. 2). David Steere

Zinnia elegans (Youth-and-age). Abbotsham (SS43672759), 15/10/2022, R.I. Kirby (conf. M. Berry/comm. R.I. Kirby): one plant in disturbed ground at a junction on the A39 near Kenwith Castle. It was found with several plants of Linaria maroccana (Annual Toadflax) (also conf. M. Berry),

Senecio angulatus, Porth Wreck, St. Mary’s (v.c. 1b). Liz Askins

both being new to v.c. 4. The overlapping very obtuse black-bordered phyllaries are a distinctive feature of this erect garden annual (Asteraceae), native to central America. The narrower leaved Z. angustifolia Kunth might also be in cultivation. Z. peruviana (L.) L. is a former wool casual with no recent British or Irish records. Stace (2019): 724.

Scabiosa farinosa Coss. (Pincushion Scabious). Ilfracombe (SS517472), 8/6/2022, J. Harding Morris (conf. M. Crawley): established along the base of a wall, apparently since at least 2018. The first v.c. 4 record (and the first for Britain and Ireland

too?). An evergreen glabrous perennial/subshrub (Dipsacaceae), the glossy dark green scalloped leaves of which are pale below and form a mound or mat from which the lavender-blue capitula arise on leafless stalks of c.10 cm. Eric Clement has grown it in his garden for 20 years, says there is nothing mealy about it and suggests the original specimen was salt-encrusted. A native of Algeria and Tunisia up to 60 cm tall.

Cyperus congestus Vahl (Dense Flat-sedge). Appledore (SS463305), 14/10/2022, R.I. Kirby (conf. D.A. Simpson): single plant in cobbled pavement. The first v.c. 4 record. A rhizomatous S. African perennial (Cyperaceae) known mainly as a wool casual in Britain and Ireland. It has become naturalised in parts of southern Europe. It has a relatively congested inflorescence of many spikelets arranged in obvious spikes, the number of florets per spikelet and spikelets per head being greater than in the other Cyperus likely to be encountered. The spikelets also drop as intact units at maturity and the rhizomes never bear tubers. The only post2000 records in DDb are all for v.c. 44 (2003–2019).

V.c. 6 (N. Somerset)

Erigeron annuus (Tall Fleabane). Upper Swainswick (ST76136831), 10/6/2022, R.D. Randall (comm. H.J. Crouch): many plants on traffic island at junction of layby and A46. Second record for v.c. 6 and first since 1942. A garden annual (Asteraceae) native to

Cyperus congestus, Appledore, North Devon (v.c. 4). Bob Kirby

Scabiosa farinosa, Ilfracombe, North Devon (v.c. 4). Bob Kirby

Zinnia elegans, Abbotsham, North Devon (v.c. 4). Bob Kirby

N. America which might yet become much more widespread. Adventives & Aliens News 25, v.c. 14.

V.c. 9 (Dorset)

Linaria aeruginea (Gouan) Cav. (Verdigris Toadflax). Swanage (SZ02947939), 30/7/2022, D. Leadbetter (comm. D. Leadbetter): one plant in gutter, Gannetts Park. A more or less erect annual or perennial (Veronicaceae) native to Portugal, Spain and the Balearic Islands. It typically has creamy yellow corollas with brown bosses (as in this case) but flower colour seems to be very variable, at least in cultivation. The slender down-curved spurs account for about half the total flower length, uniformly purple in colour or with fine purple stripes. The leaves are linear glaucous and arranged in whorls lower down the stem, more haphazardly further up. The stems and leaves are variably glandular hairy. David Leadbetter remarked that this was almost exactly where he had seen L. alpina ‘Alba’ in 2018 (Adventives & Aliens News 17, v.c. 9). Does a Linaria enthusiast live somewhere nearby? The first v.c. 9 record.

Salvia hispanica L. (Chia). Swanage (SZ02567891), 6/12/2022, D. Leadbetter (det. M. Berry/comm. D. Leadbetter): c.15 plants (some in flower) on verge just south of railway line, Court Road. The first v.c. 9 record.

V.c. 10 (Isle of Wight)

Cotinus coggygria (Smoke-tree). Lake (SZ588843), 6/1/2022, P.D. Stanley (comm. P.D. Stanley): one self-sown bush in gravel by electricity substation, Fairview Crescent; the nearest possible parent several hundred yards away in a garden. A deciduous dense spreading southern European shrub (Anacardiaceae) to 3m with alternate aromatic ovate-suborbicular leaves, and very diffuse hairy inflorescences which later have a smoke-like appearance. Fruit set is very poor, so records of genuine self-sown individuals are rare. As a native it is a species of dry hills, rocky places and open woods. The first v.c. 10 record.

Adventives & Aliens News 24, v.c. 14.

Muhlenbergia frondosa (Poir.) Fernald (Wirestem Muhly). Nettlestone (SZ625901), 10/2022, P.D.

Stanley (det. E.J. Clement): abundant in gravel at rear of Eddington House Nursery. A rhizomatous grass with branched culms to c.90 cm from eastern Canada and central and eastern USA. The 3–4 mm spikelets of one floret have awned one-veined subequal glumes (awn to 4 mm) that are about as long as the spikelets. The three-veined lemmas have awns up to 13 mm long. The panicle branches are erecto-patent at first becoming more appressed to the axis at maturity. The florets have bases covered in long white hairs and they drop whole leaving the glumes behind. The alternate leaves are more or less smooth, flat, widest in the middle, tapering somewhat at the base, and 4–18 cm × 1–7 mm. There is a jagged membranous ligule, 0.5–1.5 mm long. It can form quite extensive colonies through its spreading scaly rhizomes. It is very similar to M. racemosa (as well as one or two other Muhlenbergia species). Indeed Eric Clement believes that the British records of the latter might actually refer to M. frondosa and the drawing in Figure 23 of Ryves et al. (1996) is of use in this case even if nominally of M. racemosa (M. racemosa typically has an unawned lemma or the awn only to 1 mm). It could also be mistaken for an Agrostis but in that genus the culms are generally unbranched. There are no other records in the DDb. Herb. EJC.

V.c. 11 (S. Hants)

Dittrichia viscosa (Woody Fleabane). Poulner Hill (SU166056), 5/10/2022, P.D. Stanley (comm. P.D. Stanley): one clump in central reservation of A31. A Mediterranean composite associated in this country with coastal sites, particularly ports. Resembles D. graveolens (Stinking Fleabane) but is a taller woody perennial with more conspicuous ligules. Not having been seen in its creek-side location at Newhaven in v.c. 14 since 2002 and the Landguard population long since destroyed in v.c. 25, this as well as records for Ebbsfleet in v.c. 15 might represent the only extant British sites. Stace (2019): 775.

V.c. 12 (N. Hants)

Dittrichia graveolens (Stinking Fleabane). Whitchurch (SU46904684), 31/7/2022, B. Laney & R. Harvey

(conf. P.D. Stanley & A.J. Byfield/comm. A. Mundell): one tall non-flowering plant in a set aside arable field, 1.5 km from the nearest site on central reservation of A34, from where seed might have been blown in. The second v.c. 12 record away from trunk roads/motorways, in which typical Hampshire habitat Tony Mundell estimates the total population to be in the many millions. Adventives & Aliens News 13, v.c. 22, etc. Stace (2019): 775.

V.c. 14 (E. Sussex)

Begonia cucullata Willd. (Wax Begonia). Eastbourne Town Centre (TV61189880), 1/11/2022, M. Berry: one self-sown, white-flowered plant in gutter, Cornfield Terrace. It had probably been present at one time in tubs placed outside a nearby restaurant but was not in evidence any longer. The first Sussex record. Perennial monoecious herbs (Begoniaceae) from S. America and very familiar as versatile garden plants. They have alternate glossy broadly ovate leaves and pink or white flowers of four petals, the lateral petals being obviously reduced, and c.13 mm across. The fruit is a three-winged many seeded capsule. Such plants have often been recorded as B. semperflorens and B. × semperflorens nom. illeg. in the past. A sensible compromise might be to refer them to Begonia Semperflorens-cultorum Group (E.J. Clement pers. comm.). Some will very likely be hybrids involving B. cucullata Buphthalmum speciosum (Yellow-oxeye). Eastbourne Old Town (TV60149957), 3/9/2022, M. Berry: one plant at base of wall, Moat Croft Road. A perennial garden plant (Asteraceae), native to Europe and south-west Asia, which can become naturalised on moist soils and is particularly widespread in Scotland, Clement & Foster (1994). It can be distinguished from similar species such as Inula helenium (Elecampane) and I. magnifica by the presence of receptacular scales and absence of pappus hairs. The third Sussex record. Clement et al. (2005): 311 (as Telekia speciosa). Stace (2019): 776.

Hordeum jubatum (Foxtail Barley). Hastings (TQ81961000), 18/11/2022, J. Rose & J. Clark: one plant at edge of traffic island in Queens Road; origin unknown. A very rare Sussex alien. A tufted

N. American perennial grass with the awns of the central lemmas of each triplet of spikelets up to 10 cm long (the lateral spikelets much reduced, sterile and all three spikelets with long awn-like glumes). Records in this country have diverse origins with wool, grass seed, grain, bird- and oil-seed as well as garden plants all implicated. Naturalised briefly along trunk roads in England, e.g. Wimbledon Common (v.c. 17), Clement & Foster (1994); also in Cumbria and elsewhere. See Adventives & Aliens News 14, v.cc. 12, 13 and 14. Clement et al. (2005): 401. Stace (2019): 1101.

V.c. 15 (E. Kent)

Persea americana Mill. (Avocado). Chilham area (TR09445231), 6/11/2021, A. Witts (comm. G. Kitchener): seedling at base of beech tree in spot where Avocado and peanuts have been consumed regularly, Denge Wood. It grew to be c.20 cm tall before being knocked back by winter weather. The first record for v.c. 15 and Kent. All other recent records have been confined to the inner London area. An evergreen shrub (Lauraceae) with alternate aromatic (aniseed) leaves, well known for its large fleshy highly palatable fruits. A native of central America but widespread as a crop and a food refuse alien in Britain and Ireland. There are several species

Hordeum jubatum, Hastings, East Sussex (v.c. 14). Jacqueline Rose

native to N. America; P. americana differs from all of them in its deciduous tepals (vs persistent). Kent Botany 2022, p. 16 for a photo.

V.c. 26 (W. Suffolk)

Euphorbia prostrata Aiton (Fringed Spurge). Thetford (TL85618323), 24/7/2021, I. Woodward (conf. T. Walker): c.50 plants in front garden (slate, no plantings) and a few in driveway of property and adjacent pavement. The first v.c. 26 record. A mat-forming American annual (Euphorbiaceae) which probably has identical or similar vectors of introduction to E. maculata (Spotted Spurge), e.g. plant containers, but is as yet a much rarer colonist. The Hastings colony featured in Adventives & Aliens

Ian Woodward

News 4 (v.c. 14) was extant in 2022, J. Rose pers. comm.

V.c. 27 (E. Norfolk)

Crambe hispanica (Abyssinian Kale). Sheringham (TG14684315), 19/10/2022, M. Lacey (conf. T.C.G. Rich/comm. M. Lacey): in area of field

ploughed in spring and growing with Urtica urens (Small Nettle), Raphanus raphanistrum (Wild Radish) and Lamium amplexicaule (Henbit Deadnettle). A little branched white-flowered annual (Brassicaceae) from topical Africa sometimes found as an oil-seed alien/relic of cultivation. Calepina irregularis (White

Ball-mustard) is superficially similar but is glabrous (vs scabrid to subglabrous) and has fruits of one portion (vs inflated distal portion and short stalk-like proximal portion), which on drying have a raised reticulum (vs upper portion without reticulum). It also has very different stem leaves. All the British records are thought to be of subsp. abyssinica which differs from the nominate subspecies in the slightly four-ribbed distal portion of the fruit (vs unribbed). Stace (2019): 442.

Caryopteris × clandonensis A. Simmonds (Bluespirea). North Walsham (TG27653025), 9/2022, M. Ghullam (det. S. Pryce & T. Doncaster): self-sown plants in pavement cracks. First record for v.c. 27 and Norfolk. A blue-flowered shrubby garden plant (Lamiaceae) with opposite lavender-scented leaves that is widely cultivated in parks and gardens. It is the artificial hybrid of the east Asian species C. incana (Thunb. ex Houtt.) Miq. and C. mongholica Bunge, and apparently quite fertile. See Adventives & Aliens News 14, v.c. 14.

Crambe hispanica, Sheringham, East Norfolk (v.c. 27). Mick Lacey

Euphorbia prostrata, Thetford, West Suffolk (v.c. 26).

Tulipa saxatilis (Cretan Tulip). Mundesley (TG311369), 3/5/2020, S. Pryce (det. M. Crewe): in flower in rough vegetation on exposed, north-east facing Pleistocene cliffs. The first record for v.c. 27 and for Norfolk. On the face of it a most surprising location for a species that likes a sunny, sheltered aspect. A bulbous perennial garden plant (Liliaceae) to c.50 cm, native to Crete and Turkey. It has linearelliptic leaves and tepals predominantly pink with conspicuous yellow basal blotches. There are further records for v.cc. 1b (since 1976), 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 21, 22, 39, 71 and 113. Stace (2019): 901.

V.c. 28 (W. Norfolk)

Silene dichotoma (Forked Catchfly). Thetford (TL88558436), 9/2022, S. Little & D. Albon: many hundreds of plants in disturbed sandy soil along field margin and on spoil mounds. The first Norfolk record. It might have been introduced in a sown mix at some stage. See Adventives & Aliens News 26, v.c. 11 and v.c. 57 below.

V.c. 29 (Cambs)

Salsola tragus (Spineless Saltwort). Chippenham area (TL67326737), 7/9/2022, M. Padfield: four plants in margin of sandy beet field. There is an old record for this area of east Cambridgeshire from 1949.

Once split into several taxa it is now treated as one variable species, distinguished from S. kali (Prickly Saltwort) by the soft spineless tepals (vs stiff and spine-tipped). In Britain and Ireland it has been recorded in wool, grain, agricultural seed and birdseed. A classic tumbleweed (Amaranthaceae) in the flat arid habitats of its native Eurasia. Clement et al. (2005): 59 (as Salsola kali subsp. ruthenica). Stace (2019): 526.

V.c. 35 (Mons)

Briza minor (Lesser Quaking-grass). The Bryn/ Llanvihangel Gobion (SO3309/SO3409), 23/9/2021, J. Woodman: c.50 plants flowering and fruiting across tetrad boundary. The first v.c. 35 records since 2003. An annual Mediterranean grass with established populations in v.cc. 1, 2, 9, 11 and 113, and mainly occurring as a rare casual of arable fields and waste places elsewhere. Stace (2019): 1074.

V.c. 55 (Leics)

Helleborus niger (Christmas-rose). Leicester (SK605031), 10/4/2021, R. Parry: single seedling in

Tulipa saxatilis, Mundesley, East Norfolk (v.c. 27). Suki Pryce

Salsola tragus, Chippenham, Cambridgeshire (v.c. 29). Mike Padfield

pavement crack, Ashfield Road. It was subsequently herbicided. The first v.c. 55 record. A mountain plant (Ranunculaceae) of central Europe which flowers, as the English name implies, at Christmas or early in the New Year. A rather fleshy herb with evergreen leaves divided to the base into (5)7–9 acute, narrowly obovate lobes with serrate margins. The solitary flowers are carried on thick leafless stems, are of 5 obtuse white or pink-tinged petaloid sepals, c.5–7.5 cm across. There is a central cluster of yellow stamens. The bracts are entire. Its history as a garden plant in this country goes back over 450 years. Stace (2019): 111.

