Flora of Monmouthshire by Trevor Evans by SEWBReC

ISBN 0 900278 49 8

Flora of Monmouthshire

Trevor Evans

Monmouthshire Meadows Group

Flora of Monmouthshire

Trevor Evans has lived in the old county of Monmouthshire all his life. He developed an interest in wild flowers in the 1940s, and was appointed Recorder for vice-county 35 Monmouthshire by the Botanical Society of the British Isles in 1972. Following his retirement from teaching in 1984, he and his band of botanists have recorded the plants in the county to produce the first Flora of Monmouthshire to show the distribution of plants using maps. This book describes the flora as we know it today, and tells of the changes seen during his lifetime.

Trevor Evans

Flora of Monmouthshire Watsonian vice-county 35

Trevor G. Evans With accounts of geology by Naylor Firth and habitats by Stephanie Tyler and George Peterken

2007

DEDICATION In memory of U. Thelma Evans, my wife, who not only supported my single-mindedness to plot the distribution of every wild plant to be found in the county, but accompanied me, from 1985, learning the plants and their Latin names and calling them out as I marked them off on a recording card, so that by 1998 we had walked much of the county, recording as we went.

“All flesh is plants” Look after the plants so that the animals can survive

ISBN 0 900278 49 8 Published by the Chepstow Society c/o Chepstow Museum Bridge Street Chepstow Monmouthshire NP16 5EZ

CONTENTS Foreword Acknowledgements Profile of Trevor Evans Introduction

Geology

Habitats

Botanical sites

Changes in the flora

List and initials of recorders

Species accounts

Extinctions

561

Bibliography

565

Index

566

FOREWORD I first met Trevor when he was leading a BSBI field meeting in the Wye Valley in September 1982. It was quickly apparent how well he knew his plants as he explained the diverse field characters of Calamintha, Mentha, Sorbus, etc. Fortunately he has written down much of this detailed knowledge in this flora, and now we can all benefit from his expertise. It was also apparent Trevor knew every nook and cranny of Monmouthshire backwards. I asked if he knew any local sites for Colchicum, and was given precise directions to a meadow where we duly photographed it in evening sunshine. Fortunately for us again, he has written a detailed summary of his amazing knowledge of the botany of the county in this Flora. A couple of years later Trevor kindly agreed to do some illustrations for my BSBI Crucifer Handbook. I once queried if he had drawn the hairs on the leaves of Draba aizoides correctly - he showed me the plant he had drawn, and he was right. This Flora has more of his excellent drawings. In 1985 he started recording plants for a new Flora of Monmouthshire with the help of local botanists. In addition to this work, he has also provided thousands of records for me for the BSBI Monitoring Scheme in 1987-1988, for the Countryside Council for Wales, for local councils, for the local naturalists trust, for the Ministry of Defence, etc. In 1994 he gave me details of the Rogiet Meadow Clary site when I was working on its conservation for Plantlife (and introduced me to my future wife at the same time). His cooperation in making all this information available to people who need it will help direct nature conservation, though as you read the book you will see it is rife with his personal stories of loss and change. In 1997 I joined the National Museum of Wales to run the Welsh National Herbarium. The first thing we find almost every time we look in a herbarium cupboard is a pile of Trevor’s carefully pressed and labelled voucher specimens, an invaluable archive for the future. There was simply not enough room to cite them all in the Flora. In 1998 at the age of 74 he bought a computer to write the Flora, and largely taught himself to use it. We have spent many evenings laughing together at our digital incompetencies, but he has stuck at it and won. I hope you will value the result as much as I value Trevor. Tim Rich 2007

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Grateful thanks are extended to the co-ordinators, shown below, and all who adopted a hectad and especially those adopting more than one. The Co-ordinators for 1985 were: SO/10: Mr Peter Jones. SO/21: Mr Colin Titcombe. SO/22: Mr & Mrs M. Kitchen. SO/23: Miss Sheelagh Kerry SO/30: Mr David Price. SO/40: Mr Rhodri Thomas. SO/41: Mr & Mrs P. C. Hall. SO/42: Mr & Mrs P. C. Hall. SO/50: Mrs Elsa Wood. SO/51: Mr Nigel Smith. ST/28: Mr Paul Glading. ST/38: Mr Gordon Bristowe. ST/39: Mr & Mrs Tim Pollard. ST/48: Mr Paul Glading. ST/49: Mr T. G. Evans. ST/58: Mr T. G. Evans. ST/59: Mr T. G. Evans Another two promises were not kept, so SO/32, SO/11, SO/31, SO/20, ST/19, ST/29, ST/18, ST/27 were managed by Mr T. G. Evans. During 1985 Mrs Alison Jones took over ST/28 & ST/48 from Paul Glading when his work took him elsewhere and Mrs Elsa Wood replaced Rhodri Thomas in SO/40 when he moved away. In SO/51 Mr B. J. Gregory replaced Nigel Smith when he moved in 1987, Mr R. Fraser became the coordinator of SO/20 and SO/31, and Mr Gordon Bristowe retired from ST/38. Without the dedication and help of the recorders (see List and initials of recorders) especially those with a * or + sign after their name, neither the species maps nor the species in tetrads map would have been so complete. The following deserve special mention as they took on ten or more tetrads in the first five years as indicated by the number following their name: R. Fraser 45; B. R. Gregory 10; P. C. & J. Hall 23; T. D. & J. Pollard 21; E. G. Wood 35 and U. T. Evans 80. I took on 112 tetrads. I can’t thank enough Dr T. C. G. Rich my editor, mentor, encourager, and adviser. His help was invaluable, especially when I ran into trouble with problems on my computer. He regularly came to Chepstow from Cardiff to discuss progress and profer advice. His red biro probably had greatest use on my misuse of the comma, my excuse - I was of a generation when the emphasis was different. Dr Naylor Firth for the best description of a vice county’s geology for botanists and the factors that influence the occurrence of plants plus the production of the Geology Map. The National Museum of Wales for use of their facilities, and Dr George Hutchinson who frequently and diligently researched in NMW to answer my questions. Dave Slade, Rebecca Johnson and Sewbrec for the topographical map of Monmouthshire. Alan Willams for the map of the number of species in tetrads map. Dr Stephanie Tyler for her great effort in approaching fifteen printers from which two stood out; and for her contributions on grasslands and uplands to the habitat section. Dr George Peterken for his contributions on forests, saltmarshes, linear habitats, rock faces and quarries to complete the Habitats section. Elsa Wood for her profile of me – don’t believe a word of it! FUNDING I would like to thank the Chepstow Society, Monmouth County Council, Monmouthshire Meadows Group, South-east Wales Biological Records Centre and the Wild Flower Society for financial assistance with the publication.

TREVOR G. EVANS By Elsa Wood My husband set the scene over lunch. ‘I was coming down from the hill when I saw Compo, Foggy and Clegg approaching. As they neared I realised that Compo (with his hat) was none other than Trevor Evans!’ This intrepid botanical surveyor had just been on a foray to discover the hybrid Trichophorum x foersteri in the mires of Blaenau Gwent. Those of us that have known Trevor for a number of years will know that field botany is one of his life long passions. Meticulous in his field recording, he has become the pre-eminent field botanist in the county and is the first port of call for both amateurs and professionals with questions concerning the local flora. So dedicated to his plants that I remember on more than one occasion Thelma gently chiding him “There’s more to life than plants, Trevor!” This enthusiasm for our native flora was sparked as a boy whilst watching one of his other passions: cricket. He and his friends used to hunt around under the stands collecting the cigarette cards that the other spectators dropped. One set of cards was of wild flowers and the rest, as they say, is history. Born in Portskewett and living in Chepstow from boyhood, Trevor grew up to know all the hedgerows, woods and meadows in the east of the county. He has often regaled me with stories of the days when he was courting Thelma and would spy this or that species growing in the hedgerow. Did he have his mind on the job? His schoolgirl sweetheart, Thelma became his wife and life long friend and companion, sharing his love of wildflowers and accompanying him on many days in the field. A committed family man, Trevor has two sons, three grandchildren and a great granddaughter. He was educated in Chepstow schools and then went to Caerleon teacher training college taking biology as his main subject. He then taught in Chepstow, starting as a supply teacher and even having to be acting headmaster in two schools. He then became science teacher at the secondary modern that became Kingsmark School. As well as an excellent botanist, Trevor is also a talented artist. Portraits are a speciality and those who have dropped in for a cup of tea can’t help but admire the craftsmanship of his woodcarvings. He is also interested in local history and has been a past Chairman and currently President of the Chepstow Society, and has written a history of the early Society. He is also keen on butterflies and like many botanists he has a garden full of plant treasures, some more amenable to the garden situation than others! Roaming the hills of Britain and Europe in search of botanical rarities has been one of his great joys. Always willing to share his great knowledge, Trevor has given many talks to many Gwent organisations over the years. Behind the serious exterior though lies his irrepressible and delightfully wicked sense of humourgive him an inch and he’ll tease you for miles! Long car trips to Welsh BSBI meetings have had their moments with Trevor in a packed car! In any group he can be the life and soul of the party! Arthur Wade published his ‘Flora of Monmouthshire’ in 1970 and then retired so the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) was looking for a new recorder for v.c. 35. Having been actively involved with the first ‘Atlas of the British Flora’ Trevor was persuaded by Franklyn Perring to take up the challenge of vice-county recorder, which he did in 1972. With gentle nudging from Basil Evans and others, he came to appreciate the rich diversity of the west of the county. It wasn’t all coal tips after all! His inheritance from Wade had been the book alone. Wade had not kept any paper records so Trevor had to build up a new collection from scratch being the sole recorder for much of that time. Trevor was one of the early members of the Gwent Wildlife Trust and served as Chairman of the Conservation Committee for a number of years. In this capacity he was able to alert the then NCC of many valuable habitats that were unknown to them, several of those now being SSSIs and/or Trust reserves. As a meticulous observer Trevor is always up to the challenge of finding something that the rest of us may consider obscure or unidentifiable! As well as mapping the common species he has also tackled dandelions,

hawkweeds, brambles and roses and several other critical species with relish. He has been responsible for several v.c first records including Asplenium marinum, Helictotrichon pratense, Eleocharis multicaulis and Oenanthe pimpinelloides, which as he modestly acknowledges is quite an achievement. He has also been responsible for putting Monmouthshire ‘aliens’ on the map with his frequent visits to Newport docks and in the early years scouring refuse tips! Trevor retired from teaching in 1984, allowing him more time to devote to his beloved botany. The life of a BSBI recorder is a busy one and he has been actively involved in a number of major projects such as the ‘Monitoring Scheme’ and ‘Atlas 2000’. Soon after retiring he mobilised the troops to assist in the updating of the county flora and this many of us did with considerable commitment. The question I have been asked most over the last few years is ‘When’s Trevor’s flora coming out? After a great deal of careful work together with family commitments, (Thelma sadly dying in 1999), the introduction was written in 2000 and the second ‘Flora of Monmouthshire’ was conceived. During a lengthy gestation, tackling computer problems and dealing with new records, I had frequent ‘scans’ in the form of update phone calls –“I’ve completed 18% - 25%…..76%, 99%. So now I, along with many others am delighted to welcome the birth of ‘Flora Of Monmouthshire’ by Trevor G. Evans. It will add considerably to our knowledge of the status of the plants of Monmouthshire and will remain a valuable reference work for many years to come. (This profile originally appeared in the Welsh Wildlife Magazine in 2001 and was updated in 2007).

Plate 1. Topography of Monmouthshire (vc 35).

Plate 2. Basic solid geology of Monmouthshire (vc 35). Based on 1994 BGS Geological Map sheet of Wales (Solid) 1:250,000 scale, by permission of the British Geological Survey. Copyright permit # IPR/89-13CGC

Plate 3. Heather and natural rock outcrop, Fir Clubmoss site. Plate 4. Fir Clubmoss, near Tir Abraham-Harris.

Plate 5. Hill’s Pit Chimney above Garn-yr-erw.

Plate 6 (above). Moonwort, Cwm du near Cwm Ffrwd-oer. Plate 7 (top right). Black Spleenwort on Hill’s Pit chimney.

Plate 8 (right centre). Sea Spleenwort n vertical hole in Trias sandstone, Sudbrook.

Plate 9 (lower right). Trias Sandstone on shore, Sudbrook.

Plate 10. Brittle Bladder-fern in Tintern iron work site.

Plate 11 (right). Asplenium trichomanes subsp. pachyrachis on wall of Cas-troggy.

Plate 12 (below). Pwll-du Quarry, site for Limestone Fern and Green Spleenwort, from Autumn Gentian site.

Plate 13. Monkshood, below Holy Well. Plate 14. River Water-crowfoot, River Wye, Hadnock.

Plate 15. Cwm of Holy Well looking across to Usk.

Plate 16. Subsp. lecoqii of Long-headed Poppy with sap turning yellow.

Plate 17. Bladder Campion, Newport Docks.

Plate 18. Long-spiked Glasswort, Little Wharf, mouth of R. Rhymney.

Plate 19. Scotch Peter’s drained reservoir, site of Knotted Pearlwort.

Plate 20. Ragged Robin, Severn Levels.

Plate 21. Common Sea-lavender, Little Wharf, mouth of R. Rhymney.

Plate 22. Musk Mallow, roadside.

Plate 23. Common Mallow, roadsides.

Plate 24. Tree Mallow cresting the top of The Denny, low tide. Plate 25. Marsh Mallow, Goldcliff Pill.

Plate 26. Greater Cuckooflower, White Brook.

Plate 27. Black Poplar, near Abergavenny, showing diagnostic bosses on trunk.

Plate 28. A Coralroot, Cardamine quinquefolia, near Abergavenny.

Plate 29. Rape crop, near Raglan Castle.

Plate 30. Wild Cabbage at foot of walls of Chepstow Castle. Plate 31. Round-leaved Wintergreen, Freehold Wood Quarry, Abersychan.

Plate 32. Yellow Bird’s-nest, Blackcliff.

Plate 33 (above). Hybrid Water Avens. Plate 34 (top right). Marsh Cinquefoil, Llanfoist Farm. Plate 35 (lower right). Rock Whitebeam near Chepstow. Plate 36 (below). Meadow Saxifrage near Triley Mill.

Plate 37. Wild Liquorice, Heston Brake. Plate 38. Sainfoin, Crick-Shirenewton roadside.

Plate 39. Pale blue Spiny Restharrow, Caldicot.

Plate 40. Wood Vetch, Hadnock Road. Plate 41. Normal Spiny Restharrow, near Second Severn Crossing.

Plate 42. Strawberry Clover, Severn brackish marsh, Caldicot.

Plate 43. Subterraneum Clover, showing 3 arrow-shaped fruit clusters inserted earthwards, Sudbrook.

Plate 44. Sea Clover, seawall below industrial estate, Bulwark.

Plate 45. Dyer’s Greenweed in meadow NW of Pant-y-pridd Wood, Usk.

Plate 46. Uncrisped Parsley on Chepstow Castle walls.

Plate 47. Wood Sorrel, Lodge Wood Caerleon.

Plate 48. Meadow Crane’s-bill, dismantled railway verge, The Rock. Plate 49. Purple Loosestrife, Drybridge Community N.R.

Plate 50. Mistletoe on Cotoneaster, Whitehouse.

Plate 51. Hedgerow Crane’s-bill, roadside west of Llanvair Discoed.

Plate 52. Indian Balsam, near River Rhymney south of Trethomas.

Plate 53. Orange Balsam, Tredegar Park, Newport.

Plate 54 (above). Giant Hogweed colony at confluence of River Usk and Severn Estuary.

Plate 55 (right). Rock Samphire on Trias Sandstone, Sudbrook.

Plate 56. Corky-fruited Waterdropwort site on road verge, Tynewydd, with Colin Titcombe.

Plate 57. Part of a strong colony of Henbane, Goldcliff Pill.

Plate 58 (above). Close-up of Henbane flower.

Plate 59 (right). Yellow-wort, bank of Talycoed Wood.

Plate 60. Thorn-apple fruit, Sunnybank Farm. Plate 61 (below). Angel’s-trumpet fruit, Newton Geen, Mathern.

Plate 62 (right). Viper’s-bugloss, edge of River Monnow upstream of Llangua.

Plate 63. Field Bindweed, frequent on road verges.

Plate 64. Tuberous Comfrey, hedge Itton-Devauden Road.

Plate 65. Mare’s-tail, lake nr Prescoed

Plate 66. Moth Mullein, white form, amongst road stone north of Trothy.

Plate 67. French Figwort, marsh, Newport Docks.

Plate 68. Musk, The British, Abersychan.

Plate 69. Slender Speedwell.

Plate 70. Common Cow-wheat, Lasgarn Wood.

Plate 71. Cornish Moneywort, Nant-y-draenog.

Plate 72. Marsh Lousewort, Underwood-Llanmartin.

Plate 73. Lousewort, north of Gethley Wood, Kilgwrrwg.

Plate 74 (left). Purple toothwort, Yew Tree, Lydart. Plate 75 (right). Toothwort, Pierce Wood.

Plate 76. Spreading Bellflower, Yew Tree, Lydart. Plate 77 (left). Yellow-rattle.

Plate 78 (right). Yellow Common Broomrape, Newport Docks.

Plate 79 (left). Giant Bellflower, hedge south of Cae-caws House, Penallt.

Plate 80 (right). Nettle-leaved Bellflower, Cwm Coed y Cerrig.

Plate 81. Guelder Rose, Hardwick Plantation.

Plate 83 (above). Carline thistle, Gilwern Hill. Plate 82 (above). Teasel with Nick Evans, Chapel Reen, Undy. Plate 84 (below). Musk Thistle, Garn-yr-erw.

Plate 85 (below). Devil’s-bit Scabious.

Plate 86 (above). Woolly Thistle.

Plate 87 (above). Woolly Thistle with Colin Titcombe, south edge of Ifton Great Wood. Plate 88 (left). Meadow Thistle, Magor Reserve.

Plate 89 (below). Meadow Thistle, Barecroft Common.

Plate 90. Cotton thistle, SW of Llanwenarth Church, near River Usk.

Plate 91. Greater Knapweed, near Windmill Cottage, Rogiet.

Plate 92. Chicory, track, Tre-fal-du pools.

Plate 93. Pierce Woods from Wintour’s Leap. Salsify occurs near the three trees on edge of River Wye. Plate 94. Marsh Hawk’s-beard, Afon Cibi, Abergavenny.

Plate 95. Pearly Everlasting near Rhymney.

Plate 96. Monnow Bridge, site for Iberian Toadflax. Plate 97. Iberian Toadflax, Monnow Bridge.

Plate 98. Heath Cudweed, Little Oak,

Plate 99 (left). Tansy galled by Rhopalomyia tanaceticola, a gall midge.

Plate 100 (below). Corn Marigold, Ty’r Pwll Farm, 1997

Plate 101. Flowering Rush, Vaindre Winter Sewer, near West Usk Lighthouse.

Plate 102. Niger, Newport rubbish tip.

Plate 103. Arrowhead, reen near New House.

Plate 104. Frogbit, Barecroft Common Reen.

Plate 105. Common Cottongrass, N of Garn-yr-erw. Plate 106. Eelgrass, gravel beds, Rogiet. Plate 107. Cyperus Sedge, pond, Graig

Plate 108. Round-headed Club-rush, N of Spytty Pill, Newport, 2005. Plate 109. Bottle Sedge, utricles contracted abruptly.

Plate 110. Bladder Sedge, utricles tapering.

Plate 111. Thin-spiked Wood-sedge lining track, Great Barnetts Wood Plate 112. Flea Sedge, ridge above Highlands.

Plate 113. Golden Dog’s-tail, Newport rubbish tip.

Plate 114. Pyrenean Lily, St. Sannan’s Churchyard, Bedwellty. Plate 115. Orange Foxtail, Penpergwm Pond.

Plate 116. Japanese Millet, Newport rubbish tip.

Plate 117. Herb Paris, north of Newton Court. Plate 118. Herb Paris, Blackcliff.

Plate 119. Bog Asphodel, above Forgeside.

Plate 120. Wild Daffodils, Curley Oak Wood, Wentwood.

Plate 121. Blue-eyed-grass Springdale Farm.

Plate 122. Yellow Iris, Uskmouth Wetlands Reserve.

Plate 123. Autumn Lady’s Tresses, hundreds in Chepstow Cemetery, 2006. Plate 124. Autumn Lady’s tresses, Undy.

Plate 125. Marsh Helleborine., Uskmouth.

Plate 126 (top left). Greater Butterfly Orchid, Kilgwrrwg. Plate 127 (top right). Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Hardwick Plantation. Plate 128 (bottom left). Greater Butterfly Orchid, diverging pollinia. Plate 129 (bottom right). Lesser Butterfly Orchid, parallel pollinia.

Plate 130. Common Spotted Orchids, Newgrove Meadow. Plate 131. Fragrant Orchid, Henllys Bog.

Plate 132. Pyramidal Orchid, Mitchell Troy.

Plate 133. Southern Marsh Orchids, Uskmouth Wetlands Reserve. Plate 134. Heath Spotted Orchid, Underwood-Llanmartin.

Plate 135. Early Marsh Orchid, Underwood-LLanmartin.

Plate 136. Green-veined Orchid and Cowslips, Fernlea. Plate 137 (below). Green-veined Orchid. Plate 138. Bee Orchid, Pontypool.

Plate 139. Wasp Orchid, Wentwood (B. Hewitt)

Plate 140 (above). St Sannan’s Churchyard, Wood Bittervetch site.

Plate 141 (right). Monkey-flower hybrid in Llanwenarth Valley.

Plate 142 (below). Blackrock to St Pierre Pill, saltmarsh.

Plate 143 (above). Improved fields from Skirrid to Sugarloaf.

Plate 144 (left). Conifers in blocks, Wentwood, 1960s.

Plate 145. Failed oat crop but rich in arable weeds, Llantrisant Fawr.

Flora of Monmouthshire

INTRODUCTION I was appointed BSBI Vice-county Recorder for vc 35 Monmouthshire in 1972. Some other counties had begun to map their floras using grid squares which struck me as an interesting way to record plants, and although Arthur Wade’s Flora had only come out in 1970, I began to think that a plant distribution atlas would be a good idea for Monmouthshire too. My retirement in 1984, after forty-one years teaching mainly in Chepstow Secondary Schools, meant I would have time to produce such a flora. Over twenty years later here it is - the first Flora of Monmouthshire to show the distribution of plants using maps, and also the first to give detailed grid references. There have been a few previous floras of Monmouthshire. J. H. Clark (1868), born in Gloucester, was later a printer at Usk. In 1868 he published Sketches of Monmouthshire with an appendix, which was the first attempt to write a complete flora of the county. This was reprinted as a pamphlet called The Flora of Monmouthshire, and it contained 671 flowering plants, and 22 ferns and fern allies. His herbarium collection of dried plants is lodged in Newport Museum and Art Gallery. Rev. Augustin Ley (1842-1919) contributed a large number of records to Monmouthshire in reports of the Botanical Record Club for years 1873-86. His numerous notes in Journal of Botany from 1872 onwards and in Transactions of the Woolhope Field Naturalists’ Club 1883-1885 are rich in Monmouthshire plant records. Samuel Hamilton (c.1909), BA, MB, of Newport, was Medical Officer of Health for the Marshfield District of the Newport Union. In 1909 he published The Flora of Monmouthshire, a slim octavo volume of 81 pages. Though purporting to be a flora of the entire county, most of the records are his personal records from the Newport area. It consisted of 626 flowering plants and 23 ferns and fern allies. Dr W. A. Shoolbred (1852-1928), M.R.C.S., F.L.S., F.R.H.S., published his Flora of Chepstow in 1920 that covered a radius of 12 miles around Chepstow, roughly half of which was in Monmouthshire and half in Gloucestershire. He travelled widely, often with Rev. E. S. Marshall, and benefited greatly from his association with this very good botanist, which he acknowledged in his Flora. Fifty years of his observations contributed substantially to the knowledge of the flora of SE Monmouthshire. His volume deals with critical species (e.g. hawkweeds, brambles, roses and willows), with acknowledgements to various experts for their determinations. It also lists an incomplete record of mosses added to by A. Ley. Shoolbred’s herbarium is housed in the National Museum of Wales. Shoolbred practiced medicine in Chepstow from 1878 and shortly after took up residence in St. Anne’s, at the top end of Bridge Street, Chepstow, where he remained until his death in 1928. When the American Imperial Film Co. Ltd chose Chepstow Castle for most of the scenes for its film ‘Ivanhoe’ based loosely on Sir Walter Scott’s novel, Dr Shoolbred was employed as the official doctor to deal with casualties during the making of the film and he set up a table in his stable yard for the purpose. Chepstow shipyard workers were employed as extras for the battle scenes, and it is said that when they practised before the filming began their over-enthusiasm led to Dr. Shoolbred having more casualties to treat than for the whole of the actual filming. Dr Shoolbred had a particular interest in trees and shrubs of the British Isles and Brambles and Hawkweeds. Rosa x shoolbredii was named in his honour (it still occurs in the vc), and Marshall named a Scottish Hawkweed after him too. S. G. Charles (1883-1960) contributed to the knowledge of the county flora by his thorough exploration of NE Monmouthshire from 1924-51, with many records substantiated by specimens in the National Museum of Wales. His notebooks are in Monmouth Museum. The Flora of Monmouthshire by Arthur E. Wade (1895-1989), M.Sc., was the first complete Flora for the county and was achieved on the back of 50 years of week-end field work. He divided the county into five regions using topography and noted that each region had a distinct range of plants. For the BSBI he was vicecounty recorder for all Welsh vice-counties from 1940 until suitable recorders could be found for each separately. Monmouthshire was probably the last vice-county to be handed over in 1972. He was a referee for the genera Myosotis and Symphytum. From 1942 he was Assistant Keeper of Botany at the National Museum of Wales until he retired in 1961. 1

Flora of Monmouthshire Figure 1. The Vice-county of Monmouthshire (vc 35).

Flora of Monmouthshire Vice-county 35 Monmouthshire As the boundaries of the political county of ‘Monmouthshire’ have been changed several times in the second half of the twentieth century, it is necessary for me to say what is meant by vice-county 35 Monmouthshire. To explain what vice-counties are I must refer to Hewett Cottrell Watson (1804-1881), a famous amateur botanist who devoted his life to the geographical distribution of British plants. Watson compiled information on the occurrence of plants throughout Britain, noting their occurrence in different counties. The disparate sizes of the political counties did not suit his purpose, and so he divided the larger ones into two, three, or even five portions, and a few of the very smallest he added to nearby counties so that he ended up with areas more or less equal in size. He called each unit a vice-county (vc) and numbered them from 1 West Cornwall to 112 Shetland. Watson brought his system into use in the fourth edition of his Cybele Brittanica in 1852. Watson’s system has several advantages. First, vice-counties have been used to provide county floras and plant lists for the same areas ever since and do not change with local government reorganisation. Second, the vice-counties had readily discernible boundaries e.g. a river, hedgerow, hill ridge, etc and are easy to use. Third, botanists and zoologists, who know thousands of generic and specific names, would have no difficulty learning the positions and limits of 112 vice-counties. It must be remembered that when Watson was considering a suitable geographic unit, the Ordnance Survey national grid had not been introduced on maps, and even if it had, the accumulated valuable information on British plants on a county basis might have been lost if a new grid system had been adopted. Watson’s name has been commemorated by the Botanical Society of the British Isles (B.S.B.I.) by calling its scientific journal ‘Watsonia’. The county of Monmouthshire in Watson’s system was vc 35 (Mons.). Its main boundaries were the rivers Severn, Wye, Monnow and Rhymney. The boundary from the R. Monnow at the eastern ridge of the Black Mountains uses a number of physical features to complete its course to the R. Rhymney near Llechryd. The boundary takes a winding course from Redbrook to the Biblins to include land east of the Wye. It crosses the Wye near Little Hadnock and joins the Monnow about a kilometre above Rockfield, so including land north of Monmouth and the Monnow (Figure 1). The topgraphy is shown in Plate 1.

Nomenclature of hectads and tetrads Ordnance Survey maps show the national grid, which divides the country up into grid squares. The largest grid squares are the 100 x 100 km squares, each of which has been allocated a two letter code. Monmouthshire lies partly in the SO 100 x 100 kilometre square north of the horizontal 200000 grid line, and partly in the ST 100 x 100 kilometre square south of it.

Figure 2. Nomenclature of hectads (10 x 10 km squares) in vc 35.

Figure 3. Nomenclature of tetrads (2 x 2 km squares) within a hectad. 3

Flora of Monmouthshire Each 100 x 100 kilometre square is then divided into 10 x 10 kilometre squares, which are called ‘hectads’ by botanists. The name of a hectad takes the two letter code as for its parent square followed by the first number read from the SW corner of the square on the Horizontal line and then the first number on the vertical line from the same corner (Figure 2). Thus Chepstow occurs in hectad ST/59 and Monmouth in hectad SO/51. ALWAYS READ THE FIGURES ON THE HORIZONTAL LINES FIRST. Each hectad is then divided into one hundred 1 x 1 km squares (the smallest squares shown on the maps). A tetrad is a square of 2 x 2 km, giving a total of 4 km² (hence tetrad). There are thus 25 tetrads in a hectad. The coding of tetrads is as shown in Figure 3. The bottom left tetrad composed of four 1 x 1 km squares is ‘A’, the one above it ‘B’, and so on though eventually the letter O is omitted thus finishing with ‘Z’. To remember the position of the tetrad letters some recorders use the mnemonic All Frightened Kids Quickly Vomit where the initial letters give the bottom line of tetrad names. Others use the letters of the second line down that spells ‘DINTY’. The tetrads were named by adding the tetrad code to the hectad code. Thus Chepstow largely lies within the tetrad ST/59 G, and Chepstow Castle in tetrad ST/59 H. Today an increasing number of recorders use a GPS to find their position rather than trying to find it on a map. A GPS is a small, hand-held device which picks up signals from satellites and can quickly pinpoint the position on the ground and provide the Ordnance Survey grid reference to 10 figures, for example SO/34271.05382. Such grid references imply a precise position to 1 m, but the reading is liable to small errors shown on the instrument.

Recording for the flora Tetrads were a popular unit adopted for producing mapped floras in Britain, so these were chosen to map the flora. Vc 35 is made up of 406 either whole or part tetrads, the latter occurring around the boundaries of the vice-county where the tetrads may be shared with adjacent vice-counties. Only the portion of each tetrad in vc 35 has been recorded. To record the flora I would need help. To record all of the plants in each of the 406 tetrads, the ideal number of botanists would have been 812 - a pair of recorders for each tetrad would be company, provide an element of safety and supply better data. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. Any rural vice-county is lucky if it has ten competent botanists; usually it has far less, especially if there is no county university. What it usually has are numbers of people who are good general naturalists often with experience in recording practice in other fields e.g. ornithology, or who are intelligent and are eager to learn new skills in their retirement, or are men or women whose duties to their children have become less onerous. My first task was to contact known botanists by letter, phone or personal visit to explain what the project entailed and seek their co-operation. My second task was to enlist the help of members of the county wildlife trust, and I approached each of the local sections of the Gwent Wildlife Trust setting out my proposal. Thus I was able to get volunteers from Chepstow, Monmouth, Abergavenny and Newport sections. An enthusiastic band of people assembled at the start of the recording season of 1985. They were equipped with a Welsh Record Card ‘RP12’ (Figure 4) provided by the Biological Records Centre, Monks Wood, and an instruction sheet explaining how to proceed with recording. Both sides of the Welsh Record Card RP12 are shown in Figure 4. The cards list the abbreviated Latin names of plants likely to be found in Wales, but not all plants. Some plants are common in parts of Wales though rare or absent from others. When a plant was observed a short horizontal line was drawn through its name on the card. On each visit new plant species were added to the card, until eventually and hopefully all plants growing in the tetrad would be recorded. Each tetrad required its own recording card. The number of tetrads chosen for recording by each person varied according to ability and enthusiasm. The following deserve special mention as they took on ten or more tetrads in the first five years as indicated by the number following their name: R. Fraser 45; B. R. Gregory 10; P. C. & J. Hall 23; T. D. & J. Pollard 21; E. G. Wood 35 and U. T. Evans 80. I took on 112 tetrads. To achieve good coverage, each habitat (e.g. wood, field, stream, marsh) needed to be visited 2-3 times a year. Most of the maps of the common plants were completed in the years between 1985 and 1989. Since then a smaller number of people have been recording critical plants and adding records and revisiting the more interesting sites discovered during the first five years. 4

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 4. A Welsh Record Card RP12 showing both sides

Twenty-five volunteer co-ordinators were required for the 25 hectads to collect the tetrad cards from the recorders of their hectad and enter the records as dots on mini-maps (Figure 5). The minimap in Figure 5 refers only to plants seen in the hectad ST/49, which covers that part of Monmouthshire lying between CoedCwnwr, Devauden, Crick and Llandevaud. Four mini-maps A4 sheets of hectad grids were necessary to cover all the plants on the Welsh Record Card, and two more for additional plants that were not listed on the RP12. The number on top of each 5 x 5 minimap grid is a Biological Records Centre number for each species of plant, which appears before each species name on the Wales Recording Card RP12. Thus the first square 1177 is for Water Lobelia, which does not occur in the vice-county, and the third square 1183 is for Perennial Ryegrass, which is widespread as indicated by the dots. A dot in the grid it means that the plant has been recorded in that tetrad of the hectad. Recorders were asked to submit their cards to their coordinator by the end of September. When the coordinator for each hectad had converted the records on all the RP12 cards to dots on the minimaps for the year the six minimap sheets were sent to me by the last day of November. A colour was adopted for each year: black for 1985, red for 1986, green for 1987, blue for 1988, brown for 1989 and purple for 1990. This made it easier to see additions each year and was useful in dating an observation, but meant a lot of hard, painstaking 5

Flora of Monmouthshire work for the co-ordinators. I then transferred the card records to master cards, and dots on mini-maps to county maps so that each plant had its own county map. A meeting was held each spring before the start of the next recording season to discuss the results and deal with any problems encountered.

Figure 5. One page of the Minimaps for the hectad ST/49. 6

Flora of Monmouthshire The minimap system provided a good means of assessing coverage. To produce the final maps for the flora, the mastercards were entered in a computer program ‘DMAPW’ written by Alan Morton. They were checked against the master maps compiled from the minimaps. The number of records in each tetrad is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Numbers of records in each tetrad. 7

Flora of Monmouthshire

GEOLOGY OF MONMOUTHSHIRE By Naylor Firth

Introduction to Geology Planet Earth is a bit unusual. According to our existing knowledge of our solar system and the myriad of solid objects that occupy ‘Space’, we are the only object that hosts organic living items in the form of animals and plants. The simultaneous occurrence of water, a benevolent gaseous atmosphere and moderate temperatures encouraged evolution to diversify throughout much of the planet’s 4.6 billion years of history to cover it with life, from polar to tropical regions and from deepest oceans to highest mountains. Earth has a diameter of nearly 8,000 miles but the distance between the lowest ocean trench and highest mountain is less than 13 miles. Life therefore covers a very thin veneer indeed but the canvas on which this organic paint has been laid is made up of the surface geology, a complex and ever-changing material. Earth not only has an organic living surface, it also has an inorganic living interior. The inherited heat of the interior produces currents in the liquid core whose pattern changes. In some places and at some times these currents melt the mantle to form huge masses of molten material nearer the surface which later cool slowly to form rocks such as granite; on some occasions, the liquid rock emerges through the surface crust as lava and ash to emphasise to us through vulcanicity that the planet is truly a living planet. The rocks produced by the melting and re-solidification of existing material are called the primary or igneous rocks. The surface crust is also affected by the changing currents within the interior and a number of large plates which cover the surface of the planet are continuously being buffeted, in some areas being pulled apart from one another and in others being forced together. Enormous forces are involved in these crustal movements and mountain chains and large areas of generalised uplift have been formed to the accompaniment of earthquakes and vulcanicity. Gravity, water and wind combine to gnaw away at these upland areas so that the surface becomes a perpetual construction and demolition site. The products of the demolition come from the actions of ice, liquid water and wind and are carried by them to form the secondary or sedimentary rocks. With so much energy available in the crust from heat and earth movements it is not surprising that some of the existing rocks get squeezed and/or heated so that their mineral composition is modified sufficiently to produce a new rock type. This third category, produced by nature’s cookery, form the metamorphic rocks. In the multitude of geological events that have affected our county, the resulting thin surface veneer underlying Monmouthshire consists almost entirely of sedimentary rocks with two very small igneous rock occurrences of a very rare rock type called monchiquite outcropping at Golden Hill. To all intents and purposes therefore the vegetation of the county derives its growing medium from sedimentary rocks laid down in marine and freshwater environments as well as some deposited by glaciers during the recent ice ages. The geological events have included periods when earth movements lead to the rocks being squeezed, folded and torn by faults and the pattern we see today is just the current frame in a long film that is still being produced and directed. The human race tends to be obsessed by its own importance in the grand design. However it is worth putting this into the scale of geological time. If the planet were to be one year old then the three score years and ten of our lifetimes would count for just a half a second; we are that important. This fourth dimension, time, is of vital importance in understanding the present pattern of land and sea, of mountain and plain, of the juxtaposition of hard and soft rocks and of the evolution of living things from the earliest known fossils of marine algae dating from early July on our year’s scale, through the emergence of the first land plants during late November, the first reptiles on 8th December and the first mammals on 15th December. One of the first tenets of geological science is that ‘The present is the key to the past’. Natural events that we see going on around us are repeats of events that have gone on throughout geological time. We observe volcanic activity issuing large volumes of flowing lava in Hawaii and can see past instances of closely similar material in the rocks of Antrim; we see huge quantities of ash being distributed from the Mount St Helens 8

Flora of Monmouthshire eruption and see similar material in the very old Pre-Cambrian of some of the hills near Church Stretton. Similarly with sedimentary rocks we recognise limestone being formed in the Caribbean and encounter limestones of Lower Carboniferous age in SE Monmouthshire. Thus the present climates and environments that we are familiar with in our own part of the globe have changed throughout geological time so that during Devonian times Monmouthshire was the location for a huge fresh-water delta whilst in Upper Carboniferous times it was a luxuriant humid swamp with vast quantities of plant material subject to intermittent incursions from a saline sea. In Quaternary times the county was covered in ice and moraine from the large ice-fields to the North. Weathering processes associated with ice, liquid water and wind chew away at the rocks exposed at the surface to provide a range of loosely consolidated materials such as boulder clay, alluvium and sand-dunes. Geological maps therefore occur in two versions, the solid maps showing the consolidated rocks at the surface and the drift maps which show these overlying very recent deposits, typically lining river valleys, windy coastal areas and areas subject to recent glaciations. Plants of course grow on all these surface materials if water is present and any pattern of vegetation in an area must therefore reflect variations in both the solid geology and drift deposits. A radio comedy programme some decades ago used to contain the catch phrase ‘The answer lies in the soil’, said with a rich Wiltshire accent. How true! In a twinkling of a geological eye, surface materials, be they solid or drift, acquire a thin veneer of sub-soil and soil brought about by the actions of physical and chemical weathering, micro-organisms, non-vascular plants and vascular pteridophytes. The soils in many areas, particularly in those areas relatively undisturbed by man’s activities, reflect the chemical properties of their geological parent materials. Plant distributions and abundances subsequently reflect the nature of the solid and drift geology. Aerial geo-botanical surveys using false-colour techniques to identify different plant populations and the health of theses plants are being increasingly used to map large tracts of unsurveyed land. The technique can be particularly sensitive to identify mineral deposits and the extent of contaminated land.

Rock distribution in Monmouthshire In terms of geological age, Monmouthshire incorporates sediments deposited during the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic and Lower Jurassic periods covering ages from about 430 million to 190 million years ago. On our one year time scale this would equate to November 27th to December 16th. Most geological maps show the patterns of distribution of rocks based on their age. The simplified map of the solid geology of Monmouthshire (Plate 2) shows younger Triassic and Lower Jurassic sediments fringing the Severn Estuary, a mass of Lower Carboniferous sediments trending north-east from Magor to Tintern, a steeply inclined sequence of Carboniferous sediments marking the eastern extremity of the South Wales Coalfield and a window of Silurian sediments in the Usk area peeping through the Devonian sediments which occupy the majority of the area covered by Monmouthshire. Interesting as geological maps based on age are to humans, plants are not really concerned at geological age, they are much more interested in properties such as the texture, acidity and alkalinity, nutrients and pore space within the soils and subsoils derived from the underlying rocks. These combined properties are reflected in the lithologies of the rocks themselves. In Monmouthshire the lithologies of the Silurian rocks are represented by a mixture of fine mudstones and siltstones as well as some impure limestones giving rise to clayey soils with alkaline pH. The Devonian or Old Red Sandstone sediments were laid down in a large delta with water currents changing in direction and velocity with time. The resulting sediments are a mixture of clays, marls, fine sandstones and coarse sandstones, the latter with often large quartz pebbles in the soils from which they are derived. The Old Red Sandstone produces mainly acidic loamy soils although in the lower sequences of the period some calcareous beds do occur giving localised alkali conditions. The rich red soils of much of Monmouthshire and Herefordshire attest to their derivation from the deltaic sandstones.

Flora of Monmouthshire At the end of the Old Red Sandstone period, the Monmouthshire area experienced an invasion by shallow warm seas during the Lower Carboniferous period which laid down relatively large thicknesses of fossil-rich limestones. Their main occurrence in the county is in the South East where they have been extensively quarried for roadstone and general aggregate. Limestone is porous and nearly every valley in the limestone area is dry, the drainage being underground with the subsequent tendency to form caves. Limestones produce alkali soils and man has recognised the value of ‘liming’ to ameliorate the acidity of sandy soils. Thus Monmouthshire contains a classic pattern arising from the juxta-positioning of limestones and sandstones where numerous limestone workings can be found near the boundary to produce material with the minimum carrying distance to where it was needed. Carboniferous Limestone also occurs in the west of the county along the Pontypool ridge from Machen through the Clydach Gorge and Trefil where the relatively narrow outcrops reflect the result of earth movements buckling the sequence to form the basin of the South Wales Coalfield. As the Carboniferous period proceeded, the Earth’s crust in our area began to pulsate with the shallow sea covering and then retreating many, many times. This produced repeat patterns of sedimentation alternating from sandstones through clays to rich organic deposits of plant remains to mudstones to sandstones and back again. The pattern produced our main fossil fuel reserves, coal. To usher in this period in our geological history, the sea incursion deposited layers of quartz-rich sandstones and conglomerates making the Millstone Grit which outcrops around the flanks of the Coalfield above the Carboniferous Limestone. The material was used to make millstones, as the name implies, but its high quartz content also made it useful for the production of acid refractories for iron and steel making. The alternation sequences above the Millstone Grit make up the Coal Measures and patterns in undisturbed soils above these can be quite complex with clayey soils lying next to sandy, well-drained soils next to carbonaceous material. The sequence is further complicated by the occurrence of iron-rich carbonates which were the basis for the early iron industry along the Heads-of-the-Valleys road. At the top of the Carboniferous succession in Monmouthshire is the Pennant Sandstone which contains very little coal but vast quantities of iron-stained sandstones that make up the plateau uplands throughout the South Wales Coalfield. The flanks of the Pennant escarpments are prone to landslips but the rock has been used extensively across South Wales as building stone, much of it beautifully dressed by skilled masons during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Following a period of erosion and denudation during which the topography of the area was considerably changed, South Monmouthshire became a salty lake in the Triassic period with surrounding mountains providing sediments from outwash gullies which graded from coarse to fine as the slope decreased. Evaporite minerals such as the gypsum in the Aust and Sedbury cliffs precipitated out in saline pools and outcrops of red marls occur in the Crick, Magor and Redwick areas. At the end of the Triassic, the climate became wetter and the sea invaded the area to produce alternating deposits of shales, mudstones and limestones during the Lower Jurassic period. Only small outcrops occur in Monmouthshire but further west on the Glamorgan coast and in the Vale of Glamorgan these rocks form the basis of the cement industry. Soils derived from the Lower Lias beds of the Lower Jurassic resemble porridge when wet and concrete when dry so the county is fortunate not to have too much of it! Monmouthshire experienced a long period of geological time following the Lower Jurassic where no rocks are to be found representing this interval. However about 2 million years ago (4 hours ago on our year scale), the Pleistocene period brought alternating warm and very cold climates over the area, popularly called the Ice Ages. Ice is a potent erosion agent, scouring the landscape to produce broad U-shaped valleys and cwms as seen in the Black Mountains. However the material it has eroded and carried is deposited where the ice melts to leave a gardeners nightmare, boulder clay, which contains everything from the finest clay to the largest boulders in one deposit. This tends to remain in the upper ends of the glaciated regions but can also be found where the ends of the glaciers have retreated. Boulder clay and moraine deposits occur in patches between Machen and Newport, in the Ebbw Valley and the Usk valley North West of Abergavenny. Subsequent action by liquid water sorts this mixed material and deposits it lower down the river systems as gravel and sands as in many of the river valleys throughout the County. 10

Flora of Monmouthshire In geologically recent times erosion has continued to remodel the landscape, taking material from high to low ground and sorting it according to its hydraulic properties along the way. Rivers regularly flood to deposit alluvium on their floodplains, estuaries experience storm surges and high spring tides to deposit mud on their banks, vegetation accumulates on uplands to blanket the bedrock with peat and high winds occasionally drive dry sand to form coastal dunes. It is on this complex tapestry of old and young solid rocks, recently deposited unconsolidated deposits, alkali and acid environments, varying textures, fluctuating water contents and changing slopes that plants thrive or struggle.

The Impact of Geology on Vegetation As has been indicated in the previous two sections, soils are derived from the rocks on which they are found. These can either be the solid bedrock or unconsolidated material brought in by ice, water or wind that covers the bedrock but in either case the minerals in the original material start to undergo change in chemistry and physical structure to form subsoil. The gradual colonisation of subsoil with organic material creates the mixture of humus and mineral matter that is called soil. Sedimentary rocks as found in Monmouthshire vary from the acidic sandstones to the alkali limestones and these influence the pH of soils derived from them. Probably one of the best examples of the influence of these on plants is the difference in colour of hydrangeas showing blue colour on acidic soils and pink on alkali soils. However many plants show distinct preferences for colonising various bands of pH, no more so than rhododendrons and azaleas with their presence in acidic areas Because of the varied crystalline nature of the minerals that have come together to form rocks, soils have a mix of minerals that influence their properties. A high concentration of clay minerals imparts a heavy texture to soils; many clay minerals have structures similar to a pack of cards and swell in the presence of water to form a nearly impervious barrier to the further passage of water. Clay layers and lenses within sandstones occur in many Old Red Sandstone areas in Monmouthshire and give rise to spring lines where percolating water meets this impervious layer and emerges at the surface. Parts of the Silurian in the Usk area also have high concentrations of clay minerals in the soils. Mica minerals are common components in sedimentary rocks and tend to lie along bedding planes giving rocks a fissile nature; the abundance of flagstone material in the Old Red Sandstone and the Pennant Sandstone is a result of the presence of mica flakes. Micas do not swell in the presence of water. Quartz (silica) is a very common component of soils because of its resistance to chemical weathering. It is the main mineral in sandstones and very coarse grains and pebbles of quartz form the Quartz Conglomerate that caps much of the escarpment from Wentwood to Monmouth. This puddingstone as it is known locally was the basis for the production of millstones. The presence of quartz produces a soil with better drainage but this also results in poor water retention. The varying proportions of minerals gives rise to the broad subdivisions of soil texture into sands, loams, silts and clays. Weathering of rocks is brought about by chemical and biological agents as well as the physical effects of freeze/thaw, rain and wind erosion. Gravity is the ever-present agent relentlessly pulling weathered and unstable material downhill. Plants growing on flat land must contend with variations in drainage, erosion by lateral movement of streams and rivers and inundation at times of flood. As the gradient of the slope on which they are growing increases so soil-creep, solifluction and land-slips affect the ability of plants to colonise an area. Scree slopes in particular by the very nature of the large particle size of the weathered rock retain little water but do provide sheltered microhabitats, albeit in a highly unstable situation. Plants growing on cliffs have a more stable substrate but have a higher exposure to wind and patchy soil distribution. The basic building elements for the plant kingdom are carbon, oxygen and hydrogen which combine through photosynthesis to form the cellulosic polymer from which most of the plant is made. Calcium, magnesium and potassium stabilize the structure of the protoplasm and assist in enzyme activity. However a further eight elements are needed, albeit in small quantities, to ensure the health of the plant. The eight are called the 11

Flora of Monmouthshire essential micronutrients and include boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, silicon, vanadium and zinc. Plants require a window of concentrations of each of these elements to give of their best and both deficiencies and excesses can cause problems. It is important to remember that the availability of any of these elements is not related to the overall concentration in the soils but to the pH of the soils, the water regime within the soil and the microflora of the soil matrix. Liming for example can significantly alter the availability of micronutrients to plant roots. A detailed study of micronutrient status within Monmouthshire soils is outside the scope of this chapter, but the Triassic sandstones in the Newport area and the Old Red Sandstone to the West of Newport have been identified as being deficient in boron. Similarly the Pleistocene glacial sands and gravels in the Newport area and the alluvial clays around the Wentloog Levels have been found to be deficient in manganese. Most of the detailed research on the micronutrient status in plants has naturally concentrated on commercial crops and in particular those which go on to affect the health status and micronutrient requirements of livestock. It is likely that different species of non-commercial plants will have differing requirements for micronutrient concentrations. Some plants accumulate concentrations of elements from their parent soils to present potential problems for livestock. Whilst selenium is an essential element for animals, some plants in the genus Astragalus, for example, can accumulate over 5500ppm of the element and could be considered as a low-grade ore! Plants by their very nature reflect the immediate environment in which they live. Their soil, nutrients and water are very local whereas animals can roam and source food and drink from much wider areas. Humans can roam and source their food from almost anywhere on the planet and thus, in a sense, plants have a onedimensional, animals a two-dimensional and humans a three-dimensional existence. Because of the effect of trace elements and the preference of different plants for different concentrations of these elements, varying patterns of plant distribution can give clues to the concentration of mineral resources underlying an area. Thus an aerial scan of vegetation patterns using multi-spectral photo-reconnaissance can provide a fast comprehensive indication of the underlying geology of an area. The trick is to be able to relate the pattern produced to some ground truth sites, which shows that ‘this pattern’ means ‘this’. Nevertheless, geo-botanical exploration is proving to be a very useful quick technique in geological prospecting. With the South of Monmouthshire bordering the Bristol Channel and experiencing the prevailing South Westerly winds, salt spray can be blown inland to affect plants. The effects are not always harmful since salt spray also brings with it other elements from sea water such as iodine, which although not critical to plant health, provides an element essential for animal health, there being a strong correlation between iodine deficiency and the incidence of goitre in man and animals.

The Impact of Man’s Geologically-Related Activities on Vegetation. Ever since Man adopted a non-nomadic lifestyle, he has sought to modify the nature of the soils around him using nature’s materials to improve crop yields. Sometimes this action has been intentional such as liming but on other occasions it has been accidental as in the case of metal smelting where air pollution has either selectively killed off susceptible vegetation in the affected areas or, in extreme cases, has led to plant deserts where nothing grows. Increasing knowledge of the part played by the three elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the growth of plants combined with the ability of chemical industry to manufacture bulk quantities of these inorganic materials has led to the mass application of NPK fertilisers in agriculture. Significant increases in yields, particularly in forage crops, are now the norm and short-term effects on the diversity of natural plant populations have resulted and will result in fertilised areas from the encouragement of specific crops. Calcium tends to get leached from soils by leaching and crop uptake so that there is a tendency for soils to increase in acidity. Liming, usually with finely ground limestone, has been used for centuries to modify soil pH and many farms in Monmouthshire, particularly on the Old Red Sandstone outcrops, regularly apply lime to their fields. By altering the acidity of soils through liming the availability of other elements such a 12

Flora of Monmouthshire phosphorus, molybdenum, iron, manganese, copper and zinc to plant uptake will also be altered and selective encouragement or discouragement of different species will result. Liming also affects the balance of soil organisms by enhancing soil bacteria but inhibiting soil fungi. This has obvious implications not only for plant health but also for soil structure by encouraging bacterial activity in heavy, acid soils. Industrialisation of society from the 18th century onwards saw the establishment of large conurbations where heating was predominantly from coal burning and concentrated those activities where materials needed by society were produced. This was particularly seen in the production of metals from smelting operations. Many metal minerals occur as sulphides and their processing gave off huge volumes of sulphurous gases which greatly increased the acidity of soils downwind from the smelters. Even as late as the 1960s tracts of the Lower Swansea Valley were devoid of vegetation due to smelting activity and earlier sites such as Blaenafon suffered severely from acidic fall-out. Acidity will be reduced over time as rainfall leaches the ground but the concentrations of metals arising from smelting may contaminate affected areas for many years with possible health and selection implications for plants. However such is the adaptability of plants that on some of the worst metal-contaminated sites, vegetation has evolved strains which are metal tolerant. Sites in Northern Anglesey and near Wrexham where heavy metal burdens in soils have been very high have yielded strains of grasses whose progeny have been used to reclaim contaminated sites around the world. Coal burning produces acidic gases which, when washed out of the air by moisture, produce acid rain. The concentration of large coal-burning point sources at power stations disperses stack gases high into the atmosphere but this enables acid rain to reach farther from the stations and parts of Wales suffer from acid rain fallout from power stations in Central England. The effects are seen particularly in coniferous woodland where die-off can be quite visible.

Conclusions Plants grow because of their environment and not in spite of it. They are choosy and if conditions do not suit them then they will thrive somewhere else. Given an undisturbed natural environment, (of which there are precious few in Monmouthshire!) plants will sort out their winners and losers, will react to climatic changes in their own way and will continue to mutate and evolve as they have done for over 400 million years. Man has attempted to mould this natural environment for his own ends and through introducing agricultural and industrial systems has intentionally and unintentionally modified the canvas on which the plant paint is applied. In terms of geological time, these man-made changes are fleeting and insignificant UNLESS a species is completely wiped-out; the evidence throughout geological time, certainly for the animal kingdom, is that once a species has died out there is no reappearance and extinction is permanent. Such is the resilience of plants that Monmouthshire, as this volume emphasises, still contains an amazing diversity of plant life in spite of 3000 years of significant activity by Man. The county has a diverse topography, diverse habitats and a diverse geology and the range of plants amply reflects that diversity.

Flora of Monmouthshire

HABITATS IN MONMOUTHSHIRE By Stephanie Tyler and George Peterken

Monmouthshire may be a relatively small and mainly pastoral vice-county but within its borders it contains a remarkable diversity of habitats, ranging from upland moors in the north and west to salt marsh and mudflats along the Severn Estuary. The true uplands are confined to the Black Mountains and to the hills between the former industrial valleys in the west. Outside the main urban districts of Newport, Cwmbran and Pontypool, the farmland looks a pleasing mosaic of arable, permanent grass and hedges, studded with woods on high ground, steeper slopes and narrow headwater valleys. The well-wooded Wye gorge supports a wide range of semi-natural habitats, including famous inland limestone cliffs. Of course, most of the farmland is intensively used, but small patches of heath and marsh remain, a few districts still have significant amounts of seminatural grassland, and some reens in the coastal Levels retain a rich wetland flora.

Uplands Dwarf shrub dry and wet heath communities, bog, acid grassland, acid mires, flushes and headwater streams above the general level of enclosure are confined to the north-west and western hills. Related lowland heaths occur on the Trelleck plateau. Upland heath dominated by Heather, Bell Heather and Bilberry with Crowberry occurs on the plateaus in the Black Mountains, on the Blorenge, Coity Mountain and Mynydd Maen and other hills between the former industrial valleys of the west. In the northernmost hills of the Black Mountains on the plateau between the Olchon Valley and Honndu valley, Cowberry also occurs, as well as on the Blorenge. Much upland heath has been heavily sheep-grazed with the suppression of Heather and Bilberry and their replacement with grass. This has resulted in extensive areas of Mat-grass dominated acid grassland moor. Management of the Black Mountains moorland for Red Grouse has however, benefited the dwarf shrub heath communities. There are still areas of good Heather and Bilberry moor on parts of Mynydd Maen and on the Blorenge although vehicles and deliberate fires have caused much damage to vegetation. Rock outcrops and cliffs in the uplands support a range of ferns, and on the cliffs at Tarren yr Esgob plants as Green Spleenwort and Mossy Saxifrage survive on damp ledges. In damper areas on the moorlands, Purple Moor-grass bog with Cross-leaved Heath or true blanket bogs with bog mosses Sphagnum spp and Cottongrasses occur. One of the largest examples of blanket bog lies on Waun Afon, where among the Sphagnum and Cottongrass species, Round-leaved Sundew, rushes and sedges, the hybrid Deergrass Trichophorum x foersteri may be found. This hybrid occurs too in small areas of bog on Mynydd Maen. Acid flushes (M6 in the National Vegetation Classification -NVC) occur throughout the uplands with species such as Butterwort found in several flushes in the Black Mountains. Few-flowered Spike-rush is known from one flush on Bâl-Mawr near Llanthony. Some headwater streams and associated mires support species as Ivyleaved Bellflower, Round-leaved Crowfoot and Marsh Violet. On the hillsides and slopes of the upland areas above the first fields is the fridd land. This has huge areas of acid grassland (see grassland section), often with extensive stands of Bracken. European Gorse and Western Gorse form significant patches and there are often scattered Common Hawthorns and Birches.

Heaths and acid mires Lowland heath, characterised by more than 25% of the habitat covered in dwarf shrub heath, has suffered huge losses in the U.K. with 85% lost in the last 200 years. Very little lowland heath remains in Monmouthshire. 14

Flora of Monmouthshire

Much of the Trellech Plateau and Wentwood Forest were formerly heathlands but were extensively planted with conifers from the 1960s. Heather and Bilberry persist in the rides and soon reappear after an area is clearfelled and re-planted. Along walls and banks in this area, they are much in evidence. Recently the Forestry Commission and an alliance of conservation groups have overseen the clearing of conifers on Beacon Hill and at Broadmeend near Trellech, and fencing and grazing by Exmoor ponies in an attempt to re-establish heathland. These sites cover an area of about 45ha. Important areas of wet heath and wet acid grassland occur in the Penllwyn Grasslands SSSI near Pontllanfraith and at Cwm Celyn near Ebbw Vale. The Penllwyn grasslands also include Purple Moor-grass-Meadow Thistle fen meadow (M24) with species as Saw-wort, Devil’s-bit Scabious, Flea Sedge and Heath Spotted-orchids, as well as Cross-leaved Heath-Sphagnum compactum wet heath community. At Cwm Celyn among the plants to be found are Musk, Bog Asphodel, Lesser Skullcap, Marsh Violet and Bog Pimpernel. On the damp heath by Pen-y-van Pond near Blackwood are Petty Whin and Marsh Violets. Damp grassland (see grassland section), marshy grassland, mires, fen and bogs are terms that are often used synonymously. Strictly, a bog is a mire overlying peat; it has a high water level throughout the year, maintained mainly by rainfall. A bog is acidic and characterised by Sphagnum spp., sedges and ericoids, as on upland blanket bogs. A fen is similar, being a mire overlying peat but is base-rich; a marsh overlies mineral soils; both fens and marshes are mires that are also waterlogged for much of the year. They broadly include valley mires, fed by water flow from a stream or river, or basin mires and floodplain mires on areas with impeded drainage (see later section on marshes). Good examples of bogs, fens and marshes occur in Monmouthshire (see below). The best example of a lowland bog or valley mire is Cleddon Bog near Trellech. Here dwarf shrub heath occurs with Bog Asphodel, Round-leaved Sundew and Cranberry. A lack of grazing and reduced water flow perhaps due to the conifers planted around the mire, has led to Purple Moor-grass tussocks becoming dominant. Smaller remnants of acid mire or bog occur at Whitelye Common above Botany Bay where Bog Asphodel still occurs, and near The Narth and Penyvan. Many of these are also suffering from neglect or rather a lack of grazing and consequently are scrubbing over. Recently efforts have been made to clear scrub and birches from Cleddon Bog and Whitelye Common and to fence these to reinstate grazing. Near Penyvan, a small mire supports the only known population of Marsh St John’s-wort in eastern Monmouthshire. Ivy-leaved Bellflower and Bog Pimpernel occur in mires alongside streams near Penyvan and on the northern fringe of Wentwood. Cwm Coed-y-cerrig near Fforest Coalpit is another rich acid valley mire associated with an important Alder carr (see woodland section) and grading into marshy and acid grassland. Broad-leaved Cottongrass, Roundleaved Sundew, Common Butterwort, Bogbean, the scarce Early Marsh-orchid, Heath Spotted-orchid and the Yellow sedge subsp. brachyrrhyncha grow in the mire.

Grassland As elsewhere in Britain, much of the species-rich grassland in Monmouthshire has been lost to agriculture since the end of the Second World War. It has been ploughed and converted to Perennial Rye-grass leys with very few species other than White Clover and perhaps Common and Sticky Mouse-ear and Daisy (MG7 grassland).

Neutral Grassland The main grassland type that once occurred over much of the vice-county was neutral grassland of the Crested Dog’s-tail-Common Knapweed community (MG5 grassland) often with Meadow Vetchling a conspicuous component. Cuckooflower, Common Birds-foot-trefoil and Greater Bird’s-foot Trefoil in damper areas, Red 15

Flora of Monmouthshire Clover, Pignut, Burnet Saxifrage, Bugle, Germander Speedwell, Yellow Rattle (in hay meadows), Oxeye Daisy and Cat’s Ear are among those species usually present. Significant remnants of this neutral grassland occur scattered throughout the central and eastern parts of the vice-county. However, the most important concentration of such unimproved grasslands is on the Trellech Plateau and in the Wye Valley. Here there are many small, steep fields that have not been ploughed or fertilised. They include traditionally managed hay meadows and old pastures often with numerous ant mounds. Cowlips, Green-veined Orchids and Common Twayblades often occur in large numbers. Meadow Saffron hangs on in a few sites but has been ousted from much farmland. Many fields support swathes of Wild Daffodils and in June Common or Heath Spottedorchids or hybrids between the two. The best orchid-rich hay meadows are at the Gwent Wildlife Trust (GWT) reserves at Pentwyn Farm at Penallt and at New Grove Farm near Trellech. Moonwort has been found at the latter site. Many very rich, small hay meadows have been found in recent years both by the Monmouthshire Meadows Group and by the Gwent Wildlife Trust (GWT). These include a few acres at Maryland near The Narth with almost 200 Greater Butterfly-orchids and a species-rich orchard meadow at Tymawr Convent near Penallt with Common Twayblades, Pyramidal Orchid, Downy Oat-grass and Harebells. Other important hay meadows or grazing pastures are found on the Trellech Plateau in the Devauden area where several SSSIs have been designated, for example the Lower Nex Meadows and Plantation Farm and Gethley, as well as on Cobbler’s Plain between Devauden and Llanishen, at Penallt, around Penyvan and at Wyesham. There are several rich sites in the Wye Valley too, such as at Barbadoes Hill near Tintern, one of five or six sites with Greater Butterfly-orchids, whilst towards Wentwood some species-rich grasslands are found near Shirenewton. Important areas of MG5 grassland are to be found too in the Monnow Valley where Pepper Saxifrage occurs, and near Raglan, as for example, at Penrhos where Dyer’s Greenweed and Petty Whin abound. Above the Usk Valley another significant remnant occurs at Springdale Farm, a GWT Reserve, now well-known for its Blueeyed-grass and abundance of Adder’s Tongue. Between Pandy and Grosmont in the northeast of Monmouthshire, there is another important site in the headwaters of the River Trothy, the Blaentrothy meadows. Dinham Meadows near Caerwent are best-known for their limestone grassland but they include some excellent neutral grassland too. Further west the Memorial Park Meadows at Pontllanfraith, another area of species-rich MG5 grassland, includes the scarce Greater Burnet. Significant areas of species-rich neutral grassland occur along some road verges and in churchyards. Unfortunately mowing sometimes occurs too frequently or too early in the year both on verges and in some churchyards. Notable churchyard species-rich grassland occurs below Star Pitch towards Llansoy at Llanvihangel Tor-y-Mynydd Church, at Llangeview Church, at Penallt Old Church and at St Davids at Trostrey. Wild Daffodils are abundant at Llangeview and Penallt Old Church whilst Harebell and Autumn Crocus occur at St Davids. The grassland at Bedwellty Church, St Sannans, is a wonderful site for several local species including Wood Bittervetch, Wild Marjoram, Great Burnet and Sweet Cicely. Although many road verges have become enriched there are some spectacular sites where Cowslips are conspicuous in the spring and later species such as Common Knapweed and Field Scabious. Verges rich in Common Twayblades and Common or Heath Spotted-orchids occur near Cleddon Bog and near the Pecket Stone, both on the Trellech Plateau. On dry banks the increasingly uncommon Harebells may still survive. The area of neutral good quality grassland found during the CCW Phase 1 habitat survey in 1991 in the old county of Gwent which includes VC 35 but extends further west, totalled only 436 ha, with a further 1632 ha of secondary quality and another 77 ha of semi-improved neutral grassland. These figures need updating because other areas of good quality grassland have been found by the Gwent Wildlife Trust and Monmouthshire Meadows Group between 2003 and 2007. In addition to the MG5 grasslands, there are other neutral grasslands dominated by coarse grasses as False Oat-grass and Cocksfoot (MG1 grasslands). These often include Yorkshire Fog, Hogweed, Common Nettles and thistles. Good MG5 grassland may revert to coarse grassland if it is not cut or grazed and strips or patches of MG1 grassland may occur at the more enriched edges of species-rich grassland. This coarse grassland is particularly evident along main road verges where enrichment occurs from neighbouring fields or where the material cut along the verges is left in situ. 16

Flora of Monmouthshire Damper pastures with the Yorkshire Fog and Soft Rush community (MG10), often occur within MG5 grassland, as too may MG13 grassland that occurs on moist or waterlogged soils, often in river floodplains or alongside streams, which typically has Creeping Bent and Marsh Foxtail. It should be noted that many areas of grassland may contain a mosaic of vegetation types. Typical neutral grassland often has areas richer in lime or more acidic within it, so the presence of calcicoles and calcifuges alongside neutral species is not unexpected. Wetter areas in flushes or by streams introduce other vegetation types.

Calcareous Grassland Less than 75 ha of species-rich calcareous grassland (NVC types CG1, CG2 and CG3) remain in Monmouthshire with a further small area of semi-improved calcareous grassland. Much of this grassland overlies a band of Carboniferous Limestone that stretches from east of Newport across to Chepstow. Only a few unimproved remnants of calcareous grassland have survived agricultural improvement, notably at Rogiet and near Caerwent. The most extensive of these is at Dinham Meadows near Caerwent where a Sheep’s Fescue-Carline Thistle type (CG1) of calcareous grassland is found. It has a very diverse flora that includes Adder’s-tongue Fern, Autumn Ladies-tresses, Greater Knapweed and Grass Vetchling. Verges of the A48 at Five Lanes would abound with Bee Orchids if they were not cut May-June and with such a wide cut. The bank at Sandy Way on the Itton road has good displays of Bee Orchids and Cowslips. Other good examples of lime-rich grassland occur at Brockwells Meadow near Caerwent and nearby at Shirefield as well as at the Rogiet Poor Land, a GWT reserve, and in old quarries as Burness Castle and Caerwent. Species such as the scarce Small Scabious occur at some of these sites and Meadow Clary hangs on in one meadow near Rogiet. Fen meadows, which are noted below, are areas of lime-rich, damp grassland. Calcareous spoil by the A449 near Monmouth has led to the formation of excellent species-rich grassland on Dixton Embankment above the River Wye whilst near Mitchel Troy along the dual carriageway from Monmouth to Newport, Pyramidal Orchids grow in profusion on the banks both sides of the road. In the Caerwent area road verges may support a range of calcicoles including Greater Knapweed and Field Scabious. Elsewhere calcareous spoil at industrial sites as at the former Uskmouth Power Station (now part of the Newport Wetlands Reserve) and at Alpha Steel has resulted in large numbers of calcicoles including large stands of Marsh Helleborines and Southern Marsh-orchids as well as scarce species such as Grass-leaved Vetchling. Limestone chippings are often used on and alongside tracks in conifer plantations and on these calcicoles such as Bee Orchid and Yellow-wort frequently appear. The only other areas of limestone grassland in Monmouthshire occur in the north below quarries on Gilwern Hill just within the vice county to the north of the Blorenge, and at Pwll du on the east of the Blorenge, as well as in the west at quarries near Risca and on Mynydd Machen between Machen and Risca. These are all important areas for Autumn Gentian, a scarce plant in the vice-county. On the Blorenge is rich grassland with such species as Salad Burnet, Lesser Wild Thyme and Hairy Violet.

Acid grasslands These grasslands occur widely in the uplands of the north and west (see upland section) where Mat-grass, Sheep’s Fescue, Common Bent, Green-ribbed Sedge and Sheep’s Sorrel are characteristic species (U1 community). They also occur on Gray Hill near Wentwood although scrub and Bracken now cover much of the hill. Acid grassland dominated by Wavy Hair-grass occurs in the uplands as well as around heathlands on the Trellech Plateau (U2 community). Generally on lowland sites acid grassland of the U4 type is prevalent characterised by Sheep’s-fescue, Common Bent and Heath Bedstraw. Associated species include Tormentil, Lousewort and Milkwort. This type of acid grassland is widespread on Old Red Sandstone quartz 17

Flora of Monmouthshire conglomerate on the Trellech Plateau and around Wentwood. Areas of neutral grassland may grade into acid grassland. In the 1991 Phase 1 habitat survey, CCW recorded 1711 ha of acidic grassland in Gwent of which 1445 ha were in the lowlands and 266 ha in the uplands. Another 646 ha were classed as semi-improved acidic grassland. These figures would be somewhat lower for Monmouthshire.

Marsh and fens Some 478 ha of marshy grassland and 167 ha of mire were found in Gwent in the Phase 1 survey by CCW. Marshy grassland on waterlogged soils is an integral component of pastures and meadows, occupying depressions and the sides of streams and the edges of ponds and lakes. Although largely eliminated by land drainage, marshy grassland is still present in many small fields. Flushes may occur in grasslands as near Devauden where Meadow Thistle, Bog Pimpernel, Marsh Valerian and Meadowsweet are to be found. In the lowlands the most frequent type of marshy grassland is M23, characterised by Marsh Bedstraw and Soft Rush or Sharp-flowered Rush. It often grades into valley mires as along the small stream at Trellech near the Virtuous Well. Here, large tussocks of Greater Tussock-sedge are a notable feature. Small areas of Meadowsweet-Wild Angelica mire (M27) are found on moist circum-neutral soils, often by streams as along the top of the Whitebrook valley. Ragged Robin, Marsh Valerian, Common Sorrel and rushes are typical associated species. Flood meadows are now sadly much reduced because of flood prevention schemes along so many of our streams and rivers. However, fields along parts of the lower Wye, Trothy and Monnow, the Usk and the Olway Brook still become inundated when rivers overtop their banks. For the most part the fields have been agriculturally improved but areas of Meadowsweet-Wild Angelica marshy vegetation survive along the banks and in some flood meadows as along the Wye near Redbrook, Common Comfrey and Meadow Crane’s-bill are prolific. Another area of flood meadows is on the Neddern Brook between Caerwent and Caldicot. Within these flood meadows there are many small areas with Marsh-marigold. Marshy grassland habitats often have a combination of different communities (M22 to M25) as well as wet heathland (M15). Small remnants of marshy grassland occur within woodland or along woodland rides as for example, in Wet Meadow and Loysey Wood near Trellech where several types occur. Here, there are small patches of Purple Moor-grass acid mire and wet grassland with Devil’s-bit Scabious and Marsh Valerian. An excellent example of valley mire with different communities is to be found along the Mounton Brook at Llwyn-y-celin Bog near Shirewnewton. This is a fairly calcareous mire that grades into swamp communities. There are ten species of sedge, areas of Purple Moor-grass and Tormentil mire (M25) with Devil’s-bit Scabious, Bogbean, Bog Pimpernel, Marsh Lousewort and Greater Tussock-sedge. The grazing marshes behind the sea wall on the Gwent Levels were derived from saltmarsh or freshwater swamp habitats. Prehistorically, the levels went through huge changes in vegetation over millennia, not just extensive marshes, including Great Fen-sedge Cladium mariscus, but also fen or bog development. Most of the marshes have been drained and converted to improved or semi-improved grassland or to arable fields. Small areas remain where the water level in the surrounding ditches or reens is kept high and where they have escaped intensive agriculture. Some of the remnant wet pastures, for example at Barecroft Common near Magor, are very species-rich. The community characterised by Blunt-flowered Rush and Common Marshbedstraw (M22) is found on this common. Nearby Magor Marsh is the largest surviving fenland remnant. It overlies a layer of peat and is fed by lime-rich water. The reserve includes extensive areas of sedges, grazing pastures where Marsh-marigolds and Yellow Flags abound, taller emergent vegetation or swamp dominated by Reed Sweet Grass and Common Reed and two important hay meadows of the Purple Moor-grass-Meadow Thistle (M24) vegetation type. Many other species such as Marsh Ragwort occur on these two fen meadows. Purple Moor-grass-Meadow Thistle fen meadows also occur within a mosaic of habitats at the Penllwyn Grasslands site and at Memorial Park Meadows near Pontllanfraith. Henllys Bog, another GWT reserve, at the eastern edge of the coalfields is an important small fen habitat with a diversity of species including Marsh Helleborine, Common Butterwort, Dyer’s Greenweed and Broad-leaved 18

Flora of Monmouthshire Cottongrass. Another important area of marshy grassland is at Langstone-Llanmartin Meadows SSSI near Newport. There MG10 rush pasture, Crested Dog’s-tail/Marsh Marigold flood pasture, and fen meadows – Purple Moor-grass – Meadow Thistle mire all occur. Notable species include Fragrant Orchid, Fen Bedstraw, Marsh Helleborine and Southern and Early Marsh-orchids.

Woodland, plantations and hedges Woodlands are both a tree-covered form of vegetation and an environment in which grassland, heathland and wetlands are maintained largely free from the influence of farming. This is particularly true of Monmouthshire, where substantial tracts of wood-pasture once covered the higher ground, and still do in a few places, most of the surviving ancient woods have a long history as coppices with a network of rides, and some woods have the characteristic diffuse edges of upland woods open to pasturage. Monmouthshire was once the most wooded county in Wales, but during the 20th century far less ground has been afforested than in neighbouring counties of south and mid-Wales. Between 1895 and 1997, woodland increased from 9% of the land to nearly 14%. The principal tracts of afforestation have been on former heathland around Trelleck and on moorland and slopes in the western valleys. In 1997, there were 18,054 ha of woodland over 2 ha and a further 968 ha of small woods (0.1 - 2 ha). The current Monmouthshire figure is 19,000 ha (13.8% woodland cover) of which 9552 ha (50%) are broadleaved, 5425 ha (29%) are coniferous and 2926 ha (15%) are mixed, with small amounts of coppice (229 ha), felled (184 ha) and open ground (704 ha) (Forestry Commission 1997). Since the 1997 census, some conifer woodland has been clear-felled either for heathland restoration or conversion to broadleaves. The greatest loss between the national censuses of 1979-82 and 1997 has been in trees outside woodland: nationally, the decline was from 100 per square km in 1980 to just 33 in 1997. Monmouthshire has a high proportion of ancient woodland (ca. 35% is ancient woodland, much of it coniferised), but many ancient woods were classified as plantations when the Ancient Woodland Inventory was first compiled, leaving the county with a relatively large ‘loss’ of 67% between the 1930s and 1980s. Some of this was real, notably the extensive conversions to conifers in Wentwood, Chepstow Park Wood and other substantial woods on the Trelleck plateau, but some was due to conversion to oak and Beech high forest. Despite these losses, some 2249 ha of ancient woodland were classed as semi-natural, and some of the planted ancient woods are being restored to native broadleaves. Ecologically, the woods cover the transition between upland and lowland Britain. Not only do the woods range from more-or-less typical grazed ‘western oakwoods’ to readily recognizable lowland Ash-Hazel-oak mixtures on poorly drained clays, but many of the individual woods are not readily classified within the upland/lowland categories of the National Vegetation Classification. Moreover, Monmouthshire represents the extremity of the European range of beech, a species which to the south and east usually dominates woodland, but which in vc 35 is generally present as just one species in a mixture.

Woodlands on predominantly acid soils Woodland on the predominantly acid soils generated by much of the Devonian Sandstone is commonly dominated by Beech, both oak species, both birches and Hazel in various combinations. Small-leaved Lime is also a prominent component along the River Wye in the Hael Woods south of Monmouth and Lady Park Wood in the upper Wye gorge. The acid woods are best characterized with a few examples from the centre of vc 35. Ancient woods near Parc Seymour on gentle slopes covered by strongly acid (pH 4.0), freely-drained loams, are dominated by Sessile Oak former coppice with an admixture of Holly, Rowan, Silver Birch and occasional Common Hawthorn and Hazel. The ground vegetation is dominated variously by Bramble, Bracken or Bilberry, but diversified on the slightly more fertile ground by Wood Sorrel, Bluebell, Hairy Wood-rush, Creeping soft-grass and Greater Stitchwort, and by limited contributions from Wavy Hair-grass and Wood Sage on the base-poor ground. Much of Wentwood was probably like this before the conifers were planted. 19

Flora of Monmouthshire Another example at Priory Wood near Chain Bridge also has strongly-acid (pH 3.6), silty-loams, but its drainage is somewhat impeded and its composition reflects this. The former coppice of Hazel with occasional Field Maple grew with Pedunculate Oak standards, but Ash, Silver Birch and Holly increased after coppicing ceased about 1940. The ground vegetation is dominated variously by Bramble, or Bracken with a limited range of ferns (Broad Buckler Fern, Male Fern, Hard Fern) and a scatter of Foxgloves, Wood Pimpernel and Wood Speedwell. A more spectacular example is found on the steep, north-facing slopes of Coed y Person, in the beech-rich district around Abergavenny. At the top of the slope the sandy loams are freely-drained and strongly acid (pH 4.1-4.9). Under Beech – Sessile Oak former coppice the field layer is sparse, with just a light scatter of Tufted Hair-grass, Wavy Hair-grass and Hairy Wood-rush with Bracken, a Scaly Male-fern and Male Fern, Lady Fern and Hard Fern. Where the Beech thins out and the former coppice is dominated by Sessile Oak and Silver Birch high forest, the field layer is a dense sward in which Tufted Hair-grass and Bracken are both abundant. Despite continued grazing by sheep, a wider range of woodland plants is present, including Wood Sorrel, Common Wood-violet, Yellow Archangel, Wood Pimpernel and Marsh Thistle. At the base of the slope the sandy loams are slightly flushed, but still acid (pH 4.5), and the former coppice is co-dominated by Beech and Sessile Oak. Within this there are just a few Downy Birch, but at the very base of the slope a few Wych Elm, Field Maple and Ash enter the mixture. The commonest herb in a thin field layer is Tufted Hair-grass, but a few other herbs are present, including Foxglove, Hairy Wood-rush, Wood Sorrel, Wavy Hair Grass and Creeping soft-grass, with Bracken and Hard Fern. On the edge of the Brecon Beacons, the north-facing slope within Cwm Coed y Cerrig has an inherently basepoor (pH 3.8) clay loam, but towards the base of the slope it is flushed enough to generate a richer woodland mixture. The original Hazel – Sessile Oak coppice with oak standards has been infiltrated by Ash and Silver Birch since coppicing stopped, and the ground vegetation consists of a mixture of ferns (Lady Fern, Male Fern) and Tufted Hair-grass growing in a matrix of Wood Sorrel with a sprinkling of Greater Stitchwort, Wood Pimpernel, Foxglove, Yellow Archangel, Common Wood-violet, Creeping soft-grass and others. Here we see a common feature of the base-poor woods, which rarely have the grassy, bryophyte-rich carpets of western Wales, but usually a species-poor version of the flora of woods on lowland clays and loams. The theme is repeated in the woodland at Strawberry Cottage, also on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. Parts of the wood, a GWT reserve, growing on strongly acid (pH 4.3), loamy sand at the top of a steep slope, take the form of outgrown hazel coppice into which Ash, Silver Birch, Grey Willow, Common Hawthorn and Elder infiltrated after coppicing stopped. Tufted Hair-grass dominates the ground vegetation with associated Greater Stitchwort, Wood Sorrel, False Brome and thin Bracken. This may be closer to the original condition than the bulk of the wood, which is Sessile Oak high forest originating in the early 19th century, diversified by limited amounts of Hazel, Rowan, Silver Birch, Holly, Ash and Pedunculate Oak. Even though this on freely-drained, acid (pH 4.4) sandy loam, it has a relatively rich flora. Tufted Hair-grass still dominates the ground vegetation, but there is a surprisingly long list of associated species, including Wood Melick, Barren Strawberry, Wood Sorrel, Pignut, Yellow Archangel, Betony and Bitter-vetch.

Woodlands on limestone The woods on Carboniferous Limestone in Monmouthshire are some of the finest in Britain. They are concentrated in the Wye Valley and the extension of the exposed limestone towards Newport, but also occur in the upland fringes west of Abergavenny. Characteristically, they comprise mixtures of lime (both species), oak (both species, but mainly Sessile Oak in the Wye gorge), Beech, Ash, Wych Elm, Field Maple, birches (both species) and Wild Cherry with an underwood of Hazel, Holly, Yew, Common Hawthorn and a mixture of calcicole shrubs, such as Spindle and Dogwood. At their most extreme on the fringes of the cliffs, Beech and Yew grow with a variety of Whitebeams, and a rich array of shrub species. Perhaps the most spectacular of all is the Wyndcliff. In the mid-slopes below the Beech-Yew on the cliff itself, mixed deciduous woodland grows on stable boulder scree with a matrix of freely-drained, fine, dark-brown, calcareous (pH 8.3) sandy loam. Until 1900 the mixture of Small-leaved Lime, Ash, Hazel and occasional Wych Elm was coppiced, retaining a scatter of Sessile Oak standards, but Holly, Yew and Ivy have increased 20

Flora of Monmouthshire since management ceased. The ground vegetation is absolutely dominated by Ivy, but a limited variety of other species gain a foothold, including several ferns (Soft Shield Fern, Hard Shield Fern, Hart’s Tongue, Broad Buckler and Male Ferns, Western Polypody) and a few herbs, such as Lords-and-Ladies, Yellow Archangel and the inevitable Bramble. Further west, the woods of the steep slopes of the Cwm grow on freely-drained, calcareous (pH 6.8-7.7) clay loams. Under a scatter of Beech and Pedunculate Oak standards, they were all coppiced until the early 20th century as a mixture of Ash, Hazel, Field Maple, Small-leaved Lime, Beech and Wych Elm in various combinations that are not obviously related to aspect or position on the slopes. Since coppicing ceased, Ash, Wild Cherry, Silver Birch and occasionally Small-leaved Lime have regenerated with the re-growth, Traveller’s-joy and Ivy have grown into the canopy locally, a mixed underwood of Common Hawthorn, Yew, Holly, Wild Privet, Wayfaring-tree, Spindle and Dogwood has developed, and Sycamore has spread. The dense field layer is dominated in spring by mixtures of Dog’s Mercury, Bluebell and Wood Anemone or, at the base of the slope, by Ramsons. Associated with these we find, for example, Herb Paris, Common Woodviolet, Pignut, Soft and Hard Shield Ferns, Lords-and-Ladies, Wood Sedge, Barren Strawberry, Yellow Archangel and occasionally Lily-of-the-valley. Marginal woodland near the base of the slope often has a rich mix of edge species and moisture indicators, such as Bugle, Red Campion, Wood Melick, Hairy Wood-rush, Sweet Violet, Black Bryony, Common Twayblade and Wood Vetch. The nearby Salisbury Woods are similar, but the soil is somewhat heavier and less calcareous (pH 5.2 – 7.6). They too were treated as coppice-with-standards, and again the standards were Pedunculate Oak, but the coppice lacks Beech, and is instead a mixture of Wych Elm, Small-leaved Lime, Ash, Hazel, Field Maple and some Sycamore in various combinations, diversified by scattered Wild Cherry and Silver Birch. In spring the field layer is dominated by combinations of mainly Dog’s Mercury, Bluebell, Wood Anemone and Lesser Celandine diversified by Pignut, Sweet Violet, Goldilocks Buttercup, Wood Speedwell and Sanicle, Early Purple Orchid, Woodruff, Common Twayblade and others, but few ferns. The heavier soil is marked by the patchy presence of Tufted Hair-grass and Meadowsweet on level ground, where the drainage is impeded. In the upper Wye gorge, Lady Park Wood occurs on limestone, but parts are covered by water-deposited sandstone alluvium that is deep enough to generate strongly acid soils (below pH 4.0). Thus, while the upper slopes and steep lower slopes are covered by Dog’s Mercury, Ramsons and other common components of the limestone flora, and the lower ground has copious Hart’s Tongue and other ferns, the central levels have drifts of Great Wood-rush and, exceptionally, Bilberry. Lady Park Wood also demonstrates an increasing problem, for in the last 30 years the diversity of the ground flora has been greatly reduced by fallow deer, and Bramble has been almost eliminated, save in small enclosures. Deer are also preventing natural regeneration of one of the wood’s key features, the large population of Large-leaved Lime, principally on the lower slopes. Elsewhere, on heavier soils, deer have encouraged Pendulous Sedge and Thin-spiked Wood-sedge to increase on woodland rides. Many highly localised species such as Common Wintergreen, Yellow Bird’s-nest and Forster’s Wood-rush are associated with these limestone woods. Madder and Mountain Melick meet at respectively the northern and southern edges of their range. Likewise, Giant Bellflower and Nettle-leaved Bellflower can be found together. Disturbed ground is commonly colonized by Upright Spurge and Narrow-leaved Bittercress. The cliffs within the woods are famous for their Whitebeams.

Wet woodlands Monmouthshire is full of scraps of wet woodland along rivers and streams, including the cataracts running down the side of the Wye gorge. The principal dominant is Alder, supplemented with Ash, Wych Elm, Hazel and other species from mesic woodland. Most takes the form of narrow strips by watercourses, but a marginal form of wet woodland commonly occurs on the lowers slopes of mixed deciduous woods, where flushing is strong and consistent enough to allow Alder to persist in the coppice mixture. The transitional Alder woods on mineral soils seem to be particularly common in the little known woods of north-east Monmouthshire, such as Gaer House Woods, where Alder-Ash woods grow on waterlogged ground by the Monnow tributaries. 21

Flora of Monmouthshire Perhaps the best example of extensive woodland covers the valley floor at Cwm Coed y Cerrig. Here, the former coppice is dominated by Alder with Ash, Hazel, Grey Willow and Bird Cherry at the southern extremity of its British range, all growing on waterlogged organic ooze, in effect a wooded fen (pH 5.7-6.6). The ground vegetation is dominated by Meadowsweet and Lesser Pond-sedge mixed with Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, Bittersweet, Wild Angelica, Water Mint, Lesser Spearwort, Lady Fern, Cuckooflower and Wavy Bittercress with the rare Early Marsh-orchid and Yellow Sedge at the more open western edge, with Bogbean, Marsh-marigold, Hemp Agrimony and Guelder-rose on the wettest ground. There is a good colony of Beech Fern. Much of the floral diversity is associated with slight mounds, where Broad Buckler Fern, Bluebells and Wood Sorrel and others find a foothold. Like most wet woodland, it grades into other types, both the acid woodland on the south side (described above) and a fine example of mixed Wych Elm, Smallleaved Lime, Beech and Sessile Oak coppice with scattered Beech standards on limestone. Here the generally moist atmosphere has encouraged a fine representation of ferns (Hard and Soft Shield-ferns and Hart’s Tongue). Elsewhere, the more typical associates of Alder carr are Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, Marsh-marigold, Meadowsweet, Yellow Iris, Marsh Valerian and Hemlock Water-dropwort and, on slightly drier ground, Common Nettle, Bugle, Wood Speedwell, Remote Sedge and Pendulous Sedge. An extensive example grows along the Mounton Brook, where Monk’s-hood and Alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage are also well represented.

Plantations Floristically, plantations bear the mark of the precursor vegetation. The rides on former moorland in the northwest and lowland heathland in the east have significant remnants of the preceding vegetation, such as rides fringed with Heather and Bilberry in the Trelleck plantations and the reappearance of Climbing Corydalis when these plantations are felled. As time passes, they are colonized by birches, Rowan and oaks, whilst Broad Buckler Fern and other shade species enter the ground vegetation. Where conifer plantations have replaced semi-natural woodland in ancient woods, fragments of the original flora survive on margins and below any retained broadleaves, but when the plantations are felled the principal beneficiaries are Bramble, Rosebay Willowherb and other fast-colonising plants. Most of the floristic diversity lies in the rides, bordered by informal meadows containing an admixture of shade herbs. In such places, many of the common grassland plants mix with common marsh species in ditches and ruderals along the carriageway. A few species seem particularly well suited, such as Common Spotted-orchid and Common Centaury. The overall impact of plantation forestry on the Monmouthshire woodland flora is difficult to assess. Certainly, the woods have become far more shaded than hitherto, and this has both reduced the flora and made it more uniform. When all niches are taken into account, however, the judgement is mixed. Thus, for example, the Minnetts – Slade Wood group of woods on the limestone of south Monmouthshire has lost some of the 350 species (e.g. Wild Liquorice, Pale St John’s-wort) it had before it was planted with conifers, but it still has Columbine, Adder’s-tongue Fern, Common Gromwell, Wood Small-reed and both Greater and Lesser Butterfly-orchids. These two orchids are however, close to extinction although removal of conifers would slow down the acidification of the soil.

Hedges Monmouthshire is still well-endowed with hedges, though many have been removed in the last 60 years. Some are former quickset boundaries, but most are mixtures in which Hazel, Common Hawthorn, Ash, Blackthorn and Dogwood are frequent, and oak (both species), Ash and some Beech trees survive in the boundaries round most fields. Most appear to be ‘old enclosures’ on banks, some of which may have been the boundaries of ancient woodland when they were originally formed, and this may explain the scattered presence of Smallleaved Lime. Certainly, they possess a woodland flora, with Bluebell, Primrose, Wood Anemone, Dog’s 22

Flora of Monmouthshire Mercury, Greater Stitchwort, Barren Strawberry, Wild Strawberry, Lords-and-Ladies and others well represented, and even some highly localized species, such as Madder in hedges around Mounton.

Inland cliffs and quarries The limestone cliffs of the lower Wye Valley are divided between three counties. They invariably occur in woodland and most are so small that they are usually totally shaded, but some are taller than the trees growing at their base, and sheer enough to prevent more than shrubs developing on their face, and these have supported distinctive shrub and herbaceous assemblages. The main cliffs within vc 35 are at Lady Park Wood in the upper Wye gorge, Blackcliff and Wyndcliff in the lower gorge, and the lesser cliffs below Pierce Wood and Alcove Wood closer to Chepstow. Lower down, Chepstow castle acts as a continuation of a natural cliff, and there are substantial outcrops below Bulwark. Large cliffs also occur along the lower Mounton valley, but none of these is tall enough to escape the shade. The cliffs tend to support a mixture of roses and other shrubs and massive growths of Ivy, together with the colonist Red Valerian. They stand out botanically for two main reasons. First they are the home of many micro-species of Whitebeam growing with the Yews and depauperate Beeches on the driest limestone, and second they once harboured specialised ferns and herbaceous species that cannot stand full shade. For example, the cliffs above the railway line at Chepstow have Common Whitebeam, Rock Whitebeam, Grey Whitebeam together with Wild Service-trees, embellished with Pale St John’s-wort and a substantial population of Southern Polypody. Unfortunately, lack of woodland management and other factors have greatly restricted the open ground throughout the 20th century, so species such as Bloody Crane’s-bill, which once adorned the Wyndcliff, Piercefield Woods and Chepstow Castle have now gone. The large quarries at Hadnock, Ifton, Penhow, Caerwent and elsewhere are artificial equivalents of the major limestone cliffs and superficially provide much the same range of habitats. They are, however, also young habitats, and we have no indication of how their faces will develop as habitats when they are no longer worked. Their fringes allowed some fragments of limestone grassland to survive until they were quarried out, but the main developments are on the spoil and poorly-drained quarry floors after abandonment, where species such as Yellow-wort and Wild and Barren Strawberry may become common where they can avoid the spread of Butterfly-bush. Despite these limitations, some rare species have been recorded, such as Fingered Sedge in the quarry below the Wyndcliff. (See also section on limestone grassland).

Rivers, streams, lakes and ponds The county has abundant and varied watercourses. There are large rivers, from the River Wye in the east to the Rivers Rhymney, Ebbw and Sirhowy in the west, and a multitude of tributaries. The Monmouth & Brecon Canal runs south to Newport from Abergavenny and the Brecon border whilst the network of reens on the Gwent Levels provides many kilometres of slow-running water with important populations of floating, submerged and emergent plants. In addition there are reservoirs, lakes and numerous ponds. The River Wye forms the border between England and Wales from north of Monmouth down to Chepstow. A main tributary of the Wye, the River Monnow and its important tributary – the Afon Honddu, rise in the Black Mountains. The River Monnow forms the county border with Herefordshire (save in the few places where it has changed its course) from near Pandy down to Skenfrith. Other Wye tributaries include the Mally Brook, the Trothy Brook flowing from near Abergavenny through Llantilio Crossenny and Dingestow, and a series of short tributaries such as the Black Brook, White Brook, Cat Brook and Angidy Brook that arise on the Trellech Plateau and drop steeply down to the Wye. In the Black Mountains Wild Daffodils and Meadow Saxifrage still occur in profusion, the latter mainly on the Afon Honddu. The River Monnow below Pandy and the River Usk meander across floodplains and there are many vertical sand-cliffs and extensive areas of shoals. One characteristic plant of the shoals on the Monnow is Vipers Bugloss and along the shaded banks of the Monnow and Wye are large stands of Giant Bellflower. The lower Wye from Monmouth to Bigsweir supports 23

Flora of Monmouthshire healthy populations of emergent plants, notably Common Meadow-rue, Yellow and Purple Loosestrife and Flowering Rush. Unfortunately, on the Wye and its tributaries and indeed along most rivers in Monmouthshire Himalayan Balsam has become prolific and may out-compete native marginal species. It has also invaded moist pastures and woodland clearings. Several Wye tributaries are of botanical interest. For example, the Mounton Brook has extensive stands of Monkshood and at one site Water Avens survives, whilst the White Brook has been colonised by Greater Cuckoo Flower. Along the wooded banks of the Angidy Brook are patches of the scarce Wood Stitchwort, Narrow-leaved Bittercress and Oak Fern. Alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage grows in small patches on the Angidy, White and Mounton Brooks, alongside the abundant Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage. The River Usk flows through the centre of Gwent from the Brecon border down to the Severn Estuary near Newport. The Afon Llwyd is a major tributary of the River Usk and there are a host of minor tributaries including the Gwernesney and Olway Brooks near Usk and the Grwyne Fawr in the Black Mountains. Many notable species occur along the Usk such as two willows – Purple Willow and Almond Willow. Another alien, Giant Hogweed, is well established along the Usk although currently there are attempts to eliminate it. In associated ponds such as Penpergwm Ponds near Llanover on the valley floor there are also noteworthy species. The open water and marsh at the edges of two ponds support, among others, Orange Foxtail, Lesser Marshwort, Bladder Sedge and Nodding and Trifid Bur-marigold. The western rivers and their tributaries all too frequently have their banksides dominated by Japanese Knotweed and many have their banks artificially strengthened and raised to contain flood water. A population of Cornish Moneywort grows on the banks of Nant-y-draenog, a small wooded tributary of the Sirhowy. The Ebbw supports some interesting hybrids and triple hybrids of Monkey Flower. The slow-flowing canal and numerous reens in the south of the county support a wealth of aquatic plants. The Monmouth & Brecon Canal is the vice-county stronghold for several species – Nodding Bur-marigold, Narrow-leaved Water Plantain and Unbranched Bur-reed, whilst it is the only site for Yellow Water-lily. The reens on the coastal Gwent Levels have suffered from some enrichment from inorganic fertilisers and from low water levels due to pumping. They are regularly managed by the Caldicot and Wentlooge Drainage Board and the species to be found at any reen greatly depend on how long it has been since reen-clearing was carried out. Old unmanaged reens become choked with emergent species such as Reed Sweet-grass or Common Reed. After clearing, the floating and submerged aquatic species again become dominant for two or three years. Frogbit, Arrowhead, Hairlike Pondweed, two hornworts, Whorl-grass, Rootless Duckweed and interesting Water-crowfoots are among the species to be found. Where water levels are high and there are muddy edges to the reen, Brookweed may occur. All too frequently the reens have been deepened and their sides made too vertical. Swamp communities develop in unmanaged reens and have their own interest. New large swamps, reed-beds, have been created at the Gwent Levels Wetland Reserve augmenting the existing old reed-bed in the old ash lagoon. Smaller reed-beds, sedge-beds and willow thickets occur at the Gwent Wildlife Trust Reserve at Magor Marsh and at Llanwern Steelworks and scattered through the reen network. The largest open body of water in the county is Llandegfedd Reservoir. Other reservoirs include Wentwood, Ynsyfro, Pant-yr-eos, Penyvan Pond, Garnlydan and Carno. There are a host of small reservoirs and manmade ponds, many of those in the western valleys, such as the Dunlop-Semtex Pond, created during the industrial past and Cwm Tillery Reservoir and ponds. The latter and Waun-y-pound support populations of Shoreweed, found also at Wentwood and Llandegfedd Reservoirs. On the dried mud and stony floor of the breached Scotch Peter Reservoir Knotted Pearlwort grows in profusion. The series of ponds in the Whitebrook and Angidy Valleys in the east of the county also owe their origins to the wireworks and paper mills which flourished in these valleys up to four centuries ago. Newer lakes created for recreation, fishing or conservation interests, include Brynbach near Ebbw Vale, Dingestow Court Lake renovated in the 1980s and The Hoop ponds near Penallt. There are also new ponds on recently constructed golf courses as at Raglan Golf Course. The creation of a brackish lagoon, scrapes and pools at the Newport Wetland Reserve has provided more wetland habitat. 24

Flora of Monmouthshire In Blaenau Gwent and Newport Borough there are 225 and 200 ponds respectively. Numbers in Torfaen and Monmouthshire Borough Council areas are unknown but must number well in excess of 500.

Marine and maritime Several habitats are influenced to varying degrees by the sea. The Severn estuary is lined by banks of mud, peat, gravel and exposed rock on which salt marsh develops. At the top of the marsh is an irregular band of grazed salt pastures, known as wharfs. The sea wall, which restricts the influence of salt water on the Levels forms a narrow belt of grassland and scrub which is subjected to salt spray. In a few places, there are small natural cliffs. The influence of salt water extends up the Wye, Usk and Rhymney, where attenuated versions of saltmarsh and brackish grassland occur many miles from the coast.

Saltmarsh The majority of the Severn coast is lined by saltmarsh, but the marshes tend to be fragmentary to the east and better developed to the west. Their form has been disrupted by the ancient sea wall and ancillary forms of coastal defence, such as lines of boulders stacked seawards of the main wall. Its features are also defined by the character of the Severn deposits, which consist of a mixture of fine alluvium and coarser sand and gravel, interleaved with peat, all overlying rocks that outcrop offshore and as cliffs that define the landward margin. In consequence, the various forms of marsh are patchy in their distribution and unusually sharply defined, but rarely form a complete sequence from the almost permanently inundated lower marsh to scarcely inundated upper marsh. The marshes are also copiously strewn with industrial and domestic litter that accumulates against the foot of the sea wall. The lowest zone of vascular plants on the Severn shore is occupied by the Eelgrasses Zostera marina and Z. noltii in the intertidal region. The lower saltmarsh starts at the top of this zone with the glassworts, usually with the rarest, Long-spiked Glasswort on the bare mud and in hollows in the wettest part of the lower region; other glassworts appear here and in the middle zone. Glassworts are succulents like Annual Sea-blite, Common Saltmarsh-grass, Common Cord-grass, Sea Plantain and Sea Aster and all live in the lower zone where tidal cover is frequent. The middle saltmarsh has some of the above but is joined by Common Sea-lavender, Sea Rush and Sea Arrowgrass and by Greater and Lesser Sea-spurrey, Wild Celery, Parsley Water-dropwort and Long-bracted Sedge. The upper saltmarsh is covered only by storm-driven high tides or spring tides, which wash against the sea wall, but this region is now more a brackish closely-cropped pasture because of drainage channels. It is covered by Red Fescue, Meadow Barley, Slender Hare’s-ear, Saltmarsh Rush, Annual Sea-blite, Sea Wormwood, Strawberry Clover, Kidney Vetch, Hard-grass, and Marsh-mallow and Sea Barley between Newport and Cardiff. The sea-wall, which has been raised or re-built more than once, can be seen as a modified part of the upper saltmarsh. The wall itself is mostly grassy, but it is commonly backed by a track and patches of unused land that allow scrub to develop. On the ‘wall’ are plants such as Knotted Hedge Parsley, Slender Thistle, Sea Radish, Sea Beet and on or among rocks, Rock Samphire, Rough Clover and Sea Pearlwort and in one place only, Sea Spleenwort. Where the sea wall has been constructed from limestone, many of the elements of calcareous grassland find a patchy footing. In 2006 Pyramidal and Bee Orchids occurred on the raised land on which the Electric substation has been built near the sea wall, south of Newhouse Industrial Estate, Bulwark.

Flora of Monmouthshire Sea Cliffs The only sea cliffs are found between Black Rock and Sudbrook, where there are low sandstone outcrops overlooking the salt marsh. These support the only mainland native populations of Rock Samphire together with Tree-mallow and Bastard Cabbage. Plants such as Narrow-leaved Everlasting Pea and and Subterranean Clover grow on top of the cliffs. Crested Hair-grass Salad Burnet, Common Rock-rose, Meadow Oat-grass, Little Mouse-ear occupy the Iron Age fort defensive banks that terminate at the top of the cliffs. Although it is hardly a cliff, the lonely and rocky Denny Island has a fine mixture of cliff and ruderal species, including Tree-mallow, Rock Samphire, Stiff Saltmarsh-grass and Danish Scurvy-grass.

Brackish riparian grassland The influence of salt water extends several miles up both the Rivers Wye and Usk. On the Wye this is marked by a scatter of narrow brackish grasslands with Meadow Barley below Alcove Wood and up to Tintern. In addition to the lower and middle saltmarsh plants, such as Sea Aster and English Scurvygrass, these brackish grassland are notable, among other species, for Common Meadow-rue and Parsley Water-dropwort. Beside the Usk, as far up as Caerleon, Bulbous Foxtail grows on the edge of the remaining meadows. It is also abundant in brackish pastures at the mouth of the Wye just above the old Severn Bridge. This species was also found by a farm track many miles inland, near Llandegfedd Reservoir, after a farmer had mown the grass by the Usk and transported the hay to his farm.

Arable Modern agricultural methods, notably the widespread use of herbicides on crops, has spelt the demise of most ‘weeds’ of arable land in Monmouthshire, as elsewhere in the U.K. The modern practice of autumn sowing, rather than spring sowing of cereal crops has also led to the ploughing of stubble soon after the harvest. In the vice-county there is rather little arable land – less than 12 % of agricultural land in the 1980s. Wheat and barley crops have been largely replaced with Maize and Rape and by Flax, Lupins, Potatoes and Onions as well as Strawberries. A few cornfield plants such as Field Pansy and Corn Spurrey still survive in many crops, but once-widespread cornfield plants, such as Sharp-leaved and Round-leaved Fluellen and Field Woundwort, have all but disappeared. In recent years these species have only been found at three sites – in a maize field at Kilpale near Caerwent, in a barley crop in the Usk Valley at Llantrisant and in oat fields near Middle Hendre, west of Monmouth. The blue form of Scarlet Pimpernel Anagallis arvensis, two scarce arable buttercups. and other now rare species also turned up in these oat fields.

Walls, tracks, verges, motorways and other rural linear habitats These linear habitats often provide the only habitats within intensively used farmland, though few species seem to be especially associated with them. The most distinctive are the species of walls, which are frequent as field boundaries in many districts. Road verges and hedges (see above) provide important opportunities for the species of semi-natural grassland and woodland to persist in farmland, and in a few instances they support uncommon species. Limestone walls (and walls with lime mortar) are notable for ferns, such as Rusty-back, Wall-rue, Black Spleenwort, Maidenhair Spleenwort and the pachyrachis subspecies, as well as Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Wallflower, Navelwort, Pellitory-of-the-wall, Yellow Corydalis and abundant Ivy. One notable grass is Flattened Meadow-grass. Many of these species are introductions and are largely confined to walls and cliffs. Rusty-back Fern is regarded as native, but is not known in a natural habitat. Dry-stone walls on the conglomerate have quantities of the larger ferns such as Hart’s-tongue, Common and Western Polypody and Hard-fern. Some on former heathland still have occasional relict Bilberry.

Flora of Monmouthshire Railway embankments are now, unfortunately, usually affected by herbicides used on the tracks although species such as Pale Toadflax may often be encountered. On disused lines, scrub and tree growth have largely eliminated any interesting plants. Old railway yards between Newport and Chepstow still support some plants of note (see below). Gateways and tracks in fields characteristically have weed species as Swine-cress, Annual Meadow-grass, Rat’s-tail-grass and Pineapple-weed. Road verges are discussed in the grasslands section but note must be made of the spread of salt-tolerant plants, notably Danish Scurvy-grass along salt-treated roads. These plants line many roads in the vice-county as for example, the A40 from Newport to Monmouth and the M48, where the central reservation is pale blue with it in spring.

Gardens, urban habitats and industrial land Gardeners are all too aware that native and naturalised plants spring up between the garden flowers and shrubs, but there has been no assessment of the wild garden flora in Monmouthshire. Flower beds and borders commonly have persistent rhizomatous species, such as Ground Elder and Couch-grass, as well as more tractable annuals, such as Petty Spurge, Common Cornsalad, Hairy Bittercress, Shepherd’s Purse, Red Deadnettle and Procumbent Yellow-sorrel. In addition, the shadier parts of shrubberies provide several woodland species, such as Bluebells and Wood Anemones with refuges. These have often come in with leaf mould gathered in woods, whilst Lord-and-ladies and Bramble arrive via bird droppings and Common Nettle from waste ground. Proximity to seed sources is a factor, as the occasional incursions of Pendulous Sedge from nearby woods demonstrate. Although it is no longer legal, one notices that Snowdrops, Wild Daffodils and perhaps others are sometimes transplanted into gardens from wild populations. The other garden component is the lawn, and here much depends on how permanent it is, how it originated, and how it is managed. Most consist of common grasses sown in mixtures into which little more than Daisy, Dandelion, Self-heal and Slender Speedwell infiltrate, and are periodically reduced by herbicides. A few lawns are important, if small, survivors of the grassland that occupied the site before it was built on. The best of these are found on the limestone, where garden lawns may still harbour Cowslips, Field Scabious and even Autumn Lady’s-tresses. Elsewhere, as at Penallt and Wyesham near Monmouth some garden lawns still support a few Green-veined Orchids among the Cowslips and Cuckooflowers. Such lawns require continuity of sympathetic treatment, but sadly often fall victim to a change of owner. A related artificial habitat is the churchyard. Obviously they are disturbed, but most take the form of grassland that is mown and/or grazed with varying degrees of enthusiasm, that developed floristically over the centuries as species colonized from surrounding fields and woods. The shadier portions often have woodland plants, such as Primrose and Lords-and-Ladies, neglected stonework may be covered in Ivy, and the grass between the graves may actually be the richest semi-natural grassland in the parish (see grassland section). St Mary at Llanvair Cilcoed has a fine display of Goldilocks Buttercup in those years when the mower is restrained. In fact, the churchyard flora is all too easily damaged by excessive tidiness, but greater interest in ‘God’s Acre’ has recently allowed more to flower for longer. A speciality of Chepstow churchyard is Ivy Broomrape, which seems to thrive on the Ivy in semi-shade below churchyard Yews. Industrial and urban land is often surprisingly rich in wild plants. Butterfly-bush is a common feature of disturbed ground in urban centres and can cover disused railway sidings, such as those between Severn Tunnel Junction and Undy. Parts of Alpha Steel’s land by the Usk has been known to produce thousands of Marsh Helleborines, hundreds of Pyramidal, Bee and Heath and Common Spotted-orchids along with other uncommon species, such as Salsify, Wild Mignonette, Narrow-leaved Bird’s-foot-trefoil, Dittander, Eastern Rocket and Wallflower Cabbage, though the display has latterly been reduced by waste dumping. Uskmouth Power Station also has Marsh Helleborines and Southern Marsh-orchids. Petty Whin, Adder’s-tongue and many sedges thrive in the stream valley to the NE of the spoil heaps at The British. Newport Docks had a fine stand of Grey Club-rush until it was built over. Disused railway yards at Undy have Bee Orchids, Autumn Ladies Tresses, Wild Mignonette, Twiggy Mullein, White Mullein, Common and Pale Toadflax and their 27

Flora of Monmouthshire hybrid Linaria x sepium, Pale Flax, and Spiked Sedge, whilst waste ground at The Rock, near Blackwood, support Meadow Crane’s-bill and Pearly Everlasting.

Conclusion The vice county of Monmouthshire still has a wealth of semi-natural habitats, though they occupy only a small proportion of the land area and need careful management. Artificial habitats such as old industrial sites and other brown-field sites also contribute greatly to diversity, though they do need sympathetic treatment. Much of what survives is due to deliberate conservation measures, from the creation of nature reserves and designation of important sites, to the careful interest of individual private landowners. There is reason for some optimism. Although some species-rich grassland has been lost to the plough over the last few years, other neglected grassland has been brought back into sympathetic management. Efforts are also being made to re-create species-rich grassland on semi-improved grassland and lowland heathland from conifer plantations. Removal of conifers from the sides of the Wye Valley is continuing and can only benefit woodland flora. Removal of conifers from the Minnetts-Slade complex and from other limestone woods such as Cuhere Wood, would be of even greater conservation value. The hope is that the Woodland Trust’s management of recently acquired parts of Wentwood will also include the removal of conifers. Perhaps the biggest challenge ahead is to safeguard and manage existing sites of botanical interest as well as to link up habitats, whether woodlands or grasslands, with corridors of suitable habitat.

Flora of Monmouthshire

BOTANICAL SITES The following is a list of sites that are of botanical interest in vc 35 Monmouthshire, together with some of the highlights of each site. ‘CL’ indicates the geology is Carboniferous Limestone. ‘SSSI’ indicates that the sites are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Grid references are general for the site, and do not indicate the location of the plants. Some of the plants listed for the sites have continued to suffer from policies where economics outweighed all the other factors in the management of the countryside. I have left them in the list for the following reasons:1. I had watched for several years the western edge of Ifton Quarry, where vegetation and much of the soil had been removed, in preparation for an extension of quarrying,. I expected to see the appearance of Bee Orchids (when two huge piles of material one near Blackbird Road and one east of Caldicot Pill, excavated during the building of the Severn Tunnel, were removed, Bee Orchids appeared and multiplied on the bare stony ground). When the Ifton Quarry ones appeared Dave Chapel, in 2000, saw 20 of them first and alerted Jerry Lewis and a meeting between officers of Monmouthshire County Council and the quarry managers of ARC Hanson took place and ARC Hanson agreed to erect two 20 metre square, rabbit-proof fences around them. By 2003 one fence protected 830 plants and the second 255. Recovery on a grand scale. 2. In the 1990s the Forestry Commission scraped off the surface on either side of the main E-W track through the Minnetts woodland complex (Ifton Wood is a component part). Two patches of Greater Butterfly Orchids appeared as the bared verges recovered, and hundreds of Autumn Gentians spread along 500m of the verges. The latter had been seen on a nearby track years before but had tailed off badly. 3. There has been a change of policy, brought about by public pressure, regarding the countryside by national and local government. Conservation features more strongly in decision making. 4. The Biodiversity Section of the local authorities and the appointment a young, very capable Biodiversity Officer for each authority with a remit to produce plans to reverse the decline in biodiversity. The co-operation of all the professional and amateur experts in achieving the aims of the plans gives grounds for hope. 5. The work of conservation bodies e.g. the Wildlife Trust, RSPB, etc., their purchase of land to establish reservoirs of plants and their animal associates, their education and training programs give me hope. The success of Pentwyn Farm, Newgrove meadows, Springdale Farm and the wetlands reserves of Uskmouth and Goldcliff bodes well for flower rich sites buzzing with insects and attendant predators. Before I die I hope to see the sites back to their best with other parts of the county following suit.

WOODLANDS There are many other woodlands with SSSI status which are good examples of a type of woodland under threat. 1.

Lady Park, High Meadow and Redding’s Inclosure complex (CL, SO/54.14). Creeping Bellflower (Campanula patula), Nettle-leaved Bellflower (Campanula trachelium), Wood Fescue (Festuca altissima), Wood Barley (Hordelymus europaeus), Bird’s-nest Orchid (Neottia nidus-avis), Maiden-hair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes ssp pachyrachis), Fingered Sedge (Carex digitata), Large-leaved Lime (Tilia platyphyllos) and Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata) are among an extensive list of species. Dingle, King’s, Limekiln, Garrow Woods complex (SO/47.13). Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha). Lesser Centaury (Centaurium pulchellum): need to have conifers replaced by deciduous trees. Tal-y-Coed Wood (SO/416.160). Lesser Centaury (Centaurium pulchellum) 100s, Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha). 29

Flora of Monmouthshire 4.

Blackcliff to Wyndcliff (CL, SSSI, ST/532.980). Many good plants e.g. Bird’s Nest (Monotropa hypopitys) only vice-county site, Common Wintergreen (Pyrola minor), Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Mountain Melick (Melica nutans) at its most southerly UK site, Fingered Sedge (Carex digitata), Upright Spurge (Euphorbia serrulata), Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata). 5. Briers Grove (CL, ST/51.95). The deciduous part has over 100 Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula), Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), Primroses (Primula vulgaris) etc. 6. Whitfield Wood (CL, ST/496.962). Giant Bellflower (Campanula latifolia), Leopard’s-bane (Doronicum pardalianches). 7. Bishop and Great Barnets Woods (CL, ST/51.94). Bird’s-nest Orchid (Neottia nidus-avis), Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha), Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Thin-spiked Wood-sedge (Carex strigosa), Wild Service-tree (Sorbus torminalis), a hybrid Whitebeam (Sorbus x vagensis), Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata). 8. St Pierre Great Woods (CL, ST/503.924). Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha), Bird’snest Orchid (Neottia nidus-avis), Solomon’s-seal (Polygonatum multiflorum), Meadow Saffron (Colchicum autumnale), 100s Wild Daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula), Large-leaved Lime (Tilia platyphyllos) the largest colony of mature trees in the vicecounty, Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata), Wood Vetch (Vicia sylvatica). 9. Coombe Woods (CL, SSSI, ST/457.932). Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus), wide range of plants. 10. Stoneycroft Wood (CL, ST/465.935). Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Lesser Periwinkle (Vinca minor), Wayfaring Tree (Viburnum lantana), Goldilocks Buttercup (Ranunculus auricomus) among 62 taxa in this small wood. 11. Cuhere Wood (CL, ST/450.928). Toothwort (Lathraea Squamaria), Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula), Common Calamint (Clinopodium ascendens), Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata), Primroses and Bluebells. 12. Wentwood Forest (ST/40.94-ST/42.95). Last known vice-county site for Heath Cudweed (Gnaphalium sylvaticum); Stag’s-horn Clubmoss (Lycopodium clavatum), Upland Enchanter’s-nightshade (Circaea x intermedia), at least three extensive Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) sites, Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera), Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), Wood Vetch (Vicia sylvatica), Lesser Centaury (Centaurium pulchellum) and a variety of other plants. 13. Craig-y-Perthi (ST/384.879). Smallish wood untouched by present-day forestry practices. More than100 Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula), many Goldilocks Buttercup (Ranunculus auricomus), 100s Sanicle (Sanicula europaea), abundant Primroses, Cowslips, Great Horsetail etc. 14. Longditch Wood (ST/38.87). Nearby wood with damp patches has Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia) and Twayblade (Listera ovata). 15. Lasgarn Wood (CL, SO/273.034). Round-leaved Wintergreen (Pyrola rotundifolia ssp. maritima), Bird’s-nest Orchid (Neottia nidus-avis), Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense). 16. Mescoed Bach (ST/277.902). Large Wild Daffodil colony. 17. Coed Robert (SO/397.098). Elongated Sedge (Carex elongata) 83 tufts in 2002 (one of two Welsh sites), Cyperus Sedge (Carex pseudocyperus), Bluebells. 18. Western extension of Coed y Prior Wood, adjacent Ochram Brook (SO/289.098). Upland Enchanter’snightshade (Circaea x intermedia). 19. Triley Great Wood (SO/311.182). Water Avens (Geum rivale), hybrid Avens (Geum x intermedium), Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage (Chrysosplenium alternifolium), Bird Cherry (Prunus padus), Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris). 20. Salisbury Wood (CL, SSSI, ST/425.898). Green Hellebore (Helleborus viridis), Early-purple Orchid (Orchis mascula), Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata). 21. Wern Fawr Wood, Goetre (SO/3239.0554). 100s of Wild Daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus). 22. Rock Wood, Penhow (CL, ST/421.913). Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia), Twayblade (Listera ovata), Early-purple Orchid (Orchis mascula), Pyramidal Orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis), Wood Sanicle (Sanicula europaea), Millet Grass (Milium effusum), Wayfaring-tree (Viburnum lantana), Primroses and Cowslips; Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis). 30

Flora of Monmouthshire 23. Minnetts – Slade Wood complex (CL, ST/45.89). Before the removal of the deciduous trees and replacement with conifers this wood had over 350 species of vascular plants. Today, though not up to that standard is still very good. Still present Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris), Adder’s-Tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum), Common Gromwell (Lithospermum officinale), Wood Small-reed (Calamagrostis epigejos), Autumn Gentian (Gentianella amarella), Twayblade (Listera ovata), Earlypurple Orchid (Orchis mascula), Wayfaring Tree (Viburnum lantana), Common-spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), Greater-butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha), Lesser-butterfly Orchid (Platanthera bifolia) the latter two on the point of extinction, Mezereon (Daphne mezereum), Wild Liquorice (Astragalus glycyphyllos), Pale St John’s-wort (Hypericum montanum), Pyramidal Orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis).

PONDS, RESERVOIRS AND LAKES 1.

Penpergwm Pond (A) (SSSI, SO/326.098). Lesser Marshwort (Apium inundatum), Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), Orange Foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis), Tasteless Waterpepper (Persicaria mitis), Bladder-sedge (Carex vesicaria), Trifid Bur-marigold (Bidens tripartita), Nodding Bur-marigold (Bidens cernua). 2. Penpergwm Pond (B) (SO/322.099). Orange Foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis). 3. Liswerry Pond (ST/341.876). Rigid Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum), White Water-lily (Nymphaea alba), Fringed Water-lily (Nymphoides peltata). 4. Waun y pound Ponds (SO/154.107). Shoreweed (Littorella uniflora), Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile). 5. Pond, Gallows Green (SO/263.069). Bottle Sedge (Carex rostrata) a declining sedge in the vice-county. 6. Cwm Tillery Reservoir and Ponds (SO/220.071 and SO/219.068). Shoreweed (Littorella uniflora), Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum). 7. Clawdd Mill Pond (SO/394.111). Orange Foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis), Fine-leaved Water-dropwort (Oenanthe aquatica). 8. Llandegfedd Reservoir (ST/33.99). At north end depending on fluctuating levels, Orange Foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis), Purple Moor-grass (Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea), Shore Weed (Littorella uniflora). SO/32.00. 9. Wentwood Reservoir (ST/43.93). Shoreweed (Littorella uniflora) all round grassy edge. 10. Moorcroft Cottage Pond (SO/518.094). Orange Foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis). 11. Hendre Lake (ST/245.804). Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus) 48 flowering spikes and more nonflowering plants. 12. Scotch Peter’s Reservoir (empty) (SO/155.089). Knotted Pearlwort (Sagina nodosa), variety of plants.

RIVERS, STREAMSIDES and FLUSHES 1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

River Wye (Bigsweir –Monmouth) (SO/5.0-SO/5.1). Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus), Common Meadow-rue (Thalictrum flavum), Almond Willow (Salix triandra), Giant Bellflower (Campanula latifolia). River Wye (Chepstow) (ST/53.95). Common Meadow-rue (Thalictrum flavum). Angidy River (Tintern) (SO/51.00). ‘Welsh’ Wood Stitchwort (Stellaria nemorum ssp montana), Narrow-leaved Bittercress (Cardamine impatiens), Oak Fern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris). White Brook (SO/52.07). Greater Cuckooflower (Cardamine raphanifolia) 100s metres. Cleddon Brook (SO/524.044). Hybrid Wood Stitchwort (Stellaria nemorum ssp nemorum x montana), Wild Daffodils. Mounton Brook (ST/49.94). Monk’s-hood (Aconitum napellus), Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis). Mounton Brook, Llwyn-y-celyn (SSSI, ST/47.94). Monk’s-hood (Aconitum napellus), Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), Marsh Lousewort (Pedicularis palustris), Greater Tussock-sedge (Carex paniculata), Marsh Arrowgrass (Triglochin palustre), Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella). Cas Troggi Brook (ST/44.94-95). Ivy-leaved Bellflower (Wahlenbergia hederacea), Hybrid Monkey Flower (Mimulus guttatus x luteus). 31

Flora of Monmouthshire 9. Nant-y-draenog (ST/187.927). Cornish Moneywort (Sibthorpia europaeus) only vice-county site. 10. River Usk, right bank, Llanllowell (ST/387.983). Purple Willow (Salix purpurea). 11. River Usk, right bank, Llanfair Kilgeddin (SO/358.088). Purple Willow (Salix purpurea). 12. River Usk, right bank, Abergavenny (SO/283.141). Almond Willow (Salix triandra). 13. River Usk (sites at SO/358.078, 302.124, 344.089, 360.080, 301.132). Meadow saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata). 14. River Ebbw, Ebbw Vale (SO/17.09). Hybrid Monkey Flower (Mimulus x polymaculus). 15. River Ebbw (SO/172.092, SO/183.056). Triple hybrid Monkey Flower (Mimulus (cupreus x luteus) x guttatus). 16. Mounton Brook, Rhyd-y-fedw (ST/474.957). Water Avens (Geum rivale), Marsh Valerian (Valeriana dioica). 17. Waun Tysswg flush, S. of Mountain Ash Pub (SO/141.063). Marsh St John’s-wort (Hypericum elodes), Many-stalked -Spike-rush (Eleocharis multicaulis). 18. Bal Mawr flushes (SO/26.26). Few-flowered Spike-rush (Eleocharis quinqueflora) only vice-county site, Hybrid Sedge (Carex x fulva), Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), Flea Sedge (Carex pulicaris), Lesser Skullcap (Scutellaria minor). 19. Bal-bach flushes (SO/27.26). Marsh St John’s-wort (Hypericum elodes), Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris). 20. Ysgyryd Fawr stream (SO/325.173). Water Avens (Geum rivale). 21. Norton Brook, Walson (SO/433.195). Wild Daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), Meadow Saffron (Colchicum autumnale). 22. The British (SO/25.04). Musk (Mimulus moschatus), Ivy-leaved Bellflower (Wahlenbergia hederacea), Many-stalked Spike-rush (Eleocharis multicaulis), Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), Petty Whin (Genista anglica), Marsh St John’s-wort (Hypericum elodes), many sedges. 23. Afon Cibi (SO/286.173). (A wooded stream); Marsh Hawk’s-beard (Crepis paludosa) in its only vicecounty site, Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage (Chrysosplenium alternifolium), Marsh Valerian (Valeriana dioica).

THE MONMOUTSHIRE-BRECON CANAL The margin of this canal from Llanfoist to Newport is the county stronghold of Nodding Bur-marigold (Bidens cernua) with six sites, Narrow-leaved Water-plantain (Alisma lanceolata) eight sites and Unbranched Bur-reed (Sparganium emersum) three sites. Yellow Water-lily (Nuphar lutea) has its main county site in the canal at Five Locks, Pontnewydd. The canal is also the home for many submerged aquatics, but the increased boat use has caused a decline in many species.

REENS Reens on the River Severn moors are often important for plants. Naming the best reens is complicated by management procedures. Sometimes clearance improves the botany of the reen over the following few years and sometimes a reen that was rich one year lacks interest for some years after clearance. Spraying herbicides has a decidedly degrading effect. The very steep, deep, smooth sides may assist water flow to the Severn, but plants like Brookweed (Samolus valerandi) have suffered and become very scarce on the moors, where it was once common on reen banks that sloped gently. Perhaps the greatest threat to the reen flora is the extent to which the water table has been lowered. In particular, reens on the Caldicot Levels are often dry for much of the year, even well inland from the sea wall. Plants of wet ditches cannot thrive in such conditions. The reen by the side of Saltmarsh Lane and sea wall reens on the edge of Peterstone Great Wharf and Rumney Great Wharf had Soft Hornwort (Ceratophyllum submersum) but the lack of water in some summers since 1991 has seen the demise of the plant and deliberate search in 2002 has failed to find any. Many plants e.g. Hairlike Pondweed (Potamogeton trichoides), Lesser Pondweed (P. pusillus) and Small Pondweed (P. berchtoldii) are submerged and are not easy to detect and have to be dragged out of the water to be seen and identified. It is not easy to name, in any one year, which reen is going to be botanically rich; hence the need to preserve the reen system as a whole to keep a healthy seed bank. 32

Flora of Monmouthshire 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Vaindre Winter Sewer (ST/308.825). Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus), Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia), Water Dock (Rumex hydrolapathum). Wharf Reen (ST/307.833). High concentration of Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia). Bowleaze Reen (ST/377.855). Tufted-sedge (Carex elata), Fan-leaved Water-crowfoot (Ranunculus circinatus). Stutwall Reen (ST/416.867). Water Dock (Rumex hydrolapathum), Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) Petty Reen (ST/417.864). Rootless Duckweed (Wolffia arrhiza).

BOGS AND MARSHES 1.

Waun Afon (SO/22.10). Largest of its kind in vice-county. Hybrid Deergrass (Trichophorum x foersteri), Sphagnum spp., Cottongrasses (Eriophorum spp.), Purple Moor-grass (Molinia caerulea), rushes and sedges, Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia). 2. Mynydd Maen (ST/259.964). Only other site for Hybrid Deergrass (Trichophorum x foersteri), Cottongrasses. 3. Sirhowy Valley, Bedwellty Pits (SO/158.058). Wood Clubrush (Scirpus sylvaticus). 4. Cwm Merddog (SO/186.064). Hybrid Sedge (Carex x boenninghauseniana), Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum), Marsh Violet (Viola palustris). 5. Cwm Coed-y-cerrig (Pontyspig) NNR (SSSI, SO/29.21). Best example of a valley bog and carr in vicecounty. Early Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata), Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), Marsh Fern (Thelypteris palustris), Yellow Sedge (Carex viridula ssp brachyrrhyncha), Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), Broad-leaved Cottongrass (Eriophorum latifolia), Beech Fern (Phegopteris connectilis). 6. Coity Mountain, Forgeside (SO/24.08). Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), Musk (Mimulus moschatus), Lesser Skullcap (Scutellaria minor), Round-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus omiophyllus), Marsh Violet (Viola palustris). 7. Ty-to-maen Marsh (SO/302.076). Meadow Thistle (Cirsium dissectum), Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii and D. maculata), Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica), 7 species of sedge, Purple Moor-grass (Molinia caerulea), Lesser Skullcap (Scutellaria minor), Eared Willow (Salix aurita), Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi). 8. Heol y Cefn Marsh, Aberbargoed (ST/162.987). Petty Whin (Genista anglica). 9. Llanmartin Marsh (SSSI, ST/385.895). Early Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata), Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris), Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata), Blunt-flowered Rush (Juncus subnodulosus), Marsh Lousewort (Pedicularis palustris), Marsh Arrowgrass (Triglochin palustre), Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea), Tawny Sedge (Carex hostiana), Blunt-flowered Rush (Juncus subnodulosus). 10. Llanmartin Marsh (SSSI, ST/383.899). Blunt-flowered Rush (Juncus subnodulosus). 11. Henllys Bog (SSSI, ST/264.927). Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), Broad-leaved Cottongrass (Eriophorum latifolium), Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea), Marsh Lousewort (Pedicularis palustris), Dyer’s Greenweed (Genista tinctoria), Purple Moorgrass (Molinia caerulea). 12. Pentre Bach Marsh (ST/289.924). Wood Club-rush (Scirpus sylvaticus). 13. Magor Marsh (SSSI, ST/425.866). Remnant rushy fen. Mare’s-tail (Hippuris vulgaris), 10 sedges species, Meadow Thistle (Cirsium dissectum), Marsh Ragwort (Senecio aquaticus). 14. Barecroft Common (ST/418.865). Marsh Dock (Rumex palustris), Meadow Thistle (Cirsium dissectum), Blunt-flowered Rush (Juncus subnodulosus). 15. Llwyn y Celyn Marsh (SSSI, ST/480.946). Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata), Marsh Lousewort (Pedicularis palustris), Monk’s-hood (Aconitum napellus), Greater Tussock-sedge (Carex paniculata), Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), Marsh Valerian (Valeriana dioica). 16. Cleddon Bog (SSSI, SO/509.039). Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos), Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata), Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), Bottle Sedge (Carex rostrata), a Bramble (Rubus trelleckensis). 17. Pen-y-fan Bog (SO/528.053). Marsh St John’s-wort (Hypericum elodes), Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum). 33

Flora of Monmouthshire 18. Graig-y-Rhacca wet wood and meadow (ST/192.892). Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus) 5-10 trees, Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris) abundant; Devil’s-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis) abundant; two Hawkweeds (Hieracium sabaudum and H. umbellatum).

WET HEATHS 1.

Penllwyn grasslands, Pontllanfraith (ST/167.962). Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), Wood Bitter-vetch (Vicia orobus), Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense ssp pratense), Dyer’s Greenweed (Genista tinctoria), Meadow Thistle (Cirsium dissectum), Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum), Petty Whin (Genista anglica), Bitter-vetch (Lathyrus linifolius), Purple Moor-grass (Molinia caerulea), Saw-wort (Serratula tinctoria), Devil’s-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis), Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica ssp sylvatica and ssp hibernica), Marsh Violet (Viola palustris), Eared Willow (Salix aurita), Deer Grass (Trichophorum cespitosum ssp germanicum). Cwm Celyn (SO/20.08). Wood Bittervetch (Vicia orobus), Musk (Mimulus moschatus), Southern Marshorchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), Lesser Skullcap (Scutellaria minor), Marsh Violet (Viola palustris), Lemon-scented Fern (Oreopteris limbosperma), Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella) and in wet wood Whorled Caraway (Carum verticillatum) in its only vice-county site.

SALTMARSHES All six are rich in plants but may be devastated by overgrazing. 1.

Mouth of River Rhymney (ST/22.77). Large colony of Common Sea-lavender (Limonium vulgare), Slender Hare’s-ear (Bupleurum tenuissimum) abundant; Long-spiked Glasswort (Salicornia dolichostachya), Purple Glasswort (Salicornia ramosissimum), Dittander (Lepidium latifolium) large colonies, Rock Samphire (Crithmum maritimum), 1000s of Pale Flax (Linum bienne). Rumney Great Wharf (ST/23.77 to 27.79). Sea Barley (Hordeum marinum) 1000s, Common Sealavender (Limonium vulgare), Slender Thistle (Carduus tenuiflorus), Slender Hare’s-ear (Bupleurum tenuissimum), Parsley Water-dropwort (Oenanthe lachenalii). West of Lighthouse Inn to West Usk Lighthouse (ST/29.80 to 31.82). Distant Sedge (Carex distans) the only extant site, Sea Barley (Hordeum marinum), Reflexed Saltmarsh-grass (Puccinellia distans), Stiff Saltmarsh-grass (Puccinellia rupestris), Rock Samphire (Crithmum maritimum). From E end of Uskmouth Wetlands Reserve to S of Goldcliff (ST/34.82 to 36.82). Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), Common Sea-lavender (Limonium vulgare), Slender Hare’s-ear (Bupleurum tenuissimum), Marsh Mallow (Althaea officinalis). River Severn side meadows/saltmarsh (ST/481.870). 10,000s Bulbous Foxtail (Alopecurus bulbosus), 50+ Wild Celery (Apium graveolens), numerous Sea Clover (Trifolium squamosum), Strawberry Clover (Trifolium fragiferum), Narrow-leaved Bird’s-foot-trefoil (Lotus glaber), 3 colour forms of Spiny Restharrow (Ononis spinosa), Parsley Water-dropwort (Oenanthe lachenalii). Black Rock to St Pierre Pill (ST/51.88 to 52.89). Large patches of Sea Rush (Juncus maritimus), Longbracted Sedge (Carex extensa), Wild Celery (Apium graveolens).

ISLAND 1.

Denny Island (ST/458.810). Tree Mallow (Lavatera arborea), Stiff Saltmarsh-grass (Puccinellia rupestris), Danish Scurvy-grass (Cochlearia danica), Rock Samphire (Crithmum maritimum).

COASTAL CLIFFS 1.

Sudbrook Fort and cliffs (ST/50.87). The only vice-county sites for Sea Spleenwort (Asplenium maritimum), Meadow Oat-grass (Helictotrichon pratense) and Crested Hair-grass (Koeleria 34

Flora of Monmouthshire macrantha), other plants present are Rock Samphire (Crithmum maritimum), Bastard Cabbage (Rapistrum rugosum), Sea Pearlwort (Sagina maritima), Common Rock-rose (Helianthemum nummularium), Great Brome (Anisantha diandra), Sea Radish (Raphanus raphanistrum ssp. maritimus), Tree Mallow (Lavatera arborea), Little Mouse-ear (Cerastium semidecandrum), Sea Mouse-ear (Cerastium diffusum), Subterranean Clover (Trifolium subterraneum), Early For-get-me-not (Myosotis ramosissima), Danish Scurvy-grass (Cochlearia danica).

RIVER CLIFFS 1. 2.

Chepstow Castle (CL, ST/531.941). Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), Ivy Broom-rape (Orobanche hederae). Chepstow Rail Cutting/Wye Cliffs (CL, ST/538.926). Rock Whitebeam (Sorbus rupicola), English Whitebeam (Sorbus anglica), Wild Service-tree (Sorbus torminalis), Grey-leaved Whitebeam (Sorbus porrigentiformis), Pale St-John’s-wort (Hypericum montanum).

MEADOWS 1.

Brockwells (CL, SSSI, ST/469.897). Green-winged Orchid (Orchis morio), Autumn Lady’s-tresses, (Spiranthes spiralis), Tor-grass (Brachypodium pinnatum), Quaking-grass (Briza media), Upright Brome (Bromopsis erecta), Spring Sedge (Carex caryophyllea), Nodding Thistle (Carduus nutans), Long-stalked Crane’s-bill (Geranium columbinum), Pale Flax (Linum bienne), Yellow-rattle (Rhinanthus minor), Primroses and Cowslips. 2. Dinham Meadows, MOD Caerwent (CL, SSSI, and other grassland ST/47.91). Upright Brome (Bromopsis erecta), Adder’s-tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum), Early-purple Orchid (Orchis mascula), Green-winged Orchid (Orchis morio), Autumn Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis), Downy Oat-grass (Helictotrichon pubescens), Small-flowered Buttercup (Ranunculus parviflora), an Eyebright (Euphrasia pseudokerneri), Early Forget-me-not (Myosotis ramosissima), hybrid Bedstraw (Galium x pomeranicum), Lesser Centaury (Centaurium pulchellum). 3. Shirefield Cottage Meadow (CL, ST/465.897). Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha), Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis). 4. Common-y-Coed, small field, (CL, ST/437.891). Small Scabious (Scabiosa columbaria), Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis). 5. Common-y-Coed, large field bank (CL, ST/434.888). Woolly Thistle (Cirsium eriophorum), Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans), Dwarf Thistle (Cirsium acaule). 6. Rectory Meadow, Rogiet (SSSI, CL, ST/458.883). Only extant Welsh site for Meadow Clary (Salvia pratensis). 7. Gethley Meadow (part SSSI, ST/472.975). 40 Greater Butterfly Orchids (Platanthera chlorantha), Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica), Pale Sedge (Carex pallescens), Smooth-stalked Sedge (Carex laevigata). 8. Lower Nex Meadows, Devauden (SSSI, ST/479.980). Green-winged Orchid (Orchis morio), Earlypurple Orchid (Orchis mascula), Quaking-grass (Briza media), Twayblade (Listera ovata), Cowslips (Primula veris), Hay-rattle (Rhinanthus minor). 9. Fernlea (SO/475.015). Green-winged Orchid (Orchis morio), Early-purple Orchid (Orchis mascula), Twayblade (Listera ovata), Spring Sedge (Carex caryophyllea). 10. Newgrove Farm Meadows (SO/501.071). Best vice-county site (1000s) for Green-winged Orchid (Orchis morio), Early-purple Orchid (Orchis mascula), 1000s of both Spotted Orchids, Twayblade (Listera ovata), Adder’s-tongue Fern (Ophioglossum vulgatum), 1000s of Spring Sedge (Carex caryophyllea). 11. Pentwyn Farm Grasslands (SSSI, SO/523.093). 145 (2002) Greater Butterfly Orchids (Platanthera chlorantha), Hay-rattle (Rhinanthus minor), Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare). 12. Blaentrothy Meadows (SSSI, SO/372 218). Pale Sedge (Carex pallescens), Quaking-grass (Briza media), Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica), Slender Wood-sedge (Carex strigosa), Broad-leaved 35

Flora of Monmouthshire Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), Dyer’s Greenweed (Genista tinctoria), Burnet-saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga), Betony (Stachys officinalis). 13. Barbadoes Hill Meadows (SSSI, SO/528.009). Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha). 14. Ty’r-hen-forwyn Meadows (SSSI, ST/237.998). Wood Bitter-vetch (Vicia orobus) the best remaining site for the plant. 15. Parc-y-dert (Tregare) fields (SO/422.102). 1000s Wild Daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) over acres 16. Four Acres, Maryland (SO/518.058), c. 200 Greater Butterfly Orchids, Spotted Orchids and many, good meadow species. 17. Ty Mawr Convent (SO/504.078). 100s Wild Daffodils, Orchids, many good meadow species.

ROAD VERGES Attempts to get protection for verges have had mixed success. The Authorities have tried to co-operate but personnel change cause breakdown of plans. Sub-contractors, some of whom are farmers, often have to fit in their time with other work, so sometimes cuts are made at inappropriate times and they seem unaware of agreements. Though some farmers are sensitive to attractive verges or unusual wild flowers and leave such areas uncut (one such person cuts round an Early Purple Orchid and a patch of Cowslips on a road bank between The Star and Llansoy), most regard wild flowers as weeds and treat them accordingly. Marker posts are not always seen, and even if they are, their significance is not always recognised. Local concern and interest to press the claims of a particular verge and follow up any agreements reached is probably the best way forward. 1. Roadside bank, N of Mynyddislwyn (ST/194.945). Wood Bitter-vetch (Vicia orobus), Bitter-vetch (Lathyrus linifolius), a hawkweed (Hieracium umbellatum). 2. Roadside bank, St Illtyd – Llanhilleth (SO/214.017). Wood Bitter-vetch (Vicia orobus), Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia). 3. Hedge, Penallt Old Church Road, S. of Cae-caws House (SO/511089). Giant Bellflower (Campanula latifolia); this plant occurs frequently in lane margins in the Penallt area. 4. Road/woodside, Cwm Coed-y-cerrig (SO/290.211). Nettle-leaved Bellflower (Campanula trachelium). 5. Verge, Shirenewton – Coombe Road (ST/47.93). Two large patches Druce’s Crane’s-bill (Geranium x oxonianum). 6. Verge, Tynewydd, High Cross to Henllys Road (ST/272.915). Corky-fruited Water-dropwort (Oenanthe pimpinelloides) maximum three plants, in 2002 one plant, in its only Welsh site. 7. Crossroads, E. 2 quadrants, Cross Hands (SO/431.039). Dyer’s Greenweed (Genista tinctoria), Yellow-wort (Blackstonia perfoliata), Common Restharrow (Ononis repens), Burnet-saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga), Zigzag Clover (Trifolium medium), Quaking-grass (Briza media) and a good range of grasses and other plants.

CHURCHYARDS 1.

Bedwellty Churchyard, St Sannans (SO/166.003). Its position alone is superb with views all round. Wood Bittervetch (Vicia orobus) scattered over site, a Hawkweed (Hieracium umbellatum), Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), Bitter-vetch (Lathyrus linifolius), Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) with its aniseed fragrance, Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) also scented, Primrose (Primula vulgaris), Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), Pyrenean Lily (Lilium pyrenaicum) obviously planted long ago and now spread widely. Llangeview Churchyard (SO/397.007). In 1987 this would have competed with the above for top spot, but for misguided action of the parishioners, who insisted that it be kept cut. Why not let the following have free reign ? Primrose (Primula vulgaris), Cowslip (P. veris), Bluebell (Hyacinthoides nonscripta), Common-spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis), Spring Sedge (Carex caryophyllea), Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), Betony (Stachys officinalis). The disused church with its boxed pews is worth a visit. 36

Flora of Monmouthshire 3.

David’s, Trostrey (SO/360.043). Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia), Primroses (Primula vulgaris), species of Waxcaps (Fungi), Meadow Saffron (Colchicum autumnale) not seen lately. St Mary’s Churchyard, Llanfair Cilgoed (SO/390.193). The best display of Goldilocks Buttercup (Ranunculus auricomus) I have seen outside a wood - if only the use of the mower were curtailed.

ARABLE 1. 2. 3.

Kilpale (CL, ST/468.924). Maize crop, one of very few vice-county sites for Round-leaved Fluellen (Kickxia spuria), Sharp-leaved Fluellen (Kickxia elatine). Llantrisant Fawr (SO/395.150). Barley crop, Sharp-leaved Fluellen (Kickxia elatine), Field Woundwort (Stachys arvensis), Bifid Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis bifida). Middle Hendre, field east of road (SO/456.133). Oat crop, Sharp-leaved Fluellen (Kickxia elatine), Field Woundwort (Stachys arvensis), mainly blue form of Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis ssp. arvensis). Middle Hendre, field west of road (SO/454.133). Oats and Common Vetch crop, 100+ Sharp-leaved Fluellen (Kickxia elatine), 50+ Field Woundwort (Stachys arvensis), 31 Lesser Quaking-grass (Briza minor), 1 St Martin’s Buttercup (Ranunculus marginatus), 30-40 Hairy Buttercups (Ranunculus sardous), mainly blue form of Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis).

BUILDINGS (man-made cliffs) 1.

2. 3. 4.

Chepstow Castle (ST/533.941). Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), Small Scabious (Scabiosa columbaria), Pale St John’s-wort (Hypericum Montanum), Maiden-hair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes ssp pachyrachis), Ivy Broomrape (Orobanche hederae), Uncrisped Garden Parsley (Petroselinum crispum), Wallflower (Erysimum cheiri). Cas Troggy (ST/415.952). Maiden-hair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes ssp pachyrachis) and its variety troggyense and the hybrid between the sspp pachyrachis and quadrivalens. Caldicot Castle (ST/487.885). Maiden-hair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes ssp pachyrachis), Southern Polypody (Polypodium cambricum), Wallflower (Erysimum cheiri). Roman South Wall, Caerwent (ST/468.903). Grey Sedge (Carex divulsa ssp. leersii), Common Calamint (Clinopodium ascendens), formerly Danewort (Sambucus ebulus) now ‘cleaned off’.

INDUSTRIAL SITES, DOCKS and OTHER ARTEFACTS 1.

2. 3.

Alpha Steel, Newport (ST/335.844). 1000s Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris), 639 (2002) Pyramidal Orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis), more than100 Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera), Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius), more than100 Southern Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), 100s Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii and D. maculata), Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea), Wallflower Cabbage (Coincya monensis ssp recurvata), Narrow-leaved Bird’s-foot-trefoil (Lotus glaber), Dittander (Lepidium latifolium), Eastern Rocket (Sisymbrium orientale), Tall Rocket (Sisymbrium altissimum), Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria). Uskmouth Power Station Alder Carr (ST/333.840). 100s Marsh Helleborines (Epipactis palustris), Southern Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza praetermissa). Severn Tunnel Junction – Undy, Shunting Yards (ST/461.870 – 441.872). More than 100 Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera), more than 100 Autumn Ladies-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis), Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea), Twiggy Mullein (Verbascum virgatum), White Mullein (Verbascum lychnitis), large colony of Spiked Sedge (Carex spicata), Pale Flax (Linum bienne), hybrid Toadflax (Linaria x sepium), pond on south side Mare’s-tail (Hippuris vulgaris), bank on north side of bridge 100-150 Field Garlic (Allium oleraceum). Late in 2002 there was a project to make the area into an amenity park, and great heaps of soil were imported and trees and shrubs planted over the ballast.

Flora of Monmouthshire 4.

Pwll-du (disused) Quarry (CL, SO/252.115). Green Spleenwort (Asplenium viride), Autumn Gentian (Gentianella amarella), English Whitebeam (Sorbus anglica), Limestone Fern (Gymnocarpium robertianum). Scotch Peter’s Reservoir (SO/155.078). Knotted Pearlwort (Sagina nodosa) more than1000 plants spread over bed of the empty reservoir in its only vice-county site, Small Cudweed (Filago minima), Water-purslane (Lythrum portula), Ivy-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus hederaceus), Lemon-scented Fern (Oreopteris limbosperma) among a wide range of plants. Sam Bosanquet has added the rare mosses Fossombronia incurva first vice-county record, F. wondraczekii and Ephemerum serratum var. serratum first vice-county record. Newport Docks, north dock to south dock area (ST/31.84). The unused, rough, disturbed or grassy areas and river margins have long (30 years, at least) been well known for a wide range of alien plants that have come in from abroad with ships and their cargoes. Some have persisted over those years e.g. Southern Yarrow (Achillea ligustica), Balm-leaved Figwort (Scrophularia scorodonia) and White Mignonette (Reseda alba). Many native species also thrive and some of those are nationally rare e.g. Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria) c.1500 in 1997. Others are locally scarce or interesting e.g. Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) known to me for 30+ years with such numbers as 1000+ in 1991 and Orobanche minor var. flava, a yellow form of Common Broomrape. The Record Card for the area has the largest number of taxa of any other similar area in the county.

Flora of Monmouthshire

CHANGES IN THE FLORA I have lived all my life in the vice-county and have seen changes that have had a large impact on plants and animals, especially since about 1960. Unless one had lived here in the 1950s or before, it is impossible to appreciate the extent of the decline in biodiversity. This decline cried out for the distribution of the plants to be mapped to provide a sound statistical basis on which future surveys could compare changes in plant distribution, especially in light of the threat from global warming. My first wildlife passion was bird watching. Then the diversity of shape and behaviour of invertebrates wowed me. Later an interest in plants was roused by cigarette card sets of wild flowers. Turning over the soil of an unimproved field to form a garden for our home in 1949, a fascinating world of more invertebrates was revealed which had to be named and studied. I saw my first Ghost Swift (Hepialus humuli), a fascinating crepuscular moth. The male was white and quite large, with all four wings the same size and shape, and it floated ghost-like above the grass to attract the pale yellowish-brown female, a reversal of sexual roles. The larvae lived in the soil feeding on roots of plants, another oddity. I mention all this because there is a clear link between what was happening to plant numbers and distribution and the rise and fall of animal populations. To the casual observer, the vice-county of Monmouthshire looks a pleasant, green land of fields and woods, with rivers meandering largely from north to south. Much of the high land is in the west or north, though there is a hilly ridge in the east, running north to south from Monmouth through Trellech to Devauden and then branching westwards through Wentwood. But those who know the county as it used to be see it differently. Flower-rich meadows were widespread in my youth, and those over the Carboniferous Limestone were particularly fine. Fields south of Victoria Road, Bulwark had a scattering of Bee Orchids with Hay Rattle, Quaking Grass, Meadow Crane’s-bill and Greater Knapweed, as did fields from Chepstow to Magor. These provided food for the myriads of insects and their larvae, which in turn provided food for the insectivorous amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds. Over 90% of these meadows have been lost. There are numerous factors that have contributed to the dramatic decline, but some have had a bigger effect than others. The changes in farming are a major cause. Modern machinery enables farming operations to go ahead more rapidly and affect larger areas than was possible in the past. Crops have changed with Maize, Rape and even Linseed becoming widespread. ‘Improved’ grassland and monocultures have reduced the range of food plants necessary for countless insects; some larvae are quite specific in their requirements. Skylarks and other ground-nesting birds relied on fields with grass tufts to conceal their nests and time to rear their young and get them away before the crops were harvested - all grassy fields had their quota of larks with their song filling the summer skies. Over much of the vice-county skylarks are now missing. The big Agro-chemical firms have had far too successful a campaign, and their herbicides and insecticides have created considerable gaps in the food chain. The reduction of plant variety has coincided with the disappearance of the nightingale and the red-backed shrike from the vice-county, with the cuckoo, the redstart, turtle dove and spotted flycatcher becoming very scarce. The lack of insects has also caused considerable reductions in swallow, martin, swift and bat numbers. Farmers are urged to leave margins around arable fields; too few do it. In the past, headlands were necessary to allow the horses to turn at the end of the furrow and these were unsprayed and formed rich pockets for wild flowers. Unsprayed, wider margins would greatly benefit wildlife. The use of large machinery requires large fields to make their use economic; this has meant the removal of many hedges so that small fields can be converted into larger ones. Though loss of hedges has not been as bad as in many eastern British counties, Monmouthshire has fewer hedgerows today. Many of the remaining hedgerows are cut low and square, which on roadsides may be necessary for safety reasons, but elsewhere removes a refuge for many woodland plants and also a source of homes, shelter and food for many animals. Some cutting is still carried out while animals are still breeding.

Flora of Monmouthshire The over-use of fertilizers has vastly reduced biodiversity among plants. Many plants only thrive in nutrientpoor soils and the addition of any fertilizers, organic or otherwise, rapidly reduces their numbers. Surplus nitrates have leached out into hedgerows and verges, most of which used to be bedecked with Fragrant Violets, Primroses and Cowslips, and were a refuge for glow-worms when I was courting. Today, such plants are largely confined to some narrow country lanes. Narrow country lanes are now too often damaged by the modern large tractors, or their banks have to be cut in full flower to allow safe passage of other motorised vehicles. The use of herbicides by the County Council in the 1960s did hedgerows no favours. New machines that cut verges, chop up the cuttings and drop them onto verge plants will also reduce biodiversity, as some of the plants will not survive the process whilst the coarser plants will thrive on the increased nitrogen. Similarly, new machines that reduce small tree trunks and brushwood to great piles of small chippings which are then left on banks on the edge of woods, such as along the Chepstow to Usk road and Wye Valley road, are going to add not only nitrogen but also plant-unfriendly substances such as tannic acid which further adversely affect the woodland and verge floras. Wood chippings are also used in gardens and urban parks to suppress growth of weeds. Wood chippings blown over the fence of the Pulp Mill have changed the vegetation on the banks of the Iron Age fort at Sudbrook, and not for the better, where two rare grasses Meadow Oat-grass and Crested Hair-grass have their only vice-county sites. The ‘Tidy Village Competition’, an anathema to me, has left an unfortunate legacy. Its original purpose of keeping attractive gardens and well-kept houses and surroundings free from litter has become corrupted to converting every bit of grassland in the village into billiard table-like surfaces with few plants. This tidiness has spilt over into churchyards and cemeteries, where regular cutting also became the order of the day. What a pity that with the loss of flower–rich meadows in the countryside the cemeteries and churchyards couldn’t be used to counter the downturn. If these grasslands were set aside to revert to meadows full of wild flowers, they would be wonderful places to have one’s ashes scattered. Woodlands, particularly over limestone, were better in the past because conifers did not feature in their composition. Photographs of Tintern, taken at the beginning of the 20th Century, show the valley sides clothed in deciduous trees with no conifers. The widespread planting of conifers changes the nature of the substrate; the carpet of needles changes the pH quickly turning neutral soils acidic. Even strongly calcareous soils become acidic given time, and the ground flora changes with a reduction of numbers and variety. Changes in my lifetime reflect not only in the increase in conifer planting but also in the results from such density in deciduous tree cultivation. The woods used to be coppiced and kept open. Most country houses had gardens and grew their own vegetables. Peas and beans needed sticks, as did garden fences and jumps on racecourses, and so there was a steady demand for coppice products. More open woodlands have a greater number of species in their understorey, and coppicing kept open spaces for plants such as Butterfly Orchids. In the 1950s in the Angiddy Valley alone it was possible to see 32 species of butterfly, half the total of British species, and many of them in large numbers. Now a dozen species is a bonus and then only in small numbers. The coppicing and felling of yesteryear was limited to what men could do using muscle power alone. Two men on each end of a saw tired, and the felling was limited to produce dappled shade. This favoured the spread of woodland plants and the light coming through was not so intense that it favoured non-woodland, invasive plants. Chainsaws enable large areas of woodland to be clear-felled. There may be a colourful display of plants such as Foxglove or Broom for one year after the clear-fell, but quickly Bramble or Bracken take over and restrict the resurgence of woodland plants. Spraying herbicides to facilitate access has also not favoured the woodland ground flora either. The running of too many farm animals in woodlands also reduces ground flora which is either eaten or trampled underfoot. The increase in wild mammal herbivores (e.g. deer) gives the impression of increasing biodiversity, but high population density seems to be adversely affecting the plants upon which they browse. Where the plants are already scarce the attention of these grazing animals can have disastrous results. Maintaining broad rides is beneficial to biodiversity in that it gives better light to woodland plants that thrive in it and allows some more light into the edge of woods to plants that need only dappled shade. In the Wye Valley there used to be several small parking areas where a few cars could park and the occupants could 40

Flora of Monmouthshire picnic. This activity kept the spaces open and plants such as Pyramidal and Narrow-leaved Helleborine Orchids were able to bloom. Earth barriers to prevent access have allowed dense thickets of Ash to take over and the orchids have gone. Tree planting schemes are good as long as they are carried out by people who know what they are doing. Selecting native trees, appropriate to the land on which they are going to grow, should be a priority. A tree planting scheme, involving scouts and guides, saw the planting of 100 trees on the edge of one school’s grounds. Half of the trees planted were Sycamore, a persistent alien weed which produces a massive crop of seeds. Fortunately, the spring planting was followed by a very dry summer and none of the trees survived. Where trees are planted is important; as marshes, flower-rich meadows and heath-land increase the richness of wildlife they should not be considered favourably for tree planting schemes. Though loss of flower–rich meadows has caused the greatest deterioration of biodiversity, land drainage has also had a severe effect. A whole community of organisms, unique to marshes, has been lost from many parts of the county. Large lengths of the River Severn margins were marshy, a portion of which was brackish; these have gone due to the erection of the sea ‘wall’ that stops river flooding. The criss-crossing of the Levels with drain pipes that carry the surface water into the reens, and the lowering of the water table by the deepening of reens, the spraying of vegetation in the large reens that carry water to the Severn and the use of sluice gates have gone too far. Many reens east of Newport are now dry for much of the year particularly the sea wall reens. Plants as Horned Pondweed, Brookweed, Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot and Flowering Rush have largely lost their habitats. The Flowering Rush fortunately has a second home around some ponds and on some reen margins and along the banks of the Wye, north of Bigsweir, but the others are now difficult to find anywhere. If the sea wall has to be raised so that the estuarine water never forms the brackish water marshes of yesteryear, then the few remaining salt marshes on the Severn side of the sea wall should not be subject to installation of drainage pipes or to over-grazing by animals. Saltmarsh plants are confined to this special habitat, and if not grazed to the ground, afford variety and cover and food for the waders that are driven from the mud and gravels in the estuary by the incoming tide. The mouth of the Wye near the Wye Bridge (M48), Caldicot Pill to Magor Pill, Goldcliff Pill to Uskmouth, Mouth of the River Ebbw to Lighthouse Inn and Peterstone Gout to the mouth of the River Rhymney are salt marshes valuable to the maintenance of biodiversity, supporting scarce plants found nowhere else in the county. The soil acts like a sponge, especially when bound by plant roots, holding water and releasing it slowly. With all the land drains discharging their water from the fields into the streams and rivers, it is no wonder the rivers cannot deal with the water flow after heavy rain, and the flooding causes problems. The increased spread of maize crops and the accompanying use of herbicides means that after the harvest the ground remains barren and bare for months, and when the winter rains drain off rapidly they rapidly swell the swollen rivers. Unsprayed arable fields also provide homes, shelter and food for a wide range of animals and homes for many archaeophytes (plants introduced by man before 1500 and associated with his activities ever since). Whereas most arable fields in the past supported of a number of archaeophytes, today the situation is bleak. In 2002 I drove around much of the eastern part of the county searching for unsprayed fields. Only three remained of those seen fifteen years before. They had Field Woundwort and Sharp-leaved Fluellen as the most notable weeds, one had Round-leaved Fluellen and another had Lesser Quaking Grass, Hairy Buttercup and St Martin’s Buttercup; two of the latter three probably colonising from further south in Britain. One additional field at Undy that had several archaeophytes in the past had a potato crop. The haulms had been sprayed with a herbicide and the weeds had been zapped at the same time, except for one corner where 13 Field Woundwort plants had escaped the spray. Nowhere have I been able to find Dwarf Spurge which was so common in the past (SDSB reported some plants at Dingestow Court in 2003). Bogs are a declining habitat with a special flora and fauna. Waun Afon is the largest and among its flora is included the insectivorous Sundew and a hybrid Deergrass, which has only one other vice-county site (a much smaller one, high up on Mynydd Maen, is the second site). There is a fine bog on the lower eastern slopes of Coity Mountain above Forgeside that contains Sundew, Musk and other county rarities. There are other bogs and some of them already have some protection. 41

Flora of Monmouthshire Heathlands afford another variety of habitat with its own special residents. The county has some fine examples on the upper slopes of some of its uplands in the west, but the central raised portions have been ploughed and the eastern ridge has had its heathlands covered by forest. The creation of the Wetlands Reserve at Uskmouth with lagoons formed on the old ash pans of Uskmouth Power Station has improved the biodiversity locally. Bee Orchids, Pyramidal Orchids, Marsh Helleborines, Southern Marsh Orchids, Heath and Common Spotted Orchids and Grass Vetchling have increased dramatically in the area. The spread of planted Common Reed has been equally dramatic as runners many metres long can extend the colony in one or two years to cover areas containing the orchids. I hope serious thought has been given to limiting the spread of reeds to stop the damage they can cause to the attractive and very scarce plants present. I would like to see Bearded Tits in the reeds, but not at the expense of the current biodiversity. Improving biodiversity does not mean importing exotic plants from abroad or even from other parts of the country and planting them in the countryside to ‘improve’ it. They can contaminate the local gene pool, and frequently introductions do not last long when they have to compete against native plants. The hybrid Lupins that were planted on roadsides around Abergavenny soon succumbed to the resurgence of the native plants. The Dutch trumpet daffodils planted along the motorways are bad enough, but when they are planted along the Wye Valley, which has its own dainty wild daffodil and plenty of other beautiful plants and scenery for the discerning eye, a lack of understanding beyond belief is displayed. Some people do not respect the countryside. Too often woodlands and moorlands are used as dumping grounds for cars (often left as burnt out wrecks), old carpets, fridges, televisions, furniture etc. Dumping of some things such as plastic bags is a hazard to livestock that may ingest them. Clean ponds can be attractive and relaxing, but filled with household waste and supermarket trolleys and surrounded by the remains of takeaways, they lose their appeal and are not beneficial to their natural inhabitants. Some minor roads near St Mellons have been completely blocked by illegally dumped builders’ rubble. Surely, solutions to these problems are not beyond modern man. Failure to solve them leads to further degradation of the countryside. It can be argued that extinctions have been going on for years, even before more recent changes in farming practices, but anyone living from the 1950s and before will confirm that many, relatively common plants have been alarmingly reduced in numbers. Wake up calls are at last coming through! One happy example is the success of the Monmouthshire Meadows Group encouraging small landowners to manage their grasslands and woodlands with conservation in mind and increase the biodiversity of their properties. Another praiseworthy organisation is the Gwent Wildlife Trust. Their example should be supported and spread to other habitats too.

Flora of Monmouthshire

LIST AND INITIALS OF RECORDERS Dates following the name indicate when that person made records before 1985. Names underlined belong to referees. Names in italics belong to authors of Monmouthshire county or part county floras. The * indicates people who recorded 1 or more tetrads in the 1985-1990 intensive effort to survey every tetrad. The + indicates people who have continued recording to 2006. The $ indicates the person’s NCC/CCW records have been usefully incorporated. AA AAD AB ABr AC ACJ ACo ACT ACTi ADu AEW AGP AH AHW-D AJ AJA AJI AJR AJS AL ALe ALG ALN ALP AM AMB AmcGS AMo AMP AO AOC AP APC ASL AT ATi ATS AW AWa AWh AWi AWR BAT BB

Alec Alford * A. A. Dudman Ann Booker Andy Briscombe Andrew Carey * A. Clive Jermy A. Cox Tony C. Titchen Angus C. Tillotson A. Duthie A. E. Wade 1895-1989 A. G. Purchas 1839 Allan Hopkins * A. H. Wolley-Dod Alison Jones * A. J. Akeroyd A. J. Iles * A. John Richards Alan J. Silverside Augustus Ley -1904 Alan Lewis Adrian L. Grenfell Alan L. Newton Anthony L. Primavesi Alec McKenzie A. M. Boucher Allan McG. Stirling Alan Morgan Alison. M. Paul Alan Orange Arthur O. Chater A. Parris Ann P. Connolly A. S. Lewis Adrian Thomas Tony Titchen A. Tom Sawyer Adrian Wood * + Anne Wareham A. Whitfield Alan Williams Bert W. Reid Barry A. Thomas Breda Burt *

BC BCh BE BH BJG BM BMa BMF BMO BMW BP BS BW CAS CASh CB CBa CC CCB CCH CCh CDP CE CEA CEH CES CFB CGT CHu CJ CK CL CM CMH CMH CMS-B CP CS CT CWT DB DBu

Bruce Campbell Barbara Chapman Basil Evans Benison 1881 Billy Hughes Brian J. Gregory * + Betty Morgan Billy Mathias B. M. Frederick B.M. Ogden, 1944 B. M. Watkins -1873 Beryl Pullen * Barry Stewart Barbara Welch 1939 Clive A. Stace Cicely A. Shirley C. Bucknall C. Bailey Charles Conway 1837 C.C. Babington, 1851 Chris C. Howarth Colin Charles Chris D. Preston Charlotte Evans Claude E. Andrews Charles E. Hubbard C. E. Salmon 1926 Chris F. Brown C. G. Trapnell 1921 Clive Hurford C. Jeans 1967 Clare Kitchen * Chris Lindley $ Clare Mockridge $ C. M. Harris Chris M. Hatch * C. M. Sankey-Barker, 1957 C. Parkinson, c. 1894 Christine Scotter Colin Titcombe * + C. W. Thomas Diana Bevan D. Buisson, 1881 43

DC DE DEG DEL DG DGl DH DI DJH DJL DJU DL DM DMc DN DPS DPT DTP DW DWH DWood EAL EBB EC EFW EG EGW EH EHW EJC EJL EJN EJS EL ELB EMR EN ENe EPP ER ER ES

Dave ChappelL D. Evans Dave E. Green + David E. Lewis * Dan Guest $ D. Gladwin D. Hart Digby Idle David J. Hambler D. J. Lewis Derek J. Upton + D. Lannon, 1944, 1957 Doug Mayo David McClintock 1954 David North David P. Stevens $ D. P. Thurlow * David T. Price * Dave Worrall D.W. Horne Dr Wood 1884 E. A. Loveys E. B. Bishop Ed Cooper E. F. Warburg E. Gee 1885 Elsa G. Wood * + E. Howe E. H. Williams 1940 Eric J. Clement E. J. Lowe 1867 E. J. Nicholl E. Joan Searle * E. Lees -1868 Ernie L. Burt Edgar Milne-Redhead E. Newman E. Nelmes 1945 E. P. Perman 1935-37 E. Rickard Eira Rosser E. Sculthorpe, 1936

Flora of Monmouthshire ESM E. S. Marshall -1916 ESMT E. S. M. Todd ESR E. S. Rainforth EV Eleanor Vachell -1942 FAR F. A. Rogers 1892 FHP Franklyn H. Perring FJAH F. J. A. Hort -1850 FJR Fred J. Rumsey FR Francis Rose FS F. Stewart FWSW-B FWS WorsleyGAM G. A. Matthews GANH G. A. Neil Horton GB Gordon Bristowe * GBe George Bentham 1858 GBo Gemma Bode GCF G.C. Francis GCR G. C. Rees GDW G. D. Wilson GFM Gerald F. McQuade * GFP George F. Peterken GGG G. Gordon Graham GH George Hutchinson *+ GHo Gareth Howells GJ Gary Jones * GL Geoff Lock GMB Gill M. Barter $ GMK G. M. Kay GMT Gwent Mdws. Team GS Gaye Sheridan GSH Graham S. Harris + GSM Graham S. Motley $ GT Glenys Titcombe GTa George Taylor GW Goronwy Wynne * GWG George W. Garlick HAI Hywel A. Iowerth HB Heather Barri * HH Heather Hutflesz HJK H. John Killick * HJV H. J. Vernall -1958 HN H Neale HØ Hans Øllgaard HOG H. O. Gale HP H. Parcele HPR H. P. Reader 1886 HR H. Rickards -1925 HR Howard Ray HRo H. Rowland 1947-49 HS Helen Scourse HSo H. Southall, 1875 HSR H. S. Redgrove HVC Heather V. Colls * +

HWM IBH IC IED IK IMV IR ITG JA JAG JAi JAW JB JBa JBH JBL JBl JBN JBr JCE JCM JCV JD JDD JDP JDRV JDW JE JEB JED JEJ JF JFH JFl JG JGB JH JHC JHr JJ JK JLa JLe JLi JM JMa JMu JN JND

H. W. Monington – 1888 Ian B. Hart Ian Colqhoun $ Ida E. Dunn Ian Kennet * I. M. Vaughan 1959 Ian Rabjohns * International Taraxacum Group John Alder Jean A. Green * Jessica Aidley John A Webb Jim Bevan J. Ball 1849 J. B. Hart J. B. Leney -1946 J. Bladon 1857 John B. Northcott Julian Branscombe + J. C. Ellis -1942 J. C. Melvill J. C. Vogel John Denyer J. D. Davies 1955 Joan D. Pollard * J. D. Rae Vernon + Jon D. Winder Jean Eagle * J. E. Beckerlegge, 1942-1943 J. E. Dandy J. E. Jones J. Freer 1951-52 John F. Harper * J. Fleming J. Gay J. G. Baker, 1876 Joan F. Hall * J. H. Clark -1868 Joan Harris * Jilly Jones * John Killick J. Lane c. 1940 Jerry Lewis + John Lightfoot 1773 Jonathan Mason * John MacQueen -1953 Jacqueline Murphy, FC Joy Newton Jim N. Davies + 44

JP JPB JPC JPW JR JS JSC JSt JSW JT JULS JVHS JW JWa JWB JWG JWh JWo JWs JWy KAC KCJ KEH KGC KLD KMB KR KSW KWM LC LEH LH LHa LHD LMS LMW LP MA MAB MacN MARK MB MBa MBG MBl MBr MC MCH MCh MCl MCo MD

Jeffrey Price J. Peggy Baker * J. P. Curtis Julian P. Woodman +$ J. Rees -1944 Jean Sadler * J. S. Clarke 1904 John Stabler Jan Winder Joan Tanner J. U. L. Scholberg 1924 John V. H. Syms J. Williams J. Watt 1943 J. W. Barker 1847 J. W. Gough -1946 J. White, 1886 John Wohlgemuth J. Woods -1856 Julian Wyllie Karl A. Crowther K. Clive Jones Kate E. Harris * Karl G. Crowther K. L. Davis Kate M. Bryant * Kate Rigby $ K. Sue Westwood $ K. W. Mieszkis Laurie Clarke L. E. Hollings 1953 Libby Houston Lyn Harper L. H. Davies Laurie M. Spalton L. Marilyn Williams Liz Powells * Martin Anthoney M. A. Briggs 1957 Mrs MacNabb Mark A. R. Kitchen * Mrs M.Bristow * Molly Barnett M. B. Gerrans Margaret Blakemore Margaret Braine Marion Card M. C. Horley M. Chorley Mary Cleaver M. Cobbe 1922 Mary Davies

Flora of Monmouthshire MDBR MDS ME MEG MF MG MGR MGt MHR MI MJ MJH MJo ML MM MMa MMG Mo MP MPa MPi MPr MR MSG MSM MSP MSW MVM MW MWa MY NBt NFS NMW NRE NS NSa NTHH NW OG PAS PB PC PCa PCH PDM PDS PFW PFY PG PGa

Mat D. B. Rich Mike D. Sayce * Mary Edwards * Mary E. Gillham Mary Farmer Mary Gibby M. G. Rippin Martyn Groucutt M. H. Rickard M. Iles * Martyn Jones + Mr & Mrs M.J.Hallett *

M. Jones Martin Lee Mary Morris * Margaret Marples * Monmouthshire Meadows Group. Mrs Morgan Mike Porter M. Parry 1937 Matthew Piccard Martin Price M. Rogers Mrs Gough Mrs Matthews Mrs Paterson Miss Woodhall, 1894 Merle V. Marsden M. Wainwright * Michael Way Marcus Yeo $ Newport Biodiversity team Nick F. Stewart + Nesta M. Wintour Nicholas R. Evans Nigel Smith * N. Sandwith -1946 N. T. H. Holmes Nancy Whitcombe Olwen Gibbon Paul A. Smith + Peter Boddington * Peter Cobb Peter Carpenter Peter C. Hall * P. D. Moore Peter D. Sell Peter F. Williams * Peter F. Yeo Pauline Goodhind P. Gay

PH PJ PJMN PM PMcP PMM PMW PPA PR PRG PRi PS PSJ PT RA RAJ RAJo RB RCP RDM RDP RDR REH RES RF RGE RH RHR RHu RJ RJP RL RLH RLS RM RMa RoF RPH RPK RSW RSWa RT RTy RVL RW RWD RWi RWR SA SAJPB SAR SB SBr

Pauline Hindmarsh * Pat Johns * Philip J. M. Nethercott Peggy Moseley * Peter Macpherson P. M. Millman P. Max Wade Phyl P. Abbott Paul Reade P. R. Glading * Paul Richards Peter Smith Peter S. Jones * Prof. Thompson R. Arthur * Richard A. Jones * R. Andy Jones Ruth Brown * Richard C. Palmer R. D. Meikle Richard D. Pryce R. D. Randall Bob E. Hewitt * R. E. Stumbles 1953 Bob Fraser * + R. Gwynn Ellis Bob Hallett * R. H. Roberts Robert Husbands Roger James + Richard J. Pankhurst R. Lewis 1944 Rene L. Huquet R. L. Smith, 1924-7 R. Moore Roger Maskew Ro. Fitzgerald Bob P. Harding Richard P. Kilshaw Ray. S. Waite R. S. Waldren Rhodri Thomas * Rosemary Tyler Richard V. Lansdown Richard Wiston Dick W. David R. Williams 1966 R. W. Rickards -1935 S. Arthur, 1933 Sam. Bosanquet Sen.+ Shirley A. Rippin * + Sue Bellamy $ S. Bryan 45

SC SDSB SEE SEN SGC SH SHB SJ SJT SK SMG SP SPo SS SW SWe TAC TAJ TB TBa TC TCEW TCGR TDP TD-S TE TGE TGT THT TLW TPB TR TW TWG UB UTE VAW VM VMa WAS WHP WHT WK WR WS WSt WT WTW

Sian Cobb Sam D. S. Bosanquet+ S. E. Erskine S. E. Newton 1955 S. G. Charles -1951 Samuel Hamilton 1909 S.H.Bickham Susanna Jacks Stephanie J. Tyler * + Sheelagh Kerry * Sheila M. Gooch Sheila Perry * Stephanie Poulter Stuart Smith Steve Williams S. Westwood Tom A. Cope T. Alasdair Jacks * T. Blackstock T. Bailey T. Clark T. C. E. Wells Tim C. G. Rich Tim D. Pollard * Teona Dorrien-Smith Tom Edmondson Trevor G. Evans * + Tom G. Tutin T. H. Thomas -1902 T. L. Williams 1929 T. Paul Bartlett Terry Ryan * T. Walford 1781 T. W. Gissing -1853 Ursula Burgoyne U. Thelma Evans * + Vanessa A. Williams * Vicky Morgan V. Matthews W. A. Shoolbred 1920 W.H. Purchas 1895 Bill H. Tucker * Bill Keene W. Rönnfeldt 1895 W. Sanderson W. Standish Will Thomas W. T. Williams

Flora of Monmouthshire

SPECIES ACCOUNTS The species accounts are given in the following format: Nomenclature and sequence follows Stace (1997) unless otherwise stated (e.g. Hieracium), so the authorities are not given. Arc preceding the Latin name indicates the plant has probably been introduced to Britain by man before 1500 AD. ! preceding the Latin name indicates the plant is an alien introduced after 1500 AD and covers all recent introductions. A description of each plant is given, with more important characters emphasised in bold, and sometimes underlined. No descriptions are given in the large and difficult genera Hieracium, Rubus and Taraxacum, where specialist texts need to be consulted. Wherever possible in writing up the accounts of plants I used living or herbarium specimens to jog my memory, a process which reminded me of how difficult it was sometimes to name an individual plant, in situ, particularly for one that had close and similar relatives. Maps are given for species occurring in 5 or more tetrads. Some very common species are not mapped. The grid lines are spaced at 10 km intervals and are numbered using the 100 km and 10 km numbers on the margins; for the equivalent national grid 100 km letters and numbers which are cited in the text see Figure 2 (page 3). The habitats and records are then given. Old pre-1984 records are usually cited first, often referring to records in Wade’s (1970) Flora of Monmouthshire, and sometimes Shoolbred’s (1920) Flora of Chepstow, and often citing such records for more interesting species. All or a selection of recent post-1984 records are then cited in detail, usually in the order locality, grid reference (varying from hectad to 8 figures depending on the information available), year, recorder (as initials, see page 43). A * means there is a specimen in the Welsh National herbarium (NMW). ‘det.’ means the identification has been checked (determined) by an expert, and ‘conf.’ means an original identification has been confirmed. At the end of the records the number of current tetrads is given and sometimes the number of tetrads with old records where it has not been recorded recently. For instance, ‘3 t (6 t)’ means recorded in 3 recent tetrads and 6 historic tetrads. The number of old tetrads cited is very incomplete as lack of grid references in old floras make it difficult to allocate a record to a specific tetrad; there are far more losses from the tetrads than here shown.

Flora of Monmouthshire

LYCOPODIOPSIDA Clubmosses

LYCOPODIUM Clubmosses

Clubmosses are small herbs with simple or littlebranched stems; the simple leaves have a single vein; the sporangia are borne singly in leaf axils or on the upper side of a leaf near its base or many together may form a cone.

The main stem creeps horizontally and bears erect branches some of which bear spores in terminal cones.

LYCOPODIACEAE Clubmosses

A procumbent, spreading, perennial plant with a stem that roots at intervals and sends up a slender, vertical stalk usually ending in two cylindrical cones; there are hair-points on the leaves.

Lycopodium clavatum Stag’s-horn Clubmoss

Clubmosses are moss-like herbs with simple or branched, creeping and rooting stems, sometimes erect; the single type of spore may be borne in the axil of a leaf or, as an aggregate, terminate a branch as a cone.

HUPERZIA

Fir Clubmoss 22

These have ascending to erect, equal branches resembling miniature fir trees; the leaves spiral up the branch often bearing bud-like propagules in their axils; sporangia are borne on leaves similar to the sterile ones.

Huperzia selago

Fir Clubmoss

This is a short (c. 10 cm tall), tufted, pricklyleaved, evergreen plant that has the appearance of a miniature juniper.

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18 32

It grows in upland moorlands or on shady, northern-facing woodland rides. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave ten sites. The first recent report by TDP & JDP in 1980 was a patch on a broad Forestry Commission track in Ffrwyd Wood, SO/288.112. In October 1982, AL & CT saw 1 plant (later found to be 5-10 plants, TGE) on a woodland path-side in Wentwood, ST/411.945. 14 plants were counted where a wood had been clear felled down the hill, E of Penallt Old Church, SO/527.107, 1983, SJT: a patch 1.5 m in diameter on an artificial heap of stony soil, mainly under Calluna, by a hollow and the road that runs from Foxhunter Car Park to Keeper’s Pond, SO/2616.1065, 2000, GSM, SDSB; one patch under leggy heather on an old track through forestry near the head of Cwm Carn at ST/257.957, 2004, both GSM, SDSB. 3 t (12 t) Figure 7

It is found in acidic uplands. The first recent find, after nearly a hundred years, by PDM in June 1999 was a 2 x 2 m colony in a hollow, with Calluna, Carex binervis, Empetrum, Vaccinium myrtillus and Juncus squarrosus in the shelter of a bedrock exposure near its eastern end at Tir AbrahamHarry, SO/244.111. In the same tetrad but at SO/250.106, HR recorded 2-3 patches on partially colonised coal spoil above a small gulley. On 10 January 2004, SDSB saw it on the top of a sandstone rock in the middle of a stream in St Mary’s Vale at SO/272.175. 2 t Plates 3 & 4

SELAGINELLACEAE Lesser Clubmoss family Stems branching variously bear roots on naked ‘stems’ or from basal swellings. Leaves simple with microscopic ligules on base. They bear two types of sporangia at the base of special cone forming leaves. 47

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 7

Lycopodium clavatum

Stag’s-horn Clubmoss

Selaginella kraussiana

Krauss’s Clubmoss

This ground-trailing, branching plant has stems massed with small leaves which are massed on the ends overlapping so that their arrangement is concealed. In older parts of the stem, where they are more spaced out, it is possible to see that on the upper part of the flattened stem there are two rows of 1-1.5 mm leaves and on the sides are two rows of leaves almost twice as big. The leaves have short, forward pointing, translucent spines spaced along their edges. Long, naked threads end in root branches. The spores are borne on fertile branches. They are contained in sporangia in the axils of leaves. The microsporangia burst open to shed many, tiny spherical spores visible with a 20 x lens and the megasporangia release very few larger spores. This alien from Azores, tropical or South Africa here may be found in damp, shady places, usually as an escapee from greenhouses. This 1st vc record was dominant over 10 x 2m, below north wall of church, Llangybi, ST/373.967, 2007, SDSB.

EQUISETOPSIDA Horsetails Fig.8 Selaginella kraussiana Krauss’s Clubmoss 48

These herbs form colonies of erect stems rising from branching rhizomes; the stems are jointed and bear tiny, 1-veined leaves in a whorl on the top

Flora of Monmouthshire edge of a sheath around the stem; whorls of branches occur at the nodes in some species; the spores are produced in terminal cones, which usually occur on stems with whorls of branches but may have separate, simple, fertile stems.

EQUISETACEAE Horsetail family As above with fertile stems, usually brownish or whitish, produced before the green, vegetative stems.

EQUISETUM

Horsetails

These contain small variations within characters described above for the family.

the

! Equisetum ramosissimum Branched Horsetail

Equisetum arvense

Field Horsetail

The first shoots of this winter-deciduous horsetail appear late March or early April and are white or pink, unbranched and tipped with a cone widest at the middle. Once the spores are shed, the shoot withers. The infertile, green stems appear later and are thinner and have whorls of branches. The branches have leaves forming fused sheaths and the green or paler tips separate and curl away from the internode beyond; this is diagnostic. The central cavity is small and is not easily compressed.

This horsetail has dark brown rhizomes from which 2-3 mm wide, bright green, largely hollow stems arise to 80 cm; the stems have 6-12 or more rounded ridges, which viewed against the light with a x10 lens reveals 40-50 pimples per cm length, which give the stem a rough feel between the fingers; the main stem has whorls of 4-6 usually, unbranched branches separated by 4.55 cm internodes; branches from some of the lowest nodes are 30 cm to almost as long as the stem; the sheaths to 7 mm have a brown margin tipped by fine, 2-3 mm, pale teeth; the small, 11.5 cm, apical cones are rounded to apiculate but fewer than half of the stems bear cones in any one year. Previously found in Britain introduced on a river bank in Lincolnshire in 1947, and on the edge of a park in Weston-super-Mare in 1963. In vc 35, 100– 150 m² was found on a substrate of chippings and soil, on a brown-field site between the end of Lilleshall St. and Gaskell St. and the R. Usk, Newport, ST/3235.8748, 2005, RPK, conf. TGE, ACJ, PJA, FJR. 1 t

Equisetum fluviatile

Water Horsetail

A noticeable colony-forming, semi-aquatic horsetail, with stems that bear no branches in open water to well-branched (though short ones) whorls on stems in shaded water. Some of the stems will be topped with fertile, blackish cones. The stems contain a large hollow so that if squeezed between finger and thumb they flatten easily. Widespread in reens, ponds and slow-moving water. 99 t

Widespread on all substrates, and it can occur on much drier ground than other horsetail species. 265 t

Equisetum sylvaticum

Wood Horsetail

The most delicately attractive of our horsetails, with dense whorls of slender, branchedbranches that droop towards their tips. 49

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 9

Equisetum sylvaticum 50

Wood Horsetail

Flora of Monmouthshire Though growing in various wet habitats, it is commonest in soils that do not dry out completely. 119 t

Equisetum telmateia

Great Horsetail

This is the largest of our horsetails, with bright green, whorled branches arising from the nodes of stout, white stems. The cones are produced in April on unbranched stems, with very loose, distinct sheaths.

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35 22

Wood Horsetail is inclined to form large colonies. A wet substrate is the predominant requirement and most colonies seem to be found on acidic soils. Reservoir margins are a favoured habitat, as at the east side of the top reservoir at Cwm Tillery, SO/222.072, RF; below N end of reservoir, The British, SO/249.044, TGE; damp grassland just N of Pen y Van Pond, SO/19.00, TGE. Flushes also feature as a habitat e.g. on Bal Bach, SO/277.261, CK, MARK; wet heath, Pontllanfraith/Blackwood, ST/167.963, Grassland Team; ditch above & W of Forgeside, SO/2417.0839, TGE; woodland flush Cwm Merddog, SO/18.06, SJT. 30 t. Figure 9

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Once established it can form large colonies. Sitting in front of one of these colonies one can imagine what living in a forest of giant horsetails during the Carboniferous period 300 million years ago was like. Such colonies can be seen on the side of the Offa’s Dyke path between Limekiln and Dingle Woods at SO/467.128 and on the northern edge of Craig y Perthi Wood, W of Bishton, ST/385.880. A combination of water seepage, lime and clay favours the development of colonies. Hedgebanks, where water seeps down through hedges from sloping fields provide a home and may be seen on the north side of the B4293, S of Goldenhill Farm at ST/520.946. The Levels, near the R. Severn, used to support many colonies but the deliberate lowering of the water-table by the deepening of the drainage reens has reduced numbers considerably. 39 t

PTEROPSIDA Ferns

Equisetum palustre

Marsh Horsetail

This species has rather simple, smooth, upright stems usually with whorls of up-curved, simple branches. Many of the stems terminate with dark green or blackish cones in June. The leaf sheaths have black, clasping teeth, not spreading as the pale green teeth of E. arvense. 23

Note whether the fronds (leaves) form a shuttlecock arising from a rhizome crown, as in the Buckler ferns, or grow up separately from an underground spreading or branching rhizomes, as in Bracken. It is best to examine a pinna from the middle of a frond especially with sori on its

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Flora of Monmouthshire underside. Observe whether the frond is once, twice, three times or more pinnate, beware of the final division is it pinnate or merely pinnatifid, i.e. divided to short of the midrib. Note the colour, shape and density of scales on the stipe (stalk). Some fern specimens examined may prove impossible to identify! This is particularly true of young ferns, which may be difficult to name; it is better to choose a mature plant with spore-bearing organs which often provide good diagnostic factors. Beware of a plant that does NOT fall into a satisfactory category, it may well be a hybrid, especially where closely related species grow together. In some plants microscopic examination of the spores might be helpful; the presence of colourless and empty spores may indicate a hybrid.

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BOTRYCHIUM Moonworts These have 1-pinnate, sterile blades and a panicle of branches with sessile sporangia borne proud on the upper fertile part.

OPHIOGLOSSACEAE Adder’s-tongue family These have a short, scaleless rhizome which may be corm-like; the petiole bears a simple or 1pinnate frond, but often continues to a fertile blade in the form of a spike or panicle bearing sporangia either side of the axis.

Botrychium lunaria

Moonwort

Like Ophioglossum, it is small and has a single leaf but this is divided into fan-shaped lobes (pinnae) either side of the mid-rib and the fruiting part is branched and is an aggregate of tiny, rounded sporangia.

OPHIOGLOSSUM Adder’s-tongues These have simple, sterile blades and a simple spike of sunken sporangia either side of the axis.

Ophioglossum vulgatum

Adder’s-tongue

This species produces 1-2, broadly lanceolate to triangular, fleshy, yellow-green leaves from May onwards. Some leaves will be found half way up a stem that ends in a slightly, flattened cylindrical spike, where the spores are produced. It is best sought in early May when the yellow-green leaves contrast with the surrounding green grass; later other vegetation overtops them. Wade (1970) described it as rare to locally frequent and gave 22 sites. It tends to avoid uplands and acidity, but can be abundant as in meadows at MOD Caerwent, where there are 1000s of plants at ST/465.915, TGE, 1991, or at Cefn Campstone on the steep WNW facing slope at SO/342.215, SAR, 1999. Hundreds may be seen at Church Farm, SO/469.016 and Little Goytre, SO/352.237, JPW & CM. Some sites have numerous plants some years and then nothing for years e.g. Hardwick Plantation along the path sides in 1987 only, and the roadside grassy verge at Foresters Oaks, CT, 1978-80. More often population sizes are much smaller than the above examples. 18 t

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Wade (1970) described it as a rare native and gave 5 sites. Though found in meadows, it is commoner on old coal spoil heaps. It is usually found only in ones or twos and it seldom comes up again in the same spot. It was first reported as 1 plant on the N verge at Carn-y-gorfydd, Blorenge SO/272.110, 1970, MEG; one plant on a spoil heap in Cwm Lickey, ST/273.991, 1981, GWG; 3 plants were recorded on moorland, Garn yr erw, SO/247.098, 1995, PDM and King’s College students; the best 52

Flora of Monmouthshire record was of 16 plants in 4 m² at Garn-yr-Erw SO/237.098, 1997, TGE & CT. Other records: less than 10 plants in a cattle-grazed meadow at Cwmynyscoy ST/285.997, 1992, JPW & CM; 1 patch in meadow at MOD Caerwent ST/472.918, 1993, JPW; on spoil tip, The British SO/251.044, SW, 1996; in a slightly acidic, mesotrophic field at Griffithstown ST/284.993, 1992, JPW et al.; 1 plant on coal waste in Cwm du SO/250.023, 1997, TGE; 3 plants in an orchid meadow Newgrove Farm, SO/501.068, 1997, SJT & GFP. 10 t (7 t) Plate 6

substrate and looks like an Alga mat, which suggests that it could be in other suitable crannies. The sporophyte fern is found in W Ireland and in some very wet places in W Britain but is rare everywhere, including in vc 35 where it was found: Cleddon Shoots Reserve, Cleddon, SO/52.03, SO/52.04, 1997, FJR, MG, AMP, JCV, MHR; in gaps under rocks, SO/520.039, 1997, TGE, MARK, CK; in deep hole in sandstone outcrop, E bank of Grwyne Fawr, Cefn-coed, SO/258.268, 2004, SDSB (Thamnobryum alopecurum was the nearest plant on the outside of the hole). 3 t

HYMENOPHYLLACEAE Filmy-fern family

POLYPODIACEAE Polypody family These have evergreen leaves arising separately from a creeping rhizome; the deeply, 1-pinnate leaves are similar with narrowly oblong pinnae or lobes; the circular to oval sori are borne on the lower surface and lack covering indusia; the spores are of one size.

These have thin, scaleless, glabrous or shortly hairy rhizomes, which run along the surface of the wet substrate of its habitat; the 1-3-pinnate leaves are all similar, very thin and translucent and borne at intervals along the rhizome; the sporangia are enclosed in 2-valved indusia protruding from the edge of the base of the leaf.

POLYPODIUM

Polypodies

These wintergreen ferns are found growing on banks, trees, walls, screes and rock faces, creeping from rhizomes that tend to follow cracks to give a linear growth form. The fronds are once-pinnately divided. Microscopic examination, as explained on page 169 of Welsh Ferns by GH & BAT, is useful to confirm identifications.

HYMENOPHYLLUM Filmy-ferns These have glabrous, thread-like rhizomes; the 1-2pinnate leaves have wingless petioles; the indusia are 2-valved and lack a protruding bristle.

Hymenophyllum tunbrigense Tunbridge Filmy-fern

Polypodium vulgare

George Hutchinson recounts that he and Barry Thomas found a yellow Biological Record Card, ST/29 57 26 97 dated 1970 when rummaging through BRC fern cards whilst preparing the 7th edition of Welsh Ferns. The fern was reputed to have been found near a waterfall, under an overhang near Blaen Bran Reservoir at I assume ST/26.97. I have made two searches, one with CT, without finding either feature, TGE, 2003, and suspect it was an error. (1 t)

Polypody

TRICHOMANES Killarney Fern

These ferns have thin, pubescent rhizomes; the 2-3pinnate leaves have a petiole winged at least in the upper part; the covering of the sporangia is tubular and develops a protruding bristle.

18 31

Trichomanes speciosum gametophyte Killarney Fern

Its fronds tend to be narrower than the other two species and the near parallel sides emphasise this. The spore-producing sori, on the underside of the fronds, are round and mature to a reddish brown to bright orange colour that make them

This fern remains in the gametophyte stage of its life in permanently damp, cool holes or crevices under rocks. In this stage it forms a net of green, branching filaments on the surface of the 53

Flora of Monmouthshire This plant is usually found on calcareous substrates. One of the best sites for P. cambricum is the rail cutting W of Chepstow Railway Station at ST/53.92; there are scores there with P. interjectum and possible hybrids. There are small numbers on the walls of the castles of Chepstow, ST/53.94, c. 1973; Caldicot, ST/486.884, TGE, 1990; Grosmont SO/405.245, DP, 1992, if they have not been cleaned off since. RHR recorded it on mortared walls Tintern Abbey, 1969, and they were cleaned off. It has also been noted on a wall top at Cleddon, SO/521.038, TGE, 1978; 6 plants on a rock face at Blackcliff, TGE, 1985; on a wall at Troy House, SO/50.11, TG & UTE, 1986; in Cwm Tyleri, SO/2.0I, RF, 1987; on a wall nr R. Wye, Lady Park Wood SO/54.14, TGE, 1982; one small clump, Far Hearkening Rock, SO/5410.1508, 2005, TCGR, *. 8 t (3 t)

conspicuous. This taxon is more to be found on acidic rock types. 125 t

Polypodium interjectum Intermediate Polypody Similar to the last species but its fronds are more elliptic in shape with the pinnae tending to get gradually shorter at both ends. The sori, often oval in shape, ripen to a yellow-brown colour. 23

Polypodium vulgare x P. interjectum = P. x mantoniae

This hybrid is intermediate between its two parents. It has been found on roadside banks near Newchurch West church at ST/47.98, TGE, 1985 and at Grosmont SO/399.248, TGE, 1989. 2 t

18 31

It occurs on various substrates. 147 t

DENNSTAEDTIACEAE Bracken family Bracken may cover large areas due to branching, scaleless, subterranean, pubescent rhizomes, which give rise to tall, erect, usually 3-pinnate, scaleless leaves at short intervals; the leaves unfurl like a bishop’s crozier; the sori are borne close enough to the underside edge of the pinnules to be enfolded by the reflexed pinnule margin; the spores are of one size.