Eucomis bicolor Baker (Pineapple Lily). Leicester (SK608028), 5/8/2021, R. Parry: escaped under garden wall into pavement, Holmfield Avenue. The first v.c. 55 record. It was still present in early 2022 (R. Parry pers. comm.). A bulbous, S. African perennial (Asparagaceae) to c.60 cm, grown as a garden plant of exotic appearance. The flowers are massed in a cylindrical raceme topped by a pineapple-like tuft of leaf-like bracts, and the greenish-white tepals (c.15 mm long) are narrowly edged with purple. The leaves are all basal, oblong-oblanceolate (up to c.50 cm long), glossy and with undulate margins. The stems and to some extent the leaves too are marked with many purple-brown spots and streaks.

V.c. 56 (Notts)

Anemone coronaria L. (Poppy Anemone). Worksop (SK57637879), 8/3/2020, G.L.D. Coles: three plants in grassland along 10m section of roadside verge, A57 (trunk road). The first v.c. 56 record. A Mediterranean perennial (Ranunculaceae) with hard woody rhizomes and a single stem, known in Britain and Ireland as a grain alien and garden escape. The large solitary poppy-like flowers (c.3.5–6.5 cm across) have 5–8 overlapping, broadly elliptic petaloid sepals that can be red, blue, pink or white. The centrally clustered stamens have dark blue anthers. The unstalked deeply lobed stem leaves form a whorl below the flowers while the basal leaves are petiolate, 2- to 3-pinnate and make a sparse rosette. The mature achenes are densely woolly hairy and rounded in cross section.

Carex buchananii (Silver-spiked Sedge). Nottingham (SK56163863), 12/6/2021, D.C. Wood: a single plant in a vacant development lot amongst emergent vegetation by a temporary pool, Meadows Industrial Estate. The site has since been regraded as a parking area and it is not known if the plant survived. The first v.c. 56 record. D.C. Wood found it in two other urban sites in Nottingham in 2021. A densely tufted, fine-leaved ornamental sedge from New Zealand. The leaves have a reddish or coppery tint to them and curled tips. The very slender stems are also reddish as are the lowermost bracts which greatly overtop the inflorescences. Two early records were for Cessnock in v.c. 77 (1990) and Orchardstown in v.c. H6 (2004). A key differentiating it from four other allied New Zealand species, including C. comans (New Zealand Hair-sedge), is to be found on p. 56 in BSBI News 131. Stace (2019): 1021.

V.c. 57 (Derbys)

Silene dichotoma (Forked Catchfly). Jordanthorpe (SK36648100), 2/10/2022, M. Lacey (comm. M. Lacey): two plants in field close to Derbyshire/S. Yorkshire border (and another plant at SK36368093). Mick Lacey thinks the seed might have arrived with

Silene dichotoma, Jordanthorpe, Derbyshire (v.c. 57). Mick Lacey

a clover crop. The first v.c. 57 record. A Eurasian annual (Caryophyllaceae) with white flowers that are at their best in the evening and somewhat resembling S. gallica (Small-flowered Catchfly), differing from it in the forked inflorescence, more deeply notched petals, lack of gland-tipped hairs on the stem (numerous eglandular ones being present) and the longer, glabrous carpophore.

Aizoanthemopsis hispanica (L.) Klak (Spanish Aizoon). Duffield (SK34), 6/2022, M. Smith & C. Smith (conf. M. Berry): one plant as a weed in potted olive imported from Spain, Hudson’s Plant Centre. A succulent annual (Aizoaceae) with stems that mostly trail along the ground, native to north Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. It is an introduction in S. Africa. The leaves are opposite entire lanceolate and densely papillose with revolute margins. The solitary bisexual sessile flowers have five acute tepals with green outer surfaces and white inner ones. The fruit is a five-valved capsule that opens when wet (hygrochastic), the seeds being dispersed by the action of rain drops. It is a species of semi-arid, sandy and/or saline habitats.

Aizoon hispanicum L. and Aizoanthemum hispanicum (L.)

H.E.K. Hartmann are synonyms. There are no other

records in the DDb. The following are a selection of additional species identified as weeds of olive tree pots in the same plant centre: Urtica membranacea (Mediterranean Nettle), Euphorbia maculata (Spotted Spurge), Portulaca oleracea (Common Purslane), Heliotropium cf. europaeum, Parapholis incurva (Curved Hard-grass) and Digitaria sanguinalis (Hairy Fingergrass) (Mary and Claire Smith pers. comm.).

V.c. 83 (Midlothian)

Daphne pontica L. (Pontic Daphne). Bonnyrigg (NT325634), 21/4/2021, R.I. Milne: one large patch within a mass of Rhododendrons in mature woodland that is part of extensive grounds of Dalhousie Castle (now a nearby hotel); presumably as a relic of cultivation (photo on next page). The first v.c. 83 record. An evergreen shrub (Thymelaeaceae) to 1m with greenish-yellow flowers, native to Bulgaria, northern Turkey and the Caucasus. It is rather like D. laureola (Spurge-laurel) but the flowers are larger with longer narrower sepals, more strongly scented and open later (spring vs late winter). It might sometimes be available as D. albowiana , although this is strictly speaking the synonym of D. pontica subsp. haematocarpa Woronow, which has red fruits (vs black in subsp. pontica).

Pachyphragma macrophyllum (Caucasian Pennycress). Bonnyrigg (NT32056362), 2022, R.I. Milne & S. Jury: tight patch of c.20 flowering stems on bank under trees separated by steep, high bank from industrial estate (a former kennel close to Dalhousie Castle), Dalhousie Grange. The first v.c. record and perhaps only the second for Scotland. Other interesting non-natives seen nearby on or around high banks include Euphorbia oblongata (Balkan Spurge), E. dulcis (Sweet Spurge), Marrubium vulgare (White Horehound) (all seen 2020) and Allium nigrum (Broad-leaved Leek) (seen 2022) (R.I. Milne pers. comm.). A glabrous rhizomatous white-flowered perennial (Brassicaceae) from Turkey and the Caucasus, with distinctive stalked simple crenate leaves and compressed broadly winged fruits that are often wider than long. The first British record was for 1964 in secondary woodland in v.c. 6, where it was extant as of 2014. It was naturalised in the grounds

Aizoanthemopsis hispanica, Duffield, Derbyshire (v.c. 57). Mary & Claire Smith

of Broncroft Castle in v.c. 40 (the most recent record for this location in DDb dated 1995). There are also records for v.cc. 11, 41, 64, 69 and 85. Clement et al. (2005): 111 (as Thlaspi macrophyllum). Stace (2019): 446.

V.c. 91 (Kincardines)

Echinops exaltatus (Globe-thistle). Hirn (NJ731001), 21/7/2021, D. Welch: on roadside bank. The first v.c. 91 record. An erect non-glandular central and eastern European perennial (Asteraceae) with markedly recurved phyllary tips. It is a garden escape in Britain and Ireland. Clement et al. (2005): 289. Stace (2019): 725.

V.c. 94 (Banffshire)

Acaena ovalifolia (Two-spined Acaena). The Balloch (NJ46184788), 30/6/2021, A. Burgess & H. Milne (det. I.P. Green): the first v.c. 94 record. A S. American perennial (Rosaceae) differing from A. novae-zelandiae (Pirri-pirri-bur) in its two spines per

hypanthium and longer apical pair of leaflets that have a larger number of marginal teeth (11–23 vs 5–7). A relative rarity in the south of England it has been increasing rapidly in Scotland and Ireland since c.1999. Adventives & Aliens News 5, v.c. 13. Stace (2019): 279.

References

Clement, E.J. & Foster, M.C. 1994. Alien Plants of the British Isles. Botanical Society of the British Isles, London.

Clement, E.J., Smith, D.P.J. & Thirlwell, I.R. 2005. Illustrations of Alien Plants of the British Isles. Botanical Society of the British Isles, London.

Poland, J. & Clement, E.J. 2020. The Vegetative Key to the British Flora (2nd edn). John Poland, Southampton.

Ryves, T.B., Clement, E.J. & Foster, M.C. 1996. Alien Grasses of the British Isles. BSBI, London.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Daphne pontica, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian (v.c. 83). Richard Milne

Chenopodiums in v.c. 5 (S. Somerset)

GRAHAM LAVENDER

Chenopods are probably poorly recorded in Somerset; the critical nature of the genus and the association with poor habitats in general and muck heaps in particular, possibly the reason. This study was an attempt to create a better understanding of their distribution in Somerset. When I started targeting the genus in 2020, the 4th edition of Stace (2019) had only been published in the previous 12 months, so it was also a challenge to come to terms with the new genus names of Blitum, Oxybasis, Chenopodiastrum and Lipandra. Having identified 28 muck heaps close to my home on Exmoor within v.c. 5, the plan was, initially at least, to look, collect and key out specimens and learn as I went along.

My first success in 2020 was an Exmoor muck heap apparently dominated by Oxybasis rubra (Red Goosefoot) but with similar plants without any red colouration. In addition there were notable recurved teeth on some of the plants (see photo). The putative identification as Oxybasis urbica (Upright Goosefoot) was confirmed by John Akeroyd, BSBI Referee for the genus. Subsequently, the Species Recovery Trust contacted me as a result of the data entry on the Distribution Database (DDb) and seeds that I had collected were deposited in the Kew Millennium

Seedbank. Encouraged by this early success, all 28 of my targeted muck heaps were searched with mixed results. Oxybasis rubra was found on a very high proportion of muck heaps, with a noticeable lack of red pigmentation on a small number, yet none had the distinctive recurved teeth of the confirmed Oxybasis urbica. This was my first learning point as, searching in July/August, no ripe seeds were present and it was clear that seeds would be needed in many cases to assist in identification. A paper by Cole (1961) in Watsonia had looked at the differences in testa markings between freshly harvested and dried specimens with the suggestion that freshly harvested seeds had more distinctive markings. I therefore decided to collect plants, conduct preliminary examination to note colouration and other features lost in drying, press the plants but save a small inflorescence and grow on in water on a window ledge until ripe seeds were produced.

My study in 2020 was a learning curve, and whilst the identification of Lipandra polysperma (Manyseeded Goosefoot) and Chenopodium ficifolium (Figleaved Goosefoot) were relatively straightforward, the real interest was in those plants I would normally have labelled Chenopodium album (Fat-hen), or C. album agg. if I was being careful in my recording.

It was only in 2022 that I felt ready to tackle the Chenopodium album agg. plants and determined to scour my list of now 32 muck heaps together with some game cover crop areas where I had previously recorded C. album. Another site that was added to the list was a coastal saltmarsh where a long planned day of recording with v.c. 5 Vice-county Recorder Steve Parker threw up some surprises. The results in 2022 (summarised below) exceeded expectation. Note that although keying out with both Stace ed. 4 and Sell & Murrell (2018), I found the latter was easier to use and gives a very detailed description of the plant, and in most cases the seed as well.

Leaf of Oxybasis urbica showing recurved teeth.

Photographs by the author.

Chenopodium bushianum (Soya-bean Fat-hen), a muck heap specimen keyed out well and the seed matched the description in Sell & Murrell (2018) with its rugulose radial furrowing. From the DDb records (BSBI, 2022) it is a first for Somerset and only the 13th record in England and 5th post-2000.

Chenopodium suecicum (Swedish Fat-hen) was found on the edge of a game cover crop field on a shooting estate on Exmoor. This was a very challenging determination and other very close candidates presented problems. John Akeroyd pointed out the rounded edge of the seed, separating it from the sharper edged C. album. Further work will be needed to see if C. suecicum is a contaminant of game cover crop seed mixes or from another source. Again a first for Somerset but a much broader distribution on the DDb with 50 records post 2000, although it should be noted that 35 of them were from just

one vice-county, possibly suggesting a very much overlooked taxa.

Chenopodium glaucophyllum (Glaucous-leaved Fathen). This one keyed out well in Sell & Murrell, but in Stace and indeed on DDb it is incorporated under C. strictum (Striped Goosefoot). John Akeroyd confirmed my specimen as Chenopodium strictum subsp. glaucophyllum to be entered as C. strictum. This was a fortunate find on the saltmarshes east of Hinkley Point, Somerset in an area in which the target of the day were Atriplex spp. of which A. prostrata, A. littoralis and A. glabriuscula were also at the same location, together with Oxybasis rubra. C. strictum is widely recorded on DDb but is new to Somerset.

This was not a genus I have tackled in detail before and having identified some of the challenges, I was pleased with the results. The main challenge was that if plants were collected later in the season when seeds were fully ripe, the lower leaves of the plant had often fallen. The second challenge was, particularly with muck heaps and game cover crops, to find specimens that had not been badly damaged by herbivores (from snails to deer). The only solution was to collect specimens early in the season (July/ August) and grow on the inflorescence at home.

Acknowledgements

My thanks to John Akeroyd BSBI referee for all his help and determinations. Specimens collected together with seeds will be deposited in Taunton Herbarium (TTN)

References

BSBI Distribution Database: database.bsbi.org [accessed 20/11/2022]

Cole, M.J. 1961. Interspecific relationships and intraspecific variation of Chenopodium album L in Britain. Watsonia 5(2): 47–58.

Sell, P.D. & Murrell, G. 2018. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 1: Lycopodiaceae–Salicaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Graham Lavender

Higher Combe, Porlock, TA24 8LP grahamlavender@hotmail.com

Specimen of Chenopodium suecicum determined by John Akeroyd.

Wealready accept that there are many garden plants which habitually spread by seed into the wider landscape – particularly into the ‘pavement environment’ (pavement cracks, gutters, adjacent walls/retaining banks, and verges) in residential areas. As informal proof of this, our Norfolk Flora Group (NFG) recording sheet currently lists 550 taxa, of which some 66 – over 10% – are common garden plants. Not all of these spread by seed, but most do, and the following largely non-native self-seeders are regularly found outside gardens in Norfolk villages and towns:

Alcea rosea (Hollyhock)

Antirrhinum majus (Snapdragon)

Aquilegia vulgaris (Columbine)

Aubretia deltoides (Aubretia)

Calendula officinalis (Pot Marigold)

Centranthus ruber (Red Valerian)

Cotoneaster spp. (especially C. horizontalis, Wall Cotoneaster)

Eschscholzia californica (Californian Poppy)

Erigeron glaucus (Seaside Daisy)

Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican Fleabane)

Erysimum cheiri (Wallflower)

Laburnum spp. (Laburnum)

Lavandula angustifolia (Garden Lavender)

Leycesteria formosa (Himalayan Honeysuckle)

Limnanthes douglasii (Meadow-foam)

Lobelia erinus (Garden Lobelia)

Lobularia maritima (Sweet Alison)

Lunaria annua (Honesty)

Muscari armeniacum (Garden Grape-hyacinth)

Nigella damascena (Love-in-a-mist)

Oxalis corniculata (Procumbent Yellow-sorrel)

Papaver atlanticum (Moroccan Poppy)

Papaver somniferum (Opium Poppy)

Ribes sanguineum (Flowering Currant)

Saponaria officinalis (Soapwort)

Silene coronaria (Rose Campion)

Tanacetum parthenium (Feverfew)

More recently, say in the last ten years, new taxa have joined the ranks of older successful seeders and are found reasonably often:

Agapanthus spp. (African Lily)

Anemanthele lessoniana (Pheasant’s Tail Grass)

Cerinthe major (Greater Honeywort)

Cordyline australis (Cabbage-palm)

Cotoneaster hjelmqvistii (Hjelmqvist’s Cotoneaster)

Cotoneaster suecicus (Swedish Cotoneaster)

Cyperus eragrostis (Pale Galingale)

Echium pininana (Giant Viper’s-bugloss)

Nassella tenuissima (Argentine Needle-grass)

Nonea lutea (Yellow Monkswort)

Verbena bonariensis (Argentine Vervain)

Those marked (*) are not listed in Stace ed. 4, or are not given as spreading by seed.

Other, less common, apparently self-seeded garden taxa seen occasionally over the last ten years or so by the NFG include Erodium manescavii (Manescau Stork’s-bill), Laurus nobilis (Bay) (also noted by Jo Parmenter as self-seeding quite prolifically in a Reedham playing field), Pratia angulata (Lawnlobelia), Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary), Trachystemon orientalis (Abraham-Isaac-Jacob, and Viburnum tinus (Laurustinus).

And still the trend continues, as we see more and more newly-fertile recruits to the self-seeder contingent. This became particularly apparent in 2022, presumably because of the exceptionally high summer temperatures. That year, we saw garden plants which we had not seen set viable seeds before, producing fertile seed. These are likely to be taxa which both require warmth to set fertile seeds, and/or also need high substrate temperatures to enable their seeds to germinate – and which found these conditions particularly in hard standing, pavement cracks, etc.

Increased setting of viable seeds by Norfolk garden plants and their successful germination

SUKI PRYCE

ADVENTIVES & ALIENS: Increased setting of viable seeds by Norfolk garden plants

So these plants, where suitable conditions prevailed, germinated to produce new plants – both within their garden homes, that is, in ‘non-recordable’ situations; and outside them in ‘recordable’ locations. Note that as many are found without obvious parents nearby, some spread is probably due to ever-increasing car ownership and the concomitant possibility of spread out of, and also into garden/near-garden sites via vehicular movement.

As with the established, well-known self-seeders, these taxa include a range of plant types: woody and herbaceous; dicots and (increasingly) monocots; perennial and annual; hardy and half-hardy. The common link is, presumably, that these are plants from balmier zones which – with climate warming – have crossed a physiological threshold to a state in which they are now able to produce seed capable of successful germination in the east of England. Those of us who enjoy aliens and adventives mostly welcome these newcomers – feeling that they add spice and adventure to our recording activities and to the botanical scene in general. This article therefore celebrates their appearance by looking at some notable examples – both recordable and non-recordable – recently found here in Norfolk.

A) New recordable plants

Norfolk Flora Group records

These are given in approximate order of discovery (all have been submitted for inclusion in BSBI News’ Adventives and Aliens section).

Gaillardia grandiflora ( G. aristata × pulchella) (Blanketflower, Asteraceae), Sheringham January 2021, Suki Pryce. I noticed this flowering during a New Year Plant Hunt in a council estate on the edge of Sheringham, in a pavement crack outside the garden where its parents grow. It’s a hardy herbaceous perennial which I’ve known since I grew it as a child in the 1950s, and I’ve never seen it self-seeding before (BSBI News 148: 41).

Gazania rigens (Treasureflower, Asteraceae), Cromer, Sheringham, North Walsham 2019–2022, Suki Pryce. Members of the NFG began noticing these plants self-seeding within North Norfolk seaside municipal beds, and also in Norwich, from

around 2019 or before. Since June 2022, when I found what seemed to be an incontrovertibly selfseeded specimen in a Sheringham park lawn and in lawns by new housing in North Walsham (BSBI News 151: 38), we’ve seen hosts of seedlings near established bedding plants. As perennials which are hardy enough to withstand our current milder winters, and as rosette plants which can survive mowing, many of these look set to persist well beyond 2022 in lawns, beds, etc.

*Nemesia fruticans (Nemesia, Scrophulariaceae), Suki Pryce. I initially found one specimen of this bedding plant in July 2022 – self-seeded in an unmanaged paved area in North Walsham. I was delighted, as I’d never seen it self-seeding before (and was lucky to spot it before drought despatched it soon afterwards). But a tip-off from NFG member Mike Crewe soon took me to nearby Cromer, where N. fruticans was seeding freely in beds just north of Cromer’s ‘Crab Stix’ Miniature Golf Course. Then in October the NFG saw plentiful self-seeded N. fruticans again in a Fakenham housing area.

*Caryopteris clandonensis (Bluebeard, Lamiaceae), Suki Pryce. Pavement-crack seedlings were spotted in North Walsham in September 2022 by Mary Ghullam, near their presumed-parent shrubs (one unvariegated, one variegated) which are in a front garden and overhang the pavement. This is yet another example of seed-setting and germination in a garden taxon (this time in a hardy shrub) which I and NFG colleagues have not seen before.

*Tradescantia ‘virginiana’ ( Spiderwort, Commelinaceae), Fakenham October 2022, Suki Pryce. A herbaceous perennial, this seedling was flowering in a pavement crack by the garden its parents occupied. Once more, not a species we’ve seen self-seeding before.

Kerria japonica (Kerria, Rosaceae), Fakenham October 2022, Suki Pryce. Stace says this has been found ‘self-sown in Middlesex’, but again, I’ve known this plant all my life and never seen it self-seeding before. Presumably it would be the single, as opposed to the likely-sterile flore pleno form, that self-seeds.

Matthiola incana (Hoary Stock, Brassicaceae), Coltishall October 2022, Suki Pryce. I found

seedlings growing outside a garden with a large presumed parent established in the garden nearby. Not a species I’ve personally seen self-seeding before, though it is known in the county.

*Isotoma axillaris (Rock Isotome or Australian Harebell, Campanulaceae), Wymondham October 2022, Enid Barrie. A half-hardy herbaceous perennial from Australia, three thriving plants were found self-seeded on a pavement edge in Damgate

Some self-seeding garden plants seen recently in ‘recordable’ habitats in the Norfolk area: top left: Caryopteris clandonensis (Bluebeard), North Walsham, September 2022, Suki Pryce; top right: Tradescantia ‘virginiana’ (Spiderwort), Fakenham, October 2022, Enid Barrie; bottom left: Limonium sinuatum (Statice), Sheringham, November 2022, Suki Pryce; bottom right: Nemesia fruticans (Nemesia), Cromer, October 2022, Suki Pryce.

ADVENTIVES & ALIENS: Increased setting of viable seeds by Norfolk garden plants

street (a medieval street with no front gardens) –probably originating from a hanging basket. This species is being sold/seen/used more these days as a container plant, so is increasingly likely to be ‘out there’ as potential parents of seedlings such as these.

*Limonium sinuatum (Statice, Plumbaginaceae), November 2022, Suki Pryce, additional information

Mike Crewe, Jo Parmenter. A short-lived perennial, mainly grown as an annual, and often for drying (modern cultivars come in many attractive colours).

In Sheringham, a small colony of c.8–10 flowering plants, ranging from purple to pink and white, was thriving in an unmetalled, unused car park near the seafront. The colour variation suggests that they arose from seed rather than vegetatively, though we haven’t seen this taxon self-seed before. Again, this would seem to be yet another example of a newly-fertile taxon, with seed perhaps derived from dumped dead-heads, or blown from other public open space plantings or private gardens nearby.

Sheringham Park, National Trust Estate

Mark Webster, the National Trust’s Countryside Ranger at Sheringham Park, reports the following exotic woody ornamentals as recently found self-seeding near their mature parent plant(s):

*Camellia spp. (Camellia) (one young plant found);

*Enkianthus (Enkianthus) spp. (10+ seedlings, some maybe 7+ years old); *Eucryphia (Eucryphia) spp. (a few seedlings at 5+ years old); *Magnolia spp. (Magnolia) (several seedlings, some probably 10+ years old).

B) New non-recordable plants

This article’s topic obviously relates to – and indeed is rooted in – the allied category of garden plants which are starting to self-seed successfully within gardens, but have not yet ‘jumped the fence’. Below are some noteworthy Norfolk examples.

Gardens/estates open to the public

Bressingham, Diss. Jaime Blake, Head Gardener of Bressingham Gardens, has kindly written an account for this article of his experiences regarding the increased seed-setting phenomenon. During

his 30-plus years at the Gardens, he has noticed increasing numbers of taxa setting more and more viable seeds. This started to become a real problem about 20 years ago, and increasingly so since then. It is a particular issue at Bressingham because many of the plants there are historic cultivars, and part of Jaime’s job is to ensure that these cultivars thrive and are maintained true to type – of necessity by vegetative propagation. Now, increasingly, they are being besieged by fertile seed, most of it hybrid, which contaminates the beds with vigorous seedlings which both act as competitive weeds and also ‘muddy the waters’ regarding cultivars’ correctness. The Asteraceae family hosts the worst offenders (Heliopsis, Eupatorium, Symphyotrichum, Vernonia), but other families are now more frequently joining in: Poaceae (Miscanthus, Molinia); Polemoniaceae (Phlox), etc. Thirty years ago, dead-heading was an occasional job to encourage repeat flowering, but during this century it has had to be done far more often in order to try to control unwanted selfseeding. Initially this was a once every three-weekly job from mid-summer to the end of October, but now is weekly, and takes up a pretty horrifying 20% of staff time during that period.

East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens. As well as having African Lily and Cabbage-palm as long-standing self-seeders in this famous 32-acre garden, owners Alan Gray and Graham Robeson have also noticed the following recently starting to self-seed strongly: Eucalyptus spp. (Gum), Phytolacca spp. (Pokeweed), Pittosporum spp. (Pittosporum), Trachycarpus fortunei (Chusan Palm).

Private gardens

Chestnut Farm, West Beckham. Owner (with husband John) Judy Wilson reports the following as seeding readily in this three-acre NGS garden. Bulbs: Acis antumnalis (Autumn Snowflake), Camassia spp. (Quamash), Cyclamen coum (Eastern Sowbread), Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica (Lebanon Striped Squill), Scilla bithynica (Turkish Squill). Herbaceous plants: Nonea lutea (Yellow Monkswort), Pratia pedunculata (Blue Lawn-lobelia) (planted in one small pot a few years ago and now covers a large area of

ADVENTIVES & ALIENS: Increased setting of viable seeds by Norfolk garden plants

lawn), Silene indica var. fimbriata (Indian Campion). Shrubs,trees: Euphorbia mellifera (Honey Spurge), Pittosporum tenuifolium (Kohuhu), Bay.

Brackley , North Walsham. Owner Lionel Ponder reports from this exceptional half-acre plantsman’s garden that the following have selfseeded prolifically there for the last twenty years: Honey Spurge, Galactites tomentosus (Mediterranean Thistle), Paeonia lutea (Ludlow’s Tree Paeony), Chusan Palm, Vestia foetida (Chilean Box Thorn). Arum italicum (Italian Lords-and-Ladies) also appears to self-seed unusually freely at Brackley, as does Giant Viper’s-bugloss.

Holly House, Thursford Green. AbrahamIsaac-Jacob grew harmlessly in NFG member/ plantsman Tim Doncaster’s garden for over ten years – slowly expanding vegetatively. However, some eight years ago it began to self-seed, and has since become an invasive plant there (Eric Clement also commented that it has also been self-seeding in his garden in Gosport, Hampshire for about seven years). Tim also notes Salvia tachiei (Indigo Woodland Sage) as self-seeding freely; and Laurustinus as now self-seeding prolifically in a friend’s garden at Sculthorpe.

Concluding thoughts

Plant Alert taxa? It is clear that an increasing number of alien ornamental taxa have become self-seeders in Norfolk, with many other species potentially capable of (a) crossing the physiological threshold into fertility, and (b) jumping the physical threshold of the garden fence to germinate in recordable places. The BSBI’s Plant Alert project seeks feedback from members and others on the first non-recordable type (i.e. self-seeders still within gardens), as some may become the troublesome weeds of the future. However, interestingly, there is almost no overlap between current Plant Alert taxa of concern and the plants discussed in this article, so it seems likely that the majority of the latter won’t become widespread weeds (except, as said, within certain gardens).

Why not outside the garden? Why do some taxa, which self-seed prolifically within certain

gardens, seem not to spread outside them? Many of the taxa noted in section B above are rarely or never seen self-sown in recordable locations in Norfolk (Plant Alert can perhaps take heart from this).

Why is this plant seeding in X garden but not in Y or Z? It is striking how different the increasingly fertile phenomenon is in different gardens/estates. One would expect there to be a considerable number of shared taxa between wellstocked properties; but instead – though there is some overlap – each garden also seems to feature its own suite of quite unusual and distinctive new (and old) self-seeders.

What can we expect next? We will certainly want to keep an eye on the ‘newly fertile aliens’ phenomenon, as it seems likely to continue if climate warming does. In addition, as well as being of general botanical interest, maybe new self-seeders will start to actively change our landscapes – creating an ever more warm-temperate/sub-tropical ambience on our unmanaged spaces. So, instead of boring old Buddleia, will we perhaps soon find Magnolia and Chusan-palm joining Cabbage-palm and Giant Viper’s-bugloss in beautifying our waste corners? Oh Brave New Flora!

Ackowledgements

Many thanks to NFG members Enid Barrie, Mike Crewe, Tim Doncaster, Mary Ghullam, Bob Leaney, and Jo Parmenter for help, comments, photos, and additional information. Mark Webster for showing me self-seeding at Sheringham Park. Jaime Blake for writing in detail about his Bressingham Gardens experiences.

For information about self-seeding in their gardens: Alan Gray and Graham Robeson, East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens; Judy Wilson, Chestnut Farm; Lionel Ponder, Brackley. Thanks also to Eric Clement for his comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Suki Pryce

Norfolk Flora Group member

sukipryce@hotmail.co.uk

Notobasis

syriaca (L.) Cass. (Syrian Thistle) in v.c. 5 (S. Somerset)

SIMON J. LEACH

On17 July last year I was on an early-evening family stroll after another day of sweltering heat. It was one of our regular routes, along a public footpath crossing a weedy barley field near Taunton (v.c. 5, S. Somerset), on the edge of the Blackdown Hills, roughly midway between the villages of Pitminster and Blagdon Hill (ST216187). In previous years I had seen both Kickxia spuria (Round-leaved Fluellen) and K. elatine (Sharp-leaved Fluellen) in this field, and now I noticed several plants of Vicia villosa (Fodder Vetch) – to date, its only known site in the Taunton area. I paused to take a closer look.

Other members of the group – none of them botanists, and two of them dogs – were already some way ahead when my eye was caught by a large, rather striking and very prickly thistle growing right next to the path and standing well proud of the crop. There were two of them, and the leaves were nicely ‘marbled’, especially the basal ones, in a fashion reminiscent of Silybum marinum (Milk Thistle). The flowerheads, though, were quite unlike that species. As the others disappeared into the wood at the far end of the field I quickly grabbed some photos of the mystery thistle on my phone. And then, while hurrying to catch up I noted one more plant about 20 metres farther along the path – so three in all.

On getting home I realised I had no idea what these thistles could be. They didn’t seem to match anything in my Floras. Use of image recognition technology on my phone threw up the possibility that they might be Notobasis syriaca (Syrian Thistle), a species I had never even heard of before. This identification was later confirmed by the national ‘thistle Referee’ Tim Rayner, who had seen it in Sicily in 1997, and by Jeanne Webb and David Pearman who were both familiar with the species from holidays abroad.