Polypodium cambricum Southern Polypody As the longest pinnae are near the base of the frond, the leaf tends to have a triangular shape. It is the only species to have paraphyses (sterile hairs) among the sporangia (x 10 lens). The sori mature to an amber-yellow colour.

PTERIDIUM

Bracken

Bracken has erect, long petioles each topped by a long rachis bearing paired pinnae further divided into pinnules forming large triangular ‘wings’, to present a distinctive shape, which when crushed has an equally distinct odour.

Pteridium aquilinum

18 31

Bracken

The spaced out individual fronds arise from deep rhizomes and its crushed leaf smell make bracken unmistakable. It is found everywhere except some of the lowlying, wet Severn moors. 363 t

Flora of Monmouthshire are all similar, each capable of bearing sori on the underside; the petiole is at least as long as the leafy part.

Pteridium aquilinum 23

Phegopteris connectilis

Beech Fern

Beech Fern fronds arise separately from a thin, spreading rhizome. Each frond consists of a long stipe and a triangular blade held at an angle to the stipe with the lowest pair of pinnae held upwards from the plane of the blade and away from the rest of the pinnae, which are largely parallel to each other. Its round or oval sori are arranged around the edges of the pinnae lobes and have no indusium.

18 31

35 23

THELYPTERIDACEAE Marsh Fern family Marsh Ferns have long, thin, scaly rhizomes that give rise to single leaves or to leaves in terminal tufts, scales are infrequent on the petioles; the sori are situated on the underside margin of the pinnules with rolled over edges covering the sori instead of indusia.

THELYPTERIS Marsh Ferns These have sterile and fertile fronds separate; the fronds arise individually at short distances along the rhizome; the paired pinnae of the frond are longest near the middle getting shorter to both the petiole and the apex ends.

Thelypteris palustris

18 31

A small fern that forms colonies in upland, damp, shady habitats. Wade (1970) described it as a rare native and gave 9 sites. A good colony may be found on the S side of Cwm Coed y Cerrig, towards Pont y Spig, in a flush, on a bank, under trees SO/292.209, 1874, AL, 1973-2004, TGE. Other Wade sites are on Tarren yr Esgob, SO/25.30 where they should be looked for among the tumbled scree or on ledges, SGC, 1941. Sites at SO/1.0 M & ST/2.9, and one in Cwm Tillery, SO/1.0M are unknown to me. THT recorded it near Mamhilad in 1859. Old sites in the Wye Valley were at Hael Wood, Penallt, SGC, 1924, Boggy Wood, Tintern, WAS, 1892 and damp wood, Kilgwrrwg, WAS, 1908. More recent records are: a colony of more than 150 fronds is on a steep rocky slope SSW of Pistyll-gwyn on Mynydd Garnclochdy, SO/2872.0703, SDSB, 2002. These can be overgrown during the summer by Dryopteris dilatata, Athyrium filix-femina, Rubus idaeus, Blechnum spicant and be surrounded by mosses Polytrichum commune, Sphagnum palustre and Plagiothecium undulatum. 5 t (9 t).

Marsh Fern

The erect, shortly-spaced fronds arise from thin rhizomes, close to the surface. Normally, there are infertile fronds with the pinnae well spaced and deeply lobed, and much taller, narrower, stiffer, fertile fronds with longer stipes. The fertile pinnae are narrower partly because their edges curl over the sori. This fern is found in shaded marshes and fens. In vc 35 it grows only in a wooded marsh in Cwm Coed y Cerrig at the Pont-y-spig end, SO/288.209. Near the road is an open space full of sedges in very wet soil; beyond that the trees begin but they are spaced out with the ferns in the spaces. Here I have failed to find any fertile fronds for years and I am inclined to think that they are too shaded and the trees need to be thinned. 1 t

PHEGOPTERIS Beech Ferns These have the longest paired pinnae near the base of the frond to give it a triangular shape; the leaves 55

Flora of Monmouthshire lobes at their base and taper to a point at their tip. The sori form lines, on the undersides, running from mid-rib to edges.

OREOPTERIS Lemon-scented Ferns These have short and stout rhizomes which bear tufts of leaves at their ends; the basal pair of pinnae are very short and the petiole is much shorter than the leafy part.

Oreopteris limbosperma Lemon-scented Fern

The fairly large fronds are elliptic in shape due to the pinnae getting progressively shorter from the middle. They grow upright, around the crowns of the rhizome, curling outwards near their tips to form a shuttlecock shape. The sori occur near the edge of the lobes of the pinnae. If the blade is turned over, the underside is covered with tiny, glistening, yellowish glands very noticeable in sunshine under a x10 lens. These cause the distinct lemon scent when the frond is lightly crushed. In old plants, because the rhizome branches, a cluster of plants can form.

18 31

Widespread in the vice-county, growing on walls and in shady, damp woodlands. 324 t

ASPLENIUM

Spleenworts

These are small, tufted ferns with 1-3-pinnate fronds or with irregularly linear lobed fronds with narrowly oblong to linear sori, parallel to each other and the lateral veins of pinnae or pinnules.

Asplenium adiantum-nigrum Black Spleenwort

An evergreen fern of verge banks, less commonly in walls and in screes, with fronds a shiny, yellowish green.

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Most frequent in the wet uplands of the west. 71 t

ASPLENIACEAE Spleenwort Family

These are small, tufted, evergreen ferns found particularly on walls and rocky substrates; the sporangia are in lines along the pinnule veins.

PHYLLITIS Hart’s-tongues These have simple, entire leaves with no more than very sparse scales on the lower side; the long, linear sori are parallel to each other and to the lateral veins; each apparent sorus is actually two closely parallel sori, with the slits that release the spores facing each other.

Phyllitis scolopendrium

18 31

One remarkable site is on a stone chimney over 7m tall by 2.3m x 2.3m square at c.415m altitude to north and above Garn-yr-erw, Blaenavon

Hart’s-tongues

The evergreen, longish, strap-like, simple, shiny blades form an irregular shuttlecock. They have 56

Flora of Monmouthshire SO/2390.1027. More than 120 plants are scattered over 3 sides of this chimney -a vent for a former colliery called Hill Pit. The chimney and nearby spoil heaps are the only current evidence of the pit. 125 t Plate 7

Asplenium marinum

Asplenium trichomanes subsp. pachyrachis Maidenhair Spleenwort Apart from the attractive arrangement of its pinnules the fronds grow appressed to the wall surface and are greyer in appearance than in the other subspecies.

Sea Spleenwort

Though described as an evergreen fern, its fronds may be dried up or missing after a prolonged dry spell. The glossy, lanceolate fronds taper to a pinnatifid, rather pointed tip. The sori are linear-oblong. It grows best on the Atlantic coast of Europe in crevices in cliffs and caves where it is kept cool and moist. In vc 35 it occurs in two vertical holes in Trias sandstone, at Sudbrook, ST/503.872, in low cliffs, bathed by water from the R. Severn Estuary only by spring tides, where it was first found in 1973 by TGE. It is very much under threat at Sudbrook, particularly if global warming brings longer warm, dry spells when spring tides do not coincide with the heat. 1 t Plate 8

Asplenium ruta-muraria

18 31

18 32

First record, 1856, J. Enys. 19th Century records give R. Wye bank N of Monmouth and Monmouth Castle sites that do not have it today. They also quote Caldicot Castle and castle, Wentwood, which probably refers to Cas Troggy, where it is still to be found. There is an extreme form to be found on the remaining wall of Cas Troggy, named var. trogyense, its lobed pinnules arranged like French louver window panes. The ones I saw in 2002 inside the main entrance to Caldicot Castle to the east of the gate had the same structure. The St Arvans record was on the wall near Temple Doors, as the road begins its descent towards Tintern; a very warm dry spell since 1989 seems to have brought about its demise there. In Lady Park Wood it grows in crevices in a low cliff to the south and above the main R. Wye track and to the west of the vice-county boundary and The Slaughter. The 5 plants recorded in 2000 were down to one plant in 2003. It was discovered on the walls of Chepstow Castle in 1989, where there were thousands on the walls of the most westerly bailey until the late 1990s when most were cleaned off by renovation activities; other walls have it in very small quantities. 5 t Plate 11

Wall-rue

The fronds are small with small pinnules in 3s near the apex and in pinnate arrangements towards the base. When the indusia fall the close linear nature of the sori disappears and the whole of the underside of the leaf lobes seem to be one mass of sporangia.

An evergreen fern normally found on limestone or other basic rocks is much more common here in cracks in stone walls or in the mortar between bricks. With modern affluence, walls are better maintained and the old mortar is replaced by modern cement mixtures resulting in some decline in this and other wall plants. 292 t

Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens Maidenhair Spleenwort Subsp. quadrivalens is an evergreen perennial found on most kinds of calcareous, rocky habitats, including man-made walls of stone or brick. It has 57

Flora of Monmouthshire spring that turn a rusty brown later, which explains its English name. These tend to hide the linear sori that lie along veins in the upper part of the frond.

long, narrow, tapering fronds with paired, simple pinnae along a thin, black midrib. The fronds grow away from the wall surface. 23

18 31

By far the commonest subspecies, it is only uncommon where walls are uncommon such as on the levels. 329 t

A small, tufted fern of natural limestone rock and in mortar, and widespread, despite the limited distribution of limestone. 245 t

Asplenium viride

WOODSIACEAE Lady-fern family These have scaly rhizomes of varying lengths with 1-4-pinnate leaves borne in tufts at the ends and uncoiling from young, spiral coils formed at the end of the previous autumn.

Green Spleenwort

This evergreen perennial, which has a green midrib, occupies north-facing or overhung crevices in calcareous rocks in the western upland. The first site is just to the south of Pwll du quarry (disused). There is a path leaving the B4246 just north of Pen-fford-goch Pond down to Pwll-du Quarry just before the path forks, one branch going down beside the stream descending in Cwm Ifor, there is low crevice in rocks below head height on the west side of the path, SO/254.113. The second site is in a joint of a rock just below at the junction of the paths mentioned above. The third site is on Tarren yr Esgob at SO/25.30. Only a small portion of the ledges making up the Tarren extends southwards into vc 35, but halfway up the steep slope there is a linear outcrop of rock and many plants occur in crevices under overhangs. 2 t

ATHYRIUM Lady-ferns Lady-ferns arise in shuttlecock fashion from short rhizomes; the fronds are twice pinnate; the sori are not protected by inrolling of the pinnules and may or may not have indusia.

Athyrium filix-femina

Lady-fern

CETERACH Rustyback These have simple, lobed or pinnate leaves where the lobes frequently alternate either side of the midrib to give a zigzag effect; there is a dense covering of the underside with rusty scales that hide the uncovered sori that merge into a rusty mass at maturity.

Ceterach officinarum

Rustyback

The fronds are lobed to give a wavy edge and are covered on the reverse with silvery scales in the 58

Flora of Monmouthshire Lady fern is a medium to large, tufted fern with twice pinnately-divided, lanceolate fronds that are widest near their middle. It looks more lacy than the Buckler ferns. The stipes are covered with buffcoloured scales; the sori are covered with an indusium that is C or J shaped. It is widespread in damp woodlands and on stream margins. It is variable and in the vice-county there are two forms: the shorter, softly arching form by the sides of streams and in damp woodlands, and a taller, stiffer one that grows in drier situations. 288 t

Gymnocarpium robertianum Limestone Fern This is similar to G. dryopteris but is slightly taller and firmer but narrower as the lower pair of main branches are noticeably smaller than the rest of the frond, the blade is angled much less than a rightangle and the stipe is a greeny-brown, the blade is covered with scattered tiny glands and the stipe even more so (none occur on the frond of G. dryopteris). 23

GYMNOCARPIUM Oak Ferns Oak Ferns have long rhizomes from which thin, wiry petioles arise, which are much longer than the triangular blades at their apex; elliptic sori are near the margins of the pinnules and have no indusia.

Gymnocarpium dryopteris

Oak Fern 19

The lower pair of pinnae are each as big as the rest of the frond and give the blade a tripartite look; the stipes are slender and black and the blades are held at a right-angle to them.

18 31

18 32

It grows on open or partly shaded, limestone screes or woods. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 12 sites: a colony on the E edge of Hadnock Quarry, SO/542.153, 1946-94, SGC but it seems to have dwindled fatally; Lilyrock Wood; Lady Park Wood; Highmeadow Woods, *, SGC; foot of Blorenge, Bowman; near Pontypool, 1902, *, THT; between Penallt and Whitebrook, 1951, SGC; Rogiet (dried up, 1976) and Mounton (small quarry now filled in), early 1940s, TGE. Of recent records, in the vice-county, the best colony of thousands of fronds spread over two tetrads is on the E scree slope of the Blorenge, Craig yr Hafod, SO/273.100 and SO/273.098, 1953, DPMG, 1998, GSM, SDSB; another good site is among a streamwashed scree on the N facing slope of Tarren yr Esgob, SO/254.305, 1904-2003, *, AL, SGC, TGE; a few small patches grow about 4 m above the path leading down to Pwll du Quarry (disused), just below and to the E of the B4246 and Keeper’s Pond, SO/253.115, 1988-2003, RF, TGE. 5 t

It grows in upland woods and among scree rocks. Vice-county records: good colonies occur in a deciduous wood on a shady bank between the road and the Angiddy Brook, near Tintern Cross, ST/511.004, 1980-2000, SJT; on a steep N-facing slope in Glanau Wood, SO/496.073, 1982-2003, SJT; on a steep wooded slope, SE of Old Furnace, SO/515.001, 1978-2000, RSW; among largish scree stones, E of the B4246 at Garn Ddyrys, SO/3594.1194, 2003, CFB. The other five known sites have suffered in various ways and I have failed to re-find the fern in some of them. 9 t

CYSTOPTERIS Bladder-ferns They may have long rhizomes with fronds arising singly, or short rhizomes confining fronds to tufts; the fronds are 2-3-pinnate; the sori on the underside of the pinnules have a flap-like indusium that curls back to expose the sporangia. 59

Flora of Monmouthshire

Cystopteris fragilis

Brittle Bladder-fern

A small fragile, tufted fern with a brittle stipe and a delicately 2-pinnate divided, lanceolate blade.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31 19

Widespread in woodlands and hedgebanks. 230 t

Polystichum aculeatum 31

It grows mainly in the uplands on basic rocks or on mortar of walls. In the vice-county it occurs mainly in the west, but one site, in the east, on a wall of the Tintern Ironworks (ruins) along the Angiddy Valley, SO/51.00, 1994, TGE, still has it. 34 t Plate 10

DRYOPTERIDACEAE Buckler-fern family This family has short, densely scaly rhizomes giving rise to tufted groupings of fronds, which when young are tightly coiled and unroll looking like a bishop’s crozier; sori are orbicular and covered by a peltate or kidney-shaped indusium; the spores give rise in an appropriate damp spot to a green, small plate of cells containing the sexual cells.

POLYSTICHUM Shield-ferns Their fronds are 1-2 pinnate with sori arranged down either side of the pinnae, or pinnules or lobes of pinnules; the indusia are peltate, lifting from the centre.

Polystichum setiferum

Hard Shield-fern

This plant, compared to P. setiferum, forms smaller fronds, which are leathery and narrower with much shorter basal pinnae. The basal pinnules of the pinnae have a less defined basal lobe and its base forms an acute angle. The pinnules are sharply pointed and lack the distinct stalk.

18 31

It is much less common than P. setiferum, preferring damp, shady woods on limy soils. 107 t

Soft Shield-fern

These are large ferns with fronds arching away from the centre like a shuttlecock. The fronds are more numerous than in P. aculeatum and rather flaccid and twice-pinnately divided, with the final divisions (pinnules) angular in shape with slender spinose margins. Observe the basal pinnules and their basal lobes; the lobe should form a right angle with the axis of the pinnule; the pinnules are distinctly stalked.

DRYOPTERIS Buckler-ferns The grouped sporangia making up the sori are covered by a kidney-shaped indusium in this genus. All species develop a large shuttlecock of fronds.

Flora of Monmouthshire

Dryopteris filix-mas

or black patch at the junction of the pinnae with the rachis in living material. The indusium is tucked in around the sporangia in the immature stage. Widespread in shady sites. 261 t

Male-fern

This is a fern that forms large, lance-shaped fronds with sturdy stipes covered in light-brown scales. The fronds are once pinnate, but the pinnae are so deeply lobed that a cursory glance would suggest that the fern is twice pinnate. The pinnules are noticeably toothed around their edges. The sori form along the length of the pinnules and the indusia lift as they mature exposing the sporangia around the edges; eventually the indusia fall away.

Dryopteris affinis subsp. affinis This subspecies is the least like D. filix-mas. It has shiny blades with densely covered golden-scaly stipes. The pinnae are straight and parallel-sided for their basal half. The lowest pinnae are about half as long as the longest. The pinnules are truncate and have straight, parallel sides with no teeth. The lowest pinnules on each pinna have insignificant rounded basal lobes. The indusia remain tucked in, sometimes splitting radially, but remaining attached into winter. The fronds remain green until the new leaves take over in spring.

22 31

35 21

Widespread and common in various habitats. 371 t 20

Dryopteris affinis

Scaly Male-fern 19

23 18 22

Widespread in shady sites. 105 t

Dryopteris affinis subsp. cambrensis This subspecies has rather shiny blades with densely reddish-golden scaly stipes. The lowest pinnae are less than half the length of the longest pinnae. The pinnae taper from base to tip. The pinnules have rounded ends with blunt teeth and sides bluntly toothed and rolled downwards. In this case the lowest pinnules have a noticeable basal lobe, often overlapping the rachis. The indusia lift slightly as the sori mature, sometimes splits, and only falls off as winter starts. The few plants that have been found in this newly recognised subspecies suggest upland woodlands are its preferred habitat. Records: 1 plant was seen in the woods at Blackcliff, ST/53.98, 1989, Fern

18 31

This is similar to D. filix-mas though the stipe and rachis (together making up the main axis of the frond) are densely covered with orange-yellow to dark brown, shaggy scales. The fronds are more yellow-green and shiny and persist longer. The pinnules are parallel-sided and some are truncate-ended, the ends are bluntly toothed and the sides sub-entire. There is a dark-brown 61

Flora of Monmouthshire Group, ACJ; in woods N of the road in Cwm Coed y Cerrig towards the Pont y Spig end, SO/29.21, 1989, TGE conf. HVC. 5 t

Dryopteris carthusiana Narrow Buckler-fern The lower pinnae are turned into a horizontal position to break up a narrowly, triangularlanceolate blade. The stipe is as long as the blade and is sparsely covered with concoloured, pale brown scales. The lowest pinnae are as long as the longest pinnae.

subsp. cambrensis 23

18 31

35 19

Dryopteris affinis subsp. borreri This subspecies most resembles D. filix-mas. The blades are barely shiny and their stipes are fairly well covered with pale-golden scales. The lowest pinnae are more than half as long as the longest pinnae. The pinnules have rounded ends, often with a large tooth on each shoulder to resemble cat’s ears, and toothed sides, while the lowest have a large, pointed basal lobe. Apart from the irregular lengths of the pinnules, the basal half of each pinna is parallel-sided.

It is at home in damp woods, marshes, fens and wet heaths, though more sparsely scattered. 55 t

Dryopteris dilatata

Broad Buckler-fern

The fronds of this common and widespread fern are thrice-pinnate, with the lowest pinnae longest. A key feature is the scales with dark brown centres and paler margins.

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

The commonest of the subspecies, tolerates more basic conditions in shady locations. 152 t

It occurs in most shady woods, hedgerows and ditches. 330 t 62

Flora of Monmouthshire contain megaspores. Several layers can accumulate on the water surface in favourable seasons.

BLECHNACEAE Hard-fern family This family has either all fronds alike, or sterile and fertile fronds, the fronds are once-pinnate with entire pinnae; the linear sori lie either side of the midrib of the pinnae and parallel to it and run almost the length of it, and are covered by linear indusia.

Blechnum spicant

Hard-fern

A dark green, once pinnate, leathery fern with narrowish fronds that are elliptic due to the central pinnae being longest with the rest shortening gradually towards each end. The outer fronds often form a flattened rosette around the erect inner ones. The erect, longer-stiped, fertile fronds are taller and the pinnae look linear because the pinnae enfold the linear sori.

18 31

Most finds are made on the reens draining the Severn moors, though its presence on a reen one year is no guarantee that it will re-appear there the following year. It also occurs on some inland ponds e.g. Ty Mawr Farm pond, Dingestow, SO/437.099, 1989, WT, 1995, DTP; The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal is favoured sometimes e.g. Ty Coch, ST/29.93, CT; and Brynglas to Crindau Bridge, SO/309.891-304.896, 2000, SW. 36 t

PINOPSIDA Conifers, Gymnosperms All conifers, with the exception of Yew, are alien and have been planted originally. The records include both planted trees and saplings regenerating from seed. The cones described are usually female.

18 31

Common, particularly in wet, acidic woodlands. It does not occur on open, improved farmland or the R. Severn moorland. 194 t

PINACEAE Pine Family These may be evergreen or deciduous trees which produce resin; the leaf buds have brown budscales; the entire, linear to needle-like leaves are borne singly on long shoots or in clusters on short shoots; male and female cones are separate but on the same tree; in the male cone there are 2 sporangia per cone-scale, and each of the spirally arranged female cone-scales bear 2 ovules; the mature cones open on a hot, dry day to release the winged seeds.

AZOLLACEAE Water Fern Water Fern has very slender, floating, branching stems, from which hang simple roots; the twolobed leaves lie either side of the stem and bear sori on the underside of the basal lobe of the first leaf of each branch.

! Azolla filiculoides

Water Fern

Seen floating on the surface, this small alien fern could be mistaken for a Duckweed. It starts off glaucous green becoming reddish in the autumn, the colour is given by a symbiotic Alga. The alternating leaf arrangement along the upper surface of the stem gives a plaited look to the plant. The sori, each in its own indusium, mature to

ABIES Firs These firs have cones upright on top of the branches. The foliage is of medium texture, with rather blunt, smooth, leathery leaves, which arise from a cup-like base, so leaving a circular scar 63

Flora of Monmouthshire when falling. Resin blisters are a feature on young bark.

! Abies alba

! Abies procera

European Silver-fir

A narrow tree, widest at its base, with whorled branches, and with a greyish trunk. It can grow to c. 50 m tall. The leaves are up to 2 cm long, dark green above and with two whitish stripes on lower surface, thus when the wind blows the upturned leaves give the tree a silvery appearance; they are arranged in 2-3 dense ranks. The erect cones, situated in the crown of a mature tree, are c. 12 x 3 cm tapering to a rounded top, with bracts exerted and depressed down against the cone. The green cones turn orange-brown by September, and in the following spring both the seeds and the scales are shed separately so normally no cones can be found on the ground. The only record, with no details, is for SO/3.0H, 1997. 1 t

! Abies grandis

Noble Fir

These trees are broadly columnar reaching c. 45 x 5 m in size. Gales often damage the top, and, particularly when crowded by other trees, the lower branches die. Developing on the topmost branches, the large, erect, purplish, cylindrical cones c. 24 x 8 cm look green due to them being covered by reflexed, green, broad-based bracts. 23

Giant Fir

Probably the fastest-growing introduced conifer, eventually reaching a height of 54 m, largely columnar. If grown, in the open, it produces large, low branches that turn up suddenly. On olivegreen, downy twigs, it has two-ranked, flattish needles, arranged like teeth on a comb, with the shorter needles above. The needles are bright, shiny green above and have two narrow, silver lines underneath, they have a strong orange scent. Male flowers are small and hung on the undersides of side shoots high up; the cones, without visible bracts, are c. 7 x 4 cm, small, turning from green to red-brown on the uppermost branches

They are grown, often as the form ‘Glauca’, mainly as specimen trees on large estates. 4 t (1 t)

! Abies pinsapo

Spanish Fir

This is a rare, grey-green fir that can grow to 30 m. Its 1-1.5 cm, blunt-tipped leaves are arranged all round the shoot, stiffly at right angles to it; there are two bands of grey stomata on the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves. Its 1 x 0.5 cm, reddish-purple male cones are borne, in clusters, among the needles towards the end of young shoots in April. The 10 cm, pale, female cones stand erect at the top of the tree. There is one tree in the grounds to the SW of the ruins of Great Dinham Manor at ST/476.922. 1 t

PSEUDOTSUGA Douglas Fir Evergreen; buds sharply pointed; pendent cones, falling whole.

! Pseudotsuga menziesii

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Douglas Fir

These trees reach 55 x 7 m. While growing they are rather narrowly conical with ascending, whorled branches. The leaves emit a fruity, resinous odour, and are a variable green dusted with a glaucous colour above and with two whitish bands beneath. In older trees the dense foliage droops in pendulous masses. The distinct feature that identifies this tree is the green-turning

It is to be found as a specimen tree on large estates and in numbers in plantations. 16 t 64

Flora of Monmouthshire brown cone, which has prominent three-pronged, forward-pointing bracts that project from between the scales.

Scattered plantings occur in many of the larger woods. 40 t PICEA Spruces Spruces are evergreen; the flattened leaves are twisted near their base to display most of their lower surface uppermost, they are borne singly, falling to leave distinct brown pegs; pendent cones with minute bracts fall whole.

! Picea sitchensis 20

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Sitka Spruce

A conical tree with arching branches and flattened, stiff, prickly-pointed leaves which look whitish because the underside, in this case facing upwards, has two broad white bands on it, whereas the dark green upperside faces downwards. The c. 8 cm cones hang down and fall whole to show their crinkly-edged, brown, papery scales.

This tree is widely favoured by forestry companies that cover large tracts of land with plantations; the closely planted trees reduce the light so that little grows beneath their canopy. Their use as windbreaks is also popular. 55 t

TSUGA Hemlock Spruces Falling leaves leave short brown pegs on the twigs; pendent cones fall whole.

! Tsuga heterophylla Western Hemlock-spruce

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This tree is often grown in large plantations in bigger forests. 40 t

! Picea omorika

Serbian Spruce

This very slender tree described as ‘spire-like’, reaches c. 30 m in height. The needles are flattened and have two, broad white bands on their under surface. Their cones are 6 cm long. The one reported tree in ST/2.9 F comes with no details. 1 t

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! Picea abies

Norway Spruce

In Britain this is better known as the Christmas tree. It grows to c. 45 m. Its leaves are four-angled, sharply pointed and green; its pendent cones, with their round-tipped scales, can be up to 20 cm long, so are prominent on the tree or lying on the earth below.

A graceful tree to c. 48 m distinguished by it short-stalked, flattened needles of varying lengths and by its small, ovoid, pendulous cones, with no apparent bracts, that hang at the end of small shoots. It is odorous but smelling more like Ground-elder than Hemlock. 65

Flora of Monmouthshire Common in plantations, but are more frequently replaced by the Japanese Larch in new plantings. 122 t

! Larix x marschlinsii

hybrid Larch

The hybrid between European and Japanese Larches is a similar tree but does not usually exceed 30 m, it has a cone more like the European Larch but the cone scales tips are recurved to varying degrees. Its characters are intermediate between its parents.

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35 22

Norway Spruces are common in plantations or nurseries where they satisfy the Christmas Tree trade, or are grown on for their timber, referred to as ‘white deal’. 73 t

LARIX Larches These are the only European deciduous conifers; needles are borne singly on long shoots and in clusters on short shoots; erect cones eventually fall entire.

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! Larix decidua

European Larch

A conical tree with down-sweeping branches and long, pendulous twigs that are covered with bright light-green leaves in the spring, attaining an eventual height of 46 m; the shoots are not glaucous; the leaves have faint green stripes on their undersides. The cone is longer than broad its scales are NOT recurved, but may be slightly undulate on the margins.

Not as common in vc 35 as its two parents. 58 t

! Larix kaempferi

Japanese Larch

Japanese Larch may reach 37 m. Its shoots are glaucous and its leaves have conspicuous whitish stripes on their undersides. The broader-thanlong cones are the shape of brown, miniature cabbages or lettuces with the tips of the scales noticeably curved back.

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Increasingly used in plantations. 109 t 66

Flora of Monmouthshire CEDRUS Cedars Cedars are the only evergreen conifers where the needles on second or older shoots are borne in dense whorls on short spur-shoots. Cones are erect and disintegrate after at least two years on the tree; the seeds are winged. Cedars are ornamental in large estates and are almost certainly under-recorded as they are obviously planted.

! Cedrus deodara

PINUS Pines Pines have needles in bunches of 2 3 or 5 on dwarf, short shoots.

! Pinus sylvestris

Deodar

Distinct in having drooping leading shoots, this cedar can attain a size of 36 x 5 m. Older trees have nearly horizontal upper branches and lower ones that sweep downwards, the lowest often very big. Cones, when seen, are barrel-shaped to 14 cm. It is rarely planted. 2 t

! Cedrus libani

Scots Pine

Fully mature, this tree can reach 35 x 5 m; the branches bearing blue-green foliage occur in the upper half of the tree; the branches and the upper trunk have a distinctive rusty colour that becomes pinkish in old trees. The twigs are hairless and bear paired, twisted needles. The cones, in three years, change from pink to green to brown. 23

Cedar of Lebanon

A dark green, flat-topped tree attaining a 40 x 8 m size. It develops huge lower branches and horizontal upper ones, on which sit 5 x 3 cm, barrel-shaped cones, that first have lilac-tipped, green scales that ripen to a brownish-purple. It is much grown as a specimen tree on the lawns of the houses of large estates, especially in the Lower Usk Valley. 6 t

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Widely planted for timber and ornament but seldom in abundance. 151 t

! Pinus nigra

Austrian Pine

This pine is more regularly conical in shape than Scots Pine and has blackish-brown trunk and upper branches; the trunk is straighter to the apex and the cones are shiny and tawny.

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! Cedrus atlantica

Atlas Cedar

The glaucous form of this tree is most often grown; its crown is broadly conical and its widely-spaced, ascending branches bear leaves on spurs on long shoots. The leaf clusters give a flattish look to the middle of the branches in spite of the drooping ends. The barrel-shaped cones may be up to 8 cm tall and shed their seeds and fan-shaped scales leaving only the central core on the tree. It is rarely planted. 2 t

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Flora of Monmouthshire Pinus nigra seems to be grown as wind-breaks and for ornamental use, where it can reach 40+ m in height. 28 t

! Pinus contorta

Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine grows to 25 m. Its specific epithet comes from the twisted nature of many of its buds. The clustered cones have spines on the bosses of the scales.

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! Pinus peuce

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Widely grown in plantations. It appears to be under-recorded. 9 t (1 t)

! Pinus radiata

Macedonian Pine

This is a five-needled pine that forms a narrow, pyramidal tree, eventually 30 m tall. Its pendulous 8-15 cm, cylindrical cones are immediately distinctive. The needles, in dense clusters are blue-green due to having white lines on all surfaces. Apart from being reported from ST/3.8J, an estate in Newport, no details are known. 1 t

! Pinus wallichiana

Bhutan Pine

This 30 m narrowly pyramidal tree grew in an ornamental grove near to and to the NE of Piercefield House from 1958 to at least 1995, but was very old, and dying by the latter date. The pendulous cone was banana-shaped, its colour due to an encrustation of resin was green and bluegrey, on the ground it was woody and dark brown and between 20 and 30 cm in length. The needles, in fives, were glaucous (one surface green, the other blue-grey), forward pointing and pendulous and 18-20 cm long. 1 t

Monterey Pine

A large, high-domed tree with wide-spreading branches to the ground. The grass-green foliage is made up of slender needles in threes, 10-15 cm long. The 12 x 9 cm cones are glossy brown with an asymmetrical base, where the large woody scales on one side bulge out far more than on the other. The cones are clustered in threes to fives and remain on the trees for years and are quite difficult to remove from the twigs. Forest fires in its native California, create open spaces and provide the heat to open the cones to release the seeds, and the burnt, bare soil underneath on which they fall is an ideal medium for germination. Ten trees grew in the field adjacent to the B4293 on the south side of Devauden, at ST/48.98 (one blew down in a gale recently), TGE, 1945-2004; two trees grow at the western end of the Wetlands Reserve, Uskmouth ST/32.83, TGE, also known for many years; one tree grows in Lady Wood, Usk, near a house, SO/38246.04503, TGE, 2004. 3t

! Pinus pinea

Stone Pine

This is a dark-green, umbrella-shaped tree, sometimes called the Umbrella Pine. It is wellknown for its large 10 x 10 cm, shiny-brown cones, with their thick scales and their rich, oily, edible seeds. Its stoutish 10-15 cm, dark, greyishgreen, often-twisted needles are in pairs. It is common in western Mediterranean countries There is at least one mature tree near the pottery house to the S of Tredegar House, Newport, ST/288.850, and one slightly damaged tree is to be found in the Llanover churchyard, SO/317.094. 2 t

Flora of Monmouthshire in Bigsnap Wood a number at SO/53.04; in Park Woods, Usk, SO/38.02. 8 t

TAXODIACEAE Redwood Family These have evergreen or deciduous leaves and produce resin; the leaf buds lack proper bud-scales; the entire, linear, needle-like or scale-like leaves are borne spirally and singly on the long shoots; the male and female cones are separate but occur on the same tree; there are 2-8 sporangia per male cone-scale and 2-12 ovules on each of the spirally arranged female cone-scales; the ripe cone opens to release the winged seeds on a fine day; there is some fusion between cone-scales and bracts.

! Taxodium distichum

Swamp Cypress

This is a graceful, conical tree with light-green, feathery foliage, which allows plenty of light to pass through it. The leaves, on side shoots, are flat and two-ranked, though in a spiral arrangement, only obvious when the twig-enclosing bases of the leaves are examined with a good lens. It is unusual in that it is deciduous and loses its leaves on the onset of winter. Two trees have been planted on an island in a large pond, on the N edge of Park Wood, Usk, SO/383.027 and another one by the side of a path, W towards Cwm Cayo Farm. 1 t

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SEQUOIADENDRON Wellingtonia This very large, conical evergreen tree has thick, spongy, red-brown outer bark; its leaves taper from a decurrent base to a pointed tip; the spherical male cones are solitary at the ends of the short lateral shoots at the end of the branches; the female cones have 15-25 cone-scales, which end in wide diamond-shaped ends with a sunken centre.

SEQUOIA Coastal Redwood This evergreen tree has thick, spongy, red-brown outer bark; the leaves are flattened against the twigs on opposite sides; the terminal, lateral, stringy-barked shoots are deciduous.

! Sequoia sempervirens

! Sequoiadendron giganteum

Wellingtonia

A majestic, 40-50 m high, conical tree with darkgreen foliage on down-sweeping branches, and a massive trunk covered with thick, rufous, fibrous bark. Its needles are awl-shaped and arranged all round to cover the shoots. The cones are ovoid to 8 x 5 cm with the scales emerging as wrinkled, lip-shaped bosses.

Coastal Redwood

In the coastal fog belt of California this tree grows to over 110 m high, but in Monmouthshire it can only reach 40+m; it still forms a spectacular, narrow columnar tree, standing on a buttressed trunk covered with thick, spongy, red-brown outer bark. Its flattish leaves are arranged like those of yew, in two ranks, lying in one plane, on either side of the green twigs, but are angled to point towards the end of the twig. Young female cones have bristly-tipped scales but become woody, 18-25 mm globes. They are grown as feature trees near large houses and churchyards, but are grown in groups in a few plantations. It can be found in the churchyards, at Caldicot, ST/483.886 and Penyclawdd, SO/452.078; near the S bank of the R. Usk near Pant y Goetre Bridge; on a knoll S of Dingestow Court, SO/45.08; one young tree planted E of The Catholic School and of Bulwark Rd., ST/533.932;

18 31

It is planted as a specimen tree close to houses on large estates. Probably under-recorded. 13 t 69

Flora of Monmouthshire male cones tip the branches and the globular, woody female cones are set further back.

CRYPTOMERIA Japanese Red-cedar This evergreen tree has reddish-brown bark which flakes off in long fibres; the spreading, awl-shaped leaves taper from a decurrent base to a point; the male cones lie in the axil of leaves a short distance from the end of a branch; the spherical, female cones have 20-30 cone-scales with 4-6 curved spines around the edge.

! Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Lawson’s Cypress This evergreen, conical ‘false’ cypress can reach 35 m or more. Its trunk is often forked and its slender branches are clothed with flattened sprays of branchlets covered in over-lapping scale leaves. The globular, green then purplish-brown, 8 cm cones are borne on the ends of side branchlets.

! Cryptomeria japonica Japanese Red-cedar An evergreen tree to 30+ m with fibrous, redbrown, outer bark. The curved leaves have a decurrent-keeled base and pointed tip. The cone, on an upcurved stalk, consists of 20+ scales, each edged with 5-6, short, curved spines.

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They are grown in many woods as windbreaks for newly transplanted saplings, and remain for many years. 62 t

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THUJA Red-cedars Similar to Chamaecyparis except for the elongated female cones with usually 10-12 flattened scales, each ending in a recurved, apical spine

It was grown in a small forestry plot, at The Cot, ST/506.990. 4 t CUPRESSACEAE Juniper Family These are resin-producing trees or shrubs; the leafbuds lack proper bud-scale-leaves; the trees have needle-like or scale leaves in opposite or whorled arrangements; male and female cones are separate and may be on the same tree or on separate trees; there are 3-5 male sporangia per scale-leaf; the female cones may be woody or succulent and have varying numbers of sporangia per scale-leaf; the female cone-scales are arranged in opposite pairs or in threes; the seeds are winged.

! Thuja plicata

Western Red-cedar

CHAMAECYPARIS Cypresses These have twigs branching in one plane to form flattened sprays; mature foliage consists of scalelike acute to acuminate leaves appressed to the twig on opposite sides; the separate male and female cones occur on the same tree; the ephemeral

18 31

Flora of Monmouthshire Thuja plicata is a dense, narrow, spire-like tree with fern-like foliage, which when crushed gives off a fruity, resinous odour. The twigs are covered with appressed, flattened, four-ranked scales, bright shiny green above and white-streaked below. The 1.5 cm cones are green then yellow then brown, when the overlapping scales spread open. They are often grown as windbreaks. 12 t

ST/532.935; one tree in the grounds of ‘Gwentlands’, ST/530.932; one tree SW of Great Dinham Manor, ST/476.922, all TGE; one fine tree at entrance to Mounton Close, off Mounton Rd. Chepstow, ST/526.935, 1950-2004, TGE. 13 t

TAXACEAE Yew Family These are evergreen trees or shrubs with leaf-buds covered in green, scale-leaves; the linear leaves are spirally arranged; the male sporangia are borne 4-9 per scale on one tree, and the ovules are borne singly on the ends of short, lateral branches on a different tree.

JUNIPERUS Junipers Juniper foliage is 3-dimensional; juvenile leaves are erect or patent in whorls of 3; mature foliage consists of appressed, scale-like leaves, opposite on the twigs; trees are usually male or female; the female cones are berry-like and have succulent, fused scales; unwinged seeds, 1 per scale, are dispersed while still within the ‘berry’.

! Juniperus communis

Taxus baccata

Common Juniper

This small, prickly-leaved tree has been planted on the hill fort, S of Glasllwch, Newport, ST/28.86. It is NOT native to the vice-county. 1 t ARAUCARIACEAE

Monkey-puzzle Family

! Araucaria araucana

Yew

A dark-green, broadly-pyramidal tree that has distinctive cones; the male cones are ovoid and have peltate scales with pollen sacs below, and the one-seeded female cone, which becomes purplish, is surrounded by a fleshy, red aril when ripe.

Monkey-puzzle

A 30 m tall, domed, evergreen, straight-trunked tree. Young branches are clothed in leathery, broadly-triangular, dark green leaves that end in a sharp spine. The leaves stand proud of the branch surface to make them difficult to hold.

19 23 18 22

Few churchyards are without one, but many woods have a scattering of them. It is especially abundant in the woods on limestone in the north-east corner of Piercefield Park. 245 t

MAGNOLIOPSIDA ANGIOSPERMS, FLOWERING PLANTS.

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MAGNOLIIDAE Dicotyledons In the field these plants can be recognised by having leaves which may have pinnate or palmate arranged large veins with a network of smaller ones; they usually have flower parts in fours or fives; their seeds have two cotyledons.

Possibly, under-recorded. It can be found N of old chapel, Llandogo, SO/526.042; Near Trellech old school, SO/500.055; near Gwern du Farm, ST/399.977; at Llandevaud ST/388.907; at the Welsh Chapel, Llanover, SO/315.079, all CT; one tree in garden of 33, Hardwick Avenue, Chepstow, 71

Flora of Monmouthshire many water-lily-free years and is presumably planted. It is found in the R. Severn moorland reens, canals and ponds (in some cases it is possibly native), and gently-flowing, quiet sections of rivers. 24 t

LAURACEAE Bay Family This family is easily recognised by being evergreen trees or shrubs with aromatic leaves and separate sex plants; the perianths are in 4s. LAURUS Bay This has the characters are those of the family as there is only one genus.

! Laurus nobilis

NUPHAR Yellow Water-lilies There are both submerged and floating leaves; the leaf veins fork and do not rejoin around the leaf margin; there are usually 5 sepals; the petals are yellow and shorter than the sepals; the ovary and fruits are bottled-shaped.

Bay

Bay is an evergreen, shrub or tree occasionally to over 15 m. Its petiolate leaves are elliptic in shape and aromatic. It is grown in gardens for its culinary, flavouring properties and is probably under-recorded. 3 t

Nuphar lutea

NYMPHAEACEAE Water-lily Family This family is composed of aquatic, perennial plants, which have simple, entire leaves, the petioles of which grows to the length that allows the leaves to rise from the stout rhizome and float on the surface. The stamens are numerous.

CERATOPHYLLACEAE Hornwort Family Members of this family are submerged, aquatic, perennial herbs with regularly branched, filamentous leaves arranged in whorls.

NYMPHAEA White Water-lilies These usually have only floating leaves; the leaf veins rejoin around the leaf margin; there are usually 4 sepals; the petals are white (or pink to purple in some cultivars), and are much longer than the sepals.

Nymphaea alba

Yellow Water-lily

The yellow flowers are more cup-shaped and the fruit is carafe-shaped and is held at the water surface. There were 100s of plants in the Monmouthshire Canal at Five Locks, Pontnewydd, ST/288.968, TDP, EDP, 1986; some were seen in an artificial pond at Glen Usk, ST/363.928, TDP, EDP, 1989. 1 clump, Hawse Reen, ST282.824, 2005, JPW, 3 t

CERATOPHYLLUM Hornworts The whorled leaves may be stiff or flaccid, and may be twice or thrice forked; the fruits may have two basal spines or none.

White Water-lily

The white flowers are Peony-shaped, with the outer petals longest. The fruit is obovoid, but is usually held just below the water surface.

Ceratophyllum demersum

Rigid Hornwort

This plant often forms extensive, dark-green patches under water. The rigid leaves are branched once or twice only. The fruit usually has two, long basal spines.

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Wade (1970) considered it native, but it seems to make an appearance soon after a new pond has been constructed and it reappears in old ponds after

18 31

Flora of Monmouthshire Rigid Hornwort is predominately found in the R. Severn moor reens, though it is occasionally recorded in ponds 42 t

Ceratophyllum submersum

Caltha palustris

Marsh-marigold

Caltha has simple, long-petioled, cordate leaves with bluntly-toothed edges. The flowers are like large, saucer-shaped buttercups. The flower produces a group of follicles, which open down one side only.

Soft Hornwort

Similar to Rigid Hornwort but a paler green, less stiff and its leaves are branched 3-4 times. The fruit has no basal spines.

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Its habitat is wet, whether it be in woods or in meadows. Though the distribution map shows Marsh-marigold is widespread, it has declined due to loss of wet areas lost to drainage and tree planting. 167 t

It has been recorded only from the reens. There seems to have been two main centres for it, the first in the Goldcliff area and the second off Rumney/Peterstone Great Wharf in sea wall reens. The deliberate lowering of the water table by deepening of the reens and the dense vegetative growth in some has had a detrimental effect on the survival of this very local aquatic, and it is now difficult to find anywhere. Past records are for: Saltmarsh Reen, Goldcliff, ST/353.833, PRG, 1983; reen/ditch NW part of Peterstone Great Wharf, ST/273.800, GH, DE & AO, 1988; reen, Rumney Great Wharf, ST/235.778, TGE, UTE, 1991. 7 t

TROLLIUS Globeflower The flowers are usually solitary with 5-15 yellow sepals which look like petals, 5-15 petals which look like nectaries, and numerous stamens and carpels.

Trollius europaeus

Globeflower

This is an herbaceous perennial with palmate, deeply-dissected leaves. Its yellow flowers are composed of rather numerous petals, stamens and sepals and formed into a slightly flattened globe. It used to grow beside rivers and in wet upland meadows, but is now extinct in the vice-county. The last records were around 1950. Past records were for: Grwyne Fawr Valley SO/2.2; near Pontnewydd, ST/2.9 R; near Varteg, SO/2.0; near Risca, ST/2.9; Near Michaelstone y Vedw. (4 t)

RANUNCULACEAE Buttercup Family These are annual or perennial herbs, or sometimes woody climbers; the leaves are usually spirally arranged without stipules; each flower produces a head of separate achenes or follicles.

HELLEBORUS Hellebores Hellebores are herbaceous perennials, with leaves with deeply divided, toothed lobes. The flowers have 5 sepals and more numerous petals in the form of tubular nectaries. The fruit is a follicle.

CALTHA Marsh-marigold These are herbaceous perennials with few flowers, each consisting of a whorl of 5-8 yellow sepals which look like petals, numerous stamens and 5-15 carpels. 73

Flora of Monmouthshire

Helleborus foetidus

of Upper Llanover, SO/29.06; 3 m² in Grange Wood, just S of Nant-y-Coch, ST/430.892, TGE, UTE, 1998; 1 plant at boundary of wood bank and road, Cicelyford, SO/503.036, BJG, 1998. 3 t (1 t)

Stinking Hellebore

This rare plant has no rhizomes but has stems that last from spring one year to the next, and are strikingly paler than the leaves; the pale bracts are nearly entire. The dark-green leaves are divided almost to the petiole. The pale green sepals are edged purple to produce cup-shaped flowers that tend to droop.

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! Helleborus orientalis

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Lenten-rose

The record in SO/5.1 is probably of a garden escape, but I have no details. 1 t

Probably native in woods on calcareous soils but most sites in the vice-county suggest a garden origin. Records are: possibly native in woodland, The Coombe, ST/459.932; churchyard, Llanwenarth, SO/275.148, RF, 1989; roadside garden escape, Goytre, SO/326.052, RF, 1989; naturalised outside garden hedge, Cwmcarvan Hill, SO/477.058, JH, 1993; road bank garden escape, Troy, SO/50.11, BJG, 1995; verge, E of quarry, N of canal, Risca, ST/238.913, TGE, 1997. 7 t

Helleborus viridis

! Helleborus niger

Christmas Rose

This plant should be well known to gardeners, it is similar to Green Hellebore but has white sepals. Two plants flowering on 19 February 1993 had been picked four days later on the R. Wye bank, Monmouth, SO/514.120, BJG. 1 t ACONITUM Monk’s-hoods Monk’s-hoods are herbaceous perennials, the leaves are deeply-palmately lobed, the flowers are zygomorphic and are arranged in a terminal raceme, each is subtended by a bract, there are 5 petaloid sepals, the upper one forms the elongated hood, the petals form nectaries.

Green Hellebore

This rare plant is rhizomatous, and its stems do not survive the summer. Its hard leaves are a paler green than in H. foetidus and are not divided so deeply with some leaflets joined to a third of their length. The pale green flowers are saucer-shaped and erect. Native in woods on calcareous soils. The best site, of half an acre, was in a field on the edge of Salisbury Wood. When the wood was given SSSI status the half acre was left outside the boundary; a piggery later uprooted the scores of plants that graced the site. Plants have been found at: 30-40 plants native in High Grove Wood, ST/427.894, TGE, 1997; WNW of Pysgodlin, SO/259.162, JPSB; edge of field, above bank of road leading down from car park to W side of Llandegfedd Reservoir, ST/428.937, H & JB, 1991; Craig-yr-allt Wood, S

Aconitum napellus

Monk’s-hood

The flowers are bluish often with a reddish tinge. The upper sepals width equals their height. The pedicels are generously covered with appressed hairs. The pollen is full (microscope) and the seeds are fertile. The largest colony of 400 m² is in a field to the SE of the bottom of the Holy Well cwm, SO/3012.0537; there are good populations at a number of stretches along the Mounton Brook where there are over 100 plants e.g. Llwyn-ycelyn, ST/479.948 and Prysgau Bach, Coppice Mawr, ST/493.943. The R. Wye bank has a number of populations. The R. Usk and streams in 74

Flora of Monmouthshire other parts of the vice-county have small patches. 20 t. Cover, and Plates 13 & 15

Aconitum napellus

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Common and widespread apart from the Severn moors and the higher parts in the north and west. ‘Improved’ grassland has reduced numbers, but many woods, hedgerows and unimproved grassland still have them, and in abundance in some woods. 277 t

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! Aconitum x cammarum (A. napellus x A. variegatum) hybrid Monk’s-hood Similar to Monk’s-hood but differs in that it may have some white in its flower colour; the upper sepal is noticeably higher than wide; the pollen is empty and the seeds are infertile. Probably a garden escape; recorded only from SO/1.0 V. 1 t

! Anemone apennina

Blue anemone

This species is similar to Wood Anemone but it has narrower sepals that are usually blue, but may be pink or white; it has an erect head of achenes when in fruit. The origin of the plant in SO/5.1 B is almost certainly a garden. 1 t

CONSOLIDA Larkspurs Annuals; the upper sepal is long-spurred.

! Anemone ranunculoides Yellow Anemone ! Consolida ajacis

This species is similar to Wood Anemone, but usually has 5 yellow sepals. This is grown in gardens and in the right conditions proliferates quite happily. Yellow Anemone is at home and increasing along the sides of the drive through the wood leading up to the ‘Wyelands’, ST/523.922. 1 t

Larkspur

Larkspur has deeply divided lower bracts, on stems from which branches rise sharply. The flowers are blue, pink or white. The follicle is shortly hairy. They have a garden origin. Before Newport Rubbish Tip became sanitised, at least one plant appeared every year between 1974-1984. (1 t)

CLEMATIS Traveller’s-joys These plants are woody climbers, twining around other plants. Their leaves are opposite, usually pinnate or ternate; the flowers are actinomorphic, with a single whorl of petaloid sepals and numerous stamens; the fruit is an achene with a style that becomes long and feathery.

ANEMONE Anemones Anemones are herbaceous perennials with palmately-divided, basal leaves, though the three bracts half way up the stem look leaf-like. The flowers are actinomorphic composed of petaloid sepals. The stamens and achenes are numerous.

Anemone nemorosa

Wood Anemone

Clematis vitalba

These plants spread by rhizomes; the stem is topped by a solitary flower of 6-7, white sepals, often tinged pink or purple. In fruit, the weight of the head of achenes causes the head to droop.

Traveller’s-joy

It is called Old Man’s Beard by country folk because of its white, feathery fruiting head in the autumn. It is a prolific climber with dense clusters of flowers, whose sepals are pale cream or white. 75

Flora of Monmouthshire

This is an erect perennial, with its pubescent, basal leaves deeply, palmately dissected. The sepals are not reflexed. Its achenes are glabrous, smooth and possess a short, hooked beak. Though still widespread, there are now few in many improved meadows. 397 t

Ranunculus repens

18 31

Creeping Buttercup

As its name suggests, this perennial buttercup spreads by runners that root at the nodes from which new plants arise. The basal leaves are tripartite with the long-stalked middle part longer than the two outer ones. The sepals are not reflexed and the achenes are glabrous, smooth and with a short, curved beak.

It is usually an indicator of a calcareous substrate. With such a limited distribution of Carboniferous Limestone in vc 35, one has to look at the inclusion of limy nodules in the drift and the use of limestone in road and track building and garden escapes to find an explanation for its widespread occurrence. 259 t

RANUNCULUS Buttercups Herbaceous perennials or annuals, some aquatic; sepals 3 or 5; petals usually 5 or 7-12 and usually with a nectar pit towards the inner base, stamens numerous; fruit are achenes, free and numerous, style shorter than the part containing the ovule.

18 31

Subgenus 1 RANUNCULUS Petals usually yellow, normally 5; achenes not transversely ridged; roots usually not tubers.

It is ubiquitous, recorded in nearly every tetrad. 399 t

Ranunculus acris

Ranunculus bulbosus

Meadow Buttercup

Bulbous Buttercup

18 31

Flora of Monmouthshire This buttercup is an erect perennial with a swollen stem base. Its basal leaves, in three parts, often has a sessile central segment. Its sepals are strongly recurved at anthesis. Its achenes are finely pitted. Widespread on neutral and calcareous soils, but may be under-recorded due to the early and shortlasting flowering period. 264 t

Ranunculus sardous

Ranunculus parviflorus Small-flowered Buttercup The annual plants here should be called Small Buttercup, because everything is small. The small leaves are palmately-lobed to half way and are held flat on the soil; the flowers are more often nearer to the 3 mm than the 6 mm limits in diameter; the strongly reflexed sepals at anthesis are not easily seen, nor are the minute, hooked spines on the side of the achenes, without a good lens. The size of plants may well be governed by the well-drained substrate. Previous records: near Monmouth, SH; near Pontnewydd Works, Conway; railway embankment near Usk, JHC. About 50 plants were recorded on the built up bank of the bunker 840 in MOD, Caerwent, ST/467.919, 1991, TGE; 100s were recorded nearby on gritty soil, sparsely covered with other vegetation, ST/46867.91716, 2002, TGE. 1 t

Hairy Buttercup

Hairy Buttercup is similar to Bulbous Buttercup, particularly in its strongly recurved sepals in anthesis, but there are differences. Firstly, R. sardous is an annual and lacks a swollen stem base, the flowers are a paler yellow (though this is not always distinctive enough even when they grow near one another), and its achenes have faint tubercles just inside their outer edges. 23

Arc. Ranunculus arvensis

Corn Buttercup

It seems to need disturbed ground. Its main centre is between Raglan and Hendre but nowhere is it common. 8 t

This is an erect annual with shallowly-lobed basal leaves but middle stem leaves deeply lobed. The achenes have noticeable spines on the sides. It was to be found on cultivated ground, particularly where cereals were grown. Recorded at: Abergavenny, SH; Fiddler’s Elbow, Monmouth; Onen, Llangattock Vibon Avel, SGC; Watery Lane, Monmouth; Castleton; Michaelstone y Vedw; Llantarnam, SH; Usk District, BMF; near the Wilderness, Malpas; near Chepstow, Shoolbred; in a garden, Caldicot ST/471.896, 1973; in a garden, Parc Seymour, ST/405.918, 1977; near Caerwent Quarry offices, ST/474.895, 1973, CT. (14 t)

! Ranunculus marginatus St Martin’s Buttercup

Ranunculus auricomus Goldilocks Buttercup

18 31

This is an erect perennial that flowers in April and May; basal leaves three-lobed but shape variable; the few stem-leaves are finely lobed with the lobes held horizontally. The yellow flowers are seldom perfectly symmetrical because some petals are smaller than others, and occasionally petals are absent. The achenes are shortly pubescent. It is mainly in deciduous woods or copses, and absent from the hilly west, the coastal levels, and the central improved farm land. 73 t

This is similar to Hairy Buttercup but has tubercles all over its achenes. One plant of a sample of R. sardous collected in a field just S of Middle Hendre Farm, SO/454.132 had achenes with tubercles as described above, all the rest were typical R. sardous. Subsequent searches failed to uncover anything other than R. sardous. Was the single plant an abnormal Hairy Buttercup; it did not look otherwise different, but had it been introduced like the 31 clumps of Briza minor in the same field ? 1 t

Flora of Monmouthshire R. auricomus 23

18 31

Wade (1970) considered this plant native, but gives only two sites, one of which to the E of the Virtuous Well, Trellech had a single patch in the stream for 5-10 years and then was destroyed c. 1980 when the narrow field, home to a few horses, was ploughed for a crop of potatoes for one year only; the spearwort and a large colony of Southern Marsh Orchids were lost. It appears to have been introduced to most of the vice-county sites. Apart from the site above, it has been recorded at: Llwyny-Celyn marsh, ST/479.949, 1976, TGE and persisted for many years without increasing; a ditch near the club-house, Trevethin Golf Course, SO/282.029, 1988, RF; a wet valley, SE of St Pierre Lake, ST/515.904, 1987, TAJ; SW of Goetre in stream in woodland, SO/326.057, 1995, TGE, introduced and did not survive; pond/B4293 side, S of Llanishen, SO/473.025, 1999, CT; boggy field, near Monkswood, SO/333.029, c. 1918, BMF. 8 t

Ranunculus sceleratus Celery-leaved Buttercup This buttercup is an erect annual with shiny, glabrous, rather fleshy, broadly, three-lobed basal leaves, higher up the stem the leaves have much narrower lobes; the flowers are comparatively small with sepals strongly reflexed; the achenes are glabrous, smooth and with an insignificant beak. 23

Ranunculus flammula subsp. flammula Lesser Spearwort

18 31

It grows in wet places but particularly by reens on the Severn moors. 111 t

! Ranunculus lingua

Greater Spearwort

Greater Spearwort can be over a metre tall; its flowers are 25 cm in diameter, with sepals not reflexed; its basal leaves are heart-shaped but withered by time the flowers appear; the glabrous, upper stem leaves are narrowly lanceolate; the achenes are minutely pitted, narrowly winged and have short, curved beaks.

18 31

Flora of Monmouthshire This subspecies is similar to subsp. ficaria but produces fewer flowers with smaller petals and empty pollen cells; few achenes are produced; tubers are produced in leaf axils after anthesis, so they may be readily observed above ground. Gardens, damp shady places and water side subject to flooding seem to favour this subspecies, and when it does occur it can be quite extensive. The low numbers of records for this subspecies as against those for subsp. ficaria may be due to recorders not checking carefully enough, though my impression is that subsp. bulbifera is much more limited in distribution in this vice-county. 28t

Lesser spearwort is similar to Greater Spearwort but is smaller in all characters. It seldom reaches half a metre in height; its flowers vary from 0.7 to 2.5 cm in diameter; its achenes are wingless. It is essentially a wetland plant and can exist in quite small wet areas. 260 t Subgenus 2 – FICARIA This subgenus has 7-12 yellow petals; 3 sepals; achenes not transversely ridged; some roots formed into tubers.

Ranunculus ficaria subsp. ficaria Lesser Celandine It has entire, triangular leaves, with a hastate base.

Subgenus 3 – BATRACHIUM This subgenus has white petals, usually 5 and 5 sepals; the achenes are transversely ridged; there are broadly-lobed (laminar), floating leaves, or finely divided (capillary), submerged leaves, or both leaf types (heterophyllous) on the same plant.

Ranunculus hederaceus Ivy-leaved Crowfoot Low-growing plant with all laminar leaves divided to less than halfway into usually 3-5 lobes widest at their base; the petals are usually between 2.5 and 3.5 mm and do not overlap at anthesis and having a lunate nectar-pit, the petals are little longer than the sepals; sepals not reflexed, receptacle and immature achenes glabrous.

18 31

It starts flowering in March before the other family members. It is catholic in choice of habitat. 346 t

Ranunculus ficaria subsp. bulbilifer Lesser Celandine

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20

It grows in shallow water or on mud in lowland sites. 40 t

18 31

Flora of Monmouthshire

Ranunculus omiophyllus Round-leaved Crowfoot

Low-growing plant with all leaves laminar, divided to less than halfway into usually 3-5 lobes widest above their base; the petals are usually between 5 and 6 mm and are 2-3 times longer than the sepals; the sepals are reflexed at anthesis. It is similar, otherwise, to Ivy-leaved Crowfoot.

19 23 18 22

Ranunculus trichophyllus Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot

This subaquatic water-crowfoot has only capillary leaves; its petals, non-contiguous at anthesis, are less than 6 mm and have lunate nectar-pits; the sepals are not reflexed; the receptacle and achenes are pubescent.

18 31

35 23

It grows in similar places, as well, but in western, upland sites as shown by the map. An area to the W and above Forgeside is the best site for it, where 100s of plants grow on wet tracks, in streams and on a marshy area at SO/2442.0823. 49 t

Ranunculus baudotii Brackish Water-crowfoot

This subaquatic plant is variable largely due to the state of its habitat. Usually it is heterophyllous, but it may have only capillary leaves, with rigid divergent branching in water, or laminar leaves only if growing out of water. Its petals are longer than 5.5 mm, bear lunate nectar-pits, and overlap at anthesis; the sepals are reflexed and often blue-tipped, though this is not exclusive; the immature achenes are glabrous becoming slightly winged and are borne on a pubescent, elongated receptacle at maturity. This plant is confined to brackish reens and shallow scrapes that fill with water near the coast. From the ephemeral nature of its habitats due to the unnatural lowering of the water table, two facts emerge; a site represented by a map dot is not necessarily going to have the correct conditions for the presence of the plant at all times and the number of tetrads it occurs in changes from year to year. 12 t

18 31

R. trichophyllus has been recorded only near the coast, and like R. baudotii is affected by lack of water in the reens in recent years, and is very much under threat. 13 t (1 t)

Ranunculus aquatilis Common Water-crowfoot This subaquatic plant is heterophyllous or has only capillary leaves; its laminar leaves are divided just over half-way into usually 5 lobes, with acute basal sinuses; its petals, with circular nectar-pits, are contiguous at anthesis and less than 10 mm long; in fruit the pedicel is usually less than 50 mm and is shorter than the petiole of the 80

Flora of Monmouthshire opposed laminar leaf; the sepals are not reflexed. The sepals and receptacle are pubescent.

Ranunculus penicillatus Stream Water-crowfoot This species is a perennial subaquatic, which is heterophyllous or with capillary leaves only and these are flaccid and are longer than the adjacent stem internode, they can fork 4-6 times, their divisions lie parallel to each other in the water, the ultimate divisions can number over 100; their fruit pedicels are greater than 50 mm and are shorter then the adjacent stem internode; the petals are greater than 10 mm and have pearshaped nectar-pits; the sepals are not reflexed; the receptacle and achenes are pubescent. It is found in fast-flowing rivers and streams, but does not persist in streams that dry up, often due to over-extraction by the Water Board. Sites recorded: R. Wye, Monmouth, SO/513.122, 1980, TGE; Mounton Brook, Mathern, ST/516.919, 1990, TAJ, the brook dried up that year and the plant did not re-appear; R. Sirhowy, Blackwood, ST/1.9T, 1990, RF; R. Ebbw, Risca, ST/2.9F, 1991, TGE, UTE. 4 t

18 31

This plant used to be common in the vice-county but the infilling of ponds, fewer season-long, water-filled ditches, the increased use of boats on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal have contributed to its decline, and its presence in all the tetrads shown above is doubtful in 2004. 33 t

Ranunculus fluitans River Water-crowfoot All the leaves of R. fluitans are capillary and longer than the adjacent stem internode, they are never less than 8 cm, are flaccid and often trail a great deal more than 8 cm, but they are rarely forked more than 4 times; the petals are 7-13 mm long, are contiguous at anthesis and have pear-shaped nectar-pits; the sepals are not reflexed; the receptacle is pilose to glabrous and the achenes glabrous or scarcely pubescent.

Ranunculus peltatus Pond Water-crowfoot Like R. aquatilis, R. peltatus is heterophyllous or has capillary leaves only; however, its laminar leaves are divided over half way, into five lobes, with obtuse basal sinuses; the petals are greater than 10 mm long and bear pear-shaped nectarpits (rarely lunate); the sepals are not reflexed and they and the receptacle are pubescent.

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18

31 31

This grows in the larger, free-flowing rivers; patches occur on the R. Sirhowy and the R. Usk, but by far the most showy display can be seen at Monmouth up and down the R. Wye, where sheets of green and white cover the river in high summer. 23 t Plate 14

It is found mainly in ponds, but as ponds have been filled in or polluted the species has declined possibly even from the limited number of tetrads. 16 t 81

Flora of Monmouthshire

Ranunculus circinatus Fan-leaved Water-crowfoot

A former, rare weed of cornfields. Recorded at Magor by JH and at Chepstow by WAS. (2 t)

This aquatic Water-crowfoot has capillary leaves only, at the stem nodes they form green, short, single-layer ruffs; the petals vary in length between 4 and 10 mm hardly overlapping at anthesis, they have lunate nectar-pits; the sepals are not reflexed; the receptacle and immature achenes are pubescent.

AQUILEGIA Columbines These are herbaceous perennials with doublyternate leaves; it has actinomorphic flowers with 5 petaloid sepals and 5 petals, each with a long spur, curved at the end and producing nectar.

Aquilegia vulgaris

Columbine

Columbine flowers, though usually blue, can be pink to purple or even white.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

35 18

Nearly all records were made in the reens between Whitson and Magor, but a pond and a lake were home to it as well. The lowering of the water table has caused a considerable decline. Records include: reen, Undy Moor ST/445.867, 1974, TGE; Yoke Reen, Whitson, ST/395.851, 1974, CT; reens, Innage Farm, ST/52.90, 1974, TGE; Rush Wall, Magor, ST/41.86, 1985, TGE; reen, Whitson, ST/36.85, 1987, TGE, UTE; reen, Porton House, ST/38.82, 1987, TGE, UTE; small pond, SW of Catbrook, SO/502.022, 1985, EW; Bowleaze Reen, Whitson, ST/377.853, 1993, TGE. The following records were made in reens by the NCC in their reen survey 1982-83: Bowleaze, ST/37.85; Parish, ST/37.84; Elver Pill, ST/38.84; Middle Road, ST/388.856; and Petty, ST/445.859. 7 t

Usually found in calcareous woods where they can be well scattered and frequent. In built up areas they are often garden escapes. 100 t THALICTRUM Meadow-rues Meadow-rues are herbaceous perennials, with pinnate to ternate, spirally-arranged leaves; the flowers are in compound inflorescences, the numerous stamens are the dominant feature of the flowers, which have 4 insignificant sepals and no petals.

Thalictrum flavum

Common Meadow-rue

T. flavum forms clusters of 1 m tall, upright stems arising from rhizomes; the leaves are pinnately divided; the compound inflorescence has bright yellow flowers in dense clusters, with the massed erect to patent stamens on fine filaments. River banks, fens and meadows subject to flooding favour this species. There have been many sites along the R. Wye, and others on the River Ebbw, River Sirhowy and R. Usk. In the past there have been extensive patches on the moors of the R. Severn, but here drainage has caused a big decline. There is a good patch in a hedge on a minor road

ADONIS Pheasant’s-eye Annuals with solitary flowers, 5 sepals and 5-8 red petals, numerous stamens and carpels, the latter developing into achenes.

! Adonis annua

Pheasant’s-eye

This annual had finely divided leaves, the petals are bright red with a dark basal spot, forming actinomorphic flowers 15-25 mm in diameter; the receptacle elongates as the achenes ripen. 82

Flora of Monmouthshire subject to flooding running out NE of Usk, SO/385.009, another extensive area is the flat river meadow on the R. Wye, just N of Chepstow Castle and below Alcove Wood, ST/53.95. 20 t

BERBERIDACEAE Barberry family Usually shrubs with yellow wood, often spiny, and with a perianth of several whorls and a one-celled ovary.

Thalictrum flavum

BERBERIS Barberries These plants are favoured by gardeners for their showy clusters of yellow flowers that later produce red to purple, often bloomed berries and as hedging plants because they deter intruders with their spines. The spines are frequently arranged on the stems in threes, starting from a common origin but pointing in three different directions, although in the same plane.

Berberis vulgaris

18 31

! Thalictrum minus

Barberry

Barberry is a deciduous shrub to 3 m, with leaves 2.5-6 cm, mainly obovate in shape and with many small, spiny teeth; its yellow flowers form pendent racemes. The two records, one for Newport and the other for Trostrey, are by competent botanists, but neither gave any sign of the excitement of their finds, and as both have now died more specific locations are unavailable; formerly in hedge S of Black Bear Inn, Bettws Newydd, DTP. 2 t (1 t)

Lesser Meadow-rue

Thalictrum minus did not feature in Wade’s Flora. This species can grow up to 1 m, but usually is less, its stems vary from erect to spreading; the leaves are a mixture of pinnately or ternately branched structures; the flowers are in diffuse panicles, but are pale yellow and with pendent stamens.

! Berberis x stenophylla

Hedge Barberry

This cross between B. darwinii and B. empetrifolia is an evergreen shrub with the three directional spines and 1.5-2.5 cm leaves that are narrowly elliptic because their edges are curved under, and each simple leaf ends in a spine; the golden-yellow flowers are in small groups; it has a bluish-black fruit. A shrub of it had, probably, been planted to landscape spread coal waste between Brynmawr and Nantyglo, because on the same development area there were also Alnus incana, Sedum spurium. Clarkia tenella and Thlaspi arvense. 1 t

! Berberis darwinii 31

Darwin’s Barberry

This evergreen shrub can grow to 3 m; it has a variable number of spines in each group; the leaves are dark green and glossy above, often with spiny margins that make them resemble small holly leaves; the orange flowers are in pendent racemes; the fruit is bluish-purple. It is commonly grown in gardens and birds feed on the berries and are sometimes responsible for conveying seeds into the wild. One plant could have thus been sown into a joint in the stonework of a bridge over the R. Rhymney at Rhymney,

18 35

Though grown in gardens, it has become naturalised in the following places; Upper Cwmbran, ST/27.96, 1989, RF; rail bank, Goetre, SO/326.047, 1989, RF; Llewellyn Dingle, Llanllowell, ST/39.98, 1989, TDP, EDP; several patches, in scrub, Glebelands Recreation Ground, Newport, ST/317.904, 2000, TGE. 7 t 83

Flora of Monmouthshire SO/11.07, 1989, RF; the one in the Llandogo area was reported with no details. 2 t

! Papaver pseudoorientale

MAHONIA Oregon-grapes Mahonia are spineless, evergreen shrubs with pinnately arranged leaves; the yellow flowers form bluish-black-bloomed berries with few seeds.

! Mahonia aquifolium

Oriental Poppy

Oriental Poppy is a tufted perennial with a basal rosette of leaves at flowering time; it has pink to orange-red petals, often with a dark basal blotch, which are over 45 mm long; the anthers are violet in colour; the capsule can reach 40 mm with the stigma as wide as the capsule. As it is widely grown in gardens and can selfpropagate given disturbed ground, and the single plants are reported not far from dwellings; it is obvious that the plants reported from Coedkernew, Ponthir and from a trackside on Canne’s Farm, Monmouth, SO/513.148, 1993, BJG are garden escapes. 3 t

Oregon-grape

The upward curving stems of Oregon-grape can grow to 1.5 m; its leaflets are about twice as long as wide, glossy on the upper side and lacking in tiny nipple-like projections on the lower side, the edges of the leaves have varying numbers of tiny spines.

Arc. Papaver somniferum

Opium Poppy

Opium Poppy is an upright, noticeably-glaucous plant that can grow to 100 cm; it has variously slightly-divided, stem-clasping leaves; variouslycoloured, though more often of a mauve shade, 2050 mm petals; the fruit to 90 mm is globose to obovoid has a stigma as wide as the capsule.

21 31

35 20

It is grown for ornamental, purposes and on a small scale to encourage game birds. Bird-sown seed sometimes augments the planted populations. Most common in the northern half of the vice-county. I have details for only three of the above eight sites; they are: One plant on S rail embankment near the Wye bridge, Chepstow, ST/537.939, 1980, TGE; well established in the mixed woodland of Hayes Coppice, SO/523.146, 1992, BJG; and 2-3 plants in a hedgerow near Llandewi Court, SO/34.16, 1996, JDRV. 8 t

18 31

The subsp. somniferum with glabrous leaves appears on tips, waste ground or disturbed soil near dwellings or roads and is scattered over the vicecounty. 65 t

Papaver rhoeas

PAPAVERACEAE Poppy family The poppy family are noted for having white or yellow sap, often large and brightly coloured flowers, often with 2 sepals and four petals that have to straighten from their crumpled state in bud, they have numerous stamens, and ovaries which lack a style but have large stigmas, and they produce numerous small seeds.

Common Poppy

This erect, annual poppy has patent hairs and green stem-leaves that do not clasp the stem; the flowers are usually bright red, often with a dark basal blotch, the anthers are bluish-black; the glabrous capsule is less than twice as long as wide with its stigma as wide as the capsule; the latex is usually white but can be yellowish.

Flora of Monmouthshire

Papaver dubium subsp. lecoqii Long-headed Poppy

This is very similar to subsp. dubium but differs from it in the following ways: exposure to air turns its white latex yellow in seconds; the end lobes of the upper leaves are usually less than 1.5 mm wide.

20 23 19 22 18 31

Wade (1970) reported it to be frequent to common in the north and east of county – how things have changed! Today, this plant is usually seen in small numbers on the edges of cereal crops or grassland, or verges or waste ground, unlike the past when it turned some fields red. It is still the most common of our poppies but its presence in one site one year is no longer a guarantee that it will re-appear there in the following year. The number of tetrads above may not be fulfilled every year. 151 t

18 31

It usually grows on waste ground, but is not likely to persist unless the nearby soil is disturbed. It has been recorded at: La Cuesta garden, ST/528.936, 1975-80, TGE; spoil heaps, adjacent to R. Usk river bank S of George Street Bridge, Newport, ST/329.877, TGE; 5 plants field/path side, St. Kingsmark Secondary School, Chepstow, ST/52.94, 1982, TGE; 12 plants near seawall track, ESE of Peterstone Gout, ST/284.805, 1997, TGE; 1 plant on waste ground adjacent to N of entrance to Severn Tunnel Junction car park, ST/461.876, 2006, TGE, CT. The two subspecies were not differentiated in Wade (1970). 4 t Plate 16

Papaver dubium subsp. dubium Long-headed Poppy The most obvious difference from Common Poppy is in the capsule, which is more than twice as long as broad. Its latex is white or cream; the end lobes of the upper leaves are usually greater than 1.5 mm wide; the anthers are brown or bluish-black. 23

Papaver argemone

18 31

Prickly Poppy

This poppy is usually an upright annual with appressed hairs; its petals are a pale scarlet and often have a dark blotch at their base; the less than 1.5 cm long capsule is distinctive in that it is more than twice as long as wide and is sparsely covered with appressed bristles. Its habitat is usually arable fields and waste places on light soils. There are only two records: 1-5 plants occurred as a contaminant in amongst Blom’s bulbs (from E Anglia) in La Cuesta garden, ST/528.936, 1985-92, TGE; between St. Arvans and Chepstow Road, ST/5.9, prior to 1920, WAS. (2 t)

It is found in similar places to Common Poppy and the number of tetrads is also unlikely to be attained in any one year. 60 t 85

Flora of Monmouthshire Rock, Bicheno; near Mathern Pill, *, WAS; by the R. Usk, Newport, JHC. In the early 1980s, spring rosettes appeared in cracks at the foot of the sea wall for two years near Goldcliff Pill, ST/36.82, but conditions could not have suited them because they had disappeared before flowering, TGE. (5 t)

MECONOPSIS Welsh Poppy Welsh poppies are upright perennials with yellow latex; yellow flowers are solitary; a style is present bearing a 4-6 lobed stigma; the capsule opens by elongated pores at the apex.

Meconopsis cambrica

Welsh Poppy CHELIDONIUM Greater Celandine The flowers of Greater Celandine, a perennial with orange latex, are less than 3 cm in diameter, mostly in umbels of 4 or more, and it has a 2-celled capsule of less than 6 cm with a 2-lobed stigma.

The leaves of this poppy, that may grow to 60 cm tall, are yellowish-green and pinnate and then further pinnately-lobed; the yellow flowers with yellow anthers are up to 80 mm in diameter and produce a narrow, obovoid capsule.

Chelidonium majus

Greater Celandine

This perennial has broadly-lobed, pinnate leaves, yellow flowers to 25 mm in diameter, producing a narrow capsule to 5 cm long.

35 19

Its native habitat is in upland areas among rocks or under trees. In this county, particularly in the Wye Valley, it seems to be a garden escape. In the NW of the vice-county the rocky river banks with their lining of trees could provide the appropriate natural habitats. 17 t

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Widespread on hedge banks and less commonly on walls. Monmouthshire folk break the stem of the plant and apply the oozing orange latex to remove their warts. 191 t

GLAUCIUM Horned-poppies These poppies have yellow sap, glaucous leaves, with the lower hairy, solitary red or yellow flowers and long pods opening from the apex to reveal seeds embedded in the septum that separates the two chambers.

Glaucium flavum

ESCHSHOLZIA Californian Poppy This poppy has a watery sap, sepals that are fused and shed as a cap as the flower opens, and a receptacle raised above the base of the ovary.

Yellow Horned-poppy ! Eschscholzia californica Californian Poppy

These plants tend to sprawl and seldom reach 90 cm in height in the vice-county; the leaves are variously pinnately-lobed; the yellow flowers may be up to 9 cm in diameter and produce a narrow pod up to 30 cm long that opens along two valves, with the seed embedded in the septum between; the stigma is 2-lobed. They grow on coastal shingle or sandy banks. Wade (1970) gave four sites but none more recent than about 1920, they are: Chepstow, SH; Black

Californian Poppy usually does not survive the British winter; it has glaucous, pinnately and finely divided leaves with narrow leaflets; its solitary flowers range from yellow to orange and up to 12 cm in diameter; the narrow, 7-10 cm, linear, capsule with a 4-6, deeply-lobed stigma opens in two valves along its length. Always recorded as a garden escape, though the one plant I remember with white flowers was 86

Flora of Monmouthshire recorded on Newport rubbish tip, ST/30.85, 1982, ALG & TGE. 4 t

flowers have a spurred dorsal petal. It has seeds with an aril.

FUMARIACEAE Fumitory family The plants of this family are herbaceous and have a watery sap; their leaves are spirally arranged or all basal; the zygomorphic flowers are in simple or compound racemes, there are two small sepals that often drop as soon as the flower opens, and four, white to pink, purple or yellow petals with the dorsal or the dorsal and ventral ones with a basal spur; the ovary is one-celled but produces many seeds in a fruit that may be either an achene or a capsule.

Ceratocapnos claviculataClimbing Corydalis This plant scrambles over other plants climbing to 75 cm using its tendrils to obtain a purchase; its pale cream flowers are 4-6 mm with a basal spur of only 1 mm. 23

PSEUDOFUMARIA Corydalises The non-climbing Corydalises are perennials with much branched, rather fleshy stems, that bear leafopposed inflorescences; the cream to yellow flowers have their dorsal petal spurred; the fruit is a capsule. Their seeds have an aril.

Pseudofumaria lutea

Yellow Corydalis

Because of its weak stems, Yellow Corydalis tends to sprawl over its substrate or other plants; its leaves are pinnately or ternately divided and have ridged petioles; it has 12-18 mm (including the 2-4 mm spur) yellow flowers; its seeds are shiny.

It is locally common in woods on an acidic substrate, particularly in the Wye Valley and in the wooded part of the western valleys in the southern half of the vice-county. 33 t FUMARIA Fumitories Fumitories are much-branched scrambling annuals; they have only pinnately-arranged stem leaves; their white to purple flowers are in racemes that are leaf-opposed; the dorsal petal has a basal spur and the dorsal and lateral petals have darker coloured tips; the seeds lack an aril. Stace (1997) or Rich & Jermy’s Plant Crib (1998) should be consulted before trying to name one, as all members are very similar. Of ten species, only 4 have been recorded wild in the vice-county, but beware of complacency, as other members of this weedy group could turn up on disturbed ground.

18 31

! Fumaria bastardii Tall Ramping-fumitory It freely seeds and propagates itself on walls and may find its way on to banks or natural rock outcrops. It seems to favour the shady parts of the Wye Valley where it is common on cottage garden walls, and the hilly parts of the NW. 58 t

CERATOCAPNOS

F bastardii has pinkish flowers c. 9-11 mm long but small sepals 2-3 x 1-2 mm with a serrate margin; its fruit is almost orbicular and rugose when dry. AL recorded it at Llandogo in the 19th century. (1 t)

Climbing Corydalis

This annual climbs by means of leaf-tendrils; the inflorescences are leaf opposed; the pale cream 87

Flora of Monmouthshire

Fumaria muralis subsp. boraei Common Ramping-fumitory

This has pink flowers 9-11 mm long in a raceme about as long as its peduncle; its sepals are 3.5 x 1.5-3 mm and are dentate near their base; its fruit is usually 2-2.5 x 2 mm drying to a smooth or slightly rugose surface.

20 23 19 22 18 21

This is a weed of cultivated ground and is the most widespread of the species in the vice-county. Because of the reduction in allotments, farmers’ fields for vegetables and cottage vegetable gardens, it has declined since the 1950s. 103 t

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PLATANACEAE Plane family Planes are deciduous trees with palmately lobed, alternately arranged, simple leaves. The male and female flowers hang on different, pendent peduncles on the same tree; the female flowers produce bundles of nutlets that hang like little balls from the twigs long after the leaves fall in the autumn. The leaves from suckers or from young, trees are not typical.

It grows mainly on ploughed or otherwise disturbed land, but seldom in any quantity. It is scattered in the vice-county, but is rare in the hilly west. 83 t

Fumaria purpurea Purple Ramping-fumitory F. purpurea has 10-13 mm, pinkish-purple flowers; its upper petal has narrow, erect margins; its sepals are characteristically oblong, 5-6.5 x 2-3 mm and can be denticulate; its fruit is 2.5 x 2.5 mm and is borne on a recurved pedicel. It grows on waste or disturbed ground. There are no known extant sites in 2004, but it has been found in the past at: Chepstow, ST/53.94, 1909, JCM; Tintern, 1914, CB and ESMT, 1918; on banks of R. Usk, Usk, SO/37.00, 1924, JULS; Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/50.12, 1934, SGC; more than 10 plants on disturbed soil, St Kingsmark Secondary School, Chepstow, ST/528.945, 1984, TGE & RoF; 2 plants on waste ground, near railway, S of Blackbird Road, Caldicot, ST/497.878, 1985, TGE; Penhein, nr. Llanvair Discoed, ST/44.93, 1990, JW. (6 t)

Fumaria officinalis

PLATANUS Planes The characters are those of the family as there is only one genus.

! Platanus x hispanica (P. occidentalis x P. London Plane

orientalis) 23

Common Fumitory

F. officinalis has 7-8 mm, pink flowers with a lower petal spathulate, they are in racemes longer than their peduncles; their sepals are 1.5-3.5 x 11.5 mm and serrate; the fruits are truncate and wider than long, 2-2.5 x 2.25-3 mm.

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Flora of Monmouthshire London Plane can attain a height of 44 m and is grown along town avenues because it is pollutiontolerant. It sheds its bark in irregularly-shaped plates to leave the trunk as a patchwork of greens and greenish-browns, the accumulated street grime being shed at the same time leaving the pores free to carry out gas exchange. The veins of the palmate leaves end in large points. Because planted trees have been rather ignored by botanists until recent surveys, this plane has been under-recorded. 5 t

Ulmus x hollandica

Ulmus procera

English Elm

The obovate to oblong crown shape for a 33 m tall mature tree can only be appreciated in the memory or in a Constable or David Shepherd painting. The 5-9 cm leaves are often nearly circular but with an asymmetric base, their upper surface is rough to touch and they have 10-12 pairs of lateral veins.

ULMACEAE Elm family This deciduous tree has alternately arranged, simple, serrated leaves, usually with bases asymmetrically joined to the petioles; the flowers are produced in small axillary clusters, before the leaves, and the fruits, have two broad wings, that form a circular thin plane to transport them away from the parent tree on the wind.

Ulmus glabra

Dutch Elm

The trees reported were hedgerow plants and I doubt whether anyone but a specialist in elms could be certain of identification. (6 t)

Wych Elm

This tree seldom reaches the 37 m quoted for its pre-Dutch elm disease days. Its crown was orbicular in outline due to the trunk soon dividing into long, spreading branches, the leaves vary from 8 to 16 mm in length, are very rough on the top side and quite asymmetrical near the petiole, overlapping it on one side; each leaf has more than 12 pairs of lateral veins and a petiole less than 3 mm; the buds are abundantly covered by rustcoloured hairs.

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The remaining plants are confined largely to hedgerows and woods but as soon as they reach a height of about 7 m, shoots turn brown as the tree succumbs to Dutch Elm disease. 209 t CANNABACEAE Hop family Members of the hop family are herbaceous; their leaves are palmately veined or lobed; their flowers are small but clustered on longish peduncles; their fruit is an achene, subtended by a bract.

CANNABIS Hemp Hemp is an annual with the upper leaves alternate; male and female inflorescences are borne on different plants.

! Cannabis sativa

Hemp

This erect herb has its leaves divided almost to the base, into 3-9 lanceolate lobes, widest near their middle, and edged with spaced, forward pointing teeth. Hemp is grown commercially for its fibre, or more recently for medical purposes, but has featured in illegal cultivation for recreational drugs. The seed also occurs in wild bird seed and plants growing

No undamaged mature trees remain in the vicecounty, but immature trees, many with dead or dying parts, may still be found in woods and hedgerows, in all but upland parts of the west. 304 t 89

Flora of Monmouthshire from this accounts for most of the vice-county records. Findings are from: Newport rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, ST/30.85 and 86, often both male and female plants in 1973, 1975, 1979 and 1980, TGE; roadside, Panteg, ST/300.988, REH; 1 plant on rail ballast, Rogiet, ST/460.874, 1994, TGE, UTE; 1 plant in Newton Green garden, Mathern, ST/518.917, 2004, KCJ. 1 t (4 t)

! Ficus carica

Fig

Figs are usually spreading shrubs in the vicecounty, but they can become trees to over 10 m; their leaves may be hairy and are divided into 3-5 rather rounded lobes; their figs are green or blackish when ripe. 23

HUMULUS Hop Hop has all its palmate leaves opposite, the lobes reach no more than three-quarters of the way to the base; the male and female inflorescences are borne on different plants.

Humulus lupulus

Hop

Hop has twining stems that can help it achieve a height of more than 7 m; its leaves are split into 3-5 ovate lobes; the male inflorescences are loose and spreading, the female ones are terminal on the peduncles and when ripe form cone-like structures, made up of papery bracts, and are used in brewing to flavour beer.

18 31

18 32

All recorded figs originate from cracks in walls over rivers or streams, which suggests that the seeds are buoyant and lodge in the cracks when the river is in flood. Known sites are: stone wall, over River Ebbw, Aberbeeg, SO/208.019, 1987, RF and 1995, PAS; brick wall, over stream, Garndiffaith, SO/26.04, 1988, RF; in stone wall, by stream, Bailey Park, Abergavenny, SO/302.146, 1991, RF; Afon Llwyd wall, Blaenavon, SO/248.089, 1994, RH; on wall near Ffrwyd Bridge, Talywain to Viaduct Road, SO/263.045, 1994, REH; wall at Beaufort Arms, Raglan, SO/414.077, 1990, RF. 6t

URTICACEAE Nettle family This family consists of herbaceous annuals or perennials; they have opposite or alternate, simple leaves; the flowers are small and insignificant to view, solitary or in crowded inflorescences.

Widespread in the vice-county, mainly scrambling over hedges. 267 t MORACEAE Mulberry family This family consists of deciduous trees or shrubs, with simple leaves, often palmately lobed; the flowers are small but crowded into dense heads or into hollow receptacles; the male and female inflorescences are separate but on the same plant; latex is produced.

URTICA Nettles These erect annuals or perennials have opposite, toothed leaves, equipped with stinging hairs; their flowers are in dense axillary inflorescences; the perianth has two inner and two outer parts that enclose the fruit.

Urtica dioica FICUS Fig Fig has a milky latex; its fruiting head is pearshaped.

Common Nettle

Common Nettle can form 1.5 m high, extensive colonies because the leafy stems arise from yellowish spreading rhizomes and/or stolons; the 90

Flora of Monmouthshire plant is usually a dioecious perennial with hairy stems and leaves and many hairs are designed to sting; the terminal leaf-tooth is longer than the laterals.

home for the plant but as times have changed and they have fallen into disuse, so the nettle is harder to find. It favours lighter soils. 27 t PARIETARIA Pellitories-of-the-wall Pellitories are perennials with decumbent stems; softly pubescent, entire leaves; their flowers are in dense, short inflorescences, which are mainly unisexual.

Parietaria judaica

The plants have much-branched stems to 40 cm, though in very favourable conditions they can be much bigger; its leaves are elliptical and the flowers are borne at the leaf base in short clusters.

Pellitory-of-the-wall

18 31

35 22

The plants are ubiquitous, though actions of gardeners and farmers and specific herbicides have tended to reduce numbers so that though every sizeable tetrad has them, they do not form as extensive areas as in the past. They persist in hedgerows and wood edges. 400 t

Urtica urens

Small Nettle

Small Nettle is an annual seldom exceeding 60 cm tall with different sex flowers on one plant; the leaves and stems are abundantly covered with stinging hairs but there are few non-stinging hairs. The terminal leaf-tooth is about the same size as the lateral teeth.

It grows in cracks or joints in walls or rock faces, but seems to be scarce in the upland regions and does not do well in dry walls. 70 t SOLEIROLIA Mind-your-own-business Mind-your-own-business is a low, spreading perennial with thin stems that root at the nodes; the entire, circular leaves are alternately arranged; the monoecious flowers are solitary in the leaf-axils.

! Soleirolia soleirolii Mind-your-own-business

A low-growing plant with slender stems and roundish leaves. It has been naturalised on damp, shady walls and banks. Its needs are fulfilled admirably in the well at White Castle, SO/379.168, 1987, TGE, UTE, and 2002, JB; on a walled embankment on NE side of A472, Pontypool, SO/291.005, 1989, GH; base of quartz conglomerate wall at entrance to ‘Barberry’, Penallt, SO/525.106, 1994, TGE, UTE;

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This plant is quite local and depends on cultivation of the soil and bare waste areas. Mathern, Caerwent and Caldicot in the SE has afforded a 91

Flora of Monmouthshire Most if not all trees have been planted in large gardens, and there have been few reports of them in the western coalfield upland or northern hills. 26 t

inside Caldicot Castle, ST/487.885, 2002, TGE & CT. No details are given for the other sites. 17 t

Soleirolia soleirolii 23

FAGACEAE Beech family This family consists of deciduous or evergreen trees with alternate, simple leaves; male and female flowers occur on the same tree; the fruit is a nut, cupped with fused scales.

FAGUS Beech Male flowers of Beech hang in numerous tassels and their nuts are in ones or twos to a cup.

Fagus sylvatica 31

JUGLANDACEAE Walnut family Members of this family are deciduous trees with pinnate leaves; both male and female flowers occur, in pendent catkins on the same tree; the fruit is a drupe or a winged nut.

JUGLANS Walnut This tree has entire leaflets which are aromatic when crushed; the one to a few fruits are drupes with a green husk enclosing a hard-shelled kernel. The juices stain brown.

! Juglans regia

Beech

After a good fruiting year, the soil around a tree may be covered with sprouting seedlings growing from three-angled, brown nuts. The sharplypointed, winter buds are narrowly spindleshaped.

Walnut

Non-suckering walnut trees grow to a height of over 20 m; their leaves have 3-4 pairs of entire, ovate leaflets terminated with a single one.

Beech seems to be catholic in its requirements as it is widespread in woods, hedgerows and field borders. Only the peaty Severn moors are without it. 330 t

NOTHOFAGUS Southern Beeches Similar to Beech but male flowers are 1-3 in stiff clusters and the nuts are three to a cup.

! Nothofagus obliqua

18 31

Roble

Roble has simple leaves that are coarsely doublyserrate with 7-11 pairs of veins; the fruit cupules have short stiff scales. My only record for this S American tree is from the Cumberland Plantation, S of Llanishen, SO/ 475.023, 1991 & 1994, TGE. 1 t

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Nothofagus nervosa

lobes appear rather narrow, the lower side can have varying degrees of pubescence; the rather shortlooking acorns are encased in a cupule covered in curved, narrow, green scales.

Rauli

Rauli has simple, ovate to oblong, finely serrate to subentire or crenate margined leaves, with 14-24 pairs of veins; the fruit cupules have deeply laciniate scales. It has been seen at: Cumberland Plantation, S of Llanishen, SO/475.023, 1991 & 1994, TGE; in woodland, NE of Mill Farm, S Wentwood, ST/40.92, 1989 & 1990, TGE; Coed Robert Wood/roadside, SO/39.09, 1994, TGE; the fourth site in the Earlswood area has no details. 4 t

CASTANEA Sweet Chestnut These are deciduous trees with rather stiff catkins, with female flowers in threes at the base, and male flowers above; pollination is by insects.

Arc. Castanea sativa

Sweet Chestnut

Old trees of Sweet Chestnut can be easily recognised by the spiralling of the deep ridges in the bark of the trunk and by the simple, up to 20 x 10 cm long leaves, the margins of the leaves are noticeably toothed; the edible, 1-3 nuts are encased in a very prickly cupule.

Planted widely in small numbers for decorative purposes. 39 t

! Quercus x crenata

Lucombe Oak

This is a cross between Turkey and Cork Oaks and is semi-evergreen; the leaves, with pubescence underneath, are lobed to less than half way, with mucronate to aristate margins; petioles are less than 2 cm. There are 2 trees in Trevethin churchyard, SO/284.020, 1997, CT. 1 t

! Quercus ilex

18 31

Widespread, except on the hills and near the coast, in woods where it may be grown as coppice, when it affords cover for pheasants, or for mature timber or fencing. 146 t QUERCUS Oaks Oaks form a large group, worldwide, with half of the species deciduous and half evergreen; they all bear acorns.

! Quercus cerris

Evergreen Oak

The specific name of this oak suggests its leaves have prickly margins, but like some Hollies many trees have leaves with entire margins, the undersides are grey-tomentose; the green acorn is enclosed between one third and one half in a cupule covered by numerous short, fawn, felted scales. The vice-county records suggest that Carboniferous Limestone close to the surface favours the growth of seedlings, because where this happens there are big concentrations of self-sown trees e.g. around Chepstow, NE of Monmouth and around the edge of the coalfield. However, the tree is much planted as it provides an impressive specimen tree; the tree at Goldcliff illustrates this as the Severn moors do not form a natural habitat for it. 30 t

Turkey Oak

Q. cerris is a deciduous tree with leaves of varying shapes, but having 7-9 lobes each side makes the 93

Flora of Monmouthshire Quercus ilex

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18

31 31

Quercus petraea

Sessile Oak

Quercus robur

Deciduous Sessile Oak has a taller, straighter trunk and less spreading branches than the other common oak, Q. robur; other differences are: its leaf bases are cuneate to cordate and auricles are not obvious, there are 5-8 pairs of shallower lobes, the petiole can be up to 25 mm, the leaf underside has many simple hairs and some stellate ones. Sessile refers to the acorns, though they may confusingly have peduncles up to 2 cm.

Pedunculate Oak

Deciduous Pedunculate Oak has leaves with petioles less than 1 cm, leaf bases cordate, with distinct auricles and usually 3-6 pairs of rounded lobes; the underside is glabrous or with simple hairs only; the peduncles vary between 2 and 9 cm; winter twigs can be recognised by the cluster of terminal buds, in most trees there is one terminal bud that in the spring extends the length of the twig; the bud cluster may contribute to the zigzag growth of the branches.

18 31

Shallow sandy or acid soils favour colonisation by this tree and the hilly parts of the vice-county have the biggest concentrations. 158 t

This is the commonest oak spread from Severn shore to hilly north, but on the highest hills it gives way to Q. petraea. 349 t

Quercus x rosacea

! Quercus rubra

a hybrid oak

This tree is intermediate between its parents Q. petraea and Q. robur. Most records come from woods where its parents grow side by side, but it is probably underrecorded. 36 t

Red Oak

Red Oak has large leaves with acuminate to aristate lobes, acorns in cupules covered with short, appressed scales and with the nut shell hairy inside. 94

Flora of Monmouthshire prominent primary teeth and a truncate base; the wings of the fruit look like two large, round ears; next years male pendent catkins may be seen throughout the winter. It grows in woods and heaths on poor, acid soils. When growing by itself it forms a tree of beautiful form, but usually it grows thickly from the plentiful seed crop and because of this is by some called the ‘Weed of the Woods’. 330 t

Betula x aurata

a hybrid birch

This is intermediate between its parents, B. pendula and B. pubescens.