N. syriaca is an annual of ‘cultivated ground and dry waste places’ (Flora Europaea Vol. 4, 1976). Its

world distribution is centred on the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, from the Canary Islands, Madeira, Morocco and Portugal east to Egypt, Iran and Azerbaijan. It isn’t mentioned in any of the standard guides to the British flora – nothing, for example in CTW (1962), Sell & Murrell (2006) or Stace (2019) – and there are no records for it on the BSBI Distribution Database. However, in Clement & Foster (1994) N. syriaca is listed as a rare ‘grain casual’ with ‘no modern records’. In the rest of northern Europe it is known to occur only as a rare adventive, with online searches suggesting that most records are of plants in the vicinity of grain stores.

Regarding any British records, David Pearman very kindly did some digging around and found old records of N. syriaca from four, possibly five,

Notobasis syriaca, discovered in Somerset during the summer heatwave of 2022. Photographs by the author.

& ALIENS: Notobasis syriaca (L.) Cass. (Syrian Thistle) in v.c. 5

vice-counties. There are several records from Leith Docks and Slateford, Edinburgh (v.c. 83) in 1904, 1905 and 1907, presumably arriving, at least at the docks, with imported grain. Similarly, he located a 1907 record from ‘Hirst’s Malt Kiln’ in Mirfield, north-east of Huddersfield (v.c. 63); this is seemingly missing from the Yorkshire Floras, although there is an herbarium sheet of it (collected by P. F. Lee) in BM. There are also several records of N. syriaca from the 1930s: one from Ashton, Bristol (v.c. 6) by C. and N.Y. Sandwith in 1937; and possibly two from Burton-on-Trent in 1937–38, with one of them supported by a specimen in OXF collected on 31 August 1938 by R.C.L. Burges and J.E.G. Chapple. So, unless there are more recent records yet to be discovered, it seems that this new v.c. 5 record may be the first in Britain for 84 years.

I made a return visit to the site on 25 July with Steve Parker. With binoculars we scoured the crop from the field edge and found two more plants. A search of neighbouring arable drew a blank, so we concluded that there were probably just the five plants in this one field. Wearing gardening gloves and armed with secateurs, a small voucher specimen was obtained, comprising two flowering shoots, two stem leaves and one basal leaf. N. syriaca is a tough plant and very ‘three-dimensional’, so pressing the voucher was quite a challenge; but it dried well in the press and has kept much of its colour. This specimen is to be lodged in the Taunton herbarium (TTN), under the care of the South West Heritage Trust.

The barley crop was harvested in August, the stubble being left to overwinter. It will be interesting to see how the field is managed in the next few years and whether or not N. syriaca makes another appearance. We will certainly be watching out for it.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to David Pearman for delving into the old records, such as they are, and to David, Tim Rayner and Jeanne Webb for confirming the identification. Jeanne’s husband Tim took some seed from one of the plants and is hoping to grow it on in cultivation.

References

Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. & Warburg, E.F. 1962. Flora of the British Isles (2nd edn). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Clement, E.J. & Foster, M.C. 1994. Alien Plants of the British Isles. Botanical Society of the British Isles, London.

Sell, P. & Murrell, G. 2006. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 4 Campanulaceae–Asteraceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Simon J. Leach

15 Trinity Street, Taunton, TA1 3JG simonleach@phonecoop.coop

Close-up of a flowerhead.

Pressed material, ready for mounting and depositing in the herbarium in Taunton (TTN).

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INDEX TO BSBI NEWS

An index to BSBI News 131–140 will soon be available as a downloadable pdf on the publications section of the BSBI website – bsbi. org/publications/archive/bsbi-news-archive. Please contact me if you would like to obtain a printed copy of this or previous indices; only a limited number of copies will be available.

The Plant Atlas was launched to great fanfare in March, with a series of online and face-to-face events. Many of the talks from the various launches were recorded and can be viewed on the Plant Atlas playlist on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/playlis t?list=PL1PYIj03XG4AF8ezbMkYRBKqRVXEghrAF.

Three summary reports were published: one for Britain, a Welsh language version for Wales and a separate dual-language report for Ireland. You can download the summary reports, or view them on a Screen Reader, via links on the Plant Atlas 2020 webpage, where you can also click through to the Plant Atlas Q&A and to a summary of the media coverage we attracted – clips from TV and radio interviews, and articles in newspapers and magazines: www.bsbi.org/plant-atlas-2020.

The 50% members’ discount has now ended but any member who has not yet purchased a print copy of the Plant Atlas can still claim a 30% discount – you can also claim a 30% discount if you’d like to buy the Atlas as an eBook. Follow the links on the passwordprotected members’ area of the BSBI website to order your copy: www.bsbi.org/order-plantatlas-2020. If you’ve forgotten your password, please email enquiries@bsbi.org

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NEW YEAR PLANT HUNT 2023: SUMMARY OF RESULTS

The BSBI’s twelfth New Year Plant Hunt (NYPH) took place between Saturday 31 December 2022 and Tuesday 3 January 2023. It attracted 1,691 volunteers who used smartphones and an online recording form to submit lists of native and nonnative plants they found in bloom in the wild during a three-hour walk at locations throughout Britain and Ireland. In total, 1,002 lists were submitted, comprising 10,199 records of 477 plant species in bloom. This total excludes 37 lists where, despite assiduous searching at altitude and/or in inclement weather, Hunts yielded no records of plants in flower.

Full breakdowns and analyses of results from this and previous years’ Hunts, along with the methodology, press coverage, etc. can be found at bsbi.org/new-year-plant-hunt. You can also visit the NYPH micro-site at nyph.bsbi.org where you will find an interactive map – clicking on a marker will bring up a list of the species recorded at that location. The micro-site also features a Results page where you can see at a glance the Top 20 Longest Lists and Most frequently Recorded Taxa.

The aim of this article, however, is to look at the differences and similarities between 2023’s results and those of previous years, and to consider what the underlying reasons might be.

Similarities to previous years

In 2023, as in previous years, more species were flowering late (57%) rather than early (22%), as opposed to 21% which would either be expected to flower at New Year or are typical ‘all-year-rounders’. These proportions of species flowering early, late or as expected were broadly similar to previous years, suggesting that the majority of plant species flowering out of season are ‘autumn stragglers’ that continue to flower in the winter.

What was different – and why?

The most striking differences were:

• the lower number of records received: 10,199 records compared to 20,612 records in 2022, a decrease of 50.5%;

• there were fewer species recorded in bloom: 477 compared to 669 in 2022, a 28% decline and our lowest total since 2015;

• 37 null lists were submitted: the highest number yet and striking compared to 2022, when we received only six.

Although participation was down compared to last year, with 1,691 participants rather than 1,895 (a decrease of 10.8%), and fewer lists submitted (1,002 compared to 1,256, a decrease of 20%), this cannot explain the lower total numbers of both records submitted and species in bloom. The most likely answer is the cold weather experienced in the month preceding the hunt. Although there was a thaw in

many parts of Britain and Ireland shortly before the 2023 New Year period, this was preceded by severe frosts in early December, which saw the coldest winter since 2010, and many areas experienced cold, wet weather at New Year. This contrasts with temperatures leading up to both the 2022 New Year Plant Hunt, which were only 1.1 degrees above average, and the 2021 Hunt, when temperatures were 2.7 degrees above average and the highest number of species in bloom (710) was recorded. This accounts for a sixfold rise in the number of null lists; the many emails received during the Hunt from regular participants revisiting their usual routes and reporting that they were only finding around half as many species as usual; and messages from some would-be participants unable to get out hunting at all due to inclement weather.

On examining the Top Twenty Longest Lists on the NYPH website, and comparing them against Longest Lists from previous years, we find that 71 species were spotted in Swanage by the same recorder following the same route as in 2022, when 107 species were recorded; 56 species were spotted in Bath by recorders who found 92 species there last year. This year’s longest list was of 77 species in Cornwall – the milder south and coastal areas of Britain and Ireland tend to yield the longest lists –but in 2022, eight lists were submitted containing more than 77 species.

How about the plants?

Since the Hunt began, the four species most frequently recorded in flower have always been Daisy (Bellis perennis), Dandelion (Taraxacum agg.), Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) and Annual Meadowgrass (Poa annua), all natives but this year for the first time Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum), an archaeophyte (non-native plant introduced before 1500), replaced Annual Meadow-grass in the top four. Sun Spurge (Euphorbia helioscopa), another archaeophyte which, like Red Dead-nettle, is usually found in fertile disturbed soils of gardens, waste ground and arable field margins, also entered the top twenty list of most frequent plants for the first time. The 2023 Hunt also saw the highest proportion (49%) of nonnative species recorded – 49% compared to between 36% and 38% in 2017 to 2022.

New Year Plant Hunt participants, Freemen’s Common (v.c. 55), (left to right): Jamie Hutchinson, Richard Mabbutt, Jan Skuriat, Richard Kelly, Florence & John Millett. Louise Marsh

In summary

While last winter’s weather impacted both plant hunters and the plants they were hunting, the NYPH data provided by our intrepid BSBI members and supporters are still crucial in helping us build up a clearer picture of how our wild and naturalised plants are responding to changes in autumn and winter weather patterns. So, if you are one of the thousands of people who have contributed to NYPH over the years, we’d like to say a huge thank you to you, and hope that you will take part in our thirteenth Hunt in January 2024 – watch out for details on the BSBI website.

Acknowledgments

BSBI would like to thank everyone who participated in the New Year Plant Hunt, particularly the six volunteers who worked alongside BSBI staff members on the Support Team: Ryan Clark and Billy Fullwood (BSBI Events & Communications Committee); Jo Parmenter (BSBI Science & Data Committee); Isabella Flowers, Lore Sturmy and Moira O’Donnell all helped with plant ID enquiries, entered data, answered emails and engaged with plant hunters on social media. Staff members Paul Green, Matt Harding, James Harding-Morris, Tom Humphrey and Sarah Woods also gave up their time over the New Year holiday to help on the Support Team; huge thanks to all of them.

Louise Marsh

BSBI AWARDS 2022

The award of Honorary Membership and the Presidents’ Award are only available to a small number of people doing really outstanding things for botany and the BSBI. We wanted to recognise that many others do exceptional things to support and enthuse their fellow botanists often on a more local basis. Thank you to members who have nominated fellow botanists for recognition in these new BSBI awards. After consideration by the Board’s Nominations Committee the following are recognised for their contributions to BSBI life under the two categories. They or a family member will receive a certificate and their name will be placed on the Awards page on the BSBI website.

An outstanding contribution to botany in your area (county, region or country)

Michael Philip nominated by Alison Rutherford

Michael is nominated for transforming botanical recording and field work in Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire in west central

Scotland. His botanical networks approach has built a considerable team of active botanical recorders. He is commended for his enthusiastic and friendly organisational and communication skills both in getting people active, getting them learning and in targeting their recording efforts. He is also producing newsletters to keep all in touch with what is found and achieved. He has willingly shared his approach more widely in BSBI.

Martyn Stead nominated by Delyth Williams

Martyn is nominated because of his sustained contribution of reliable and meticulous records over a long period in most of the North Wales vicecounties and to several recording groups in north Wales and NW England. He has made a particularly large contribution to recording in Denbighshire and Cheshire since 2000. Alongside this he is commended for his patient and enthusiastic support for learners and young professionals. He regularly supports the VCR in tutoring at learning days and has been instrumental in attracting new people to the recording groups.

Bryan Yorke nominated by Jon Dunn

Bryan is nominated as an inspirational naturalist who communicated his love of the flora of the English North West. He made an insightful study of the Epipactis species and hybrids on Hutton Roof where he annually monitored each plant and protected them from grazing. He is particularly nominated for his pioneering online presence. Using the media of blogs, Twitter and Facebook, Bryan put his daily diaries, illustrations, photography and even poetry online where others could see it and use it as a research resource. His blogs have had over 600k views. Bryan died suddenly in May 2022.

An outstanding contribution to British and Irish Botany

Fred Rumsey nominated by Nominations Awards and Governance Committee

Fred is nominated for his long standing contribution to research, publications and fieldwork on British and Irish botany. He is regarded as one of our top field botanists and co-authored the England Red List. He has published important studies on Hyacinthoides, Orobanchaceae and Euphrasia. He has co-authored BSBI handbooks on Euphrasia and Orobanche. He is a regular and popular speaker at BSBI meetings, able to communicate how genetic studies help (or hinder) field botanists. He regularly leads training meetings particularly on ferns. He is BSBI Referee for a number of genera. He has also published work on the Flora of Macaronesia.

We are now happy to receive awards through 2023 with the deadline for receipt of these being 31 December. More details and nomination forms are available at bsbi.org/nominations-awards.

Chris Miles Chair BSBI Board

PANEL OF REFEREES AND SPECIALISTS: UPDATES AND AMENDMENTS

Responsibilities

Conifers: Matt Parratt is stepping down as joint Referee.

Veronica agrestis/polita: Michael Wilcox.

Luzula: Graeme Kay is stepping down as Referee.

Brachypodium: Michael Wilcox.

Phleum pratense/bertolonii: Michael Wilcox.

Elymus: Michael Wilcox.

Contact details

Crawley, Prof Mick – correct email address is m.crawley@imperial.ac.uk.

O’Reilly, John – full and correct address is Helleborines, 3 Station Cottages, Lambley, Northumberland, CA8 7LL.

Paul, Alison – correct email address is a.paul@nhm. ac.uk

PANEL OF VCRS England

North Somerset (v.c. 6) has lost a leading botanical light with the untimely death of Liz McDonnell in November last year. Steve Parker gave a wonderful eulogy on behalf of her many botanical friends in the county and beyond. Liz was a fun, talented, hardworking and warm-hearted person, and is missed by all who knew her. In South Hampshire (v.c. 11), I’m very pleased to report that Tristan Norton joins Martin Rand as joint VCR for the county. Martin is currently seeking a third joint VCR to join him and Tristan, so if you live in the county and are interested in the role, please do get in touch. After a number of years acting as a conduit between the Sussex Botanical Recording Society and BSBI, I’m please to say that Nevil Hutchinson has accepted the role of VCR for East Sussex (v.c. 14), a position that has been vacant since 2017. And in the Channel Islands, Anne Haden, who continues to do

such a sterling job as VCR for Jersey, has volunteered to take on the role for Sark also, following the retirement of Susan Synott. In North Devon (v.c. 4), Bob Kirby is now the main point of contact, with Bob Hodgson still in post, but gradually handing over duties after 22 very productive years in post.

There remain vacancies for West Sussex, Essex, Surrey and Buckinghamshire. John Hawksford is also seeking a joint recorder for Staffordshire. If you wish to find out more about the role of a VCR, please email me at the address below. Following the completion of the atlas project, now is perhaps the perfect opportunity to get involved at a more leisurely pace!

Scotland

We are delighted to welcome Sarah White and Sarah Cowan as newly appointed joint VCRs for Kirkcudbrightshire (v.c. 73) and the Clyde Islands (v.c. 100) respectively, and Jon Dunn as VCR for Shetland (v.c. 112) following Paul Harvey’s retirement. We wish Paul all the best and thank him for his brilliant work over the years. After 30 years as VCRs for Kintyre (v.c. 101), Dave & Pat Batty have given notice of retirement when a successor can be found, so if you are interested in botanising amongst some of the most spectacular scenery that our area has to offer, please contact Matt Harding. It is possible Gordon Rothero might argue with that last statement, and is seeking a joint Recorder for breathtaking (literally, at times) Argyll (v.c. 98).

Wales

We’re very pleased to welcome Fiona Gomersall as joint Recorder for Montgomeryshire, alongside Kate Thorne.

Ireland

George Smith has joined Con Breen as a joint VCR for Westmeath (v.c. H23). George will certainly be in good hands – Con has been the Recorder for the county since 1982, and must know it back to front! In County Louth (v.c. H31), Cliona Byrne has retired, and we thank her very much for her hard work in the area over the years. The Atlas completed, Robert Northridge has reverted his focus to one county –Fermanagh (v.c. H33) – after heroically recording in County Cavan (v.c. H30) for the last six years, and so there is currently a vacancy for a new VCR here. And Tanya Slattery is seeking a Recorder to join her in County Limerick (v.c. H28). Please get in touch with Paul Green for more details.

Pete Stroh peter.stroh@bsbi.org

BRITISH & IRISH BOTANY 5.1

The first issue of the 2023 volume of British & Irish Botany, BSBI’s open access, online scientific journal, was published in February. You can view or download the papers free of charge, as well as previous issues and guidelines for submissions, from the B&IB website: britishandirishbotany.org/index. php/bib. You can also phone us on 07725 862 957 to discuss a proposal.

Ian Denholm & Louise Marsh bib@bsbi.org

British & Irish Botany Vol. 5 No.1 (2023)

Phytosociology informs the conservation of species-rich meadows in hydrologically dynamic habitats: an example from British floodplains in a wider European context – Michael Prosser, Hilary Wallace, David Gowing

Changes to the coastal flora of Wirral, Merseyside (v.c. 58) – Eric F. Greenwood

First record of the pan-tropical Yellow Water

Pea Vigna luteola (Fabaceae) seed from a NW European shore – Dan Minchin, Rosemary Hill, Gwilym Lewis

BOTANICAL NOTES

SAGINA FILICAULIS (SLENDER PEARLWORT) – A SEED VARIANT

Sagina filicaulis Jord. (Slender Pearlwort) is a widespread and common species particularly on open ground. It can be confused with S. apetala Ard. (Annual Pearlwort), which is distinct from S. filicaulis A quick search of the internet (e.g. Herbaria United) shows that many herbarium specimens need updating from S. apetala sensu lato to the respective species. Within S. filicaulis, there appears to be two seed types, both of which seem to be frequent to common (having seen both from here, v.c. 63 to v.c. 99, in Dunbarton). One of the seed types was named in the past as ‘var. echinosperma Thell.’. This note suggests it should be recorded and maybe it can be reinstated in time (at an appropriate rank).

Many S. filicaulis plants have seeds with low, relatively smooth, cells on the surface; however, there is a variant which has seeds with distinct spinose papillae (see photographs). These are generally lumped within S. filicaulis as it is not listed as being specific within any of the growth forms

Achene dispersal in Asteraceae with specific reference to British and Irish Centaurea – Chris A. Skilbeck

Edward Lhwyd and the plants listed from Glamorgan in Camden’s Britannia – Christopher D. Preston, David A. Pearman

Can the distribution patterns of plants used by humans as food give clues as to whether they are native or introduced? – Michael Braithwaite

A botanical name for a well-known Hylotelephium (Crassulaceae) hybrid – Julian M. H. Shaw, Ray Stephenson

Pedicel colour does not separate Epipactis dunensis (Dune Helleborine) from E. ‘sancta’ (Lindisfarne Helleborine) (Orchidaceae) – John Richards

BSBI YEARBOOK – ADDENDUM

Please add Sharon Pilkington and Ann Sankey to the list of Vice-county Recorders Emeritus (p. 5). We regret the unfortunate omission.

David Pearman

named as variants (see general text in Sell & Murrell [2018]). The variants mentioned in the latter could be genetically (as they are self-pollinating) and or environmentally induced and may form a continuum, and thus need further study.

Sagina filicaulis (Slender Pearlwort), ‘smooth’ seeds (left) and ‘spiny’ seeds (right).

In the past ‘var. echinosperma’, was named when the species was under S. ciliata Fr. As the same variant, it was combined under S. apetala but this was then split into the two species we know today (Stace, 2019). So far it appears that the variant only occurs in S. filicaulis; however the original specimen of Thellung would have to be checked to see if it is S. apetala or S. filicaulis [enquiries have been made but there has been no response]. In the meantime, it would be worth recording both seed variants to see how frequent each seed type is in Britain & Ireland. They could be recorded in the comments section for the BSBI Database as ‘spiny seeds – echinosperma’ or ‘smooth seeds – filicaulis’ [please check it is S. filicaulis or send a specimen(s) for confirmation]. Elsewhere, where it appears to be introduced, e.g. North America, they list S. apetala as the introduced taxon. However, from the description (floranorthamerica.org/Sagina_apetala) it is S. filicaulis (both seed variants) that is the weedy plant there, and no doubt in many other places.

While both species appear to be similarly widespread S. filicaulis appears to be more common. S. apetala records need checking. This would require specimens of both species being collected with mature seeds. I would welcome specimens of both species to check the seed type. Collect several if possible, with details, each in separate small plastic bags (e.g. small ‘money bags’) for fresh material, but if you intend to collect (as many as you like) over the season, pressed material would be welcome also. In the meantime I will make further inquiries into the original specimen, etc.

I would also welcome live material of other Sagina taxa with mature seeds, particularly some of the perennials such as S. subulata (Heath Pearlwort) and S. nodosa (Knotted Pearlwort), which is in part to look at seed sculpturing. I would also be grateful if anyone knows anywhere or anyone that is still growing S. procumbens ‘Boydii’, which seems virtually extinct in cultivation (in Britain) these days as I have been unable to source it at all. The referee for Sagina (N. Jardine) is fully aware of this interest.

References

Sell, P.D. & Murrell, G. 2018. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 1: Lycopodiaceae–Salicaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Michael Wilcox

43 Roundwood Glen, Greengates, Bradford, BD10 0HW

michaelpw22@hotmail.com

GREEN-FLOWERED FORM OF SCROPHULARIA NODOSA (COMMON FIGWORT)

In September 2022, I noticed a figwort with green flowers growing inside a soft fruit cage on a neighbour’s allotment in Burton-in-Kendal, Cumbria (SD529763) (v.c. 69). My initial assessment was that it might be a green-flowered variety of Scrophularia scorodonia var. viridifolia (Balm-leaved Figwort) as reported by Pullen (2013) from south Devon. This seemed very unlikely though, given its rarity and predominantly south-westerly British distribution.

I consulted Kevin Walker, Mike Porter and David Pearman and the latter referred my query to Ian Bennallick. Ian confirmed that it was probably not S. scorodonia as the leaves of my specimen were glabrous and the leaves of S. scorodonia are downy and covered in hairs (see Stace, 2019). Ian concluded that the specimen was likely to be a green-flowered form of Scrophularia nodosa (Common Figwort). It is also worth noting that S. nodosa and S. scorodonia both have stalked glandular hairs in the inflorescence (Stace, 2019).

Specimen of green-flowered Scrophularia nodosa (Common Figwort) with green corollas.

Richard Jefferson

Stace (2019), mentions that the corolla of both S. nodosa and S. auriculata (Water Figwort) can be greenish. The description of S. nodosa in Sell and Murrell (2009) (p. 450) also states that the corolla may rarely have greenish lips.

Mike Wilcox informs me that the green-flowered form has a validly published name, S. nodosa var. bobartii Pryor, and it has been recorded elsewhere, e.g., Bradford, (v.c. 63), 2000 by B.A. Tregale & M. Wilcox. He also mentions it has been recorded in Ireland (see irishwildflowers.ie/pages/678a.html) but overall, it is probably recorded rather rarely.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the botanists mentioned above for help in tracking down the identity of the figwort, especially Ian Bennallick. Thanks also to Mike Wilcox, Clive Stace and David Pearman for researching the published varietal name.

References

Sell, P. & Murrell, G. 2009. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 3: Mimosaceae–Lentibulariaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk. Pullen, P. 2013. Scrophularia scorodonia var. viridiflora (Balm-leaved figwort). BSBI News 124: 30–31.

Richard Jefferson Bell Cottage, Cocking Yard, Burton-in-Kendal, LA6 1LZ rjeffegj@sky.com

CHECK ON YOUR ALIEN PYRUS AND SEDUM

Jean-Marc Tison, main author of the magnificent Flora Gallica (2014), who is now engaged in preparing the second edition, recently wrote to me about the identity of two aliens recorded in France, asking me to check the situation in Britain.

Pyrus

The common silver-leaved garden shrub, usually found as a ‘weeping’ cultivar, is normally identified as Pyrus salicifolia, from the Caucasus, but French material appears to be P. elaeagrifolia, from SE Europe and W Asia. In P. salicifolia the styles are glabrous, whereas in S. elaeagrifolia they are densely hairy. Perhaps there are hybrids in cultivation. In French gardens the plant is usually grafted on to a pear rootstock, so specimens recorded in the wild are likely to be all or mainly planted rather than escapes.

Sedum

The attractive little stonecrop known as Sedum hispanicum (as, for example, in Matthew Berry’s Adventives & Aliens News 19, 21 & 28) comes from S.E. Europe (not Spain!). But this plant is an annual with 6–7 petals, whereas the wild alien plants in France are mat-forming perennials with 5 petals, which identifies it as S. pallidum, from the Caucasus. I have not examined British wild material, but the plant that grows very well in my garden was obtained as S. hispanicum although its characters show it to be S. pallidum. Looking at the advertisements for this plant on the web it is obvious that the two are badly mixed up. Most modern garden sources are of the cultivar ‘Blue Carpet’, which can be found under both species’ names.

Which of the above occur in the wild in Britain?

Clive Stace cstace@btinternet.com

LEPIDIUM DIDYMUM (LESSER SWINE-CRESS) – TWO VARIANTS

Though Lepidium didymum (Lesser Swine-cress) is described as glabrous or sparsely hairy, most of the time I have only seen hairy-stemmed plants. However, in the last 5–10 years I have also noticed the distinctly glabrous form which appears to grow true (see photographs opposite)

One site near here in Bradford has plants that have been coming up over the last 4–5 years and these are always glabrous (and thus this appears to be a genetic trait). I have seen this variant at other sites too and in the absence of any hairy-stemmed plants. The hispid hairy variant can be found in this area as well, but so far I have not seen them growing together. The type specimen of Lepidium didymum (in LINN) is a hispid hairy plant. The taxonomy is complicated by differing descriptions; however, the designated type is hairy, and thus would remain ‘var. didymum’; the glabrous form would need a holotype and could be named ‘var. glabrum’.

In the meantime it would be useful for recorders to record plants as having glabrous or hairy stems. Maybe when recording, make a note in the comments section; ‘glabrum’ or ‘didymum’ as a way of noting them being glabrous or hairy respectively.

Michael Wilcox

43 Roundwood Glen, Greengates, Bradford, BD10 0HW

michaelpw22@hotmail.com

GALIUM SPECIES WANTED

Galium palustre has several chromosome numbers (2n=24, 48, 96, 144). These are probably autopolyploids and as in Hancock (1942) in combination with morphology the ploidy might be possible to work out from the size of the stomata and each type may relate (relatively) to particular habitat requirements. They are split into two subspecies in Stace (2019) but into three in Sell & Murrell (2006). Galium album agg. has been counted as 2n=44 in the UK (presumably natural sites) and thus is placed in this group. However, there is an increasing amount of introduced material on road verges, etc. Some of the vegetative leaves and branch orientation suggest some could belong to G. mollugo agg. (2n=22). Again, stomatal size may help in determining if they are diploids. Material from native sites and where it appears to have been introduced would be welcome.

I would welcome material of the taxa mentioned and of other species, e.g. G. uliginosum – which also has at least two chromosome races – and G. saxatile/ sterneri to look for diploid and tetraploid of the latter sp., potential hybrids and G. saxatile with some leaf margin prickle features of G. sterneri. Specimens of Galium aparine ssp. agreste would also be most welcome. For the larger taxa, a decent stem with

some branching and partly in flower and fruit where possible is required; fresh material preferred (though it can be folded up to ease posting), and good details of location, etc.

References

Hancock, B.L. 1942. Cytological and ecological notes on some species of Galium L. Em. Scop. The New Phytologist 41(1): 70–78.

Sell, P.D. & Murrell, G. 2006. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 4: Campanulaceae–Asteraceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Stace, C.A. 2019. New Flora of the British Isles (4th edn). C & M Floristics, Middlewood Green, Suffolk.

Michael Wilcox

43 Roundwood Glen, Greengates, Bradford, BD10 0HW

michaelpw22@hotmail.com

I am always happy to receive short notes on botanical subjects as well as requests for information or specimens. These are useful as space-fillers or, as in this issue, will go into their own section.

John Norton (Editor) john.norton@bsbi.org

Lepidium didymum, glabrous form, ‘glabrum’ (left) and hairy form ‘didymum’ (right). Michael Wilcox

COUNTRY ROUNDUPS

Compiled by Pete Stroh peter.stroh@bsbi.org

ENGLAND

After 20 years of intensive fieldwork resulting in close to 30 million records, followed by one pandemic and three years of checking maps, analysing data, drafting and editing species accounts, and a thousand-and-one other tasks that come with a venture of this sort, Plant Atlas 2020 has been published. Although the offer of a 50% discount to BSBI members finished at the end of March, the two-volume book can still be purchased with a 30% discount to BSBI members (see bsbi.org/ atlas-2020). The online atlas, which contains stacks of additional information, charts and photo galleries, is now also available to view online at bsbi.org/plantatlas-2020. The main results of the survey, which as you might expect do not make particularly happy reading, are presented in two summary reports (one for Britain, one for Ireland) which can be accessed via links on the home page of the online atlas. May I take this opportunity to again thank you very much for your time and efforts during the atlas project.

Plant Atlas 2020 is the culmination of the most comprehensive survey undertaken of the British and Irish flora, but that doesn’t mean we now know the location of each plant of every species. It is simply not possible to cover every square metre of ground. Even if it were, a species absent at the time of a field visit might have viable seeds lurking

below, waiting for just the right conditions to emerge; or it could have been missed simply because it was the wrong time of year –Ficaria verna (Lesser Celandine) in August springs to mind. And, perhaps contrary to popular belief, some plants do also tend to move around. Just because it wasn’t there last year doesn’t mean it won’t be there now! It would be a fairly dull world if we

thought we knew it all. Happily, there are a number of nice finds to report since the last roundup – all of them missing from Plant Atlas 2020, of course – and some of them really quite notable.

One place they really have been covering every square metre – 321,600 of them so far – is Teesdale, where John O’Reilly and volunteers have been methodically recording for

Margaret Bradshaw’s excellent ‘Teesdale Special Flora’ project (see teesdalespecialflora.uk). An exciting recent find has been of two robust plants of Betula nana (Dwarf Birch) on Cronkley Fell. This area is a mecca for botanists, but as can happen in such special places, most visit armed with a ready-made checklist of species to relocate, or twitch. As a slow-growing shrub, the Dwarf Birch must have been there for some considerable time – recent ‘guerrilla’ planting having been ruled out. It is known from only a handful of sites in England, where it reaches the southern limits of its global range; three in South Northumberland and two in Teesdale (Widdybank Fell, and now Cronkley Fell). If you want to read more about the Teesdale flora, then you’re in luck as a book titled Teesdale’s Special Flora (Bradshaw, 2023) has just been published, containing everything you will ever need to know about this amazing place (until, that is, John or others find more new populations of other rare species!).

the island, but following the realisation that this small fern can happily grow under foliage such as Dactylis glomerata (Cock’sfoot), recent searches have produced a further eight sites, and Anne suspects that there are more locations waiting to be discovered.