18 31

35 23

Red Oak is grown in woods and on estates for its bright red autumn colouring. 18 t

BETULACEAE Birch family These are deciduous trees or shrubs with simple, alternate leaves; their flowers are very small, in the case of males pendent and in the case of females pendent or erect; the fruit is a nut and may be winged.

BETULA Birches Birches have winged fruits in a compact, conelike structure formed from dried-out threelobed bracts; male flowers 3 to a bract; the stamen lobes are well separated.

It is probably under-recorded. 19 t

Betula pendula

Betula pubescens

18 31

Silver Birch

Downy Birch

The trunk of Downy Birch may be brown, grey or white but does not develop the blackish fissures in the lower trunk; its leaves are acute but not drawn out into an elongated apex, the margins are serrate with teeth more even in size, the leaf base is rounded or cuneate.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

B. pendula is a deciduous tree with silvery bark, which becomes darkly fissured in its lower trunk with age; its shoots are glabrous, pendulous with resin glands; its leaves are acuminate, glabrous, doubly-serrate, with

18 31

Flora of Monmouthshire Downy Birch has a preference for upland, peaty or acid soils. 203 t

ALNUS ALDERS Alders are deciduous trees where the whole fruiting cone comprised of woody bracts falls with its seeds; the male catkins open before the leaves, the lobes of the stamens are only slightly parted.

Alnus glutinosa

Alder

Alders can attain a height of over 25 m and have a dark brown, fissured bark, their leaves usually have a cuneate base and an indented apex and their 1030 mm long female cones begin as ovoid balls but become dark brown, very noticeable cones on the trees from autumn to spring.

18 31

! Alnus cordata

Italian Alder

A. cordata is separated from A. glutinosa and A. incana by its ‘heart-shaped’ leaves and rather larger cones.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 31

Alder-lined rivers are so familiar in the lowlands, from where they have spread into other damp areas, particularly woodlands. The buoyant cones and seeds float along waterways and come to rest on the banks where they germinate and form lines of trees. 357 t

! Alnus incana

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A more recently planted tree along roadsides and on unstable coal tips. It could be under-recorded. 7t

Grey Alder

CARPINUS Hornbeam Hornbeams are deciduous trees to over 20 m; it has female catkins with noticeably leafy bracts, the ones subtending the nuts are enlarged and three lobed.

Grey Alder is similar to the common Alder but differs in the following ways: it has grey, fairly smooth bark; the leaves have a cuneate base, a pointed apex, and doubly-serrate margins. It is commonly planted on landscaped, often wet, coal waste, both to beautify the landscape and to stabilise the slopes by binding the particles with its network of roots, hence the concentration in the old coalfields in the west of the vice-county. 35 t

Carpinus betulus

Hornbeam

This deciduous tree is superficially like a beech, but differs in having a fluted trunk, the twigs are less fragile-looking, leaves that have a doubly serrated margin, hairs at least on the underside veins, a slightly corrugated surface, and the threelobed leafy bracts subtending the nuts are distinct. 96

Flora of Monmouthshire free petaloid parts; stamens are numerous; the fruit is succulent, berry-like and 6-10 lobed due to a close combination of carpels.

PHYTOLACCA Pokeweeds These have regular flowers in leaf-opposed racemes, 5-30 stamens and 5-16 carpels which are free or joined to the base.

! Phytolacca acinosa 19

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Hornbeam is widely planted, but looks native in the Wye Valley. 73 t

CHENOPODIACEAE Goosefoot family Chenopods generally are weedy and not colourful; they are annual or perennial herbs, or occasionally shrubs; their bisexual or female flowers are small, greenish and usually numerous, and consist of a single whorl of tepals; their fruit an achene; the triangular shape of many of the leaves and their cuneate bases led to the appellation ‘goosefoot’.

CORYLUS Hazels Hazels are large shrubs. The instantly recognisable nuts are held in a cup of fused bracts.

Corylus avellana

Indian Pokeweed

This is an erect, branching plant growing to over 1.5 m; its leaves, which may be as much as 30 cm long, are ovate in shape; its erect racemes may also be 30 cm long; the perianth is whitish-green to red; the fruit is blackish with a red juice. There is only one record, a garden escape at St Pierre, c. ST/51.90, 1925, HES. (1 t)

Hazel

Hazel usually has suborbicular leaves, cordate at the base, the male catkins are tightly-closed from leaf-fall until late winter, when they open on warm days and turn yellow. The female flowers are enclosed in buds, from which emerge inconspicuous wine-coloured styles in the spring.

CHENOPODIUM Goosefoots These are herbs, often annual, with often mealy, entire, toothed or lobed leaves; there are no bracteoles; the flowers are either bisexual or female with 4-5 tepals which persist in fruit.

Arc. Chenopodium bonus-henricus Good-King-Henry

Good-King-Henry is an upright, rhizomatous perennial, with greenish flowers in a terminal panicle; the leaves are triangular with prominent basal lobes and veins on the lower surface.

23 19 22 18 31

It is widespread in woods and hedgerows at all altitudes. 372 t

PHYTOLACCACEAE Pokeweed family This family consists of herbaceous perennials, with a somewhat woody base; the simple, entire leaves alternate on the stem; the many flowers in racemes are leaf-opposed; the perianth is in one whorl of 5

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Flora of Monmouthshire Good-King-Henry grows on roadsides, waste land, near farm buildings or paths, grassy areas, spoil heaps, sewage waste and old gardens, all sites are associated with human activity. Some examples include: near farm paths, Undy, ST/435.868, 197276, TGE; roadside, W of Beaufort School, SO/182.115, 1977-82, RF; waste land, Pentwyn Mawr, ST/195.962, 1990, RF; 2 plants, rough ground, Dingestow, SO/459.105, 1985, HVC; wild part of Cleppa Park garden, ST/27.81, 1990, EJS; many plants, E side of road, Began, ST/228.830, 1986, GH; 10 plants, road verge opposite telephone box, Bedwellty SO/166.011, 1997, TGE, CT & GHa; c. 60 plants on spoil heaps, Goldcliff Pill, ST/363.826, 1996, MJ; large number of plants, dry sewage waste, Nash Sewage Works, ST/33.83, 1996, MJ. 26 t

Chenopodium rubrum

Red Goosefoot

This herb has shiny, slightly fleshy, triangular leaves with prominent lobes, which often turn reddish with maturity. 23

Arc. Chenopodium glaucum Oak-leaved Goosefoot

This herb is an erect or procumbent plant with oblong leaves, green above and glaucous-mealy below, with shallow lobes giving them a resemblance to miniature oak leaves.

They frequently occur on farm soil heaps or around manure piles. Their association with cultivated land is noticeable on the distribution map where they are missing from higher ground. 75 t

Arc. Chenopodium polyspermum Many-seeded Goosefoot

This much-branched, glabrous plant most often seems to grow horizontally across the surface of cultivated soil; the glabrous leaves are mostly entire, the tepals are rounded below; the seed coat had raised radial, sinuous striations.

23 19

22 18 31

It is confined to industrial areas of Newport and to the coast nearby. Records are: waste ground, Newport rubbish tip, Mendalgief Level, ST/309.855, 1975-1982, TGE & CT; waste ground, E of Llanwern Steelworks, ST/34.87, 1988, TGE; 500+ plants, barish margins of sludge beds, Alpha Steelworks, ST/33.84, 1993-1998, TGE & MJ; gateway, W of Nash, ST/336.835, 1994, TGE; 100s plants on disused ash pans, Uskmouth Power Station, ST/338.824 and 342.825, 1986-2003, TGE; 3 plants, road verge in front of Goldcliff Manor, ST/362.830, 1996, TGE; 38 plants, near S Dock, Newport, ST/313.845, 1997, MJ. 6 t (1 t)

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Chenopodium polyspermum is a weed of barish soil that has recently been cultivated. Apart from valleys, it is not common in upland regions. 83 t 98

Flora of Monmouthshire

Arc. Chenopodium vulvaria Stinking Goosefoot

Arc. Chenopodium ficifolium Fig-leaved Goosefoot

This plant has mealy-grey stems, much-branched from the base, ascending to 35 cm or more; its entire leaves are ovate to triangular; the lower, outer side of the tepals is rounded and the seed testa has faint radial furrows. As the plant looks like a goosefoot, smells so obviously of rotting fish, and is so rare, misidentification is unlikely. Wade (1970) gave two locations; Raglan district, before 1975, BMF; Chepstow Castle, ST/534.941, 1781, TW. (2 t)

C. ficifolium tends to be mealy in its flowering panicle, with distinct leaf-shape, the lower leaves are narrow, almost parallel-sided apart from two forward-pointing basal lobes, which leave the central lobe much longer; the tepals are weakly keeled beneath; the seed coat is pitted radially and the pits are elongated in the same direction. 23

Arc. Chenopodium hybridum Maple-leaved Goosefoot

This goosefoot is easily recognised by its mapleshaped leaves, having pointed lobes and a heartshaped base. There are only two known sites: a small-holding weed at the Nurtons, Tintern, SO/535.011, 1985, EW; garden weed, La Cuesta, Chepstow, ST/527.936, 1987-2003. Warning; the latter record is the result of taking a part of a prolific seedproducing plant home with you! 2 t

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Like other members of the group, it is associated with cultivated land and has a similar distribution avoiding hilly areas. It is most frequent on the margins of crops or bare meadow margins. 59 t

Arc. Chenopodium urbicum Upright Goosefoot Usually a glabrous, erect plant to 1 m; leaves roughly triangular with pointed lobes; tepals are rounded beneath; the seed coat has a network of faint furrows. Wade (1970) gave two sites: by the Wye Bridge, Monmouth, 1892, FAR; site of a manure heap, roadside, near St. Mellons Post Office, *, 1949, AEW. (2 t)

Chenopodium album

Fat-hen

This is easily the commonest of the group in the vice-county and is similar to C. ficifolium in that it has a branched panicle and tepals that are lightly keeled, but its leaves lack the basal lobes and are more triangular; the plant sometimes takes on a purple tinge or can become very mealy. 23

Arc. Chenopodium murale Nettle-leaved Goosefoot

This is similar to C. album but has some leaves quite toothed. Older records: rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1975 & 1978, TGE & CT; Newport Banks, JHC which must have been prior to 1868 and presumably refers to the banks of the R. Usk, Newport, in Wade (1970). Recent records are: Bassaleg, ST/27.86, 1987, EJS; Ynysfro Farm, ST/28.89, 1987, EJS; Craig-y-dorth, SO/48.08, 1987, JFH. 3 t (2 t)

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Flora of Monmouthshire Fat-hen occurs wherever cereal crops are grown and on waste ground even in the hilly parts. 333 t

TGE, det. RDM; on dumped soil, lane side, Pen-yClawdd, SO/442.078, 2002, TGE. (3 t)

! Chenopodium strictum

Atriplex prostrata

Striped Goosefoot

This is like C. album but usually has a red-striped stem; its leaves are narrowly-oblong, slightly toothed but not lobed; its tepals are scarcely keeled. It was found on waste ground, Newport Rubbish Tip, ST/30.86, 1975, TGE, det. EJC. (1 t) BASSIA Summer-cypress These are annuals with entire, non-mealy leaves, the lowest of which are hairy; there are 4-5 tepals which persist in fruit.

! Bassia scoparia

Summer-cypress

B. scoparia is an annual herb that has a globose growth form due to its erect stem branching many times, usually falling short of a metre in height; the sessile leaves are linear to lanceolate, the linear ones have one vein and the wider ones three veins; in the autumn the plant may become conspicuously reddish. Recorded once on the bank of the tidal portion of the R. Rhymney, Llanrumney, ST/210.791, 1995, TGE. (1 t)

ATRIPLEX Oraches Oraches are annual herbs or perennial shrubs; their leaves are flat, entire, toothed or lobed and often mealy. They have many characteristics of Chenopods but their flowers are either male or female and usually are in terminal panicles, with branches in the axils of bracts, the flowers are male of five tepals or female of two bracteoles that enlarge to conceal the fruit. Where the orientation of the seed radicle is diagnostic it is important to take care when separating the two bracteoles that the seed is not dislodged from its attachment to at least one bracteole.

! Atriplex hortensis

Spear-leaved Orache

A. prostrata is an erect or procumbent annual, which may grow to 1 m; its lower leaves are broadly triangular and have a truncate base with outwardly pointing lobes; the plant can be green or mealy (the latter more often when growing on the shore); the triangular bracteoles are less than 10 mm and have stalks of less than 5 mm and are fused only at the base, which may be thickened, the two enclose, basally, the seed, whose radicle can be seen directed laterally or obliquely.

It is frequent on the tidal shores of the Rivers Severn and Wye, but is also found frequently inland on waste or cultivated ground. 153 t

Atriplex x gustafssoniana

Kattegat Orache

This hybrid between A. prostrata and A. longipes varies in appearance between its two parents; the former has sessile bracteoles and the latter has stalks greater than 5 mm so the hybrid has stalked bracteoles between 1 and 5 mm. It has been recorded to the E of Blackrock, near the sea wall at ST/51.88, 1996-97, TGE conf. AOC; upper shore and on rocks of sea wall, Uskmouth, ST/33.82, 1996, TGE conf. AOC; salt marsh, between Newport’s transporter bridge and Alpha Steel, ST/32.85, 2000, TGE. 3 t

Garden Orache

Garden Orache can reach 2 m in height in cultivated soil; the longer, triangular leaves can exceed 10 cm, they have a truncate base which may have pointed lobes; the plants found in the vice-county have been a deep purplish-red (they can be green); the bracteoles have been orbicular and fused only at the base, but may not be present with all female flowers. Two of the records have been on Newport Rubbish Tip, Level of Mendalgief, ST/30.86 & 30.85, 1975,

Atriplex glabriuscula

Babington’s Orache

This is similar to A. prostrata but the bracteoles are fused for more than one third of their length and the basal lobes of their leaves are forwardly directed; the seed has a radicle directed away from the point of attachment. 100

Flora of Monmouthshire There were several plants on the salt marsh on the E bank of the R. Usk, S of Newport’s transporter bridge, ST/32.85, 2000, TGE; it was also recorded on muddy banks of R. Wye, Chepstow, ST/5.9F, before 1920, WAS. 1 t (1 t)

Atriplex longipes

Long-stalked Orache

Atriplex longipes is similar to A. glabriuscula, but the bracteoles are fused at the base only i.e. less than one quarter of their length, at least some of them are over 10 mm long, with stalks over 5 mm long and are leaf-like distally. First recorded on the W bank of R. Wye, Chepstow, ST/539.936, 1988, MARK, CK, det. JA 1989 (the site was cleared of vegetation in the early 1990s by an adjacent industrial concern). 3 plants were recorded among Spartina anglica, just above the R. Usk mud, just to the W of Alpha Steel, Newport, ST/326.854, 2000, TGE, *. 1 t (1 t)

! Atriplex littoralis

18 31

BETA BEETS Beets are herbs that range from annuals to perennials; the roots may be swollen; the leaves are not mealy; the flowers are hermaphrodite with 5 persistent tepals.

Grass-leaved Orache

This Orache can attain a height of 1.5 m. Its lower leaves are linear or linear-lanceolate, when held up to the light their lateral veins are opaque (in plants of A. patula, with narrow leaves, the lateral veins are translucent); its sessile bracteoles are fused at the spongy base only. Wade (1970), though he gave only two sites, regarded this Orache as native, it certainly appears so in Glamorgan, but in vc 35 the 3 recent sites near the R. Severn, where it has been noted, are all man-or-bird influenced. They are: 100+ plants on bare, rust-brown margin of old sludge pond, frequented by waders, Alpha Steel, ST/338.848, 1993-1997, MJ; 3 plants on top of artificial earth sea wall, where men had added soil, SW of Lighthouse Inn, ST/297.814, 1996, TGE; 1 plant on spoil tip, N of Goldcliff Pill, ST/363.826, 1996, MJ. 3 t

Atriplex patula

Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima

Sea Beet

Sea Beet is a much branched, sprawling plant, with lower leaves less than 10 cm long and an inflorescence of a long, terminal spike with long, lateral spikes in the axils of bracts, individual flowers are grouped in small clusters, each group subtended by a leaf-like bracteole; the numerous, ball-shaped fruits are very prominent in late summer. 23

Common Orache

This is the commonest Orache, an erect or procumbent annual; its lower leaves are frequently narrowly lanceolate with an acutely cuneate base with basal lobes pointing forward; the triangular bracteoles are fused from one third to one half their length. Common on road and lane verges, cultivated and waste ground and on the shore. 300 t

18 31

The plant is frequent along stretches of the tidal parts of the rivers, and occurs on Denny Island, ST/459.810. 38 t

101

Flora of Monmouthshire recent work suggests that it may not be so distinct from S. europaea; is this one such instance? 22 t

SALICORNIA GLASSWORTS Glassworts are annual halophytes i.e. plants adapted to living in saline conditions. They are distinct in several ways; they have succulent tubular stems divided into segments by paired scale-like leaves that form a sheath around the stem, the sheath rises to a low point or scale and above this scale the one or three simple flowers appear, they take the form of one or three triangles each containing 1-2 stamens, which eventually hang out from the central opening; where there are three the central one can be roughly the same size as the outer two or more often larger. It is important to note the comparative sizes of the central and lateral flowers. The best time to study Glassworts is in late August or early September because by that time the greens have turned to a distinctive red or yellow colour.

Salicornia europaea

Common Glasswort

S. europaea is usually more erect than S. ramosissima and turns a yellowish-orange, though late in the season becomes tinged with red; the fertile segments have convex sides but not so that they give a knobbly appearance; the apex of the scale is 90 degrees or less. 23

Salicornia europaea agg. 19

This aggregate has 0.2-0.5 mm anthers; usually 1 stamen; a central flower distinctly larger than the outer two; the fertile segments have distinctly convex sides; the seeds are 1-1.7 mm.

Salicornia ramosissima

18 31

Purple Glasswort

It is found in salt marshes, where it is commoner in the middle. It grows where muddy saltmarshes, still exist along the Severn shore. 9 t

S. ramosissima is the commonest and most distinctive Glasswort of the Severn Estuary shore; it becomes a bright red or dark purple in the autumn; the fertile segments have such convex sides that it gives the terminal sections of the stem a knobbly appearance; the apex of the scale is 110120 degrees.

Salicornia procumbens agg. This aggregate has 0.6-0.9 mm anthers, usually 2 stamens; all three flowers roughly the same size; the fertile segments have sides scarcely convex and even slightly concave; seeds usually 1.5-2.3 mm.

Salicornia fragilis

18 31

Yellow Glasswort

S. fragilis is usually erect and moderately wellbranched; the fertile segments are practically cylindrical, as are the primary lateral branches; the terminal spikes consist of 6-16 or more segments. It is dull green to yellowish-green becoming bright yellow late in the season. This plant favours the lower, muddy part of the Spartina marsh. There are two records: numerous plants among Spartina on muddy saltmarsh, Towyn Pill, Caldicot ST/47.86, 1986, TGE, det. FR; several plants in muddy parts of Spartina marsh, S of Saltmarsh, ST/34.82, 1986, TGE, det. FR. 1 t

Parts of the shore produce plants that do not become so distinctive; Stace (1997) reports that 102

Flora of Monmouthshire

Salicornia dolichostachya Long-spiked Glasswort

Suaeda maritima

Annual Sea-blite

This is an erect, greyish, branched annual herb though its lower stem can be quite woody; the fleshy leaves have a pointed tip and a short petiole that is a narrowing of the leaf; it can become purplish-red late August-September.

S. dolichostachya is usually erect and much branched, the tapering terminal spikes have 1230 segments, though more often in the low twenties; its colour is a dark, dull green, becoming paler or turning dull yellow in fruit.

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18

31 31

It grows in the muddy parts of the banks of the tidal stretches of the vice-county rivers. 33 t

There are seven sites, all on the mud below the vegetated banks in the runnels where the water drains off the vegetated saltmarsh, or in the muddier parts of the Spartina marsh. It has been recorded at: muddy saltmarsh, near Towyn Pill, Caldicot, ST/47.86, 1986, TGE & DJU; abundant in muddy saltmarsh, near new Rogiet rifle range, E of West Pill, ST/46.86, 1995, TGE; frequent in mud, S of Uskmouth Power station, ST/33.82, 1995, TGE; mud off Peterstone Great Wharf, ST/25.78, 1996, TGE, conf. IKF; c. 50 plants on mud, S of Maerdy Farm, ST/234.777, 1996, TGE; in pill, Peterstone Gout, ST/278.806, 1999, TGE; E end of Rhymney Great Wharf, ST/251.788, 2001, TGE; E end of Peterstone Great Wharf, ST/271.799, 2001, TGE; Several square metres on bare mud near the Limonium vulgare colony, Little Wharf, mouth of the R. Rhymney, ST/2210.7751, 2006, TGE, CT. 7t Plate 18

AMARANTHACEAE Pigweed family The members of the Pigweed family are alien, herbaceous annuals or perennials with simple, entire leaves that alternate on the stem; they are separated from Chenopodiaceae by having a brownish, thin papery perianth and often a fruit that is an achene or a dehiscent, one-seeded capsule.

! Amaranthus retroflexus Common Amaranth This N American weed is an erect, greyish annual with a thickish, mainly terminal inflorescence, little branched and with leaf-like bracts only in the basal part; the 5 tepals have a midrib that ends short of the apex which is often very pointed; the leaves are stalked and oval; its fruit is dehiscent. In the vice-county, it grows on the edge of crops such as maize. It sometimes appears on waste ground, roadsides and at bird feeding stations. Its abundant seed is probably imported unwittingly with crop seed. 6 t (2 t)

SUAEDA Sea-blites Sea-blites are annual herbs or perennial shrubs; its one veined leaves are succulent and linear with a flattish upper surface and a rounded lower one, they are entire with acute to obtuse tips; its small flowers, borne in the axils of the leaves, are bisexual and female and have 5 tepals that partly enclose the fruit. 103

Flora of Monmouthshire The only record is for a weed in a garden in Mathern, ST/5.9, 1906, WAS, *. (1 t)

Amaranthus retroflexus 23

! Amaranthus standleyanus Indehiscent Pigweed

This pigweed is usually leafy to the apex of the flowering stem; the flowers are in axillary clusters, though some may be shortened into a leafless, apical, spike-like panicle; the 5 equal, obovate to spathulate tepals are a similar length as the fruit but half as long as the spiny-tipped bracteoles; the fruit does not open to release its seeds. Its only record is for a rather sprawling plant on waste ground on Newport rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, ST/30.85, 1977, TGE det. EJC. (1 t)

18 31

PORTULACACEAE Blinks family Blinks are annual or perennial herbs with their simple, untoothed leaves basal, or opposite to alternate; their hermaphrodite flowers are solitary or in cymose clusters, each has 2 sepals and has 4-6 free petals or ones joined at their bases; their fruits are many-seeded capsules.

! Amaranthus hybridus s.l. Green Amaranth This is similar to A. retroflexus, but its inflorescence is less dense and more branched; the plant has female and often male flowers as well, the tepals are tapered to an acute apex and their subtending bracteoles can be up to twice as long as them; the fruit is transversely dehiscent. This is increasingly found in maize crops, formerly on tips. County records are: a few plants on Newport rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, ST/30.85, 1980, TGE, conf. EJC; tens of 1000s in maize crop, Bayfield, Chepstow, ST/520.933, *, 2004, RH, EJC (using Stace, 1997, it keyed out as A. powellii, but EJC points out ‘every book treats the subdivision differently – there are 10s of variants and A. powellii is scarcely a ‘good’ species! - It fades into the others!!). (1 t)

! Amaranthus caudatus

CLAYTONIA Purslanes Purslanes are slightly fleshy plants with one pair of opposite leaves; they have stalked flowers in a terminal cyme, they have 5 free petals and 5 stamens and a one-seeded capsule.

! Claytonia sibirica

Pink Purslane

C. sibirica is a hairless annual, it has a rosette of loose, stalked, oval leaves and paired, sessile leaves; the flowers are usually pink, with notched petals that are longer than 5 mm.

Love-lies-bleeding

This garden plant terminates in a long, drooping inflorescence that can be green or red, large plants have axillary inflorescences as well; it has 5 tepals that overlap well; its fruit is transversely dehiscent. Grown in gardens but escapes occasionally on to tips. Both colour forms grew among the rubbish on Newport tip, Level of Mendalgief, ST/30.86, 1975, TGE conf. EJC. This was at the time the rubbish was not covered with soil for months. (2 t)

! Amaranthus albus

White Pigweed

Amaranthus albus has stiff, white, flowering stems that are leafy to the apex, the flowers are borne in dense, spike-like terminal panicles, with larger plants having axillary ones too; it has 3 linearlanceolate tepals that are shorter than the fruit and half as long as the spiny-tipped bracteoles.

18 31

They grow in damp woodlands, by streams or rivers, especially where the soil is acid and sandy. 104

Flora of Monmouthshire Wade (1970) gave only one site at Dingestow, BG, *, and it has spread as markedly in the vice-county as it has elsewhere in Britain. 18 t

have up to four marginal rows of broad, shortpointed tubercles. Wade (1970) gave sites as: near Chepstow Park, Mounton Brook, Tintern, Yellow Moor, and Rogerstone Grange, St Arvans, WAS, *. It has been found recently only in a wet ditch at Llechryd, SO/11.09, 1988, TGE. 1 t (?5 t)

MONTIA Blinks Blinks are small plants with stems with several alternate or opposite leaves; their stalked flowers are in terminal or axillary groups of one to three in terminal cymes; sepals are present to late summer; 5 petals may be free or fused at their base; there are 3-5 stamens; the fruit is usually a three-seeded capsule.

Montia fontana

M. fontana subsp. amporitana

Blinks

Blinks is an annual to perennial plant with branched stems; there are only opposite stem leaves; the white petals are less than 2 mm long; the seeds are dark brown to black and are diagnostic to the subspecies so testa ornamentation should be examined with a good lens. Stace (1997) has good micrographs of the ornamentation. The subspecies are under-recorded.

M. fontana subsp. fontana

M. fontana subsp. chondrosperma

Blinks

CARYOPHYLLACEAE Pink family Some large families, like this one, have many variable characteristics, so for amateurs it is wise to compare 2-3 plants they know reasonably well to find common factors; in this family Red Campion, Greater Stitchwort, Mouse-ear and Procumbent Pearlwort might be good choices as they are easy to find and fairly well known. From them these common features could emerge: they have paired leaves that have no stipules or scaly stipules at their base; their petals and sepals number four or five and their stamens are double the number; the fruit is a many-seeded capsule, which if sliced in half has a cavity with a central column to which the ovules/seeds are attached. Looking at a wider range of family members will show that flowers are most often white, though shades of red, and to a less extent other colours,

18 32

It grows in streams and other seasonally wet places, particularly in the wetter west of the vicecounty and down the eastern hilly ridge and Wye Valley. The distribution map shows this very well, but it probably includes some records of the other subspecies. 81 t

M. fontana subsp. variabilis

Blinks

The seeds of subsp. chondrosperma are covered with broad, rounded tubercles, which are dull. This is the most distinctive of the subspecies and it is the least likely one to be found in streams, though it grows in seasonally wet areas. It has been noted at: after a wet spring, in woodland on ORS, near Wentwood Lodge, ST/417.944, 1977, CT; dry, acid field on hill top, near Moorcroft, SO/514.092, 1992, JFH; low tump in field, wet in spring, S edge of Graig Wood, SO/251.163, 1996, TGE; 1 plant in stubble field near Old House Farm, SO/444.101, 1996, SDSB. 3 t (1 t)

The seeds of subsp. fontana have smooth, shiny faces and margins, with only faint sculpturing.

Blinks

The seeds of subsp. amporitana have smooth, somewhat shiny centres to their faces and at least three marginal rows of long, pointed tubercles. Wade (1970) gives six sites: Cwm Carn, Abercarn, Cwm Lickey, near Pontypool, Cwm Lasgarn, Abersychan, near Malpas, near Penheol-y-baddFawr, Henllys, Trellech Bog, WAS, *. The one recent record for this is in a stream in the field to the E of the Virtuous Well, Trellech, SO/50.04, 1968-98, TGE. 1 t (?6 t)

Blinks

The seeds of subsp. variabilis have the centre of their faces smooth and somewhat shiny and 105

Flora of Monmouthshire occur, and the leaves are frequently narrow and some also have stipules. There are exceptions to the above and those have to be learnt individually.

ARENARIA Sandworts Sandworts may be annuals or perennials, with petals and sepals 5 in number, the petals are white and usually entire, the stamens number 10; the styles are usually 3; the fruit is a capsule opening at the apex by usually 6 teeth.

Arenaria serpyllifolia Thyme-leaved Sandwort

This sandwort is usually a low-growing annual; it has ovate leaves; the numerous flowers have their petals shorter than their sepals and 3 styles. The subspecies are found on well-drained acidic or calcareous soils. 140 t

It occurs particularly where fine-grained ash has been strewn, though it is also found in other habitats. It may well be under-recorded. 22 t

A. serpyllifolia subsp. serpyllifolia This subspecies has a stiffer appearance with broadly ovate leaves; its sepals are twice as long as its petals, which are 1.6 mm long or more; its capsule is flask-shaped, with a concave-curved neck, its walls are fragile once the seeds are gone.

MOEHRINGIA Three-nerved Sandwort These are usually annuals, they have 5 sepals and petals, 10 stamens and usually 3 styles; their fruit is a capsule opening by usually 6 teeth, which contains seeds with a noticeable oil-body.

Moehringia trinervia Three-nerved Sandwort

This is a sprawling, well-branched plant with ovate leaves that have usually 3 veins, but despite its name sometimes has 5 the white, entire petals are shorter than the narrower sepals.

23 20

22 19

21 18 31

The preponderance of this plant on the coalfield is due to the gritty nature of the coal waste tips, which provide the drainage favoured by this plant. 140 t

18 31

A. serpyllifolia subsp. leptoclados

. It grows widely in woodland margins and hedgerows, apart from the highest parts and near the R. Severn, where it becomes less common. 273 t

This subspecies is similar to subsp. serpyllifolia but had narrowly ovate leaves, the whole plant looks more slender; its petals are 1.6 mm or less; its capsule has straight-sided walls that remain flexible after the seeds have gone. 106

Flora of Monmouthshire HONCKENYA Sea Sandwort This succulent perennial has 5 sepals and petals, 10 stamens (in male flowers) and usually 3 styles in female flowers; its fruit is a globose capsule that opens by 3 valves.

STELLARIA Stitchworts Stitchworts are annuals or perennials with 5 sepals and white notched petals, though sometimes there are fewer petals or even none, 10 stamens, 3 styles and a capsule, opening by 6 teeth.

! Honckenya peploides

Stellaria nemorum

Sea Sandwort

Stellaria nemorum subsp. nemorum Wood Stitchwort The pair of bracts at the lowest node of the inflorescence are little smaller than the leaves at the node below; moving up the inflorescence, the bracts at the node above are more than a third as long and the bracts at the next node up are only slightly smaller again; so there is a gradual reduction in size, from the highest pair of stem leaves to the highest pair of bracts. The seeds are globular with the sides only slightly flattened, the rim has up to 4 rows of rounded tubercles, those on the sides are mere impressions. Wade (1970) gave: bank of R. Wye, Hadnock, SO/5.1H, prior to 1951, SGC; Penallt, SO/5.1F, prior to 1951, SGC; Tintern, SO/5.0F, EL. In 20023 only one possible site remains, which is under trees near the R. Wye just S of Redbrook, SO/535.091, 1998, BJG, who recorded it as subsp. montana. The majority of the colony is the hybrid between subsp. montana and subsp. nemorum but some plants could be the subsp. nemorum. ?1 t

MINUARTIA Sandworts Minuartia species may be annuals or perennials; sepals occur in 5s; petals are white, entire and in 5s or may be absent; stamens occur in 10s or fewer, styles are usually in 3s; the fruit is a capsule opening by 3 teeth.

! Minuartia hybrida

Wood Stitchwort

Wood Stitchwort is a stoloniferous perennial with hairy stems that can grow to 60 cm. The lower, ovate to cordate leaves are long-stemmed. The petals are about twice as long as the sepals, and curved distinctively backwards. For the differences between the subspecies, see illustrations. Wood Stitchwort grows in shady woods, usually by the sides of streams, and can be confused with Myosoton aquaticum but that has 5 styles. It is best looked for in early May.

Sea Sandwort is a low-growing plant with ovate, succulent leaves and flowers with petals and sepals of equal length in males but shorter petals in females. As the plant usually occurs on a coastal, sandy substrate and has extensive stolons or rhizomes to bind the surface together and gather rain water, necessary in a saline habitat that drains quickly, and little sandy or gravely shoreline occurs along the R. Severn, I do not consider the plant a native of the vice-county. The records given by Wade are: Severn coast, JHC; St. Brides Wentloog and Peterstone Wentloog, Hamilton. There are no voucher specimens in NMW from these sites and as I have had, from enthusiastic laymen, records that on investigation turned out to be Glaux maritima; I wonder if similar errors have been made before. (3 t)

Fine-leaved Sandwort

M. hybrida is a very slender, erect annual, with upright, linear-lanceolate leaves, petals that are shorter than the sepals and 3 styles. It grows on dry, bare stony ground, tracks, walls and suitable cultivated soil. Its sites in the vicecounty suggests that it is an alien: on a stony/ashy path, Cleppa Park, ST/271.856, 1987, EJS (no specimen was collected though Joan was a careful observer); on railway ballast, Hadnock, 1944, SGC, *. (2 t)

107

Flora of Monmouthshire

subsp. montana Figure 10

Stellaria nemorum 108

Wood Stitchwort

Flora of Monmouthshire

Stellaria nemorum subsp. montana Welsh Wood Stitchwort

For this subspecies, the lowest pair of bracts are little shorter than the leaves at the next node down, but the pair of bracts at the next node up are less than a third as long and the third pair up the inflorescence are little more than leafy scales, so there is a dramatic reduction in bract length from node to node up the inflorescence. The seeds are rounded in one plane but comparatively flat in the other and are covered with cylindrical papillae that have a barbed cap when viewed under a microscope at x50.

18 31

18 32

Shady damp woods near streams provide its habitat and has been recorded: 30-50 plants, bank of R. Wye, foot of Lady Park Wood, SO/549.143, 19791999, TGE; Penarth Brook, Llyna Wood, SO/483.046, ?NCC; 50+ plants below Freedom, Llandogo, SO/524.042, 1976-2000, TGE; 10-20 plants, at Coed Beddick, SO/527.025, TGE; wooded streamside, Woolpitch Wood, SO/492.048, 1988, EGW; rough vegetation, by path, R. Wye bank, Penallt, SO/534.090, 1998, BJG; 1 m² near fence, above Angiddy Fawr Brook, ST/496.999, 1998, TGE; numerous plants under trees above R. Wye bank at junction of Upper Hael and Graig Woods, SO/532.083, 1999, CT. 10 t

This subspecies also grows along shady stream banks or nearby woods. For the last twenty years it has been confined to the Angiddy Valley, Tintern at: numerous plants near bank of the Angiddy Brook and adjacent woods, just W of Tintern, ST/519. 003, 1976-1991, limited to 30 m² in 19922003, TGE; near the Angiddy Brook, at foot of Ravensnest Wood, ST/503.999, 1976-1988, with numbers reducing from 30-40 to 3-5 plants, TGE; by the side of the Angiddy Fawr Brook, ST/500.997-8, 1976-2002 in declining numbers, TGE. In Wade there is a record for Llandogo, 1874-1904, AL; the plants present today are the hybrid below. 2 t Figure 10

Stellaria media

Common Chickweed

Subsp. nemorum x subsp. montana a hybrid Wood Stitchwort

This is more like subsp. nemorum in that the reduction in bract size from the lowest pair of the inflorescence to the highest is gradual, but in some plants less so, the seeds vary more in that the cylindrical papillae may be more tubercle-like or may have a rounded apex with imperfect barbs or none at all.

This is a much branched, sprawling annual that can over-winter, with a line of hairs running from node to node up the stem; in shade it can grow up to 50 cm and because its obvious lower leaves which can be borne on quite long petioles it has erroneously 109

Flora of Monmouthshire been named S. nemorum when not flowering. The hairy or glandular-hairy sepals and white petals are roughly the same length, though exceptionally the petals may be absent or minute, the sepals are less than 5.2 mm long, there are usually 3-5 stamens, the seeds are usually less than 8 mm. Stellaria media is the commonest of the chickweeds and grows on cultivated land and bare areas almost anywhere. 390 t

Stellaria holostea

Greater Stitchwort

Stellaria pallida

Lesser Chickweed 19

S. pallida is somewhat similar to S. media, but is more delicate-looking and is a yellowish-green and it may be seen only from late February to early May. Its sepals are usually under 3 mm long, its petals are absent or less than 1 mm, its stamens 1-2. As its main habitat is coastal dunes or gravels, it has always been scarce in the vice-county. Wade (1970) gave: Blaen-y-cwm, *, its presence in the coalfields is possibly due to the use of sea sand in some building project?; Severn banks below Mathern, *; near Black Rock, Portskewett; near Severn Tunnel Junction, prior to 1920, WAS. There has only been one recent record: a puny plant on gritty soil, near top of the spring tide line, E of St. Pierre Pill, ST/526.897, 2000, TGE. 1 t (4 t)

Stellaria neglecta

18 31

Stellaria graminea

Greater Chickweed

19 33

Lesser Stitchwort

S. graminea could be a smaller version of S. holostea but for the following differences: it has bracts that are either wholly or with the margins papery; the flower diameter is 5-12 mm and the petals are notched to more than half way to the base, and are roughly equal to the length of the sepals.

S. holostea is up to 60 cm tall, has an angular stem, bearing paired, sessile lanceolate leaves and leafy bracts, its 2-3 cm diameter flowers are familiar in spring hedgerows and wood margins, their white petals are notched to half way and much longer than the sepals. It is widespread except on the highest land and in urban areas. The ripe capsules were ‘popped’ by light pressure between finger and thumb of local country children. 334 t

S. neglecta is like S. media, but is taller to 80 cm, its glandular-hairy sepals are 5-6.5 mm, its petals are usually absent, it has 10 stamens.

35 18

It is usually found in lowland, damp, shady places. 102 t

110

Flora of Monmouthshire Lesser Stitchworts grow in grassy places and though widespread still, they are becoming less common due to the ‘improvement’ of meadows. 320 t

Stellaria uliginosa

for Snow-in-summer seems to have found many niches on the waste there too. 31 t 23

Bog Stitchwort 22

S. uliginosa is a glabrous perennial with squarish stems and paired, narrowly ovate, sessile leaves; the bracts are scarious with a green mid-rib; the petals are shorter than the sepals.

20 23 19 22 18 21

Cerastium fontanum

18 32

Common Mouse-ear

This hairy perennial is a mixture of procumbent, non-flowering and erect, flowering shoots, that can attain a height of 50 cm. Its hairy, paired leaves gave rise to its common name. Its upper bracts have narrow, scarious margins. Its petals are usually about one and a half times the length of its sepals. It has 5 styles and 10 capsule teeth.

It grows in all sorts of wet places from ditches to stream banks. Its distribution map has some puzzling gaps in the vice-county. 264 t

CERASTIUM Mouse-ears Mouse-ears can be annuals or perennials with 4-5 sepals and petals, sometimes petals are absent, when present they are white and often notched sometimes to half way to the base. The stamens may be 4 5 or 10. The styles may be 3-5. The fruit is a capsule and opens with twice as many teeth as there are styles.

! Cerastium tomentosum

Snow-in-summer

Tomentose means having a dense hairy coat, and C. tomentosum is a vigorous, mat-forming perennial which has a matted coat of white hairs. Its petals are twice as long as its sepals and its ovary has 5 styles. It was introduced to Britain from Italy as a showy rock garden plant, and is inclined to spread rather more than expected and gets introduced to our countryside as a throw-out. The crumbly cliffs at Sudbrook provide an ideal site where wheelbarrow tipping over the edge has introduced it and it has flourished. The coal waste of the Welsh valleys must resemble the weathering lava flows of Etna,

Until recently I have not attempted to split it into its three subspecies, but all those I have examined in 2004 have proved to be C. fontanum subsp. vulgare. It has patent hairs all over the stem and hairs on both sides of the leaves, often the undersides are sparsely hairy and without a good lens or angled to catch the sunlight look glabrous, especially as the hairs are transparent, those on the mid-rib are much more visible.

111

Flora of Monmouthshire Common Mouse-ear is at home in grassland, hedgerows, open spaces and arable land. It is widespread in the vice-county. 395 t

Cerastium glomeratum

entirely leafy. Hairs on the sepals do NOT exceed the sepal tip. There are usually 4 sepals and petals, with the petals about three-quarters as long as the sepals. It usually grows on dry, open sandy places on the coast and sometimes inland. The vice-county has few suitable native sites and provides only one at Sudbrook, the other five could be artificial. Records are: grassy cliffs and stone-age fort embankments, Sudbrook, ST/504.873, before 1920, ESM & WAS, *, 1985-2000, TGE; Troy Station, Monmouth, SO/513.122, 1992, JH; quarry, Risca, ST/236.914, 1997, TGE; turf, near transmitter masts, Blorenge, SO/263.107, 2000, TGE; sea wall, Rumney, ST/2.7, *, Wade (1970); in pavement gaps near Leisure Centre, Willowtown, Ebbw Vale, SO/163.101 & 163.102, 2006, JND. 6 t (1 t)

Sticky Mouse-ear

C. glomeratum is somewhat similar to C. fontanum but it is an annual, which means that all its shoots flower. It has glandular hairs that make it sticky. The bracts are wholly leafy. Long, eglandular hairs protrude beyond the tip of its sepals. The 5 sepals and petals are roughly the same size. The fruits have pedicels shorter than the sepals so present a more clustered head than in Common Mouse-ear. 23

Cerastium semidecandrum Little Mouse-ear This is a low-growing (to 20 cm at most) annual with the highest bracts with at least the top third scarious. Its sepals have no eglandular hairs exceeding their tips. It usually has 5 sepals and petals, with the petals only 2/3 as long as the sepals.

18 23 31

35 22

It grows in rather open grassland and on arable. It is widespread in the vice-county. 292 t

Cerastium diffusum

Sea Mouse-ear 20

23 19

22 18 31

18 32

It grows in dry, open, reasonably stable sites on different substrates, including walls. Some examples: grassy bank and coastal cliff, Sudbrook, ST/50.87, 1957-1995, TGE; walls: at ‘Tyrol’, Ridgeway, ST/29.87, 1985, EJS; on top of old stone wall, Moorcroft Cottage, Penallt, SO/518.092, 1990, JFH; on old rail bridge over R. Wye, near Monmouth, SO/513.121, 1993, BJG; on wall, Upper Gocket, SO/497.078, 1992, JFH; limestone quarry, Risca, ST/233.998, 1993, JFH; roadside, Varteg Road, SO/255.077, 1988, RF; in

This is an annual to only 30 cm, with both glandular and eglandular hairs. The bracts are 112

Flora of Monmouthshire cracks in pavements, Willowtown, Ebbw Vale, SO/162.101-102, 2006, JND. 14 t (6 t)

diameter with white rounded petals twice as long as the sepals. There are 5 sepals and petals; the fruit is a capsule. It grows on damp, open sandy or peaty soil. In the vice-county an estimated 1000-2000 plants were scattered over the emptied, stony basin of disused Scotch Peter’s Reservoir, SO/155.089, 2002, TGE & CT. They were seen again in 2003 in similar quantity. 1 t Site Plate 19

MYOSOTON Water Chickweed These are perennials with 5 sepals and 5 white petals bifid almost to the base; they have 10 stamens; 5 styles and a capsular fruit opening by 5 notched teeth.

Myosoton aquaticum

Water Chickweed Sagina procumbens Procumbent Pearlwort

Water Chickweed is a variable, rather straggly plant, very stickily-glandular in its upper parts; its leaves are broadly ovate with a cordate or truncate base; its laxly clustered flowers are up to 15 mm across, the white petals are split almost to the base and nearly twice as long as the sepals.

This is a ground-hugging, mat-forming, hairless perennial with spreading stems that root at the nodes. The leaves have hyaline spine tips. There are usually 4 sepals, minute or no petals, 4 stamens and a capsular fruit. It favours short turf or bare soil and is widespread in the vice-county. 310 t

Sagina apetala 22

18 31

This plant grows in wet places, besides rivers, in ditches and hollows, and its distribution map indicates the lines of some of the main rivers. It may be confused with Stellaria nemorum, but that has only 3 styles. 90 t SAGINA Pearlworts These are annuals or perennials with linear leaves, 4-5 sepals and petals (sometimes petals are absent; when present they are whitish and entire), the number of stamens varies between species, there are 4-5 styles, the capsular fruit opens by 4-5 valves.

Sagina nodosa

Annual Pearlwort

S. apetala is a much branched, erect annual that may attain a height of 15 cm. Its leaves have a short point; it usually has 4 sepals and stamens, but minute or no petals; its capsule is 1.6-2.5 mm. It grows on walls, dry bare soil on heaths and on paths, ashy or otherwise. The 90 tetrads include the records for subsp. apetala and subsp. erecta. It is necessary to observe the plant in fruit and note the position of the sepals, and to collect a minimum of 10 seeds and then to put them under the microscope and measure all ten to find the mean diameter. The split only came to the attention of recorders with CTW’s Excursion Flora of the British Isles, Third Edition in 1981. Then Stace (1997) in his New Flora of the British Isles introduced ‘S. filiformis, more slender, with smaller parts and glandular rather than glabrous pedicels and sepals, may merit equal rank.’ and then added possibly these subspecies should be recognised as 2 or 3 vars. As most records of the common plants (I consider Sagina apetala common) came in when most helpers were accumulating records between 1985 and1990 the subspecies need reassessing. 90 t

Sagina apetala subsp. apetala Annual Pearlwort

Knotted Pearlwort

Subsp. apetala has erect to erecto-patent sepals in fruit and at least the outer subacute; most seeds are greater than 1/3 mm in diameter. Widespread. 74 t

This is a short, tufted perennial with a basal rosette, around which arise flowering stems; the pointed leaves decrease in size as they proceed up the nodes, and there are small, leafy tufts in the axils of the nodal leaves. The tip of the flowering stem usually bears a single flower up to 10 mm in 113

Flora of Monmouthshire Subsp. apetala

sandstone, Sudbrook, ST/503.873, 1977 & 2000, TGE; on railway ballast, Newport Docks, ST/312.862, 1980, TGE; several patches on stony, upper saltmarsh SW of Peterstone Gout, ST/277.805, 2000, TGE. 3 t (3 t)

20 31

35 19

Sagina apetala subsp. erecta Annual Pearlwort

18 31

Subsp. erecta has patent, subobtuse sepals in fruit and most seeds less than 1/3 mm in diameter. 16 t

SCLERANTHUS Knawels The Knawels have varying life-cycles. Their linear leaves are fused at the base in opposite pairs and do NOT have stipules. They have inconspicuous, green flowers, 5 sepals free or joined only at base, 0 petals, usually 5-10 stamens, an ovary with 2 styles and a fruit which is an achene.

Scleranthus annuus

18 31

Sagina maritima

Annual Knawel

S. annuus is usually an annual, which in ideal conditions can reach a height of 20 cm. It always strikes me as being a dense, little, branched plant with everything tightly clustered. Its sepals are sharp-pointed and have a white border half as wide as the green middle part. There may be 210 stamens. It is said to grow on open sandy soil, but my record is on a wall top. It occurs there infrequently, with a gap of ten years recently. This wall top is at Pen-yparc, ST/506.979, recorded in 1985 and 1987 by TGE, UTE and in 1997 by TGE but has been absent for all the years between. Wade (1970) reported that it was common on cultivated ground in the north and west of the vice-county and for the middle of the vice-county gave two sites: between Castleton and Fairwater, *; Llandegfedd, *. This difference in frequency between then and now is an indication of how farming method changes have affected agricultural weeds. 1t (many)

Sea Pearlwort

Sea Pearlwort is a much-branched, erect annual that may attain 15 cm (usually much less in my experience), with obtuse leaves that sometimes have a minute point; it has 4 obtuse, glabrous sepals, that are erecto-patent in fruit; its petals are 0 or minute; it has 4 stamens and capsules 22.8 mm. It grows on barish sandy or gritty soils near the Severn Estuary coast. Wade (1970) recorded it: path of the sea wall and bank of R. Rhymney, near Rumney, ST/2.7 E, *; St. Brides Wentloog, *. It has recently been recorded: on top of Lias 114

Flora of Monmouthshire ILLECEBRUM Coral-necklace Plants of this genus have paired, opposite, sessile leaves with stipules, petals which are much shorter than its sepals, 5 thread-like stamens, 2 short, capitate stigmas and a capsule that opens by 5 valves.

! Illecebrum verticillatum

Coral-necklace

This glabrous annual has lax, often reddish shoots that grow away from the top of the root in many directions along the ground; along these sinuous stems are the paired, round-ended, ovate leaves in the axils of which are the clustered flowers with white, thick, succulent, hooded sepals. Little imagination is needed to see why the plant was named Coral-necklace. It is said to favour damp, open, sandy ground; in the vice-county it was on seasonally damp, ashy, railway ballast in Newport Docks, ST/311.860, 1980-83, TGE. There were numerous patches and it looked as if it had been there for some years before 1980. Unfortunately, the area chosen to unload wooden poles from trucks and spray them with creosote, the Coral-necklace did not survive for long. (1 t)

18 31

SPERGULARIA Sea-spurries Sea-spurries are branched, slightly fleshy plants with opposite leaves with partly scarious stipules; there are 5 sepals, often with scarious edges, 5 white or shades of red, entire petals; 5-10 stamens; 3 styles; a capsule opening by 3 valves. The presence or absence of a wing on the seed is often given as a diagnostic character but is contentious as a species may have all seeds winged, no seeds winged or only some seeds winged but not all, so place little confidence on it as a diagnostic feature.

SPERGULA Spurreys Spurreys are annual herbs with opposite leaves and stipules, but leafy tufts grow in the axils and make it look as if there are whorls at each node, the stipules are membranous and not united around the node. There are 5 entire, white petals that are about the same length as the sepals. There are 5-10 stamens, 5 styles, and a capsular fruit opening by 5 valves.

Spergula arvensis

Spergularia media

Greater Sea-spurrey

S. media is a herbaceous perennial, usually glabrous, any glandular hairs are confined to the inflorescence. Its white flowers are usually 10-12 mm in diameter but seldom less than 8 mm, its sepals are seldom less than 4 mm long, and its capsules mostly greater than 5 mm.

Corn Spurrey

I regard Corn Spurrey as the plant equivalent of the stick insect (to which it could be said to bear a passing resemblance), its branched stems are thin with longish internodes. It is stickily hairy towards the top and with linear leaves, furrowed beneath, clustered at the nodes. The branches seem to be bent downwards to rest on surrounding plants. The white flowers are up to 8 mm across with petals just exceeding the sepals; the pedicels are upright in flower but hang down at an angle in fruit. Its habitat is acidic, sandy soil, particularly that cultivated or disturbed. Because of the herbicides used it is more frequent around edges and bare patches in fields. It is still widespread but usually in smaller numbers than in the 1950s and 1960s. 151 t

18 31

115

Flora of Monmouthshire Spergularia media grows mainly among the saline tolerant plants on the upper muddy reaches of the salt marshes or among vegetation subjected to spray or spring tide flooding. Only concrete seawalling prevents it occurring in suitable spots all along the estuary and up tidal rivers. 32 t

Spergularia marina

Lesser Sea-spurrey

S. marina is similar to S. media but is usually sparsely-glandular hairy in its inflorescence, its dark pink flowers are 5-8 mm in diameter, its sepals mostly less than 4 mm long and its capsule less than 5 mm.

18 31

LYCHNIS Catchflies Catchflies are tallish, erect perennials with paired, opposite, lanceolate leaves, with no stipules or obvious petioles. The calyx is tubular with the teeth shorter than the tube, and has no epicalyx. The 5 medium to large petals are shades of red, though white occurs irregularly, the claws of the petals are long enough for the limb to overtop the calices and each claw has 2 scales at its base; there are 5 styles and the capsular fruit opens by 5 teeth.

18 31

! Lychnis coronaria

It succeeds in similar littoral habitats to Greater Sea-spurrey but often higher up the shore as well. It also occurs on roadsides at the M4/A449 junction, 2005, TCGR, and on the Heads of the Valleys road but so far just inside Brecknock not in vc 35. 30 t

Spergularia rubra

Rose Campion

Rose Campion is an erect, branched perennial distinguished by its dense covering of white woolly hairs, its reddish purple flowers individually on long stalks; the petals are entire or notched. Common in large, old-fashioned gardens. It was found in small numbers on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85 and 30.86, 197577, TGE & CT. 2 t

Sand Spurrey

Sand Spurrey is a low, scrambling annual to biennial, much more stickily-glandular than the other close relatives, made noticeably so by the particles of its substrate which often stick to it. Its flowers are less than 8 mm in diameter, its sepals slightly longer than its dark red petals but less than 4 mm, its capsule less than 5 mm contains wingless seeds. It grows on acidic sands, gravels, gritty ash and coal waste. Its presence in the coal fields is due to the old coal waste tips and the use of this to make paths and tracks. Near the R. Severn the materials used for the construction of the sea wall and tracks at its base afford the well-drained, gritty substrate that it requires. 29 t

Lychnis flos-cuculi

Ragged-robin

Ragged-robin is an erect, glabrous or thinly-hairy perennial to ¾ m tall, its light, purply-red flowers are displayed in an open inflorescence, its petals have 4 narrow lobes giving the ragged appearance implied in the English name. Its haunts are wet meadows, ditches and hollows that are damp for long periods. It was widespread and is still scattered widely, but is less numerous due to the ‘improvement’ and drainage carried out on many farms. 192 t Plate20

116

Flora of Monmouthshire fortnight of discovery), Lydart Hill, SO/499.094, 2006, SJT. 2 t (many)

Lychnis flos-cuculi 23

SILENE Campions and Catchflies They are annual or perennial herbs with paired, opposite leaves, the 5 joined sepals form a tube with 10–30 ribs but without an epicalyx. There are 5 petals with a limb often split, and a claw which sometimes has scales at its base. The young capsule has 3 or 5 styles and later opens with twice as many teeth as styles.

Silene italica 31

! Lychnis chalcedonica

Maltese-cross

This is an erect, slightly hairy, 1 m high perennial with clustered heads of scarlet flowers whose petals are notched to a third of their depth. It is essentially a garden plant. In the vice-county it was seen flowering at the back of tall natural vegetation by the side of a Forestry Commission track in Great Barnets Wood, ST/515.938, 19891993, BG. It appeared after wide clearance at the side of the track and has since probably been overwhelmed by encroachment by the native plants. (1 t)

Silene nutans

Nottingham Catchfly

Similar to S. italica but has little-branched stems; its flowers often droop laxly to one side and have calices 9-12 mm long. It grows in dry habitats, with a preference for calcareous substrates. The only record was for Newport Docks, ST/3.8, 1953, JMa, where it was introduced though it is native elsewhere in Britain. (1 t)

AGROSTEMMA Corncockle This is an annual with opposite leaves, without stipules and a tubular calyx that has no epicalyx, large, purplish petals, with no basal scales, 5 styles and a capsular fruit that opens by 5 teeth.

Arc. Agrostemma githago

Italian Catchfly

This erect, stickily-hairy perennial has branched stems to 60 cm or more; its creamy-white flowers are sometimes greenish or reddish underneath, the petals are deeply cleft; the 14-21 mm calyx is stickily hairy. Its habitats are dry grassy ones, but it is only naturalised in Britain. It was recorded in Newport Docks, ST/3.8, 1953, JMa. (1 t)

Silene vulgaris subsp. vulgaris Bladder Campion

Corncockle

Corncockle is a 1 m tall annual with appressed hairs and fairly narrow, lanceolate leaves. Its dull purple flowers may be up to 50 mm in diameter and have sepals with a terminal lobe that exceeds the petals in length and take an upright position after flowering. It was a weed of cultivated and waste land. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave thirteen sites in all parts of the vice-county. Today there is just one site, the SW corner of the Lion Inn, Trellech, SO/501.055, 2000, GHa. There have been 1-5 plants each year with 3 plants in 2004. The proprietors of the inn state that they did not sow any corncockle seeds and it just appeared in a crack of the paving stones against the corner of the building; 1 plant on road verge (but cut within a

18 31

Bladder Campion is often a glabrous but sometimes hairy perennial; the lower leaves are 117

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows in dry, light, arable soils, on verges and waste ground. In the vice-county there is a big concentration on the limestone in the SE and in the Abergavenny area, elsewhere it is scattered. 99 t

oval and stalked, the upper elliptic and stalkless, the bracts are scarious, the calyx has 20 ribs with cross-ribbing, is much inflated but narrowed at its neck, the flowers are somewhat clustered on the stems, the 16-18 mm, fragrant, white petals are deeply divided and do not overlap. Bladder Campion grows in dry grassy or waste places, particularly over limestone. There is a cluster of sites on the Carboniferous Limestone in the SE corner of the vice-county, and in the coalfield, especially around the edge where the limestone surfaces, and on waste ground around Newport. 51 t Plate 17

Silene x hampeana

a hybrid campion

This cross between S. latifolia and S. dioica has characters that lie between the two parents, the chief diagnostic feature being the pink petals. 23

Silene uniflora

Sea Campion

Sea Campion is similar to Bladder Campion, but has linear to narrowly lanceolate stem-leaves, leafy bracts, an inflated calyx which is not constricted at its neck, the flowers are fewer to the stems and the limbs of the petals, beyond the calyx, form a cup shape. It grows on rocky or shingly shores or cliffs, and in mountains. The two records given by Wade (1970) were: about Newport, before 1868, JHC; Town Dock, Newport, SH (1909). (? 1 or 2 t)

Silene latifolia

18 31

It grows where its parents grow in close proximity, so there is a cluster in the SE and around Abergavenny. 26 t

White Campion

White Campion is an erect, slightly sticky, glandular hairy short-lived perennial, that is either male with a 10-ribbed green calyx, or female with a 20-ribbed, green calyx, the calices are slightly inflated and there are few cross ribs; the leaves are oval to lanceolate, stalked below and sessile towards the top of the plant; there are 5 styles to the ovary and 10 erect capsule teeth.

Silene dioica

Red Campion

Red Campion is similar to White Campion but it has red flowers and a reddish calyx which is not inflated and 10 capsule teeth that are rolled back. 23

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18 31 31

118

Flora of Monmouthshire Red Campion grows in deciduous woodlands and hedgerows particularly in calcareous or base-rich soils. Providing the weather is not too extreme it can be found flowering somewhere in every month. 321 t

! Silene coeli-rosa

SAPONARIA Soapworts Soapworts are perennial herbs with tubular calices with 15-25 ribs, and no epicalyx. The white or pink petals have an entire limb and a claw with 2 scales at its base; there are 10 stamens, an ovary with 2 styles and a capsule opening by 4 teeth.

Rose-of-heaven Arc. Saponaria officinalis

Rose-of-heaven is a glabrous annual that may grow to over 40 cm, has paired linear leaves and few, hermaphrodite flowers, in various shades of pink, per stem. The calyx is club-shaped; the ovary has 5 styles and the capsule opens by 10 teeth and is raised by over 5 mm by its supporting stalk. An alien grown in gardens. In the vice-county it was found on a gravely island in the Afon Llwyd, E of Sebastopol, ST/300.979, 1987, TDP, EDP, det. EJC. (1 t)

Arc. Silene gallica Small-flowered Catchfly

S gallica is a small to medium, erect, little branched, hairy annual; its leaves range from stalked, oblanceolate lower leaves to sessile, linear upper leaves. The erect, white to pink flowers occur singly on short stalks at each node, the 7-10 mm, 10-ribbed calyx ends in long teeth and has a coat of patent, long hairs; the ovary has 3 styles and the capsule opens by 6 teeth. It grows on sandy soil in waste places and on cultivated land. It was last seen on waste ground near newly built houses in an area being developed near the R. Usk, SE of George St. Bridge, Newport, ST/320.878, 1988, TGE, UTE. Previous to that it had been seen: on dumped soil, W of Whitfield Wood, ST/493.961, 1985, TGE, UTE; Kymin Hill, SO/5.1 G, before 1951, SGC; Upper Redbrook, SO/5.1 F, *, before 1951, SGC; nr Pandy Station, SO/33.22, before 1944, JR; Highmoor Hill, ST/4.8, ?P/U, JCE; weed, garden, Usk Priory, SO/3.0 Q, *, RWR; Kilgwrrwg, ST/4.9 ?U, before 1920, WAS; Wye Valley, Monmouth, SO/5.1, SH; Monkswood, SO/34.02, before 1868, JHC. 1 t (10 t)

! Silene dichotoma

Soapwort

Soapwort is a medium-tall, hairless perennial, with stout runners from which more stems arise to give a close colony of plants; the lower leaves are oval and stalked, the upper ones are broadly elliptical and sessile; the flowers are pale pink and are produced in dense branched clusters; the 15-20 mm calyx is glabrous, green or reddish.

18 31

It was commonly grown in old gardens and has escaped to roadsides, waste places and spare grassland. It is widespread in the vice-county, particularly along river banks. 92 t

! Saponaria ocymoides

Rock Soapwort

S. ocymoides is a hairy perennial that can form a low mound of spreading, often red stems with branches arising from between paired, oval leaves to divide again into numerous, short flowering branches bearing small clusters of red flowers. Thus a mound of red flowers formed an excellent rock garden plant, which was imported into British gardens and later found its way on to walls and stony banks. The only record for the vice-county was: the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, *, TGE, conf. EJC. (1 t)

Forked Catchfly

This alien is an erect, hispid annual branched above, with lower leaves spathulate becoming lanceolate above, the bracts are small, ovate and scariously-margined; the petals are usually white, the stamens long-exserted; the 7-15 mm calyx is ovoid-oblong and not inflated in fruit. Reported from a field on Kymin Hill, SO/5.1 G, before 1951, SGC. (1 t) 119

Flora of Monmouthshire over 20 mm long and the inner bracteoles of the epicalyx terminate in a short point. It is an alien plant brought into gardens which spread onto walls from which it has escaped. Said by Wade (1970) to be already extinct from the 2 sites: Mathern, 1800, anon.; on ruined walls about Tintern Abbey, before 1868, JHC. (2 t)

VACCARIA Cowherb Cowherb can be recognised as related to the campions by its size, leaves and flowers; there is no epicalyx; the claw of the petal has no scales at its base; the ovary has 2 styles and the capsule opens by 4 teeth.

! Vaccaria hispanica

Cowherb ! Dianthus barbatus

Cowherb is a glaucous, glabrous, erect annual which has pink flowers with sepals fused into a tube and with 5 ribs, modified into wings, that are distinctive. It is imported from S & C Europe in bird seed and then appears on tips. It was reported from rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1980, ALG & ATi. (1 t) PETRORHAGIA Pinks These are annual or perennial plants, that apart from the flowers, look superficially like carnations. Their bracteoles form an epicalyx; there is calyx tube with scarious joints between the lobes; there are no scales at the base of the pink petals; there are 2 styles and the capsule opens by 4 teeth.

! Petrorhagia prolifera

! Dianthus armeria

Deptford Pink

Deptford Pink is a dark green, hairy, stiffly-erect annual to biennial; its bright red flowers are less than 15 mm in diameter and are borne in a tight cluster at the stem apex, the bracts at the base of the cluster are almost as long as the cluster.

Proliferous Pink

P. prolifera is an erect, pubescent annual, with leaves whose leaf-sheaths are up to twice as long as wide, and with flowers in compact heads of 3-11, an epicalyx of several pairs of brown bracts and a cylindrical calyx greater than 8 mm. It is probably native on dry banks in a few places in Bedford and Norfolk. It appeared with grit imported from Norfolk for a Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1984 and was on the driveway 1985-86, TGE. (1 t)

DIANTHUS Pinks These are small to medium-sized plants that are usually perennials; they have paired, lanceolate leaves, bracteoles close to the base of the calyx forming an epicalyx; the calyx tube has no scarious joints between the lobes; the petal has no basal scales and the limb is usually a shade of red and divided variously; there are 2 styles and the capsule opens by 4 teeth.

! Dianthus caryophyllus

Sweet-William

Sweet-William is a green, largely glabrous, shortlived perennial with erect stems that forms broad tufts that can grow to 50 cm tall, the toothed and fringed petals are distally red paling to pink, often spotted towards the flower centre to act as nectar guides for insects. The flowers are closely packed to form a flattish dome at the stem apex. This is an alien grown widely in cottage gardens, sometimes surviving in the wild as throw-outs. The only record was established on a bank, Pentre Farm, Abergavenny, SO/28.15, 1986, RF. 1 t

18 31

It is native in a diminishing number of dry, grassy places. In the vice-county: it escaped from a garden to a boundary wall and thence to a chapel wall, Tintern, SO/530.001, 3 plants, 1979-80, TGE; 1500 plants amid rough grass and scattered birch saplings, E side of North Dock, Newport, ST/305.862, 1997, MJ; semi-improved grassland, Ty’n-y-pwll fields, ST/285.918, 2002, NBt; semiimproved grassland, St. Julians Park, ST/338.892, 2002, NBt. 3 t (1 t)

Clove Pink

Clove Pink is an erect, glabrous, glaucous perennial that forms tufts up to 60 cm in height. Its highly fragrant, pink to pale purple flowers with toothed distal edges are over 30 mm in diameter and are borne singly or in loose cymes; the calyx is 120

Flora of Monmouthshire track records: Glyn Wood, Tintern, SO/522.000, 1976-93, TGE; Cefngarw Wood near B4293, ST/48.96, JDRV; 50 m along Chepstow Park Wood, ST/482.982, 1997-2003; large clump on bluff, forestry plantation, Trellech Common, SO/507.062, 1998, BJG. Riverside record: 35 x 3 m R. Usk/footpath edge, Glebelands, Newport, ST/315.902, 2000, TGE. Other records: rough pasture, Upper Mill Farm, Govilon, SO/260.134 & SO/261.135, 1990, JDRV & RF; large patch in waste, S of unfenced road, Pwll du, SO/24.11, 1997, RW; stand by stables, edge of Tranch Wood, SO/272.019, 2001, JBr. 22 t

POLYGONACEAE Knotweed family These are herbaceous annuals to perennials or woody climbers with usually simple, entire, alternate leaves and at the stem nodes there are sheathing, fused, often scarious stipules (ochreae). The flowers are actinomorphic and arranged in simple or branched racemes; they consist of 1-2 whorls of 3-6 green, brown, white or pink tepals that are persistent and often enlarged, in fruit. There are usually 6-9 stamens; the ovary has 2-3 stigmas and forms an achene. PERSICARIA Knotweeds The knotweeds are annuals to perennials with many-flowered terminal and axillary inflorescences; the usually 5 tepals resemble petals, are not winged and do not enlarge in fruit.

Persicaria bistorta

Common Bistort

Creeping rhizomes enable this plant to form colonies with erect stems 80 cm or more. The basal leaves have long, somewhat winged petioles with blades that are oblong to triangular with cordate to truncate bases; the upper leaves are similar in shape but narrower and smaller and lack a petiole. The stems terminate in a single, cylindrical dense mass of pink flowers, with exerted stamens fringing the cylinder at anthesis.

! Persicaria wallichii Himalayan Knotweed This is an erect perennial that tends to form numerous, fairly closely packed, stout shoots over 1 m tall; the leaves are broadly lanceolate, often hairy beneath; the whitish flowers are produced in branched panicles in late summer; the stems, petioles, veins and peduncles often are quite reddish.

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Common Bistort is widespread in the vice-county, in woods, meadows and roadsides, but is nowhere common and is scarce in the few areas where limestone is not far from the surface. Though it is associated with wet habitats, there are very few sites on the Severn levels. 71 t

It occurs along roadsides, woodland tracks and by rivers. Roadside records are: large patch, roadside, Llanishen, SO/47.03, 1984, TGE; Bulley Hole Bottom, ST/460.964, 1979-1996, TGE; Maryland, SO/522.062, 1976, TGE; by Abbey Hotel, Tintern, ST/533.998, 1977-2000; side of road to sewage works, Abergavenny, SO/294.135, 1990, TGE & RF; Little Mill, SO/323.033, 1987, TGE, UTE; Brooklands, ST/459.964, 1985, TGE, UTE; S of Shirenewton, ST/47.93, 1985, TGE; W of Devauden, ST/48.98, 1987, TGE, UTE. Forest

Persicaria amphibia

Amphibious Bistort

This perennial has rhizomes which enable the plant to form loose colonies. In water it is glabrous and its floating, oblong leaves have rounded, cordate bases and tapered points at the distal ends. The land form has upright, slightly hairy stems and 121

Flora of Monmouthshire leaves which are held almost upright. The pink flowers grow in dense, cylindrical heads with rounded apices, but not as long as in P. bistorta.

Persicaria lapathifolia

Pale Persicaria

This plant is similar to Redshank but it usually has greenish-white, cylindrical heads and the peduncles and perianth are dotted with numbers of tiny, shallow saucer-shaped glands on very short stalks (use a lens). There is also a form with cylinders of dark red flowers on slightly larger, more sturdy-looking plants but their peduncles are gland-dotted.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

It grows in rivers, reens, canals and ponds and on their banks. Its presence in the network of reens is well indicated by the distribution map, as is the mainly N/S direction of the vice-county’s rivers and Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. 110 t

Persicaria maculosa

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Redshank

It grows on open, bare, waste and cultivated ground, particularly where it is damp. Widespread but less common on higher ground. 175 t

Redshank is an annual that may have erect stems but often sprawls, its leaves are lanceolate, tapering at both ends and often with a dark blotch near the middle. Its ochrea are brown. The pink flowers are massed in a cylindrical to oval spike, but smaller than in P. bistorta and P. amphibia.

Persicaria hydropiper

Water-pepper

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Water-pepper is an erect to decumbent annual with lanceolate lower leaves becoming narrower towards the top. The inflorescence is a long, narrow, yellow-spotted spike with the leafless apex drooping to one side. The pink flowers are spaced, the lower ones in the axils of leaf-like

It grows on waste, bare and cultivated ground, often near water. It grows in most parts of the vicecounty. 364 t 122

Flora of Monmouthshire bracts. The perianth usually has many sessile glands. The leaves have a hot, peppery taste which is useful to distinguish it from its similar relative P. mitis. Common on river and stream banks, shallow water and wet ditches. 282 t

Persicaria mitis

! Fagopyrum esculentum

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is an erect, little-branched, hollowstemmed annual with arrow-head-shaped leaves, stalked basal stem-leaves becoming shorter higher up; the pink (occasionally greenish-white) flowers are borne in terminal and axillary panicles. The tepals are 2.5-4.0 mm long.

Tasteless Water-pepper

This is very similar to Water-pepper but lacks the hot taste and may have only sparse glands on the perianth. It grows in similar places to Waterpepper.

Introduced from Asia, and cultivated, sometimes for feeding pheasants. It also turned up on rubbish tips. Vice-county records: Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/5.1 G, *, 1951, SGC; Pen-y-clawdd, SO/4.0 ?N, *, 1937; Ravensnest Wood, Tintern, ST/50.99, *, WAS (1920); Newport rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, ST/30.85, 1975, *, TGE; numerous plants with Sinapis alba where maize crop was thin near Stoneycroft Wood, ST/467.935, 1985, TGE; built-up stony bank of River Ebbw, N of Pontymister, ST/23.90, 1986, TGE, UTE; arable field, Hendre, SO/46.12, 1991, TGE, UTE; ‘commercial’ crop, field, N of Pen-yr-rheol, Wentwood, ST/41.86, 1991, JDRV; edge of maize crop, Bayfield, ST/518.934, *, 1992, TGE; 1 plant between paving stones where wild birds were fed, Orchard Cottage, SO/502.012, 2000, AB, det. TGE. 7 t (5 t)

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The only known vice-county sites are: on the eastern end of Penpergwm Pond, SO/326.099, 1985-2000, TGE; near dry arch, E end of Wye bridge, Monmouth, SO/512.126, 1940, SGC, c.1970, AOC; c. 10 plants, mainly white form, 2005, TGE, CT. 2 t (4)

Persicaria x condensata

Hybrid Persicaria

This P. maculosa x P. mitis hybrid has been recorded 3 times, all in the lower Wye Valley. These are: bank of the R. Wye, Hadnock SO/5.1 H, *, SGC; bank of R. Monnow, near Monmouth Cap, SO/39.26 Y, *; between Whitebrook and Penallt, SO/5.0, all recorded by SGC, whose last records were made in or prior to 1951. (3 t)

! Fagopyrum tartaricum

Green Buckwheat

This differs from Buckwheat in its short (c. 2 mm) greenish-white tepals and achenes with wavy margins. Occasionally sown for game birds, it has only one vc 35 record: Ravensnest Wood, Tintern, ST/50.99, *, WAS (1920). (1 t)

FAGOPYRUM Buckwheats Buckwheats are herbaceous annuals or perennials, with flowers in terminal and axillary panicles; there are 5 pink, petal-like tepals, that are not winged nor keeled nor enlarging in fruit; there are 8 stamens; an ovary with 3 long styles and the resulting achene with 3 acute angles protrudes well beyond the enclosing tepals.

POLYGONUM Knotgrasses Knotgrasses are annual or perennial plants with a strong taproot, smallish leaves, with narrowed 123

Flora of Monmouthshire bases and axillary inflorescences of 6 or fewer flowers. There are 5 petal-like tepals, that may be slightly keeled but do not enlarge in fruit, 8 stamens, ovaries with 3 stigmas on negligible styles and achenes with 3 rounded angles.

not form such a mat, and branches which bear smaller leaves, so the plant is clearly heterophyllous. It occurs on open ground on most soils and is common. 343 t

Polygonum arenastrum Equal-leaved Knotgrass

FALLOPIA Knotweeds Fallopia are annuals or vigorous herbaceous or woody perennials, some of whom form invasive colonies, the spread of which is difficult to control. The inflorescences are terminal and axillary and may be anything from simple to forming considerable panicles; the flowers consist of 5 petal-like tepals, the outer of which are 3-keeled and enlarge to enclose the fruit; there are 8 stamens, the ovaries have 3 styles and the achenes have 3 rounded angles.

! Fallopia japonica

This is a mat forming annual, with branched stems bearing equal-sized, oval leaves and silvery ochrea. Its flowers are axillary and single or in fewflowered clusters. 23

Japanese Knotweed

This plant forms dense thickets of erect to arching stems to 2 m with large, heart-shaped leaves with truncate bases up to 12 cm long, and large panicles of creamy-white flowers, produced in late summer. Most of the plants are female.

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35 22

It thrives on open ground, preferably with an open texture. Probably under-recorded in central regions of the vice-county. 131 t

Polygonum aviculare

Knotgrass

Introduced to gardens in 1825 for its impressive size and its sprays of feathery white flowers, but after 1886, when it was first recorded in the wild, its reputation became sullied until today it is regarded as a menace to native plants, especially as it survives in all kinds of substrates and conditions and can be spread by earth movement during road building or maintenance operations, when pieces of rhizome can be moved and take root. The rapidity of its spread in this vice-county, due to road and house building and the hire of large earth moving machinery, probably means that the number of tetrads is already out of date. 282 t

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Knotgrass is somewhat similar to P. arenastrum but has longer internodes on its main stem which bears more spaced out, larger leaves and so does 124

Flora of Monmouthshire Once commonly grown in gardens but its vigorous and rapid growth has led to a decline in its popularity. It spreads outside the garden but those reported as apparently wild prove to be in deserted gardens. The sole record is for Mill St., Abergavenny, SO/301.138, 1986, GH. 1 t

! Fallopia x bohemica a hybrid Japanese Knotweed F. japonica x F. sachalinensis is recognised by its leaves as they are intermediate between its parents. It has been recognised in only one colony N of Michaelstone but S of the R. Rhymney, ST/24.85, 1996, TGE conf. APC. 2 t

Arc. Fallopia convolvulus ! Fallopia sachalinensis

Black-bindweed

Black-bindweed is an annual that may twine its stem around other plants to attain a height of 1.5 m, though usually less. Its leaves are broadly triangular, with varying bases and apices. The flowers are borne on very short pedicels and arranged largely on lax, axillary spikes; the tepals forming the flowers are pinkish or greenish white, the outer ones keeled or narrowly winged.

Giant Knotweed

Giant Knotweed is a larger version of Japanese Knotweed attaining a height of 3 m and over, the leaves are largely oval being longer than broad and usually over 12 cm long and with a base that may be cordate or cordate-truncate. It also has shorter but denser panicles of greenish flowers. 23

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18 31

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Introduced to British gardens in 1869 and first reported in the wild in 1896, it has not yet proved to be so invasive in the vice-county as Japanese Knotweed. It has been noted: on the roadside at Whitebrook, SO/528.070, 1979, TGE but recently elimination measures have been taken and it required keen eyes to see remnants in 2003; in walled garden, St. Pierre, ST/514.904, 1980-87, TGE; roadside, leading into Newport rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, 1982-1994, TGE; 2 m² at entrance to Llangybi Castle Farm, ST/372.974, 1997, GH; 1 large plant near weir, Tredegar Park, Newport, ST/2794.8676, 2003, TGE; at laneside, Bassaleg. ST/2.8 ?T, 1969, AR. 6 t

! Fallopia baldschuanica

The plant is associated with man’s activities, in his gardens, allotments, arable fields and land left bare. In the vice-county it is widely scattered but there are gaps in its distribution which may be due to it being overlooked. 125 t RUMEX Docks Docks are usually herbaceous perennials with tubular ochrea, and with terminal and axillary racemes or panicles making up the inflorescence; the whorled flowers consist of 6 sepal-like tepals, neither keeled nor winged, but they usually enlarge in fruit and often have a bulging tubercle on their surface; they have 6 stamens with basifixed anthers, ovaries with 3 divided styles and achenes with 3 acute angles.

Russian-vine

Russian-vine has twining stems, woody at their base, that can climb many metres and seems to be largely limited by the size of its support. Its leaves are triangular; its flowers are whitish becoming pinkish in fruit when the pedicels can be up to 8 mm long and the outer tepals broadly winged.

Rumex acetosella subsp. acetosella Sheep’s Sorrel Sheep’s Sorrel varies in height but is generally short, slender and erect. Its leaves are shaped like 125

Flora of Monmouthshire narrow arrow-heads with prominent narrow basal lobes, the tepals form a loose collar around the round, ripe achene which becomes detached when gently rubbed between finger and thumb. It usually grows in open, acidic, sandy soils. Most common on hilly parts of the vice-county. 279 t

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Rumex hydrolapathum

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! Rumex scutatus

Water Dock

This is a large perennial often forming a clump to 200 cm in height; the basal leaves may be over 100 cm high; they are broadly lanceolate with an entire edge and their bases tapering to the petiole or somewhat cordate, their lateral veins are nearly at right-angles to the midrib, the stem leaves are much narrower; there may be several erect stems bearing leaves below and a panicle of upright branches on which there are whorls of flowers; at fruiting time the inner three 5-8 mm, triangular, relatively smooth-edged tepals enclosing the three-cornered nut, hang downwards under the other 3 tepals, each tepal carries an elongated tubercle over half its length on its outward face.

French Sorrel

This is a tufted, hairless, rather glaucous perennial with broadly hastate leaves with broad, outwardly pointing basal lobes and on long, slender petioles. It grows on a variety of substrates, e.g. on a bridge at Settle, Yorkshire. In vc 35 it was recorded at Tintern, SO/5.0 F, 1856 or before, JWs, with no details of habitat. (1 t)

Rumex acetosa subsp. acetosa Common Sorrel Common Sorrel is an erect, glabrous, littlebranched perennial, which can reach a height of 1 m; its leaves are narrowly triangular with papillaeedged basal lobes pointing backwards and with narrower, stem-clasping upper leaves. The little branched, terminal inflorescence has only small bracts among it. Though mainly a meadow plant it is found in many habitats and is widespread in the vice-county. Monmouthshire children used to chew the leaves for their acid taste and called it ‘Sour Sally’ 375 t

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Though occurring occasionally on the banks of some of the vice-county rivers, the majority of plants grow on the banks of reens with their feet in the water. 50 t 126

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Rumex cristatus

Greek Dock

Greek Dock has a sturdy stem topped by a large panicle, the whole reaching up to 2 m tall; the broadly lanceolate basal leaves with a cordate base are about 30 x 10 cm in size and the lateral veins in the centre of the leaf make an angle of about 45 degrees with the midrib; the large, 4575 cm long panicles have branches packed with flowers, consisting of 3 noticeable, roundishcordate tepals bearing short teeth only on the basal half, one tepal has a large round tubercle the other two may or may not have very small tubercles. This alien from central and southern Europe used to line both banks of the R. Rhymney west of Rumney and again along a loop of the R. Rhymney in the Lamby region near the mouth of the river (this loop was isolated from the rest of the river in a straightening process when raised access roads from Rumney to the Cardiff Docks were constructed). Today, only isolated plants may be found and the rubbish tip and other developments may eliminate it altogether. Records: Rumney, AEW 1970; abundant, railway bank and R. Rhymney loop bank and adjacent rough meadow, Lamby, ST/217.785, 1971, TGE, det. FHP, still frequent, 1988, TGE, UTE; bank of R. Rhymney, W of Rumney, ST/21.79, 1988, TGE, UTE, not as frequent as in the 1970s; a few scattered plants, near sea wall and just inside SE boundary of the rubbish tip, Lamby, ST/22.77, 1995, TGE. ? 3 t

Rumex x lousleyi

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This is the common weed of cultivated land and pastures and may dominate headlands under nature conservation farm management schemes or untended waste land. Widespread. 340 t

Rumex crispus subsp. littoreus Curled Dock Subsp. littoreus is a stouter plant than subsp. crispus has achenes 2.5-3.5 mm, almost equal tubercles to 3.5 mm, inflorescence dense in fruit. It is exclusively a coastal plant. Records are: 3 plants, sea wall, Lamby, ST/228.777, 1995, TGE; 2 plants, sea wall, and upper salt marsh; near Peterstone Gout, ST/276.806, 1996, TGE; 1 plant, near Goldcliff Pill, ST/36.82, 1997, TGE. 3 t

Rumex crispus subsp. uliginosusCurled Dock

hybrid dock

The R. cristatus x R. obtusifolius hybrid has characters lying intermediate between its parents. It occurred only occasionally on the banks of the R. Rhymney at Lamby and to the NW of Rumney in the early 1970s and 1980s. Records were: river bank, Rumney, 1983, GSW; 1-2 plants, SE of rubbish tip, Lamby, on earth bank near reen, ST/22.77, 1988, TGE, UTE. 1 t (3 t)

This subspecies has stems over 1m, a lax inflorescence in fruit and grows on estuarine mud. I have no definite record but I was visited long ago at exam marking time by people who claimed that plants were well known to grow on the R. Wye mud near Tintern and they were going to find them. No report came back to me, and preparation and marking of papers prevented me from following up the case. ?t

Rumex crispus

Rumex x pratensis

Curled dock

Subsp. crispus is a medium-sized perennial with short-stemmed, narrow-lanceolate leaves that have wavy margins; the inflorescence is terminal with branches held at a narrow angle to the upright; there are usually 3 prominent, roundish, heartshaped, entire tepals with varyingly-developed tubercles. The achene is 1.3-2.5 mm, the unequal tubercles less than 2.5 mm.

hybrid Dock

The hybrid R. crispus x R. obtusifolius was recorded; in Chepstow and Portskewett by WAS (1920); near Marshfield, *, 1923, AEW. (3 t)

Rumex conglomeratus

Clustered Dock

This perennial can grow to 50 cm tall and can produce several, flexuous stems; the dull-green basal leaves vary in shape but usually with a petiole as long as or longer than the blade, the blade is roughly lanceolate with a rounded base 127

Flora of Monmouthshire and entire margin (first year, young leaves are sometimes fiddle-shaped and can lead to the young plant being mis-named Fiddle Dock); the panicle is composed of spaced branches held at 30-90 degrees with the main stem, the flowers in whorls of 10-30 are also spaced out and are subtended by a small, lanceolate, leaf-like bract at each node except towards the end of each branch; the nut is enclosed in the 3 inner, entire tepals, each of which are oblong in shape and bear an oblong tubercle over half the length of the tepal.

but only one bears a significant, roundish, lightbrown or red tubercle. 23

19 23 18 22 31 21

It grows in damp, shady woods and hedgerows and by water and is widespread in the vice-county. 312 t

Rumex pulcher

18 31

Fiddle Dock

This perennial dock has oblong, basal leaves with broad, rounded basal lobes and a constricted ‘waist’, giving the leaf a fiddle-shape; the flowers are in branched leafy spikes, the branches, frequently arise from the main stem at nearly a right-angle; the 4-5.5 mm tepals are ovate, usually with broad teeth and with usually 3 tubercles, often warty and of unequal size.

This dock grows in damp conditions, which explains why it was so frequent on the levels by the R. Severn, though with those drying out due to over-drainage it is becoming less common there. The river margins are much drier where land drains have been installed, and Clustered Dock numbers are going down. 184 t

Rumex x muretii

hybrid Dock

The R. conglomeratus x R. pulcher hybrid was recorded in Castle Dell, Chepstow, ST/53.93, 1903, WAS. (1 t)

Rumex sanguineus

Wood Dock

This perennial has few flowering stems and basal leaves with petioles a third to a half as long as the blade, the blade is a bright green and has a margin slightly undulate or crenulate, sometimes a leaf or two looks a bit fiddle-shaped in early rosettes; the panicle branches form a very narrow angle with the main stem and have a whorl of flowers at its base subtended by a bract, the whorls of flowers, spaced at about 1 cm, are free of bracts; the 3 inner tepals have entire margins

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It grows on dry, often calcareous meadows. County records are: on turf near Great Dinham Manor, ST/477.927, 1977-81, TGE, overgrown by brambles etc. by 2003; on grass near fountain, W end of Chepstow Castle Dell, ST/531.939, WAS, 1979-2003, TGE, suffers from frequent mowing; 128

Flora of Monmouthshire rough meadow near Runston Church, 1920-87, WAS, TGE, area so overgrown it may be lost there; Penallt, SO/527.107, 1985, SJT. 4 t (1t)

Rumex obtusifolius

ENe; Undy, 1980, EBH. Recent records: wet ditch and nearby rough grassland, Undy Pool, ST/442.868, 1980, when it was abundant, 8 plants, 1996, 2 plants, 2003, TGE, CT; wet meadow W of Magor Rugby Field (now abandoned), ST/418.867, 1982-83, TGE; ditch, Whitson, ST/36.84, 1987, TGE, UTE; trackside, Caldicot Moor, ST/44.86, 1985, in tracks, Collister Pill, ST/45.86, 1986, TGE; 1 plant growing through split in a ‘sleeper’ laid in gateway of wet field, Barecroft Common, ST/413.864, 1999, TGE; In the ‘Reens Survey’ by NCC between 1982-85 it was recorded in tetrads ST/2.7 I, J and P, but I have no details. 4 t (3 t)

Broad-leaved Dock

This 1 m tall perennial has large, oblong leaves with a cordate base and bluntly pointed apex and margins that are somewhat wavy; the flowering branches are spreading, leafy below and have spaced whorls of flowers that are not subtended by bracts above. The 3-6 mm long tepals are triangular and edged with variable teeth. 23

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Rumex maritimus

It occurs in a wide range of habitats. In the vicecounty very few tetrads lack it, and where they do the absence may simply be an oversight. 388 t

Rumex palustris

Golden Dock

Golden Dock is an erect annual to usually little over 40 cm, turning a golden-yellow as its fruits develop; it is similar to R. palustris but its branches are shorter and straighter and its 2.5-3 mm tepals have longer and finer, flexible teeth. It also grows in marshy fields and in wet ditches. It was recorded on imported soil near an artificial pond, Duffryn, Newport, ST/29.84, 1988, GH, and on N side of Pwll Uffern Reen, Magor Reserve, ST/425.865, 1992, JFH. (2 t)

Marsh Dock

Marsh Dock is a much-branched annual to biennial plant that becomes a yellowish-green in fruit; the basal leaves are narrowly lanceolate, becoming narrower and smaller higher up the stems, the almost-linear, leaf-like bracts subtending the packed whorls of flowers are longer than the internodes between the whorls; the three 3-4 mm tepals have a small number of rather straight, stiff, long teeth on the proximal margins, each tepal thickens to form the valves of the fruit and develops a large tubercle on its outer surface. Marsh Dock grows in wet places such as ditches and marshy meadows. It is irregular in its appearance and can be absent from a site for a varying number of years before re-appearing. Records from Wade (1970) and other old sources are: Blackwall Reen, Magor, 1945, AEW; Undy, *, Causeway Reen, ST/436.867, 1974, MW, CS; reen side, Undy, 1951, AEW; reen side, Magor, 1945,

PLUMBAGINACEAE Thrift family Members of the Thrift family are perennial herbs with all leaves basal, simple, entire and without stipules. The inflorescence is a lax cyme or a tight, hemispherical head, the pink or blue, actinomorphic flowers consist of a calyx of 5 sepals fused in a tube below ending above in free lobes that have, at least, scarious margins and are persistent in fruit, 5 petals fused at their base, the ovary has 5 styles and develops into a dry fruit with a papery wall and is 1-seeded. 129

Flora of Monmouthshire LIMONIUM Sea-lavenders Sea-lavenders are perennials with basal, rather leathery, simple leaves from among which arise the branched stems, that end in blue to mauve flowers in cymes, that often appear as one-sided spikes.

ARMERIA Thrifts Thrifts are perennial herbs, with a basal rosette of numerous, narrow leaves; an unbranched, erect stem terminating in a dense, hemispherical head of pink flowers below which there is a tubular sheath of fused bracts.

Limonium vulgare

Armeria maritima subsp. maritima

Common Sea-lavender

L. vulgare is a glabrous perennial with longstalked, oblanceolate leaves that die down in winter; the flower stems are usually less than 40 cm and branch near the top where the lavenderblue flowers are clustered. 23

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Thrift

The linear leaves of Thrift are less than 2 mm wide, usually 1-veined and with hairs on the margins at least; the flower heads are up to 25 mm wide and the calyx teeth, including the short spine, up to 1 mm.

It often forms large patches in muddy saltmarshes. Records for vice-county: saltmarsh, under concrete sea wall, W side of Magor Pill, ST/438.848, 1967, TGE; 2 m² in saltmarsh, S of Saltmarsh Village, ST/348.823, 1983, PB & CT; 2 m², saltmarsh, S of Farmfield, ST/342.823, 1983-2003, TGE & DU; 3 sites on the saltings, Lamby, ST/221.774, 1988, TGE, UTE, 100s plants mouth of R. Rhymney, Lamby, 2001-6, TGE, GH & CT; saltmarsh, S of Goldcliff, ST/36.82, 1986, TGE, UTE; 2 plants on salt marsh E of sea wall, Peterstone Gout, ST/276.802 and on sea wall, SE of Gout, ST/278. 806, 1994, CT; 1 plant N end of small pill, S of Sluice House Farm, ST/250.787, 1996, TGE; 2 plants, foreshore, upper saltmarsh, just E of lighthouse, Uskmouth, ST/329.828; 100s plants saltmarsh, E of Uskmouth, ST/3398.8235, 2001, TGE; 30 plants, on saltmarsh, W from Peterstone Pill from ST/359.824 to 3581.8234, 2001, TGE. The 2 records in SO/30 must have been garden escapes, or were errors of card marking. 8 t Plate 21

Thrift grows on salt marshes, saline turf, cracks in rocks and on sea cliffs, it also occurs in the mountains. In the vice-county it is: on the upper saltmarsh at Caldicot, ST/47.86, and Undy, ST/45.85, and Magor, ST/43.84, 1950-87, TGE; foreshore, Uskmouth, 1985, SP; SE of Great House, Redwick, ST/42.83,1985, PRG, TGE, UTE; gritty, saline turf, Lamby, ST/23.77, TGE. 6 t CLUSIACEAE St John’s-worts They are usually perennial herbs or small shrubs with simple leaves with almost entire edges, the blade may have coloured or translucent glands (best viewed through a lens and with the light shining through them), the petiole is lacking or very short and there are no stipules; the bisexual, actinomorphic flowers are solitary or in terminal cymes, a flower has 5 free, often glandular sepals and yellow petals, numerous stamens, often slightly fused, in bundles of 3 or 5 the 1-, 3- or 5celled ovary has 3 or 5 styles and may become a capsule or a succulent berry-like fruit. 130

Flora of Monmouthshire HYPERICUM St John’s-wort St John’s-worts are herbs or shrubs with opposite, simple and entire leaves, often with translucent glands and/or black or red dots; the actinomorphic flowers usually have 5 free, yellow petals, twisted in bud, 4-5 sepals, numerous stamens grouped in bundles, an ovary with 3-5 styles and a capsular fruit.

! Hypericum calycinum

Rose-of-Sharon

Rose-of-Sharon is an evergreen, low-growing shrub forming a mass of short, erect shoots from creeping rhizomes; the broadly oval leaves have negligible petioles; the yellow flowers are up to 8 cm in diameter, solitary or grouped in 23s, with shorter sepals and masses of stamens with reddish anthers above asymmetric petals; the fruit is pear-shaped and has 5 styles.

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Tutsan grows mainly in damp woods. In the vicecounty it is widespread, thinning out in the hilly west and coastal levels and absent from the higher land. 141 t

! Hypericum hircinum

Stinking Tutsan

This is an erect, glabrous, much branched shrub to 1.5m tall with 4-ridged stems; the leaves have inconspicuous glands that produce a strong, goatlike smell when bruised; the yellow flowers are up to 4 cm across with shorter sepals and slightly longer stamens; the 3 styles are c.2 x as long as the ovary. Grown in gardens it only rarely escapes into the British countryside. The only record is in a wood, The Coombe, ST/4.9L, WAS (1920) (1 t)

18 31

Hypericum perforatum Perforate St John’s-wort

This alien from SE Europe and Asia Minor is grown widely in gardens where its spread has to be controlled, leading to throw outs which sometimes take root in the countryside. Abandoned gardens sometimes go wild and this persistent plant survives, apparently wild. All the vice-county records are derived from one of these events. 11 t

Hypericum androsaemum

Tutsan

Tutsan is semi-evergreen shrub to 70 cm, the branched stems have 2 raised lines running down them; the oval to oblong leaves are opposite and sessile; the pale yellow flowers are up to 22 mm in diameter, the petals are shorter than the unequal sepals that enlarge and curl back in fruit; the ovary has three styles and forms a roundish, fleshy, berry-like fruit that turns red then black and may be up to 10 mm across.

18 31

131

Flora of Monmouthshire H. perforatum is a glabrous, erect perennial with cylindrical stems bearing 2 vertical, raised lines; the narrow oval, opposite, unstalked leaves have many translucent dots (hold against light); the yellow flowers can be 2 cm in diameter and are arranged in broad panicles in the upper part of the stems, the sepals are narrow and may have black glands, and are much shorter than the petals. It grows in open woodland, unimproved grassland and verges. It is still fairly common, apart from on the highest ground. 327 t

about 50 degrees and bear golden-yellow flowers, c. 2 cm across, in broad panicles, the petals carry black glands as interrupted lines, the sepals may have black glands and have teeth on their upper margins. 23

Hypericum desetangsii

desetangsii nothosubsp. Des Etangs’ St John’s-wort

This H. perforatum x H. maculatum subsp. obtusiusculum hybrid has characters lying between its parents having 2-4 raised lines, few translucent leaf-glands and toothed sepal apex with a short, central point beyond the teeth.