While not technically in England, but sticking with good news stories, Anne Haden reports that the delightful Anogramma leptophylla (Jersey Fern) is flourishing. Twelve years ago, only five sites were known on

As analysis for the atlas has shown, many species of lowland England continue to have a tough time of it, so it was especially pleasing to hear of Steve Woodward’s find of Lycopodium clavatum (Stag’s-horn Clubmoss) in Leicestershire. Now vanishingly rare in southern England, it was last recorded from the county in 1973. The plants were found during a Leicestershire Naturalists’ Club survey in 2022 in the surprisingly rugged Charnwood Forest, growing on a mossy bank near to the summit of Beacon Hill, where it was last seen in 1902. Was it there all along, waiting to be rediscovered for over a century, or might it have emerged recently through the germination of long-buried spores?

As an annual sedge, the nationally rare Cyperus fuscus (Brown Galingale) requires grazing and periodic disturbance to persist in its moist, open sites, all of which are located within SSSIs. Or so we thought, until Andy McVeigh and Julia Carey found a new location in 2022 on private land in Buckinghamshire, where over a hundred plants were counted. The sedge kept good company, growing with Eleocharis acicularis (Needle Spike-rush), Persicaria minor (Small Waterpepper), Riccia cavernosa (Cavernous Crystalwort) and perhaps as many as 2,000 plants of Lythrum hyssopifolia (Grasspoly). As Andy commented, a good day! The closest known location for Brown Galingale is in neighbouring Berkshire, and it is likely that propagules found their way to this new site via wildfowl. Inspired by Andy’s amazing find, Fred Rumsey and Helena Crouch visited a known location for the species in the Gordano valley (v.c. 6, N. Somerset), and corroborated Andy’s hunch that 2022 had been a ‘good year’ for this rare sedge, with 53 plants recorded (the most either had seen at this site), compared with

Betula nana (Dwarf Birch). Paul Sterry

Anogramma leptophylla (Jersey Fern). Fred Rumsey

Cyperus fuscus (Brown Galingale) Helena Crouch

just seven plants in 2021. Another local rarity of the site, Isolepis cernua (Slender Club-rush), was also seen in several spots – this too requires a combination of periodic disturbance and moist, open conditions. Helena and Fred speculated that the dry year had presented the Brown Galingale with more bare mud habitat, and an adjacent full ditch had helped to maintain suitable hydrological conditions. Assuming that a large proportion of plants at both sites went on to fruit, then the seed banks should be recharged for quite a while to come.

Also in Somerset, there have been further surprising Taraxacum (Dandelion) discoveries, including a first British locality outside Devon for the south-western European T. pseudomarklundii and a ‘first’ in SW England for the rare, and possibly native, T. latens. The Taraxacum flora of Somerset has been the subject of detailed study ever since a BSBI Dandelion Workshop there in 2016, with 171 species now recorded across the two vicecounties – almost three-quarters of the species described in the BSBI Field Handbook (Richards, 2021). A review of recent work, including an up-to-date checklist, can be found on the Somerset Rare Plant Group’s website (somersetrareplantsgroup.org. uk/dandelions/). This year’s Dandelion Workshop is based in Peterborough from 21–24 April, and will aim to visit a variety of habitats, including well-known species-rich limestone grasslands, flood meadows, country lanes and urban sites. The meeting is a great opportunity to fill in important gaps in species distributions and learn more about this specialist group of plants. For more information, contact John Richards (hightreesgarden@ btinternet.com).

References

Bradshaw, M.E. 2023. Teesdale’s Special Flora. Places, Plants and People. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Richards, A.J. 2021. Field Handbook to British and Irish Dandelions. BSBI Handbook No. 23. Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland, Durham.

Pete Stroh BSBI Scientific Officer & England Officer

WALES

Welsh botanists contributed 66 lists of flowering plants during the New Year Plant Hunt in early January 2023. The number of species in flower was lower than in previous years as elsewhere in Britain and Ireland, probably because of the cold spells in December 2022. The species seen were predominantly non-natives. In my own vicecounty of Monmouthshire (v.c. 35) one of the highlights, and a new species for many members of the local botany group, was Erodium moschatum (Musk Storksbill) in flower; this was prolific not only in a car park where first found in September 2022 but also along many nearby road verges in western Newport.

Most VCRs have little to report since the last Welsh roundup in BSBI News 152 as most local groups have not yet had meetings or had found nothing particularly newsworthy. However, the Anglesey Flora Group enjoyed their first meeting of 2023 on 23 February around Menai Bridge. This included monitoring the small population of Daphne laureola (Spurgelaurel) on the shrubby banks above the Menai Strait. The meeting added 28 taxa to the monad list, including Aucuba

japonica (Spotted-laurel) and Bergenia × schmidtii (Ciliate Elephant-ears) as new hectad records, and Muehlenbeckia complexa (Wireplant) spreading from an abandoned garden as a first county record.

Kate Thorne, joint VCR for Montgomeryshire (v.c. 47), also reported that she and colleagues have at last received the 2014 monitoring data for the Montgomery Canal and have been getting the records into the database. Although there is a 2022 set (not fully collated yet) they were able to see, from their own recorders’ records and several sets of monitoring records over the years, that Luronium natans (Floating Water-plantain) for which the canal is designated as a SAC,

Luronium natans (Floating Waterplantain). Richard Lansdown

is managing to hold its own, although there are sections of the canal with heavy infestation of Stratiotes aloides (Water-soldier). This species first appeared in the canal in the late 1990s. Other uncommon species, for example Potamogeton compressus (Grass-wrack Pondweed) and other pondweeds, do not appear to be doing so well, but the canal remains a wonderful wildlife corridor for many fauna species, e.g. Grass Snake, fish and dragonflies. There are currently plans and funds to make the canal navigable for motor boats, and a number of botanists from Shropshire and Montgomeryshire, and other conservationists, are now part of a ‘Canal Conservation Voice group’ hoping to get a satisfactory solution out of all this that will safeguard the canal’s diversity.Montgomery has also just acquired a new county record from Richard Lansdown for Potamogeton × sparganiifolius, a hybrid between P. natans (Broad-leaved Pondweed) and P. gramineus (Variousleaved Pondweed) in the canal (September 2021) – Richard has placed a couple of specimens in the herbarium at the Natural History Museum.

In Breconshire (v.c. 42), Anne Griffiths wrote that time had been spent during the winter recording Taxus baccata (Yew) in churchyards, assessing whether they were Notable, Veteran, Ancient or Very Ancient. The only Very Ancient Yew is at Defynnog, with a circumference of approximately 11m; three of the other Yews are Ancient. Cedrus deodara (Deodar) was recorded for the first time in the county, even if obviously planted in a churchyard with veteran Yews. Deodar were introduced into Britain in 1831 and are native to the Western Himalayas.

Steve Chambers (v.c. 46), reports that the first vice-county record of 2023 was made on the very first day by the indefatigable Arthur Chater, who spotted a self-sown plant of Mauranthemum paludosum (Annual Marguerite) growing at the foot of a wall by Aberystwyth harbour. Species in the genus were formerly placed in Leucanthemum, and the fresh plant rather resembled a bushy, branched Oxeye daisy, but with softer matt green leaves and smaller capitula sporting much shorter (≤10 mm) ligules. Resident field botanists are an uncommon species in the county, so records provided by particularly observant holidaying ones are always welcome. In that vein, David Hawkins while visiting the central part of the county in summer 2022 reported an impressive number of interesting finds, including the first county record for the otherworldly-looking Eryngium planum (Blue Eryngo), a single plant of which he found on beach shingle on the foreshore near Aberaeron. The species has several named cultivars, including the compact and aptly named ‘Blue Hobbit’, which it seemed to match. David also found a plant of Ismelia carinata (Tricolour

Daisy), another colourful exotic with its psychedelically zoned ligules, and another first county record, in a field at the National Trust’s estate at Llanerchaeron, undoubtedly arising from a wildflower seed mix used on the field.

Following some drastic felling of trees and shrubs along footpaths in Kings Wood near Monmouth, near to an area renowned for Paris quadrifolia (Herb-Paris), Platanthera chlorantha (Greater Butterflyorchid), Neottia ovata (Common Twayblade) and other interesting species, Anne Griffiths and I are supplying the Natural Resources Wales forestry ecologist with detailed grid references of scarce plants in all their forest holdings to avoid any further inadvertent damage to plants of importance.

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention the sad death in January 2023 of Trevor Evans, aged 98, author of the 2007 Flora of Monmouthshire and a remarkable self-taught botanist (see his obituary in this issue, p. 80). He was VCR for Monmouthshire for 40 years until 2012. The vice-county has also lost another botanist, Chris Forster Brown.

Steph Tyler

Joint VCR for Monmouthshire (v.c. 35)

SCOTLAND

The publication of Plant Atlas 2020 was launched across Britain and Ireland in March 2023, with a Scotland-specific launch held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. We were joined by vice-county recorders, conservationists and policymakers from a wide range of Scottish organisations, and were delighted to welcome Lorna

Taxus baccata (Yew). Rob Still/ Chris Gibson

COUNTRY ROUNDUPS: Scotland

Slater MSP, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, to the event. This amazing project could not have been achieved without the efforts of BSBI members, and especially the tremendous VCR network, so a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all who contributed (and continue to do so)!

The 2022 annual reports by Scottish VCRs can be found in the latest issue of the BSBI Scottish Newsletter, illustrating the wealth of activity in Scotland – they are well worth a read. Just a few highlights (that were not covered in the last roundup) are included here.

In East Lothian (v.c. 82) Carolyn Hargest came across a large population of Calystegia soldanella (Sea Bindweed) in the dunes at Belhaven Bay near Dunbar. This was previously discovered there in 1982 – by me (IS)! I was a countryside ranger at the John Muir Country Park, my first job and my first botanising in Scotland.

Garden Edinburgh, already known to staff – its only locality in Midlothian. Elsewhere in Scotland it is known from only two coastal sites in the south-west.

In Roxburghshire (v.c. 80) a new colony of Gymnadenia densiflora (Marsh Fragrant-orchid), a local species in the vice-county, was discovered in unimproved damp grassland at Blakelaw, extending its known range significantly in south-east Scotland. Unfortunately, the only site in the county for Genista anglica (Petty Whin) was found to have been destroyed by a forestry scheme in 2022. The county report states that several good sites have been and continue to be subject to such a fate in the Scottish Borders, with the loss of much biodiversity. However, there is better news for Genista in Westerness (v.c. 97) where many new sites have been found on rocky knolls at Corrour, near its western limit in Scotland, following clearance of non-native conifers for peatland restoration.

The Ayrshire (v.c. 75) BSBI group met regularly during 2022, with locations chosen largely with the Scottish Hectad Rare Plants

Project (SHaRPP) in mind. Out of nine SHaRPP target species they only found one, the locally scarce Potamogeton alpinus (Red Pondweed) in Fisherton Loch, where it was previously recorded in 1996 by the Scottish Loch Survey team. However, there were plenty of other notable finds in the county, included two new sites for Bidens cernua (Nodding Bur-marigold) – at Dailly, found by joint VCRs Dave Lang and Gill Smart, and at Shewalton, found by Theo Loizou. Before these finds only three sites were known in Ayrshire for this wetland annual.

In August Theo spent a day in Glen Effnock, Angus (v.c. 90) with Lyn Jones and John Edgington, checking on known populations of Hammarbya paludosa (Bog Orchid) following concerns about its status. Happily, nearly all the known populations were relocated (76 plants in total) with no evidence of significant decline. However, a SHaRPP survey in a hectad near Arbroath failed to find any of the target species, supporting concerns expressed in the 2022 v.c. report for Angus about a general decline in plant

In Midlothian (v.c. 83) new VCR Sue Jury has been very busy since taking on the role in July. A surprising record was a large colony of Orobanche hederae (Ivy Broomrape) in the Royal Botanic

Calystegia soldanella (Sea Bindweed), Bellhaven Bay, Dunbar. Carolyn Hargest

Genista anglica (Petty Whin), Corrour, Ian Strachan

diversity along the coast, for which natural succession, intensive farming practices and climate change are cited as probable causes. Yet two good finds by Theo with Anne Burgess at Rumness, along the coast from Arbroath, bucked this trend: Crambe maritima (Sea-kale) and Crithmum maritimum (Rock Samphire), both new to this area and each only the second record for Angus.

Records were recently made available for Mid Perthshire (v.c. 88) by Ben Averis for the rare Lycopodium lagopus (Hare’s-foot Clubmoss). Three sub-populations were found in 2021 on remote ground on Corrievarkie Estate to the east of Loch Ericht, the first records for the county and the most southerly in Scotland to date. This increases the number of sites in Scotland from eight to nine, though undoubtedly more

She and Anne Burgess had a busy summer recording, including a hawkweed challenge from David McCosh. He asked them to look for Hieracium argentiforme (Sutherland Hawkweed) at Greenside on the dramatic coast to the east of MacDuff, where it was recorded in 1910. Amazingly they refound it, at its only known site in north-east Scotland. As its name suggests, this species occurs mainly in West Sutherland (v.c. 108) with very few records elsewhere.

populations await discovery in the central Highlands.

Flora Donald took over as VCR for Banffshire (v.c. 94) last April.

Mertensia maritima (Oysterplant) is surely one of our most striking but enigmatic native plants. Scotland, particularly the Northern Isles, is its stronghold in Britain and Ireland, where it typically lives in the harsh environment of coastal shingle, subjected to wild winter seas. Surprisingly perhaps, it is rare in the Outer Hebrides (v.c. 108), with only five known sites prior to 2021, the most recent records at any of these being from the 1980s. But an article just published in the Hebridean Naturalist (Smith et al., 2022) reports the exciting discovery of two new sites in

the last couple of years. In 2021 Patrick Hughes of NatureScot found a population on the west coast of Benbecula, not far from a previous site in Culla Bay; VCR Paul Smith visited the site with Steve Duffield last summer and recorded ten established plants forming several large patches, as well as seedlings nearby (see photo). Also last summer, Ben Morton-Clark found this species on Vatersay (south of Barra), from where there is a previous unlocalised and undated record. The authors speculate that these finds may herald a period when Mertensia will colonise suitable places in the Outer Hebrides.

In breaking news, February 2023 brought a surprise in the post for Kirkcudbrightshire (v.c. 73). Whilst visiting Southerness Holiday Park, Paul Stanley found two new vicecounty records: Poa infirma (Early Meadow-grass), and Spergularia bocconei (Greek Sea-spurrey), along with the vice-county’s third site for Crassula tillaea (Mossy Stonecrop). These were in an area set aside for tourist caravan pitches, and it seems likely that they were brought in on vehicle

Lycopodium lagopus (Hare’s-foot Clubmoss), Mid Perthshire. Ben Averis

Steve Duffield with Mertensia maritima (Oysterplant), Benbecula. Paul Smith

wheels or mud attached to vehicles or footwear. The Crassula had also spread to several other parts of the holiday park. The Poa infirma record is just the second for Scotland (and first modern record), and with its core range expanding out from southern England it may be worth keeping an eye out for this species in future. Also from v.c. 73, new sites were discovered in 2021 for Carex elongata (Elongated Sedge) and Calamagrostis canescens (Purple Small-reed) at the RSPB Kenmure Holms reserve, both species on the vice-county Rare Plant Register.

Reference

Smith, P.A., Hughes, P. & Duffiel, S. 2022. Mertensia maritima (Oysterplant) in the Outer Hebrides. Hebridean Naturalist 22: 67–70.

Ian Strachan

VCR for Westerness

Matt Harding

BSBI Scotland Officer

IRELAND

Writing a country roundup of the latest news at the end of February is a challenge, as not a great deal happens over the winter months. I’m pulling together a few bits and bobs hoping it will make an interesting read!

Megan Morris asked if she was correct in her identification of a grass, Secale cereale (Rye), she had found on waste ground near Lismore in Co. Waterford in February. Rye is being increasingly grown as a commercial crop in Ireland. It is still very rare as an escape from cultivation with the earliest Irish records only dating back to the 1980s. Megan’s record was a new county record and joins only Counties Armagh and

Wexford with post-2020 sightings in the wild. Also, in Co. Waterford whilst visiting a friend in February, I stopped at Tallowbridge to take yet another look for Geranium columbinum (Long-stalked Crane’s-bill) which was first found here in 1971 by Tony O’Mahony on the roadside bank and wall. It was seen up to 2005, and searches since have failed to find it, until now. To see the Long-stalked Crane’s-bill again in large numbers is very pleasing, even if it only had leaves showing. This is only one of two sites for it in the county.

Ciarán Flynn spent some of the winter looking at horsetails that are wintergreen in Co. Louth. Ciarán’s dad Enda joined him in January to look for Equisetum hyemale (Rough Horsetail) as it hadn’t been seen in the county for over 100 years, when last seen by William de Vismes Kane in 1906. There is one other record for Co. Louth made in 1902 by Nathaniel Colgan at Cooley. The latter is the site they looked for, and with Enda walking ahead he found the Rough Horsetail first. It just goes to show that there are plenty of old records still waiting to be rediscovered!

On the opposite side of Ireland in Co. Clare, Cian Ó Ceallaigh’s photos of Empetrum nigrum

(Crowberry) on the top of the sea cliffs south of Doolin posted on social media came to the attention of one of the joint VCRs Phoebe O’Brien, as it was a new site, and the first for the hectad. Crowberry has only been recorded from six other hectads in Co. Clare. Phoebe was asked to check a patch of Ruscus aculeatus (Butcher’s-broom) by Rosie and John Rutherford which they had found north of Limerick City. This is a new site for this shrub, which is uncommon in Ireland. Here it is thought to be persisting where

Geranium columbinum (Longstalked Crane’s-bill) on roadside wall, Tallowbridge. Paul Green

Ruscus aculeatus (Butcher’sbroom). John Rutherford

Anemone nemorosa (Wood Anemone) by bridge at Annaghneal. Phoebe O’Brien

planted many years ago. Another plant that Phoebe ponders over whether it was originally planted was a large stand of Anemone nemorosa (Wood Anemone) under a small grove of Horsechestnuts by the bridge at Annaghneal, as it is a new site. Could it have been planted, as at one time there was a school opposite the site? We may never know!

In Longford David McNicholas has found a nice population of Pyrola rotundifolia (Round-leaved Wintergreen) on Corlea Bog, a Bord na Mona cutaway, the first record for the vice-county.

In mid-February, BSBI held an aquatic plant training two-day course at the National Museums of Northern Ireland, which was funded with a grant from the Centre for Environmental Data

and Recording (CEDaR). Twelve of us joined Nick Stewart, our tutor, who showed us specimens of pickled stoneworts under the microscope, explaining how to identify them and at the same time renaming some of the specimens we were looking at! We also looked at many dried specimens of a good range of aquatic plants including: Ceratophyllum (hornwort), Myriophyllum (water-milfoil), Potamogeton (pondweed) and Utricularia (bladderwort). I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rhonda Ridley for looking after us so well, and to the National Museum for giving us access to the specimens. Some of us noticed Cardamine corymbosa (New Zealand Bittercress) as a garden weed at the accommodation we were staying at in Holywood. This is still likely to be an overlooked plant in gardens across Ireland, where it can now be an abundant weed.

And finally, I would like to report on one of my days taking part in the New Year Plant Hunt. I did a nine-mile circular walk from my home. Amongst the many species I saw, I was most surprised to find Valerianella dentata (Narrow-fruited Cornsalad) as a weed of a stubble field. This is only the seventh post-2000 county record, and the first record for the hectad since 1987. I introduced the Wexford Naturalists’ Field Club to the hunt. Eleven of us had a walk around Wexford town, this included a break to take lunch in a hotel, before we continued for another hour. We had such a good time that the club is going to make the NYPH an annual event. If you haven’t done the NYPH with your local group, why not try it out in 2024.

Paul Green BSBI Ireland Officer

Nick Stewart explaining spiny stoneworts (top) and attendees at a lab session at the aquatic plant workshop held at the National Museums of Northern Ireland. Paul Green

OBITUARIES

Compiled by Chris D. Preston, Obituaries Editor

19 Green’s Road, Cambridge, CB4 3EF

cdpr@ceh.ac.uk

TREVOR GEORGE EVANS (1924–2023)

Trevor Evans died on 11 January 2023 at the age of 98. He was the pre-eminent Monmouthshire botanist for half a century.

Trevor was born on 7 April 1924 in Portskewett, the only child of school caretakers George Evans and Dorothy Hewlett. He had osteomyelitis as a child and told tales of the painful operations before modern anaesthetics, coming round every so often before being given another dose of ether on a cottonwool pad. The osteomyelitis left him with a limp but did nothing to detract from his determination to lead a full life. The family moved into Chepstow when he was young and he lived there all his life.

Trevor was educated in Chepstow schools and then read biology as his main subject at Caerleon Teacher Training College. He taught in Chepstow, as a supply teacher, as acting headmaster and as a science teacher at St Kingsmark Secondary Modern School, later merging with Larkfield Grammar School to become Chepstow Comprehensive School. He retired in 1984, allowing him more time to devote to botany.

Trevor married his childhood sweetheart Ursula Thelma Jones in 1946. They had two sons, Nigel and Nicholas, and consequently grandchildren of which he was justly proud. Later in life, Nigel and Nicholas were surprised to find that other families didn’t go into the woods to watch badgers. Thelma was his life-long friend and companion, sharing his love of wildflowers and accompanying him on many days in the field. Her loss to cancer in 1999 hit him hard.

Trevor’s enthusiasm for wild flowers was sparked as a boy whilst watching cricket, one of his other passions. He and his friends used to collect cigarette cards that spectators dropped under the stands; one

set of cards was of wild flowers and the rest, as they say, is history. His botany was self-taught and he became actively involved with recording for the first Atlas of the British Flora in the 1950s. When Arthur Wade retired as Vice-county Recorder in 1972, Trevor was the obvious choice to replace him. All Trevor inherited in the way of records was what was published in Wade’s 1970 Flora of Monmouthshire so he began compiling data, and in 1985 formally started recording for a new Flora with local botanists. In 1998 at the age of 74 he bought a computer to write the Flora, and largely taught himself to use it (with much late-night technical support on the phone from family and friends!). After a great deal of careful field work, the introduction was written in 2000 but he ran into data problems resulting from conversion of his records between three different databases. After three frustrating years, this was resolved with a bit of help and then he spent the two following years writing the species accounts, despite very painful knees and some arthritis. His definitive Flora of Monmouthshire was published in 2007 to great

Trevor Evans. Nigel Evans

acclaim; it will be the standard reference work for many years to come. He was awarded the President’s prize from the BSBI/Wild Flower Society for the Flora. He served on the BSBI Committee for Wales for many years, was elected an honorary member of the BSBI in 2010 and retired as V.-c. Recorder in 2012. His herbarium of carefully pressed and labelled voucher specimens is held at the National Museum of Wales (NMW) and is another invaluable resource.

In addition to the Flora, Trevor also provided thousands of plant records for the BSBI (Monitoring Scheme, New Atlas, etc.) and organisations such as the Countryside Council for Wales/Natural Resources Wales, local councils, the Gwent Wildlife Trust and the Ministry of Defence. He had seen huge changes in the countryside during over 60 years of searching for plants and was very critical of organisations that had inadvertently destroyed so much beloved good habitat. He also enjoyed botanising elsewhere in the hills of Britain and Europe, and watching butterflies and birds. His garden was full of plant treasures which were carefully mown around.

As well as being an excellent botanist, Trevor was also a talented artist. He contributed many excellent line drawings of plants to the BSBI Handbook Crucifers and to BSBI News (especially of alien plants, another of his passions), and to his Flora. Portraits

BARRY GOATER (1930–2022)

Barry Goater, a BSBI member for 62 years, died peacefully at his home in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, on 29 July 2022, after a period of increasing infirmity.

Barry was born in Southampton, the son of William Cecil (Bill) and Joan Adelaide Goater (née Adamson). Joan was a keen and energetic amateur naturalist who wrote extensive journals over nearly 50 years. Barry was educated at Peter Symonds School, Winchester and University College, Southampton, gaining an Honours degree in Botany in 1952. After completing National Service in 1954 he took a teaching post at Haberdashers’ Aske’s

were another speciality and he was also very good at wood carving. He loved poetry which he and Thelma shared many hours reading together.

Trevor was a natural teacher and was able to explain the diverse field characters of many different plant groups with ease, and much of this knowledge is summarised in his Flora. He was always willing to share his knowledge and gave many talks to Gwent organisations over the years. He was a lovely, courteous man with an irrepressible and delightfully wicked sense of humour. Car trips to meetings involved much laughter – give him an inch and he’d tease you for miles!

Trevor was a member of the Gwent Wildlife Trust from 1970 and served as Chairman of the Trust’s Conservation Committee for a number of years. He was also interested in local history and helped found the Chepstow Society in 1948, fulfilling terms as Chairman and President and writing a history of the Society. He also supported and was President of Monmouthshire Meadows Group from soon after it was founded in 2003. He was awarded an MBE for services to conservation and wildlife in Monmouthshire in 2012. Evans’ whitebeam Sorbus evansii was named in his honour in 2014.

Barry Goater in his teaching years, c.1960.

Elsa Wood, Stephanie Tyler and Tim Rich

School where he became Head of Biology after just four years, continuing in that post until 1988 when he took early retirement. He was clearly an inspirational teacher: those under his tutelage included notable BSBI members George Peterken and Richard Pryce. In his book Wildwood the naturalist and writer Roger Deakin celebrated the ‘wild camping’ field trips to the New Forest that Barry organised for Haberdashers’ students. The living arrangements may have been informal, but the teaching aspect was by all accounts rigorous, with every pupil working

on a scientifically organised project. In 1991 he returned to Hampshire and took up residence in the parental house in Chandler’s Ford where he remained until his death.

Amongst naturalists, Barry is best known for his wide-ranging work on Lepidoptera. He became an international expert on micro-moths, travelling widely in Europe, especially in France and Spain, with many papers and informal articles to his name in British and European journals and major contributions to standard works on many moth groups. One genus of moths (Goateria), eight species and four subspecies are named after him; my favourite is Armada goateri, which conjures up visions of a warlike crew of Goaters sailing up the Channel. Local naturalists will probably know him best for The Butterflies and Moths of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, published in 1974, and Moths of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (2001) in which he shared authorship with Tim Norriss. He was an honorary member of several of the main European scientific societies and served as President or Vice-president of two.

However, Barry maintained a keen interest in botany (encouraged by his second wife Jane) to the end of his life, joining the BSBI in 1960 and the British Bryological Society in 1961. Unsurprisingly Barry in botanising mode was, as in all things related to natural history, a good and careful observer and recorder, although he was often diffident about his own talents. He threw his energies into BSBI recording projects in Hampshire; for example, methodically and without complaint covering some of the least exciting areas of Hampshire for the New Atlas (2002) with Jane. They nearly always found something unusual and of interest which he would share, often over a glass of wine, later in the day. I believe that he is the only person ever to have made records for a plant species in every single monad of a Hampshire hectad (sadly but unsurprisingly, Urtica dioica).

Barry was a regular and assiduous volunteer at the Hampshire County Museums Service at Chilcomb House, Winchester. Much of his time was spent dealing with the entomological collections, but he also curated and catalogued important sections of

Barry Goater in Dibden Bottom, New Forest, Hampshire, 2008. Martin Rand

the herbarium. A few years ago when the future of the scientific collections looked uncertain, he was a staunch member of the successful campaign to see them preserved. He involved himself with the Flora Group of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and is responsible for the monumental index of its 32-year run of twice-yearly newsletters, which he compiled with an accuracy and speed which is daunting for his successors.

Field trips with Barry were always enjoyable, if occasionally hair-raising. He was very much of the persuasion that ‘that which is not forbidden, is permitted’, with the odd extension to ‘that which I have taken care not to notice is forbidden’. He had a great reserve of charm and old-fashioned schoolmasterly politeness which frequently helped him out of awkward situations. Trips farther afield in Britain and the Continent were usually undertaken with a camper van, and he was very proud of the fact that he had never paid for a campsite in his life. Concerning wildlife losses over the decades he was

OBITUARY NOTES

Sincewe compiled the last Obituary Notes, news has reached us of the death of the following members or former members, some of very long standing. We send our sympathy to their families and friends.

Dr E. Elliott of Darlington, a member for 11 years. Mr T.G. Evans of Chepstow, an Honorary Member since 2010 and a member for 51 years. Mr C. Forster Brown of Taliesin, a member for 4 years. Mrs S. Gilmour of Sheffield, a member for 71 years. Mr A.C. Godfrey of Luncarty, a member for 34 years. Prof. B. Jonsell of Uppsala, an Honorary Member since 1998 and a member

passionate and also pessimistic, having seen how perceptions were affected by shifting baselines with each generation.

In the last few years, the infirmities of old age reduced his capacity for long jaunts, but he remained a keen bird watcher and avid ‘twitcher’ for anything unusual in the local area, and with the help of friends and family managed to continue getting out on short trips, ending with an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler. He died quietly in the small hours of 29 July 2022, attended by his son Rick.

Barry is survived by his four sons, who very generously made his botanical library available to sell in support of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Flora Group and the BSBI. To date this has raised just under £900 for the two charities. There are still some good titles available, and anyone interested in seeing the remaining catalogue can contact me.

Martin Rand

for 40 years. Prof. G.Ll. Lucas of Kingston, a member for 42 years. Miss R.J. Murphy of Reskadinnick, an Honorary Member since 2004 and a member for 72 years. Mr A. Orange of Cardiff, a member for 5 years. Dr C.N. Page of Truro, a member for 55 years.

Chris D. Preston, Obituaries Editor cdpr@ceh.ac.uk

Assisted by the Membership Secretary, Gwynn Ellis. Date of compilation 5 March 2023.

REVIEWS

Compiled by Clive Stace, Book Reviews Editor Appletree House, Larters Lane, Middlewood Green, Stowmarket, IP14 5HB cstace@btinternet.com

Waterford, was completed in 2008, the year recording commenced for the Wexford Flora. The county is ‘thin on active recorders’ so recording has fallen heavily on the shoulders of the author and Paula O’Meara, and inevitably recording time was very limited in a number of tetrads in the northern half of the county. Nevertheless, 1700 species and hybrids had been found by the end of recording in 2022.

Flora of County Wexford

Paul Green

Paul Green, New Ross, County Wexford, 2023 (‘2022’); pp. iv + 595, with numerous maps and coloured photographs; hbk £30.