18 31

It is a plant of marginal habitats such as wood edges, road verges, stream banks and unimproved meadows. Though still widespread, woodland management and recent farming practices have reduced the number of good habitats. 279 t

Hypericum tetrapterum Square-stalked St John’s-wort

This is an upright, glabrous perennial with fourangled stems with narrow wings running down them; the oval to elliptic leaves have only translucent glands and they half clasp the stems; the flowers to 1 cm are pale yellow and are borne in a spreading panicle, petals and sepals are almost the same length.

18 31

It grows in open woodland and nearby unimproved grassland. Records: trackside, Thicket Wood, ST/44.88, 1989, TGE; Cwmcarvan, SO/48.07, 1991, JFH; Lydart, SO/49.08 Z and SO/50.09 E, 1991, JFH; Risca, SO/22.91 F, 1993, JFH; trackside, Minnetts Wood, ST/45.89, 1997, APC conf. CAS, Dingestow Castle, SO/455.104, 1998, SDSB; scrub near A40, SE of Dingestow Court, SO/456.096, 1998, SDSB. 10 t

Hypericum maculatum subsp. obtusiusculum Imperforate St John’s-wort

Imperforate St John’s-wort is an erect, glabrous perennial with a square stem, the angles of which have raised lines but are not winged; more rooting stems arise from its rhizomes; the leaves are oval, noticeably veined and with few or no translucent glands; the flowering branches arise at

18 31

132

Flora of Monmouthshire Expect to find this species in wet places. In the vice-county, plants grow in wet meadows, open spaces in woods, by streams and ponds. Drainage has had a detrimental effect on numbers. 226 t

Hypericum humifusum Trailing St John’s-wort

This plant consists of a slender, prostrate, glabrous, 2-lined, branching stem that often roots at the nodes, and bears small, opposite, oval to elliptic leaves, while the pale yellow flowers are borne singly on the ends of the branches; the flowers are 8-12 mm in diameter, the petals are just longer or up to almost twice as long as the sepals; black glands appear on the leaves and to some extent on the sepals and petals.

18 31

It grows in dry open woodland, hedge banks and heathland on acid soils. Numbers are down but it is still widespread, except on the Severn Levels, where it has probably always been rare or absent. 192 t

Hypericum hirsutum

Hairy St John’s-wort

This is an erect perennial to 1 m tall with visibly hairy leaves and stems, its stems are cylindrical but have 2 raised lines; the leaves are oblong to elliptical and have only translucent dots; the flowers range from 18 to 22 mm in diameter, the pale yellow petals are twice as long as the narrow sepals; both the sepals and the petals have marginal, stalked, black glands.

18 31

It grows in open spaces in woods, on hedgebanks and on dry heathland mainly on acid soils. It is not found on the Severn Levels and though it is widespread, actual numbers of plants are generally low. It is not often that it appears in the numbers once seen on the sandy banks around the pond on the western side of Trellech Hill, SO/503.070. 126 t

Hypericum pulchrumSlender St John’s-wort

This is a glabrous, erect, smooth, rounded and reddish-stemmed perennial, with dark green, triangular-ovate leaves that appear slightly pinched towards their tips; the bright yellow flowers up to 15 mm across occur in lax, narrow panicles at the end of rather few and slender branches, the petals have a reddish tinge to their undersides; black stalked glands adorn the margins of sepals and petals.

H. hirsutum grows in open spaces in woodland, in unimproved, damp grassland and on river banks. It seems to be more common in the east of the vicecounty and becomes quite scarce on the coalfield and the improved farms of central vc 35. 117 t

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Flora of Monmouthshire

Hypericum montanum

Paths, Wentwood, ST/42.94, 1987, TGE, UTE; Monmouth area, SO/5.1 B, 1987, BJG; Orles Wood, SO/5.1 C, 1987, BJG; on rail track, Lord’s Grove, SO/542.117, 1990, BJG; Stony bank, Dixton, SO/523.138, 1986, BJG; wood edge, Warren Slade, ST/54.92, 1990, TGE; wall of Chepstow Castle, ST/533.941, 1991, RF & JVHS. 9 t (5 t)

Pale St John’s-wort

This is an erect, almost glabrous, unbranched perennial that is usually less than 1 m tall; its leaves with sparse hairs on the underside are in opposite pairs, they are well spaced out up the stem and are oval to broadly lanceolate, they have sessile, black glands dotted around the leaf margin; the fragrant flowers are pale yellow to 15 mm in diameter and arranged in rather dense, flat-topped clusters at the top of the stem; the sepals are edged with black, stalked glands.

Hypericum elodes

Marsh St John’s-wort

H. elodes is a short, hairy perennial with erect flowering stems arising from creeping and rooting stolons; the soft hairs covering the plant makes it look greyish; the leaves are roundish and sessile and half enclose the stem at nodes that are often slightly swollen; the pale yellow flowers do not open as in the rest of the genus but remain bellshaped, and are borne in small clusters at the top of the stems; the upright sepals are much shorter than the petals and have red, stalked glands on their margins.

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It grows in open, deciduous woodland, hedgebanks and rocky slopes usually on calcareous soils. It seems to be confined to the E of the vice-county; described by Wade (1970) as rare and local, it is now close to extinction. There were a few plants on Chepstow Castle walls in 1991 and less than 5 on a stony bank in the railway cutting W of Chepstow station in 1994 but nothing since. Full records in Wade (1970): railway bank opposite Mally Brook (must be Hadnock Road, ST/52.13, TGE); near Highmeadow siding ?SO/54.14; near Hadnock Quarry, *; Kymin Hill, Monmouth, *; near Fiddler’s Elbow; Garth Wood, near Monmouth, *; railway bank opposite Dixton, *; Hadnock Wood, *; Lady Park Wood, *, all SGC; Wyndcliff, 1841, JM and WAS (1920); Chepstow; Mounton; Shirenewton; Llandogo, all WAS (1920); Piercefield Wood (no date), HSR. Recent records: limestone wood, Common-y-coed, Undy, ST/436.888, 1957-82, TGE; open paths in Minnetts Wood and Hardwick Plantation, ST/45.89, 197080, TGE; on stony tracks in wood, Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, 1982, TGE; stony paths, Castle Wood, ST/52.94, 1982, TGE; railway cutting, W of Chepstow station, ST/537.928, 1982-1994, TGE; N of Dan-y-graig, SO/38.21, 1987, IR; near Five

18 31

It grows on bogs, streamsides and pond sides, usually where the substrate is acid. In the vicecounty, its sites in Wade (1970) were: near Pontnewydd, 1830s, CC; Blaenavon; Pontypool, 1868, JHC; behind Puzzle House, Bargoed; Pen-yfan Pond, 1922-23, AM; near Foxwood, SH (1909); Mynydd Dimlaith, *; Trellech Bog, *, 1874-1904, AL, SH, SGC; Pen-y-fan, near Whitebrook, SGC; by the Virtuous Well, Trellech. Recent records: wet area, Ebbw Vale National Garden site SO/16.07, 1987, A & EW; Nant Ffrwd, The British, SO/250.045, 1986, RH; wet hollow, Pant y Gollen, SO/287.028, 1988, RF; 30-40 plants, boggy ground, where maturing conifers are causing a decline in numbers, N of Trellech Hill, SO/503.075, 1985, EW; roadside ditch and 134

Flora of Monmouthshire These trees are native on base-rich soils, particularly on the two Carboniferous Limestone areas of the Wye Valley, viz. Chepstow-Tintern and the Highmeadow and Lady Park woods. The sites outside these areas are for single or small groups of planted trees. The best county site is St Pierre Great Woods, ST/503.930, GP, where there are about 20 substantial trees most of which seem to have grown from stools of previous trees and some multi-trunked trees that were coppiced when young. 18 t

adjacent bog, S of Mountain Air public house, SO/141.063, 1988-2003, TGE; mossy flush, Balbach SO/275.262, 1986, M & CK; acid flush, Coed Waun-Bleiddian SO/167.045, 1990, SK; 80 m² in flush, W of Acorn Garage, S of Tredegar, SO/150.069, 1990 & 1995, TGE; less than 10 plants in flush, SW of Crumlin Old Farm, ST/203.990, 1992, TGE, UTE; boggy pond in wooded area, Pen-y-fan, SO/527.052, 2002, SJT; 30 m spread along plant-clogged stream, Pen-yfan, SO/5279.0523, 2002, TGE. 10 t (1 t)

Tilia x europaea TILIACEAE Lime family Limes are deciduous trees, with alternate, simple, heart-shaped, petiolate leaves that have serrated edges and early-falling stipules. The 2-25 fragrant flowers are in cymes the stalk of which is fused to a large, papery, narrowly-oblong bracteole that provides the wing to carry the fruits away from the parent, the flowers are actinomorphic and hermaphrodite, there are 5 free sepals and 5 free, yellowish petals, numerous stamens arranged in 5 bundles, there is a 1 styled ovary that is 5-celled with each cell containing 2 ovules.

Lime

This T. platyphyllos x T. cordata hybrid can grow to over 40 m in height; its young twigs soon become glabrous; its leaves (to 6 cm) have white hairs in tufts between main vein angles only, the petioles may or may not be pubescent, there are prominent tertiary veins on the upper side; the cymes of 6-10 flowers are pendulous among the leaves; the fruits are slightly ribbed. 23

Tilia platyphyllos

Large-leaved Lime

This lime can grow to over 30 m though some were coppiced and have many trunks growing from the stool, the young twigs are hairy, the large leaves (to 12 cm) are sparsely hairy on the underside, more so on the veins and have hairy petioles, the flowers are in cymes of mainly 2-4 that hang down among the leaves, the fruits are strongly ribbed.

18 31

A widely planted tree on large estates, occasionally naturalized. Natural hybrids may occur in the Wye Valley where the parents grow together. 102 t

Tilia cordata 21

18 31

Small-leaved Lime

This tree can reach a height of over 35 m. Its young twigs soon lose their hairs, its leaves are more rounded, have glabrous petioles and reddish-brown tufts of hairs in the main vein angles only; the cymes of mainly 4-10 flowers are held obliquely above the leaves; the fruits are scarcely ribbed. Tilia cordata is certainly native in the Wye Valley and probably elsewhere because, though it is at home on calcareous soils it is not confined to them. It is absent from the coalfield and the Severn Levels. 102 t

135

Flora of Monmouthshire Tilia cordata

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Malva sylvestris

Common Mallow

Common Mallow varies from being erect to 1 m or sprawling, and is a hairy, short-lived perennial; the roundish shallowly-lobed leaves have palmate main veins; the flowers are up to a diameter of 5 cm, pinkish-purple, and look darker due to the dark honey lines converging at the claw; the petals are narrowly triangular, so leaving spaces between them; the nutlets are net-marked and angular.

MALVACEAE Mallow family The Mallow family is composed mainly of herbs, though occasionally there are shrubs; the leaves are usually palmately veined, often lobed or both, they have petioles and stipules; the flowers are actinomorphic and hermaphrodite, they have 5 usually free sepals and petals, the latter mainly pink to purple, there is often an epicalyx; there are numerous stamens, whose filaments are fused to form a tube around the ovary and styles; the fruit is like a miniature pumpkin that breaks up into segments containing 1-many seeds.

MALVA Mallows Mallows are herbs with an epicalyx of 3 free segments; the notched petals may be shades of red, occasionally white; the fruit breaks into many 1seeded nutlets.

Malva moschata

Musk-mallow

M. moschata is a perennial to 80 cm tall with upper leaves finely divided along the 5 main veins into narrow lobes, the basal ones are often simple with a shallowly-lobed margin and only the main veins palmately arranged; the bright pink or white petals are roughly triangular, attached by a narrow claw, and widely notched; the numerous nutlets have rounded margins and longish, white hairs protruding from their surface. Its natural habitat is probably natural grassland but with so much ‘improved’ grassland on farms in the vice-county, it is relatively much more common on grassy verges or on the reducing numbers of waste patches of grassland or field margins. It is not common on hilly pastures or in woodland. 159 t Plate 22

18 31

This plant seems to take advantage of any unused ground, so occurs on waste ground, verges of roads and rail and woods. There are very few tetrads where it is not to be found. 331 t Plate 23

Malva neglecta

Dwarf Mallow

This is a sprawling, hairy annual with rather roundish, shallowly-lobed leaves; the pale lilac to whitish flowers are 15-25 mm in diameter, the petals have whiskery claws and are twice as long as the sepals; the linear to oval epicalyx segments 136

Flora of Monmouthshire are shorter than the sepals; the nutlets are smoothish, hairy and slightly angular.

1970-2006, TGE; top of the rocky island, The Denny, ST/459.810, 1976, TGE, 1993, M & CK, 2001, CT; cliffs, Blackrock, ST/513.881, 1990, JRDV, 3 plants, 1995, TGE; low cliffs, Uskmouth, 1986, ShP. 7 t (1 t) Plate 24

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35 18

Dwarf Mallow occupies verges, the narrow strip of ground at the foot of walls, roadsides and other dry places. In this county, it was familiar at entrances to farms at the foot of their walls or those of neighbouring cottages. Because of the pressures for more hygiene, entrances and farm yards were concreted over and the plant declined in numbers. The village tidiness phobia means that any wild plant appearing anywhere along the village street is regarded as a blot on the landscape and must be zapped, so the decline proceeds. The best area for the plant seems to be on the slightly lighter soils of area enclosed by the Caldicot to Magor to Penhow to Caerwent rectangle. 17 t

! Lavatera thuringiaca Garden Tree-mallow This SE European plant grows to over 2 m, forming a woody, branching shrub, with young stems densely covered with stellate hairs; the hairy, 3 to 5-lobed leaves have a central lobe longer than the others; the pale pink to purple flowers may be more than 8 cm across. In gardens, it makes a showy display from mid summer for more than 2 months; it is a garden throw-out or may be planted on roadside banks. In the vice-county it was: on an A465 roadside bank, W of Maindiff Court Hospital, SO/31.15, 1987, RF; E side of the entrance to Ifton Great Wood/Hardwick Plantation, ST/460.895, 1994, TGE, but though apparently well established had disappeared by 1995. 2 t

LAVATERA Tree Mallows Tree Mallows are somewhat similar to Malva but more woody and the 3 epicalyx segments are fused together at the base - in bud this is quite noticeable.

Lavatera arborea

Tree Mallow

L. arborea is a biennial that grows to 3 m tall. The young parts are closely covered with stellate hairs; the leaves are shallowly 5-7 lobed at the end of the palmately-arranged, main veins; the dark, pinkish-purple flowers have a diameter of up to 5 cm and are made darker-looking by the black honey lines converging to the eye of the flower; the nutlets have the shape of miniature, fossilised sea urchins. This is a plant of coasts, particularly of the west of Britain, facing the Atlantic or Irish Sea. The vicecounty inland plants are garden escapes, as in cultivated soil their seeds do very well. The coastal sites are: on the Lias cliffs, Sudbrook, ST/506.873,

ALTHAEA Marsh-mallows These herbs have an epicalyx of 6-10 segments fused below; flowers pale pink to purple; the tube formed by the fused filaments of the stamens is smooth but hairy; the fruit breaks into numerous 1seeded nutlets.

Althaea officinalis

Marsh-mallow

The tightly-packed, white stellate hairs give the plant a white-woolly look, the many erect stems produce quite a bushy plant to 1.5 m; the roundedtriangular leaves are shallowly 3-5 lobed; the flowers to 4 cm in diameter are pale pink with 137

Flora of Monmouthshire triangular petals that leave gaps between near the claws. The anthers are a darker colour than the petals.

ABUTILON Velvetleaf Velvetleaf is an annual herb, there is no epicalyx, the petals are yellow, the fruit is made up of 5 several-seeded nutlets.

! Abutilon theophrasti

18 31

Velvetleaf

A. theophrasti is an erect, hairy annual to 1 m; it has simple and stellate-hairy, heart-shaped leaves; the yellow flowers are in small clusters near the top of the plant, there is no epicalyx; the nutlets, with outward pointing beaks, are black and hairy. It is an alien casual that turns up in waste places such as on tips, and where birdseed, oilseed and wool shoddy is used. In the vice-county it usually appears as a single plant in crops or among weeds. Records are: 1 plant, roadside, Crossway Green, SW of Shirenewton, ST/468.928, 1975, TGE, det. EJC; 1 plant standing above a field of swedes, Twyn Farm, SO/375.079, 1989, TGE; 1 plant close to Lactuca serriola in a weedy field, Rogiet Rifle Range, ST/465.867, 1995, TGE. (3 t)

Marsh-mallows are plants of upper saltmarshes, brackish meadows and reen banks near the sea. In vc 35 they are never far from the R. Severn. Records: several large clumps, along the moor road, Peterstone, Wentlooge, ST/251.791, 1972, TGE, tethered horses and goats and other human activities have long since cleared the verges; bank of sea wall and adjacent field, Noah’s Ark, Undy, ST/446.886, 1974-84, BT, TGE, ‘improvements’ in mid 1980s have cleared the area of the plants; reenside, Peterstone, ST/286.806, 1974, TGE, change of land management has now eliminated it there; 3-4 m² upper saltmarsh, Goldcliff, ST/348.823, 1983, CT, 1986-93, TGE, UTE, DU; 43 plants shared between both sides of New Quay Gout, ST/277.806 to 279.805, 1985-2003, TGE, numbers have increased there; 1 plant, R. Usk bank E end of Transporter Bridge. Newport, ST/319.861, 1988, TGE; several plants, upper saltmarsh, W of Caldicot Pill, ST/48.87, 1985, TGE; 3 plants, S side of minor road, Undy, ST/442.863, 1996, TGE; 300+ plants along the sides of Goldcliff Pill, ST/362-6.826-7, 1996, TGE, MJ; 27 plants appeared on upper saltmarsh, E of Caldicot Pill, and S of the sea wall following disturbance by vehicles used in constructing the causeway bringing the second Severn crossing roadway ashore, there were no plants there for years before, ST/495.873, 1996, TGE, DU; 1 plant among rocks on upper saltmarsh, Lamby, ST/222.776 and 1 more ST/232.777, 2001, TGE, GH, CT. 10 t (1 t) Plate25

HIBISCUS Bladder Ketmia Hibiscus is an annual herb with an epicalyx of 1013 segments almost free to the base; petals pale yellow with a violet patch at their base; fruit a dehiscent capsule with 5 many-seeded cells.

! Hibiscus trionum

Bladder Ketmia

H. trionum is a rather bristly annual to a little over 30 cm; its leaves are deeply divided into 3 pinnately-lobed segments; the flowers are c. 5 cm in diameter and pale yellow with a dark violet blotch in the centre; the petals are spirally arranged and have one side-edge tinged violet; the calyx enlarges and conceals the capsular fruit. It is a native of SE Europe, Asia and Africa and its seeds are imported for gardeners, and come in birdseed, oilseed and wool waste. There is only one record for vc 35: on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/307.856, 1980, E & BB, TGE. (1 t) Figure 11 DROSERACEAE Sundew family Members of the family are herbaceous perennials with a reddish, basal rosette of leaves, covered with sticky, glandular hairs for trapping small insects, the leaves have petioles and stipules; the white, actinomorphic flowers are arranged in a simple cyme on fine stems, there are 5-8 sepals, petals and stamens; the 1-celled ovary contains many ovules and has 2-6 styles; the fruit is a capsule. 138

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 11

Hibiscus trionum 139

Bladder Ketmia

Flora of Monmouthshire

Drosera rotundifolia Round-leaved Sundew

The leaves consist of an orbicular blade, not more than 1 cm in diameter, the upper surface of which has the entrapping sticky hairs, and a tapering, pubescent petiole, both together not exceeding 5 cm in length; the flower bearing peduncle arises from the centre of the rosette.

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18 32

It grows on base-rich grassland. In the vice-county it is found mainly on the Carboniferous Limestone of the SE and NE corners. Localised records are: Caerwent Quarry, ST/472.895, 1974, CT, TGE; defensive bank of Iron Age Fort, Sudbrook, ST/503.873, 1981-2004, TGE; Carrow Hill, ST/43.89, 1973, TGE, CT & E of, ST/44.90, 1996, JDRV; Cuhere Wood, Llanvair Discoed, ST/45.92, 1987, TGE, UTE; bank above and to N of Broadwell Farm, ST/496.913, 1985-95, TGE; rough pasture, Newton Court, SO/520.153, 1986-7, BJG; 100s meadow N of Old Cwm Mill, ST/459.932, 1991, CM, JPW; many patches, E end of MOD, Caerwent, ST/492.914, 1980-2003, TGE, CT. Wade (1970) gives these extra sites: Wyndcliff, Mounton, Shirenewton, Runston, The Minnetts, near Caldicot, Portskewett, Ifton, Highmoor Hill; all in the SE corner. The loss of hay meadows and other changes of land management have caused a deterioration of the above sites. 9 t

It grows in wet heaths and acid peaty bogs. In the vice-county, apart from Narth Bog, Cleddon Bog and Pen y van Bog, all sites are in the wet, hilly west. 20 t (1 t) CISTACEAE Rock-rose family Members of Cistaceae are annuals or low-growing, evergreen shrubs with simple, entire, sessile or with short-petioled leaves, which usually have stipules; the actinomorphic, hermaphrodite flowers are arranged in simple, terminal cymes; they have 5 free sepals, the 2 outer ones smaller than the other 3 and 5 free, usually yellow or white, petals.

VIOLACEAE Violet family Violaceae are small herbs with alternate leaves that are simple, toothed and mainly basal and have petioles and stipules; the zygomorphic, hermaphrodite flowers are solitary, axillary or arise from the basal rosette; there are 5 sepals that extend backwards beyond their attachment to form small appendages; there are 5 separate petals, the lowest of which forms a lip in front and a spur behind, the 5 stamens are held in a close ring around the ovary.

HELIANTHEMUM Rock-roses They are low-growing woody perennials; they have 1-veined leaves and an ovary with a style as long as itself.

Helianthemum nummularium Common Rock-rose Common Rock-rose is usually a low-spreading subshrub to 30 cm or more; it has paired, elliptic to oblong leaves, sparsely hairy above but densely whitish-hairy underneath; the usually, golden yellow flowers are 20-25 mm across and borne in cymes of 1-12.

Viola odorata

Sweet Violet

This perennial has a covering of quite short hairs, reflexed or appressed on the petioles; it spreads by rooting runners; its leaves are broadly heart140

Flora of Monmouthshire It is only common on calcareous soils, hence the frequency of records in the SE of the vice-county. It is found only where the meadows have not been improved e.g. in MOD, Caerwent, ST/4.9 Q & V, or built over, or had trees planted over them. 25 t

shaped and they enlarge as the season progresses; the flowers are violet or white, with a violet or purple spur, the sepals are comparatively broad. The sweet scent is not so noticeable as fifty years ago or has age dulled my senses?

Viola x scabra

a hybrid Violet

This V. odorata x. V hirta hybrid is intermediate between its parents, especially in runner development, flower scent and partial fertility. Wade (1970) gave records at: Trap Hill, Mounton; Wyndcliff; Thornwell, Chepstow; and Portskewett, all attributed to WAS. (4 t)

Viola riviniana

18 31

Common Dog-violet

This Dog-violet has broadly heart-shaped, almost glabrous or shortly hairy leaves rising from a small tuft, the flowers are variable in colour from pale blue to deep bluish-violet and a stout spur that is cleft and maybe upturned at its tip, and it is always a paler colour than the petals; the sepals are narrow and taper to a point and their appendages are more than 1.5 mm long.

It lives in hedgerows, woods and scrub. In the vicecounty, in the last forty years it has become much more difficult to find; the control of verges in the 1960s by the use of herbicides, and the run off of nitrates etc that has favoured coarser plants have reduced it from common to scattered plants, and have made white-flowered plants commoner than violet ones. Much of the western hills and the Severn Levels are devoid of the species. 199 t

Viola hirta

Hairy Violet

This is a hairy, more densely tufted perennial with longer hairs on the leaves and spreading on the petioles, and it produces no runners; the leaves are longer than broad and also enlarge with time; the unscented flowers are a more bluish-violet.

18 31

It grows mainly in woods of all kinds but can be found in grasslands and hedges. It is widespread in the vice-county apart from the Severn Levels. 338 t

Viola reichenbachiana

18 31

Early Dog-violet

This is similar to V. riviniana but differs in that its sepal appendages are less than1.5 mm long and the shorter spur, that tapers to a rounded point, is a darker, violet colour than the petals; it also tends to start and end flowering first. It grows in woods and other shady places, especially on more calcareous soils. It does not survive in Douglas Fir plantations. 150 t

141

Flora of Monmouthshire spite of wandering over much of the vice-county I have never seen it in Monmouthshire. Wade (1970) said it was very rare and gave one record made by WAS for wood near Tintern; there are no specimens in NMW from this county and I suspect that one of the variants of V. riviniana with a very white spur is the cause of mis-identifications. (? 7 t)

Viola reichenbachiana 23

Viola lactea

18 31

Viola x bavarica

Pale Dog-violet

V. lactea is an almost hairless perennial, with all its lanceolate or narrowly ovate leaves on its ascending 1-2 stems; the base of the leaves is rounded or cuneate; its 15-20 mm long flowers are pale bluish-white or greyish-violet with a short yellowish or greenish spur; it has toothed, lanceolate stipules. It lives on dry heaths. The only record is: by Minnetts Lane, Rogiet, ST/4.8 ?P or U, 1942, *, JCE. (1 t)

a hybrid Dog-violet

This V. riviniana x V. reichenbachiana hybrid is intermediate between its parents in its sepal appendages length, but it has a dark spur and it is almost wholly sterile.

Viola palustris

Marsh Violet

The leaves and flowers arise from creeping rhizomes or stolons, the roundish, hairless leaves have a deep cordate base, the flowers, with a blunt very short spur, are pale bluish-lilac with darker veins; the lack of an aerial stem is diagnostic.

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It grows where its parents grow together but I doubt whether it occurs in as many as 10 tetrads because the latter is less common, the overlap when both are in flower at the same time is not long and the sterility may not be solely due to hybrid origin. ESM and WAS also quote Wyndcliff as a site. ? 10 t

Viola canina

18 31

It grows in very wet places from acid bogs to woodland flushes. In the vice-county its main headquarters are the wet uplands in the west. The drainage of farmland and the planting of trees in marshy areas has reduced the occurrence in the centre and the north. 69 t

Heath Dog-violet

V. canina is a short, almost hairless perennial with no basal rosette of leaves; the leaves are ovate with a truncate or cordate base, the non-scented petals are a clear blue, the spur whitish or yellowish. It grows in open woods, grassy or sandy heaths, fens or dunes; the substrate is frequently acid. In 142

Flora of Monmouthshire

Viola palustris subsp. juressi

Marsh Violet

terminal lobe of the stipule is distinctly wider than the rest and often the margin is somewhat crenate.

Similar to subsp. palustris but leaves obtuse to subacute (some leaves of subsp. palustris have this character) and have some hairs on the petioles. The position of the bracteoles on the pedicels (below the middle in subsp. palustris, near middle in subsp. juressi) I find unreliable. Thus hairs on the pedicels, if the only criterion, makes the claim for subspecies status rather tenuous.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

18 32

It grows in the same conditions as subsp. palustris, sometimes in the same marsh. Vc 35 records: wet, open woodland, Cwm Merddog, SO/187.064, 1991, TGE; 3-4 m² wet heath, N of Pen-y-fan Pond, SO/1937.0057, 1994-2001, PAS, TGE; marshy area, Coed Llifos, ST/454.970, 1995, TGE; large patches, wet heath, Pontllanfraith, ST/165.963, 1995, TGE; wet heath, E of Aberbargoed, ST/162.986, 1995, TGE; marsh, near Castroggy Brook, ST/443.947, 1996, TGE. 5 t

Viola lutea

! Viola x wittrockiana

Garden Pansy

This V. tricolor x V. arvensis hybrid can be recognised from the other pansies by its flowers that are 3.5-10 cm across and have overlapping petals. Planted in gardens, town beds and parks, it sometimes escapes onto neighbouring land. There are two county records: rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1980, TGE; waste ground, NE side of minor road from Marshfield, ST/268.816, 1994, GH. (2 t)

Mountain Pansy

This is a perennial with aerial stems rising from a slender rhizome to 20 cm and oval to lanceolate, bluntly toothed leaves; the large stipules are narrowly pinnately-lobed almost to the mibrib and are terminated in a slightly larger, entire, oval lobe; the 2-3.5 mm across flowers are yellow or blue or mixture of blue and yellow with a 3-6 mm spur. A plant of upland areas, often base-rich, or soils containing heavy metals. No current county records in spite of searches. Wade (1970) cited the following: Honddu and Grwyne Fawr Valleys, AL; Hatterall Hill, 1881, DB; Blaenavon, JHC. (4 t)

Viola tricolor subsp. tricolor

A plant of waste or cultivated land. Because of the widespread use of herbicides on farms I had not seen it for years, until 2004 when 20+ plants were flowering on bulldozed Avondale Children’s Play area, Blaenavon, SO/253.085; I doubt if any of the other 24 sites have it today. 25 t (1 t)

Viola arvensis

Field Pansy

A slender annual often supported by surrounding plants to reach a height of 40 cm; the bluntlytoothed leaves are oblong-obovate; the stipules are pinnately-lobed with a large end lobe; the flower varies in size from 8 to 20 mm across and is most often white with a yellow blotch on the claw-end of lip petal, but some have violet blotches or suffusion on upper petals. A common weed of arable land, though too often only on margins of crops. In the vice-county, it can still be found widely mainly on the edges of crop fields and on waste ground but in much smaller numbers than in the past. 172 t

Wild Pansy

This is very similar to Mountain Pansy differing in that it has flowers less than 2 cm across, the 143

Flora of Monmouthshire Viola arvensis

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18

31 31

CUCURBITACEAE White Bryony family These are annuals or herbaceous perennials, using tendrils or other climbing devices to scramble over other plants to take advantage of the sun; they have simple, alternate leaves which are often palmately lobed; the actinomorphic, unisexual flowers are borne in axillary racemes or in irregular groups; they have a hypanthium bearing 5 free sepals, 5 petals joined at the base, at least 3 stamens, 2 with 2 pollen sacs and the other with 1 (5 stamens occur rarely); the ovary is 1-celled, but intrusions of the inner wall makes it look more; the indehiscent fruit is succulent and either berry-like or cucumber-like.

CUCUMIS Cucumbers These are annuals, with separate male and female flowers on the same plant, with fibrous roots only; they climb using simple tendrils; their flowers are grouped in small numbers, the yellow corolla is divided to less than half way; the fruit is ellipsoid to cylindrical, with green to yellow variable surface.

! Cucumis melo

Melon

This plant scrambles over others using simple tendrils, the stems are hairy and the leaves are shallowly toothed or shallowly palmately-lobed; male flowers are grouped, female are solitary; the green to yellow, rugby-ball-shaped fruit, hairy at first, can grow to over 30 cm long. It grows on rubbish tips, where the heat produced by decomposing organic material aids germination of seeds, or at sewage works, where the decomposition of the filtered solids performs the same function. Melon plants were frequent on the rubbish tip on the Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85 in the 1970s and early 1980s. One specimen collected in October, 1978 by TGE was det. by EJC. (1 t)

BRYONIA White Bryony Bryonia are perennials with male and female flowers on different plants; they have sizeable tuberous roots; simple tendrils enable them to climb over other plants; their leaves are palmately lobed; the flowers, grouped in small numbers, are greenish-white; the fruit is a red, ±hairless berry.

Bryonia dioica

White Bryony

The plant can climb to 4 m; its hairy leaves are deeply divided into rather obtuse lobes; the actinomorphic flowers, with broadly oval petals, are 5-12 mm in diameter; the red fruit is 5-9 mm across. It is scarcer on high ground and the peaty levels. 151 t

CITRULLUS Water Melon These are annuals with separate, solitary male and female flowers on the same plant; their roots are fibrous only; they climb using their simple or branched tendrils, their yellow corolla is divided to more than half way; their green to yellow swollen fruit is smooth and hairless.

! Citrullus lanatus

Water Melon

The sprawling stems of this plant are very hairy when young and bristly as they mature; the main 144

Flora of Monmouthshire

White Poplar

Populus alba

veins of the leaves are pinnate and the leaf lobes are formed around them, with the opposite, basal pair the longest; the corolla can be as big as 18 mm in diameter and the globular fruit can exceed 30 cm. It grows on tips and near sewage works. The rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85 had numerous plants through the 1970s flourishing in the heat generated by decomposition. One plant collected in 1975 by TGE, det. EJC. (1 t)

This tree can grow to over 20 m. It has smooth, grey bark, and is often surrounded by suckers; its crown is broad; its leaves are palmately lobed often with a much longer central lobe, and they are all densely, white-tomentose beneath; male trees are said to be rare. 23

CUCURBITA Marrows As with Melons and Water Melons, Marrows are monoecious annuals with fibrous roots only, and climbing by branched tendrils, and their flowers are solitary, but their yellow corollas are divided to less than half way; their green to yellow fruit is globose to cylindrical.

! Cucurbita pepo

Marrow

Marrows are sprawling plants with hairy stems that spread over 2 m; their leaves are palmately lobed to different depths; the corolla can be well over 100 mm; its fruit can be huge attached to a ridged, swollen-ended stalk. It grows on tips and near sewage works. It appeared in several years in the 1970s on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, ST/30.85. One plant collected in 1978, TGE was det. EJC. (1 t)

18 31

Originally introduced and planted as ornamental trees, there has been some naturalization by suckers. In the vice-county they are fairly widespread as planted trees. 57t

Populus x canescens

Grey Poplar

This P. alba x P. tremula hybrid is intermediate between its parents; its general form is similar to P. alba but it is bigger rising to over 40 m; its leaves do not have such a dominant terminal lobe and all lobes are reduced to large blunt teeth, they quickly lose the young, densely tomentose under surface to become greeny-grey to subglabrous; the rather rare female is partially fertile.

SALICACEAE Willow family Members of this family are deciduous trees or shrubs, mostly dioecious, with simple, petiolate, mostly alternate, serrate leaves; there are stipules at the base of the petioles; the flowers, each in the axil of a bract in racemose catkins, are reduced to a cup-like perianth or 1-2 basal nectaries; in the male flowers there are varying numbers of stamens; in the female flowers there is a 1-celled ovary with 2 often large, bifid stigmas on insignificant styles and containing numerous ovules; seeds with their basal plume of hairs are dispersed on the breeze.

POPULUS Poplars Poplars are trees whose winter buds have outer scales; pendulous catkins, made up of toothed or deeply divided bracts and flowers with a cup-like perianth, appear before the leaves; there are a varying number of stamens but no nectaries because they are wind-pollinated; all the poplars have rather long, flexuous petioles so the leaves flutter noticeably when it is breezy.

18 31

145

Flora of Monmouthshire Grey Poplar is probably planted throughout the vice-county, usually as a single tree or in small groups in woods, hedgerows and meadows, but c. 50 were reported in Monmouth, SO/507.130, 19923, BJG. 31 t

Populus tremula

where the petiole and blade meet. The leaves and stems are sparsely hairy when young. 23

Aspen

A tree, similar to P. alba and reaching the same height of over 20 m, but is rather more graceful; its leaves, however, are almost circular with a sinuous edge of blunt teeth, with no teeth reaching lobe size, they are glabrous or almost so at maturity, its leaves flutter noisily in breezy weather.

18 31

All the vice-county subsp. betulifolia are male and are believed to have originated as a clone sold by nurseries 150-200 years ago. They are all old, many have been damaged by gales and some have been cut down when they became considered dangerous. Site list: N side of road to Wern Gethin Farm, ST/240.807, 1986, GH; 4 trees on field near farm lane, Tyrewen, SO/274.157, 1989, RF; 1 tree field/road edge, S of Llanwenarth Church, SO/275.148, 1989, RF; 2 trees in R. Usk bend, The Bryn, SO/33.09, 1989, CT; 2 (formerly 3) trees, field/rail bridge edge, Penpergwm Station, SO/322.101, 1985-2001, TGE; 1 tree (top blown off by 2001, revealing a clump of mistletoe hanging from a remaining branch), field W of R. Usk, Llanllowell, ST/388.988, 1989, CT; 3 trees (gales have reduced to 1 damaged one, 2003), New House, St Brides, Wentlooge, ST/301.830, 1989, TGE et al.; 2 felled trees, meadow, W of B4598, S of Pant-y-goitre Bridge, SO/349.087, 1986, EMR, TGE, UTE; 1 pollarded tree, N side A40 road, opposite Pysgodlyn Farm, SO/265.156, 1989, RF, 2001, TGE, GH, CT; 1 tree, Lamb and Flag Inn, SO/282.153, 1989, RF, TGE, 2001, TGE, GH, CT; 1 tree, S of and in grounds of Nevill Hall Hospital, 1991, RF and 1996 DrJS; 1 tree, R. Usk meadow, Pencarreg Farm, ST/386.988, 1991, RF; 10 stunted trees (3 now dead, 7 dying, 2001), peaty level, W of Magor Reserve, ST/420.862, 1993, TGE; 1 tree, meadow, S of Undy Chapel (converted to house), ST/428.871, 1994, ML; 1 tree (2 felled), laneside, Llandevenny, ST/407.869, 1997, CT, TGE; 1 tree, SE of pumping station, W bank R. Usk, Shaftesbury Park, Newport, ST/315.893, 1994,

18 31

It grow in woods and hedgerows and is probably native but is also planted in strips on field boundaries. Some vegetative spread by suckering takes place. 92 t

Populus nigra

Black Poplar

These are a group of trees of various habit, leaves varying in shape from diamond-shaped to triangular with a truncate or cuneate base. Because they are often planted and not readily accessible and the cultivars have only comparatively recently been described for the general botanist, much work has yet to be done to name all the Poplars planted around the vice-county.

Populus nigra subsp. betulifoliaBlack Poplar This tree to over 30 m is now well known as a result of its profile being raised for conservation. It has a massive trunk adorned in the lower part with many large bosses; its branches arch over and down and the ends then sweep up a little; its small-toothed leaves are roughly triangular with a cuneate or truncate base, and have no glands 146

Flora of Monmouthshire GH; 1 pollarded, hollow tree, SSE of Duffryn Farm, SO/2695.1491, 2001, TGE, GH, CT; 1 tree near R. Usk, S of Mardy Farm, SO/262.150, 2001, TGE, GH, CT; ? 3 trees, NE of Lower House, SO/27.15, 2001, TGE, GH, CT; 13 multistemmed maidens (male), part of hedge line N of Great Manson Farm, SO/499.156, 2006, DEG. 11 t (1 t) Plate 27

Populus x canadensis

hybrid Black-poplar

This P. nigra x P. deltoides hybrid also has many cultivars. It can grow to more than 40 m, can take different forms from ones with spreading crowns to narrower ones with largely upswept, lower branches; its leaves usually have a pair of sessile glands at the junction between petiole and blade.

Populus nigra ‘Italica’/’Plantierensis’

Both cultivars have tall, columnar trees narrow, a cylindrical or spire-like form, with upright branch growth, that is supposed to be unsuitable for nest building (however, a pair of magpies have successfully reared their brood, in two separate years, in nests near the top of a tall tree in my neighbour’s garden, though the nest, in each case, was dislodged in following winter gales). Both cultivars have non-burred trunks and both are male.

18 23 31 22

The cultivar introductions are planted for ornamental purposes, screening and as they are quick growing, for forestry purposes. A special effort is needed to sort the many cultivars used in the vice-county. It is not going to be easy as many of the trees are on private land and many have twigs and leaves out of reach. 134 t

! Populus trichocarpaWestern Balsam-poplar

18 31

This tree when mature can be over 30 m high with a narrowish silhouette, though its lower branches are quite spreading; suckers are rare; its leaves are ovate, tapering gradually to a pointed apex and with a truncate or near cordate base, the petioles are variably hairy; the trees are mostly male and quite aromatic on a warm spring day. An introduction with an increasing number of cultivars being planted for ornament or for timber, as the growth rate is fast. The number of tetrads is probably out of date, as planting is increasing. Some sites: planted on trackway, Abergavenny, SO/301.138, 1996, GH; meadow, MOD, Caerwent, ST/47.91, 1995-2004, TGE conf. RDM; line along W bank, R. Usk, Shaftesbury Park, Newport, ST/315.893, 1994, GH; planted along right bank of R. Usk, at The Island, Usk, SO/373.010, 19952003, TGE. 9 t

Tall columnar poplars are widely recorded as ‘Lombardy Poplars’ only but there are two similar cultivars ‘Italica’, known as Lombardy Poplar, has glabrous young shoots. ‘Plantierensis’ has pubescent young shoots and is less narrowly fastigiate (upright growing). I have looked at 34 of these columnar trees and all had hairy young twigs. Have ALL trees a common source (such as a nursery)? Will they ALL have hairy young twigs? Do we have any Lombardy Poplars in the vicecounty? Does the cultivar ‘Gigantea’ occur in the vice-county? It is like ‘Italica’ but is female and broader. Both trees are grown either as a single specimen tree or as a line or lines to act as a windbreak or for screening. 45 t 147

Flora of Monmouthshire SO/13.10, 1988, TGE, JK; near Information Centre, Wentwood Forestry Commission, ST/425.943, 1995, TGE. 2 t

Populus trichocarpa 23

Arc. Salix fragilis

Crack-willow

Crack-willow is a spreading tree to 25 m, its greenish twigs are hairy at first but soon become glabrous. If the twigs or small branches are bent backwards they snap easily and cleanly away from the major branch, which explains its English name. Its toothed leaves are lanceolate tapering to a point, and are shiny green above but greyish beneath; the stipules soon fall; the male flowers have 2 stamens and are borne in yellow, drooping catkins.

18 31

35 23

Populus ‘Balsam Spire’ hybrid Balsam-poplar

This is a tree to over 30 m with a very narrow outline and no suckers; its leaves are broadly ovate, abruptly brought to a point at its apex, and with a rounded base. It is used for screening and as a windbreak. I have no detail of its position except it is W of Tintern. 1t

SALIX Willows Willows are deciduous trees or dwarf to tall shrubs, their winter buds have only 1 outer scale; the flowers appear before or after its leaves and have entire bracts, 1-2 nectaries and usually 1-5 stamens. Hybrids occur frequently to muddy the waters. The use of R. D. Meikle’s BSBI Handbook No 4 on Willows and Poplars is advisable. Catkins, and juvenile and mature leaves are required for identification. Avoid leaves from vigorous young trees and suckers. Hybrids are under-recorded. Many trees along fishing rivers have disappeared since Wade (1970), presumably to give clear stretches for anglers.

Salix pentandra

It grows beside water, in wet meadows and woodlands. Missing from much of the uplands, otherwise quite common in vc 35. 273 t

Salix x rubens

hybrid Crack-willow

This S. alba x S. fragilis hybrid can reach a height of 30 m but quite often is a hedgerow plant and a victim to hedge cutting. Its appearance lies between that of its parents, with great variations. Lowland damp meadows, in hedges and by streams. Three sites in vc 35: near Sor Brook, Llandegveth, ST/33.95, 1987, TGE, ELB & LBB; near Sor Brook, Lan Sor, ST/34.94; several large old trees, apparently this hybrid, on moors below Magor, WAS. 3 t

Bay Willow

Bay Willow is a shrub or small tree usually to less than 10 m with coarse, fissured bark; the glossy, red-brown twigs are glabrous; the elliptical, leaves, c. 6 x 2 cm with insignificant petiole, are a glossy dark green, with some basal glands; the male catkins are bright yellow and each flower has usually 5-8 stamens, female catkins are greenish. It is found usually in wet habitats. Native in parts of Britain but not in this vice-county. It was planted in both cases: on A4048 bank, Tredegar,

Salix alba

White Willow

This tree, because of a generous covering of white hairs, makes a spreading tree of around 30 m look silvery-grey; its toothed, lanceolate leaves taper gradually to a point, are silky, like the shoots, when young and remain so underneath when mature; the yellow male catkins contain male flowers with 2 148

Flora of Monmouthshire stamens, the slender female catkins are green, and both appear with the leaves.

ST/434.854, 1994; Old Kemeys, ST/388.932, 1994; Wern Panna House, Gwernesney, SO/419.010, 1994; Monachty, SO/309.022, 1994; on R. Wye bank, SE of old road bridge, Chepstow, ST/536.943, 1997-2003. 8 t

Arc. Salix triandra

Almond Willow

Almond Willow is a small tree or shrub to 10 m with smooth, brown bark that tends to flake off; its ridged twigs are a glossy brown; its glabrous, tinytoothed, dark shiny green, 7.5-9.5 x 1.3-2.0 cm leaves, paler underneath, are lanceolate to elliptical, with 1-1.5 cm petioles; the male catkins contain flowers with 3 stamens each.

18 23 31

35 22

White willow is a lowland tree of wet areas. Scattered in lowland fields in vc 35 with more on the Severn Levels and in the Usk Vale than elsewhere. 129 t

Salix x sepulcralis

Weeping Willow

This S. alba x S. babylonica hybrid has a distinctive weeping habit with long, pale green slender shoots; its narrowly-lanceolate, finelytoothed leaves are silky when young but mature to a bright green above and grey below; the often curved catkins open up with the leaves in April.

18 31

Almond Willow grows in wet places, particularly by rivers and ponds. County sites: Silted up pool, by the side of R. Usk, Abergavenny, SO/283.141, 1989-91, RF; bank of R. Wye, S and E of Llandogo, SO/53.04, 1990-1, TGE; left bank of R. Wye, SE of Monmouth, SO/513.122, 1987, BJG, 1991, TGE; meadow, Mounton, ST/509.934, 1991, TGE; right, sandy bank, R. Usk, Llanllowell, ST/387.983, 1991, TGE; left bank R. Usk, near Trostrey Lodge, SO/357.077, 1991, RF; brookside, Hendre Farm, Llangattock-vibon-avel, SO/45.14, 1946, SGC; N and S side of road, Llandevenny, ST/405.864-5, 1999, CT. 6 t

18 31

! Salix x mollissima Sharp-stipuled Willow

This S. triandra x S. viminalis hybrid has varying characters of its parents; its leaves are as long as 11 cm and as wide as 1.5 cm. It is found along the banks of rivers and ponds, and in hedges near its parents. The 4 sites of the vicecounty are: a rather sandy right bank of the R. Usk, Llanllowell, ST/387.983, 1991, TGE; right bank of R. Usk, Llanfair Kilgeddin, SO/354.092, 1991,

Weeping Willows are planted in gardens, particularly large ones with ponds, for their ornamental value. Much under-recorded in vc 35 but probably not naturalised, those recorded are hosts of mistletoe by TGE. E.g. Llancayo, SO/374.032, 1973-95; W of Northgate Inn, Caerwent, ST/468.907, 1994; Pill Farm, Caldicot, 149

Flora of Monmouthshire TGE, both det. RDM; left bank, R. Rhymney and pond edge nearby, Bedwas, ST/18.88, 1993, TGE, conf. RDM; hedgerow, between Chapel Tump and Undy, ST/4.8 I, 1895, WAS, re-det. 1993, RDM. 3 t (1 t)

Salix purpurea

It grows in wet places. Our one record was from between Brockweir and Bigsweir, WAS, but there appears to be no specimen in NMW. (1 t)

Salix daphnoides

European Violet-willow

This is a tall shrub or slender tree to over 10 m; it has glabrous, violet-brown, glossy, upright twigs with a dense, whitish, waxy bloom; its oblong, finely toothed leaves are soon glabrous, then shiny dark green above and greyish beneath; it has large, heart-shaped stipules; its 3-4 cm catkins appear before its leaves. It grows on river and lake margins. The vicecounty record is in SO/2.2 S for a planted tree. 1 t

Purple Willow

Purple Willow is a shrub to 5 m but frequently less; its twigs are shiny, straightish, glabrous, yellowish or purple when young; its scarcely-toothed leaves are lanceolate-oblong to oblanceolate, somewhat glaucous, more so beneath, averaging 7.5 x 1.5 cm, with petioles to 1 cm and frequently opposite or nearly so; flowers have 1 purple stamen each.

Arc. Salix viminalis

Osier

Osier is a shrub or small tree to c. 5 m; its shoots are long and flexible and grey-downy becoming glabrous and a yellowish brown to a dull brown as they mature; the narrowly elongated, lanceolate leaves are usually up to c. 15 x 1.5 cm, the downturned margin lacks teeth, the upper side is green and the lower side silvery with silky hairs; appearing before the leaves, the narrow catkins are crowded at the shoot ends.

18 31

It grows in damp places, often by rivers, and recently it has been planted in landscaping projects. Vice-county sites: sandy, right bank of R. Usk, Llanllowell, ST/387.832, 1991, TGE, DL, conf. RDM; right bank, R. Usk, Llanfair Kilgeddin, SO/358.088, 1991, TGE; planted along top of the raised right bank of River Ebbw, E of large works, Ebbw Vale, SO/172.091, 2001, TGE; several planted along Lamby Way, ST/221.785, 2001, TGE, GH, CT; planted, near Nash, ST/34.83, 1991, TGE; near Llanfoist, SO/2.1 W, C & GT; planted near Caldicot Castle, ST/48.88, 2002, TGE. Additional records from Wade (1970): near Pont-yspig, SO/2.2 V, AL; Bassaleg, *; Portskewett, WAS; pond, near Bulwark, 1922, MCo. 8 t (4 t)

Salix x rubra

18 31

It is commonly found by the side of water. It was common along the banks of the R. Wye, R. Usk and other rivers, the reens, and around pools, but drainage and actions of the river authorities in favour of anglers has reduced numbers considerably. 149 t

a hybrid Willow

This S. purpurea x S. viminalis hybrid can grow as a shrub or a tree to 7 m; its twigs are yellowishbrown, glabrous and somewhat glossy when mature; its entire to remotely serrate leaves are 412 x 0.8-1 cm or more, densely hairy, sometimes becoming glabrous; its stamens are free or partly united.

! Salix udensis

Sachalin Willow

This is a shrub or small tree; it has shiny, glabrous, reddish to yellowish-brown twigs; its leaves to 15 x 3 cm have crenate-serrate margins and still have some hairs underneath at maturity; its male catkins 150

Flora of Monmouthshire have flowers with stamens either free or fused at the base. The male clone ‘Sekka’, which has stems that are fused together in flattened and abnormally twisted shapes, is the only form available in Britain and is grown in gardens and naturalised here. It occurs on a pond margin, at Newcastle, SO/454.186, RCP. It is so obviously a garden plant that it could be elsewhere but not recorded. 1 t

Salix x sericans

det. RL conf. RDM; NE corner Cleppa Park, Newport, ST/278.848, 1994, GH. 14 t

Salix x calodendron

Broad-leaved Osier

This S. viminalis x S. caprea hybrid is a robust bush or small spreading tree that can grow to 9 m tall; the hairs on the twigs make them ashy-white, but they are soon discarded to expose a shiny, yellowish or reddish bark which if peeled disclose no ridges underneath; the leaves are rather ovatelanceolate to broadly lanceolate, to 12 x 3 cm, gradually tapering to a point at the apex and gently rounded or broadly cuneate at their base, dull green and hairless on top and densely grey hairy below, their margins are remotely toothed, slightly wavy and narrowly turned down; the catkins appear in March well before the leaves. 23

Salix x smithiana 22

18 32

Silky-leaved Osier

This S. viminalis x S. cinerea hybrid is a robust shrub or small tree to 9 m with spreading branches; the twigs are densely pubescent usually to the second year when the hairs are lost and reveal the dark reddish-brown bark, under which the wood has a few ridges; the leaves are narrowly lanceolate becoming rather suddenly acuminate at the apex, the upper surface is almost hairless and dull green, the lower one grey with short hairs; the persistent stipules are moon or ear-shaped, sometimes with small, basal appendages; the catkins appear in numbers at the end of shoots before the leaves, in April. This hybrid is not uncommon on the edges of water, but under-recorded in the vice-county. Wade (1970) gave 5 sites: between Pandy and Oldcastle, Abergavenny, Llanddewi Fach and near Magor (all specimens in NMW); Undy, WAS. How many of the sites are still extant is unknown. I have had only one recent site: near lake, Bryn Bach Park, SO/12.10, 1988, TGE, JK. 7 t

Holme Willow

This could be a hybrid between S. caprea and S. cinerea but its origins are uncertain. It forms a tall, erect shrub or small tree, usually less than 10 m high, and resembles S. viminalis but it has twigs densely ashy-hairy or woolly until the second year before it loses its hairs to reveal its brown bark, which when peeled exposes the longitudinal ridges along the wood; the leaves are oblong-elliptic, c. 10 x 3 cm, dull green above with scattered hairs, ashy-grey below with a good covering of longer hairs where the often red midrib and lateral nerves are prominent, the margins are narrowly incurved and may have a few teeth or glands, the petioles are stout and rigid; the stipules are ear-shaped and obvious. It grows in wet places, often planted for biomass production. It is under-recorded. Only 2 sites have been reported: hedge near Pant-y-goitre Bridge, SO/348.091, 1991, RF conf. RDM; rear of main driveway, Cleppa Park, Newport, ST/279.848, 1994-95, GH, who reports it as the cultivar ‘Aquatica gigantea’. 14 t

It grows in wet places but was formerly planted. Some vice-county records: old coal waste, Bran Bach Park, Tredegar, SO/11.10 F, 1988, TGE, JK; Garn-yr-erw, SO/2.1 F, 1987, TGE, RF; Llanwenarth Valley, SO/2.1 T, 1989, TGE, UTE; W of Abergavenny, SO/28.13 & 14, W & X; E of Ysgyryd Fawr, SO/31 I, 1987, TGE, UTE; R. Wye bank, Monmouth, SO/515.131, 1991, TGE; on ballast, old shunting yards, Severn Tunnel Junction, ST/444.874, 1991, TGE; National Trust car park, SO/35.08, 1991, RF; edge of Priory Grove Wood, near Monmouth, SO/526.137, 1946,

Salix caprea

Goat Willow

Goat Willow is a tall shrub or small spreading tree with a rather open top; its twigs are robust 151

Flora of Monmouthshire This S. caprea x S. cinerea hybrid is extremely common and ranges in characters from the one parent to the other, and those closest to S. caprea could easily be boosting the numbers of Goat Willow through mis-identification. Seven records are an under-representation of the true picture. Wade (1970) gave: Pwll Diwaelog, Castleton, * and Blackcliff Wood, Tintern. 7 t (2 t)

displaying yellowish or grey-brown bark when the sparse hairs have gone, the wood under the bark has no ridges; the leaves are broadly obovate, sometimes almost round but narrowing abruptly to an acute apex and rounded at the base, the upper surface is a dull green with sparse hairs, the lower is ashy-grey with hairs that give the surface a soft feel, the network of veins is prominent on the lower surface, the margins are unevenly wavy and toothed, the teeth are shortly gland-tipped; the shortly cylindrical, sessile catkins, particularly the golden-yellow males, crowded at the top of the shoots in March corroborate the Hazel catkins’ evidence that spring is on the way.

Salix x capreola

a hybrid Goat Willow

A S. caprea x S. aurita hybrid mentioned in Stace (1997) but not in Meikle (1984). The site, for what was believed to be it, was Cwm Merddog, SO/18.06, 1988, TGE. 1 t

Salix cinerea subsp. oleifolia

18 31

Grey Willow

This is a shrub or small tree to 15 m high; twigs soon lose pubescence and become dark reddishbrown, with bark peeled back only faint striations can be observed; the leaves are oblanceolate to oblong, with entire or vaguely wavy or toothed margins, the upper surface is shiny, dark green and the lower surface an ashy-grey, with a sparse covering of short, bristly, rust-coloured hairs, more noticeable towards the end of the shoots and in late summer; the catkins, borne upright towards the end of the shoots, are sessile or very short stalked appear before the leaves in March or April, the male flowers bear 2 free stamens.

It grows in various habitats and is more tolerant of drier conditions than its relatives and is even at home on a calcareous substrate. It is the most frequently recorded willow in the vice-county, but is it too often mistaken for S. x reichardtii? 366 t

Salix x reichardtii

a hybrid Goat Willow 21

23 20 22 19 21 18 31

18 32

It grows in wet places, particularly on margins of woods or in hedgerows or in stream valleys. In vc 35 very few tetrads do not have it somewhere, though drainage has reduced the number of past sites. 353 t

152

Flora of Monmouthshire

Salix x multinervis

a hybrid Grey Willow

This S. cinerea x S. aurita hybrid is a muchbranched shrub or small tree to less than 5 m; its twigs start very greyish-hairy but this coat is lost to reveal the dark reddish-brown bark which, if peeled back, discloses noticeable ridges on the wood; the short, oblong or obovate leaves seldom exceed 2 x 2.5 cm and are a dark, dull green above and ashy-grey or rusty below, softly hairy becoming almost hairless with age though the underside often remains softly hairy; the leaf apex is obtuse or shortly acute, often obliquely twisted; the margins are clearly wavy and toothed, the main and lateral veins are proud on the under surface; the petiole is short; the persistent stipules are earshaped, hairy and have a wrinkled surface; the catkins appear before the leaves in April. Expect to find it where the parents grow together. Wade (1970) gave: boggy ground, below Chepstow Park, WAS (1920) and Trellech (Cleddon) Bog, both, *. Recent records: on old coal waste, near bridge over A465(T) Llechryd, SO/118.102, 1988, TGE det. RDM; near cycle track, Coed Avon, SO/258.079, 2004, TGE, CT; Holly Bush, SO/166.033, 1988, TGE; near Pen-y-fan Pond, SO/19.00, 1996, Recording Group; wet heath, Cwm Celyn, SO/205.088, 1990, TGE, JWo. 4 t

Salix aurita

18 31

Salix repens

Creeping Willow

Creeping Willow is a very variable, dwarf shrub, with stems from prostrate to erect, twigs from slender to sturdy, glabrous to densely covered with silky hairs and coloured variously; the leaves vary from lanceolate to ovate-oblong and are up to 3.5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide and with an indumentum varying from glabrous to silky hairy, both sides to one side only; the leaf margins are sharply recurved, entire or obscurely toothed; the veins are hardly noticeable, the stipules may or may not be present; the sessile, erect, small catkins open with or before the leaves.

Eared Willow

Eared Willow seldom exceeds 2.5 m in height; it is a much-branched shrub with a tangle of crossing branches, with slender, dark reddish-brown twigs that soon lose the covering of short hairs, the wood beneath the bark has numerous, noticeable ridges; its wrinkled leaves are obovate to oblong-obovate to 6 cm x 3 cm, dullish green above and ashy-grey below, usually softly hairy and with prominent veins, the apex is rounded or shortly acute and often obliquely twisted and the base cuneate on a short upright petiole; the leaf margins vary from entire to wavy and irregularly toothed; the conspicuous, persistent stipules are ear-shaped and also have wavy, toothed margins; the short, erect catkins open in April before the leaves. Eared Willow prefers acid heaths, moors and woodland. In vc 35 there is a concentration in the hilly west and the Wye Valley north of the limestone gorge, S of Tintern. The flat land of the Usk Vale has a scattering of records, though drainage has rather reduced its numbers there. 96 t

18 31

This is a plant of, at least, a seasonally wet habitat, found on moors and heaths. Wade (1970) gave boggy heath below Coed Cae (Coetgae, ST/47.95 TGE), *, WAS. Recent records: wet area, N of Pen-y-fan Pond, SO/19.00, 1985-2002, TGE, PSJ; wet area, Big Pit, SO/23.09, 1987, TGE, RF; carr, Uskmouth Power Station ST/33.83, 1985-87, SP; wet area, Llanwern, ST/3.8 U, ME; Cleddon Bog, SO/508.039 and 508.041, 1986-87, EW; wet heath, 153

Flora of Monmouthshire Cwm Celyn, SO/205.088, TGE, RF, JWo; damp field, Pen-twyn, SO/258.274, 1991, JWd; wet heath, The British, SO/255.043, TGE, SW, JSW; wet grassland, Pentwyn, Grwyne Fawr, SO/260.257, 1991, JWo. 11 t (1 t)

SGC; Rhymney Bridge, *; Caerleon; Redbrook, SGC. It is now becoming scarcer: 5-10 plants, waste ground, Alpha Steel Works, Newport, ST/33.84, 1979-94, TGE, MJ, CT; 1 plant foot of wall, Post Office Row, Sudbrook, ST/503.876, 1982, TGE; a plant on waste ground in S part of Abergavenny, SO/30.13, 1988, RF; 1 plant, Cogent-Orb Electrical Steels, ST/325.863, 2006, JBr. 3 t (7 t)

BRASSICACEAE Cabbage family The cabbage family consists mainly of herbs with inflorescences that usually elongate after flowering; the simple leaves lack stipules; the flowers have 4 free, sepals and petals; usually 6 stamens (2 shorter outer and 4 longer inner); the ovary is usually 2-celled, has 1 style, 2 stigmas and a dry fruit that opens from below by 2 valves or is indehiscent. The BSBI Crucifer handbook is very helpful for identification, aided by some excellent drawings!

Arc. Sisymbrium officinale Hedge Mustard Hedge Mustard has deeply lobed leaves and 1-2 cm erect fruits, in numbers, closely appressed to terminal and axillary stems. 23

SISYMBRIUM Rockets Rockets have simple, entire to deeply lobed leaves, unbranched hairs, yellow or white petals, a beakless fruit, which is more than 3x as long as wide, has convex valves, with 1 row of seeds under each valve.

! Sisymbrium irio

London Rocket

London Rocket is a tall, erect, much-branched annual to 60 mm with triangular, deeply cut leaves, the triangular end lobe the largest. The erect fruit is only to 6 mm. It is found mainly on walls, roadsides and waste places in towns and where wool shoddy was used as a fertilizer. The record for this casual was Monmouth, SO/5.1, 1934, SGC. (1 t)

! Sisymbrium altissimum

18 31

A common weed of waste places, roadsides and cultivated ground. 349 t DESCURAINIA Flixweed A medium to tall herb with basal leaves 2-3 pinnately branched with patent simple and branched hairs; the petals are pale yellow; the beakless fruit is more than 3 x as long as broad, with 1 row of seeds under each valve.

Tall Rocket

This is an erect annual to 1 m with deeply divided leaves, the pinnate upper ones have linear lobes; the slim, straight, cylindrical fruit to over 10 cm is held at a 45 degree angle. Tall Rocket is an alien of waste places. Wade (1970) gave 4 sites: Monmouth, *; Llanfoist, *; Caerleon and Redbrook, SGC. There is only one recent record from the ballast of disused railway sidings, Newport Docks, ST/30.86, *, 1987, TGE, det. TCGR, 1997, MJ. 1 t (5 t)

! Sisymbrium orientale

! Descurainia sophia

Flixweed

This grey-green annual has leaves so finely lobed that the plant has a delicate ferny look and is topped off with a many, tiny, pale yellow-flowered raceme that produces many, linear siliquas. In the E of England it grows on sandy soil in open forests, on tracks and waste land, elsewhere it is probably a casual. In vc 35 it was reported: on the Kymin, SO/52.12, pre-1951, *, SGC; at Tintern, 1908, GCD; it must have been intro-duced with some gritty sand from Thetford Forest into my garden, ST/52.93 in 1980 and has re-appeared every year, in numbers, ever since. 1 t (2 t)

Eastern Rocket

Somewhat similar to Tall Rocket but its upper leaves usually have 2 basal lobes or less and the fruit is curved to 12 cm. An alien of waste places. Wade (1970) gave six sites: Abergavenny, Monmouth, *; Hadnock Farm, 154

Flora of Monmouthshire ALLIARIA Garlic Mustard This is a tall biennial with simple, toothed basal leaves, unbranched hairs, white petals, a beakless fruit, over 3 x as long as broad and seeds in a single row under each valve.

Alliaria petiolata

Garlic Mustard

The only tall, white-flowered, long, narrow-fruited crucifer that smells of garlic. It has broad, triangular-ovate leaves.

18 31

ERYSIMUM Wallflowers Wallflowers are plants with sessile, appressed, 2-3 branched hairs, petals of yellow to purple, and fruits which are siliquas with usually 1 row of seeds under each valve.

Arc. Erysimum cheiranthoides Treacle-mustard

18 31

An erect annual with simple, elliptic to lanceolate leaves covered with appressed, centrally-fixed (use a lens) hairs, giving a rough feeling, and tiny, yellow flowers.

Garlic Mustard is a common marginal plant of hedgerows, roadsides, river banks and woods. Only on the coalfield hills does it become sparse or absent. 323 t

ARABIDOPSIS Thale Cress An annual with simple basal leaves, branched and unbranched hairs, white petals and a beakless fruit over 3 x as long as broad, with a single row of seeds under each valve.

Arabidopsis thaliana

Thale Cress

A small, delicate plant with a basal rosette of simple leaves, topped by fine, branched stems, that make the rosette look even more puny, and tiny, white flowers with yellowing sepals, and which produce linear fruits. It is widespread, but sparse, in well-drained, open habitats e.g. rocks, walls, dunes, gritty paths and ballast. In the vice-county, it occurs particularly on walls, back of pavements, unsprayed rail ballast and paths. 214 t

18 31

This grows where ground is tilled, on waste areas, river banks, footpaths and where seed is scattered. Wade (1970) gave one site: near Tintern Abbey, SO/53.00, 1986-88, HWM. More recent records are: rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, 1975, TGE; Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1980-90, TGE; waste ground, Cwm Celyn, SO/20.08, 1985, TGE; waste ground, Rogerstone, ST/2.8 T, 1989, EJS; footpath, Fourteen Locks, Newport, ST/287.884, 1985, EJS; arable land, 155

Flora of Monmouthshire Brook House, Goetre, SO/315.056, 1989, RF; Clytha Hill, SO/3.0 T, 1990, DEL; 1 plant, R. Wye bank, Tintern, SO/538.011, 1985, EW; chicken run, Glin Milwr, Blaina, SO/207.080, 1989, RF; roadside, Cross Ash, SO/39.19, 1986, RF. 5 t (5 t)

Arc. Erysimum cheiri

Wallflower

This familiar perennial with its branched, woody stem, narrow, almost sessile, narrowly elliptic leaves, a covering of appressed, branched hairs, and its usually yellow to orangey-brownish flowers, as large as 6 cm across, prevents confusion with other wild plants.

18 31

It is a marginal plant frequenting field boundaries, hedgerows, road verges and beside water, seldom far from human habitations. There seems to be a strange distribution in the vice-county that does not seem to be related to anything in particular. 50 t

BARBAREA Winter-cresses Winter-cresses complete their life-cycles in more than one year; they have pinnate basal leaves, any hairs present are simple; their petals are yellow; their siliquas are more than 3 x as long as broad, their angled valves have a single row of seeds beneath each.

18 31

It grows on walls (castles afford a large expanse), natural rock surfaces and waste areas. In the vicecounty affluence and subsidies have had a detrimental effect on the number of tetrad sites shown above, as old walls have been spruced up and castle walls have been cleaned off and joints repointed. 35 t

Barbarea vulgaris

Winter-cress

HESPERIS Dame’s-violet This can be a biennial or short-lived perennial, hairs if present are a mixture of simple and branched, petals are white or pink to purple, the erect fruit is long, cylindrical and constricted between the seeds, which form a single row beneath each valve.

! Hesperis matronalis

Dame’s-violet

This is a dark green, erect, short-lived perennial with hairs, if there are any, simple, branched and glandular; rosette and lower stem leaves are simple, toothed, stalked and lanceolate, grading into smaller and smaller almost sessile leaves; the large, white to purple flowers are to 20 mm in diameter produce up-curving fruits to over 10 cm.

This species, which can grow to 90 cm or more, has dark green, shiny leaves, pinnately-lobed on the lower stem, with usually 4 pairs of side lobes and a larger terminal one, the uppermost leaf or bract is almost simple but may have a pair of tiny near-basal lobes; the inflorescence is branched and 156

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 12

Barbarea vulgaris

157

Winter-cress

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 13

Barbarea verna 158

American Winter-cress

Flora of Monmouthshire crowded with flowers of up to 3 mm across, with petals twice the length of the sepals; it has a longer and thinner style to 3.5 mm than the other species. Mean size of 10 seeds is 1.6 mm. It occurs on road verges, river banks, waste ground, woodland tracksides, etc. 197 t Figure 12

! Barbarea intermedia Medium-flowered Winter-cress

Similar to B. vulgaris but differs in that it usually grows to only 60 cm, has 3 pairs of side lobes to the lower leaves and the terminal lobe is narrower, and the upper leaves have 2 pairs of deep lobes, the flowers are 2 mm across, fruits are up to 35 mm long and the mean size of 10 seeds is 2.1 mm.

18 31

This is a casual found on waste or disturbed ground, by waysides and riversides. Local records are: soil/ash pile, Newport Dock, ST/30.86, 197582, TGE, CT; roadside, Lower Machen, ST/22.88, 1989, TGE; 1 plant, R. Usk bank, SO/3.0, 1984, TGE, UTE; roadside, Cwm Tillery Lakes, SO/222.072, 1987, EW; 2-3 plants, roadside, opposite Dingestow Court, SO/448.098, 1987, EGW; Gateway, Cefn Garw Wood, ST/48.96, 1989, TGE, UTE; roadside, Trellech, SO/507.056, 1989, EGW; Monmouth, SO/5.1 B, 1987, BJG. 16 t (1 t) Fig 13

18 31

RORIPPA Water-cresses These are herbs with simple hairs (if any), simple or pinnately-lobed leaves, white or more commonly yellow flowers and fruits that may be siliquas or siliculas.

It grows on arable land, riversides, waste land and waysides. County records: roadside, near rail bridge, E of Bishton, ST/395.872, 1980, TGE; waste ground, Ebbw Vale Festival Site (destroyed 1990), SO/17.06, 1987, A & EGW; waste ground, W of Police Station, Blackwood, ST/171.964, 1990, RF; less than 10 plants, R. Monnow bank, near Oldcastle, SO/332.247, 1987, MGR, SAR; bank of Llandegfedd Reservoir, ST/32.98, 1987, TGE et al.; 1 plant road verge, near Crumland Plantation, SO/475.019, 1989, EGW; garden weed, The Nurtons, ST/53.01, 1987, EGW; 6 plants old rail track, below Cathays Court, SO/530.025, 1989, EGW; waste ground, Malpas, ST/3.9 A, 1987, Recorder Group. 15 t

! Barbarea verna

Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum Water-cress 23

American Winter-cress 18

This plant is similar to B. intermedia but grows to 90 cm or more, has all leaves much longer than their equivalents with many more paired lobes, its flowers are 6 mm across and its fruits more than 4 cm long. Mean size of 10 seeds is 2.1 mm.

This has pinnately-lobed leaves with a larger end lobe; white flowers, borne terminally in racemes, 159

Flora of Monmouthshire and producing siliquas that have 2 rows of seeds under each valve, seeds have 7-12 depressions across the seed (use a microscope or x 20 lens). It is found in water in streams, ditches and marshes. With the increased abundance of sheep on farms in the vice-county, beds of watercress are less common today. 100 t

Rorippa x sterilis

Similar to Water-cress but has long, thin fruits with a single row of seeds under each valve, though the zigzag line at the bottom of the row might mislead, there are 12-18 depressions across the seeds, obviously more, when compared to the other two. In the same watery conditions as Water-cress, but much less frequent except on the Levels. 19 t

hybrid Water-cress

Similar to Water-cress but its fruits are misshapen with no or few seeds, the seeds have 10-14 depressions across the diameter.

Rorippa palustris

Marsh Yellow-cress

This is an erect annual to 60 cm, with pinnatelylobed lower leaves (pinnatisect above) and branches terminated by tiny, yellow flowers in racemes. It is recognised by its tiny flowers with petals only 1.7-2.7 x 0.5-1.1 mm more or less equal to the sepals and a fruit once to twice as long as the pedicel. A microscope is needed for testa ornamentation to distinguish it from the rarer R. islandica s.s. which is currently spreading rapidly in Britain including South Wales (see BSBI Crucifer Handbook).

19 23 18 22 31

35 21

It is found in the same wet conditions as Watercress. Not all plants have had their seed coat examined by our recorders and because of the irregularity of seed production in the parents 21 tetrad records could be on the high side. 21 t

Rorippa microphylla Narrow-fruited Water-cress

18 31

This is native in damp locations such as river, lake and pond margins, but also grows on waste ground etc. It avoids uplands in the vice-county, otherwise it is frequent. 83 t

Rorippa sylvestris

18 31

Creeping Yellow-cress

R. sylvestris is similar to R. palustris but is a perennial forming creeping patches with larger yellow flowers with petals 2.8-5.5 x 1.7-2.5 mm and fruits 2-4 x as long as their pedicels. It grows on the margins of rivers, lakes and ponds as well as damp, bare, open waste ground, arable land, etc. In the vice-county it is frequent on river shingle. 76 t

160

Flora of Monmouthshire Rorippa sylvestris

ARMORACIA Horse-radish Large herbs growing from deep, strong roots, from which sprout simple, practically glabrous, petiolate leaves and an inflorescence of small, long-stalked, white flowers, which develop short fruits with 2 incomplete rows of seeds under each valve.

Arc. Armoracia rusticana

18 31

Rorippa amphibia

Horse-radish

A large perennial to 150 cm or more which has large, simple, shiny green, long-petioled, serrated, broadly lanceolate leaves, above which a stoutish stem branches into thinner ones ending in racemes of crowded small, white flowers, that set few seeds. The leaves and bracts of the inflorescence are very narrow.

Yellow-cress

This is a larger plant, forming quite dense vegetation compared with the other Yellowcresses, with larger, simple, lanceolate, pinnatisect to pinnatifid stem leaves (though the lower leaves tend to die off in the summer), and shortish, ovoid fruits, that contain 2 rows of seeds under each valve.

18 31

A plant grown for its roots used in making a sauce to accompany beef. It is found close to human habitations and grows along roadsides and rivers linking such homes. It is much less common in hills and where homes are wider spread. 152 t

CARDAMINE Bitter-cresses Bitter-cresses have pinnate or ternate basal leaves; hairs, where present, are simple; 4 petals, where present, may be white, pink or purple; fruits that are more than 3 x as long as wide, with valves that burst open to disperse the single row of seeds under each valve.

18 31

A marginal plant of rivers, canals, ponds and lakes and of ditches and marshes. In the vice-county it is being adversely affected by reen management and drainage. A very long colony in Moor Reen, Noah’s Ark, Undy was recently cleaned out when the ditch was deepened. How long will the colonies along the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal at Malpas, ST/30.90 survive, if plans to open up the full length of the canal to boating are successful? 15 t

! Cardamine raphanifolia Greater Cuckooflower This is similar to Cuckooflower but all its leaves are large with an end lobe much larger than the lateral ones and flowers that are a deeper pinkishpurple. 161

Flora of Monmouthshire It is very similar to other erect crucifers but it has many toothed leaflets to its leaves which also have acute, clasping auricles at the base of the petiole. The tiny or absent petals on a plant, that can grow to 80 cm, is also an aid to identification. It grows in shady, damp woodlands, particularly in the Wye Valley, where some colonies of 100s of plants can be found on tracksides. 21 t

This splendid alien crucifer stretches 300-400 m down the Whitebrook Valley, SO/52.07 growing close to the brook. 2 t Plate 26

Cardamine pratensis

Cuckooflower

This perennial herb has dark green, petioled, pinnate, rosette leaves with roundish but irregularly lobed leaflets, the pinnate upper stem leaves have very narrow stalked leaflets and pale to deep pink flowers (occasionally ‘double’), that give rise to siliquas.

Cardamine flexuosa

Wavy Bitter-cress

This is a herb with a flexuous stem and usually with a coating of simple hairs, a basal rosette of pinnate leaves, 4-10, pinnate stem leaves and tiny, white flowers usually with 6 stamens.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

35 18

Cuckooflower or Lady’s Smock grows in a wide range of habitats, more often wet ones. The large number of tetrads gives a slightly rosy picture as it has declined in numbers with the loss of marshy ground in the vice-county. 360 t

It is usually associated with flushes and streams often with its roots in water, but it is found in many other places as is shown by the wide distribution. 346 t

Cardamine impatiens Narrow-leaved Bitter-cress

Cardamine hirsuta

Hairy Bittercress

18 31

162

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 14 Cardamine corymbosa New Zealand Bitter-cress

Figure 15

Arabis caucasica Garden Arabis

163

Flora of Monmouthshire Cardamine hirsuta is similar to C. flexuosa but is usually a smaller plant, with a glabrous, almost straight stem, usually 1-4 stem leaves and tiny, white flowers usually with 4 stamens. It grows on a wide range of habitats, usually of a drier nature than C. flexuosa. In vc 35, weeding gardeners are likely to have eyes full of seeds from this plant as grasping fingers set off the ‘explosive’ fruits to unpleasant effect. 322 t

ARABIS Rock-cresses Rock-cresses have rosette leaves that are usually simple, with toothed or lobed or wavy edges, the stem leaves are usually similar but gradually decrease in size as they progress up the stem; at least some of the hairs are stellate, petals are white, pale yellow or pinkish-purple; the fruits are somewhat flattened, linear siliquas.

Arabis glabra ! Cardamine corymbosa New Zealand Bitter-cress This is similar to C. hirsuta but is a decumbent to ascending annual with sparsely hairy, pinnate leaves with 2-3 pairs of side lobes that gradually increase in size to the terminal lobe that is bigger still. The small, white flowers, in 4s or 5s, appear on the end of slender stalks, and like the leaves, radiate out from the apex of the tap root close to the soil before ascending, the fruits are linear siliquas that spread out from nearly the same region at the end of the peduncle. This alien is a prolific seed-producing weed with no redeeming features, and it arrived uninvited with plants for sale at the Waterwheel Nursery, near Chepstow in 1999. The proprietor assured me that three other nurseries had also been victims, hence the question mark before the number of tetrads. ? 1 t Figure 14

! Cardamine quinquefolia

Tower Cress

This is usually an unbranched, tall (to over 1 m) biennial, which has stellate hairy first year rosette leaves, its basal leaves range from entire to lobed in the basal half and have stellate-hairs; the sessile, lanceolate stem leaves clasp the stem; the cream to pale yellow flowers produce almost straight siliquas with 2 rows of seeds to a valve. This grows on dry banks, sandy heaths etc. In vc 35 it is only a casual, so casual that there has been only 1 record: near Alexandra Dock, Newport, ST/31.85, Hamilton (1909). (1 t)

! Arabis caucasica

Garden Arabis

Garden Arabis is a mat-forming perennial with thin, brown stolons giving rise to new rosettes. The plant is covered with stellate, forked and simple hairs, which give it a grey-green look. The rosette leaves have a broad, cuneate petiole widening further to form a club shape with widely spaced, rounded teeth. The white flowers are over 15 mm across and the fruits over 50 mm long. A common rock-garden plant that finds its way on to walls and rubbish tips. Local records: old wall, Dan-y-graig, SO/38.20, 1987, TGE, UTE; rubbish tip, Pengam Farm, SW of Peterstone Wentlooge, ST/265.798, 1994, GH; S Abertillery, SO/22.03, 1988, RF; Llanover, SO/31.08, 1989, RF. 4 t Figure 15

Coralroot

This is an upright plant growing from a white, branching rhizome that tapers abruptly near its end, and bears triangular, appressed scales 3 mm long; it has a single whorl of 3 pinnate leaves on its stem; each leaf has 7 doubly-toothed leaflets glabrous above and sparsely covered on the underside with simple, appressed hairs; the terminal inflorescence is a raceme of purple flowers each c. 15 mm long; the corolla is twice as long as the calyx, the anthers are borne just above the base of the corolla. It is native in shady places in E Europe. Now grown in British gardens. Seven flowering stems and at least 3 non-flowering ones are growing among brambles and saplings (e.g. Ash) in a square metre on a steep bank of a ditch carrying surface water off Castle Meadows into the R. Usk, near the road bridge, Abergavenny, SO/2918.1398, 12 March 2005, J SR, det. TGE. 1 t Plate 28

Arabis hirsuta

Hairy Rock-cress

An erect plant with a dark green, basal rosette of oval, hairy leaves from the middle of which a straight, hairy stem arises bearing spirally arranged leaves that start off like the rosette leaves getting smaller up the stem; the hairs are stellate, forked and simple, and the margins of all but the uppermost stem-leaves have a few teeth. The white flowers are tiny and erect and produce linear siliquas to over 45 mm with a single row of seeds under each valve.

164

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 16 Arabis hirsuta Hairy Rock-cress

165

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows on verges, generally near human habitation. It is a wonder there are not more sites than indicated above when there are misguided people (like the couple of the County Wildlife Trust) that toured the county scattering its seeds because they thought they were beautifying the countryside. 64 t

BERTEROA Hoary Alison A grey-green herb due to a covering of mainly stellate hairs, though forked and simple ones also occur; it has almost entire, simple leaves, white petals, bifid almost to half way, and a fruit with a small number of seeds in 2 rows under each valve.

18 31

! Berteroa incana

Arabis hirsuta is a calcicole of limestone rocks, walls and barish soil. It has suffered in the vicecounty because of the building of houses, roads, schools and associated needs of an urbanised countryside in SE vc 35, where the main limestone lies close to the surface. The infilling of woodland to increase timber production has also had its detrimental effect on the well-being of the plant and it is much more difficult to find this plant now than in the 1950s. 15 t (1 t) Figure 16 LUNARIA Honesty These biennials have simple, long-stalked basal leaves, simple hairs, white to more usual purplish flowers; a distinctive, flat fruit c. twice as long as broad, with 2 rows of seeds under each valve.

! Lunaria annua

LOBULARIA Sweet Alison These are short, hairy, greyish herbs that branch from the base, the hairs fork near their bases; their leaves are simple and entire; their small flowers are white; the fruits are ovoid and contain 1 seed under each valve.

Honesty

Honesty can attain a height of 150 cm. It has large, long-stalked, heart-shaped basal leaves with stem leaves similar though decreasing in size and petiole length the higher they are on the stem. The purple (occasionally white) flowers are over 2.5 cm across and produce distinctive, broadly oval, flat fruits.

! Lobularia maritima

18 31

18 32

Sweet Alison

Hoary Alison

It is an upright plant to c. 70 cm with petiolate, early-shed, oblanceolate, rosette leaves, and stem leaves that gradually become smaller, sessile and more elliptic higher up the stem. The inflorescence is sparsely branched but densely crowded with small, white flowers with bifid petals and slenderstalked, somewhat compressed, ovoid fruits with persistent styles. It is a casual weed of disturbed ground. There is only one record as a garden weed, New Tredegar, 1933, JWT. (1 t)

166

Flora of Monmouthshire It occurs on exposed surfaces, especially calcareous ones. On many of the vice-county sites conditions change and the plant puts in irregular appearances, where conditions are stable it reappears yearly. The 44 t is inclusive of all Erophila records. 44 t

Sweet Alison is usually an annual in this country; its small, white flowers are crowded at the apex of the branches, but the stem elongates to spread them out at fruiting; the fruits are ovoid and turned up on horizontal pedicels. It is usually a casual found on waste ground, pavements or roadsides, particularly near gardens in towns, and by the sea. In vc 35 it used to be common on rubbish tips, where garden rubbish ended up, and it is still to be found in cracks in pavements in towns. As long as it is used as a filler in borders its abundance of seeds will ensure that some will find their way outside the garden boundaries. 28 t

Erophila glabrescens Glabrous Whitlowgrass This differs from E. verna in that its petioles are 1.5-2.5 x as long as the blades and the petals are bifid to half way or less and the plant is nearly glabrous, but it can be difficult to separate. 23

EROPHILA Whitlowgrasses Whitlowgrasses are spring-flowering ephemerals with simple, forked and stellate hairs, which, if dense, can make green plants look greyish; there is a basal rosette of oblanceolate leaves that have a few, blunt teeth, and leafless stems topped by racemes of small, white flowers with bifid petals and flattened, elliptic to roundish fruits with 2 rows of seeds under each valve.

Erophila majuscula

Hairy Whitlowgrass

This species is grey due to hairs on leaves, stems and lowest pedicel; petioles up to half as long as blades; seeds up to 0.5 mm. It grows on unimproved, dry, calcareous and acid soils. The only record was from a bank, near Tintern, ?SO/5.0 F,1894, WAS. (1 t)

Erophila verna

18 31

It grows in similar places but is less common. It has been confirmed by TCGR at: on ash and moss at Sudbrook, ST/50.87, 1998, TGE; on disused rail platform, near Hadnock Court, SO/529.148, 1983, FJR; on a hard surface, Abernant Depot, vc 35 CC, ST/375.920, Kemeys Inferior, ST/484.904, and on track taking vehicles from Big Pit to the Railway Museum, Blaenavon, SO/22.10, 2000, TGE. 9 t

Common Whitlowgrass

The hairs on this species are not dense enough to hide the green colour, the petioles are half (or more) as long as the blades, the petals are bifid to half way or more.

COCHLEARIA Scurvygrasses They have a range of life-cycles but are mostly biennial; they have simple, long-stalked basal leaves, are glabrous or have unbranched hairs, their petals are white or mauve and a fruit that is c. twice as long as wide, partitioned at right angles to the plane of compression and with seeds in 2 rows under each valve.

Cochlearia anglica 19

18 31

English Scurvygrass

Its basal and lower stem-leaves have cuneate to rounded bases. It grows on muddy shores. It is the common scurvygrass of the Severn Estuary, often turning large patches of the saltmarshes white in May. 34 t

167

Flora of Monmouthshire A coastal plant that has invaded inland along salted motorways. Once found only at Sudbrook on marl sandstone and on rocky Denny Island, it is now found on the central reservation of motorways and dual carriageways as the linear traces on the map show. It is less frequent on outer verges and occurs on other roads near where they pass over or under the dual carriageways. 46 t

Cochlearia anglica 23

CAMELINA Gold-of-pleasures These are annual or biennial, erect herbs with a range of hair types, but mostly forked or stellate, though often sparse, yellow petals and a fruit with a septum in parallel with the plane of compression.

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! Camelina sativa Cochlearia officinalis Common Scurvygrass Its basal and lower stem leaves are mostly cordate, its flowers are up to 15 mm across, the blades of the rosette leaves more than 20 mm long and its fruits globose to ovoid and strongly veined. It is found on road verges or near the coast. In vc 35 it is a rare casual. Records: soil heap, Newport Docks, ST/310.854, 1973, TGE, CT; 1 plant in layby, W of Mitchell Troy, SO/48.10, 1989, HVC, this casual did not re-appear in 1990; the record in ST/3.8E could have been a mistaken identification. (3 t)

Cochlearia danica

Gold-of-pleasure

This herb rarely exceeds 100 cm tall in this country. Its short-lived rosette leaves are stalked and spathulate, its stem leaves are somewhat arrow-shaped and sessile; the yellow flowers are 34 mm in diameter, with petals twice as long as sepals and produce 7-9 mm fruits, wider above middle, and terminating in a fine, erect stigma. Formerly it was a casual of arable fields or waste ground. Vc 35 had it on: waste ground in Newport docks, ST/309.860, 1973, TGE; on Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/52.12, *, SGC; Cefnila, before 1868, JHC. (3 t) CAPSELLA Shepherd’s-purses These annual or biennial herbs have a basal rosette of simple, entire or deeply pinnately-lobed leaves, the branched stems are erect and bear stem leaves that clasp the stem; hairs may be simple or branched or mixed; petals are white or reddish; the fruit is triangular with the seeds in 2 rows either side of the septum at right angles to the plane of compression.

Danish Scurvygrass

This is an annual with small leaves, the rosette ones petiolate with a blade to 1 cm, petioles get shorter up the stems to upper stalkless ones, the blades vary from entire to lobed with a cordate base and a blunt apex; the petals seldom reach a length of 5 mm; the fruit is ovoid but tapers above and has 2 rows of seeds either side of the septum.

Arc. Capsella bursa-pastoris Shepherd’s-purse

This species is a sparsely hairy, erect, whiteflowered plant to usually c. 30 cm; its fruit is usually a straight to slightly convex sided triangle, on patent pedicels. It is a weed of gardens, cultivated land and a range of waste land. It is widespread in the vice-county. 377 t

18 31

168

Flora of Monmouthshire stem leaves with wavy edges and acute, clasping bases. Its fruits are oval with a surrounding wing that make them roundish and which have a notch at the top that houses the stigma. It is an arable weed that is met with less often and in smaller numbers today than in the past. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent. 27t (1 t) Figure 17

Capsella burs-pastoris 23

IBERIS Candytufts These herbs have entire or deeply lobed leaves; the hairs, if any, are simple; its flower stalks are of different lengths to bring all flowers to form a flat head; the outer two, white, mauve or purple petals are longer than the inner two so with all the other flowers making up the head it appears as a larger compound flower with small ones contributing to the centre, surrounded by a ring of large petals; the flattened, ovate fruit has a wing which is pronounced at the top with a notch in it, containing the stigma and internally a septum at right angles to the plane of compression.

18 31

! Capsella rubella

Pink Shepherd’s-purse

This is similar to C. bursa-pastoris but has slightly smaller, pink flowers that hardly exceed the sepals and a more elongated fruit with concave sides that taper more to the pedicel. A casual of waste or cultivated ground. One record on the rubbish tip, on the Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, TGE conf. EJC. (1 t)

! Iberis umbellata

THLASPI Penny-cresses These herbs have white flowers, clasping stem leaves, flattened, winged fruits with the septum at right angles to the plane of compression with 2many seeds either side of the septum.

Arc. Thlaspi arvense

Garden Candytuft

Usually, this is a dark green, glabrous, muchbranched herb to 50 cm or more, with simple, entire leaves; the outer flowers in the head are larger than the inner ones and have petals ranging from white to purple; the sepals are much shorter than the petals; the fruits are ovate with a wing elongated at the top with a v-shaped notch, in which the style holds the stigma above the top. This familiar garden plant occasionally turns up on rubbish tips and other waste places. It has been recorded in 3 sites in vc 35 though I suspect many garden escapes have gone unreported: Croesyceiliog, Pontnewydd, ?ST/30.96, *; Tintern, SO/52.00, *, WAS (1920); on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1974, TGE, CT. (3 t)

Field Penny-cress

LEPIDIUM Pepperworts Pepperworts are usually well-branched herbs, often with simple leaves up the stems and simple or pinnate leaves towards the base; hairs, if present are simple; the white or less often reddish or yellow flowers are often in dense racemes towards the top of the branches; the fruits are somewhat flattened and the dividing septum is at right angles to the plane of compression.

18 31

This annual, often to 50 cm or more tall, is green or glaucous and glabrous and has an unpleasant smell when bruised. It has short-lived, petiolate, oblanceolate rosette leaves, and numerous sessile 169

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 17

Thlaspi arvense

170

Field Penny-cress

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Lepidium sativum

site records: 2 plants, limestone woodland, Wyndcliff, ST/532.979, 1971, TGE, det. FHP; disturbed ground, rubbish tip/docks Newport, ST/30.85, 1985, TGE, ME; Abergavenny, ?SO/2.1 or 3.1, Llanthony, SO/2.2 Y, SH (1909); Hadnock, SO/5.1 ?H, SGC; Pontnewydd, ST/2.9 Y, *, CC (1830-37); near Raglan, SO/4.0, *, 1891, GHB; Wye Valley, SH; Shorncliff Woods, Mounton, ST/5.9 B, Dinham, ST/4.9, near Tintern, SO/5.0 F, *, WAS (1920); Newport Docks, ST/3.8, SH. 6 t (12 t)

Garden Cress

Most leaves of this often glaucous plant tend to be pinnate, though the bracts in the inflorescence are simple, the upper leaves lack clasping auricles and the ovate to elliptic fruits have a notched and broadly winged apex. Garden Cress is found on tips and waste areas. It has been found: on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, SO/30.86 and 30.85, 1975 & 1985 respectively, TGE, CT; on waste ground, at edge of Cwmbran, SO/28.94, 1986, TGE, UTE. (3 t)

Lepidium heterophyllumSmith’s Pepperwort Arc. Lepidium campestre Field Pepperwort

This is very similar to L campestre, but differs in that it is biennial or perennial branched from the base, its undehisced anthers are red or purple and its style projects well beyond the winged apex, at least by 0.8 mm.

This grey-green annual has a longish, erect, leafy stem branched mainly towards the top, its lowest leaves are narrowly lanceolate and stalked, the stem leaves are shortly stalked to sessile up the stem and clasp it with pointed auricles; the clawed petals are white and the undehisced anthers are yellow, the fruit is roundish, densely covered with tubercles and has a notched, broadly winged apex with a stigma within the notch or protruding to c. 0.5 mm. Stems, leaves and pedicels are hairy but as the hairs are very pale they are not obviously so.

18 31

It is found on gritty or sandy substrates and other sites associated with man’s activities. Vc 35 sites: more than 10 plants, track, W of Fedw Pond, ST/511.989, *, WAS (1920), 1976-80, TGE; on coal waste, S of Wyllie, ST/177.930-4, 1988-94, TGE, UTE; c. 15 plants, trackside, E of River Sirhowy, The Rock, ST/182.989, 2001-4, TGE, conf. TCGR; 1-5 plants, roadside, between huts 316 & 317, MOD, Caerwent, ST/479.921, 2004, TGE; garden weed, La Cuesta, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 2004, TGE. 6 t (1 t)

18 31

This is a native plant of gritty or sandy substrates often associated with man’s activities. The 6 post1987 sites are: waste ground N Rhymney, SO/10.08, 1988, TGE, RF; around a flat gravestone, cemetery, Gwrhay, ST/184.996, 1990, RF; waste ground/road verge, Rogerstone bus terminal, ST/27.87, 1989, EJS; meadow, N of Shirefield Cottage, ST/465.897, 1995-2004, TGE; 1 plant, on verge of B4293, Sandyway, ST/512.947, 1997, TGE; 10-20 plants, that appeared with builders rubble, on wet heath, Pontllanfraith, ST/168.963, 1988-2004, TGE; other

! Lepidium virginicum

Least Pepperwort

This is more slender than L. campestre and has pinnately-lobed lower stem leaves with a larger terminal lobe and non-clasping upper stem leaves and almost circular, smooth fruits due to the notched apical wings being much shorter. 171

Flora of Monmouthshire Lepidium virginicum is an infrequent casual associated with bird seed and use of wool shoddy. The 5 vc 35 records are: Bulwark, ST/53.92, 1922, ABC; Alexandra Dock, Newport, ST/31.85, ?1953, *, JMa; Dixton, *; Kymin Hill, Monmouth, and Redbrook, both, *, SGC; near the R. Wye, Chepstow, CES. (2 t)

coast to Cardiff. There are particularly large colonies on the Wetlands Reserve at Uskmouth, on the R. Usk banks in Newport and in the mouth of the R. Rhymney. 14 t (1 t)

! Lepidium draba subsp. draba Hoary Cress A greyish-green perennial to 60 cm but usually less, arising from creeping rhizomes to form crowded colonies, the variable leaves are crowded up the stem, the rosette and basal leaves are elliptical with some toothing and on short petioles, the upper ones are sessile and narrowly lanceolate; the stems terminate in a branched, crowded inflorescence with white petals almost twice as long as sepals, surrounding an ovary with a prominent style topped by a capitate stigma and these persist on top of an inverted heart-shaped fruit with margins keeled rather than winged.

Arc. Lepidium ruderale Narrow-leaved Pepperwort This is similar to L. campestre but is branched from low down to form a bushy plant with petals smaller than sepals or insignificant or absent, unwinged, elliptical fruits up to 2 mm wide with the stigma filling the notch but not exceeding it. This is a casual of roadsides, where it is tolerant of the de-icing salt, and waste land. In vc 35 it seems to be decreasing. Some localized records: wasteland, Newport Docks, ST/30.86, 1973, TGE; disturbed roadside, Griffithstown, ST/295.993, 1990, RF; roadside A40, Monmouth, SO/527.148, 1991, TGE, 1993, BJG; and from Wade (1970): Chepstow, FAL, JHC, WAS; Devauden, *, WAS; Newport Docks, 1909, SH, RLS; Rumney, *. (8 t)

Lepidium latifolium

Dittander

This glaucous perennial is large, reaching well over 100 cm in height and forming colonies of erect stems arising from spreading rhizomes. Its basal leaves may be as long as 30 cm and have varied blade shapes with simple or toothed edges, its flowers are white and form dense masses at the ends of its branches, the non-winged, hairy fruits are broadly elliptical with the stigma sitting proud of the minimal notch.

18 31

An increasing weed of roadsides, docks, tracks near the sea wall, river banks and arable fields. In vc 35 it occurs on verges but does not seem to survive the cutting regimes. 13 t

CORONOPUS Swine-cresses These short-lived herbs branch radially from the top of the tap root, have leaf-opposed inflorescences, leaves all deeply pinnately-lobed; hairs if present are simple; petals if present are white; the fruit is a silicula about twice as long as wide with the dividing septum at right angles to the plane of compression.

18 31

! Coronopus squamatus

Swine-cress

Distinctive in its fruit which is a somewhat flattened, ridged, inverted heart shape, slightly constricted at the septum which divides the chamber at right angles to the plane of

It grows on damp sand, river banks, disturbed land just inland from the coast and saltmarshes. In vc 35 it is concentrated around Newport and down the 172

Flora of Monmouthshire compression; the conical style with capitate stigma tops the fruit.

DIPLOTAXIS Wall-rockets These are herbs with usually deeply lobed leaves, with a strong smell when bruised; petals are usually yellow, the fruit is a siliqua ending in a persistent style but no beak; there are 2 rows of seeds under each valve separated by a septum which is exposed when the fruit splits longitudinally.

Arc. Diplotaxis tenuifolia Perennial Wall-rocket

This is a tallish (to 80 cm), glabrous, glaucousgreen perennial with a strong smell. Its stems are erect and the elongated racemes are found on the branches that start in the upper part of the plant; the yellowish petals are 8-15 mm, the pedicels come off at an acute angle and the stiped fruits are held upright, the stipe (the stalk between the receptacle and the fruit) is 0.5-6.5 mm.

18 31

It grows on bare patches of soil usually created by constant trampling by feet of various kinds. In vc 35 it should be sought near pasture gateways, where animals congregate, or paths. Widespread but numbers small, the number of sites is falling due to the reduction of milking herds and the increase in maize and rape crops. 114 t

! Coronopus didymus

Lesser Swine-cress

The leaves are smaller with finer pinnate divisions than for C. squamatus, and its fruit is smooth, notched at its apex and more constricted at the septum to give two kidney-shaped lobes with an insignificant style and stigma.

18 31

18 32

It grows in docks, on old walls and on waste ground. Some vc 35 sites: walls and stony ground of cliffs, near pumping station, Sudbrook, ST/507.873, 1979-2006, TGE; stony ground and dock walls, Newport Docks, ST/30.85, 1973-1994, TGE, CT; near gate, Bassaleg School, ST/276.868, 1988, EJS; near R. Usk, Crindau, ST/39.87, 1988, TGE, UTE; near St Julian’s Gout, Uskmouth Power Station, ST/33.84, 1986-87, SP, TGE; wall over reen, Bishton, ST/39.87, 1986-87, TGE, UTE; ballast, E of Severn Tunnel Junction, 1996, TGE; W of Abergavenny, SO/28.14, 1986-87, RF; Monmouth, SO/50.12, 1987, BJG. 13 t

It is a weed of various and numerous habitats often appearing quite quickly at newly disturbed soil. Widespread in vc 35. 221 t

! Diplotaxis muralis

Annual Wall-rocket

This is a shorter (to 60 cm), green annual, with a few simple hairs; its stems are branched mainly near the rosette leaves; the racemes are shorter and 173

Flora of Monmouthshire have less flowers, with yellow petals 4-8 mm and fruits which lack a stipe.

the R. Usk near Newport, first by JHC and since by many others. A few, obvious, casual, nonpersistent garden escapes have been reported elsewhere. 3 t Site Plate 30

! Brassica napus subsp. oleifera Oil-seed Rape

This annual Rape does not have many, thin basal leaves nor leaf scars pitting the stem, the lower leaves are glaucous, the petals are 13-18 mm and the buds overtop or at least equal the open flowers.

19 23 18 31

This is a casual of open waste ground in dockland, roadsides, tips, sandy fields and cultivated ground. In vc 35 it seldom recurs in the same spot, though in the 1970s it regularly appeared on Newport rubbish tip and on waste ground in Newport, ST/30.85 and ST/33.84 respectively, TGE, CT; c. 50 plants in unkempt border, near hut of 2nd Caldicot Scouts, Caldicot, ST/4797.8842, 2006, CT, det. TGE. 18 t (2 t)

18 31

BRASSICA Cabbages Cabbages are herbs with lower leaves with scalloped to deeply pinnately-lobed leaves, yellow petals, beaked or beakless siliquas and containing seeds in a single row under each valve, the septum is at right angles to the plane of compression.

With the increasing use of Rape as a cash crop, seed dropped along roadsides, in docks, on river banks or wherever the crop is moved germinates and bedecks the countryside the following year. In vc 35 it is increasing, but still mainly a casual. 58 t Plate 29

Brassica oleracea subsp. oleracea

Arc. Brassica rapa

Cabbage

The perennial Wild Cabbage has a many-leaved rosette of glabrous, grey-green, fleshy leaves with broad petioles with auricles that clasp the woody stem, on falling the leaves leave a stem covered with scars, the upper leaves are sessile, simple, lanceolate and partially clasp the stem; the inflorescence is tall and branched from near half way, the petals are usually 18-30 mm; the valves of the fruit have a central vein and a terminal segment usually containing a seed. It grows on calcareous rocks by the sea, but also on other substrates as well. In vc 35 it has a long history on the walls and cliffs of Chepstow Castle where it was recorded in 1773 by John Lightfoot. It can be viewed from the most westerly bailey on the walls and on the cliffs that drop to the R. Wye below. It has also been recorded on the banks of

Wild Turnip

18 31

174

Flora of Monmouthshire Brassica rapa is similar to B. napus but differs in that the lower leaves are green and like the stem are clothed thinly with rather coarse hairs; the petals are often 6-13 mm and the open flowers overtop or at least equal the buds. A weed of roadsides, river banks, tips arable fields and waste ground. As it is a longer established weed, it also occurs more widely than Rape but cleaner seed and herbicides are causing a decline in all arable weeds. 98 t

Brassica nigra

Arc. Sinapis arvensis

Charlock

Charlock is a dark green to purplish annual with down-turned, bristly hairs of varying density; it is branched variously; its lower leaves range from simple to pinnate (with large end lobe) and have variously toothed margins, its upper leaves are smaller versions, tending to become simple, sessile, with small, acute, basal lobes; its inrolled, thus narrow-looking, sepals are patent to deflexed in the open flower; the conical-beaked fruits are held upright on short pedicels.

Black Mustard

This Brassica is different from the other common members in that its upper leaves are petiolate and not clasping the stem, the stem has a few coarse hairs below and it and the lower leaves may be glaucous; the petals are c. 9-13 mm; the fruits are narrowly cylindrical, slightly compressed between the seeds and are topped with a persistent beak, both fruits and pedicels are tightly appressed to the stems and overlapping each other.

19 23 18 22 31 21

Charlock is still to be found as a weed in a variety of habitats, but particularly in cultivated fields and waysides. In vc 35 only small numbers are now scattered over the countryside whereas in the 1950s fields would have been yellow with them. 194 t

Arc. Sinapis alba subsp. alba White Mustard

18 31

35 23

It used to be far commoner on river banks, roadsides and on tracks through arable fields. The advent of the spread of Impatiens glandulifera, Indian Balsam along the banks of the R. Wye and Heracleum mantegazzianum Giant Hogweed along the R. Usk has reduced the space for Black Mustard. 72 t

SINAPIS Mustards Mustards are annuals with leaves with scalloped or deeply lobed edges, stems and lower leaves often coarsely haired; the sepals are distinctly patent to reflexed at maturity, the petals are yellow; the fruit is a siliqua with a beak over 1/3 as long as the valves, the seeds lie in a single row under each valve, which have at least 3 strong veins.

18 31

This is distinct from Charlock in that its upper stem leaves are pinnatisect to pinnately-lobed 175

Flora of Monmouthshire few plants on a SWEB sub-station, Began, ST/228.829, 1986, GH; 3 plants, with Hirschfeldia, waste ground, Rogerstone, ST/2731.8790, 1990, PAS; 1 plant, disturbed road verge, S side Spitty Rd., Newport, ST/334.866, 1990, GH; 2 plants, rough grassy ground, Cefn, Rogerstone, ST/2728.8859, 1990, PAS; c. 100 plants, amid sludge beds, Alpha Steel Works, ST/33.84, 19791994, TGE, MJ. 7 t

and its fruit has a longer, flat beak, which may have a seed in its base and a resulting lump. It has been grown as fodder or green manure to be ploughed in, and for mustard seed. In vc 35 it has been used less often in the last 15 years by local farmers and its casual appearance on waste ground and tips has decreased likewise. The last records are: in the Oldcastle area, SO/32.24, 1989, MGR, SAR; casual, Glasllwch, Newport, ST/29.87, 1988, EJS; Lower Machen, ST/22.88, 1987, PB; casual, Bassaleg, ST/27.86, 1986, EJS; on waste land, edge of new road, Cwmbran, ST/29.95, 1986, TGE, UTE; casual, Ridgeway, ST/29.88, 1985, EJS; spread throughout corner of field, made by Stoneycroft Wood, ST/467.934, TGE; rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, 1975-78, TGE, CT. 16 t

HIRSCHFELDIA Hoary Mustard These are annual to perennial herbs with pinnatelylobed leaves, pale yellow flowers with erect sepals, fruit are siliquas with a beak, often containing a seed, and half as long as the valves, each of which hides 1 row of seeds.

! Hirschfeldia incana COINCYA Cabbages Coincya have pinnately-lobed to pinnate leaves, erect sepals, yellow petals, the fruits are siliquas, splitting longitudinally, with a beak to a third as long containing seeds, the seeds in 1 row under each valve each of which has 3 strong veins.

Hoary Mustard

This is a large (to over 130 cm), branched, shortlived perennial, that is densely covered with simple hairs to give it a grey-green look in its lower parts, its leaves are pinnately-lobed with a large end lobe, the branched terminal inflorescence is crowded with short-stalked, pale yellow flowers that give rise to appressed siliquas that frequently have a beak, containing a seed, to resemble a small minaret which is diagnostic.

! Coincya monensis subsp. cheiranthos Wallflower Cabbage A somewhat glaucous, erect annual with simple hairs on lower parts, its lower leaves have up to 6 pairs of lobes with a terminal lobe little bigger than the side ones; the petals have yellow, rounded blades with darker veins and a linear claw and are twice as long as the upright sepals; seeds 1.2-1.6 mm.

18 31

Hoary Mustard is a weed of waste land in docks, along roadsides and riversides, on tips and in untended industrial areas. First recorded in the vice-county in 1942 and for some years only a rare casual, it is now naturalised in much of the south and west of the vice-county and still spreading. 88 t

18 31

RAPISTRUM Bastard Cabbages These are annual to perennial herbs, with quite large, toothed to deeply lobed rosette leaves, that

A casual found in docks, industrial waste areas, ballast and waysides. Vc 35 records: rail ballast, Newport Docks, ST/30.86, 1977-88, TGE, CT; a 176

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 18

Rapistrum rugosum 177

Bastard Cabbage

Flora of Monmouthshire are usually dried up by time the fruits are and the produced. The sepals are erect, the petals yellow end segment of the fruit larger than proximal end and splitting off from it when ripe.

! Rapistrum rugosum

leaves are smaller copies; the sepals are erect, the petals are white, yellow or mauve; the erect fruits are usually long and narrow (the mean width of 5 fresh fruits is 3.5-4.5 mm) and they are only shallowly constricted between the seeds. This is a weed of farmland and waste land. Forty years ago it was a frequent casual in vc 35, today due to changes in seed selection, the use of herbicides and farming emphasis it is less common, and occurs in scattered populations and as isolated plants. 81 t (23 t)

Bastard Cabbage

The large rosette leaves are composed of nearly all end lobe but there is a pair of basal lobes, the stem leaves are small and simple and tend to make the tall, branched upper structure look all stems. The branches tend to spread widely and the pale yellow flowers occur towards their ends where the branch-appressed fruits form with a roundish end segment topped by a linear style, the lower segment is often free of seeds. Bastard Cabbage is usually a casual of waste ground, arable fields, tips, docks, etc. Vice-county records are: pathside, in Minnetts Wood, ST/448.896, 1971, TGE; waste land, near R. Usk, ST/314.897, 1985, GB; naturalised and increasing to c. 50 m on cliff and cliff top, Sudbrook Camp, ST/507.873, 1968-2006, TGE. 1 t (2 t) Fig.18

Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. maritimus Sea Radish Sea Radish is similar to Wild Radish but differs in that it has longer leaves, 5-10 pairs of lobes, the petals are shades of yellow, rarely white, the fruits have deep to shallow constrictions between the seeds and the mean width of 5 fresh fruits is 6-9 mm. 23

RAPHANUS Radishes Bruised plants smell like radishes. Their leaves are pinnate or pinnately-lobed. The flowers have erect sepals, white, yellow or mauve petals, usually with darker veins. The fruits are indehiscent or split transversely into 1-seeded portions, they are terminated with a persistent, narrow beak.

Arc. Raphanus raphanistrum

Wild Radish 18 31

Sea Radish grows on various coastal habitats. In vc 35 it grows mainly on the sea wall or among rocks deposited along the upper shore to halt erosion. Wade (1970) makes no mention of it. My experience is that from a few scattered plants it has increased to be quite numerous, especially so in a good year. Changes in grazing practice can affect quantity, it has increased where grazing has been prevented. The coast off Sudbrook and the pulp mill is a good place to see it. 19 t

18 31

RESEDACEAE Mignonette family This family contains annual to perennial members, leaves varying from simple to pinnate, bracts are present but obvious stipules are not, the hermaphrodite, zygomorphic flowers are borne in racemes, the 4-8, free sepals and petals, the upper

Wild Radish is an erect, little-branched annual to 100 cm but usually less; simple hairs occur on all lower parts; its rosette leaves have a larger terminal lobe and usually 3-4 pairs of lateral ones, the stem 178

Flora of Monmouthshire filaments falling before fruits are ripe and it has smooth seeds.

petals are largest and often deeply divided, the fruit is usually a capsule open at the top. RESEDA Mignonettes These have 7-40 stamens crowded at the front of the flower, 3-6 carpels joined below and a 1-celled fruit.

Arc. Reseda luteola

Weld

Weld is a stiffly erect biennial to over 1 m, with entire, narrowly lanceolate, wavy-edged leaves, there are 4 sepals and yellowish petals, the 3-6 mm, shortly-stalked fruits are held erect and closely packed near to the stem, and contain smooth seeds.

18 23 31 22

18 32

White Mignonette

This branched perennial has pinnately-lobed leaves, with narrow lobes, the 8-9 mm, white flowers have 5-6 sepals and petals and 8-15 mm, filaments persisting until fruits are ripe, elliptic fruits with tuberculate seeds. A plant of docks and waste land near the sea. It has been present in Newport Docks since 1968, AEW. I last saw it there 1996 before entry to the docks became so restricted. Records in vc 35: 5 plants, Newport Docks, ST/312.845, 1997, MJ; 1 plant on raised sea wall, E of Lower Newton Farm, ST/2454.7851, 2002, TGE. 2 t

Reseda lutea

EMPETRACEAE Crowberry family Members are dwarf, mat-forming heather-like, evergreen shrubs with whorled to spirally arranged simple, entire, stipuleless leaves, insignificant, pinkish, axillary flowers in small clusters, and fruits that ripen black are round but flattened and contain more seeds than flesh.

A not infrequent weed of waste land, particularly if disturbed or open. The Old Red Sandstone is probably a little too acid for it hence the broad gap on the map. 140 t

! Reseda alba

Reseda lutea grows on disturbed, barish soil, particularly if calcareous. Wade named 10 sites, 4 attributed to Hamilton. Of eight tetrad records, the following are more detailed: c. 10 plants, stony ground, edge of Caerwent Quarry, ST/47.89, 1971, TGE, CT; c. 20 plants, Newport Docks, ST/31.85, 1980-1996, TGE, CT; c. 10 plants, rail embankment, Aberbeeg, SO/210.013, 1987, RF; rail ballast, disused shunting area, E of Undy, 1992-2003, TGE; rail ballast, Llanfiangel Rogiet, 1999-2003, TGE, CT. 28 t

Empetrum nigrum subsp. nigrum Crowberry It has glandular stems and, when young, the leaf margins are rolled under, giving them a narrow parallel-sided appearance. The flowers are mostly dioecious. An upland plant of peaty moors and hilltops. In vc 35, the moors and hill tops of the western uplands provide the main populations with smaller assemblies in the Trellech Beacon area. The locality near Usk could have been destroyed as there are no suitable habitats remaining in the area now. 44 t

Wild Mignonette

This branched perennial has deeply pinnately-lobed leaves, yellowish flowers with 6 sepals and petals, 179

Flora of Monmouthshire It is a seeding and suckering weed that tends to overwhelm native plants on sandy or peaty soils, largely on hillsides. It is widespread in vc 35. 65 t

Empetrum nigrum 23

GAULTHERIA Aromatic Wintergreens These evergreen shrubs have alternate leaves and 5 fused petals forming tubular flowers with constricted necks ending in short lobes, there are 10 stamens with anthers that have 4 short terminal appendages; the fruit is a capsule or a juicy berry.

! Gaultheria shallon

18 31

ERICACEAE Heather family The heathers may be deciduous or evergreen, trees or dwarf shrubs with simple, stipuleless leaves, that may or not have petioles. The flowers are variously arranged and varied in other ways, the petals are usually fused, the stamens are borne on the receptacle, the anthers open by pores and release pollen in groups of 4.

ARBUTUS Strawberry-tree These are small, evergreen trees to 8 m with alternate leaves and terminal panicles of bulbous flowers with constricted necks exceeded by the short lobes of the 5 fused petals; it has 10 stamens with anthers with 2 long terminal appendages; the fruit is a globose, rough-warty berry.

RHODODENDRON Rhododendrons These are deciduous or evergreen shrubs with alternate leaves. Their flowers occur in dense terminal racemes and have 5 petals forming a bellshaped, lobed corolla containing 5 or 10 stamens, with anthers lacking appendages, and they form capsular fruits.

! Rhododendron ponticum

! Arbutus unedo

Rhododendron

CALLUNA Heather Heather is a low evergreen shrub with narrow, sessile leaves with margins inrolled and appressed to the shoots so that it is not obvious how they are arranged on them (actually in alternate, opposite pairs); the flowers are in terminal racemes or panicles, with the 4 petals fused only for the lower

18 32

Strawberry-tree

This is a shrubby tree to over 5 m with reddishbrown bark that peels in small flakes and elliptical, toothed leaves to 11 cm long and white to pinkish flowers in drooping panicles beside red fruits to 2 cm across from the previous year. It grows in rocky scrub and woodland but is usually planted as an ornamental novelty in Wales. Though grown in many bigger gardens, in vc 35 the long-standing record is one mature tree naturalised on the edge of the railway at the top of a bank of the R. Wye, at the NE end of the cutting in the cliffs, S of Chepstow, ST/537.931, 19782000, TGE. 1 t

This densely branched shrub suckers freely. Its oblong to elliptical, evergreen leaves are glabrous and up to 20 cm long. Its flowers are dull bluishred.

Shallon

Shallon has leaves over 2 cm long with rounded or cordate bases and minutely serrated edges; its flowers are borne in terminal racemes and produce purplish-black fruits. This shrub is introduced into vc 35 on Old Red Sandstone to form cover and food for game birds or wildfowl, often near ponds created to attract the birds. The 1 known record is in a hedge on Atkins Hill, Trellech, SO/498.075, 1983, TGE. It is probably in other places than so far recorded. 1 t

180

Flora of Monmouthshire quarter; there are 8 stamens, having anthers with 2 basal appendages; the fruit is a capsule with the carpels separating with a pop to release the seeds.

Calluna vulgaris

Heather

Heather is a carpeting shrub with scale-like, usually glabrous leaves closely appressed to the shoot; the 3-4 mm flowers are a purply-pink and clothe the upper part of the branches in slender racemes, the petaloid sepals are longer than the petals and enclose the anthers.

18 23 31 22

E. tetralix grows in wet conditions on bogs, wet heaths and moors. In vc 35 it is not as common as heather because the wet hollows are not as frequent, especially as many ditches have been cut across the hills to drain off the water for afforestation. 55 t

Erica cinerea

18 31

Bell Heather

This is also a straggly shrub that forms patches up to 60 cm in height, its glabrous leaves are in whorls of 3 and are no more than 7 mm long, its flowers are in quite dense terminal clusters of deep purplish-red.

It grows mainly on heaths, moors, bogs and open woodland. In vc 35 it tends to clothe the hills but has suffered badly from afforestation, particularly where such trees as Douglas Fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii has been planted. 161 t Var. hirsuta S.F.Gray: greyish hairy plants were scattered over heath, NW of Blaenavon, SO/24.09, 1988, RF, 1st vice-county record for the variety.

ERICA Heaths Heaths are dwarf, evergreen shrubs with shortlypetiolate leaves in whorls of usually 3-4; the flowers are in terminal or axillary clusters, the 4 petals are fused for at least the lower half; there are 8 stamens with anthers that may have 2 basal appendages; the capsular fruit has seeds dispersed when the carpels burst apart.

Erica tetralix

18 31

Cross-leaved Heath

It favours dry heaths and moors. In vc 35 it is often on the lower edge of Calluna heaths in the western hills and it is scattered on the edge of forestry tracks in the Wentwood Region and the TrellechCatbrook-The Narth-Tintern Parva area. 28 t

This is a greyish, straggly shrub to 70 cm, young shoots, with linear-lanceolate leaves in whorls of 4 hairy, often glandular, and pale pink flowers in tight clusters on the ends of the shoots bending the tips over with their weight, the anthers are concealed and the fruit is downy. 181

Flora of Monmouthshire 1986, MARK, CK; top of ridge above 600 m, Bal Mawr to Chwarel-y-fan, SO/263.285, 1989-91, SAR; many m², S of Carn-y-gorfydd, SO/272.107, 1997, TGE, CT; among heath, N of Varteg, SO/264.065, 2004, AW. 7 t

VACCINIUM Bilberries Bilberries are low, deciduous or evergreen shrubs with alternate leaves, flowers that may be solitary or clustered, terminal or axillary, with 4-5 basally fused petals that usually form globular or bellshaped corollas and fruits that are berries with persistent calyx-lobes at their apices.

Vaccinium oxycoccos

Vaccinium myrtillus

Cranberry

Cranberry consists of reddish, creeping stems that root at the nodes, with alternate shiny, dark green, entire, oval leaves with a whitish underside and pinkish-red flowers that droop from the apex of erect, long, thin pedicels, the petal lobes curl up in the manner of cyclamen; the red, roundish fruits are seldom produced in vc 35. It grows on bogs or very wet heaths, often creeping over Sphagnum moss. Only 1 extant site: Cleddon Bog, SO/509.040, *, c. 1900, AL, 1909, SH, 1920, WAS, 1950, SGC to 2001, TGE. Wade (1970) also gave: above Varteg, *, 1830s, CC; Blaenavon, 1860s, JHC; Rhymney Valley, 1909, SH. 1 t (3 t)

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Bilberry

Bilberry is a hairless, deciduous, bushy shrub to 60 cm with ovate, serrated leaves; its mainly solitary flowers are pale green, tinged pink, and hang down and with their globose shape resemble miniature Chinese lanterns; the slightly flattened, globose fruits ripen to a blue-black bloomed appearance. 23

Cowberry

Cowberry is a somewhat prostrate, creeping evergreen subshrub with minutely pubescent young stems and elliptical, shiny, alternate, leathery leaves; the bell-shaped flowers have white to pink petals fused to half way; the sour, globose berry is red.

18 31

It grows on heaths, moors and open woods. It covers the tops of the hills of western vc 35 and is struggling among the trees of Wentwood and on the ridge that runs N-S near Trellech. 158 t

PYROLACEAE Wintergreen family Wintergreens are small perennial herbs with leaves mostly at the base of the stem; flowers are in terminal racemes and usually droop, the sepals and petals are in 4s or 5s with stamens twice as many, anthers shed pollen-grains in tetrads through pores.

Pyrola minor

18 31

Common Wintergreen

This has a globular, white or pale pink flower with a straight, 1-2 mm style that remains hidden in the drooping flower. It grows most frequently on leaf mould in woods or on rocky surfaces. Wade (1970) gave thirteen sites: below the Coleford Road between the War Fields and the ‘Duke Of York’; near Martin’s Pool, Monmouth; Beaulieu Wood, *, SGC; Blorenge, SH; Wentwood, JHC; Llandogo Glen, AL; Piercefield Woods; between Pen-y-parc and Devauden, WAS; The Barnetts, FWSW-B; Pen-y-

It grows on acid heaths on the tops of hills. In vc 35 its sites are: moorland on Mynydd-y-garn-fawr, SO/265.095, 1986, RF; slopes to S of masts, Blorenge, SO/26.10, 1986-1996, TGE, UTE; among springs, Bal Mawr, SO/266.266, near springs and footpath, Bwlch Isaf, SO/270.270, both 182

Flora of Monmouthshire cae-mawr, Wentwood, *; Chepstow Park Wood, ?R; wood by Trellech Bog, SGC; Penallt, Mrs L. There are now only two extant sites: c. 60 plants on leaf mould, under beech, near base of 365 steps, Wyndcliff, ST/527.973, AL, WAS, AEW, 19712003, TGE; c. 20 plants, forest track side, Glyn Wood, Tintern, SO/522.001, 1976, RSW, 1977-79 but not seen since, TGE; a 4 x 1 m colony on leaf mould, open beech wood, Lower Wyndcliff Wood, ST/528.972, 1994-2004, TGE. 1 t (15 t)

PRIMULACEAE Primrose family The observable characters of this family are very variable, but it is best recognised by the following features: members are herbaceous, the petals are fused to form at least a basal tube, the ovary is 1celled, with the ovules arising from free-central placentation. PRIMULA Primroses These perennials have simple, basal leaves only, the flowers are solitary or on long-stalked umbels, the calyx is narrowly bell-shaped, with the lobes shorter than the tube, the corolla has a tube that just clears the top of the calyx and divides into 5 notched, petal-lobes, frequently members are pineyed i.e. the stigma appears in the ‘eye’ of the corolla because the style is long and the corollaborne stamens hold the anthers half way up the tube, or thrum-eyed i.e. the stamens are borne around the rim of the corolla tube and the stigma is held half way up the corolla tube on a short style (this arrangement promotes cross-pollination by a non-retractable long-tongued insect); the capsule releases it seeds by 5 teeth or valves.

Pyrola rotundifolia ssp maritima L. Round-leaved Wintergreen Two patches of c. 30 plants (50 flowering spikes 2004, TGE), on periphery of disused, limestone quarry, W of Freehold Wood, S of Lasgarn Wood, SO/272.031, 1999, SW, det. FJR; 2000-04, TGE, CT. 1 t Plate 31 ORTHILIA Serrated Wintergreen All the flowers in a terminal raceme turned to one side; anthers release pollen-grains singly from pores.

Orthilia secunda

Serrated Wintergreen

Primrose

Primula vulgaris

All leaves are near the base of the erect stem with the globular, greenish-white flowers exceeded by the straight style This is found in woods and on damp rock ledges. The one localized record was near the Wyndcliff, 1st vice-county record, 1845, SHB, 1876, AL. (1 t)

The hairy, rugose rosette leaves are bright green above, paler below, they taper gradually from a broad, rounded blade to the stalk; the pale yellow, fragrant flowers have orange markings near the eye and may be up to 4 cm across and are supported singly on long stalks.

MONOTROPACEAE Bird’s-nest family Members of this herbaceous family lack chlorophyll and are saprophytic, obtaining their nutrients from decaying leaves; their alternate leaves are scale-like; their actinomorphic flowers are in a short, terminal raceme, there are 4-5, free sepals and petals, which are pale brownish-yellow; there are 8 or 10 stamens, with anthers opening by slits.

Monotropa hypopitys subsp. hypophegea Yellow Bird’s-nest

The apex of the stem droops in flower but adopts an erect position in fruit; there are less than 9 flowers, the petals do not exceed 10 mm and the ovary is glabrous and its style is not longer than it. It grows on leaf litter. In vc 35 only known from under beeches, near Blackcliff, ST/534.985, *, WAS (1920), 1978, EGW, 1984-2003 (14 spikes counted in 2003), TGE. 1 t Plate 32

18 31

Primroses favour damp, shady habitats such as woods, hedgerows, unimproved banks and scrub and on heavy soils in particular. Widespread in vc 35, but badly affected by forestry and farming practices since the 1939-45 war and by councils 183

Flora of Monmouthshire verge spraying particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the records in the western hills and on the Severn Levels can be traced to human intervention, mostly introduced plants. 284 t

Primula x polyantha

a pendulous umbel of as many as 15 or more clustered at the apex of a tall stalk. Cowslips favour grassland, open woods, hedge banks and scrub over calcareous soils. The ‘improvement’ of meadows to increase grass yields has left only small, isolated remnants of former extensive colonies in vc 35. Most of the records are for hedge banks, field margins and road verges. They are much more common on roadside banks, particularly those of motorways, than in meadows. 190 t

False Oxlip

This P. vulgaris x P. veris hybrid looks like a cowslip with flowers half way between a Primrose and a Cowslip in size. Most flowers are yellow, in the wild, but if Cowslips grow near gardens with Polyanthas in them, pink or red flowers can appear. They are sporadic in appearance, and do not seem to be as persistent as either parent in the wild.

CYCLAMEN Sowbreads Cyclamens are perennials arising from corms lying just below ground level; the simple leaves with long petioles, like the flowers, come from the middle of the corm; the calyx has a short tube and long lobes, the corolla also has a short tube with the 5 lobes reflexed, the flowers are on long peduncles that curl over to hold the flower upside down; the capsule that opens by 5 valves is held on a spiralling peduncle.

! Cyclamen hederifolium

18 31

This hybrid may be found where both parents grow close together. 19 t

Primula veris

Sowbread

The patterned leaves to 10 cm are heart-shaped but have large teeth interspersed with smaller ones around the margin; the corolla lobes are pale pink (white sometimes) and dark red at their base. They are introduced and naturalised in woods and hedgerows. The two vice-county records are: 10 plants in roadside hedgerow, Hendy Farm, SO/389.098, 1973, BMF; 3 patches, planted on roadside/woodland bank, Caerllan Field Centre, SO/492.084, 1994, TGE. 2 t

Cowslip

LYSIMACHIA Loosestrifes These have simple, opposite or whorled leaves; the calyx has pointed lobes, divided nearly to the base, the corolla has 5-7, spreading or erect, yellow lobes joined at their base to form a short tube; the capsule opens by 5 valves.

Lysimachia nemorum

18 31

Yellow Pimpernel

This is a low, spreading, glabrous perennial; the opposite, pale green leaves to 3 cm are ovate, and the solitary, yellow, 5 narrow-lobed flowers to 15 mm are borne on long stalks in the axils of the leaves. It grows in damp woodlands throughout Monmouthshire. Only the Severn Levels have very few records. 285 t

Cowslips have hairy, rugose leaves that abruptly narrow to the stalk from a rounded, oblong blade; the deep yellow, sweetly fragrant flowers have orange honey-guides near their ‘eyes’ and occur in 184

Flora of Monmouthshire Lysimachia nemorum

terminal, pyramidal panicles, the corolla lobes lack glandular hairs and the sepals have orange margins.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

Lysimachia nummularia

35 18

Creeping-jenny

This is an extensively creeping, glabrous perennial with short-stalked, paired, rounded, gland-dotted leaves with a cordate base; its yellow, broadly-lobed, solitary flowers to 18 mm are borne on long stalks from leaf axils, the petals have tiny black glands.

This requires neutral or calcareous soils found on river and lake margins, marshes and fens. In vc 35 it hugs river banks, and was once much commoner on the Severn Levels but again the lowering of the water table and the laying of drainage pipes in wet fields has devastated the number of plants in the last 40 years. 72 t

! Lysimachia punctata

This is similar to Yellow Loosestrife but L. punctata has corolla lobes that are glandularpubescent and the calyx teeth are green only.

Dotted Loosestrife

20 23 19 22 18 31

This plant grows in damp conditions, particularly where there is shade. In vc 35, drainage of the Severn Levels and wet fields elsewhere has reduced the number of sites where it can be found. The wetter woods of the Wye Valley and near the Monnow still have good colonies. 81 t

18 31

Lysimachia vulgaris

Yellow Loosestrife This plant is naturalised in rough ground and in damp situations. In vc 35 it is on the increase, probably because it spreads in gardens and is then thinned out with the spare rhizomes dumped in the countryside, so verges of minor roads and lanes and waste ground sprout new colonies. 28 t

This is a softly-hairy perennial with erect stems to 1.5 m forming loose patches with stems arising from nodes of rhizomes or stolons; the ovate to lanceolate leaves are opposite or in whorls of 3-4 and are dotted with black or orange glands; the yellow flowers to 20 mm across occur in leafy, 185

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 19

Anagallis tenella

Figure 20

Wahlenbergia hederacea

186

Bog Pimpernel

Ivy-leaved Bellflower

Flora of Monmouthshire The shoots of this annual do not root at the nodes, the elliptic leaves can be more than 1 cm long; the flowers may be red, blue or pink (very occasionally white) with minute stalked glands on the rounded apex of the petals. Under x50 microscope the 3celled glandular hair consists of a basal cell, a tubular middle cell and a globose end cell (subsp foemina is blue flowered but has 2 middle cells making the hair 4-celled). Scarlet Pimpernel grows on arable and waste land. The red form is widespread in vc 35, but once north of the A40 in the eastern half, the blue form occurs in at least equal proportions. The pink form is the least common; it was quite frequent around a maize crop on a field of Cilwrgi Farm, Coed-yPaen, ST/34.98-99, 2003, TGE; it was a weed of the Raglan garden centre, SO/38.08, 1990, TGE, UTE. 278 t

ANAGALLIS Pimpernels These are glabrous herbs with simple, opposite or alternate leaves; the 5 sepals are nearly free and the 5 petals are joined to near the middle; the capsule releases its seeds when its top half lifts free.

Anagallis tenella

Bog Pimpernel

This perennial sends creeping stems, which root at the nodes, across the surface of the substrate; its less than 1 cm long, short-stalked, rounded to elliptical, paired leaves are arranged at short intervals; the pink petals have slightly darker veins running from apex to base and the flowers are carried on long, slender stalks. 23

GLAUX Sea-milkwort These perennials are glabrous, glaucous, rather fleshy herbs rooting occasionally at stem nodes and bearing simple, sessile, opposite leaves; they have petaloid sepals divided half way into 5 pale pink or purplish or sometimes white lobes; the capsule opens by 5 valves.

Glaux maritima

18 31

Sea-milkwort

The leaves are elliptical up to 12 mm long; the pink or white, sessile flowers to 5 mm are solitary in the leaf axils.

It creeps over bogs, damp peat or sandy soils. It is more frequent in the wetter, hilly west of the vicecounty but can be found near streams or on boggy patches in the east as well. 74 t Figure 19

Anagallis arvensis subsp. arvensis Scarlet Pimpernel

18 31

A coastal plant of saline sands, muds or grassland. In vc 35 it grows in every coastal tetrad that does not have only a concrete sea wall with only deep, bare mud beyond. It also extends up suitable tidalriver banks. 36 t

18 31

187

Flora of Monmouthshire plants in flush below A466 and ESE of Redding’s Farm, ST/536.992, TGE; c. 50 plants, reen side, Wentlooge Level, ST/266.810 to 267.809, 1996, TGE; c. 20 plants reen bank, near water, near sea wall, Passage Wharf, ST/516.887, 1995, TGE; 2 plants, cow trodden reen margin, Sea Wall Reen, ST/384.824, 1991, TGE, UTE, ST/385.824, TDP; c. 40-50 plants in wet area in Church Wood, Cwmbran, ST/287.959, 2006, AW, EGW. 8 t (1 t)

SAMOLUS Brookweed The simple leaves of this glabrous perennial form a basal rosette and alternate up the erect stem; the 24 mm flowers have 5 calyx lobes attached to the rim of the ovary, 5 white corolla lobes surround a capsule that opens by 5 teeth.

Samolus valerandi

Brookweed

The erect stems can reach to over 40 cm; the obovate to elliptic leaves are up to 8 cm long, the 2-4 mm, white flowers are borne in lax, terminal and axillary racemes and tiny bracteoles occur half way up their pedicels.

GROSSULARIACEAE Gooseberry family These are shrubs with simple, often lobed leaves with petioles but without stipules, and arranged alternately on the twigs; the actinomorphic flowers have an hypanthium bearing 5 sepals, there are 5 free petals and 5 stamens; they have an inferior 1celled ovary with 2 parietal placentas.

RIBES Gooseberries These have palmately lobed, deciduous, serrate leaves; flowers, borne on short side branches, may be solitary or in racemes, and have sepals longer than petals; the fruit is a berry.

Ribes rubrum

18 31

Red Currant

The leaves, when crushed, give off little smell, there are no prickles, the yellowish-green, bisexual flowers, in dangling racemes, have a saucer-shaped hypanthium, the anther lobes are clearly divided; the berry is red or uncommonly whitish.

Brookweed grows in wet places, by streams, on reen margins, in flushes, usually near the sea or tidal parts of rivers. In vc 35, because of the regime of reen management, steep sides and greater depth, the lowering of the water table and the increasing grazing of the foreshore, the only likely extant home is in the Wetland Reserve at Uskmouth. Wade (1970) cited Bunjup’s Brook, Redbrook, SGC; St Pierre, JHC, WAS; near Mathern, *, WAS; Marshfield, SH, Peterstone Wentlooge, *. Some other records are: Sea Wall Reen, SE of Undy Pool, ST/44.80, 1974, a few plants; E of Goldcliff Point, ST/376.823, 1979-80; reen edges and marsh, near Pill Cottage, St. Pierre, ST/520.902, 1975; reen near sea wall, Undy, ST/446.866, 1974; 10-20 plants, marshy margin to R. Wye, ST/535.986, 1974, dozens of plants, marsh, Newport Docks, ST/312.854, 1973-74, TGE. Recent records: 2 plants, E end of lagoon, vc 35 Wetlands Reserve, ST/3334.8280, 2003, LM; 15 plants, bare soil, Wetlands Reserve, Uskmouth, ST/3280.8340, 2003, TGE; 200-300 plants, 2006, TGE, CT; 25-30 plants on track with wet ruts, Alpha Steelworks, ST/334.846, 2000, TGE; 2

18 31

It can be found in woods, hedges and scrub. In vc 35 it is very common in woods and hedgerows, particularly near dwellings, mainly due to birds roosting in them after raids in gardens. Whitish fruiting bushes have been observed on the S side of the road from Botany Bay to Catbrook, SO/52.02. 173 t 188

Flora of Monmouthshire

Ribes nigrum

! Ribes alpinum

Black Currant

Crushed leaves smell quite strongly due to sessile, orange glands on their undersides; the hypanthium is deeply cup-shaped and the fruit black.

Mountain Currant

Its sparsely pubescent leaves emit little smell when crushed, shrubs are male or female and the flowers in shortish, somewhat erect racemes form red berries. It grows in limestone woods, often on rock faces. Introduced in vc 35. It formed part of a hedge, near Glebe Farm, Pen-y-cae-mawr, ST/411.950, 198793, TGE, but was taken out when a new wider gate was put in. 1 t

Ribes uva-crispa

Gooseberry

Gooseberry is distinct because it has spines on its twigs; its greenish-yellow or red-tinged flowers are in short, stiff racemes and give rise to greenish or reddish, pubescent berries 10-20 mm across.

18 23 31

35 22

It grows in woods and hedgerows but is much less common than Red Currant. I am surprised there are as many as 53 tetrads where it has escaped from gardens. 53 t

! Ribes sanguineum

Flowering Currant

Its pubescent leaves are fragrant when crushed; its flowers, in pendent racemes, are pink to bright red; its 6-10 mm berry, when formed, is purplish-black with whitish bloom.

18 31

It is common in woods and hedges. Like Red Currants, many Gooseberries are borne in birds’ guts from gardens to their roosts in hedges or woods, where the gut enzymes stratify the seeds, hence the frequency in vc 35 woods and hedges. 205 t

CRASSULACEAE Stonecrop family Members are very variable in characters; they are mostly herbs, often with succulent, simple leaves, often spirally or alternately arranged and lacking in stipules; the actinomorphic, often hermaphrodite flowers with frequently 5 sepals and petals and the same number to twice as many stamens; the fruit is a group of follicles.

18 31

This is an introduction to gardens. Almost all records are confined to the valleys of vc 35: some are relics of former plots, some on coal waste, one on railway sidings, Big Pit, and one plant on Penallt Common. 14 t

! Crassula helmsii New Zealand Pigmyweed This recently arrived alien has weak, trailing stems in water and on nearby mud; the stems bear paired, narrow leaves joined around the stem, well-spaced 189

Flora of Monmouthshire from adjacent pairs; its tiny, 4-petalled flowers are borne singly on slender pedicels up to 8 mm long.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

18 31

SEMPERVIVUM House-leeks These are glandular-hairy perennials; there is a dense, open rosette of lanceolate, pointed leaves, with more leaves alternating up the stem; the flowering stems arise from the centre of mature rosettes and bear a cyme of fairly numerous pink to purplish flowers on top, the free numerous petals surround twice as many sepals.

Intended for aquaria or garden ponds, its rapid growth and spread has resulted in it being pulled out and thrown into nearby waterways or still water, where it has taken over to the detriment of native plants. In the vice-county it has sites at: Borrow Pit, Monmouth, SO/503.127, 1992, JH (unwisely planted when it became a local nature reserve and still on the margin in 2003); many metres, edge of stream, Trethomas, ST/187.886, 1992, JSW; small pond, edge of loop road, Craigy-dorth, SO/483.086, 1994, TGE (it had been removed by 2003); massed around NE side of large pond, Caldicot Castle, ST/487.885, 1999, TGE; Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Malpas, ST/301.902, 2003, TGE, CT. 5 t

! Sempervivum tectorum

House-leek

The rounded, open rosette is 3-8 cm across, the pointed lanceolate leaves are bluish-green with purplish tips and have bristly margins; the dull pinkish-purple flowers are 2-3 cm across and crown a stout, erect stem. These are to be seen on wall tops and roofs. The rosettes do not persist in vc 35 despite their perennial nature and I suspect that property owners now clean them off more frequently, especially as property prices spiral upwards and it pays to maintain existing buildings. 11 t

UMBILICUS Navelwort These are hairless perennials, with succulent, crenate leaves that are alternate and peltate; the flowers, in excess of 5 mm across, have 5 sepals and petals with twice as many stamens, the petals are joined to at least half way, and the stamens arise from the corolla tube.

Umbilicus rupestris

Navelwort

The English name derives from the central hollow of the roughly circular, long-stalked leaves; the pendent, narrow bell-shaped, greenish-white flowers are clustered on a tall, tapering spire-like inflorescence. It can be found on rocks, walls and dry, stony banks. Apart from the coalfield area and the Levels it is quite common in the vice-county. 172 t

18 31

190

Flora of Monmouthshire decumbent, spreading along the substrate and the petals are mostly more than 8 mm long; the leaves are noticeably papillose-margined. A popular garden plant, which survives when the garden is abandoned. It spreads and needs curbing and the habit of some folk of depositing garden waste on to nearby waste ground leads to it becoming naturalised. The surprising number of occurrences in vc 35 suggests both causes are responsible. 34 t

SEDUM Stonecrops These succulent plants usually have alternate leaves and flower parts usually in 5s except for stamens that are twice as many.

Sedum telephium

Orpine

The plant perennates from tuberous roots with an erect stem to 60 cm with an umbel-shaped panicle, its flattened, succulent leaves are bluntly toothed; its flowers are pinkish-purple with 3-5 mm petals. The stamens are up to as long as the petals.

! Sedum rupestre

Reflexed Stonecrop

This glabrous, somewhat greyish, evergreen perennial has creeping, rooting stems, with short, erect shoots bearing a cylindrical cluster of leaves throughout the winter; some stems, which elongate in spring with spaced out linear, cylindrical, pointed leaves that tend to arc out from the stem, produce an apical, rounded panicle of drooping buds that open into yellow flowers 14-15 mm across.

22 31

35 21

Hedgerows seem to be its main habitat. This has caused our botanists a problem because by the time the fruits should have formed the hedgerow bottoms have been cut and fruits are unavailable, so it has not been split into its 2 subspecies. 53 t

! Sedum spurium

Caucasian-stonecrop

31 23

These grow in rocky places, including stony tracks, cliffs and walls. Widely grown on garden walls in the vice-county it occasionally escapes to other walls or nearby dry banks. 55 t

Sedum forsterianum 20

18 31

Rock Stonecrop

This Stonecrop is like S. rupestre but the overwintering shoots have leaves tightly packed into a globular shape and the flowers are 11-12 mm across. It grows in rocky places including screes, rock faces, rocky woodland. In vc 35 it is confined to garden walls from which it sometimes escapes to neighbouring walls and dry banks. It is probably under-recorded, because it is widely naturalized in old gardens. 16 t

Like Orpine this also has flattened, succulent, glabrous leaves and pinkish-purple flowers with stamens as long as the petals but stems are 191

Flora of Monmouthshire Sedum forsterianum

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18

31 31

Sedum acre

It occurs in rocky habitats, though in vc 35 it is usually on walls or dry banks. 46 t

Biting Stonecrop

This low-growing, glabrous perennial has creeping stems that root at the nodes and send up erect stems to 10 cm but often much shorter; the stems bear close, smooth, ovoid, 3-5 mm leaves, which are widest at their base, and have a peppery taste when chewed, and 5 yellow, just over 1 cm across, flowers in small clusters.

Sedum anglicum

English Stonecrop

S. anglicum has rooting stems that form mats that are more compact than in White Stonecrop and alternate, blue-green, tinged pink, 3-5 mm cylindrically-oval, glabrous leaves; the 9-12 mm flowers are borne on much shorter upright stems that branch only 2-3 times with each branch bearing no more than 3-6 flowers, which have petals, white above and pink below.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

35 18

This grows on most well-drained gritty, sandy or stony surfaces. In vc 35 it is widespread from paths to coal waste mounds. 164 t

Arc. Sedum album

It grows in rocky habitats, dry banks and grassland. In vc 35 it seems to occur near human habitations, but is infrequent. 10 t

White Stonecrop

S. album has creeping stems, rooting at the nodes, giving rise to erect stems bearing alternately arranged, bright green but tinged red, oval leaves rounded on the underside and somewhat flattened on upperside and a much branched, flattish topped inflorescence of more than 20 white flowers 6-9 mm across. 192

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 21

Saxifraga cymbalaria 193

Celandine Saxifrage

Flora of Monmouthshire petioles, the blades are kidney-shaped with more than 7 blunt lobes, stem leaves are few; the inflorescence is near the top of a stem to 15 cm, the 2-3 cm, white flowers occur in small numbers on the few branches.

SAXIFRAGACEAE Saxifrage family These herbs are rarely woody at the base, the flowers are usually actinomorphic but can be zygomorphic, in fact the members are so variable in both vegetative and floral characters that it is best to learn the characters of the few that occur in the wild in vc 35. The other ten can be seen in gardens.

SAXIFRAGA Saxifrages These are usually perennial herbs with flowers in branched cymes, though sometimes solitary or in racemes; there are 5 sepals and 5 petals, 10 stamens, 2 carpels fused at base to form a 2-celled ovary containing many seeds.

! Saxifraga cymbalaria Celandine Saxifrage

This glandular annual has leaves twice as wide as long, shallowly lobed apex and abruptly contracted into a stalk; the flowers, usually solitary, have 5 yellow, shiny petals (the basal 2/3 in some plants are a matt, darker yellow, as shown in my drawing); the 2-horned fruit sits in a ‘palisade’ of linear, pointed projections from the base of the sepals. It was probably introduced with plants from the E Mediterranean and distributed to gardens. It appeared in my rock garden, ST/52.93 in 1978 and spread to all parts where the soil had been cleared of other plants and persisted until at least 1999. Peter and Joan Hall found it on disturbed soil at Vine House, St Maughans, SO/47.16, when they moved there from Sussex and reported it in 1980. 2t Figure 21

! Saxifraga x urbium

18 31

It grows on neutral or base-rich, grassy banks of streams. In vc 35 it grows mainly near the R. Usk or its tributary streams. 21 t Plate 36

Saxifraga hypnoides

Mossy Saxifrage

The prostrate stolons form a mat of foliage with linear-lobed, very pointed leaves on the spreading stems, which have leaf clusters at their growth points, but become simple, linear leaves up the erect flowering stems; the nodding buds open to white flowers 1.5-2 cm across. It can be found in upland regions in damp conditions, often on rocks, margins of streams etc. Wade (1970) gave five sites: about Llanthony Abbey, SO/28.27, JB, SH, SGC; Tarens skirting the Ffwddog, AL, Chwarel y fan, SO/25.29, and Tarren yr Esgob, SGC, *; Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, AL, WAS, *; today I have only records for Tarren yr Esgob, the most recent being many large patches over rocks in trickling water and on grass at the edge of the water, SO/25.30, 2002, TGE, GH, CT. ? 1 t (4 t)

London Pride

This has leaves with the pubescent petiole as long as or slightly longer than the glabrous blade, the blade is longer than wide and has 19-25 lobes, bluntly pointed and a very narrow translucent border; the stems and flower stalks tend to be pink, its white petals are 4-5 mm long. This was grown more in gardens in the past, and any apparent wild plants probably owe their existence to that origin. The only vc 35 record is some plants on the top of a derelict, low wall of an abandoned garden (the house has disappeared as well) opposite the SW corner of Cleddon Bog SO/506.038, 1957 – 2000 at least, TGE. 1 t

Saxifraga granulata

Saxifraga tridactylites Rue-leaved Saxifrage This is usually a slender, stickily-hairy annual to 10 cm often becoming reddish, its spathulate basal leaves wither by flowering time, other leaves may have 3-5, narrow finger-like lobes; the 4-6 mm flowers have 5 white petals. It grows on open, dry, preferably, calcareous surfaces. Most vc 35 records are on walls or dry banks. 30 t

Meadow Saxifrage

This is a hairy perennial with a basal rosette of leaves, which have bulbils at the base of their 194

Flora of Monmouthshire Saxifraga tridactylites

CHRYSOSPLENIUM Golden-saxifrages These are somewhat fleshy perennials with creeping and erect stems, there are basal, stalked, orbicular, lobed leaves, greeny-yellow, 4-sepalled flowers sitting in flat-topped clusters closely above similarly orientated bracts, there are no petals, there are 8 stamens.

Chrysosplenium oppositifolium Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage

This herb has squarish, creeping stems to 15 cm, rooting at the nodes; its sparsely hairy, blunttoothed leaves are rounded with cuneate or rounded bases in opposite pairs on the stems and are usually less than 2 cm; the 3-4 mm, greenish flowers are surrounded by yellowish leafy bracts, the anthers are bright yellow.

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TOLMIEA Pick-a-back-plant These are hairy perennials with mainly basal, palmately lobed, serrate leaves, in damp conditions they produce small plants at the base of the petioles; the inflorescence is a simple raceme borne at the top of a leafy stem; the zygomorphic flowers have a tubular base and has 5 sepals, 4-5 filiform petals and 3 stamens; there is a 1-celled ovary of 2 fused carpels.

! Tolmeia menziesii

Pick-a-back-plant

It has long petioled leaves of variable shape, but shallowly palmately lobed with a cordate base; its flowers are brown with filiform petals to 15 mm. A pot plant sometimes naturalised in damp shady places or on tips or untended soil. The single vc 35 record is of it naturalised in wild garden, Caerllan Field Centre, SO/49.08, 1971-82 at least, PC. 1 t

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This grows in damp and shady places. In vc 35 it is often common by streams or in wet woods. 286 t

TELLIMA Fringecups These are hairy perennials with mainly basal, palmately lobed, serrate, orbicular leaves; the inflorescence is a simple raceme topping a leafy stem; the flowers have a bell-shaped base, 5 sepals, 5 broad petals fringed with filiform lobes, 10 stamens and a 1-celled ovary of 2 fused carpels.

Chrysosplenium alternifolium Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage 23

! Tellima grandiflora

Fringecups

It has long-petioled, orbicular leaves with a cordate base, its flowers are green with reddish edges to 15 mm across, and each of the petals ends in a distinctive fringe of thread-like lobes. This introduction to gardens has spread to and naturalised in damp woods and hedgerows. The one vc 35 record is from a track by overgrown garden, Angiddy Valley, Tintern, SO/512.004, 1998, BJG. 1 t

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195

Flora of Monmouthshire lanceolate leaves, sharply serrate, except at extreme proximal end of S. salicifolia and the oblong, sharply serrate in the distal half leaves of S. douglasii. It has sub-cylindrical panicles and pink petals. A hybrid developed for gardens which has become naturalised in hedges and verge banks. In vc 35 the 3 sites are: railway bank, Caldicot Pill, ST/494.876, 1985; verge bank, Tredegar, SO/13.08, 1986; waste ground, railside, Cwmcarn, ST/21.93, 1991, all TGE. 3 t

This herb has triangular creeping and rooting stems; its mainly basal leaves are alternate, round or kidney-shaped, lobed to give a crenate margin and have a cordate base, the largest are over 2 cm; its 2-3 mm flowers are yellowish, and are surrounded by yellowish, leafy bracts. This grows frequently in damp, shady places. In vc 35 it grows scattered by the sides of streams and in damp woods. 30 t ROSACEAE Rose family The Rose family has a range of trees, shrubs or herbs; the leaves are alternate, usually both petiolate and stipulate; the actinomorphic flowers occur in various arrangements, there is usually a hypanthium, the commonly 5 free sepals are borne on the hypanthium, the frequently present epicalyx is outside the calyx, there are often 5 free petals, the fruit may be achenes, drupes, follicles, rarely capsules or may be a false fruit as in apples, pears and strawberries. Because of the many exceptions it is better to use a flora to acquaint yourself with the family members.

! Spiraea x billardii

SPIRAEA Brideworts These are deciduous shrubs with simple leaves lacking stipules; the flowers are in fairly dense to dense clusters or sprays, the petals range from white to pale purple; there are 5 carpels that ripen to a follicle that releases its many seeds by splitting down one side.

! Spiraea salicifolia

Billard’s Bridewort

This S. alba x S. douglasii hybrid is intermediate between the conical panicle, glabrous leaves, widest above midway and usually white petals of S. alba and the cylindrical panicle, white to pale grey, tomentose, oblong leaves and pink petals of S. douglasii. An improved hybrid developed for gardens, and naturalised in hedges and on verge banks. The one site in vc 35 is: roadside bank, St Bride’s, Netherwent, ST/42.89, 1993, TGE. 1 t

! Spiraea douglasii

Steeple Bush

This bush suckers freely, and has erect stems to 2 m; its 4-8 cm long oblong leaves are sharply serrate in their distal halves and almost entire along the rest of the leaf; it has cylindrical panicles of pink flowers. Introduced into gardens from the west of N America and naturalised in hedges and on verge banks. In vc 35 the 3 records are: below Rock, near River Sirhowy, ST/18.98, 1988, 1997; upland roadside, Greenmeadow, ST/27.95, 1989, both TGE; Waun-y-Pound, SO/15.10, 1987, RF. 3 t

Bridewort

This shrub forms suckers freely with lanceolate leaves, sharply serrate except at the extreme end near the petiole, and widest below mid-way; the cylindrical inflorescence branches are pubescent; the sepals are erect in fruit; the petals are bright pink and shorter than the stamens. Introduced from C. Europe into gardens and naturalised in hedges and on waste ground. Now rare in Britain and superseded by improved horticultural hybrids. Wade (1970) described it as a rare denizen and gave these records: Whitebrook, SO/53.06, 1895, AL; well established about Tintern, SO/52.00, 1945, JAW; near Lady Mill, Mounton, ST/51.93, *. (3 t)

FILIPENDULA Meadowsweets These herbaceous perennials have pinnate leaves; the flowers are in terminal, flattish clusters with flower parts in 5s or many, there is no epicalyx, the hypanthium is flattish or shallowly saucer-shaped, the stamens are numerous; the fruit is a head of achenes each with 1-2 seeds.

Filipendula vulgaris

Dropwort

It has an over-wintering rosette of pinnate and finely divided leaves with more on the 50-100 cm tall, erect stem. The leaf has 8-30 pairs of main leaflets with smaller ones between, the leaflets vary between 0.5 and 2 cm long; the 8-15 mm across, cream flowers, which have 6 petals, with

! Spiraea x pseudosalicifolia Confused Bridewort This S. salicifolia x S. douglasii hybrid is intermediate between the elliptic-oblong to 196

Flora of Monmouthshire side of roadside hedge and junction with stream, S of Holly House, ST/278.847, 1990, GH; near Michaelstone bridge, ST/24.85, 1991, PAS; base of planted flowering cherry, Cleppa Park, ST/278.847, 1994, GH; Gwehelog, SO/38.04, 1994, DEL; roadside edge of Buckholt Wood, SO/50.16, 1995, BJG. 4 t

purplish undersides, and are borne in fairly dense, flattish clusters. Normally it is found on calcareous grassland. In the vice-county it is known only from the churchyard of Penallt Old Church, SO/522.108 and was last seen there in 1992 by BJG. Wade (1970) gave 3 sites: nr. Chepstow, ST/5.9, JHC; nr. Monmouth, SO/5.1, SH (1909); Minnett’s Lane, Rogiet, ST/4.8P, 1942, JCE. 1 t (3 t)

Filipendula ulmaria

RUBUS Brambles Brambles are deciduous or semi-evergreen shrubs often with prickles, or herbaceous perennials. The leaves are various in form and in arrangement. The flowers usually have parts in fives, there is no epicalyx, the hypanthium is flat, the receptacle is saucer-shaped, there are numerous stamens and a fruit consisting of a group of drupes. Identification of most brambles requires expert knowledge and some experience; Brambles of the British Isles 1988 by E. S. Edees and A. Newton should be consulted.

Meadowsweet

A taller plant than F. vulgaris reaching 150 cm in ideal conditions; its pinnate leaves have a terminal lobe and up to 5 pairs of larger leaflets, all longer than 2 cm; the 4-8 mm across, fragrant, cream-coloured flowers with 5 petals are in much denser clusters. 23

Rubus saxatilis

Stone bramble

This has long stolons with few or no prickles, ternate leaves, few-flowered inflorescences with white flowers, and red fruits with a few drupes. Wyndcliff, ST/59, 1878, WAS, *; SH; 1942, JCE. About Chepstow, ST/59, 1868, JHC. Woods near Tintern, ?SO/5.9, 1881, HPR, and 1920, Richards (3 t)

18 31

Rubus idaeus

This is a plant of wet places. In the vice-county it is often in damp woodland, in ditches, in the remaining marshy meadows and by streams. It is still widespread but in much smaller numbers than before 1960. 358 t

KERRIA Kerria These are deciduous shrubs with simple leaves; flowers have 5 sepals and petals but numerous stamens and they occur solitarily on the ends of lateral branches; the fruit is a head of achenes.

! Kerria japonica

Raspberry

This has stems arising from short suckers c. 2m tall with bristly prickles, pinnate leaves with 3-7 ovate leaflets with dense, short, white hairs beneath; c. 1 cm, white flowers small racemes and usually red fruits consisting of a tight cluster of drupelets.

Kerria

This is an erect shrub to 2.5 m with ovate to lanceolate, coarsely toothed and sparsely pubescent leaves; its yellow flowers are up to 5 cm across. It was introduced from China and grown in gardens usually in the flore pleno form with many petals forming what is popularly known as bachelor’s buttons. Vc 35 records: 3 plants of ‘Pleniflora’ SE

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197

Flora of Monmouthshire Raspberry is possibly native but many plants in woods near houses have their origins in bird droppings. Frequent in woods and on waste ground. 250 t

Rubus angusticuspis Beacon Hill, SO/5.0, 1922, WAS, *; Beacon Hill, SO/5.0, 1955, ESE, *; Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Chepstow Park, ST/5.9, 1925, HJR, *; Chepstow Park Wood, ST/4.9, 1956, ESE, *; Chepstow Park Wd., SO/504.982, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Cilfeigan Park, ST/34.99, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Coed y Gatlas, SO/4.1, 1924, AEW, *; Coed-cae, ST/4.9, 1897, Ley, A. WAS, Watson, W.C.R, *; King’s Wd., SO/46.12, MP, RDR; Llanddewi Fach, ST/39, 1943, AEW, *; Lower Talycoed Wd., SO/41.15, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Mescoed Mawr Wd., ST/27.89, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; N of Gray Hill, ST/42.92, 42.93, 1993, RDR; Narth, The, SO/5.0, 1909, WAS, * and SO/52.06, 1994, TGE, *; Penallt, 1983, TGE, *; Penallt, 1973, AN, *; Pen-y-fan, SO/5.0, 1895, AL, *; Pont-y-saison, 1921, WAS, *; Priory Wd., Skenfrith, SO/45.20, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; S of Glascoed Village, SO/33.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Sor Brook Picnic site, ST/32.97, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; St. Arvans, 1896, WAS, *; Tintern Abbey, SO/5.0, 1890, WAS, *; Trelleck, SO/5.0, 1892, WAS, *; Troy Park Wood, 1910, AL, *; Upper Cwmbran, ST/27.96, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Thornhill, Wd. Margin, ST/27.95, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Wentwood, ST/42.94, 1993, RDR. 14 t (14 t)

Rubus phoenicolasius Caewern Wood, SO/445.089, 1997, SDSB. 1 t

Rubus fruticosus agg., Blackberry, Bramble 23

18 31

As an aggregate it probably occurs in every tetrad. All the remaining species form part of the R. fruticosus aggregate. All NMW material has been determined by E. S. Edees, B. A. Miles, A. Newton, M. Porter, R. D. Randall, H. J. Riddelsdell and/or W C. R. Watson.

Rubus aristisepalus No details other than SO/5.0, 1983, AN. (1 t)

Rubus acclivitatum Llwyn-du, SO/28.16, 1993, MP, RDR; The Park, SO/28.17, 1993, MP, RDR; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR; wood, S end of Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR. 4 t

Rubus ariconiensis Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/326.167, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; King’s Wood, SO/46.12, 1993, MP, RDR; Llandegfedd, ST/3.9, 1943, AEW, *; Lower Talycoed Wd., SO/41.15, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; marsh, Steppes Fm., SO/42.01, 1996, TGE; Park Wd., Penyclawdd, SO/45.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; S of Glascoed Village, SO/33.01 and hedge nr. Beech Farm, SO/32.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; St. Mellons, ST/2.8, 1941, AEW, *; Steppes Farm, SO/42.01, 1996, TGE, *. 7 t (2 t)

Rubus acutifrons Chepstow Park, 1896, AL, *; Darren Road, 1942, AEW, *; Risca, 1942, AEW, *; Wentwood Lodge, ST/41.94, 1993, RDR. 1 t (3 t)

Rubus albionis Mescoed Wood, ST/27.89, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR. 1t

Rubus armeniacus Caerleon, ST/32.90, 1987, TGE, *; Caerleon, ST/32.90, 1987, TGE, *; Cleppa Park, ST/278.848, 1994 GH, *; Risca, ST/2.8 or ST/2.9, 1942, AEW, *; hedge near Severn Tunnel Junction, ST/46.87, 1996, TGE; Edge of R. Ebbw, Ebbw Vale Cricket School, SO/16.10, 2000, TGE. 5 t (1 t)

Rubus amplificatus Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, 1924, HJR, *; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR. 1 t (1 t)

198

Flora of Monmouthshire Minnetts Lane, Rogiet, ST/45.88, 1993, RDR; The Narth, 1909, WAS, *; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR; Pant-y-cosyn, 1891, WAS, *; Priory Wd., Skenfrith, SO/45.20, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; St. Arvans, 1896, WAS, *; Talycoed Wd., SO/41.15, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; The Fedw, ST/59, 1889, WAS, WAS, *; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp. AN, MP. 7 t (5 t)

Rubus armipotens Lower Talycoed Wood, SO/41.15, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Sor Brook Picnic Site, ST/32.97, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Upper Cwmbran, ST/27.96, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR. 3 t

Rubus arrheniiformis Tintern, SO/5.0, 1895, WAS, *; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp. 1 t (1 t)

Rubus cavatifolius Rubus ‘Beacon Hill serpens’ Chepstow Park Wd., ST/503.983, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp; Pecket Stone, Trellech Hill, SO/503.074, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp; Wentwood, ST/427.950, 43.94, 43.95, 1993, RDR. 3 t

Beacon Hill, 1891, WAS, *; 1893, AL, EFL, *; Beacon Hill, SO/5.0, 1956, ESE, *; Chepstow Park Wood, ST/4.9, 1925, HJR, *; ST/4.9, 1956, ESE, *; ST/504.982, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Monmouth, 1894, W.MR. WAS & AL, *. 1 t (2 t)

Rubus bertramii

Rubus conjungens

Cleddon Bog, SO/509.041, 1983, TGE; Narth, The, SO/5.0, 1909, WAS, *; NW of Pen-y-fan Pond, SO/193.005, 1995, TGE; Trelleck Bog, SO/5.0, 1891, WAS, * and 1944, AEW, *. 1 t (4 t)

Rubus biloensis

Chepstow, ST/5.9, 1891, WAS, *; Dixton, SO/5.1, 1925, HJR, *; Monmouth, 1893, EFL, *; Parkhurst Rocks, 1890, WAS, *; Shirenewton, ST/4.9, 1890, WAS, *; St. Mellons, ST/2.8, 1941, AEW, *; Trelleck, 1885, AL, *; Troy Wood, 1923, HJR, *. .(9 t)

Wentwood, ST/417.945, and ST/43.95, 1993, RDR, *. 1 t

Rubus dasycoccus Thick-berried bramble is a rare British endemic, the bulk of the populations occurring in Monmouthshire. During surveys in 1998, it was found in at least 14 sites in three 10-km squares in Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire and Glamorgan (Watsonia 23: 437). It belongs to an especially rich concentration of species centred around the old Welsh kingdom of Erging or Ewias and called the 'Archenfield' complex, after the Norman Royal Forest of that name. It occurs in a broad range of habitats and soils, but probably grows best in marginal habitats such as woodland edge and unkempt hedgerows on deeper brown earths. The main potential threats appear to be from inappropriate forestry and regular mowing of hedgerows or road verges, but its scattered distribution with broad ecological requirements indicate few significant threats to its long-term survival despite its decline in vc 35. Barbadoes Hill, 1892, WAS, *; Beacon Hill, SO/5.0, 1955, ESE, *; Catbrook Lane, 1891, WAS, *; Tintern, 1925, HJR, *; Tintern, 1891, WAS, *; Tintern, 1893, AL, WAS, *; Trelleck Hill, 1892, AL, WMR, *; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, MP, AJN; Wye Wood, 1892, WAS, *. 1 t (6 t)

Rubus bloxamii Little Oak, ST/411.937, 1966, BAM, *. 1 t

Rubus boraeanus Caer Wood, S end of Skirrid, SO/326.167, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN. 1 t

Rubus botryeros Earlswood, 1925, WAS, *. (1 t)

Rubus caesius Caer llan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; Chepstow, 1891, WAS, *; Five Lanes, ST/44.91, 1993, RDR; Llanfoist, 1923, AEW, *; Llanvair, ST/43.92, 1993, RDR; Mounton, ST/5.9, 1891 and 1893, WAS, *. 2 t (4 t)

Rubus caesius hybrid Cefn Llogel, 1941, AEW, *; Pen-y-lan, 1943, AEW, *; Trap Hill, 1892, WAS, *. (3 t)

Rubus cardiophyllus Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/326.167, 1996, 2000 BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; Llwyn-du, SO/28.16, 1993, MP, RDR; 199

Flora of Monmouthshire 1993, RDR; Thornhill, ST/27.95, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Wentwood, 1890, WAS, *; Wentwood, ST/42.94, 43.94, 41.94, 1993, RDR. 3 t (3 t)

Rubus dasyphyllus Marsh, Arrel View, SO/209.056, 2000, TGE bank above marshy gd., Abertillery, SO/22.04, 1988, TGE, AN; Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Chepstow Park Wd., ST/503.983, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Chepstow Park, ST/5.9, 1894, WAS, *; Llwyn-du, SO/28.16, 1993, MP, RDR; Lower Talycoed Wd. SO/41.15, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Mescoed Mawr Wd., ST/27.89, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; The Narth, SO/5.0, 1909, WAS, *; nr. Penallt Old Church, SO/52.10, 1983, AN; Shirenewton, ST/49, 1891, WAS, *; Sor Brook Picnic Site, ST/32.97, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Trellech Hill, SO/503.074, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Wentwood, ST/41.94, 42.94, 43.94, 43.95, 1993, RDR; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR. 11 t (3 t)

Rubus fuscicaulis Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Whitebrook, SO/50, 1956, ESE, *. 1 t (2 t)

Rubus glareosus Graig Wd., Pen-y-Clawdd, SO/44.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Mescoed Mawr Wd., ST/27.89, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; S end Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR. 3 t

Rubus halsteadensis Ball Road, ST/2.7, 1941, AEW, *; Beacon Hill, SO/5.0, 1891, WAS, *; Beacon Hill, SO/510.052, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Chepstow Park, ST/5.9, 1895, WAS, *; Parkhurst Rocks, 1890, WAS, *; Pensylvania, ST/2.8, 1941, AEW, *; Rogerstone Grange, ST/5.9, 1892, WAS, *; Trelleck, SO/5.0, 1903, AL, *. 1 t (7 t)

Rubus dentatifolius Beacon Hill, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/32.16, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp. MP, AN; Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; Chepstow Park, ST/5.9, 1925, HJR, *; Coed-cae, ST/4.9, 1897, AL. WAS, *; St. Arvans, ST/5.9, 1903, ESM. WAS, *; The Glyn, ST/4.9, 1897, AL. WAS, *; Upper Cwmbran, ST/27.96, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Wentwood, ST/42.93, 41.94, 1993, RDR. 4 t (5 t)

Rubus hibernicus Chepstow Park Wood, ST/5.9, 1896, WAS, *; Mescoed Mawr, ST/27.89, 1996, TGE MP, RDR; Pen-y-fan Pond, SO/193.005, 1994 and 1995, TGE, *. 2 t (1 t)

Rubus echinatoides Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/326.167, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp. MP, AN; Mescoed Mawr Wd., ST/27.89, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; NW of Whitehouse, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR. 3 t

Rubus hirsutissimus E. of Penallt Old Church, SO/52.10, 1983, AN.

(1 t) Rubus imbricatus

Rubus echinatus

Penallt, SO/52.10, 1983, AN; Pen-twyn, SO/50, 1933, Watson, W.C.R, *; Troy House, 1894, WAS, *; Whitebrook, 1885, WAS, *; Whitebrook, SO/50, 1956, ESE, *. (5 t)

Barnett Woods, 1891, WAS, *; Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; Chepstow, 1891, Miles, B.A., *; Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, 1924, HJR, *; Minnetts Lane, Rogiet, ST/44.88, 44.89, 45.88 1993, RDR; Mynydd Alltir-fach, ST/43.92, 1993, RDR. 2 t (4 t)

Rubus insectifolius

Reddings Inclosure, SO/5.1, 1905, AL, *. (1 t)

Chepstow Park Wood, ST/502.983, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Fedw Wood, ST/508.986, 1992, TGE, *; Wentwood, ST/426.950, 43.94, 43.95, 1993, RDR. 3 t

Rubus euryanthemus

Rubus iscanus

Rubus euanthinus

Beacon Hill, SO/5.0, 1956, ESE, *. (1 t)

Coed Abergwenllan, Goetre, SO/32.06, 1995, TGE; Kings Wood, SO/46.12, 1993, MP, RDR; Mounton, ST/5.9, 1898, WAS, *; Trap Hill, ST/5.9, 1891, WAS, *; Underwood, ST/39.88, 1997, TGE. 3 t (2 t)

Rubus flexuosus Bigsweir, 1897, WAS, *; Chepstow Park Wd., ST/501.984, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Chepstow Park, 1925, HJR, *; Gray Hill, ST/42.93, 200

Flora of Monmouthshire

Rubus leyanus

Rubus moylei

Chepstow Park Wood, ST/4.9, 1956, ESE, *; Glanau Wood, SO/496.071, 1983, TGE; Highmeadow Woods, SO/54.12, 1994, TGE, *; Lower Farm, SO/15.05, 1995, TGE; wet heath, The Narth, SO/52.06, 1994, TGE; NW of Pen-y-fan Pond, SO/193.005, 1995, TGE; S of Pen-y-fan Golf c. SO/196.012, 1995, TGE; Thornhill, ST/27.95, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Wentwood, ST/428.941, 1996, RDR. 7 t (2 t)

Cae-Hedydd Farm, ST/45.95, 1990, TGE; Caer Wood, Skirrid, SO/326.167, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; hedge, Abertillery, SO/22.04, 1988, TGE; Pen-y-fan Golf Course, SO/196.012, 1995, TGE; Wentwood, 1890, WAS, *; Wentwood, ST/41.94, 42.94, 43.94, 43.95, 1993, RDR.

5 t (1 t) Rubus nemoralis Coed-cae, 1897, WAS, *; Itton, 1895, WAS, *; Mynydd-bach, 1892, WAS, *; Pecket Stone, Trellech Hill, SO/503.074, 2000, BSBI Gp. AN, MP. 1 t (3 t)

Rubus lindebergii Coed-cae, 1897, WAS, *. (1 t)

Rubus lindleianus Llwyn-du, SO/28.16, 1993, MP, RDR; Minnetts Lane, ST/45.88, 44.89, 1993, RDR; Pant-y-cosyn, ST/4.9, 1891, WAS, *; Sor Brook Picnic Site, ST/32.97 1993, TGE, MP, RDR; Warren Slade, ST/5.9, 1891, WAS, *. 3 t (2 t)

Rubus nemorosus Henton Farm, ST/3.8, 1941, AEW, *; Llanrumney, ST/2.8, 1941, AEW, *; hedge, S of Pentre-waun, ST/33.98, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Pen-y-lan, ST/3.9, 1943, AEW, *; Rumney, 1921, EV, det. RDR, *; S of Glascoed Village, SO/33.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; St. Mellons, ST/2.8, 1941, AEW, *. 2 t (5 t)

Rubus longithyrsiger Penallt, SO/52.10, 1983, AN; Tintern, 1893, WAS, *. (2 t)

Rubus nessensis Rubus longus

Chepstow Park, 1925, HJR, *; Chepstow Park, ST/49, 1956, Webster, M.M., *; Chepstow Park Wd., ST/501.984, 2000. BSBI Rubus Gp. MP, AN; Fair Oak Pond, 1874, WAS, *; Fedw Wood, 1889, WAS, *; Wentwood, 1890, WAS, *. 1 t (5 t)

Beacon Hill, SO/5.0, 1955, ESE, *; Cas Troggy, ST/41.95, 1984, TGE, *; Graig Wood, SO/44.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Gray Hill, ST/42.92, 1993, RDR; hedge, W of Cilfeigan Park, ST/34.99, TGE, MP, RDR; Itton, ST/49, 1895, WAS, *; King’s Wood, SO/46.12, 1993, MP, RDR; Llanvair, ST/43.92, 1993, RDR; nr. Wentwood Reservoir, ST/42.93, 1993, RDR; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR; Parc Seymour, ST/40.92, 1990, TGE det. AN; Penallt, SO/52.10, 1983, TGE, AJN, *; S end of Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; S of Glascoed Village, SO/33.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Tal y Coed Wood, SO/41.15, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; The Park wood, SO/45.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Tintern, SO/5.0, 1891, WAS, *. 11 t (5 t)

Rubus pallidisetus Beacon Hill, SO/51.05, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Hadnock Wood, SO/5.1, 1944, SGC, *; Highmeadow Woods, SO/543.126, 1994, TGE, *; rough meadow, Markham Common, SO/16.01, 1995, TGE; Monmouth, 1923, HJR, *; Wyastone Leys, SO/5.1, 1925, HJR, *. 3 t (3 t)

Rubus pictorum

Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp. 1 t

Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/326.167, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Newchurch West, 1896, WAS, *; Priory Wood, Skenfrith, SO/45.20, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR. 4 t (1 t)

Rubus melanocladus

Rubus platyacanthus

Rogiet, ST/4.8, 1904, WAS, *. (1 t)

Itton, ST/49, 1895, WAS, *; St. Arvans, ST/59, 1894, WAS, *; The Cwm, ST/49, 1910, WAS, *; Tintern, 1894, WHP. & AL, *; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Yellow Moor, SO/50, 1895, WAS, *. 1 t (5 t)

Rubus ‘macrophylloides’

Rubus micans Hale Wood, ST/472.974, 1994, TGE. 1t 201

Flora of Monmouthshire

Rubus polyanthemus

Rubus pyramidalis

Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; field margin, S of Glascoed, SO/33.01, 1996, TGE; Itton, 1895, WAS, *; King’s Wood, E of Hendre Fm., SO/46.12, 1993, TGE, MP, RDR; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR; Tintern, 1891, WAS, *; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Gp., MP, AN; Wentwood, ST/42.94, 1993, RDR. 5 t (2 t)

Beacon Hill, 1895, AL, *; Penyvan, 1891, AL, *; 1922, HJR, *; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, BSBI Rubus Gp., 2000, MP, AN. 1 t (2 t)

Rubus radulicaulis No details, ST/4.9 and SO/5.0, 1983, AN. (2 t)

Rubus riddelsdellii St. Arvans, ST/59, 1903, WAS, ESM, *. (1 t)

Rubus prolongatus Ball Road, 1941, AEW, *; Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; Chepstow Park, 1925, HJR, *; Chepstow Park, ST/4.9, 1956, ESE, *; Coed Llifos, ST/452.971, 1995, TGE, *; Coetgae Wood, ST/47.96, 1994, TGE, *; Earlswood Common, ST/4.9, 1984, TGE, *; heath, above Llanllowell House, ST/40.99, 1990, TGE, AN; Mescoed Mawr Wood, ST/27.89, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Minnett’s Lane, Rogiet, ST/44.89, 1993, RDR; Mounton, 1892, WAS, *; Mynydd Bach, 1892, WAS, *; near Beech Farm, SO/32.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Pecket Stone, Trellech Hill, SO/503.074, TGE, MP, RDR; Pen-y-fan Golf Course, SO/196.012, 1995, TGE, *; S of Glascoed Village, SO/33.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; S of Pentre-waun, ST/33.98, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Shirenewton, ST/4.9, 1973, AN, *; The Forest, ST/39, 1943, AEW, *; The Park, Penyclawdd, SO/45.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Upper Cwmbran, ST/27.96, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; W edge of Cilfeigan Park, ST/34.99, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Welsh Trees Garden Centre, SO/38.07, 1995, TGE, *; Wentwood, ST/42.94, 42.95 & 43.94, 43.95, 1993, RDR; Wern Melin Farm, SO/412.108, 1995, TGE, *; Wyastone Leys, SO/5.1, 1925, HJR, *. 13 t (10 t)

Rubus rossensis Caerllan hedge, SO/48.08, 1993, AN; Mitchell Troy Common, SO/49.09, 1996, TGE; Rogiet, ST/448.892, 1993, RDR, R.D., *; The Park, SO/45.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Trelleck, SO/5.0, 1892, WAS, *; Troy House, SO/51.10, 1956, ESE, *; Whitebrook, SO/5.0, 1956, ESE, *. 4 t (4 t)

Rubus rubritinctus

Five Lanes, ST/44.91, 1993, RDR. 1 t

Ball Road, 1941, AEW, *; Bigsweir, 1891 and 1892, AL, *; Cas-bach, 1941, AEW, *; Darren Wood, Pen-y-cae-mawr, ST/40.94, 1990, TGE, AN; E. bank, Wentwood Reservoir, ST/43.93, 1995, TGE, AN; Gray Hill, ST/43.93, 1993, RDR; Llanvaches, ST/43.91, 1993, RDR; Llanvair, ST/44.92, 1993, RDR; Mescoed Wood, ST/27.89, 1996, TGE MP, RDR; Minnetts Lane, Rogiet, ST/44.88 & 45.88, 1993, RDR; Minnetts Wood, ST/44.89, 1993, RDR; Mynydd Alltir-fach, ST/43.92, 1993, RDR; Nant y Crochan, ST/212.941, 1994, TGE, *; Portskewett, 1925, HJR, *; Rumney, 1942, AEW, *; St. Arvans, 1903, ESM. WAS, *; Thornhill, ST/27.95, 1996, TGE MP, RDR; Tintern, 1891, WAS, *; Tintern, 1892, AL, *; Trelleck Common, 1891, WAS, *; Wentwood Lodge, ST/41.94, 1993, RDR; Wentwood, 1890, WAS, *; Wentwood, ST/42.93, 42.94, 1993, RDR; Whitebrook, 1895, AL, *. 13 t (11 t)

Rubus purchasianus

Rubus rudis

Rubus pruinosus

Chepstow Park Wood, SO/502.983, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Glanau Wood, SO/496.071, 1983, AN; Graig Wd., Penyclawdd, SO/44.08, TGE, MP, RDR; Lower Talycoed Wd., SO/41.15, TGE, MP, RDR; Monmouth, SO/51, 1922, HJR, *; Park Wd., Penyclawdd, SO/45.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Pecket Stone, Trellech Hill, SO/503.074, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; S end Lasgarn Wd., SO/271.031, 2000, TGE; Troy Park Wood, 1956, ESE, *; Troy Wood, SO/51, 1923 and 1924, HJR, *; Usk, 1890, WAS, *. 6 t (5 t)

Reddings Inclosure, 1904, AL, *. (1 t)

Rubus rufescens Alcove Wood, 1983, TGE, *; Alder Carr, Rhyd-yfedw, ST/47.95, 1994, TGE, *; Ball Road, 1941, AEW, *; Blaenavon, SO/26.07, 1994, TGE, *; Caer Wd., S end of Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, 2000, TGE, MP, RDR; Caerllan, SO/49.08, 1983, AN; Chepstow Park Wood, ST/4.9, 1956, ESE, *; Fairfield Farm, 1898, WAS, *; Fedw Wood, ST/505.985, 1994, TGE, *; Glanau Wood, 1984, 202

Flora of Monmouthshire TGE, *; Glyn Wood, 1994, TGE, *; Gray Hill, ST/43.93, 1993, RDR; Great Barnetts' Wood, ST/51.94, 1987, TGE, *; Great Barnetts' Wood, 1994, TGE, *; Hadnock, SO/5.1, 1944, SGC, *; King’s Wood, SO/46.12, 1993, MP, RDR; Llanfoist Farm, 1990, TGE, *; Llwyn-du, SO/28.16, 1993, MP, RDR; Lower Talycoed Wd., 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Mescoed Mawr Wood, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Minnetts Lane, ST/44.89, 1993, RDR; nr. Cwm Tillery Reservoirs, SO/21.07, 1995, TGE; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR; Park Wd., Pen-y-clawdd, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Priory Wd., Rhyd-y-fedw, ST/47.95, 1994, TGE, det. AJN; Skenfrith, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; The Narth, SO/522.063, 1994, TGE, *; The Park, ST/3.8, 1924, AEW, *; Thornhill, ST/27.95, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Troy Park Wood, SO/5.1, 1973, AN, *; Wentwood, ST/42.93, 42.94, 1993, RDR. 22 t (9 t)

Rubus surrejanus Earlswood, ST/44.95, TGE, RDR; Forester's Oaks Car Park, ST/428.939, 1993, RDR, *; N of Gray Hill, ST/428.939, 1993, RDR. 3 t

Rubus trelleckensis

Rubus scabripes

Trelleck Bramble, is a very rare Monmouthshire endemic. During surveys in 1998 (Watsonia 23: 317) it was found in only five sites in one 10-km square near Trelleck. Five small populations were found, all in locations which were probably at one time either open heath or open Birch-Oak woodland but are now either conifer plantation, or conifers mixed with broad-leaved trees. Plants were most frequent on acidic podzols in sunny but sheltered spots on level ground. The main threats to its survival are change of land-use from forestry or changes in forestry operations. Beacon Hill, 1891, WAS, *; Beacon Hill, 1893, AL, EFL, *; Beacon Hill, 1893, AL, WAS, *; Beacon Hill, 1895 and 1897, AL, *; Beacon Hill, 1955, ESE, *; Beacon Hill, SO/510.052, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp, MP, AN; Cleddon Bog, SO/509.041, 1983, AN; no details, ST/2.8, 1983, AN; Trelleck Bog, 1891 and 1903, AL, *; Trelleck, 1894, Focke, WHP & AL, *; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp. MP, AN.

St. Arvans, ST/5.9, 1925, HJR, *. (1 t)

2 t (2 t)

Rubus sciocharis

Rubus tricolor

Chepstow Park, 1925, HJR, *; Chepstow Park, ST/4.9, 1956, ESE, *; Chepstow Park Wd., ST/501.984, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp; Hale Wood, 1892, WAS, *; Honddu Valley, 1891, AL, *; Llanthony, SO/2.2, 1956, ESE, *; Llwyn-du, SO/28.16, 1993, MP, RDR; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, MP, RDR. 3 t (5 t)

E end George St. Bridge, ST/320.877, 1990, GH.

Rubus scaber Chepstow Park Wd., ST/503.983, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Fedw Wood, ST/505.985, 1994, TGE, *; Mescoed Mawr Wd., ST/27.89, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR. 3 t

1t Rubus troiensis Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, 2000, TGE, MP, AN; Darren Wd., Pen-y-cae-mawr, ST/40.94, 1990, TGE, AN; Darren Wood, ST/40.94, 1990, TGE, *; Glanau Wood, 1984, TGE, *; Lower Talycoed Wood, SO/41.15, 1996, TGE, MP, AN; St. Brides, 1904, AL, *; The Fedw, 1889, WAS, Allen, D.E., *; Thornhill, wood margin, ST/27.95, 1996, TGE, MP, AN; Troy Park Wood, 1910, AL, *; Troy Park Wood, SO/5.1, 1973, AN, *; Troy Wood, 1924, HJR, *. 4 t (6 t)

Rubus scissus Chepstow Park, 1896, WAS, *; Cleddon Bog, SO/509.041, 1983, TGE; Cross Hands Inn, 1891, WAS, *; St. Arvans, 1903, WAS, *; Trelleck Bog, 1891, WAS, *; Trelleck Common, 1891, AL, *; Vicar’s Allotment, SO/507.062, 2000, BSBI Rubus Gp. 1 t (6 t)

Rubus tuberculatus Rubus sprengelii

Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; Five Lanes, ST/44.90, 1993, RDR; Lower Talycoed Wd., 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Minnetts Lane, Rogiet, ST/45.88, 44.89, 1993, RDR; Thornhill, ST/27.95, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Wentwood, ST/43.95, 1993, RDR. 5 t (1 t)

Chepstow Park Wood, ST/503.983, 2000, BSBI Gp., MP, AN; Cwmtillery, SO/22.04, 1987, TGE, *; Itton, 1895, WAS, *; Newbridge on Usk, ST/22.97, 1987, TGE, *. 3 t (2 t)

203

Flora of Monmouthshire Rubus Gp., MP, AN; Hedge nr. Beech Farm, SO/32.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; hedge, S of Pentre-waun, ST/33.98, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Kings Wood, SO/46.12, 1993, MP, RDR; Park Wd., Penyclawdd, SO/45.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; S of Glascoed Village, SO/33.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Sor Brook, ST/32.97, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; The Goitre, 1896, WAS, *; Underwood, ST/39.88, 1997, TGE, AN; Upper Cwmbran, ST/27.96, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR. 10 t (1 t)

Rubus ulmifolius Bulwark, ST/53.92, 1983, TGE, *; Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/32.16, 2000, TGE, MP, RDR; Carrow Hill, ST/43.90, 1993, RDR; Chepstow, ST/53.92, 1983, TGE, *; Five Lanes, ST/44.90, 44. 91, 1993, RDR; Goldcliff, ST/36.82, 1984, TGE; Gray Hill, ST/43.93, 1993, RDR; Llandegfedd, ST/3.9, 1943, AEW, *; Llanvaches, ST/43.91, 1993, RDR; Llanvair, ST/43 + 44.92, 1993, RDR; Llewellyn’s Dingle, ST/40.98, 1987, TGE; Malpas, ST/30.90, 1987, TGE; Minnetts Lane, ST/44.88, 45.88, 1993, RDR; MOD, Caerwent, ST/492.915, 2000, TGE, conf. MP; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, RDR; Penallt, SO/52.10, 1983, TGE; Penpergwm, SO/32.09, 1987, TGE; Peterstone Wentloog, ST/26.80, 1962, Harrison, S.G., *; Peterstone Wentlooge, ST/2.8Q and V, 2000, TGE, MP, RDR; Pontyspig, SO/28.20, 1994, TGE; Priory Wd., Skenfrith, SO/45.20, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Risca, ST/2.9, 1942, AEW, *; Rumney, ST/2.7, 1942, AEW, *; S of Glascoed Village, SO/33.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; S of Pentre–waun, ST/33.98, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Sor Brook Picnic Site, ST/32.97, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Sudbrook, ST/50.87, 1987, TGE; Thornhill, ST/27.95, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Tredunnock, ST/37.94, 1987, TGE; Underwood, ST/38.89, 2000, TGE; Wentwood, ST/42.92, 42.93, 1993, RDR; Wern Melin Farm, SO/412.108, 1995, TGE, *; AN. 24 t (7 t)

Rubus vestitus

Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, AN; Hale Wood, ST/468.973, 1994, TGE, *; Llanddewi Fach, ST/3.9, 1943, AEW, *; Llanmelin Wood, ST/463.928, 1994, TGE, *; Risca, ST/225.913, 1994, TGE, *; Steppes Farm, SO/42.01, 1996, TGE, *. 3 t (2 t)

‘Withy Bed’, Portskewett, ST/507.886, 1995, TGE; Blaenavon, SO/26.08, 1994, TGE, TGE, *; Caerllan, SO/48.08, 1983, BSBI, Wales AGM, AN; Chepstow Park, 1925, HJR, *; Five Lanes, ST/44.90, 1993, RDR; Great Barnetts' Wood, ST/51.94, 1987, TGE, *; hedge, Earlswood, ST/44.95, 1990, TGE; hedge, Wonastow, SO/485.108, 1989, HVC; Llanvair, ST/44.92, 1993, RDR; Llwyn-du, SO/28.16, 1993, RDR, MP; Lower Earlswood, ST/4.9, 1925, WAS, *; Lower Tal-y-coed Wd., SO/41.15, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Minnetts Lane, Rogiet, ST/44.88 & 89; 45.89, 1993, RDR; Monmouth, 1925, HJR, *; Mynydd Alltyr-fach, ST/42.92, 1993, RDR; Nr. Wentwood Reservoir, ST/42.93, 1993, RDR; NW of White House, SO/42.22, 1993, RDR, MP; Pen-y-clawdd, SO/45.08, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Plantation Farm, ST/47.97, 1990, TGE, *; Priory Wd., Skenfrith, SO/45.20, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; S end, Lasgarn Wd., SO/271.031, 2000, TGE; S of Glascoed Vill. SO/33.01, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Triley Mill, SO/31.17, 1988, TGE; Upper Cwmbran, ST/27.96, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; W of Cilfeigan Park, ST/34.99, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Wentwood Lodge, ST/41.94, 1993, RDR; Wentwood, ST/42.94, 1993, RDR. 23 t (4 t)

Rubus ulmifolius hybrid

Rubus vestitus hybrid

Dinham, ST/4.9, 1991, TGE, *; Earlswood, ST/46.94, 1994, TGE, *; Gwehelog Common, SO/38.04, 1987, TGE; Itton, ST/4.9, 1895, WAS, *; Pant-y-cosyn, ST/4.9, 1891, WAS, *; Pen-y-lan, ST/3.9, 1943, AEW, *; Rumney, ST/2.7, 1941, AEW, *; Rumney, ST/2.8, 1942, AEW, *; St. Brides, Wentlooge, ST/29.81, 1987, TGE; Welsh Trees Garden Centre, SO/38.07, 1995, TGE, *. Numerous tetrads

Crosskeys, ST/2.9, 1942, AEW, *; Llanddewi Sgyrrid, SO/3.1, 1909, AL, *; Llanvair-Discoed, ST/4.9, 1903, ESM. WAS, *. (4 t)

Rubus ulmifolius x vestitus

Rubus vigorosus The Minnetts, ST/4.8, 1904, WAS, *; Slade Wood, ST/4.8, 1904, WAS, *. (2 t)

Rubus winteri Marsh, Pandy Mawr, Henllys, ST/26.92, 1996, TGE. 1 t

Rubus vagensis Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/32.16, 1996, TGE, MP, RDR; Caer Wd., Skirrid, SO/326.167, 2000, BSBI 204

Flora of Monmouthshire The following 12 Brambles occur in vc 35 in the Atlas of British and Irish Brambles by A. Newton & R. D. Randall but I have no details:

Rubus altiarcuatus Rubus asperidens Rubus babbingtonii Rubus diversus Rubus hylocharis Rubus lanaticaulis Rubus murrayi Rubus pallidus Rubus pampinosus Rubus raduloides Rubus sempernitens

18 31

POTENTILLA Cinquefoils Cinquefoils are usually herbaceous perennials but deciduous shrubs occur rarely. They have palmate (leaflets in 5s or 3s) or pinnate leaves; their flowers are solitary to numerous, with sepals and petals usually in 4s or 5s, there is an epicalyx, stamens are numerous, the hypanthium is flat to shallowly saucer shaped; the fruit is a group of achenes. To separate the hybrids from their parents and each other refer to ‘Plant Crib 1998’ by Rich & Jermy pages 149-150.

Potentilla anserina

Silverweed

The leaves and flowers arise from the nodes of long runners. The pinnate leaves are covered with silvery hairs, which are usually denser when the plant needs to conserve water e.g. when it grows on sandy shores where rain makes water more available than from the salt water invading from the sea. The 15-20 mm flowers have yellow petals twice the length of the green sepals.

Shrubby Cinquefoil

The only British shrubby Potentilla but alien in the vice-county. Its simple leaflets are greyish hairy underneath and narrowly elliptic and in various compound arrangements. Its yellow flowers are borne singly or in small clusters. In the wild it grows on river or lake margins, often rocky ones, and on mountain rocks but is only native in N England and W Ireland. In vc 35 it is either a garden escape or in a derelict garden. 1 t

Potentilla palustris

It is a plant more common in the wetter, western and northern parts of the British Isles, growing in fens, marshes and bogs. In vc 35 it has been long known in a pond at Llanfoist, SO/295.130, Wade (1970); 1990, RF; 1990-2003, TGE, CT. 1 t (2 t) Plate 34

Rubus subinermoides

! Potentilla fruticosa

Marsh Cinquefoil

Marsh Cinquefoil has pinnate leaflets, looking almost palmate at a casual glance, arising at the nodes from a long, rather woody rhizome and ascending stems to over 40 cm. It tends to form patches. Unlike most cinquefoils, which have yellow flowers with rounded petals, they have dark red flowers with narrow, lanceolate petals with longer, broader and pointed sepals of the same colour.