ISBN 9781399938778

Wexford is a small county covering just some 2566 monads. Most of the mountains and higher hills lie on its western side, with Mount Leinster reaching 795m. Its southern and eastern margins are fringed by 250 km of coastline, with more dunes than any other Irish county. However, since the 1990s many of its pristine habitats have declined or been destroyed. Marshes and heathland have fared particularly badly, with an estimated 70% of this habitat having been converted either to rye-grass leys, or conifer plantations which now cover large tracts of countryside. Much of the rich dune flora has been shaded out by the planting of trees, and the richest seminatural grassland is now confined to coastal cliff-tops and riversides.

Paul Green has now written three Irish Floras. His last, for

The Flora follows the accepted format: an introduction followed by chapters including geology, soils and an excellent eighteen pages detailing and illustrating Wexford’s habitats. The bulk of the book is taken up by the species accounts which are limited to vascular plants and stoneworts. Many distribution dots maps are included, and colour photographs of plants in their typical habitats are generally very good. Paul Green has given equal treatment and space to every taxon regardless of its origin and frequency. Many varieties are included, and hybrids are well covered, for example ten each of willowherbs and docks, and there are helpful tips on identification throughout. Wexford has an ‘exceptional’ arable flora, which remarkably appears to be on the increase, with fields of Glebionis segetum (Corn Marigold) one of the county’s specialities. Of Wexford’s special plants the rediscovery of Matthiola sinuata (Sea Stock) for Ireland is noteworthy, although it is disturbing to discover that Achillea maritima (Cottonweed)

is now down to just nine plants at its only known site in Britain and Ireland.

The comprehensiveness of the species accounts for difficult and critical plants is consistently good with few exceptions. Wisely the help of specialists has been sought for certain of the genera that most of us avoid, with the result that there are at least some reliable modern records for fifty species of dandelions, twenty cotoneasters, fifty brambles, seventeen species and hybrids of roses and thirteen of eyebrights, and given the interests of the author there is an extensive account of Salicornia However, hawkweeds have been almost completely ignored, the widespread species and varieties of poplar have not been investigated, and the status and frequency of the water-starworts is uncertain. Furthermore, any taxon not recorded this century is classed as extinct, surely rather premature to make such a claim. Perhaps a lack of recent records, for example for a few of the widespread fern hybrids, is because they have been overlooked. However, these are minor criticisms when compared with the overall high standard of knowledge and accuracy maintained throughout the species accounts.

Throughout the book the narrative is in an engaging and accessible style, but this in no way affects the thoroughness and rigour. The book is strongly bound, and the printing and paper are high quality. With

an increasing number of publications becoming only available online, this well written and well-illustrated, reasonably priced hardback publication is an excellent example of what is still the best way to present a county Flora.

Roger Maskew

suburban environments (cf. the huge list of taxa recorded in the NHM London garden by the Museum’s specialists). Chapters on the flora (15 pp.) by Jonathan Shanklin and the analysis of plant distributions and habitats (27 pp.) by Mark Hill and Chris Preston will be of most interest to BSBI members. Nine orchids are recorded, with Bee Orchid the most frequent. The Mistletoe survey, showing a significant increase, will be mirrored in many UK towns and cities.

checklists, or even the complete dataset, could have been made available on the NatHistCam website.

The Nature of Cambridge

Mark Hill, ed.

Pisces Publications, Newbury, 2022; pp. vi + 332, with numerous coloured photographs; pbk £27.50.

ISBN 9781913994075

In 2016, Cambridge Natural History Society began a threeyear project to study the natural history of Cambridge. The aim was to create a ‘snapshot’ of the flora and fauna of the city and increase awareness of the diversity of its wildlife. The results of this ambitious project are described in this chunky paperback with accounts from 25 local experts edited by Mark Hill. They cover geology, insects, mammals, plant life, fungi, birds, reptiles, molluscs, fish, wildlife hotspots and conservation. They also describe the changing geography and development of Cambridge and the effects this has on nature. Wide-ranging studies of this kind have rarely been attempted at this scale (64 monads) in urban/

This is a study of outdoor spaces, but there is a host of domestic wildlife that has been ignored. If we are to learn what distinguishes the city from its hinterland, we should look in the cellars and drains, the lofts and pantries to find the anthropogenic species that thrive in the urban environment. There is no mention of booklice in university libraries, bedbugs in their dormitories, or herbarium beetles and silverfish in the collections at CGE.

The cover blurb claims Cambridge is a ‘biodiversity hotspot’, but there is little evidence to justify this assertion. Few other UK cities have been studied so intensively – is Cambridge really a hotspot or has it got an unusually high concentration of specialist naturalists? Would the same expertise focused on another city not find as many species?

Apart from small popular groups like butterflies and mammals, the accounts only cover a small selection of the taxa recorded. This is a book about biological recording and ‘citizen science’, yet it does little for the cause of ‘open data’. There is no way the reader can find out if, for example, a particular moth has been found in the city. Although printing complete lists of taxa recorded would be costly,

There is much of value and interest in the book, a good selection of photos and readable accounts, but outside Cambridge(shire), it is unlikely the book will find a large market. Pan-species listers will want more detailed reference works and, in that respect, I have to say the sum is not greater than the parts. Each chapter would stand alone if it were published in the CNHS journal, though there are a few uncomfortable bedfellows; spiders and molluscs seems a particularly odd combination.

Martin Sanford

Trees and Woodlands

George Peterken

Bloomsbury Wildlife, London, 2023; pp. 416, with numerous colour photographs; hbk £40.

ISBN 9781472987013

The New Forest around Ringwood proved pivotal in the careers of both myself and my near contemporary George Peterken. In the late 1950s and early 1960s both of us spent holidays there exploring the heaths and woodland. Whereas I have always thought that trees

were too difficult to study, and have never attempted to do so, George has been much braver. Under the inspirational supervision of Palmer Newbold, he embarked on a study of Holly in New Forest heaths and woodland for his PhD. This led to a career first as a woodland ecologist in the Nature Conservancy and later as woodland specialist in the Nature Conservancy Council’s Chief Scientist’s Team. I doubt there is anyone living who is better experienced and skilled to write such a book.

Trees and Woodlands is number 12 in Bloomsbury’s British Wildlife Collection, and the second that the author has written. Those who have read his excellent book Meadows, number 2 in the series, will know what to expect in terms of craft and style, and will not be disappointed. This is essentially a study of seminatural woodland and native trees in Britain, and not of modern forest plantations and forestry. The book’s main theme is the long evolution of native woodland and ancient woods. It concentrates on the trees, minimising any potential overlap with Keith Kirby’s Woodland Flowers, number 8 in this series. Trees and Woodland is divided into 11 chapters. These provide an introduction to woodland and its ecology, the distribution of semi-natural woods in Britain and a history of how they have been modified by humans from Neolithic times to the present day. There are also chapters dealing with the uses we have made, and continue to make, of these woodlands, and their cultural significance to us. The book ends with a chapter looking to the future. Photographs and other illustrations are a strong feature of the book. Perhaps my favourite is in the very last

chapter. It shows the same two investigators measuring the girth of the same Small-leaved Lime taken from the same position 32 years apart. The people have visually aged, but not the tree!

Many readers will find photographs and details of at least one or two woods known to them. I enjoyed the feature on Grass and Bastow Woods in Upper Wharfedale and the brief coverage of Gait Barrows in Silverdale, but perhaps there is a bias towards areas further south. If so, this is perhaps not surprising given the author lives in the Wye valley close to Lady Park Wood and the Forest of Dean which, together with the New Forest, he knows intimately. All figure prominently in the book. In addition, it would have been impossible to write such a book without detailed reference to the work of the late Oliver Rackham on the coppice woods of East Anglia.

The book is extremely well produced and virtually free from typographical error. I only notice that Sir David Read’s name was spelt two ways on the same page and incorrectly in the references. Some may argue whether there is a need for another book on British woodlands given Oliver Rackham’s Woodlands in the New Naturalist series, published in 2006, but time moves on. For example new diseases have become more important, most notably Ash dieback, now affecting many National Nature Reserves including Hawkswick Wood in Littondale, illustrated in the final chapter of the present book. Deer are becoming ever more detrimental in our woods, and climate change becomes an ever more pressing issue for us and our woodlands. These issues are well covered by the author whose scholarship and unrivalled

experience shines through in every chapter.

While this book was being completed Peter Thomas’s Trees appeared which, unusually for a New Naturalist, ranges worldwide in its use of examples of both trees and forests. There is inevitably some overlap with the present volume, but, if British woodland is your focus, George Peterken’s book is the one for you.

John Lee

Tree-spotting – A Simple Guide to Britain’s Trees

Ros & Nell Bennett

Welbeck, London, 2022; pp. 303, with numerous line-drawings; hbk £14.95. ISBN 9781787398702

When I was asked to review a book entitled Treespotting, I imagined that I would receive a coffee table book, full of photographs of trees in all their glory. This publication is nothing like that. If you opened this as a gift, it would be breath-taking – it is quite beautiful, with a green and gold hardback cover. The inside, however, has quite an old-fashioned feel, with a very simple layout of text, interspersed in places by line drawings and shaded drawings (which are

excellent), but with an abundance of tables that remind me of my overhead transparencies when I first started out as a lecturer.

The scope of the book is intriguing; 52 trees, 43 of which are ‘native’ and nine ‘honorary natives’, including Castanea and Acer pseudoplatanus, but including Arbutus which is of course not a native of Britain. Otherwise, the author (Ros) has been pragmatic with her choice of species. Three members of Sorbus are included (so apomicts have been bundled out of the equation), but several willow species are described in detail, which it could be argued are just as difficult in identification terms.

The Introduction is brief, but sets the scene by defining the scope of the book, narrowing down the number to 52 trees and explaining why these have been chosen. There are suggestions on how to use the book, including acquiring a x10 hand lens, and there are examples of species drawings and floral formulae for each species covered.

The rest of the book is arranged into three parts, and within each part are sections, numbered sequentially throughout. Part One includes sections on The Chemistry of Plants and The Importance of Fungi, so this is not an identification book, but perhaps an introduction to the wonder of trees.

Part Two contains beautifully illustrated tables of features that can be followed to identify the species. Part Three is an account of each species, and this is probably the most interesting part, containing anecdotes for many species, such as taking students to a poplar plantation owned by Bryant and May. Somewhat alarmingly, Spindle is stated as having arils that are ‘nourishing – far more so than any

other native tree or shrub’, which is at odds with other texts that state that all parts of the plant are toxic. Unfortunately, no reference was included for this assertion.

The whole book is written with passion, and feels like a conversation with the author, but I’m not sure who this book is for. Budding naturalists are overwhelmed with choice when it comes to coloured identification guides, so would they find this useful? Would a parent with young children bring a selection of twigs home from a woodland walk, and go through the book to find out more about them? There is something for everyone who may have an interest in trees, but there will be sections that most readers will perhaps skip over. I’d possibly buy it for my grown-up children in the hope that they share with their children. We can’t go wrong with that.

Sarah Whild

the centre of Birmingham. Its long history of land use has contributed to the survival of habitats that support a flora containing taxa rarely found now in central England. This is the latest and most detailed published survey of its flora.

The Flora of Sutton Park

I.C. Trueman, M.W. Poulton, M. Hodder, L. Large, S.A. Hancock & S.M. Phipps

Pisces Publications, Newbury, 2023; pp. viii + 416, with numerous maps & coloured photographs; hbk £20.

ISBN 9781913994099

Sutton Park National Nature Reserve, in v.c. 38 Warwickshire, is about 9 km from

In 2014, after a BSBI field meeting to the Park, a decision was made to carry out an intensive study to cover fungi, lichens, bryophytes and vascular plants. The flora was recorded from 2015 to 2019 during many field trips (termed excursions) to every quarter kilometre square (quarter monad) at least twice. These records are supplemented by data from earlier surveys. Following the introductory chapter, Chapter 2 details each excursion, giving date, start point, quarter monads surveyed (highlighted in red on a small site map) and a brief description of the route, followed by a full account of the excursion with mention of habitats and noteworthy species seen. Chapter 3 gives the background to the flora with sections on the geology, climate, landscape, hydrology and history. Chapter 4 describes the complex vegetation of the habitats of the park. Chapter 5 discusses the changes in the presence/absence of vascular plant and bryophyte species from several surveys, with tables based on various criteria. Chapters 6 to 9, each with a detailed introduction, which includes explanation of the methodologies used, list the species of each group using different formats: Fungi – a checklist of all records; Lichens – a table of records mainly from 1977–2017; Bryophytes – mostly recorded 2013–2020, with maps by monad; Vascular Plants – all species ever recorded, with maps of this survey by quarter monad. All species in the bryophyte and vascular

plant lists include information on status, distribution and habitat requirements.

The text is written for both the general reader and the expert, with useful glossaries provided as necessary. In the excursions chapter, the accounts give vivid descriptions of the habitats and vegetation of the squares visited, and are enhanced with relevant photographs. The reasons why the park has become such an important botanical site are fully explained in the excellent introductory chapters. Useful maps are used to aid explanation where necessary. Maps of the whole site clearly

LETTERS

show all the relevant features of the park, but they do not show the National Grid eastings and northings numbers. This omission makes it difficult to locate the specific squares to which taxa are allocated. However, a map on page 224 does show the monad designations. The many photographs throughout are excellent, with the aerial drone images being particularly valuable in giving the reader a window on the diversity of the habitats.

This is a well produced and well designed publication. It is a Flora of which the authors are to be congratulated and which can be recommended to anyone

WHY DO WE HAVE A REFEREE NETWORK WHEN MANY RECORDERS SEEM TO THINK THAT THEY DON’T NEED IT?

TheBritish Bryological Society requires that every new vice-county record for a taxon is supported by a voucher specimen. This is submitted to a recorder who checks its identity and then forwards the specimen to the Herbarium at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. Whilst occasionally this may seem a little excessive (such as with small populations where conservation could be an issue or taxa which are easily recognised from photographs), it brings a measure of recording rigour which is admirable.

I have been a referee for the BSBI for a number of years and have continually been disappointed by the pathetically small number of specimens that I am asked to review. I have never been sent Heracleum or Zannichellia specimens and have received Callitriche material from fewer than ten vice-counties.

I am becoming increasingly concerned that new geographical records are being made of critical taxa

who has any interest in the natural history of Sutton Park, whatever their botanical expertise. It can also be a useful source of ideas for anyone considering surveys of nature reserves, especially those with many different vegetation types.

Chris Boon

ERRATUM

In BSBI News 148, p. 83, second paragraph of review of Grasses, ‘Mike Proctor’ should read ‘Mike Prosser’.

(some of which literally cannot be confirmed without recourse to microscopy or in some cases molecular tools) without confirmation by the referee network. I cannot speak for other referees, but I find myself astonished that new vice-county records of species such as Lemna valdiviana and Ranunculus baudotii (both reported in the most recent BSBI News) are being accepted without such confirmation. The former can be very difficult to distinguish from Lemna minuta, while it is no longer clear which characters can be considered reliable for identification of the latter.

The BSBI referee network is an amazing resource, and it should be used to enable recorders to ensure that they are making the same determinations as are made by specialists. It should also be used to maximise the accuracy of recording.

Richard Lansdown

Referee for: Batrachian Ranunculus, Callitriche, Heracleum, Spirodela, Lemna, Wolffia, Sparganium, Zannichellia and aquatic plants in general.

rvlansdown@gmail.com

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