18 31

205

Flora of Monmouthshire Silverweed is a plant of shores, damp and grassy places, waste ground, particularly road and tracksides. Widespread in the vice-county. 372 t

Potentilla argentea

Hoary Cinquefoil

This plant has spreading and ascending stems and palmate leaves with 5-7, narrow, finely-divided lobes, silvery-haired on the lower sides only. The 10-12 mm, yellow flowers are in branched clusters. It tends to grow on gritty substrates in upland regions. In vc 35 it grows in 2 tetrads at Rock, SO/181.991-9 and ST/1799.9873, 1986-2004, TGE, on ballast of a disused railway and neighbouring coal waste tips, landscaped since 1986. 2 t

! Potentilla recta

18 31

It grows largely on acid or neutral grassland or heaths in the uplands, and also occurs at lower altitudes. It is widespread in vc 35 but largely avoids the Levels and it is hard to find on ‘improved’ farmland. 279 t

Sulphur Cinquefoil

This is a stiffly erect perennial to 15 cm or more. It has greyish-hairy, palmate leaves with narrow, deeply toothed leaflets. The 15-20 mm pale yellow flowers are borne in lax, branched clusters and have sepals and petals roughly the same length. In Britain grown in gardens and occasionally escapes. In vc 35 several plants were observed on a landscaped coal tip, on the edge of the R. Rhymney, Cwmsyfiog, SO/15.02, 1988, TGE, UTE. 1 t

Potentilla x suberecta

a hybrid Cinquefoil

This P. erecta x P. anglica hybrid has trailing, seldom-rooting stems bearing leaves with from 1-5 leaflets (but mostly 3), that are sessile towards the apex but petioled towards the base of the stem. Very few achenes are produced. It occurs where its parents grow. In vc 35 it has probably been under-recorded and occurs at: bank/shingle bed of Afon Llwyd, Llantarnam, ST/313.934, 1991, JFH; roadside bank, NE of Argoed, nr. Pen-deri Farm, SO/182.004, 1997, TGE, UTE; Calling Wood, SO/46.13 R, 1987, PJ; King’s Wood complex, SO/47.12, 1987, TGE, UTE. 3 t

! Potentilla norvegica Ternate-leaved Cinquefoil This plant is a short-lived, hairy perennial with ascending stems bearing ternate leaves with 3 elliptical, deeply toothed leaflets. It has rather large stipules. The bright yellow, 10-15 mm flowers are borne in loose, branched clusters, the sepals are the same length as the petals or longer and enlarge in fruit. An introduced plant from Scandinavia and N Germany, which naturalises easily in Britain. In vc 35 its records are: Maindiff Court Hospital grounds, SO/31.15, 1987, GFM; garden weed, La Cuesta, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1990-2004, TGE. 2 t

Potentilla erecta

Potentilla anglica

Trailing Tormentil

Tormentil

This sparsely downy perennial has a basal rosette of ternate leaves, that wither as the trailing but non-rooting stems develop almost sessile, ternate leaves; these leaves, which have noticeable pointed teeth towards the apex, appear to be palmate due to two opposed stipules that are like smaller leaflets. The plant tends to form close patches. The 7-11 mm, yellow flowers are borne singly or in lax clusters.

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206

Flora of Monmouthshire It was recorded: on the drier parts of the wet heath between Blackwood and Pontllanfraith ST/16.96, 1987, TGE. 1 t

Potentilla anglica is like P. erecta but looks less sturdy and has persistent basal leaves. Its trailing stems only branch occasionally and root at the nodes only late in the summer. Its leaflets may be 3 4 or 5 but more often 5. It has 4 or 5 petals. Its fruits have abundant, fertile achenes. It grows on ‘unimproved’, dryish grassland, heaths and open edges to woods. In vc 35 it is widespread in smaller numbers but there is little to be found on the Levels or on much of farmland, where the old hay meadows or old type pastures have been ploughed and resown with the modern rye grass mixtures. 208 t

Potentilla reptans

Creeping Cinquefoil

This perennial has persistent basal leaf rosettes and creeping and rooting stems to a metre or more, the stem leaves are all palmate with 5 oval leaflets and petioles over 1 cm in length. The 15-25 mm, yellow flowers have stalks arising from the leaf axils. 23

Potentilla x mixta

Hybrid Cinquefoil

This is usually produced by P. anglica x P. reptans hybrids but is sometimes inseparable from P. erecta x P. reptans. It rarely has branching stems, but they root readily. The petioles are longer than the shortest leaf and have simple stipules at their base; the petals number varies between 4 and 5 and it only produces sterile fruits.

19 23 18 31

It grows on waste ground, marginal land, open grassland and coastal areas. In vc 35 it is widespread. 369 t

Potentilla sterilis

Barren Strawberry

19 23 18 31

Potentilla x mixta seems to be the commoner Cinquefoil hybrid and may be found even in the absence of its parents. I do not find it commoner than P. anglica. The records in Wade (1970) for P. x italica probably refer to this hybrid: upper part of the Honddu Valley, SO/2.2, AL; between Wyndcliff and Tintern, ST/5.9, AL; The Glyn, ST/47.96, WAS (1920). 18 t (5 t)

18 31

Potentilla x italica

a hybrid Cinquefoil

This is a hairy perennial with long, rooting runners and terminal leaf rosettes. Its leaves are trifoliate with broadly ovate, toothed leaflets silkily hairy underneath and an apex with the central tooth

This P. erecta x P. reptans hybrid is very similar to Trailing Tormentil but has sterile fruits. It occurs where its parents grow together. 207

Flora of Monmouthshire somewhat inset. Its flowers are white and the sepals can be seen in the gaps between the petals. It grows on hedgebanks, open woodland and dry banks. Though widespread it is not as common as thirty years ago as woodland tends have less open areas and brambles and ivy invade the open spaces created by modern forestry practices. 344 t

! Fragaria moschata

FRAGARIA Strawberries These herbaceous perennials have rooting runners with ternate leaves that have toothed, ovate leaflets that terminate in an acute point; the white flowers have 5 petals, an epicalyx with entire segments, and which produce strawberries which are false fruits comprised of swollen receptacles that turn red and are covered with the true fruits (achenes) over their surfaces.

Fragaria vesca

Wild Strawberry

This has a sparsely pubescent, rather glossy upper side to its leaves; its strawberries do not exceed 15 mm in width and its sepals are patent; the 12-18 mm flowers are bisexual and the uppermost pedicel in the flower cluster has apically directed hairs. The achenes are proud on the surface of the ripe receptacle.

! Fragaria x ananassa

DUCHESNIA Yellow-flowered Strawberry This perennial is similar to Fragaria spreading by slender runners bearing leaves with three leaflets on erect stems but differs in having solitary yellow flowers with each, spreading, epicalyx segment terminated with 3 round teeth, larger than each of the lanceolate sepals.

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Garden Strawberry

This is a larger plant in all its parts, the leaves are almost glabrous; the strawberries are mostly over 15 mm wide, with the sepals appressed; the achenes are sunk in the pits on the surface of the ripe receptacle. A garden plant that can occur apparently wild in the British countryside. In vc 35 it is sometimes by railways, where once railway workers tended strips of land as allotments alongside the fences that kept the public from straying on to the lines. Abandoned strawberry fields, due to a disastrous crop-year, account for some sightings. Wade (1970) gave railway bank, Abersychan, SO/2.0 S, 1923*. Recent sites: rail side, Caldicot, ST/48.87, 19761990, TGE; near strawberry fields, Brook House, ST/228.827, 1986, GH. 2 t (1 t)

Hautbois Strawberry

This is similar to F. vesca but is a bigger plant with few or no runners; the flowers are 15-25 mm across and are either male or female, so unless plants of both sexes are nearby no strawberries will form. The pedicels are clothed in long, white, patent hairs that are diagnostic. The achenes are not in pits on the surface and are absent from the base of the strawberry. It grows in similar sites to F. vesca. The only extant vc 35 site is on a hedgebank, on Trap Hill, Mounton, ST/509.933, 1943-1990, TGE, UTE. The bank is often cut before the flowering season because of the narrowness of the road so the flowers have not been seen for some years. Wade (1970) gave 8 sites: near Buckholt, 1880, AL; Buckholt Wood; near Wyesham signal box, SGC, *; Usk Road, Mounton does not ring true as the two are widely separated; Shirenewton Hill; between Pont-y-Saison and the Pantau, *, WAS; near Kite’s Bushes, Shirenewton, *. 1 t (8 t)

It grows in open woods, dry, open grassland, embankments and margins on calcareous soils. The modern, managed vc 35 woodland is less open and clear felling allows brambles and ivy to shade out plants such as wild strawberries, so that though the plant can be found in numerous tetrads it is difficult to find them in quantities sufficient to fill even a small bowl with fruit. 332 t

Duchesnea indica Yellow-flowered Strawberry Like a yellow-flowered Wild Strawberry, differing as shown above, it has an insipid, almost globular, 208

Flora of Monmouthshire red fruit with sepals curved upwards at its base, below which is the noticeable, spreading epicalyx. Grown as a novelty and escaping from gardens. I took a rooted plantlet from a runner on Berkeley Church Wall in 1984 and put it in my garden, ST/52.93, out of curiosity. My advice is do not repeat my experiment; within my garden in 2006 it is out of control. Recorded in Nelson Garden at the rear of 18 Monnow St., Monmouth SO/508.127, and was on track from Chippenham Court to Nelson Garden (now under tarmac), 2006, DTP. 2 t

THT, *; Rhymney Valley, SH (1909); Lasgarn Wood, *; The Glyn, Itton, SH; Shirenewton, SH, *. Recent sites: bank of Mounton Brook, Rhyd-yfedw, ST/474.957, WAS (1920), 1970-2003, TGE; rock ledges, Tarren-yr-esgob, SO/254.305, 1944, RL, AEW, 1986, TGE; wet Triley Great Wood, SO/311.182, 1986, RF, 2002, TGE; central path, W side of Skirrid, SO/325.173, 1994, CT; half a square metre, side of Afon Honddu, NW of Llanthony, SO/283.280, 1996, TGE. 7 t (7 t)

Geum x intermedium GEUM Avens Hairy, perennial herbs with pinnate leaves and flowers usually in branched clusters with 5 sepals, 5 clawed petals and numerous stamens, an epicalyx is present; each achene is eventually terminated with a long, hooked tip, and a group of them form the fruit, usually sitting on the hypanthium.

Geum rivale

Geum urbanum

Water Avens

18 32

Wood Avens

This is an erect, hairy perennial with basal leaves which have 1-5 pairs of irregularly lobed, toothed leaflets, the stem leaves may be three-lobed or pinnate and have a pair of large stipules at their base; the 8-15 mm, pale yellow flowers are held erect in little-branched clusters; the achenes form a globose bundle above the calyx, each with a straight, barbed style, which turns dark red when ripe, the base of the style may have glands; the receptacle is densely hairy.

The basal leaves have a large, wide terminal lobe, the plant has an erect stem terminated with pendent, bell-shaped, 8-15 mm, cream to pink flowers with a hairy, purplish calyx and epicalyx; the globose head of achenes is separated from the calyx by a short stalk, the styles have long hairs and short glands on their base; the receptacle is hairy.

a hybrid Avens

This G. rivale and G. urbanum hybrid is a highly fertile intermediate between its parents. It is found wherever its parents are in close proximity. The only site is in Triley Great Wood, SO/311.182, 1989, RF, 1994, TGE. 1 t Plate 33

It grows in marshes, in wet areas in open woodland and by streams. In vc 35 it is found in wet woods and by streams. Wade (1970) had sites: Honddu Valley, ? before 1904, Mrs AL; Grwyne Fawr Valley, AL; between Abergavenny and Triley Bridge; between Great Triley and Crowfield; between Abergavenny and Llantilio Pertholey; Varteg, JHC (Newport Museum); Abersychan,

It grows in woods and hedgerows. Widespread in the vice-county, except where hedges or suitable woods are lacking. 331 t AGRIMONIA Agrimonies Agrimonies are shortly rhizomatous, hairy, perennial herbs; their pinnate basal leaves form a rosette, from which arises an erect stem terminated 209

Flora of Monmouthshire in a long spike of yellow flowers, there are 5 sepals and petals, 5-20 stamens, no epicalyx; a ribbed, conical to bell-shaped hypanthium, which has rings of hooked bristles, enclose the achenes in fruit.

Agrimonia eupatoria

Agrimony

This plant has non-glandular hairs, it has 3-6 main pairs of leaflets, the underside of the leaves may have a few sessile, shining glands but usually none, the leaf teeth are rather blunt; the obconical hypanthium is grooved almost to its end the basal bristles are patent (sometimes very slightly reflexed) to erecto-patent becoming more erect towards the apex.

18 31

It grows in unimproved grassland and similar grassy verges. In vc 35, apart from MOD, Caerwent, it is usually in small numbers in any one site. 17 t

SANGUISORBA Burnets Burnets are perennial herbs with pinnate leaves and flowers in compact, terminal spikes and which are hermaphrodite or a mixture of hermaphrodite and single sex, there are 4 sepals but no petals or epicalyx, the stamens are 4 or numerous. The hypanthium is deeply concave and the carpels ripening into achenes are enclosed in it.

18 31

Sanguisorba officinalis

It grows in grassy places. In vc 35, like other parts of Britain, it can be found widely, but in greatly reduced numbers. It flourishes in unimproved meadows, but because they are much less common, the plant has become more marginal, and occupies verges of woods, roads and tracks. 227 t The hybrid between A. eupatoria and A. procera has both hairs and glands, and blunt and acute teeth to its leaves and no fruits are formed. It is likely to occur where both parents grow in numbers and in close proximity of each other. It is rare because Fragrant Agrimony is much less common, but in places such as MOD, Caerwent, where both species abound, it could occur; certainly plants that seemed somewhat intermediate had small fruits.

Agrimonia procera

Great Burnet

The erect stems may be over 1 m tall and arise among pinnate leaves that have 3-7 pairs of bluntly toothed leaflets; the hermaphrodite, purplish flowers are aggregated into a roundedoblong head, and have 4 stamens and a single papillate stigma. 23

Fragrant Agrimony

Like A. eupatoria but it is more leafy, all hairs are longer, there are abundant, sessile glands on the underside of the leaves, which have deeper and more acute teeth; the hypanthium, in fruit, is bellshaped, and has grooves that do not extend to ¾ of the way to the apex, the basal bristles are reflexed.

18 31

210

Flora of Monmouthshire record, TGE; bank of River Ebbw, Risca, ST/2.9 F, 1992, JFH; 2 plants on built up bank of R. Ebbw, Newtown, Cross Keys, ST/218.917, 1994, TGE; on sloping, wet, stony ground, W of Castle Farm, Bishton, ST/385.880, 1996, TGE. 3 t

Great Burnet is a plant of wet, unimproved grassland and mountain ledges (especially in the Brecon Beacons). It is confined to western vc 35 where it is wetter and has more unimproved meadows. 34 t

Sanguisorba minor subsp. minor Salad Burnet

ALCHEMILLA Lady’s-mantles These are tufted, perennial herbs. The palmate or palmately-lobed, toothed, simple leaves arise from the apex of a rhizome covered with brown remains of previous petioles. The 3 mm, green or yellowish green flowers are arranged in clustered cymes on branched stems.

This plant is about half as big as Great Burnet with erect stems to just over 50 mm tall; its flowers are female at the top of the globular head with the rest hermaphrodite or male, a flower has numerous stamens and 2 tassel-like stigmas. The hypanthium has thickened ribs with finer reticulations between.

Alchemilla xanthochlora

Lady’s-mantle

This species is usually over 20 cm high with palmate leaves divided to less than half way into 711, rounded lobes with 11-15 more or less equal, acute teeth; the stems, petioles and lower sides of the leaves are clothed with patent or erectopatent hairs, the leaf basal sinus is wide; the epicalyx is shorter than the calyx.

20 23 19 22 18 31

It grows on unimproved, calcareous or sometimes neutral grassland. In vc 35 the map shows a concentration of sites in SE vc 35, where Carboniferous Limestone is the underlying rock but many sites are being lost due to the massive extension of house building in that corner. The loss of unimproved meadows compounds the situation. 33 t

18 31

It grows in grassy places. In vc 35 it may be native in the western valleys but certainly the sites in the SE corner are associated with dwellings. 22 t

Sanguisorba minor subsp. muricata Fodder Burnet This is a larger plant than subsp. minor with the leaflet edges more deeply divided and the teeth more acute; the angles on the hypanthium are often wavy, winged, and smooth or wrinkled between. It was grown as a fodder crop and remnants sometimes persisted and also gets introduced with grass seed. In the vice-county it has been noted only 4 times: 8-10 plants on grassy bank (was being overgrown by shrubs) of Nant Hafod-tudor, Wattsville, ST/203.916, 1986-88, 1st vice-county

Alchemilla filicaulis subsp. vestita Lady’s-mantle With this plant, the upper part of the stem, the upper side of the leaves and the whole of the inflorescence are fairly densely hairy; the base of the stems and petioles are tinged wine-red; there are usually 7 leaf-lobes toothed completely between them and the leaf base has a sinus open to more than 45 degrees; the epicalyx parts are shorter than the calyx. 211

Flora of Monmouthshire 1988, TGE, UTE; grassy roadside bank, Tredegar, SO/14.09 and SO/13.08. 1988, TGE, JK; recreation ground, nr. Glasllwch Cemetery, ST/298.875, 1988, EJS; Pontypool, SO/2.0 V, 1985, PM; grassy part of heath, Pontllanfraith, ST/166.961, 1991, TGE; beside damp forest track, Bal Mawr, SO/26.26, 1999, SAR; garden weed, La Cuesta, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1980-2004. 10 t

Alchemilla mollis

18 31

Alchemilla filicaulis subsp. vestita is a plant of open places in woodland and damp, rich grassland, but does not re-appear in re-seeded fields. In vc 35 it has declined in both numbers of sites and in numbers on sites. 69 t

Alchemilla glabra

Lady’s-mantle

The hairs on the hypanthia are sparse and absent on the pedicels, otherwise the plant is densely pubescent with patent hairs; the palmate leaves are lobed to less than half way; the leaves have 9-11 rounded lobes with 15-19 slightly incurved, pointed teeth; the hypanthium is much shorter than the mature achene. 23

Lady’s-mantle

This plant often grows to well over 20 cm high, with palmate leaves lobed to less than half way, the 7-9 lobes have rounded or straight sides with 11-19 incurved teeth that are largest at the middle of the sides; the stems are appressedpubescent only on the lowest 2 or 3 internodes and on the veins on the lower side of the leaves, the upperside is glabrous. The basal leaf sinus is wide.

18 31

It was introduced as a garden plant and because of its prolific seed production has become widely naturalised. It is much commoner in the NW of the coal valleys than elsewhere in vc 35. 15 t

APHANES Parsley-pierts Parsley-pierts are small annuals with deeply palmately-lobed leaves; their small, hermaphrodite flowers are in dense, leaf-opposed groups, 4 sepals do the work of petals which are absent, there is an epicalyx, a deeply concave hypanthium and usually a single stamen; the fruit is an achene enclosed in a dry hypanthium.

18 31

Aphanes arvensis

This species grows in grassy places, upland ledges, by waterfalls and in open spaces in woods. In vc 35 it is found mainly in rough grass in the west. Wade (1970) gave: Llanthony dist. SO/2.2, AL, RL; Rhymney Bridge; near Tintern, 19th C, CB. Some recent sites: grassy bank, N Rhymney, SO/108.089,

Parsley-piert

This is a low-growing, hairy annual branched from near the base, with thin branches clothed in small (to 1 cm), grey-green 3-lobed, toothed leaves; there are stipules and at fruiting nodes form a leaf-like cup with ovate-triangular teeth at apex 212

Flora of Monmouthshire This species is found more on acid soils and is not common on arable land. In vc 35 it seems to frequent higher ground but is much less frequent than A. arvensis. 25 t

c. half as long as the whole cup, inside this structure the 2-2.6 mm, fruiting hypanthium, including erect c. 0.6-0.8 mm sepals forms, at the base of the sepals there is a constriction, which is on the same level as the tip of the stipules

ROSA Roses Roses are deciduous shrubs with prickles on stems and petioles; the leaves are pinnate; the flowers have 5 sepals and petals, the stamens are numerous, there is no epicalyx, the hypanthium forms a fleshy flask with a narrow neck and forms the false fruit enclosing hairy achenes, the fruit above the sepals forms the disc and in its centre is the orifice. BSBI Handbook No.7 ‘Roses of Great Britain and Ireland’ has clear illustrations of key diagnostic features, as well as descriptions, and is recommended for identification.

Rosa arvensis 31

This small plant grows on cultivated and bare soils, where drainage is reasonable. The gaps in the distribution in vc 35 suggest it has been overlooked in some places? 100 t

Aphanes australis

Field-rose

This is a shrub with weakly trailing, purple branches, armed with slender, curved prickles, and glabrous leaves with 5-7, ovate-elliptic, eglandular leaflets; the 1-few, white flowers have 2-5 cm pedicels bearing short-stalked glands, the styles are united in a column, the simple, purplish sepals fall early.

Slender Parsley-piert

This is very similar to A. arvensis but differs in having stipule-teeth at fruiting nodes ovateoblong c. as long as the whole cup; the 1.4-1.9 mm, fruiting hypanthium includes the c. 0.3-0.5 mm, convergent sepals which continue the curved outline of the hypanthium, which is shorter than the tips of the mature stipules by some margin.

19 23 18 22

A plant of hedgerows, wood margins and open spaces in woods or scrub. In vc 35 it is widespread on more base-rich soils, though modern hedgecutting does not favour it. 325 t

Rosa x pseudorusticana

18 31

a hybrid Rose

This R. arvensis x R. stylosa hybrid was identified by ALP in 1992 from a specimen collected from a hedgerow nr. Tintern, 1891, WAS, *. (1 t)

213

Flora of Monmouthshire

Rosa x verticillacantha

beautify new estates and occasionally turns up on neighbouring land. 22 t

a hybrid Rose

This R. arvensis x R. canina hybrid was identified by ALP in 1992 from a specimen collected in woods at Wyndcliff, ST/53.97, 1895, ESM, *. It was recorded at the side of a path near McDonald’s Nursery, Abergavenny, SO/285.137, 2003, GMK. 1 t (1 t)

! Rosa pimpinellifolia

! Rosa ferruginea

Burnet Rose

This forms low, dense patches from its suckering habit; its stems are generously clothed in a range of slender prickles and acicles; its glabrous, eglandular leaves have small, oval to round leaflets; its 2-4 cm flowers are more often white and produce a globose, purple-black fruit with erect sepals. In Britain it is largely coastal growing on sand dunes, inland it may be found on heaths or limestone. In vc 35 it is mainly planted to beautify entrances to new industrial estates. One site on coal waste at the side of the B4248, Bunker’s Hill, Blaenavon, SO/248.095, 1987, TGE, RF, does not seem natural either. 4 t

! Rosa rugosa

Red-leaved Rose

This is a suckering, erect shrub to 3 m; its young, flexuous stems are red-brown with a purplish bloom; it has few, straight or curved prickles, and acicles on the sucker stems; the 5-7 leaflets are ovate to lanceolate, sharply uniserrate, glabrous and glaucous or flushed crimson red; the gland-edged stipules are very narrow; the 3-4 cm flowers range from light to dark pink; the globose, sparsely glandular hairy hips ripen red and have pedicels to 2.5 cm often with glands; the usually entire sepals are spreading to erect and persist until the hips are ripe. It was found on a coal waste parkland, E of Blackwood, ST/17.96, 1990, RF, det. GGG. 1 t

Rosa stylosa

Short-styled Field-rose

Japanese Rose

This is a quite glandular, robust, suckering shrub with erect, over 1 m stems clad in numerous prickles and acicles; its uniserrate leaves have an uneven, shiny, rugose upper surface and a glandular and hairy, to varying degrees, under surface; its white to red, 6-9 cm diameter flowers are usually solitary; its c. 2 cm, slightly flattened globose fruit turns red when ripe.

18 31

18 32

This rose is a climbing shrub, with arching stems reaching a height from 2-4 m, the stem prickles are large and deltate with a slightly curved top and arched underneath; the uniserrate, ovatelanceolate leaflets are darker above than below, hairs and glands occur among the prickles on the petiole and these extend on to the rachis and the leaf underside, particularly on the midribs; The white or pale pink, to 5 cm flowers are borne on long glandular pedicels in varying numbers but usually 3-5, the sepals deflex as the fruit develops but fall early; the hips are smooth though occasional glands appear on them, the disc above the sepals is strongly conical (cut in half it is even more like a volcanic cone with thick walls penetrated by a vent through which the styles protrude, rather than lava), the orifice is 1/5 of the

This rose is grown as a stock for propagation purposes and as an ornamental barrier in open plan urban development. In vc 35 it is planted to 214

Flora of Monmouthshire disc diameter and the emergent styles form a glabrous column. It grows in hedgerows and on wood margins. In vc 35 it is commoner in the SE but is often more difficult to identify because of the way hedges are cut and because it hybridises quite freely with R. canina. 33 t

Rosa x andegavensis

a hybrid Rose

All stages of the intermediate state occur in this R. stylosa x R. canina hybrid. It is found largely in the areas where R. stylosa grows. 22 t

18 31

This aggregate map has not been separated into its four groups Lutetianae, Dumales, Transitoriae or Pubescentes or had hybrids extracted, particularly when the canina aspects were dominant.

Rosa canina Group Pubescentes

18 31

Rosa stylosa x R. obtusifolia

a hybrid Rose

It differs from R. obtusifolia in having coarser prickles and glandular-hispid pedicels. Some of the fruits have noticeably conical discs with aggregated styles. It was found in an 80 m long ‘hedge’, Barnett’s Farm, Bayfield, ST/517.934, 1992, TGE, conf. GGG, ALP. 1 t

Rosa canina agg.

Dog-rose

This group has hairy petioles, rachis and leaves, though hairs may be on the underside of the leaves and confined to the mid-ribs; it is eglandular apart from a few stalked glands on the stipule margins. Records: hedgerow, between Mounton and Trelenny, ST/5.9 B, 1890, WAS, det. EBB; meadow below Tintern Abbey, ST/5.9 J, 1890, WAS, det. AHW-D; Rumney, ST/2.7 E, 1920, AEW, det. EBB; hedgerow, NW of St Mellons, ST/2.8 F, 1934, AEW, AHW-D; between Castleton and Marshfield, ST/2.8 L, 1934, AEW, det. ALP; nr. Court Perrot, Llandegfedd, ST/33.95, 1943, AEW, det. ALP; banks of R. Wye, Dixton Newton, SO/5.1 M, 1944, RL, det. ALP; waste ground, Newlands, Rumney, ST/238.793, 1972, RGE, det. ALP; hedgerows, nr. Marshfield, ST/26.82, 1972, RGE, det. ALP. 9 t

Dog-rose

This climbing shrub has arching stems to over 3 m; its prickles are broadly based and strongly curved; the leaflets vary according to which group they belong, so could be glabrous or hairy on the underside, 1-2 serrate, eglandular or with glandular teeth or with glands on underside veins; the flowers to 6 cm across are white or pink, the sepals may be glabrous or sparsely glandular, reflexed on the fruit, before falling while the fruit is still green, the fruit may be globular, ovoid or tapering towards the apex. A common plant of hedges, scrub and woodborders. Widespread in vc 35 but requires specialist attention. 372 t

Rosa canina Group Lutetianae

Dog-rose

The plant is glabrous apart from some hairiness of the styles; the leaflets are uniserrate and eglandular; the stipules, petiole and rachis are eglandular, though stalked glands may occur on the stipule margin. Records: hedgerow, Coedkernew, ST/2.8 R, 1934, AEW, det. EBB; edge of clearing, Garth Wood, nr. Monmouth, SO/5.1 G, 1944, RL, det. RM; hedgerow, nr. Marshfield, ST/26.82, 1972, RGE, det. ALP. (3 t)

215

Flora of Monmouthshire

Rosa canina Group Dumales

Dog-rose

The group is glabrous apart from some hairs on the styles; the leaflets are bi- or multi-serrate, with small, scentless, shiny, red glands on the teeth; stalked red glands appear on the petioles and on the underside of the leaflets, particularly on the midribs. Records: The Meads, Chepstow, ST/5.9 G, 1889, WAS, det. EBB; nr. Cherry Orchard Farm, Shirenewton, ST/4.9, 1891, WAS, det. AHW-D; Llandewi Skirrid, SO/3.1 I, 1909, AL, det. AHWD; field hedge, by Troy Woods, Monmouth, SO/5.1 A, 1924, HJR, det. ALP; hedgerow, Coedkernew, ST/2.8 R, 1934, AEW, det. ALP; hedge, Dixton, nr. Monmouth, SO/51 B or G, 1943, AEW, det. ALP; hedgerow, nr. Marshfield, ST/26.82, 1934, AEW, det. EBB, 1972, RGE, det. ALP; one large plant on the W side of the cycle track, S of Blaenavon, SO/26657.06920, 2004, TGE det. RM. 1 t (7 t)

Rosa canina Group Transitoriae

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R. canina x R. caesia subsp. glauca (with R. canina as female parent). Records: hedge bank, E side of road, Lower White Castle, SO/384.163, 1992, TGE, conf. GGG; N facing grassy bank (Carboniferous Limestone), The Brockwells, ST/469.896, 1992, TGE, det. GGG; grassy slope, Park Redding, Bulwark, ST/54.92, 1992, TGE, det. GGG; grassy bank, entrance to ‘The British’, Talywain, SO/259.043, 1992, TGE, det. GGG; top of a bank of scrub, S of Argoed House Club, SO/212.018, 1992, TGE, RF, det. GGG; scrubby bank, nr. R. Rhymney, Pengam, ST/154.972, 1992, TGE, RF, det. GGG; road bank, Maes-y-Cwmmer to Fleur-de-lis, opposite Carlton Heights Nursing Home, ST/155.956, 1992, TGE, RF, det. GGG. 9 t

Dog-rose

The roses in this group are glabrous apart from some that have hairy styles; the leaflets may have large teeth interspersed with small ones tipped with dull, brown glands; stalked glands sometimes occur on the margins of the stipules, on petioles and main leaf vein. Records: The Cwm, Shirenewton, ST/4.9 L, 1910, WAS, det. EBB, AHW-D; Marshfield, ST/2.8 L, 1934, AEW, det. EBB; edge of Garth Wood, Staunton Rd., SO/5.1 G; 1944, RL, det. RMel.; Marshfield, ST/2.8 R, RGE, det. ALP; one large bush to over 2 m on steep, field bank, NW of Upper Red House, SO/426.128, 2004, TGE, CT, det. RM. 1 t (4 t)

Rosa x dumalis

Rosa x dumetorum

a hybrid Dog-rose

This R. obtusifolia x R. canina hybrid occurs with a puzzling range of gradations between the two parents. Wade (1970) stated that dumetorum was frequent to common in hedges and thickets in all districts. For R. obtusifolia he stated rare in hedges in two of his five districts, he gave seven sites in those two districts with three specimens lodged in NMW. The two statements seem to be in conflict as the hybrid is commoner than the parent. The only recent record: on reen side of hedge, S of Grangefield Farm, ST/39.84, 1991, TGE, det. GGG. 1 t

a hybrid Dog-rose

This R. caesia subsp. glauca x R. canina hybrid (with R. canina as male parent) is close to R. canina but has wine-red colouring of stems and leaves, glabrous, uniserrate, glaucous leaflets, hairy beneath, large hips ripening early, rather short pedicels and very hairy stigmas. Records: frequent on upland meadow, SW of Trinant, ST/204.994, 1992, TGE, RF, det. GGG; roadside scrub with trees, S of Argoed House Club, SO/212.018, 1992, TGE, RF, det. GGG: wet ditch/trackside, Bishton, SO/391.876, 1996, TGE, conf. GGG.

Rosa x scabriuscula

a hybrid Dog-rose

This has the appearance of R. canina; its leaflets tend to be dull, dark green, long and narrow, somewhat hairy underneath and with some glandular-biserration; the small, globose hips 216

Flora of Monmouthshire

Rosa obtusifolia

have glandular-hairy, long pedicels to 2.5 cm; stigmas are variously hairy in a very small head. Records: woodside, E of Skenfrith, SO/467.203, 1876, JGB, det. ALP; hedge, Usk to Pen-y-caemawr, ? ST/4.9 H, 1890, WAS, det. ALP. 2 t

Rosa x rothschildii

a hybrid Dog-rose

This R. canina x R. sherardii hybrid has the appearance and prickles of R. canina. Its leaflets may be glabrous or sparsely pubescent, often flushed crimson and have biserrations, the underside may well have reddish, sweetly scented sherardii-type glands; the sepals may be reflexed but fall late and the stigmas form a hairy, small head. It grows where parents occur nearby. Vc 35 records: Llanthony, SO/28.27, 1876, AL, det. ALP; Llantarnam to Pontnewydd, ? ST/3.9 B, 1923, AEW, *, re-det. ALP. 2 t

Rosa x molletorum

Round-leaved Dog-rose

This shrub with arching stems grows to 1-2 m; though broad-based and strongly curved, the prickles are neat and their lower curve forms a semicircle; the 5-7, dark green, pubescent leaflets are broadly ovate with a rounded base and are biserrate, with dark, reddish-brown glands on the teeth, and often have glands on the lower surface; the 3-4 cm flowers are produced in small groups and give way to ovoid to globose fruits, ripening red, though at first, before falling early, the large, reflexed, bipinnate sepals almost cover them. Recorded once in a hedgerow, Barnett’s Farm, nr. Mounton, ST/51.93, 1892, WAS, det. GGG. (1 t)

Rosa tomentosa

Harsh Downy-rose

This is a climbing shrub with arching stems to 3 m clad in arcuate, slender, strong prickles; its leaves are pale greyish-green, tomentose with scentless glands beneath, its petioles and rachis are also tomentose and glandular; the stipules have spreading auricles and are edged with numerous glands; the pink or white flowers produce globose, densely glandular hips, especially around their lower half, on long to 3.5 cm pedicels, that are also densely glandularhairy, as are the spreading-erect sepals that fall early, the stigmas and styles form a glabrous or sparsely hairy small head on the disc, which has an orifice 1/5 of the disc’s diameter.

a hybrid Dog-rose

This R. canina x R. mollis hybrid has an armature of curved and completely straight, patent prickles. The leaflets may be glabrous or slightly hairy. Sparse resinous glands are often found on leaflets and stipules and maybe on sepals and pedicels. The styles and stigmas are often very hairy. The two vc 35 records: in hedge, in gully, nr. Coed Ithel, Little Mountain, Trevethin, SO/2883.0321, 2002, TGE, det. ALP; side of cycle track, S of Blaenavon, SO/26303.07591, 2004, TGE, det. RM (R. mollis was female parent). 2 t

Rosa caesia subsp. glauca Glaucous Dog-rose 22

This is a climbing shrub with arching stems reaching 2 m. Its young stems often turn winered in the sun; its prickles are broad-based and strongly hooked; its smooth, glabrous leaflets are narrowly ovate and glaucous underneath; it has large stipules with short, acute auricles; its pink flowers are up to 5 cm across; its ripe red hips, to 3 x 2 cm, vary in shape from globose to ellipsoid on very short pedicels hidden by broad leafy bracts; the pinnate sepals become spreading to erect but fall as the hips turn red; the stigmas form a hairy dome hiding the disc. The two vc 35 records: Marshfield hedge, ST/2.8 R, 1934, AEW, det. ALP; in upland meadow, SW of Trinant, ST/204.994, 1992, TGE, RF, det. GGG. 2t

18 31

This climbs in hedges and scrub. Vc 35 records: Whitebrook, SO/5.0 I, 1898, WAS, det. ALP; narrow woodland strip, Llantarnam Abbey, ST/305.927, 1992, TGE, conf. GGG; hedge, SO/432.036 and on grassy bank, SO/432.037, The 217

Flora of Monmouthshire Cross Hands, 1991, TGE, DL, det. GGG; 6 records are for tetrads with no details. 12 t (1 t)

Rosa x avrayensis

Rosa x shoolbredii

a hybrid Downy-rose

This R. tomentosa x R. rubiginosa hybrid resembles the tall, strong climbing habit of R. tomentosa but a mixture of arcuate, straight-sloping and strongly curved prickles on the main stem indicates influence from both parents; some acicles on flowering branches are a R. rubiginosa character, as is the presence of sweet-scented glands on the thinly hairy, ovate to elliptic, longish leaflets’ undersides; the long, glandular hairy pedicels bear acicles and viscid glands; not all the narrowly ovoid hips develop properly. Only two specimens of this rare hybrid have been seen by GGG & ALP, one from Carmarthenshire and one from Monmouthshire. The latter record was on grassy, sloping bank in field, The Cross Hands, Llansoy-Llandenny, SO/432.037, 1992, TGE, DEL, det. GGG. 1 t

Rosa sherardii

a hybrid Downy-rose

This R. sherardii x R. mollis hybrid has the general appearance of R. sherardii but is inclined to have more erect stems and produce suckers, like R. mollis; the prickles vary from arcuate to straight; leaves of both parent types occur on the same bush viz. large, softly tomentose leaflets and rugose, hairy ones mixed; there is a noticeable neck between the barely pinnate sepals and the midsized hip. This hybrid is found rarely where both parents occur close together. Vc 35 records: E bank of road between Rhymney and Llechryd, SO/109.090, 1990, TGE, RF, det. GGG; ditch boundary of upland meadow, SW Trinant, ST/204.994, 1992, TGE, RF, det. GGG. Rosa x shoolbredii was named in honour of our Dr William Andrew Shoolbred, author of ‘The Flora of Chepstow’ (1920). 2 t

Soft Downy-rose

Rosa mollis

This is an erect, suckering shrub, so can form thickets; it has straight stems and main branches, which are glaucous in shade and may be flushed wine-red in the sun; it has straight, slender, patent prickles; it has large leaflets irregularly glandular-serrate, softly tomentose on upper and lower surfaces, the latter very pale-grey with numerous, reddish, subsessile glands (when crushed smell slightly resinous) partially hidden by the tomentum; the stipules are edged with glands; the flowers are usually deep pink; the large, ellipsoid hips, ripen red and often glandular-hispid; the largely simple, persistent sepals have expanded leaf-like tips and become erect; the stigmas and styles form a hairy, large domed head, which covers an orifice ½ the diameter of the disc.

Sherard’s Downy-rose

This is an erect shrub to 2 m, with slender, glaucous or sometimes wine-red stems that zigzag, becoming flexuous at their extremities; the prickles vary in some regions from slender, arcuate or straight sloping ones with insubstantial bases to much more robust, arched ones in other regions; the rugose, bluish-green upper surface of the leaflets is slightly hairy, the lower surface grey-green and tomentose at least on the veins and may have some resinous glands, the margins are multiserrate and glandular; the petiole and rachis are hairy and glandular; the wide stipules are edged with glands; the flowers are a deep rose-pink; the hips ripen early becoming red and sparsely glandular-hairy, the pinnate sepals, covered with reddish, translucent resin-scented glands, become spreading-erect showing the constriction where they are attached to the hip; the stigmas and styles form a large domed head on the disc, which has an orifice 1/3 of its diameter. At home in hedges, wood margins and in scrub. Vc 35 records: hedge, nr. Tintern, SO/5.0 F, 1892, WAS, det. ALP: Cwmyoy, SO/2.2 W, 1909, AL, det. ALP; hedge, Staunton Road, W of Staunton, SO/5.1 L, 1944, RL, det. RMel; rail bank, SE Woodfieldside, Blackwood, ST/181.968, 1988, TGE, conf. GGG; NW side of road to Pan Bryn on open cast site, Rhymney, SO/114.089, 1990, RDP. 2 t (3 t)

18 31

218

Flora of Monmouthshire Rosa mollis grows in hedges, woods, and on waste ground. In Wade (1970) it is described, under the name R. villosa, as rare, with the following sites given: Llanelen, EL; Llanthony Valley, AL; nr. Maes-y-cwmmer, *; nr. Usk, HPR; nr. Tintern; Trellech; nr. Pont y Saison, WAS; between Sirhowy and Rhymney Valleys, ST/16.93, 1968, AEW, det. GGG. More recent sites are: quarry top, Mynydd Islwyn, ST/184.938, 1990, RF det. TGE conf. GGG; roadside, Markham, SO/17.01, 1988, TGE det. GGG; roadside bank, Llechryd, SO/10.09, 1988, TGE; on colonised coal waste, N side of B4248, N of Blaenavon, SO/24.09, 1990, TGE, RF, *, det. GGG some introgression from R. sherardii; grassy stream bank, Cwm Celyn, SO/208.088, 1990, TGE, RF, det. GGG; hedge, nr. Bluebell Picnic Site, Wentwood, ST/422.960, 1990, TGE, meadow, SW Trinant, ST/204.994, 1992, TGE, conf. GGG; railside, Woodfieldside, ST/183.967, 1992, det. TGE, RF, conf. GGG; 3 roadside sites, Mynydd Islwyn from ST/189.943 to 198.952, 1994, TGE; park-like wasteland, nr. River Sirhowy, E Blackwood, ST/17.97, 1990, RF, *; 4-5 bushes, side of rail track, N Argoed, SO/177.005, 1997, TGE, UTE, also SO/1772.0021, 2001, TGE; 2 bushes, disused rail track, The Rock, ST/1799.9873, 2001, TGE; 1 large bush with very bristly hips, side of cycle track, near stream and small waterfall, S of Blaenavon, SO/25937.07904, 2004, TGE, conf. RMa. 12 t

Rosa rubiginosa

18 31

It mainly grows in open scrub and hedges on calcareous soils. Wade (1970) said it was rare and gave 4 sites: Llangeview, JHC; Llanwern; nr. Caerwent, SH (1909); nr. Tintern, WAS. More recent records are: gritty bank, N side of B4248, Blaenavon, SO/25.09 and 24.09, 1988, TGE, RF, conf. GGG; edge of River Sirhowy, Blackwood, ST/178.965, 1990, RF; bank of R. Rhymney, Rhymney, SO/10.07 & 10.08, 1990, TGE, RF, *; several sites, side of N/S road, Hendre, SO/45.13 & 45.14, 1991, TGE, UTE, det. GGG; meadow bank, Cross Hands, SO/432.037, 1992, TGE, conf. GGG; roadside bank, nr. Entrance to ‘The British’, Talywain, SO/259.043, 1992, TGE, RF, conf. GGG; Dixton Embankment Reserve, SO/527.151, 2001, TGE; path side, high on slope, Cwmynyscoy Quarry (disused), ST/284.994, 2004, TGE, conf. RM; E end of viaduct, Abersychan, SO/263.043, 2004, TGE, conf. RMa. 13 t

Sweet-briar

This is the rose of poets, who refer to its pervading scent and use its poetic name Eglantine. It is an erect shrub to 2 m with strong stems clad in strongly curved prickles of mixed sizes interspersed with acicles; its leaflets are roundish to ovate-elliptical with margins doubly serrate and very glandular, pubescence occurs on the veins below and to some extent above; many viscid brown or translucent, sweetsmelling glands on the leaf under surface fills the air with scent for many metres from the bush on a still, warm summer’s day; the stipules are edged with glands; the flowers are a deep pink; the hips are smooth or sparsely clad with stalked glands mainly around the base, the hispid stigmas are sunk in the orifice that is 1/3 of its diameter of the disc; the pedicels have glands mixed with acicles; the persistent sepals turn up to spreading then erect.

Rosa micrantha Small-flowered Sweet-briar This is a tall, climbing shrub to 3 m, its arching, green stems have long internodes and are clad sparsely in roughly equal, curved prickles with a long base; acicles are absent; the round-based leaflets are glabrous above, shortly pubescent below, with viscid, brownish or translucent sweet-smelling glands the odour of which I can detect only on a good day and with my nose close to the pink flowers, the leaf has multiserrate and glandular margins and the petiole, rachis and stipules are glandular; the hips are smallish, urnshaped with a neck and the pedicels are glandular with sparse glands on the hips; the pinnate sepals are reflexed and fall before the hips turn red; the disc is convex with an orifice 1/6-1/5 of the diameter of it; the glabrous styles hold the small group of stigmas just clear of the orifice. 219

Flora of Monmouthshire 23

18 31

Rosa micrantha grows in scrub, woods, hedges mainly on calcareous soils. Wade (1970) gave its status as rare with the following sites: Llangattock Vibon Avel, SO/4.1, AL, Lady Park Wood, SO/5.1 M, RL, 1943, AEW, *; Dinham; Pant y Cossin (? Pant-y-cosyn), Shirenewton, ST/4.9 S; Runstone, ST/4.9 V, AL, WAS, det. EBB; Severn shore below Mathern, WAS. More recent sites are: limestone bank, S edge of Liveoaks Grove, ST/539.981, 1989, TGE, conf. as almost ‘perfect micrantha’ GGG; grassy, limestone bank, CrickRunstone Road, ST/492.909, 1992, TGE conf. GGG, *; E side of small wood, Piercefield Park, ST/529.953, ?1992, TGE conf. GGG; 1 bush, bank of Llandegfedd Reservoir, SO/328.003, 1997, TGE, UTE; top of R. Usk bank, Llancayo Farm, SO/359.026, 1997, TGE, UTE, 1 bush, top of bank, NW of Runstone Church, ST/495.916, 2002, TGE; 7t

It is most frequently found in hedges, vc 35 records include: hedge, Turner’s Wood, St Maughan’s, SO/460.166, 1989, PCH, JFH; hedge, nr. Bluebell Farm, Wentwood, ST/42.95, 1990, TGE, UTE; S side A4136/wood edge, Fiddler’s Elbow, SO/528.136, 1985, 1988, TGE, UTE; minor roadside, N side, hedge, Wentwood, ST/428.962, 1985, 1987, TGE, UTE; several small trees, W side of road, Crick, ST/486.897, 1984, 1987, TGE, UTE; Kymin Road, Monmouth, SO/521.129, 1993, DI; Troy Station, Monmouth, SO/505.122, 1993, JH; 1 small tree, hedge, S of Bargoed Farm, ST/463.943, 1984, TGE, UTE; wood edge hedge, W of Rogerstone Grange, St Arvans, ST/504.967, 1984, TGE, UTE; hedge, Cwrt-y-Brychan, 1983, LBB. 14 t

Prunus spinosa

Blackthorn

PRUNUS Cherries Cherries are trees or shrubs with simple, toothed leaves; their flowers are solitary or in different compound arrangements; there are stipules but no epicalyx; the fruit is a drupe.

! Prunus cerasifera

Cherry Plum

This is usually a shrub but can form a tree to 8 m; it has glabrous, hairless, shiny twigs bearing oblong leaves which are hairless and shiny above, hairy beneath, and white flowers to 20 mm across often borne singly; the roundish fruit may be red or yellow and 2-3 cm across.

18 31

This is a dense, deciduous shrub that has dark bark, bears stout straight thorns and oval, toothed leaves to 3 cm, and it suckers freely; its white flowers, to 15 mm across are borne singly before the leaves, 220

Flora of Monmouthshire and so many flowers are produced that the bush is a mass of white; its black fruit (sloe) has a bluish bloom and is nearly globular, like its stone, it is sour tasting and leaves the mouth dry. It grows in woods, hedges and forms thickets if neglected. It is widespread in v.c. 35. 370 t

Arc. Prunus domestica subsp insititia Bullace, Damson This is said to have densely pubescent and often spiny twigs and fruits little bigger than sloes, with a roundish stone.

Arc. Prunus domestica Wild Plum, Damson, Greengage

Wild Plum is a deciduous, large shrub or tree; its leaves are broadly elliptic to 8 cm; its greenflushed, white flowers to 25 cm across are borne in small clusters among the expanding leaves; the egg-shaped, edible fruit may be red, blue-black or purple.

19 23 18 22 31 21

18 32

Wade (1970) gave: Kymin, *; Coleford Road, Monmouth, *, SGC; Llanllywel, JHC; Castle Woods, Chepstow, *, Tintern; Mounton, *; Wyndcliff; rocks, S of Chepstow Station; Piercefield Woods, *, WAS. More recent records are: hedge, nr. Clytha Farm, SO/377.097, 1973, BMF; Red House Wood, SO/366.103, 1974, BMF; ruined cottage garden, St Mary’s Vale, SO/280.164, 1986, GH; nr. Cefn Coch, SO/39.07, 1988, DEL; Twyn-y-Sheriff, SO/40.05, 1988, DEL; W of Dingestow, SO/43.10, 1987, PCH, JFH; wood edge, Hardwick Plantation, ST/460.894, 1982, TGE. 7 t (12 t)

Though planted it is often naturalised in hedges and wood borders not far from human dwellings. Modern hedge cutting has meant that the hedge plants are not seen fruiting so often. The BRC recording card RP12 used when the bulk of the common plants were recorded did not differentiate between the three subspecies of P. domestica and the 156 tetrads total includes all three taxa. Stace (1997) says there has been so much hybridisation that the subspecies are often scarcely discernible. There are no specific records of subsp. italica Greengage, but it could occur near habitation. 156 t

Prunus avium

Wild Cherry

Arc. Prunus domestica subsp. domestica Wild Plum

This is said to have sparsely pubescent, spineless twigs, usually large fruits with a very flattened stone.

18 31

221

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows in woods, hedgerows, meadows and scrub. It is native on the western side of the vice-county; elsewhere it has been planted for ornamental purposes. There are concentrations in the area of the Llanthony valley, where it is the dominant white-flowered tree making quite a show in May and June, and the western valleys of the coalfield. 45 t

Wild Cherry is a spreading, deciduous tree to over 20 m with glabrous twigs and reddish-brown bark which can be quite smooth and peels off like paper; its leaves are dull green above; the white flowers, to 25 mm, are borne in clusters of 2-6 at the same time as the emerging leaves; the 9-12 mm edible fruit may be red, yellowish or black. It grows in woods and hedges. Widespread in vc 35, but thinning out towards the Levels and the coalfields. 250 t

Arc. Prunus cerasus

! Prunus lusitanica

Portugal Laurel

This is an evergreen, black-barked shrub or tree with leaves longer than wide with a shiny upper surface and terminating with an acuminate tip; its fragrant, white flowers are arranged in long, pendent, almost cylindrical racemes; its fruit goes from red to shiny black. It is not native but is planted in large gardens and estates. In vc 35 it has been under-recorded because, until recently, planted trees have been disregarded. 4 t

Dwarf Cherry

This cherry resembles P. avium but is usually a suckering shrub, but with leaves shiny above, flowers to 18 mm across borne in clusters of 2-4, and a bright red, sour fruit. It frequents hedges and copses. Wade (1970) said it was rare and gave the following: Hadnock Wood, *; Garth Wood, SGC; woods about Usk, JHC, AEW; The Coldra, Christchurch, SH (1909); nr. Tintern; Barnetts Wood, nr. Chepstow; Barbadoes Hill, *; Penterry; Minnetts Wood; wood below Kilpale, *, WAS (1920). Almost all of the records were made in the first year of my recording scheme (1985) when some card marking errors occurred; I have tried to eliminate these but with only a tetrad letter to go on checking is difficult. I have not seen a convincing example for years. ? t (10 t)

! Prunus laurocerasus

Cherry Laurel

This is an evergreen shrub or occasionally a tree bearing large, shiny, oblong leaves terminating abruptly into a short point; its upright, raceme cylinder of creamy-white flowers gives way to roundish, purplish-black fruit, which cause the peduncle to bend down under their weight. 23

Prunus padus

Bird Cherry

This is a shrub or tree to over 15 m with dark, unpleasant-smelling bark and elliptical, pointed and toothed leaves; the solitary, white, scented flowers are in long, pendent racemes; the 6-8 mm, shiny-black, globular fruit is bitter and astringent.

19 23 18 22 31 21

18 32

Cherry Laurel was also introduced to large gardens for cover, privacy and variety and was originally introduced for culinary flavouring. On the edge of woods these soon spread into the woods and became naturalised. In many vc 35 woods and on the upper parts of valley sides, planted trees have become invasive and a nuisance. When I was young and butterflies were plentiful the crushed leaves (which give off Prussic acid) in a screw cap

222

Flora of Monmouthshire jar were used to kill the insects ready for fixing for display. 64 t

pyraster on the Welsh recording card RP 12 and few records of wild pear made and the problem of an occasional, apparently wild pear which is likely to be a remnant of an old orchard complicating the issue, I have decided to merge records for the two species together. In spite of that, there was a tree on the approach road to Lighthouse Inn, ST/301.818, 1988, TGE, which had the globose fruit and spiny twigs of P. pyraster but was out of reach for a specimen and had been cleared when I went to check a few years later. The best example of P. pyraster is on a bank opposite revetment 1047, MOD Caerwent, ST/476.921, 2003-4, TGE, this has globose fruits and sturdy, straight thorns on its twigs. The tree in a field (inside the MOD, Caerwent boundary fence), ST/460.920, near deserted Lower Llanmelin Farm I recorded as P. communis because it is a tall non-spiny tree with small pearshaped fruit that are quite sweet but it could well be a remnant of the deserted farm’s orchard. ? 4 t

OEMLERIA Osoberry These are deciduous shrubs, which are usually male or female; they have simple, entire leaves; the flowers are borne in short racemes; the fruit is a cluster of up to 5 drupes.

! Oemleria cerasiformis

Osoberry

This is a suckering shrub, with upright stems and glabrous, lanceolate or elliptic leaves with a translucent, very narrow, slightly upturned margin; the greenish-white, scented flowers are suspended in racemes of up to ten; in this country the 10-15 mm bluish-black fruit is seldom produced. It is grown as a fragrant, ornamental and possibly as a novelty plant. In the vice-county it occurs in a few gardens, the one naturalised plant was: in a derelict garden, off a lane to S of Abbey Hotel, Tintern, ST/532.999, 1983-87, MARK, CK, first Welsh record. 1 t

MALUS Apples Apples are shrubs or trees that have simple, toothed, deciduous leaves; flowers in clusters with numerous stamens; the fruit is a pome.

PYRUS Pears Pears are shrubs or trees with simple, toothed, deciduous leaves, their flowers are white with numerous stamens and dark anthers; the ovary has free styles, the apple is a pome made up of a fleshy receptacle enclosing the fruit, which has cartilaginous walls with the seeds within, the part we do not eat.

! Pyrus pyraster/communis

Malus sylvestris

Crab Apple

Sometimes a tree to 10 m, often less, often has spiny twigs; its 3-5 cm leaves may have hairs, particularly on the underside veins when immature but be glabrous in maturity; the flowers are pinkish-white with glabrous pedicels, which are shorter than the pome, and a calyx glabrous on the outer surface; the fruit is yellowish-green, like an apple but only 2-3 cm in diameter.

Wild Pear

Pyrus pyraster is a spiny shrub or tree to 15 m with glabrous, broadly ovate leaves to 7 cm and yellow to dark brown, globose, obovoid or obconical fruits to 4 cm. P. communis differs in being a non-spiny tree to 20 m with edible, usually pear-shaped fruits to less than 6 cm. In practice, the fact that the eastern half of vicecounty of vc 35 was dotted with a large number of sizeable orchards with regimented lines of trees and also many smaller collections of fruit trees meant that the occasional tree appeared spontaneously in hedgerows and wood margins. As the management of the orchards was labour intensive and thus expensive and imported fruit was cheap, it became uneconomic and many orchards were grubbed out. Many smaller farms and old farm-hand cottages were abandoned and their small orchards neglected and only remnant trees remained bearing old-fashioned fruit, often small and hard, even if sweet. With only P.

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223

Flora of Monmouthshire Mainly found in hedges and woods. More common in vc 35 than Wild Pears, but many crabs have hairs on the leaf underside veins, and have misled me to think they are hybrids but apparently it is now accepted that crabs may have this characteristic. 35 t

! Malus domestica

Sorbus aucuparia

Rowan

The Rowan or Mountain Ash, is a slender tree with pinnate leaves composed of 5-7 pairs of toothed, oblong leaflets hairy beneath; the 8-10 mm diameter flowers are in low, domed clusters and produce bright red fruits to 9 mm across.

Apple

This tree is not spiny and is larger in many more characters than its wild version; its leaves to 15 cm are pubescent on their lowers sides and often on the upper side as well; its ‘fruit’ up to 12 cm has various colours and a relatively shorter stalk.

20 23 19 22 18 21

It grows in hedges, woods and on moors, particularly in upland regions. It is widespread but more concentrated in the west. It is particularly attractive to our winter visiting thrushes, which can become intoxicated on the berries. 268 t

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Sorbus x thuringiaca

It grows in hedges, in waste ground and scrub. In vc 35 it is found in forms that resemble the cultivated apple to ones that are hardly distinguishable from a ‘crab’. 63 t

a hybrid Rowan

SORBUS Whitebeams Whitebeams are deciduous trees or shrubs with serrate leaves that may be pinnate, simple, entire or pinnately-lobed, many trees have a whitish indumentum of hairs on the underside of the leaves; they have clusters of white flowers, with numerous stamens; their reddish or brownish fruits are berries. Whitebeams are a difficult group with sexual and apomictic species included; some species have evolved on isolated limestone outcrops to vary from species elsewhere. Whitebeams are currently under review; new procedures may result in new species being declared. For further information and illustrations of the vice-county Whitebeams and others elsewhere refer to the ‘Plant Crib’ (Rich and Jermy 1998). The S. domestica record in Wade (1970) refers to S. torminalis.

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It is a tree with leaves with at least one bottom lobe free from the rest, usually the bottom pair are free and sometimes the bottom two pairs are free. This S. aucuparia x S. aria hybrid includes S. x pinnatifida, which is cultivar and deliberately planted, and the basal pair of leaflets are more distant than those of native trees. 224

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows near the parents unless planted. Vc 35 records: wooded limestone cliffs, E end along rough path from river meadow level, Piercefield, ST/535.959, 1972-96, TGE, *, ST/5362.9612, 2005, TCGR; Llanwern, ST/39.86, 1974, CT; 1 tree planted, edge of car park of Great Mills store, Newport, 1988, ST/33.87, 1988, TGE; 1 grafted tree, near entrance to Bryn Village Hall, SO/330.097, 2003, TGE, CT; planted tree in Ringland Estate, Newport, ST/3.8 ?P, 1994. 6 t

! Sorbus intermedia

N of St Arvans, ST/523.968, 1978-2003, TGE conf. PJMN, ST/5233.9667 and ST/5069.9620, 2005, TCGR; 6 shrub-like trees on top of limestone block left when rail cutting was made, to W of Chepstow Station, ST/5389.9269, 1977-2004, TGE, conf. PJMN and abundant on cliffs and rocks on W side of cutting, 2001, TGE, TCGR (‘all trees cleared on W side in 2002’ TCGR – by British Rail presumably because they caused leaves on the track); on cliffs and rocks of Pwll-du Quarry (disused), 1994-2003, TGE, conf. PJMN; 3 trees on Millstone Grit, SO/252.115, TCGR, 2005. 5 t

Swedish Whitebeam

This is a tree to over 10 m with ovate-oblong, lobed leaves, with 7-9 pairs of lateral veins running into the lobes with the deepest divided lobes at the rounded base, either the first or second pair, graduated to the least divided lobes at the apex of the leaf. The 12-15 mm fruit has a few small superficial lenticels. This is a planted tree often in lines (as at the side of the by-pass at Caerwent), but it does naturalise from seeds in vc 35. 19 t

Sorbus anglica

Sorbus aria agg.

Common Whitebeam

This has leaves of various shapes but usually with a woolly white indumentum on the underside; it also has 10-14 pairs of lateral veins frequently near the upper end of which the tooth projects beyond the ones on either side; the 8-15 mm scarlet fruit, which is usually longer than wide, has few or many small lenticels spread evenly over its surface.

English Whitebeam

A tree or shrub to over 3 m with oval to broadly oval leaves, mainly cuneate or slightly rounded from the petiole to rounded to slightly pointed at the apex; the numbers of lateral veins vary but there are usually 8-10 pairs; the 7-12 mm fruit ripens to a crimson colour and is covered with few to numerous small lenticels.

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It grows among other trees on limestone rocks or soils. It is most frequent on the limestone rocks of the two gorges in the Wye Valley, on the limestone on the edge of the coalfield and scattered where plantings have taken place. 31 t

Sorbus x vagensis 31

Wye Whitebeam

This S. aria x S. torminalis hybrid is variable with leaves where the veins agree more with S. torminalis and end in more definite triangular lobes than those of S. aria but less distinct than S. torminalis; the underside may be woolly like S. aria or thinly covered like S. torminalis; the fruits are yellowish or brownish-orange, longer than wide and with few, usually small lenticels.

This whitebeam is usually found on limestone rocks, often with other trees. Vc 35 records; Lady Park Wood SSSI, SO/547.144, 1970, GHo; limestone cliffs, Wyndcliff, ST/528.973, 1995, GHow, ?AJW; Piercefield, ST/5.9 H, 1894, WAS; jutting out, near the top of Lover’s Leap rock face, 225

Flora of Monmouthshire Sorbus x vagensis

FJAH, det. EFW 1936, PDS 1961; Piercefield Park, ST/52.97, 1903, WAS, SHB, det. EFW; in woods, Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I, 1895, ESM, det. PDS, 1961; 1 tree (it had 9 trunks due to early coppicing, later 2 more had been sawn off and 1 had rotted) grows on a steep slope just to the SE of the cable bridge at the Biblins, SO/550.142, 1980-2003, TGE, conf. PJMN; 2 trees + 4 of northern form near top of cliffs, Lady Park Wood, SO/547.147 (and neighbourhood), 2003, LH, ACT, CCh det. TCGR; Far Hearkening Rock, SO/54109.15089, 1 tree, 2005, TCGR. 2 t (3 t)

Sorbus porrigentiformis Grey-leaved Whitebeam

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This is a shrub or small tree to 5 m with obovate leaves with untoothed sides from the petiole to 1/3-1/2 of the leaf length and with 8-10 pairs of lateral leaves; the underside white to greenishwhite; the terminal tooth is prominent and at least some of the teeth point outwards to form a right-angle to the mid-rib; the 8-12 mm, crimson fruit has a few large lenticels near the base, and is wider than long.

It usually grows near its parents. Vc 35 records: 3 trees upper wood above the cable bridge, Lady Park Wood, SO/547.144, 1980-82, TGE conf. PJMN; one tree, SO/54694.14390, 2005, TCGR; on top of Knoll, Gorrashill Wood, Mounton, ST/506.936, 1995, GL, 2003, TGE, TCGR; 1 tree near top of Cliff Wood, Mounton, ST/507.937, 1996, GL; 1 tree at north end of cliff, Cliff Wood, ST/50764.94086, 2005, TCGR; 1 tree, Lover’s Leap, 1970s, TGE, ST/5235.9669, TCGR, 2005. The Wye Valley is one of the few places in Britain where backcrosses between S. x vagensis and S. aria occur. The leaves look like those of S. aria but have shallow, sharp lobes, long petioles and greener undersides. In Monmouthshire they have been recorded at Gorrashill Wood, ST/506.936, 2003, TGE, TCGR, and Piercefield Park, ST/523.966, 2005, TCGR. 4 t

Sorbus eminens

Round-leaved Whitebeam

This shrub or tree to 10 m or more has leaves orbicular to obovate little longer than wide; apart from a short length near the petiole the margins are toothed, with the vein apical tooth longer than those on either side; the underside is clothed in a woolly indumentum that renders it a greenish-white (the leaves of some trees found in the Avon Gorge differ from some in the Wye Valley); the crimson fruit of c. 1.5 cm has numerous large and small lenticels mainly around its base. This species grows on rocky limestone outcrops among other trees in a comparatively small area in the Avon and Wye Valley Gorges. In vc 35: near Itton (I suggest Whitfield Wood, the limit of limestone near Itton and where there were old records of Carex digitata), ? ST/49.96, 1852,

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It grows on wooded limestone rocks. Vc 35 records: at 300 m numerous trees, the Daren cliff, above Cwmyoy, SO/296.246, 1978, AMcGS; cliffs, Tarren yr Esgob, SO/254.305, 1986, TGE conf. PJMN; 1 tree over R. Wye near top of limestone block separated from the main rock structure by the railway in cutting W of Chepstow station, ST/5389.9269, 2001, TGE, TCGR; 1 maiden tree growing from cliff, below small yew, Lady Park Wood, SO/547.146, 2003, ACT, det. TCGR; 6+ trees, Pwll-du quarry, SO/253.115, TCGR, 2005; 1 tree at north end of cliff, Cliff Wood, ST/50799.93896, 2005, TCGR. 4 t (1 t) 226

Flora of Monmouthshire

Sorbus rupicola

pairs of lateral veins; the 12-16 mm fruit brown, longer than wide with numerous, small lenticels. It grows in woods and less commonly in hedgerows. Some vc 35 records: locally abundant, woods, Piercefield Cliffs, ST/53.95, 1957-87, TGE; woods, Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, 1957-1987, TGE; Great Barnets Wood, ST/516.942, 19541996 when 6 trees grew on a ridge (1 was coppiced ½m from ground and then formed two trunks), TGE; Strawberry Cottage Wood, SO/313.215, 1987, RF; Llanfihangel Court wood, SO/332.203, 1989, RF; near minor road, Pandy, SO/336, 224, 1988, RF; hedgerow, W of Tregare, SO/419, 102, 1985, TGE, UTE, RF; side of old track, on Psammoteuse Limestone, Twyn Ruthlin, SO/448.144, 1985, PCH, JFH; numerous trees on cliffs, Chepstow Rail cutting, ST/539.927, 19852004, TGE; woodland, SE side Coombe (Cwm) Valley, ST/459.928 & 461.928, 1991, CT; steep wooded bank, Mounton, ST/51. 93, 1991, TGE, UTE; 1 tree fenced by Forestry Commission, side of broad track, Great Barnets Wood, ST/512.940, 1960s-2003, TGE; lane near Frogmore, ST/50.93, 1998, CT; 12 trees, cliffs, Lady Park Wood, c. SO/547.147, 2003, LH, ACT, CC. 20 t

Rock Whitebeam

This is a shrub or small tree 6 m often less with narrowly obovate leaves with small and irregular teeth, frequently fading out after half way towards the petiole; there is an average of 89 pairs of lateral veins that end in teeth no longer than their neighbours or only slightly longer than them; the 12-15 mm deep red fruit is well covered with small to medium sized lenticels, and is wider than long. Usually near the top edge of Carboniferous Limestone cliffs and rocky scrub. Vc 35 records: several trees on top of a tall, Carboniferous block on edge of R. Wye in Chepstow rail cutting, W of the station, ST/5389.9269, 1977-2004, TGE, conf. PJMN; 1 tree on second outcrop below Far Hearkening Rock, SO/54143.15164, 2005, TCGR. A tree on the Tarren yr Esgob cliffs reported in 1986 was never confirmed or re-found, and is probably S. porrigentiformis. 2 t Plate 36

Sorbus whiteana

White’s Whitebeam

There is one unconfirmed record for this newly described species from cliffs at Lady park Wood, LH, 2003.

Sorbus torminalis

COTONEASTER Cotoneasters Cotoneasters are shrubs or small trees with simple, entire leaves; their white or pink flowers, with persistent calices, are solitary or in small groups, they have 10-20 stamens; their fleshy fruits are variously coloured from red to black. There are over 70 Cotoneasters naturalised in Britain, almost all are planted in gardens and on edges of housing estates, with other trees and shrubs for ornamental screening or as street decoration and screening. Most people will see only a few species naturalised from bird-sown seed and those mainly in urban areas. Until the new handbook is ready, Stace’s New Flora of the British Isles is the most useful guide to recognition. When collecting for identification the following must be collected from naturalised plants: flowers, ripe fruit, mature leaves taken between flowering and production of ripe fruit; knowledge of the extent of winter leaf retention aids the referee.

Wild Service-tree

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This species can attain a height of over 25 m and has leaves that have a terminal lobe and mainly three pairs of acute lateral lobes, the bottom pair somewhat remote from the rest and divided to almost half way to the midrib, though I have some herbarium specimens divided to 2/3 to the midrib; when young the leaves may be densely whitish tomentose though usually the hair covering is sparse to glabrous; there are about 4

! Cotoneaster frigidus

Tree Cotoneaster

This species is a shrub or tree to over 8 m that may shed all its leaves or remain semi-evergreen; its oblong-oval, flat leaves are pubescent on the underside; there are usually over 20 flowers with purple anthers in its inflorescences; its 4-6 mm 227

Flora of Monmouthshire fruits are bright red, orange, yellow or crimson depressed globes with 2 stones. Originates in the Himalayas. Vc 35 records; rough grassy area, Cwmtillery, SO/22.04, 1988, RF; in W Abergavenny, SO/2.1 X, 1991, RF. 2 t

! Cotoneaster simonsii Himalayan Cotoneaster This is an erect, deciduous shrub to over 3 m; it has oval leaves to over 2.5 mm with roundish bases and acute apices, the upper side is flat and shiny, the lower side is slightly hairy; the flowers, in groups of 1-4, have white anthers; its 811 mm, globose to obovoid fruits are orange-red and contain 3-4 stones.

! Cotoneaster linearifolius Thyme-leaved Cotoneaster This shrub tends to lean on its support before arching to no more than 1 m; its 4-7 mm leaves are flat and shiny above and are clad in appressed hairs below; the 5 mm flowers are solitary with blunt sepals and purple to black anthers; the crimson fruits are 4-5 mm, crimson globes. Introduced from the Himalayas. Vc 35 records: waste ground, S of M48, Thornwell, Chepstow, ST/538.915, 1990, JDRV; waste ground, electricity station, below Newhouse Industrial Estate, ST/539.903, 1990, JDRV. 2 t

! Cotoneaster horizontalis Wall Cotoneaster This low-growing, deciduous shrub is recognisable by its ‘herring-bone’ branching, which is spreading or arching; it grows vertically against walls; its small 0.5 cm to just over 1 cm leaves are flat and shiny on the upper surface and only very slightly hairy below; its white to pink flowers, in 2-3s, have white anthers and though small are very attractive to bees; the 4-6 mm, globose, orange-red fruits contain 3 stones.

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Introduced from the Himalayas to British gardens it is increasingly being introduced to the countryside mainly by birds. In vc 35 it occurs on waste ground in quarries, man-made cuttings, wall tops and in meadows. 27 t

! Cotoneaster sternianus Stern’s Cotoneaster

This erect, evergreen shrub to 3 m has oval leaves with blunt apex to 5 cm in length; its flowers have white anthers and its 8-10 mm, subglobose fruit usually have 3 stones. It was introduced to British gardens from China. In vc 35 it has been recorded on top of rail embankment, off Spitty Rd., Newport, ST/332.868, 1990, GH, 1st vice-county record. 1 t

! Cotoneaster dielsianus Diels’ Cotoneaster This is an erect, deciduous shrub to over 2 m with arching branches; its broadly oval leaves, to 3cm long, taper to an acute apex and slightly to the petiole and have slightly impressed veins above and are greyish or greenish tomentose below; the flowers, in clusters of 3-7 have white anthers; the 6-8 mm, subglobose, bright red fruits contain 34 stones. It is introduced from China. The vc 35 record was of a bird-sown plant on old wall near town centre

18 31

Though commonly grown in gardens against walls or over mounds, it is frequently naturalised. In vc 35 dispersal of its seeds by birds is probably the reason it occurs on rail embankments, in disused quarries, on walls, in graveyards and on rough grassland. 43 t 228

Flora of Monmouthshire (with C. horizontalis), Abergavenny, SO/297.144, 1993, IKM, det. GH. 1 t

tetrad apart from those with only marginal areas. 399 t

CRATAEGUS Hawthorns Hawthorns are thorny, deciduous trees with simple, lobed and toothed leaves; their flowers have 5 petals, numerous stamens and 1-5 free styles, and are arranged in flattish-topped corymbs on spurs (short lateral shoots); the haw is a fleshy fruit containing 1-5 stones.

Crataegus x media

a hybrid Hawthorn

This fertile C. monogyna x C. laevigata hybrid may be completely intermediate between its parents. The only vc 35 record was from a field hedge, Bishton, ST/3.8, 1941, AEW. 1 t

Crataegus laevigata ! Crataegus persimilis Broad-leaved Cockspurthorn This is a spiny, deciduous tree with doubly serrate, simple leaves hairy on the underside veins and the cuneate base forms an angle of less than 90 degrees; the flowers have hairy pedicels, 10-15 stamens and 4-5 styles; the fruits fall in the autumn. It is frequently planted in Britain. Vc 35 record: 1 tree, towards the top of steep hill, roadside hedge, Ysguborwen, ST/411.959, 1982-1993, AP, TGE, UTE, det. PMcP, 1st Welsh record (tree was damaged with much of its top removed in mid1990s). 1 t

Crataegus monogyna

Hawthorn

This is a thorny shrub or tree to 10 m; its leaves are wedge shaped with a cuneate base and deeply 5-7 lobed with the lobes deeply toothed towards the apex, shiny but with some hairs on lower side veins; fragrant flowers up to 15 mm across are white or deep pink with 1 style; the red berry has a single stone which can be squeezed out of its mealy surrounds between finger and thumb.

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18 33

FABACEAE Pea family This family has members that cover a range of life cycles and plant and leaf types, though leaves are generally alternate and often pinnate and end in tendrils; the flowers are zygomorphic, hermaphrodite and hypogynous; they have 5 sepals arranged in a tube, with 2 forming an upper lip and 3 forming a lower one; there are 5 petals, the upper, the largest, is known as the standard, the 2 lower ones are fused to form the

It is only common in central and SE England in woods and hedges. In vc 35; Cwrt Perrott, Llandegfedd, ST/33.95, 1946, BC; 2 trees, near sheep fence, behind and W of ‘Highlands’, off A4048, S of Tredegar, SO/151.068, 1995, TGE; 3 trees in planted hedgerow, near ‘Brockwells’, Caldicot, ST/470-1.895, 1995, CT; line of trees along drive edge, Mounton House School, ST/517.927, 1995, TGE; 1 tree S of the church, Mathern, ST/523.908, 1996, TGE; 1 mature tree in churchyard, Llangua, SO/389.256, 1997, TGE. 6 t

Midland Hawthorn

Similar to C. monogyna but its twigs are less spiny, its lobes less deep and usually only 3; its fruits have 2-3 styles and nutlets (squeeze away the fleshy surrounds).

It is abundant in hedges, woods and scrub throughout Britain. In vc 35 it occurs in every 229

Flora of Monmouthshire an apiculate tip; the flowers range from white to bluish-mauve. Originating in Europe, it is grown in gardens and is found on tips and other waste areas. In vc 35: a weed in Tudor St. car park, Abergavenny, SO/29.14, 1986, RF; roundabout edge at the junction between the A4161 and the A48, St. Mellons, ST/238.819, 1987, GH; waste ground between Abergavenny and Mardy, SO/3.1C; naturalised on an organic smallholding, The Nurtons, Tintern SO/53.01, 1st reported 1985, still increasing 2004, EW; no details for ST/2.8 sites but its recorder EJS was meticulous. 6 t

keel and 2 free ones make up the wings, the 10 stamens are variously fused into a tube and with the ovary are almost concealed by the keel; the fruit is a legume (pod) that splits down two sides, or less commonly a pod that breaks up transversely into 1-seeded parts. ROBINIA False-acacia This is a tree with pinnate leaves, paired with a solitary terminal leaflet, leaflets are entire, the flowers are in hanging clusters with 9 stamens forming a tube and another free; the pod splits along its length and has many seeds.

! Robinia pseudoacacia

COLUTEA Bladder-sennas Bladder-sennas are deciduous shrubs with upright racemes of pea-like flowers with the tenth stamen partially fused to the other fused 9; the two-valved pod is vastly inflated.

False-acacia

This deciduous tree to over 25 m comes from N America and is planted in large estates or on wood edges for its graceful pendent, pinnate leaves and racemes of white-tinged, pink, pea-like flowers, with contrasting pinky-brown calices; it has patent spines for stipules. In vc 35 it is fairly commonly planted. 12 t

! Colutea arborescens

PSORALEA Scurfy Pea These are herbs with toothed, ternate leaves; flowers in erect, axillary racemes, 10 stamens forming a tube; the fruit is indehiscent with a solitary seed.

! Psoralea americana

Scurfy Pea

This is an erect, tender, short-lived perennial; it often has roundish leaflets but narrow leaflet forms also occur; the white, tinged mauve flowers occur in clusters. It sometimes occurs in birdseed and has been recorded on rubbish tips. Two plants were recorded on the rubbish tip on Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, in 1975, TGE, det. RDM. 1 t Figure 22

ASTRAGALUS Milk-vetches These are perennial herbs with flowers in upright racemes, and having beakless keels and a tenth stamen free of the fused 9; the fruit is a pod that may be inflated.

Astragalus glycyphyllos

Wild Liquorice

GALEGA Goat’s-rue This is a herb, which has pinnate leaves with a single terminal leaflet; the flowers are in axillary racemes, they have 9 stamens forming a tube and a tenth one partly fused to the tube; the fruit splits along its length or is indehiscent; the number of seeds is variable.

! Galega officinalis

Bladder-senna

This is a shrub up to 6 m tall with pinnate leaves of 4-5 pairs of oval lateral leaflets topped by the terminal one; the yellow flowers sometimes have reddish honey guides and a beakless keel; the inflated pod may be up to 7 cm long. A European introduction that has spread from gardens to nearby wasteland, roadsides and rail sides. Vc 35 record: 2 plants on soil bulldozed 2-3 years before, Tregarn House, Langstone, ST/385.906, 1993, DEG. 1 t

Goat’s-rue

This is an erect perennial to over 1 m has varying numbers of usually elliptic leaflets, though often the number is 9 (4 pairs + the terminal one), with

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230

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 22

Psoralea americana

231

Scurfy Pea

Flora of Monmouthshire Wild Liquorice is native on unimproved grassland, in scrub and by the side of woodland rides. Vc 35 records: Wade (1970): nr. Dinham, ST/4.9 Q, 1894, MSW; Norbury Common, 1904, JSC; Llanvair Discoed, ST/4.9 L, SH, WAS; between Dinham and Llanmelin, *, WAS; Carrow Hill, ST/4.9 F, *; 1 large plant on the edge of the main woodland ride through the Minnetts complex, Highmoor Hill, Caldicot, ST/459.894, 1971-1982, CT; c. 10 plants on revetment 301 embankment and neighbouring grassland, MOD, Caerwent, ST/483.917, 1991, TGE, CT, GT, down to a single plant in 2004 due to shrub encroachment and voracious appetite of sheep; many plants on long barrow, Helston Brake, Portskewett, ST/505.887, early 1980s, JPW, c. 20 plants, 1992, TGE; Colin Titcombe who worked for the Forestry Commission alerted me in 1982 that the Highmoor Hill site was under threat as the ride was to be widened into a metalled-surface track. We both lifted the plant on to a large sheet of plastic, carried it to the car and transported it to Colin’s farm to a cold frame, sprayed it with water and covered it with a sheet of polythene and cared for it until it had established itself. It was then divided up into a number of plants and each planted them in our respective gardens until we could return them to the Minnetts complex or nearby Rogiet Common. Plants were planted out in the spring of 1989 and 1991 in both habitats; some plants survived for a few years but dry summers in the woods killed them off and rabbits on the common ate them there; these reintroductions thus account for the remaining dots on the map. 4 t Plate 37.

since the 1970s. Past vc 35 sites listed in Wade (1970) are: Pontypool, SO/2.0, *, THT; near Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I, AEW; Newchurch E., ST/4.9 N, JHC; Portskewett, WAS; near Minnett’s Lane, ST/4.8 P. More recent records: entrance to Five Lanes Quarry (now County Council rubbish tip), ST/444.911, 1971-75, TGE, CT; grassy verge of Crick-Shirenewton Rd., 2km north of Crick, ST/49.92, 1971-75, TGE, CT. (8 t) Plate 38 ANTHYLLIS Kidney Vetch This is a variable, silky-haired perennial with lower leaves having few pairs of leaflets and a large terminal leaflet whilst the upper ones have several more pairs of almost equal sized leaflets, the stipules are small and fall early; 9 stamens are fused and the tenth is fused variously; the usually 1-seeded, indehiscent fruit is enclosed in an inflated calyx.

Anthyllis vulneraria subsp. vulneraria Kidney Vetch This has a calyx 2-4 mm wide with its lateral teeth appressed to the upper ones; it has upper leaves with 4-7 pairs of lateral leaflets almost the same size as the terminal ones; there are appressed hairs on all parts of stems; the yellow to orange (sometimes red) flowers are densely clustered often in paired clusters and subtended by leaf-like bracts; the sepals are red tipped. 23

ONOBRYCHIS Sainfoin These are perennial herbs with pinnate leaves with single leaflets at their apex; all leaflets entire; the flowers, with a tube of 9 stamens plus a free one, are in axillary racemes; there are indehiscent, 1seeded fruits.

! Onobrychis viciifolia

Sainfoin

This is a fairly erect perennial with 6-14 pairs of narrowly elliptic leaflets terminated with single leaflet; the flowers, that are clustered in a spire on the end of a long, axillary stalk, are pink with a purplish keel and veins and have long-toothed sepals; the pods are small and fan-shaped and have toothed edges and sides. Once grown as a fodder crop, especially on calcareous soils, it is now a rare relic. It appears to be extinct here, as there have been no sightings

18 31

It grows usually on coastal, calcareous areas and waste ground. Records from Wade (1970): on limestone chippings of a disused rail track, Mynydd Dimlaith, ST/15.90; Wyndcliff, TWG, JHC, WAS, AEW; Earlswood, ST/4.9, WAS, SH; The Minnetts, WAS; Caerwent, JCE; Carrow Hill, *. Recent records: coastal bank, Sudbrook, 232

Flora of Monmouthshire ash pans, Uskmouth Power Station, ST/33.82, 1986-96, TGE, CT; several patches, wet meadow, near Julian’s Gout, ST/333.841, 1982-85, TGE, SP; meadow, near sea wall, SE of Great House, ST/423.838, 1985, TGE, UTE; waste ground, amid sluice beds (ponds), Alpha Steel Works, ST/337.845, 1993, MJ; 100s plants on sea wall/salt marsh S of Rogiet Rifle Range, ST/465-470.864-5, 1997, TGE, CT; scattered plants, grassy shore, S of Blackbird Rd., Caldicot, ST/484.872. 7 t

ST/502.873, 1957-2003, TGE; marsh, Newport Docks, 1971-82, TGE, CT; disused rail bank, W Newbridge, ST/20.97, 1988, TGE, UTE; waste ground, Cwmbran, ST/2.9 X, 1986, TGE, UTE; near Michaelstone-y-fedw, ST/2.8 M, GH; low cliffs, Uskmouth, ST/33.82, 1985, SP; meadow, The Brockwells, ST/468.896, 1985, CT; Monmouth link road bank of imported soil, SO/502-3.119, few plants 1990, 1 large plant 1991, BJG; large patches, Newport Docks, ST/316.862, 1997, MJ, waste ground, Alpha Steel Works, ST/33.84, 1995, TGE, MJ. 15 t

Lotus corniculatus Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil

LOTUS Bird’s-foot-trefoils Lotus species have leaves with 5 leaflets with the basal pair so close to the stem that they could be mistaken for stipules (so trefoil is really a misnomer) which are in fact minute and fall early; 9 stamens are united, a tenth free; the usually yellow flowers have beaked keels and occur singly or in small heads; the cylindrical, many-seeded pods split lengthwise.

This has solid stems and tends to form low patches with leaflets that range from round to ovate or elliptical; its flowers vary from yellow to orange and usually form clusters of 5-7. 23

Lotus glaber Narrow-leaved Bird’s-foot-trefoil

This is usually a glabrous perennial forming sprawling patches with linear to slenderlanceolate leaflets; the bright yellow, 6-12 mm flowers are solitary or in clusters of 2-4.

18 23 31 22

It grows in short grass that has not been overfertilized, but is well drained, which includes coastal cliffs. In vc 35 it has suffered from land ‘improvement’ but can still be found in most tetrads. 371 t

Lotus pedunculatus Greater Bird’s-foot-trefoil

This is much more erect, often ascending to 1 m in height, its stems are hollow; its leaflets are ovate to subovate; its flowers are yellow and are in clusters of 5-12; though similar to L. corniculatus it looks more robust, taller and has hollow stems. It is found in damp, grassy places, marshes and pond sides. Though still widespread drainage has reduced numbers of sites and plants in vc 35. 335 t

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It grows in dry grassy places near the coast, often on calcareous soils. In vc 35 it is centred around Newport on waste ground and at the mouth of the R. Usk, spreading along the R. Severn banks. Vc 35 sites: Wade (1970) waste ground, Newport Docks, ST/3.8, 1881, WW, *, 1st record, AEW. Recent records: marsh, Newport Docks, ST/313.849, 1972-84, TGE, CT; 1000s of plants, 233

Flora of Monmouthshire has reduced its numbers in the last fifty years, Wade (1970) had already stated it as was rare. Vc 35 sites from Wade (1970): near Kymin, Monmouth, SO/52.12, JHC, *, SGC; ascent to the earthworks, near Trewyn, ?SO/32.22, 1884, DrW; Hatterels above Pandy, SO/3.2, 1870, HGB; Beaulieu Wood, SO/52.12, SGC; Little Mountain, Pontypool, SO/28.02, THT; Abercarn, *; Cwmcarn, 1922-3, AM; Cefn Rhyswg, nr. Abercarn, ST/29 H, *; Coed-y-Paen, ST/39 J, CC; Allteryn; Foxwood, SH (1909); Llandegfedd, ST/39, *, 1943, BC; Earlswood, ST/4.9 M, JHC; nr. Cleddon (Trellech) Bog, SO/5.0 C, *, AL, GP, TGE; Alexandra Dock, Newport, ST/3.8, SH. More recent sites: entrance to wood, Coed-y-Prior, SO/288.112, 1986, RF; heath, Coed-y-Prior, SO/289.111, 1986, RF; dry open ground, adjacent footpath, Brecon Beacons National Park. SO/2.0 Z, 1985, JD; 1 plant, path, Bargain Wd., Llandogo, SO/52.03, 1984, TGE, UTE; woodland path, Botany Bay, Tintern, SO/518.022, 1991, TGE, UTE; c. 30 plants, semi-improved grassland, Trostrey Common, SO/377.044, 2003, JBr; N side of B4598, E of Troddi Bridge, SO/508.116, 2005, PJ. 4t (12 t)

Lotus pedunculatus 23

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ORNITHOPUS Bird’s-foots Bird’s-foots are prostrate annuals with more than 3 pairs of lateral leaflets below the terminal leaflet; the beaked pods are often narrow, curved and in 3s with slight constrictions between the seeds, the pod arrangement probably accounts for their name.

Ornithopus perpusillus

Bird’s-foot

Bird’s-foot is usually a small, hairy, prostate annual (once I saw it form long spreading branches, on sandy soil on the edge of a ridge woodland in the Trellech region); the elliptical leaflets occur in 7-13 pairs; its small, white or pink flowers are in clusters of 3-8; the 10-18 mm pods are slender, segmented and end in a hooked beak and with the arrangement in 3s resemble a bird’s foot.

HIPPOCREPIS Horseshoe Vetches These are herbs or shrubs with ribbed stems, leaves with paired lateral leaflets and a terminal leaflet; the fruit are flattened pods with beak and horseshoe shaped segments.

Hippocrepis comosa

Horseshoe Vetch

This is a low-growing, hairy perennial with a woody base; its 3-8 pairs of linear to oval leaflets are notched at their apices; its yellow flowers are grouped in a circle at the top of a long stalk; its fruits have 3-6 horseshoe-shaped segments. It grows on calcareous grassland and cliff tops. It is extinct in vc 35 but was recorded at Chepstow, ST/5.9 ?G/H, 19th century, JHC; the Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I, SH (1909). (2 t)

SECURIGERA Crown Vetch These are perennial herbs with spreading, ridged stems that die down in winter; the leaves are pinnate completed by a terminal leaflet; the pods are almost straight and scarcely constricted between the seeds.

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! Securigea varia

It grows in open spaces in short turf, unused and arable soil especially if it is dry, acid, sandy or coarsely gritty. Changes in management of land

Crown Vetch

This plant soon forms large, sprawling patches; its leaves have 11-25 elliptic to oblong leaflets; the 234

Flora of Monmouthshire 1922-3, AM; Mynyddislwyn, 1946, JBL; near Cwm Lasgarn, SO/28.04, *. More recent records: many plants along a ditch bank, just below Ty’rgelli, Cwm Celyn, SO/209.091, 1986, MD, RF (has since been eaten out by sheep); roadside bank, Llanhilledd, SO/215.018, 1986, RF, 2003 TGE; hayfield, Cwm Sychan, SO/247.042, 1988, REH; sheep pasture, nr. top of ENE slope, Blaen Tillery, SO/221.087, 1987, RF, 1994, TGE; roadside bank, N of Mynyddislwyn, ST/1934.9460, 1990, RF, 2001, TGE; 1 patch, wet heath, Pontllanfraith, ST/1698.9625, known for years before 1987, NH, 1991-2001, TGE; more than 100 large cushions of plant (with Sanguisorba officinalis and Lathyrus linifolius), in large meadow of ?common land where locals exercise their dogs, near concrete mushroom water tower, Markham, SO/165.014, 1991, TGE, UTE (reported to NCC but offered no protection and since then the local council has granted permission for a farmer to fence the land, erect a stables and run horses on it); c. 250 plants, hay meadow, Ty’r-hen, Cefn-crib, SO/237.998, 1988, AW, KR, 1991, JPW, CM; 1 plant, wet heath, Cwm Celyn, SO/205.088, 1991, JWo; 4-5 plants, grassland, Pengam, ST/159.972, 1994, CT, GT; several plants, N of road, Bedwellty, SO/168.001, 1994, PAS; churchyard, St. Saunan’s, SO/166.003, 1994. 11 t Plate 140 site

white and pink pea-like flowers occur in groups of 10-20. It was introduced from mainland Europe and is now naturalised on grassy banks. Vc 35 sites: Wade (1970) gave 2 places: bank of R. Wye, above Monmouth, SGC; canal bank, below Chapel of Ease, between Abercarn and Newbridge, 1923, *, AM. Recent records; margin of new road, Coalbrookvale, SO/10 Z, 1988, JN, PG; large patch, roadside bank, Mt. Pleasant, Llanhilledd, SO/21.01, 1987, RF (still there 2000); bank of Clawdd-du, behind garage, Monmouth, SO/506.121, 1990, BJG; 5 m², pasture, Monmouth, SO/507.120, 1992, BJG, HVC. 4 t (1 t) VICIA Vetches These herbs often have ridged but not winged stems; they have pinnate leaves ending sometimes in a point or a tendril but not a leaflet; their stipules are small and green; their flowers may be solitary or in racemes, with a symmetrical or two-lipped calyx; their legumes (pods) are cylindrical, often somewhat flattened, curved and with pointed apex.

Vicia orobus

Wood Bitter-vetch

This hairy perennial forms cushions with smooth stems bearing leaves, of 6-15 pairs of elliptical leaflets, ending in a short point; the white flowers with purplish veins are borne in a cluster at the end of a long stalk; the 2-3 cm hairless pod is yellowish-brown.

Vicia cracca

Tufted Vetch

This is a climbing perennial to 1-2 m aided by branched tendrils terminating the leaves of 6-15 pairs of leaflets; the long, one-sided, long-stalked raceme of violet-blue flowers tend to add colour to the British countryside in the second half of summer. The standard petal has its limb as long as its claw or longer and a calyx with a base only slightly asymmetrical.

20 31

35 19

It grows in rough grassland on roadside banks or unimproved meadows or among rocks. In vc 35 it is confined to the hilly west. Sites in Wade (1970): Abergavenny district, 1886, JWh; near Crumlin, JHC; Rhyswg; near Chapel of Ease, Abercarn, *,

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235

Flora of Monmouthshire Vicia cracca is common in hedgerows, wood margins and under-managed grassland. Still widespread in the vice-county but because of the spread of sheep farming and ‘improvement’ of grassland it has become confined to marginal habitats. 340 t

Vicia sylvatica

obtain and fulfil the tidiness craze that now afflicts village culture. Wade (1970) opined that it was frequent on calcareous soils and very rare elsewhere and gave 20 sites. Recent sites are: Bishop’s Barnetts Wood, ST/520.943, 1954-84, TGE; Great Barnetts Wood, ST/51.93, 1982- 2003; Usk Rd., Pandy Mill, ST/492.942, 1985-1996, TGE; several plants with Herb Paris, tracks in woodland adjacent to Graig Wd., SO/439.081 & 444.079, 1987, EW; wood edge, Forestry Commission track near Offa’s Dyke Path, SO/477.137; 12 plants woodland Sergeant’s Grove, SO/485.135, 1985, PJ; 2 plants St Pierre Great Woods, ST/504.926, 1991, JDRV; extensive on E edge of Garth Wood, SO/524.134; Troy Orles Wd., SO/509.097, 1994, BJG; patch, Livox Farm Wd., ST/539.972, 1990, EW; 9 plants, Five Paths, Wentwood, ST/437.949, 437.950 & 436.950, 1995, CT, 2003, TGE; Buckholt Wd., 1 plant, edge of track, SO/508.157, 1987; many plants over 50 m, SO/507.156, 1993; present, SO/506.163; several extensive patches among scrub, in young plantation, SO/502.157, 1997, BJG; limestone quarry, Company’s Wood, Abersychan, SO/272.034, 1999, SW; no plants in Buckholt Wood, but 2 large patches more than 3 m² on steep A466 roadside bank on E side of the wood, SO/5065.1622, 2004, TGE; 1 large plant, Hadnock Road bank, Priory Grove, SO/5249.1383, 2003, TGE; 1 large plant 6 x 3 m, track side, St. Pierre Great Wd., ST/5005.9267, and another 4 x 4 m at ST/5006.9270, 2003, TGE; 1 plant 24 x 5 m, Graig Wd. S of Monmouth, SO/5097.0982, 2003, TGE, CT; 1 plant 7 x 2 m, side of forest track, Troy Orles Wd., SO/5133.1022, 2003, TGE; 1 plant 4 x 2 m, cliff face above caged-stones retaining barrier, E side A4136, Garth Wd., SO/523.134, 2003, TGE. 12 t (22 t) Plate 40.

Wood Vetch

Wood Vetch uses its branched tendrils to reach heights of 1-2 m and can spread laterally many metres; its leaves have 5-15 pairs of elongated oval leaflets that have a neat appearance; the 1220 mm white or pale lilac flowers with purplish veins are borne in loose, somewhat one-sided racemes on long main stalks; the 2-3 cm black pods contain 4-5 seeds. 23

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It grows in open woods and scrub, along rides and margins. In the vice-county many of the sites shown on the distribution map no longer have plants. A possible reason for its demise is the use of forestry machines that can change large areas in a single operation. Vicia sylvatica grows on the established edges of paths and tracks or wood edges, the machines widen the whole path or track or wood edge taking out the vetch at the same time. Invasive plants like brambles take over the newly created space preventing the necessary conditions for the successful germination of dormant seeds of the vetch; or the widened path accommodates vehicles or the stacking of timber piles or the trimmings are often just pushed into the wood edge, none of which favour the re-establishment of the plant. The open areas that favoured Wood Vetch were established by small scale coppicing to supply pea and bean sticks, vegetable gardens so important during the war have largely gone out of fashion and canes from garden centres are easier to

! Vicia villosa (incl. subsp. villosa) Fodder Vetch This species is very similar to V. cracca but differs in that its standard petal has a limb ½ as long as its claw and a calyx very asymmetrical at its base with a bulge on its upper side; the wings are often white or yellow. It is introduced and grown as a fodder crop or to be ploughed in to increase the nitrogen content of the soil. It also occurs on tips and waste ground. Vc 35 sites: several large patches with white wings of subsp. villosa, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1977-79, TGE, CT, det. EJC; spread over a failed wheat field, NNE of 236

Flora of Monmouthshire This is very similar to Hairy Tare but is almost hairless and has leaflets acute tipped, its flowers are usually solitary or in pairs and are of a clear pale blue; its pods contain four seeds, (observable if held up to the light), and ripen brown. It often occurs together with V. hirsuta sharing many of the habitats. In vc 35 it is more scattered and less widespread than its hairy relative. 90 t

Llantrisant, ST/40.97, 1987, TGE, UTE; scattered in field, W of Wolvesnewton, ST/44.99, 1987, TGE, UTE; disturbed soil, Newport Docks, ST/31.85, 1985, TGE; 1-5 plants, among dumped soil, R. Usk east bank, S of George St. Bridge, ST/320.877, 1988, TGE, UTE. 3 t (1 t)

Vicia hirsuta

Hairy Tare

Hairy Tare is a slender, hairy annual with leaves of 4-10, linear to narrowly oblong leaflets, and ending in branched tendrils; small 2-4 mm, mauvish-white flowers were grouped usually in 3-5s at the head of a long slender stalk; the short 6-10 mm pod holds 2 seeds with a growing constriction between them as the pod turns from green to black.

Vicia sepium

Bush Vetch

This is a more robust vetch that uses its leaf tendrils to climb to over half a metre; it has 5-9 pairs of leaflets that are oval though many are wider below the middle and end bluntly with the main vein forming a short, apiculate projection; the rather dull, purplish blue, 12-15 mm flowers are borne in short-stalked clusters of 2-6; the 2-3 mm hairless pod turns black when ripe.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

35 18

It is commonly found on dry, unimproved grassy banks, road and rail sides. It is still widespread in vc 35 but tends to be a plant of margins. 235 t

Vicia tetrasperma

This is a plant of margins and grows typically under hedges and woodland edges and among decreasing rough grass. Widespread in vc 35, particularly in hedgerows. 337 t

Smooth Tare

! Vicia pannonica

Hungarian Vetch

This is like a small Bush Vetch, but has narrower leaflets and the 14-22 mm flowers are a dirty yellow and in small clusters; the pod is yellowish and has adpressed hairs. This an infrequent casual of waste places. The only vc 35 record was on waste ground, after the demolition of the St. Mary’s Church School, in Chepstow Priory, ST/535.939, 1974, TGE, det. RDM. (1 t)

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237

Flora of Monmouthshire

Vicia sativa

up but there is no dramatic change of width; the 1-2 cm flowers have a paler red standard than the wings or keels; the fruits are smooth, usually glabrous and ripen brown to black. This is probably the commonest subspecies, but was only just being recognised when the bulk of the common plants were being logged 1985-90 in vc 35 and not given in many floras in use at that time. I have little doubt that some of the subsp. nigra records could have been subsp. segetalis. 130 t

Common Vetch

Common Vetch is a climbing, hairy annual to over 1 m; it has average of 4-6 pairs of leaflets often with branched tendrils and toothed stipules that have a black spot near their base; their flowers range from pale to dark red to purple.

Vicia sativa subsp. nigra Though the lower leaf leaflets are not wide, the upper ones are abruptly narrower and the smallish, 14-19 mm flowers are bright purplishred.

Vicia sativa subsp. sativa This subspecies is usually the largest, more fleshy and robust of the three; it is like a large version of subsp. segetalis with larger flowers more markedly bicolorous; its fruits are often pubescent and slightly constricted between the seeds and ripens to yellowish to brown.

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35 20

It is common on sandy soils and heaths and marginal grassy sites elsewhere. In vc 35 it can be found in many tetrads but is less numerous than possibly shown by the map. 277 t

Vicia sativa subsp. segetalis

It was formerly grown as a fodder crop or on green farms to be ploughed in to increase the nitrogen content of the soil. In vc 35 it has been grown for those purposes but very infrequently in recent years; one can only hope that with popular pressure for the use of less nitrate application its use can come back into fashion. It can still be encountered among some crops but most records seem to be from waste land and margins. Many of the sites which had this subspecies in the 1985-90 period, when most of the common plant records were made, no longer have them due to agriculture changes. 63 t

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! Vicia lutea

Yellow-vetch

This is an annual, that sprawled over other plants, variously hairy, with leaves composed of 48 pairs of oval leaflets terminated in tendrils; the

The leaflets of this subspecies may be slightly wider at the base of the plant compared with higher 238

Flora of Monmouthshire 2-3+cm, pale yellow-tinged-purple flowers were borne singly or in 2-3s; the 2-4 cm pods were usually hairy and turned yellowish-brown to black. It grows in rough grass mainly in coastal locations. In vc 35, less than 10 plants grew on a railway embankment near rail bridge over R. Honddu, Llanvihangel Crucorney, SO/321.209, 1987, SAR. Had the seeds been introduced with seaside sand or shingle used in track maintenance? 1 t

broadly elliptic, as in the majority of vc 35 plants, or linear; the 12-16 mm, reddish-purple flowers which age bluish are borne in a lax group of 3-6 at the end of a long, slender stalk; the reddish-brown, glabrous pods range from 2.54.5 cm. It favours wood margins, hedge banks and scrub. In vc 35 it always seem to occupy small areas, frequently just a few plants, but is quite widespread. 96 t

! Vicia faba

Lathyrus pratensis

Broad Bean

Broad Beans are erect, rather fleshy annuals to c. 1 m; the leaves have 2-3 pairs of leaflets but the tendrils are replaced by a pointed projection; the flowers are largely white but have black wings; the large pods contain up to 8 large, flattened seeds. It is grown as a commercial crop and dropped seed causes casual appearance, or when discarded haulms were transported to the rubbish tip where seeds germinated the following spring. In vc 35: several plants on rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, most years 1972-82, TGE, CT; on bare mud and earth of rubbish tip, Pengam Farm, ST/265.798, 1994, GH. 4 t (1 t)

Meadow Vetchling

This climbing perennial may use its leaf tendrils to climb to over a metre but it seldom has to; on its sharply angled stems its leaves bear a pair of lanceolate to pointed elliptical leaflets and a terminal tendril, they are subtended by large, paired, arrow-shaped stipules; the 10-16 mm, yellow flowers are usually in long-stalked racemes of 5-10; the pods ripen black. 23

LATHYRUS Peas Peas have angled or winged stems; leaves are usually pinnate sometimes ending in a tendril, or are reduced to a simple blade or tendril; styles are hairy only on upper surface.

Lathyrus linifolius var. montanus Bitter-vetch

18 31

It is a common plant of grassland in big meadows or strips, by hedges or woods. Widespread in the vice-county. 373 t

Lathyrus grandiflorus Two-flowered Everlasting-pea

A climbing perennial to over 2 m high and which often reaches that height. Its stems are wingless and bear leaves of 2 obovate to almost round leaflets and terminated by a branched tendril; the purplish-pink, 2.5-3.5 cm flowers are borne in small clusters. It is grown in gardens for its perennial nature, its delicate leaf sprays and large showy flowers. In vc 35 all plants I’ve seen have a garden origin, where they were allowed to drape themselves over shrubs and hedges and have spread from there. The plant that once adorned Penpergwm railway platform

18 31

This is an erect, glabrous perennial with winged stems and leaves of 2-4 pairs of leaflets and ending in a fine point, the leaflets may be 239

Flora of Monmouthshire (now disused) has extended its territory to neighbouring hedges. 8 t

Severn upper banks, in rough ground near the railway lines and in hedges and wood edges. 42 t

Lathyrus grandiflorus

! Lathyrus latifolius Broad-leaved Everlasting-pea

This perennial may clamber to 3 m, has broadly winged stems with leaves having paired, broadly lanceolate leaflets with large paired stipules, each like half an arrow-head; the bright red (rarely white), 2-3 cm flowers are in long-stalked racemes of 4-10; the 5-10 cm, brown pods are glabrous.

22 31

35 21

Lathyrus sylvestris Narrow-leaved Everlasting-pea

This perennial pea has a creeping rootstock and winged stems with paired, long, elliptical, 3parallel-nerved leaflets ending in a triplebranched tendril that helps it clamber over neighbouring shrubs or tall grasses, the stipules are small, narrow and acute and less than ½ as wide as the stem. Without support it forms compact quite bushy plants; it carries its purplishpink, c. 2 cm flowers in long-stalked racemes, all calyx-teeth are shorter than tube.

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This is introduced from mainland Europe and has a persistent underground rootstock and fertile seeds. Where it escapes to hedges, grassy commons, railway banks and uncultivated ground it will survive for years. 7 t (1 t)

! Lathyrus heterophyllus Norfolk Everlasting-pea

This perennial pea is similar to L. sylvestris but has stipules more than ½ as wide as the stem, the lowest calyx-tooth is as long or longer than the tube and the flowers are brighter coloured. It is separated from L. latifolius by its smaller flowers, its leaflets being more than 4 x as long as wide, and its ovules being 15 or less per ovary. It is a rarely naturalised plant in Britain. The vc 35 site is many m² on N side of disused railway line, Pye Corner, Bassaleg, ST/276.873, 1996, TGE. 1 t

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! Lathyrus odoratus

Sweet Pea

This annual may climb to 2-3 m; its winged stems bear leaves ending in branched tendrils and a single pair of ovate leaflets; the various coloured, 20-35

It is at home in hedgerows, wood margins, coastal scrub and grassy verges. In the vice-county there is a big concentration in the SE corner, on the R. 240

Flora of Monmouthshire very small numbers; the cylindrical pods may grow to 12 cm in length. This is grown in gardens, smallholdings and large arable fields to provide one of the best vegetable proteins. Some pods may not be harvested or get spilled and grow on roadsides or fields, or garden waste containing pods may end up on tips. In vc 35 the only record was a patch of plants on rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1982, TGE. (1 t)

mm flowers are grouped in 1-3s at the end of a long, upright stalk. Introduced from S Italy, it has been grown for cutflowers and occasionally appeared on tips and waste areas. The only vc 35 record is several plants in the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, TGE, CT, Herb. TGE. (1 t)

Lathyrus nissolia

Grass Vetchling

This is a slender, upright annual with leaves reduced to a single, grass-like blade that tapers gradually to a long point; the long, slim flower peduncles bear 1-2, clear, bright red flowers; the long, narrow pods are many-seeded.

ONONIS Restharrows These are woody perennials or annual herbs; the flowers are solitary or in terminal racemes; the calyx is glandular; all 10 stamens are fused into a tube; the straight pod, splits along its length shedding its 1-many seeds.

Ononis spinosa

Spiny Restharrow

It is an erect or ascending usually spiny shrub with hairs along one side of the stem or along 2 opposite sides; its leaflets are more than 3x as long as wide and acute to nearly so; the flowers are pink.

19 23 18 22 31

35 21

It is native to grassy habitats. In vc 35 it is to be found in grass but it also flourishes in gritty substrates such as the ash pans of the Uskmouth Power Station. It otherwise does well on unimproved grassland as in MOD, Caerwent, on the levels near the reens, and remnant fields awaiting the nearby housing developments to spread and swallow them up. It is widespread on motorway verges across the Severn and more rarely in Glamorgan, and could occur beside vc 35 motorways but they have not been surveyed. 25 t (1 t).

18 31

It grows in grassy places or rough ground. In vc 35 it hugs the margin of the R. Severn, and is only scattered elsewhere. 23 t Plates 39, 41.

PISUM Garden Pea These have smooth stems that bear pinnate leaves that are terminated by branched tendrils, the stipules are larger than the leaflets; the flowers have calyx teeth that are broad and leafy; the style is pubescent only on the upper side.

! Pisum sativum

Ononis repens

Common Restharrow

This is similar to O. spinosa and sometimes has a few spines, but differs in having hairs all round the stems, it is procumbent to ascending, its leaflets are less than 3x as long as wide and they are obtuse to emarginate. It grows in grassy places. In vc 35 it is widespread and not confined to the coast. 94 t

Garden Pea

This is a plant that uses its tendrils to climb over 1.5 m; the white to purple flowers are arranged in 241

Flora of Monmouthshire railways and urban conurbations afford waste areas. 50 t

Ononis repens 23

! Melilotus albus 22

White Melilot

This is similar to Tall Melilot but has white flowers, only 4-5 mm long, with the standard longer than the keel and wings. Its hairless pod is to 5 mm long. Its origin and habitats are similar to M. altissimus but it less frequent. 8 t

19 23 18 31

MELILOTUS Melilots These tend to be erect, annual or short-lived perennials with leaves of 3 leaflets, usually toothed; the yellow or white flowers, usually in long, erect racemes, have a non-glandular calyx; the pods are short and contain 1-2 seeds, dehiscing late in the season.

18 31

Arc. Melilotus altissimus

Tall Melilot

This tallish plant often survives the winter; it usually has oblong leaflets with acute teeth and many erect, long racemes of 5-7 mm long, yellow flowers, which have standard, keel and wings the same length; the pubescent fruit is over 5 mm long, black when ripe and usually contains 2 seeds.

Arc. Melilotus officinalis

Ribbed Melilot

This is similar to Tall Melilot in having yellow flowers but though the standard and wings are equal, the keel is shorter; the glabrous fruit is less than 5 mm long and brown when ripe. 23

18 31

It is now naturalised on waste ground, particularly in urban settings near railways, industrial buildings, playing fields etc. In vc 35 it is concentrated on the Levels, where docks, roads,

Its origin and habitats are also similar to M. altissimus but it follows the river valleys inland more. 51 t 242

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Melilotus indicus

notches of their apices and the 1.5-3 mm, smooth pods are kidney shaped and turn black on ripening.

Small Melilot

It may reach a height of 40 cm though not often and is noticeably narrower, having narrower leaflets too, it has much smaller, yellow flowers only 2-3.5 mm long, the flower wings are as long or longer than the keel; the fruits are less than 3 cm long and have transverse or netted ridges on them. It is a casual of tips and waste places associated with birdseed or wool waste. In vc 35 sites were: scattered plants on rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, 1975-85, TGE, CT; 1-10 plants in waste areas of Newport Docks, ST/30.85, 1977-1980, TGE, CT; 2 plants at base of wood chippings pile, Began, 1986, GH. 1 t (2 t)

TRIGONELLA Fenugreeks These are fairly low, annual herbs with leaves with 3 finely or untoothed leaflets; the flowers are solitary to stalked racemes; pods may be straight or curved but split along one side only.

18 31

It grows in grassy places, particularly verges and other unimproved grassland. Widespread in vc 35 but mainly in marginal habitats. 331 t

! Trigonella corniculata Sickle-fruited Fenugreek

! Medicago sativa subsp. sativa

This hairless herb has leaves with leaflets that range from linear to oval (that in the Mediterranean tend to turn up in the hot sun to reduce its scorching effect); the yellow flowers are arranged in a cylindrical raceme reminiscent of Melilotus plants, their wing petals are shorter than the keel and the sepals are not equal; the narrow pods are curved outwards in the pendent position. In vc 35 its site was on bare ground on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, *, TGE, det. EJC. (1 t)

Lucerne

It is usually an erect 60 cm perennial with hairy leaves with oblong leaves, toothed around the apex; the mauve to violet, 7-11 mm flowers are grouped in short axillary racemes; the pods are spiralled 1-3 turns leaving a ‘hole’ in the middle. 23

MEDICAGO Medicks These are herbaceous annuals to perennials with trifoliate leaves; their flower are 1-many in axillary racemes, with non-glandular calices and a tube of 9 fused stamens with one solitary stamen; their fruits are often diagnostic ranging from slightly curving to spiralling to varying numbers of complete turns, they are also indehiscent and often spiny.

Medicago lupulina

18 31

Once cultivated as Alfalfa for fodder and the roots and their nodules ploughed in to improve the nitrogen content of the soil, now it is a relic on roadsides and former arable fields. In vc 35 it is usually a roadside plant, particularly in the southern half. 24 t

Black Medick

This low-growing, often hairy annual to short-lived perennial with clover-like leaves and compact raceme of 2-3 mm, yellow flowers could be mistaken for a hop trefoil until closer examination reveals its heart-shaped leaflets have a short projection of their mid ribs in the 243

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Medicago sativa subsp. falcata Sickle Medick

TRIFOLIUM Clovers These herbs have variable life cycles but the same trifoliate type of leaf, with toothed leaflets; though a minority have heads of only 1-3 flowers most have dense heads or dense, short spikes with many flowers; the calices have equal or near-equal teeth; the corolla with wings longer than keel is retained in the head after anthesis; the small pods are almost hidden within the calices.

This is similar to Lucerne but has yellow flowers and fruits that are almost straight to curved in an arc to less than ½ a circle. It grows in grassy, rough and waste ground. The only vc 35 record was a casual of waste ground, Alexandra Dock, ST/3.8 H, 1955, JDD. (1 t)

! Medicago polymorpha

Toothed Medick

Trifolium ornithopodioides Bird’s-foot Clover

This species is a straggly more or less glabrous annual; its flowers are yellow; its glabrous fruits consist of 1.5-5 turns, edged with teeth, grooved at their base, and longer than the central part, the smaller veins are netted near the peripheral vein. Native in Channel Isles and parts of S Britain (but not this vice-county) on sandy areas near the coast. In vc 35 it is a casual: Chepstow, ST/5.9, WAS (1920); Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/52.12, SGC; in sandy soil, waste area of Buffer Wharf, Chepstow Shipyard, ST/538.938, 1996, TGE. 1 t (2 t)

Medicago arabica

This annual forms rosettes of small leaves with heart-shaped leaflets having small teeth, the petioles are longer than the blade; the lanceolate, long-pointed stipules are small; the 6-8 mm, white or pink flowers are grouped in 2-4s; the 6-8 mm, oblong pod, containing 5-8 seeds, projects beyond the calyx. It grows around the coast in scattered, disparate sites. Vc 35 sites are: Rumney, 1922, * DHM, AEW; abundant along track, inside sea wall, Goldcliff; ST/37.82; ST/371.819; ST/38.82, 19932001, CT, TGE. 3 t (1 t).

Spotted Medick Trifolium repens

This is usually a medium-sized, clover-like annual with trifoliate leaves, with heart-shaped leaflets bearing a blackish blotch in the middle; it has ear-shaped, toothed stipules; the glabrous, 5-6 mm, spiny pods are spiralled 4-7 times.

White Clover

White Clover is a glabrous perennial with creeping stems that root at the nodes; its leaves have oval to elliptic bright-green leaflets with usually white marking arching across their centres, the translucent veins project as little points around the edge; the stipules sheath the stems; the white, sometimes pink, 1 cm scented flowers are arranged in a dense, globose head with the lower ones reflexing after anthesis.

20 31

35 19

It grows in grassy, marginal sites. In vc 35 it occurs on track and road margins, lawns, a floor of disused quarry and a grassy wasteland. It is sometimes ephemeral, not necessarily appearing on the same site in two successive years. 23 t

18 31

It is native in grassland and rough ground. In vc 35 it occurs in every tetrad, one of the few wild plants 244

Flora of Monmouthshire to join the few species of grass in ‘improved’ grassland. 400 t

Trifolium hybridum

2 cm due to the swelling of the upper lobe of the calyx, which turns pink to dark red, for the globe to resemble a strawberry. Its home is the brackish grasslands of the coast or tidal mouths of rivers. In vc 35 it is found along the edge of the R. Severn and lower stretches of the Rivers Usk and Wye. 25 t Plate 42

Alsike Clover

It is like a coarse White Clover though its stems do not root at nodes, the leaflets do not have contrasting markings, its green stipules are broader and have long, tapering tips, its flowers are white, pink and purple, turn brown after anthesis, and have longer stalks.

! Trifolium resupinatum

18 31

Trifolium campestre

Alsike Clover grows more on disturbed ground, rough pastures, often on clay. In vc 35 it is frequent on newly established road verges (where it may be planted) and ploughed land, but tends to thin out in established pastures. 121 t

Trifolium fragiferum

Reversed Clover

Reversed Clover is like a smaller version of Strawberry Clover but has 2-8 mm pink to purplish-red flowers, in a globular head, twisted so that the standard lies below the other flower parts; the hairy calyx becomes inflated but because of the hairs is more fluffy-looking and tends to remain pale-coloured. Introduced from S Europe it sometimes becomes naturalised. In vc 35 its sites were: Bank by road between Llanvaches and Wentwood, WAS (1920); Newport Docks, ST/3.8, *, AEW (1970); in drier parts of a marsh, Newport Docks, ST/314.848, 1974-83, *, TGE (in its attempt to turn the docks into a Euro Port, the Dock Board had a marsh full of rare county plants filled in with rubble, thus destroying an outstanding habitat). (1 t)

Hop Trefoil

This is a sparsely hairy, semi-erect annual to 30 cm; its leaflets are oval with the terminal one shortly stalked; its pale yellow, 4-5 mm long flowers are borne in terminally and axillary, globosa, stalked heads to 15 mm across of more than 20 flowers, after anthesis the heads become pale brown; the oval pod contains 1 seed.

Strawberry Clover

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18 31

35 31

This is a creeping clover with stems rooting at the nodes; it has membranous, lanceolate stipules, its dense head of 6-7 mm, pink flowers enlarges to

It grows in unimproved grassland. In vc 35 the use of fertilizers and herbicides has greatly reduced the number of sites now supporting this plant and I 245

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows on dryish, grassy habitats, including lawns, and poor, sandy ones. Wade (1970) described it as common and gave sites in all his five regions. In vc 35 today it is much less frequent, it may be on more lawns than appears on my records but constant mowing makes it less easy to distinguish from Lesser Trefoil. 32 t

doubt whether it would be possible to find it in anything like 189 tetrads for it in this millennium. 189 t

Trifolium dubium

Lesser Trefoil

This is similar to Hop Trefoil but the flowers are only 3-3.5 mm long and yellow, and the globose heads of have less than 20 flowers and are only 9 or less mm across; its calyx is glabrous.

Trifolium pratense

Red Clover

This is a tufted, hairy perennial of variable height; its trifoliate leaves, more hairy underneath, have leaflets that have a pale crescent marking near their centres; the stipules are narrowly lanceolate becoming very broadly based higher up and showing clearly marked veins, and abruptly ending in a brown bristle-like point; the 12-15 mm, pink to reddish-purple flowers form large, solitary, sessile, globular heads, that tend to form a pointed dome as they age; pods are oval, thickened at the apex.

19 23

18 31

It grows in grassy and open habitats. It has also decreased in numbers for the same reasons as for Hop Trefoil but was more common in the first place. 367 t

Trifolium micranthum

Slender Trefoil

This is much smaller than Lesser Trefoil, having smaller leaves on very short stalks and there are 2-3 mm long yellow flowers in usually 2-5 loose clusters.

18 31

It grows in grassland and on rough and waste ground. In vc 35 it can be found in most tetrads but in reducing quantities. 385 t

Trifolium medium

18 31

Zigzag Clover

This is a rhizomatous perennial and often forms low bushy patches; its leaves have more strongly elliptical unmarked leaflets and its stipules are green to their tapered point; the flowers are a deep but clear red colour and their shortstalked, globular head tends to be somewhat flattened as they age. It grows in grassland, open woodland and scrub, often on poor soils. In vc 35 it is widespread. Wade (1970) says frequent in all districts except District 5 ‘The Levels’. Today it is recorded there only around Newport and Rumney (both new since

246

Flora of Monmouthshire Wade), and in spite of all the drainage that has taken place nearer the R. Severn it has not yet colonised suitable places. 168 t

meadow, Brockwells, ST/471.896, 1985, CT; 1020 plants, top of cliffs, E end, Sudbrook, ST/506.873, 1985, TGE, UTE; more than 10 plants on bank, S end of field, Common-y-Coed, ST/435.888, 1991, TGE, UTE; Usk Tertiary College, SO/3.0, 1997, GSH; c. 30 plants, rail bank, MOD, Caerwent, ST/481.907, 2000, TGE, CT. 5 t

Trifolium medium 23

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 31

! Trifolium incarnatum subsp. incarnatum Crimson Clover

This is usually a sturdy, erect, hairy annual branched only from the base; its leaves are typically clover-like with heart-shaped leaflets, finely toothed near their apices; the blood-red, 1012 mm flowers (very occasionally white) are aggregated into a stalked, cylindrical head, where the petals equal or exceed the calyx. This was once grown as a fodder crop but now is rarely found in the wild. Vc 35 records from Wade (1970): in meadow, near Llanvair Discoed, ST/4.9 L, WAS, * (but not listed in Shoolbred’s Flora); Rogiet, ST/4.8 L, 1942, JCE. Recent record, Matthew Picard’s allotment, Machen, ST/20930.89280, 2003, MPi, conf. JPW. 1 t (2 t)

Trifolium striatum

Trifolium scabrum

Rough Clover

Rough Clover is a prostrate to procumbent annual with obovate leaflets that have lateral veins thickened and arched-recurved at their margins; the small, white to pinkish, 4-7 mm flowers are grouped in small globular, sessile, terminal and axillary clusters, fingers rubbed over the plant surface feel the clusters as knots and the plant as rough. This grows on sandy soils around the coast, and in limestone quarries. Wade (1970) gave two sites: Portskewett, ?ST/5.8, ESM, WAS; Ifton Quarries, ST/46.88, 1942, JCE, *. The only recent site is on a sandy bank & Trias sandstone, Sudbrook, ST/501.874, 1971; ST/503.873, 2000-04, TGE (there has been a big reduction in the population over the 33 years from many patches along the top of the cliffs to just one). 2 t

Knotted Clover

It is a rather slender, erect, pubescent annual with obovate leaflets; its pink, 4-7 mm flowers, equalling or slightly longer than their calices, are densely clustered in small, sessile heads. It grows in short grassy turf over gritty soils often near the coast. Recorded in Wade (1970): R. Severn bank, near St. Pierre Pill, ST/52.89, *; old quarry, Portskewett, ST/49.88, *, WAS (1920); sea wall, Rumney, *. Recent records are: sandy bank. Mathern Pill, ST/527.898, 1971, TGE; 30-40 plants, Trias sandstone cutting, Portskewett, ST/493.883, 1972, TGE; several plants, waste land, Caldicot, ST/485.876, 1981, TGE; patch ash pans, Uskmouth Power Station, ST/339.825, 1985, TGE;

Trifolium arvense

Hare’s-foot Clover

This annual to biennial has an indumentum of white or pink hairs; its lower leaves are stalked and the upper ones are unstalked, the leaflets are narrowly elliptical, the stipules are narrowly lanceolate; the white to pink 3-6 mm flowers are clustered in ovoid to oblong, stalked, mainly terminal heads that elongate into rather fluffy cylindrical racemes. 247

Flora of Monmouthshire positions from year to year, but a good site on the land side of the bank may be semi-permanent. 12 t (1 t) Plate 44

Trifolium arvense 23

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

35 18

It grows in barish sandy, acid soils, grassy heaths, road verges etc. Wade (1970) gave it rare status and listed only Newport Docks, ST/3.8, 1943, JMa, *. Recent sites are: waste ground, Newport Docks, ST/305.862, 1972-83, TGE, CT; on dismantled rail track, Cwm Ffrwd-oer, ST/26.01, 1988, IBH, DH, PCH, JH; waste ground, brickworks, NW of Ridgeway, Newport, ST/290.886, 1989, EJS; waste ground, Griffithstown, ST/29.99, 1986, TGE, UTE; rail ballast, Level of Mendalgief, Newport Docks, ST/31.86, 1985-87, TGE, CT; Aberbeeg, SO/204.008, 1995, PAS; industrial waste ground, E of Corporation Rd., Newport, ST/330.863, 1990, GH; rail ballast, dismantled line, Govilon, SO/274.138, 1991, RF, TGE; road verge, S side of bridge, Risca, ST/22.91, 1989, TGE, CT; top of concrete bank of River Ebbw, Risca, ST/23.91, 1992, JH. Other sites were recorded as a tetrad with no detail. 26 t

Trifolium squamosum

Trifolium subterraneum Subterranean Clover This pubescent, annual clover develops a flattish rosette of leaves and branches bearing heartshaped leaflets spread out, the stalked heads of white flowers curve upwards, the heads appear to have only a small number (usually 2-4) of flowers making up the racemes but closer examination reveals more sterile, corolla-less flowers in the head; after anthesis the peduncle turns downward, and with the fruits arranged like an arrowhead, pushes them into the soil, effectively sowing them. This plant is found in short turf or gaps in it, particularly in sandy areas near the coast. For the vice-county Wade (1970) stated it was very rare and gave only the sandy shore of the R. Severn, below Mathern, WAS, * (we have failed to refind it). Recent sites are: gravelly bank and nearby grassy bank, Sudbrook, ST/501.874, 1971-82, TGE, *; after the drought of 1976, in the large bare area left by the burning of the dried up grass, large numbers of plants covered the area and to just below the top of the nearby coastal cliff in 1977 but the numbers dwindled to none in 1983, TGE; c. 40 plants grew in the lawn near the small car park for Severn View Residential Home, Chepstow, ST/530.938, 2000, HVC, still present 2004, TGE, *. 2 t Plate 43

Sea Clover

Sea Clover, given freedom from grazing, is an erect, slightly hairy annual to over 30 cm; its leaflets are narrowly oblong to oblanceolate on rather spaced out leaves; the pink, 7-9 mm flowers are in mostly terminal, shortly stalked, ovoid heads, with a pair of leaves at the base of the stalk, frequently overlapping the head; the calices enlarge after anthesis to elongate the head. This native inhabits brackish turf near the sea and estuarine shores. In vc 35 it hugs the banks of the sea ‘wall’ and suitable upper saltmarshes, along the shores of the R. Severn and mouths of the rivers Rhymney, Usk and Wye. The spring tides deposit the seeds on to the sea ‘wall’ so that sites facing the Severn are ephemeral and may turn up in different

LUPINUS Lupins These are annual or perennial herbs though some give the appearance of being shrubby; their longstalked leaves are digitate; the flowers are in 248

Flora of Monmouthshire terminal racemes; the calyx is deeply divided into 2 lips; the keel is beaked; the dehiscent, somewhat upright to patent pods are variously seeded.

! Lupinus arboreus

the pendent racemes of over 2 cm yellow flowers, are up to 30 cm long; the ripe brown pods have a thick, dorsal rib and contain poisonous, black seeds. 8 t (1 t)

Tree Lupin CYTISUS Brooms These thornless shrubs have simple or ternate leaves, yellow flowers in terminal or axillary clusters or flowers are produced in small numbers in leaf-axils, the upper lip of the calyx is bifid to different degrees and the pods are held from horizontal to erect.

This is a much branched, evergreen subshrub to 2 m, though it can be damaged in severe winters; its 5-10 leaflets, short and stiff-haired (mainly underneath), are less than 6 cm long and oblanceolate; the lower lip of the calyx is 7-11 mm long; the flowers are yellow, sometimes blue-tinged. This Californian introduction to gardens has been naturalised particularly on the sandy stretches of coastline but also occurs on road and rail embankments. Vc 35 records are: 14 plants on Trias sandstone bank of railway cutting to N of Portskewett, ST/493.883, 1972-2000 when only a single bushy plant was found, TGE, *; waste ground in Cwm Tillery, SO/21.05 C, 1991, RF. 1 t

! Lupinus x regalis

! Cytisus striatus

Russell Lupin

This is a branched herb to over 1 m with acute to acuminate leaflets and more than one inflorescence of various shades of blue, pink, purple and white. L. x regalis is planted in gardens and has largely replaced L. polyphyllus as a garden plant because the latter had a single inflorescence, of only blue flowers, on an unbranched plant. Russell Lupins have been planted in the mistaken plan to ‘beautify’ the road verges with plants not native to our area; fortunately they did not survive. Former vc 35 sites were: planted near the River Sirhowy, edging a pleasant community walk, SE of Cwmfelinfach, ST/18.91, 1997, TGE, UTE; roadside planting, Nantyglo and S of Nantyglo, SO/1.1 V, 1986, & SO/1.0 Z, 1988, RF; roadside planting, N of Blaenavon, SO/2.0 P, 1986, RF; planted along the banks of the A465, S & E of Abergavenny, in tetrads SO/2.1 W; SO/3.1 A, B & C, 1990, RF, TGE. 7 t (1 t)

18 31

This has been introduced from Spain and Portugal to our roadside banks. Vc 35 sites are: A4042 W bank for 100 m, Pontypool, SO/299.004 to 300.004-5, 1990-2004, TGE; 5-10 plants, B4235 bank, opposite Cook’s Wood, ST/437-8.977-8, 1991-2004, TGE; B4591 NW side bank, SW of Cross Keys, ST/21.91, 1995, TGE; Twyn Gwryd, SO/2.0 I, 1991, RF; Grear Warfield Well, SO/5.1 G, 1998, BJG. 6 t

LABURNUM Laburnums These are deciduous, thornless trees; they have ternate leaves, pendulous racemes of yellow flowers from short shoots and pendent, somewhat flattened pods.

! Laburnum anagyroides

Hairy-fruited Broom

This is very similar to C. scoparius but its pods are densely covered with conspicuous, white hairs.

Cytisus scoparius

Broom

This erect, bushy shrub to between 1 and 2 m has ridged, green, spineless stems that mature glabrous; the stalked, trifoliate leaves have elliptic leaflets and subtend 1-2, 16-18 mm, scented, yellow flowers in their axils, the oblong, flattened pod has long hairs on its edges and ripens to a black colour.

Laburnum

Apart from the old twigs, upper side of leaves, and flowers this tree has an appressed-pubescent indumentum, densely silvery when immature; 249

Flora of Monmouthshire dehiscent are borne at an angle of 90 degrees or less.

Genista tinctoria subsp. tinctoria Dyer’s Greenweed

This is an erect to ascending, deciduous, nonspiny subshrub, usually not exceeding 1 m in height; its narrowly lanceolate, somewhat pubescent leaves are more than 4x as long as wide and are borne singly in a spiral; its yellow flowers to 15 mm long appear in terminal and lateral clusters; the pods are glabrous.

18 31

It grows on heaths and open woodlands where the soils are acidic. In vc 35 it is widespread, favouring open woods, and on rough banks in farming areas. 264 t

SPARTIUM Spanish Broom These are spineless shrubs with narrow, simple leaves on short stalks or sessile, flowers are yellow, in leafless terminal racemes; the calyx has an upper lip split almost to its base; the many-seeded pods are held patent to erect.

! Spartium junceum

18 31

This grows in grass, on banks and in rough ground. In vc 35 it grows well for 50 m along banks of drainage ditches close to the R. Wye, just N of the M48 bridge over the river, on little-improved meadows on the vice-county’s eastern N/S ridge and in similar sites around Usk. Elsewhere it is scattered often near rivers or streams. 45 t Site Plate 45

Spanish Broom

S. junceum has smooth stems with large cavities filled with soft pith that makes them vulnerable to breakages in high winds, they have narrow, simple leaves that fall early leaving a leggyplant, especially as it can grow to 3 m in height; the large (to 25 mm), scented, deep yellow flowers are borne singly in terminal racemes; the long, narrow, flattened pods ripen brown and are shortly hairy. Though this Mediterranean plant is widely grown in gardens and to ‘beautify’ industrial properties, new housing estates based on the open plan system, and banks of the larger roads, it has so far not become naturalised in the vice-county. Vc 35 sites are: two plants on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1975, TGE, CT; NE of Monmouth, SO/514.143, 1994, BJG; Manson, N of Monmouth, SO/50.14, BJG. 3 t

Genista anglica

Petty Whin

This spreading to erect near hairless shrub has slender almost glabrous stems usually equipped with slender spines; its sessile leaves are simple and oval shaped except those on the spines which are linear; its yellow flowers to 8 mm, with the keel longer than the standard and wings, are terminal on the main branch and on the side branches; the glabrous pods are up to 2 cm long, narrow and rounded. It grows on sandy and peaty heaths and moors, preferably in wettish ones. Wade (1970) gave these sites: In the north of county – near Tregare, BMF; In the west – Pant yr Esk; Aberbargoed, AM; near Pentwyn-mawr, Abercarn, JBL; near Pound-yCoedcae, Aberbeeg, *; In S central – Garw, CC; near Pontypool, JB; Llantarnam; Llanfrechfa, SH;

GENISTA Greenweeds Greenweeds may or may not have spines; usually they have simple leaves but much less commonly they may be ternate; the yellow flowers with a twolipped calyx divided to ¾ to the base are borne in terminal racemes or lateral clusters; pods normally 250

Flora of Monmouthshire mm long and are borne in compact, terminal racemes with hairs on the keel; its pods to 11 mm contain 1-2 seeds. A plant that has been introduced from the Iberian Peninsula to our gardens and has become naturalised on sandy and rocky hillsides but in vc 35 it occurs only in the Dan-y-Graig Reserve, ST/23.90, 1992, JH. 1 t

near Little Creigydd, Llandewi Fach, 1943, BC; Garw Wood, near Pontnewydd, *; Llanfrechfa Lower; Llandegfedd; In SE – near Rhyd-y-Fedw, * (probably the meadow I saw it in from 1950-1976 when it became extinct there due to a combination of the long dry, hot summer turning all vegetation brown and the cattle being concentrated there, near the brook, where the grass remained green longest); Coed Cae, The Glyn, *, WAS (1920).

ULEX Gorses These are densely prickly, evergreen shrubs with small, alternate leaves reduced to scales or weak spines, except for seedlings which have trifoliate leaves; the flowers, borne amid the spines solitary or in small groups, are yellow, their calices are greenish-yellow and two-lipped, the upper with two, short teeth; tiny bracteoles occur at the base of the calices; pods barely protrude from their calices can be heard popping to disperse their seeds on a warm summer’s day.

Ulex europaeus 31

More recent sites for G. anglica are: wet heath, Pen-y-Van, SO/194.006, 1964-2004, TGE; acid heath, Plas Bedwellty, Blackwood, ST/166.964, 1983, vc 35 Meadows Team (still sparsely scattered 2004); acid heath, Oakdale, ST/194.986, 1983, GMT (now under a housing estate); lowland meadow, Penrhos, SO/410.126, 1983, GMT; wet meadow, Trinant, ST/208.997, 1983, GMT; wet coal waste, SE Pantside, ST/21.97, 1988, TGE, UTE; wet heath, Cwm Celyn, SO/204.088, 1987, RF, TGE; boggy field, The British, SO/252.043, 1987, RH; scattered plants, wet meadow, E of school, Aberbargoed, ST/162.988, 1987, TGE; Varteg waste land, SO/261.056, 1991, SK; marshy grassland, Heol Ddu, ST/174.945, 1991, SK; wet area, S of Penrhos Farm, SO/41.11, 1987, LP; more than 100 plants, Penllwyn grasslands, Pontllanfraith, ST/167.962, 1991, JPW, CM, PS; 11-100 plants, Twyn Gwyn, ST/203.971, 1992, JPW, KSW, MY; 11-100 plants, boggy ground, Crumlin Old Farm, ST/203.991, 1992, JPW, CM. 13 t (2 t)

! Genista hispanica

Gorse

This forms dense bushes to c. 2 m high, with stout, deeply grooved spines; its 15-20 mm long, golden-yellow flowers, smelling of coconut, appear mainly from winter to spring, when flowers appear in the autumn they are accompanied by many buds; at the base of the calices there are tiny, scale-like bracteoles that are at least twice as wide as the pedicels; hairy pods may be up to 2 cm long.

18 31

Gorse is widespread on a variety of habitats mainly on neutral or acidic soils. In vc 35 it is spread widely on heaths, in scrub, rough upland areas and waste ground and has only been curtailed by more intensive cultivation of land enabled by the use of tractors that can till difficult terrain. 262 t

Spanish Gorse

This erect to over 60 cm, perennial subshrub is very prickly because of its branched spines, it has simple, hairy, lanceolate, sessile leaves; its yellow flowers, with hairs on the keel, grow to 13 251

Flora of Monmouthshire

Ulex gallii

1988, JN, PG; 1 shrub among bushes near sea wall, SE of Great House, Redwick, ST/42.83, 1986, TGE, UTE (repeated searches failed to find it in following years); near Newport Old Dock, ST/32.86, 1994, NCC, TGE; planted at Uskmouth Power Station, ST/32.83, 1986, SP. 4 t

Western Gorse

This is similar to U. europaeus but is generally smaller, usually less than 2 m high, with less grooved spines, the flowers are up to 14 mm long, it flowers in the summer (flowers appearing in the autumn are accompanied by many withered ones) and bracteoles seldom up to twice the width of the pedicels often no wider than them.

HALORAGACEAE Water-milfoil family This family comprises herbaceous, subaquatic perennials with flaccid trailing stems, their simple leaves are opposite or in fine whorls; the flowers are small and inconspicuous, in diverse arrangements, with 2 tiny bracteoles and a single bract at the base; the fruit is a nut or group of nuts.

MYRIOPHYLLUM Water-milfoils These are found in water or less commonly on adjacent mud; their leaves are in whorls of 3-6, finely pinnate; the ovary is 4-celled and the fruit a group of up to 4 nutlets. Vegetative characters alone are suspect as diagnostic features.

Myriophyllum verticillatum Whorled Water-milfoil

18 31

It has stems that can spread through the water for 3 m, the leaves are usually 5 in a whorl with 24-35, slender segments, emergent leaves are sparsely covered with sessile glands; the bracts are deeply serrate to pinnately dissected; the reddish flowers are in whorls of 5 usually with males towards the apex, females below and hermaphrodite ones between. M. verticillatum is usually found in base-rich, static or slow moving waters. Wade (1970) gave: Whitewall Common, ST/?42-43.86, 1944, RL. It has been seen recently in only one site: several m², in a reen adjacent to and S of the minor road, Magor ST/413.866, 1985, PRG (the reen was cleaned out before the 1986 flowering season and despite repeated searches over the years has not reappeared). (? 2 t)

It grows in similar habitats to Gorse but is not common in lowland farming areas of vc 35. 198 t ELAEAGNACEAE Sea-buckthorn family Members of this family are usually spiny trees or shrubs with silvery or reddish, scale-like hairs on immature stems and leaves, its alternate, simple, almost sessile leaves have no stipules; the small flowers lack petals; the fruit is a drupe-like achene surrounded by a fleshy hypanthium. HIPPOPHAE Sea-buckthorn This genus has male or female plants, is windpollinated and flowers have 2 sepals and stamens.

! Hippophae rhamnoides

Sea-buckthorn

This is a free-suckering, deciduous, spiny shrub to c. 4 m tall; it has linear to lanceolate, entire, nearly sessile leaves covered with silvery scales which are lost with age, its very small, greenish flowers appear in early spring before the leaves, the somewhat globose to 1 cm fruits are a translucent orange colour. It grows on sea cliffs, fixed dunes, river gravels and alluvium of mountain river valleys. It is not native to vc 35 and has been planted for its numerous, attractive clusters of berries. Records are: Coalbrookdale on new road bank, SO/1.0 Z,

! Myriophyllum aquaticum Parrot’s-feather Its stems spread to 2 m or more and bear leaves in whorls of 4-6 usually with 8-30 segments, emergent leaves are covered with numerous sessile glands; the simple bracts are entire to minutely serrate; female flowers only present, in whorls of 4-6, and they are white; its exotic-looking foliage occurs more out of water than in other species. This S American aquatic is sold in garden centres for garden ponds, which it quickly overwhelms and owners thin out into nearby ponds, reens and slow 252

Flora of Monmouthshire field near road hedge, W of Llanellen, SO/297.116, 1987, TGE; shallow silted section of Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, ST/2746.8859, 1990, PAS. 4 t

moving waterways (e.g. canals) where it quickly becomes naturalised and is invasive. Vc 35 sites are: covers a pond where it appears to have been planted, Little Campston, SO/377.245, 1994, TGE, CT; several m², Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Malpas, ST/302.906, 2000, SW; 2 large patches, Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, W of Fourteen Locks, ST/274.885, 2001, TGE; in c. 10 m across pond in Lock’s field, near Glan Usk (N. side of road, Chainbridge-Nant Deri), SO/34.05, 2002, CT; large stretch Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Malpas, ST/302.903, 2002, TGE, CT. 4 t

LYTHRACEAE Purple-loosestrife family These are herbs with simple leaves opposite or in whorls; stipules minute or absent; the actinomorphic flowers are solitary or whorl-like in the axils of the leaves; the flower parts are in 4-6s, usually 6s and usually mounted on the top edge of the hypanthium; the many-seeded capsules splits in two valves.

Myriophyllum spicatum Spiked Water-milfoil

LYTHRUM Loosestrife These have stems 4-angled, at least when young, opposite, entire leaves, purple or pink flowers and 2-12 stamens with a sessile ovary.

Its aquatic stems spread for over 2 m and bear whorls usually of 4 leaves with 13-38 segments each; the simple bracts are entire or minutely serrate; flower spikes always erect and bear whorls of reddish flowers in 4s, male, female and hermaphrodite flowers present.

Lythrum salicaria

Purple-loosestrife

This is a stiff, hairy perennial to 1.5 m, the raised angles of the stem give strength; the sessile, lanceolate leaves are opposite or in whorls of 3; the purple flowers to 15 mm across top the plants in long spikes (flowers have styles in 3 different lengths and stamens to match, but in different plants); thus flowers with long styles do not have long stamens; either the style or some stamens exceed the sepal length.

20 23 19 22 18 31

It grows in lowland base-rich, still or slow-moving waters. There has been a big loss of undisturbed ponds and reens, and it has been much more difficult to find in the last ten years. 39 t (2 t)

Myriophyllum alterniflorum Alternate Water-milfoil

This is similar to M. spicatum but has stems that spread to little over 1 m, its 4-leaved whorl has 618 segments per leaf, the yellowish, upper flowers are opposite or alternate. It grows in base-poor still or slow-moving waters. Wade (1970) gave it no mention. It is confined to the western third and apparently not on the lowlands. Sites are: Pen-y-van Pond, SO/196.006, 1985, PSJ; Forge Pond, SO/241.086, 1986, RF; in

It grows on fresh water margins and in marshes and fens, and avoids more acidic soils. In vc 35 it favours reen and river banks, pond margins and the Levels. 76 t Plate 49

!Lythrum junceum

False Grass-poly

This annual in Britain is fairly upright with a ribbed stem bearing sessile, lanceolate to a 253

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 23

Lythrum junceum

254

False Grass-poly

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows in water, on bare or muddy margins or in ditches. It has suffered from the disappearance of many ponds or their neglect (by the run off of slurry into them, for instance). It is absent from The Levels, and a large area of farmland of the centre and north of the vice-county. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave only 7 sites. I think it has lost sites in the eastern part but until 1990 I did not appreciate that there were so many sites in the west. 35 t

gradually tapering oblong leaves that are variously arranged on the stem from alternate to opposite and even approaching spiral; the purple-red flowers are borne in the axils of the leaves singly (occasionally 2) with petals to 6 mm, the styles are longer than the stamens which are of 2 lengths. N.B. the style or some of the stamens exceed the sepal lengths (see illustration). A Mediterranean plant introduced in bird seed and turns up on tips and in parks. It appeared as a single plant in the glory days of the rubbish tip, the Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1977, TGE. (1 t) Figure 23.

! Lythrum hyssopifolium

THYMELAEACEAE Mezereon family This is a family of glabrous, poisonous shrubs with simple, entire leaves in an alternate arrangement; the hermaphrodite flowers are clustered in the leaf axils; lacking petals, the 4 sepals are concolorous to attract the insects; there are 8 stamens; the single-celled ovary produces a 1-seeded drupe.

Grass-poly

This is somewhat similar to False Grass-poly but the flowers and the leaves of the inflorescence are more compact, the petals are pink and are only to 3 mm long and all the flowers have the same components and the hypanthium is tubular. Native in S England and Jersey, Grass-poly arrived around a pool at Slimbridge on the feet of wildfowl. In vc 35 it arrived probably on the feet of ducks from Slimbridge at around a pond on light soil used for a potato crop at The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/535.010, c. 1994 (but did not persist), AW, EW. (1 t)

Lythrum portula

Daphne mezereum

Water-purslane

L. portula is a low-growing, hairless annual with stems rooting at the nodes, the petiolate, opposite leaves are obovate with a solitary, purplish flower in the axil of each, the 0-6 petals are c. 1 mm long; the style and stamens do not reach the apex of the sepals. 23

18 31

Mezereon

Mezereon is an upright, deciduous shrub to c. 1 m that produces purplish-pink, very fragrant flowers in clusters of 2-4 along the upper part of the stems early in the year before the pale green leaves appear; the roundish, green fruits slowly turn red if the birds don’t eat them. Native in calcareous woods but declining. WAS (1920) stated it was very rare but had been in the Barnetts, ST/?51.94, ‘a few years ago’ (? during the 1914-1918 war); several bushes were growing in the Minnetts Wood, ST/455.893 in 1961, when the Forestry Commission cleared out the deciduous trees and replaced them with conifers. Colin Titcombe, a forestry worker at the time, discovered that 2-3 bushes had been translocated by foresters to their gardens in Wentwood, rather than leave them to their fate in the vastly changed environment. He collected fruit from the bushes, gave me some and we both stratified them in sandy soil during the winter frosts. Colin’s seeds produced c. 10 seedlings and mine 2. I still have a bush in my garden, the other died. We tried to replant some young bushes from Colin’s garden in the 1980s into a section of Hardwick Plantation, a part of the Minnetts complex, but the following dry summer prevented the roots from developing and by the following year the transplants were dead. The birds ate all the fruits on my remaining bush and when I covered my bush with shade netting, the bush did not like it and shed all its leaves before the summer was out, so the netting had to be removed. New leaves slowly sprouted but the fruits had fallen with the leaves. (2 t)

255

Flora of Monmouthshire

Daphne laureola Spurge Laurel

Epilobium hirsutum

This is an evergreen shrub to c. 1 m with upright, green branches bearing alternate, shiny, dark green, oblanceolate leaves and yellowish-green, narrow, trumpet-shaped flowers in racemes from leaf axils near the apex of the branches. The ellipsoid drupes ripen to a black colour.

This is a rhizomatous, softly hairy, erect perennial to 2 m with patent, glandular and non-glandular hairs; its sessile, lanceolate to narrowly oblong, hairy leaves clasp the stem; the 15-25 mm, purplish-red flowers arise from the leaf axils to form a loose leafy raceme, the stigma is 4-lobed.

Great Willowherb

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

It is a woodland plant, at home on calcareous or clayey soils. It is frequent in the Wye Valley woods and scattered in northern woods. 35 t

Widespread in wettish areas in Britain and vc 35. 360 t

ONAGRACEAE Willowherb family This family consists of herbs or less commonly shrubs with simple, alternate or opposite leaves; its hermaphrodite flowers, either actinomorphic or irregularly zygomorphic, occur singly in the leaf axils or form terminal spikes, the hypanthium is absent or forms a tube visible below the calyx; the fruit is either a 4-celled capsule, a berry or a 1-2 seeded nut.

Epilobium parviflorum

Hoary Willowherb

This is an erect, hairy, stout-stemmed perennial that forms leafy rosettes or leafy stolons at the end of summer; it is smaller than E. hirsutum in height and flower size - they hardly exceed 10 mm across, and the oblong-lanceolate leaves with patent, glandular and non-glandular hairs do not clasp the stem. However, it also has a 4lobed stigma.

EPILOBIUM Willowherbs Willowherbs are perennial herbs with leaves in opposite, alternate or whorled arrangements; the flowers, in shades of red, occur usually in leafy racemes or spikes, there are 4 petals and sepals and 8 stamens, the stigmas are club-shaped or 4lobed; the fruit is a linear capsule that splits lengthwise to release numerous seeds with fluffy appendages to aid wind dispersal. Where several species grow in quantity in the same vicinity for some years, hybrids can occur but are under-recorded. They may be recognised by their taller, more branched structure, smaller or larger flowers with darker tipped petal edges, a flowering period that lasts longer, and wholly or partially undeveloped seeds.

18 31

256

Flora of Monmouthshire Widespread in southern Britain in damp habitats. In vc 35 it is less common than E. hirsutum but like it has suffered from subsidised drainage of farmland and resultant reduction of habitat. 202 t

WAS (1970); scrub, near A40, Penyclawdd, 1998, SDSB. 2 t

Epilobium x limosum a hybrid Willowherb

Path edge, McDonald’s Nursery, Abergavenny, SO/285.137, 2003, GMK. 5 t

Epilobium montanum x E. ciliatum a hybrid Willowherb

This E. parviflorum x E. montanum hybrid was recorded at Portskewett, *, WAS (1920). (1 t)

Epilobium lanceolatum Spear-leaved Willowherb

Epilobium x dacicum a hybrid Willowherb This E. parviflorum x E. obscurum hybrid was recorded at The Glyn, Itton, *, and Bigsweir, *, WAS (1920). (2 t)

This is often a stiff, erect, slender-looking plant, sparsely hairy with patent glandular and appressed simple hairs; the leaves are elliptic often with wavy margins, cuneate based and short or long stalked; the pale pink flowers to 12 mm across darken to a deeper pink with age and are the fourth and last species to have a 4-lobed stigma.

Epilobium montanum Broad-leaved Willowherb This has erect stems to 70 cm and sparsely pubescent, almost sessile, broadly lanceolate leaves arranged oppositely on the rounded stems; the scattered glandular hairs are patent and mixed with appressed non-glandular ones; the purplish-pink flower to 12 mm across have 4-lobed stigmas and are borne in lax racemes.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

18 32

It grows on dry, well-drained substrates. Before herbicide-spraying of tracks, the ballast and walls of halts and stations provided an ideal habitat. In the vice-county it could have been called a railway plant but for the coal waste tips or their landscaped remains, where it has found a niche. Sandy banks which have not been ‘improved’ are the third habitat to provide a satisfactory home for it. 37 t

It grows mainly in shady woods or hedges or on walls and disturbed ground. In vc 35 it is the commonest drier habitat Willowherb. 350 t

Epilobium tetragonum Square-stalked Willowherb

Epilobium x neogradense a hybrid Willowherb

This is an erect plant to over half a metre in height, with square stems and inflorescences densely covered with white appressed hairs; the sessile leaves are narrowly oblong; perennation is by basal leaf rosettes produced in the autumn; the purplishpink flowers have clavate stigmas and are produced singly in leaf axils to form very lax racemes.

This E. montanum x E. lanceolatum hybrid was recorded at Dixton, Monmouth, *, HJR. (1 t)

Epilobium x aggregatum a hybrid Willowherb This E. montanum x E. obscurum hybrid was recorded at Tintern, *, by AL, on old wall, Tintern, 257

Flora of Monmouthshire common on raised land, but as land drains were installed so its numbers declined. 139 t

Epilobium tetragonum 23

Epilobium roseum 22

Pale Willowherb

It is rather like a weedy E. montanum but has raised lines running down its stems, leaves that narrow gradually to a petiole that can be as much as 15 mm long; the amount of hairs varies but both patent glandular and appressed white non-glandular hairs are present; the flowers open very pale and develop pink streaking as they age and are up to 1 cm across, the stigma is clavate.

18 31

It grows in damp habitats, open woods, ditches etc. It is more frequent in the wetter west of the vicecounty and I fear many of the sites in the Usk Valley have been lost to drainage schemes since the 1970s. 38 t

Epilobium obscurum Short-fruited Willowherb

An erect perennial with stems and inflorescences covered with appressed, white hairs; sparse, patent, glandular hairs occur only on the hypanthium and sometimes on the fruit; raised lines run down the rounded stems; the lanceolate leaves have a rounded base and hardly perceptible petioles are somewhat decurrent down the stem; the purplish-pink flowers are up to 1 cm across and have a clavate stigma.

18 31

It grows in damp, shady places, and in waste and cultivated places. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 16 sites. It would appear from the distribution map that it has become more frequent. I still find it rare and mainly on woodland track sides. The apparent increase was due to the concentrated effort of recorders 1985-90. 32 t

! Epilobium ciliatum American Willowherb 22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 31

It grows in damp habitats on neutral or slightly acid soils. It is scattered in the vice-county, more

18 31

258

Flora of Monmouthshire American Willowherb is a medium to tall, glandular-hairy herb with 4 raised lines running down the reddish stems; the short-stalked, serrate, oblong-lanceolate leaves are mostly opposite; the purplish-pink flowers to 1 cm across have a deeply cleft apex, in bud are erect and have a clavate stigma. It produces basal rosettes in autumn. Formerly called E. adenocaulon, this also favours damp conditions and grows in waste places, ditches, damp meadows and woodland and arable fields. In vc 35 it is widespread. 230 t

Epilobium palustre

borne on long, vertical, thread-like stalks; late summer the long slender pods split open and curl back displaying the feathery seeds so that the mat of stems appear to be covered with tiny, fluffy parasols. 23

Marsh Willowherb

It produces largely solitary, unlined stems sparsely covered with appressed hairs except near the top where few patent glandular hairs appear and have neat, narrowly lanceolate leaves arranged in opposite pairs; the pale pink flowers to 12 mm across, with a clavate stigma, are in a small, lax raceme at the top of the stem.

18 31

It grows in damp barish places such as rock and cliff faces, sandy and gritty stream sides, banks and shady walls or quarries. In vc 35 coal waste can be added to the list of habitats. Wade (1970), using the old name E. nerterioides, described it as rare and gave only 4 sites for it. In the last 30 years it has increased noticeably, especially in the wetter west and to some extent on the eastern, Old Red Sandstone ridge. 74 t

CHAMERION Rosebay Willowherb These herbs with alternate leaves perennate by means of rhizomes; the flowers are borne in terminal, crowded racemes and have an insignificant hypanthium, 4 sepals, 4 purplish-red petals and 8 stamens; the fruit is a linear, dehiscent pod containing seeds with hairy appendages.

18 31

It grows in marshes, fens, valley bogs and woodland flushes on neutral to slightly acid soils. Wade (1970) described it as frequent to common in all districts. I find it less frequently in the last 15 years and am always delighted to find it in a really wet, unimproved meadow. 138 t

Chamerion angustifolium Rosebay Willowherb This upright, hairless plant is sturdy enough to attain a height of over 2 m; its slightly toothed leaves are lanceolate in shape; the purplish-red flowers to 3 cm across are borne in a long tapering raceme with deflexed buds at the top. It grows in a wide range of habitats forming large red patches, from the waste ground created by firebombing in war time, which led to it being called fireweed, to similar patches in newly-felled woodland especially where the brush was burned on site. Vc 35 woodland clearings and river sides

! Epilobium brunnescens New Zealand Willowherb This nearly glabrous, alien perennial creeps over the surface of the substrate by branching, very fine stems that root at the nodes so gaining purchase even on vertical surfaces; small, paired, broadlyoval, very sparingly-toothed leaves occur at every node, which are closely spaced; the pale pink flowers, with notched petals and reddish sepals, are 259

Flora of Monmouthshire capsules; the rachis is red at the top; the leaves are elliptic with the lowest large to 25 cm long; the sepals are reddish and have tips up to 8 mm long, the yellow petals can be up to 55 mm long and are broader than long, and often have a hairy base, the style much exceeds the filaments. American in origin, it grows on sand dunes and waste places. In the vice-county it is not common but can occur on waste ground and probably spread from nearby gardens. There are no dunes in vc 35, but it does grow in and around grit bins. 50 t

account for many records, but it can occur on waste land anywhere and is not restricted by soil type. 369 t 23

! Oenothera biennis Common Evening-primrose

It can reach a height of 150 cm but it has no red, bulbous based hairs, the rachis is green at the top and has numerous glandular hairs there; its leaves are elliptic to lanceolate, often upswept and twisted; the sepals are green and their tips are up to 3 mm long; the glabrous, yellow petals are up to 30 mm long and are broader than long; the styles and filaments reach the same height in the flower.

18 31

OENOTHERA Evening Primroses These are herbs with alternate leaves and various life cycles; their large flowers are usually yellow (pink or white do occur) and their sepals and petals occur in fours and stamens in eights, stigmas may be club-shaped or 4-lobed; the fruits are capsules dehiscing in 4 valves. First flowers are larger than later ones and red colouring fades in autumn. If the characters do not definitely indicate one species suspect a hybrid. For more information see New Flora of the British Isles (Stace 1997) or Plant Crib (Rich & Jermy 1998).

! Oenothera glazioviana Large-flowered Evening-primrose

19 23 18 22

European in origin, it grows on sand dunes and waste ground. It is uncommon in vc 35 occurring in derelict gardens or on waste ground in urban areas or near rivers. Most records are simply as tetrad, more detail is given in: derelict garden near R. Rhymney, Pengam, ST/15.97, 1987, TGE; throw outs, Markham, SO/167.017, 1994, PAS. 7 t

18 31

Oenothera cambrica Small-flowered Evening-primrose

This is a much shorter, hairy annual or biennial to less than 100 cm; it has red, bulbous based hairs on stem, rachis, ovaries and capsules; glandular

This is a stout, erect, hairy biennial with red, bulbous hairs on stem, rachis, ovaries and 260

Flora of Monmouthshire hairs can be found only on the upper part of rachis; the sepals are green with tips to 5 mm long; the glabrous, yellow petals are up to 30 mm long but are only up to as broad as they are long; the filaments are much longer than the styles.

CIRCAEA Enchanter’s-Nightshades These are herbs, with opposite leaves, perennating by means of rhizomes and/or stolons; the flowers are in lax, terminal racemes, there are 2 sepals, 2 white or pink, deeply divided petals and 2 stamens and these are borne on long, fine pedicels that slope downwards slightly; the indehiscent fruit is a 1-2 seeded achene covered with hooked bristles.

Circaea lutetiana

18 31

Possibly N American in origin, it grows mainly near the coast but has moved inland with human help. There is a concentration of sites around Newport docks and tip but it has also appeared in and around a grit bin at Earlswood ST/457.949, 1985; waste ground, Coed-y-Paen, ST 32.98, 1987, both TGE; damp ground, disused colliery tip, edge of Lower Race, W of Pontypool, SO/27.00, 1988, PCH, JH, IBH & DH. 34 t

CLARKIA Clarkias These are annual herbs with alternate leaves; the actinomorphic flowers are in lax, terminal racemes; hypanthia from 2 to 11 mm long and narrowly tubular; there are 4 sepals and 4 pink, purple or sometimes white petals, and 8 stamens; the ovary is 4-celled and this produces a narrow capsule containing seeds without hairy appendages.

! Clarkia amoena

Enchanter’s-nightshade

This erect perennial to 60 cm spreads by long, white rhizomes, it has paired, ovate, glabrous leaves with a truncate to shallowly cordate base and pointed apex, teeth occur at end of lateral veins, towards the apex; the inflorescence is long with spaced out flowers all of which usually produce club-shaped fruits with a coat of hooked bristles, the fruits frequently ripen to a wine-red colour. The ovary has 2 equal-sized cells.

18 31

It grows in woodlands, hedgerows and other shady places. Widespread in vc 35 wherever the suitable shady conditions exist. 330 t

Godetia

Circaea x intermedia Upland Enchanter’s-nightshade

This erect, branched herb usually grows to up to 50 cm with lanceolate leaves, erect flower buds and a tubular hypanthium to 30 mm; the sepals are also up to 30 mm long, the petals are up to c. 5 cm with very short claws. Introduced to gardens from the western part of the U.S.A., and now a casual on tips and waste places. Twice recorded in vc 35: on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1985; on waste ground near Liswerry Pill, Newport, ST/32.87, 1990, both TGE. 2 t

This is rather like C. lutetiana but though the flowers are spread out in the inflorescence they occupy little more than the upper half of the peduncle and few, if any, form fruits; long stolons, frequently pink in colour, are produced from the lower leaf-axils, these are hairy only on the upper side; the leaves are shallowly cordate at the base and abruptly acuminate at the apex and more noticeably toothed; the ovary has 1 large and 1 small cell. 261

Flora of Monmouthshire

Cornus sanguinea

Dogwood

Dogwood is a deciduous shrub growing to 4 m with dark red twigs and opposite, broadly elliptical leaves with 3-4 pairs of sunken main veins; the white flowers, 8-10 mm across, terminate the twigs in umbel-like clusters; the globose fruits grow to 7-8 mm and turn black when ripe.

22 31

35 21

Circaea x intermedia grows in woods, shady, rocky slopes usually in uplands. Wade (1970) stated it was rare and gave two sites: Penygarn Wood, Pontypool, *, before 1903, THT; Craig yr Hafod, near Blaenavon, *, 1953, DPMG. Some more recent vc 35 sites are: River Sirhowy side, Blackwood, ST/177.965, 1990, RF; shaded roadside, S of Plasycoed Farm, SO/256.007, 1985, RF; Woodland, Waun Carn-y-Defaid, SO/275.097, 1987, RF; Woodland, Twyn-Gwyn, SO/292.014 1987, RF; open woodland, Craig yr Hafod, SO/27.10, 1986-87, TGE, UTE; open woodland, W of Coed y Prior Common, near Nant Llanelen, SO/27.10, 1987, TGE, UTE; shaded roadside, Cwm du, SO/260.020, 1987, RF; 2 large patches, 3-4 m², Darren Wood, Wentwood, ST/405.944 & 408.946, 1997, TGE; wood/streamside, W of Coed-y-Prior, SO/290.097, 1997, TGE, CT. Three other sites are given as tetrad only. I suspect the apparent increase is due to more thorough recording especially by RF. 11 t (1 t)

18 31

It grows in woods, hedgerows and scrub particularly on limestone and base-rich clays. In vc 35 it is widespread in woods and hedgerows, less common on the levels and almost absent from the western uplands. 261 t AUCUBA Spotted Laurel These are evergreen shrubs with rather waxy, opposite, simple leaves, plants are male or female but both have flowers in terminal clusters; there are 4 sepals and petals; the ovary is single celled and has a single style; the fruit is a single-celled drupe.

! Aucuba japonica CORNACEAE Dogwood family Dogwoods are trees, shrubs or sometimes herbs, with simple, opposite or alternate leaves but no stipules. Flower parts are in 4s or 5s, the stamens alternate with the petals. The fruit is a drupe.

Spotted-laurel

This is a shrub to 5 m with shiny, lanceolate, darkgreen leaves that taper to a point and are often covered with yellow spots; the bright red drupes are ellipsoid in shape and grow to 15 mm. This Japanese introduction to estates often spreads by rooting stems. Not usually recorded, probably because it is associated with estate plantings.

CORNUS Dogwoods This family consists of perennial herbs or deciduous shrubs, with opposite, entire, thinnish leaves; the hermaphrodite flowers are in flattopped clusters or umbels; there are 4 sepals and petals and 1 style; the fruit is a drupe with a single 2-celled stone.

VISCACEAE Mistletoe family This family comprises parasitic shrubs that grow on deciduous trees and shrubs; they have opposite entire leaves with no stipules; the insignificant flowers have 4 tepals, as the plants are dioecious there is only male or female flowers in each bunch. The fruit is a 1-seeded berry. 262

Flora of Monmouthshire

Viscum album

Norway Maple; 8 for Fraxinus excelsior Ash; 4 for Corylus avellana Hazel; 3 for Pyrus species Pear, 2 on each of: Aesculus hippocastanum Horse Chestnut; Sorbus aucuparia Rowan; Alnus glutinosa Alder, and 1 site for Quercus robur Pedunculate Oak at Gwehelog Common, SO/382.043, Prunus sp. Ornamental Cherry, in Angiddy Valley, Tintern, SO/521.003, 1996, CT, Cotoneaster horizontalis Wall Cotoneaster on the house wall of White House, SO/431.210, Ulmus glabra Wych Elm and Amelanchier ?lamarckii. Hosts lost since the 1970 survey Betula pendula Silver Birch (1 tree in field off Welsh St., Chepstow, cut down) and Sorbus aria Common Whitebeam, Piercefield Cliffs woods. 205 t. Plate 50

Mistletoe

Mistletoe forms a rounded bunch of yellow-green stems and leaves, best sought in winter when the colour and massed stems contrast with the host; the leathery leaves are oblanceolate with a rounded apex; the flowers in small clusters in the leaf axils and the sex is best determined by the female plants producing white globular berries as checking of flowers, in lofty positions, even in spring, may be difficult. No berries probably indicate a male plant. 23

CELASTRACEAE Spindle family These are shrubs or woody climbers with opposite or alternate leaves, the small, actinomorphic, greenish-yellow flowers are in axillary clusters, there are 4-5 sepals, petals and stamens; the fruit is a 3-5 angled capsule that dehisces to reveal seeds covered with bright orange to red arils.

18 31

EUONYMUS Spindles These are erect, non-prickly shrubs with opposite leaves; the reddish or creamy capsule has 4-5 rounded to winged lobes containing seeds with orange arils.

This native is common in a band along the Wales/England border thinning out noticeably west or east of this band. In vc 35 it occurs commonly east of the 30 longitude line but hardly crosses it any distance apart from along the R. Usk valley near Abergavenny. It grows on various hosts: 51 sites on Malus species Apple with many hosts in some sites and includes Crab Apple and a red flowering Apple Malus x ‘Lemoinei’, on front lawn of Village Farm, Bishton, ST/39.87, 1995, TGE (this has now been cut down); 40 sites on Crataegus monogyna Hawthorn, with it on many trees on some sites; 31 sites on Tilia species Limes mostly on T. x europaea Lime but on T. platyphyllos Large-leaved lime in field by roadside S of Gwern Ddu ST/398.976, 1994, TGE (no sites have been noted for T. cordata Small-leaved Lime as host); 25 on Populus species Poplars including 2 for P. trichocarpa Western Balsam-poplar and 1 for P. canescens Grey Poplar; 20 on Salix species Willows including 8 for S. x sepulcralis Weeping Willow; 8 for Acer pseudoplatanus Sycamore; 10 for other Acer species including 7 for A. campestre Field Maple and 1 for A. saccharinum Silver Maple in Mounton House grounds ST/515.929, 1 for A. palmatum Japanese Maple at Trostrey Lodge SO/34.04, 1995, FP and 1 for A. platanoides

Euonymus europaeus

Spindle

Spindle is a branched shrub with green stems that are squarish in cross section; they bear thin, deciduous leaves and have terminal buds less than 5 mm long; the flowers usually have 4 sepals, white petals and stamens; the red fruits have 4 rounded lobes opening to display the orange, aril-covered seeds. 23

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263

Flora of Monmouthshire Spindle, a native, grows in hedges, woods and scrub on calcareous or base-rich soils. In vc 35, like mistletoe, it is concentrated east of the 30 degrees longitude line. In woods that grow up over it, it ceases to flower and becomes more spindly. The wood was once used by country folk for skewers. 200 t

alternately or opposite in pairs; the actinomorphic flowers open in early spring, they lack petals so the yellow or white colour is provided by 4 sepals; the plants are monoecious with a cluster of flowers made up of separate male and female flowers, the male flowers have 4 stamens; the fruit is a 2-3 celled capsule with 2 seeds to a cell.

AQUIFOLIACEAE Holly family Hollies are evergreen trees or shrubs, their simple leaves, lacking stipules, usually have spiny edges and are arranged alternately; the small, white, actinomorphic flowers are borne in small axillary bundles and have 4 sepals, petals and stamens; Hollies are dioecious, so a tree is female and bears red berries or is male and bears flowers with 4 stamens only.

BUXUS Box Box is an evergreen shrub or tree with entire, glabrous leaves arranged in opposite pairs; the flowers are arranged in clusters with a few male flowers topped by a female flower; the ovary has 3 styles and the fruit is a dry capsule.

Ilex aquifolium

! Buxus sempervirens

Box

Usually a shrub with slightly elongated, oval leaves and pale yellow flowers; the green fruit to 11 mm long has 3 persistent styles.

Holly

Holly can be a tree to over 20 m or a shrub, and has leathery, glossy leaves that have wavy edges but are not all necessarily prickly; they produce scarlet (less commonly yellow or orange) berries, that are a delicacy for the winter visiting Thrushes, Fieldfares and Redwings.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

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It is native on chalk and limestone banks in some southern English counties. It is not native in vc 35 and received no mention in Wade (1970); most of the mapped sites can be referred back to former gardens or estates. Some sites, remote from gardens, are: 1 tree, with Vaccinium myrtillus in acid grassland, near a footpath to Loxidge Tump, SO/288.288, 1994, KAC; 3 large bushes in gulley, just south of Siarpal ruins, above Llanthony Priory, SO/290.285, 1999, TGE. 39 t

Holly is common in hedgerows, woods and scrub. In vc 35 it is widespread, but the machine cutting of hedges prevents plants in hedges from forming berries, thus depriving our native thrushes of an important supplement to their winter diet. To those who wish to add berried Hollies to their garden, ensure both a female and male tree are planted. 349 t

EUPHORBIACEAE Spurge family This family consists of herbs, sometimes with woody stem-bases, often with a milky latex; their simple leaves are alternate or opposite; flowers are actinomorphic but usually lacking petals, they are male or female and may be on the same plant or a plant may be entirely male or female; the ovary is

BUXACEAE Box family Boxes are evergreen, small trees or shrubs with simple, petiolate leaves, lacking stipules, arranged 264

Flora of Monmouthshire 2-3 celled and has 2-3 stigmas, which may be papillose or branched.

MERCURIALIS Mercuries Mercuries are herbs with a watery sap and opposite leaves. They have separate male and female plants, the male in axillary spikes with many stamens and females solitary or in small clusters, each has 2 styles; the fruit has 2 cells.

Mercurialis perennis

Dog’s Mercury

This is a spring-flowering, hairy perennial with erect, unbranched stems arising from rhizomes to form patches; the opposite, stalked leaves are lanceolate and bluntly toothed; the axillary flowers are greenish, the males are in upright, catkin-like spikes to 12 cm and the stalked females solitary or in 2-3s, each with 3 green sepals.

EUPHORBIA Spurges These are herbs with a milky latex and leaves opposite, alternate or in whorls; the flowers are grouped in cup-shaped cyathia with 1 female consisting of a single ovary with 3 styles, and several, single-stamen male flowers to each cyathium, which has 4-5 glands at its apex; several stalked cyathia are subtended by leafy bracts; these groups are terminal or axillary on long stalks; the fruit is 3-lobed and may be smooth, hairy or covered with tubercles or papillae.

! Euphorbia platyphyllos Broad-leaved Spurge

This is usually a glabrous, delicate-looking annual that germinates in summer to form an erect pink stem, leafy at first, from ground to first inflorescence branches, these sessile leaves are obovate to oblong and are only lost gradually, the capsules are covered by rounded tubercles. This grows on cultivated and rough ground. In vc 35, three plants appeared on the side of a wet ditch, on the side of a path leading westwards out of Bishton, ST/391.876, 1996, TGE, first vice-county record. For years, it persisted in my garden, especially where my wife forked over the surface to remove weeds or make space for introductions, 2 immature plants occurred on my drive in 2004 but were cut off before I could raise the strimmer; 1 plant in oat field below Great Manson Farm growing with Kickxia spuria, SO/494.157, 2006, DEG. 2 t

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It grows in hedgerows, woods and in shady places among rocks. In vc 35 it is widespread, missing only from close to the R. Severn and from parts of the western uplands where absent shrubs and trees fail to provide the necessary shade. 315 t

! Mercurialis annua

Annual Mercury

This is a less upright and less hairy, paler green plant than M. perennis, has fibrous roots so usually does not form patches and has branched stems; it flowers in late summer, and female plants have fewer flowers which are almost sessile. This grows where the soil has been disturbed and often bare. In vc 35 it is quite infrequent, and in any one year probably only a handful of sites will occur. 18 t

Euphorbia serrulata

Upright Spurge

Upright Spurge (locally called Tintern Spurge) is very similar to E. platyphyllos especially in its rather delicate-looking appearance and pink, leafy stem and finely divided branches and its 265

Flora of Monmouthshire clear, rather yellowish-green colour, but it differs in that the capsules that are covered with papillae, which under at least x50 magnification show that these finger-like structures are barbed near their apex (the heads reminded me of some tape worm heads examined under the microscope). Note that neither E. platyphyllos nor E. serrulata develop a whorl of stem leaves like the commoner E. amygdaloides. The seeds germinate in spring or sometimes even in late autumn.

CT, TGE; 10 plants side of N/S footpath, Coed Wen Wood, ST/417.977, 1997, TGE, UTE c. 10 plants, 2006, TGE; garden soil, Windy Ridge, SO/475.011, 1999, JPW; two to three hundred plants trackside, Church Grove, ST/525.996, 2002, SJT; garden of 43 Wonastow Rd., Monmouth, SO/500.122, 2005, DTP; 2 plants between junction of 2 motorways, Castleton, ST/252.838, 2006, HVC; SJT; c. 20 plants, in gravel, Werngoghen Farm, Cwmcarvon, SO/472.066, 2006, SJT. 14 t (3 t) Figure 24

Arc. Euphorbia helioscopia

Sun Spurge

This is usually an unbranched, glabrous annual with obovoid leaves toothed around the upper edge; the inflorescence is terminal with 5 rays rising from a whorl of yellow-green bracts that are broadly oval and similarly coloured bracteoles of a lesser number at the top of the rays, further upward extension is made by stalks which are topped by the involucres from which arise the cupped flowers; the capsule surface is smooth.

18 23 31

35 22

Euphorbia serrulata is native in the limestone woods of the Lower Wye Valley. It seeds freely germinate in cleared limy soils and over-run carefully cultivated gardens and I suspect that introductions have taken place in its other sites in southern England. In vc 35 its occurrence is sporadic; its seeds are viable for years, at least 20 in my experience, and disturbance of the soil surface in the area between Chepstow and Tintern, for instance, sees an almost immediate resurgence of the plant from dormant seed. However, as other more vigorous natives colonise the space the spurge dwindles in numbers until only its rivals remain. So the number of tetrads above are for the period of 1985-2004 as a whole and exaggerates the number for any one year. Recently, newly created forest tracks where limestone has been used have been quite fruitful in providing new colonies. Recent sites are: 5 plants, SE corner of junction of tracks N of Cleddon Hall, SO/517.045, 1997, TGE; 26 plants extending colony up both sides of S/N track, 2006, DEG; c. 70 plants trackside Chepstow Park Wood, ST/502.983, 2000, Rubus Group; 19 plants ST/483.977, 1997, TGE, UTE; fewer plants 2005, TGE; c. 500 plants trackside, Ravensnest Wood, ST/503.998, 1997, CT; 50-100 plants, trackside N of barrier into Ravensnest Wood, 2004,

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This grows in disturbed and waste ground and frequently turns up on arable land and in gardens usually in small numbers. In vc 35 it is widespread though not numerous, and occurs mainly on lowland. 165 t

Arc. Euphorbia lathyris

Caper Spurge

This is an erect, stout, glabrous, bluish-green biennial making 1 m in height during the first year and doubling that while producing a terminal inflorescence in the second year; its sessile, linear to lanceolate leaves are borne in opposite pairs on a stem that often develops a red tinge; its capsules are large to 17 mm and smooth but its seeds are rugose. 266

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 24 Euphorbia serrulata Upright Spurge Inset; E. platyphyllos. F= fruit

267

Flora of Monmouthshire was frequent to locally common and was present in all districts. Recent records are: c. 40 plants in oat crop, Kilpale, ST/469.924, 1995, TGE (nothing since as field has been resown with grass and sheep grazed or re-ploughed and planted with maize); 1050 plants on edge of mixed arable/corn fields, NE of Coed Wen NNR, ST/42.90, 1985, TGE; 10-50 plants, along edge of corn crop, Carrow Hill, ST/43.90, 1985, TGE; 1-5 plants on edge of barley crop, Wonastow, SO/473.109, 1986, HVC; 1-5 plants in garden of ‘Tyrol’, Glasllwch, Newport, ST/29.87, 1988, EJS; 10-50 plants, in and on edge of mixed arable crop, field N of Undy near road to Common y Coed, ST/436.886, 1988, TGE (continued here until mid 1990s when maize was grown and spraying of herbicides was introduced); c. 20 plants, on edge of mixed arable, Tump Farm, ST/409.883, 1990, TGE; 1 plant, in bean field, Coed y Fedw, SO/437.089, 1998, SDSB; 20+ plants, setaside field SE of Whitehall, Dingestow SO/445.092, 2004, SDSB. 5 t (18 t)

Euphorbia lathyris 23

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It grows on disturbed soil and waste ground and is a weed of gardens. In vc 35 it is uncommon to find it in groups of more than a few plants, and usually only 1-2 plants are seen in any one year. 31 t

Arc. Euphorbia exigua

Dwarf Spurge

Arc. Euphorbia peplus

This usually is a short, much-branched, glabrous, glaucous annual; its sessile, entire leaves are linear to narrowly oblong, the cyathium is topped by kidney-shaped glands edged with long, slender horns; its capsule is smooth with a ridge in the middle of each valve; the seeds are rugose.

Petty Spurge

This is usually a small bushy, glabrous, green, annual herb with oval to rounded leaves, shortly stalked; its opposite bracts are similar to its leaves; its umbels often have three rays. Glands on the cyathium are kidney-shaped and have long, slender horns on their ends. 23

18 31

Petty Spurge is a common weed of agricultural land and gardens. In vc 35 it is widespread, and is especially common on allotments. The reducing trend of growing one’s own vegetables has caused a considerable decline in numbers of the plant in gardens. 263 t

It seems to be confined to arable land. In vc 35 it is close to extinction and only one record came to my attention in 2004. All sites in the south of the vicecounty have been lost to maize replacing root crops and the increased use of herbicides or arable land being grassed over for sheep. Wade (1970) said it 268

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Euphorbia cyparissias

in the woods in the eastern half of the vice-county, particularly in those near the Wye Valley. 119 t

Cypress Spurge

This glabrous perennial forms tufts from its spreading rhizome, its stems branch from near the rhizome and they bear linear, toothless leaves packed tightly especially on the side branches; the terminal umbels arise from a whorl of many bracts and consist of numerous rays topped by roundish to kidney-shaped, yellowish bracteoles with the flowers at the apex; the kidney-shaped glands end in short horns. It is doubtfully native in parts of southern England but is certainly introduced and naturalized elsewhere. It is at home in gritty soils where the native grasses are not too dominant. In the vicecounty it was first recorded on the bank of the River Ebbw, just E of the Beaufort Arms, Beaufort, SO/168.105, 1987, RF (there was 3-4 m of it in 2003, TGE); on dumped material, W end of Spitty Lane, Newport, ST/332.868, 1990, GH; at Aberbeeg, SO/2.0 B, 1994, MJ. 3 t

Euphorbia amygdaloides

RHAMNACEAE Buckthorn family Members of the family are trees or shrubs with simple, alternate or apparently opposite, petiolate leaves with stipules; they have small, green flowers in axillary cymes or singly in leaf axils, there are 45 free sepals, petals (lacking in some species) and stamens; the ovary is 2-4 celled and the fruit is a fleshy berry. RHAMNUS Buckthorns These are shrubs with alternate leaves that may come close to forming opposite pairs; flower parts are in 4-5s; the styles divide into 3 or 4 at the tip.

Rhamnus cathartica

Buckthorn

Buckthorn is a deciduous, spiny shrub with oval, shortly toothed leaves that have noticeable petioles and 2-4 pairs of veins that are recessed from above; the sepals and petals occur mainly in 4s; the fruit is globular though slightly compressed like a pumpkin, and ripens black.

Wood Spurge

This is a fairly tall, hairy, evergreen perennial with the vegetative part arising from the rhizome behaving like a biennial by forming a leafy stem one year and flowering umbels the next year; the single-layered ruff of leaves below half way up the pubescent stem is characteristic of the species; the first year leaves vary from narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate and tapering to the stem; the rays range from 4 to 12 and the cyathium has kidneyshaped glands concave on outer edge and tapering to 2 incurved horns; the capsule to 4 mm is smooth or faintly granular.

19 23 18 22

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It grows in hedges, woods and scrub on base-rich soils. In vc 35 it is very sparsely distributed. Wade (1970) described as rare and gave 10 sites, only the Levels had none. The present hedge cutting method and regime means it is not so easy to notice in that habitat. It is probably getting rarer, in spite of the apparent increase in records. Some sites are: hedgerow in fields near the old Rogiet rectory, ST/45.88, 1970-82, CT; roadside hedge, near Began market garden, ST/22.83, 1987, GH; edge of wood, St Julian’s Park, Christchurch, ST/33.89, 1987, TGE; Lady Park Wood, SO/5.1 M, 1988, BRG; 1 shrub on bank behind factory, outskirts of

This is found mainly in open woodlands but also occurs under shady hedgerows. In vc 35 it occurs 269

Flora of Monmouthshire Monmouth, SO/496.119, 1990, HVC; 2 plants, woodland edge, W of Coombe Farm, ST/459.931 and ST/460-1.931-2, 1991, CT. 6 t (12 t)

ST/295.978, 1998, EGW; in woods, Goetre, SO/32.05, 1992, JFH; 1 small tree, Penyclawdd Wood, SO/438.079, 1998, SDSB; 1 small tree just W of main track from car park, St Pierre Great Wood, ST/503.932, 2003, TGE, SJT. 40 t (1 t)

FRANGULA Alder Buckthorn These are deciduous shrubs or small trees lacking spines and have alternate, entire leaves; the flower parts are in 5s and have undivided styles.

Frangula alnus

VITACEAE Grape-vine family These are deciduous, woody climbers with leaves opposed by tendrils; the alternate, simple leaves are palmate or palmately-lobed; stipules are present; the actinomorphic, small, reddish or greenish flowers are grouped in cymes opposite a leaf; the flowers are usually hermaphrodite and have sepals, petals and stamens in 5s and a 2-celled ovary; the fruit is a berry with up to 6 seeds.

Alder Buckthorn

These erect, non-spiny, woody plants can grow to over 4 m high, they have shiny, entire, oval leaves that have 7-9 pairs of recessed main veins; the small, greenish flowers are axillary and are borne on lateral stems, singly or in small clusters; the fruit is globular (if anything longer than wide), that turns from green to red to black.

VITIS Grape-vine This climber has palmately-lobed, simple leaves; petals fused at their tips are shed when the flowers open.

! Vitis vinifera

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Grape-vine

Using its branched tendrils the Grape-vine can grow to a height governed by the height of its support but seldom has a need to climb to more than a few metres; its leaves have 5-7 lobes and a cordate base; its fruit is globular to ovoid and may be green, red or black. It is grown in vineyards on south facing slopes and may occur in hedges, scrub and on tips. In vc 35 it has been found: by roadside, Newport Docks, ST/31.85, 1979; on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85; 1 large plant growing among large rocks at base of concrete sea wall, S of Sea Bank Farm, ST/230.776, 1996; 1 plant in shelter of concrete sea wall, E end of Peterstone Great Wharf, ST/270.799, 2001; 1 plant among rocks at base of concrete sea wall, E side of New Quay Gout, ST/278.805, 2001; growing among stones MOD Caerwent, ST/468.916, 1995, all TGE. 5 t

Alder Buckthorn grows in scrub, bogs and open woods on damp, peaty soils. In the vice-county it has a scattered distribution but is more clustered where the boggy conditions are more extensive. The leaves are the food plant of the Brimstone butterfly and its presence indicates where to look out for the shrub; it is also a reason to urge conservation measures for the habitat. Some sites are: Henllys Bog, ST/26.92, 1970, TGE (a leader of a work party for Gwent Wildlife Trust allowed all the buckthorns to be cut down during a site clearance operation and Brimstones were vainly searching for somewhere to lay their eggs in the mid 1990s, I hope there was a recovery); edge of strip woodland near brook, Rhyd y Fedw, Itton, ST/47.95 1974-2004, TGE; 3 small trees, wood edge St Julian’s Park, ST/33.89, 1985, TGE, UTE; 2 small trees, wood/stream edge, NE Wentwood, ST/437.958, 1993, TGE; 10 plants woodland near Reservoir, Fairwater, ST/269.949, 1998, CT; near disused rail line, Pontrhydyrun-Sebastopol,

PARTHENOCISSUS Virginia-creepers These are climbers with leaves that turn vivid colours before falling in the autumn, have simple leaves that are palmate or palmately lobed; the flowers have free petals that do not fall when the flowers open.

! Parthenocissus quinqueflora Virginia-creeper All its leaves (dull green on underside) are palmate, usually with five leaflets, the opposed 270

Flora of Monmouthshire tendrils branch c. 5-8 times, each ending in an adhesive disc; fruit bluish-black. This is usually grown up a wall, to which it attaches itself by the adhesive discs. It is a vigorous grower and sometimes spreads to neighbouring structures. It can be naturalised on abandoned cottages or old garden walls. Sometimes plants are thrown out and end up on tips. The only vc 35 record was: on old wall on waste ground, Six Bells, SO/22.03, 1988, RF. 1 t

LINUM Flaxes Flaxes have opposite or alternate, glabrous leaves and flowers with sepals, petals and stamens in 5s, the sepals are entire or have apical teeth; in Britain the petals are shades of blue or are white and several times longer than the sepals; the capsule has 10 valves.

Linum bienne

Pale Flax

This has erect, branched, slender, glabrous stems to 60 cm bearing alternate, linearlanceolate leaves to 1.5 mm wide with 1-3 veins; the pale blue petals to 12 mm are twice as long as the 4-6 mm sepals, which are as long as the ripe capsule, and drop to the ground on the same day they untwist to open; the club-shaped stigma is as long as the anthers; it has capsules 4-6 mm.

! Parthenocissus inserta False Virginia-creeper This is similar to P. quinqueflora except that its leaves are more sharply-toothed and shiny green on the underside, and the tendrils have 35 branches none of which end in an adhesive disc. Grown in gardens for its autumn colouring, it remains sometimes after the garden is abandoned or appears on tips. In vc 35 its two sites are: on low bank, north side of road, Manor Wood, opposite a garden that has it, SO/524.059, 1994; spread over shrubs and trees, R. Usk bank, Glebelands, Newport, ST/317.898, 2000, both TGE. 2 t

! Parthenocissus tricuspidata

Boston-ivy

This is different from P. quinqueflora in that most of its leaves are simple and 3-lobed, however it may have some simple, unlobed leaves and some palmate with 3 leaflets. Garden plants may become naturalised by spread beyond the garden confines. In vc 35, one site: a plant that escaped to a wild area near disused rail bridge, Usk, SO/37.01, 1987, TGE. 1 t

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Pale Flax grows on rather dry, neutral to calcareous soils often close to the sea. In vc 35 it is nowhere common but is most frequent near the R. Severn and along the tidal part of the R. Usk. The sites are: meadow, Crossway Green, ST/52.94, 1975, woodland path, Minnetts, ST/448.894, 1976-1993, TGE; N side of A40, Mitchell Troy, SO/496.107, 1988, DTP; Wentlooge Levels, ST/2.8 K, 1987, SB; pathside, Hardwick Plantation, ST/458.893 and 45.88 and 45.89, 1985-1991, TGE, SJT, JDRV; meadow, The Brockwells, ST/468.897, 1985, TGE, CT; in short turf, near church, Llanvapley, SO/36.14, 1988, TGE, UTE; cliff top track, E end of Sudbrook, ST/509.878, 1985, TGE; 4 plants, NE embankment of new dual carriageway, St. Mellons-Marshfield, ST/241.818, 1987 GH; 2 plants in Minnetts Lane, Rogiet, ST/45.88, 1991, JDRV; road verge, near M4, Rogiet, ST/455.881, 1993, RDR; many plants on rough grass, Lamby, ST/22.77, 1996, TGE; 500-

LINACEAE Flax family These are slender herbs with simple, sessile, opposite or alternate leaves lacking stipules; the actinomorphic flowers are shades of blue, pink or white and with petals that are folded in various ways in bud so that the rather small sepals can afford them some protection in inclement weather; the sepals and petals are free and arranged in groups of 4s or 5s, the stamens are in 4s when without staminodes, and in 5s when alternating with filiform staminodes; the ovary is 4-5 celled with the same number of styles; the fruit is a capsule opening by valves equal to double the number of cells.

271

Flora of Monmouthshire 1000 plants, 2006 TGE, CT; several metres near rail line, old shunting yards, E of Undy, ST/445.875, 2000, TGE; more than 10 plants, side of path near R. Usk, Brynglas, ST/3132.9030, 2004, TGE, CT. 15 t

! Linum usitatissimum

Flax

This is an annual, with a single, erect stem to over 80 cm bearing 3-veined leaves to 3 mm wide; it has blue petals to 20 mm and capsules 6-9 mm long. It has been grown for flax production and linseed oil. The seeds are used in wild bird mixes and crops are sometimes left in the fields for game. It also occurs on tips. Though still not a frequent crop there are fields of blue on the Raglan side of Monmouth in some years. Wade (1970) stated that Flax was rare and gave 12 sites in all but the coal region. Recent records are rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1977-85; track side, Goldcliff, ST/37.82, 1995, TGE; planted field, W of Cleppa Park, ST/262.854, 1994, GH; on trampled grass verge E side of Cypress Way, St. Mellons, ST/244.817, 1994, GH; 1000s as crop abandoned? as part of an area for development, S of Percoed Reen, SE of Coedkernew, ST/2894.8386, 2003; patches, SE Duffryn, on waste ground, ST/3002.8451, 2003, TGE. 10 t

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POLYGALACEAE Milkwort family In Britain these are small perennial herbs with simple, entire, sessile, opposite or alternate leaves, lacking stipules; the zygomorphic, hermaphrodite flowers are mostly in terminal racemes; the flowers have 2 large inner and 3 smaller outer sepals; there are 3 fused petals, the lower ending in a fringe, and 8 stamens; the fruit is a compressed capsule.

Polygala vulgaris

Common Milkwort

This is a low (to less than 30 cm) perennial, woody at its base, branching to produce erect or procumbent stems bearing all its leaves alternate, the leaves are elliptical with the lower ones smaller and oval in shape; the flowers are blue, pink or white, with the main raceme having over 11 flowers, the sepals have veins that branch but rejoin near the edges; the capsule is ± equal in size to the persistent sepals.

! Linum perenne subsp. anglicum Perennial Flax This is similar to L. bienne in having alternate leaves and can grow to 60 cm, but they are up to 3.5 mm wide, the sepals are half as long as the ripe capsule; petals are bright blue and may be as much as 20 mm long and the capitate stigma may be longer or shorter than the anthers. It grows on calcareous grassland in the E of England. It was recorded on the car park, Blaenavon Iron Works, SO/23.08, 1988, SAR. 1 t

Linum catharticum

Fairy Flax

This is an annual to 25 cm with opposite, 1veined, elliptic-ovate leaves, sepals to 3 mm, white petals to 6 mm and a capsule 2-3 mm long. It grows on dry calcareous or sandy soils, on moorlands and even mountains. In vc 35 it is widespread in the uplands but is difficult to find in the central ‘improved’ farmlands and The Levels. 188 t

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This grows in short turf over chalk or limestone, but also on heaths and sand dunes. In vc 35 it is widespread but sparse. 86 t 272

Flora of Monmouthshire

Polygala serpyllifolia

the car park for Tintern station, SO/536.005, 1994, TGE, UTE. 1 t

Heath Milkwort

This has straggly stems, scarcely woody at their bases, rising to just over 20 cm; The lower stemleaves are opposite but often fall early, so the leaf scars have to be studied to prove the point; The flowers are blue, pink or white, and in the main raceme there are less than 10 flowers; the sepals have branched veins that re-unite near the edges.

HIPPOCASTANACEAE Horse-chestnut family These are deciduous trees with opposite, palmate, petiolate leaves lacking stipules; the flowers are in erect, terminal panicles consisting of a mixture of hermaphrodite and male flowers; the zygomorphic flowers have 5 largely fused sepals, usually 5 free, unequal petals and 5-9 stamens; the fruit is a large 3-celled capsule containing the seeds (conkers).

! Aesculus hippocastanum

18 31

Horse-chestnut

This forms a large tree to over 30 m high with wide-spreading branches; the twigs bearing large, brown, sticky buds, in opposite and decussate arrangement, which open to display large palmate leaves of 5-7, obovate, sessile leaflets; the white flowers, with a yellow to pink blotch at the base of the petals, are grouped in an upright, roughly cylindrical column to 30 cm (from a distance the tree looks as if it has been decorated with thick white candles). The fruit is a green globe with many conical lumps that end in a soft spine, its 3-cells contain the glossy brown conkers, much favoured by squirrels and small boys.

This grows on acid grassland and heaths. In vc 35 it is confined mostly to the western upland and on the eastern ridge. 106 t

SAPINDACEAE Pride-of-India family This is a family of deciduous trees or shrubs with pinnate to twice-pinnate leaves with petioles but no stipules; the zygomorphic flowers are in large terminal panicles and either apparently male or female; there are 5 unequal sepals fused at origin, 4 upturned petals with basal appendages, 8 stamens with hairy filaments; the much inflated fruit is a 3celled capsule with 3 seeds.

! Koelreuteria paniculata

Pride-of-India

It is a tree to 16 m with pinnate leaves (often pinnately-lobed at the apex) to over 40 cm long (often shorter) with 5-15 ovate, bluntly short-lobed leaflets; the numerous, golden-yellow flowers are up to 15 mm across; the 3-5 cm, ovoid-conical, inflated fruits turn reddish and contain 3 glossy black seeds. This tree was introduced from E Asia for its ornamental qualities. It was planted in the pavement edge N of the garage in Tintern, SO/529.007, the flush of golden-yellow blooms in mid summer has been a splendid sight for many years, TGE, DP; 3 younger trees were planted in

Brought in from the Balkans it has been planted, and naturalised by germinating conkers. It is widespread in lowland vc 35 and on the eastern ridge. 199 t

! Aesculus carnea

Red Horse-chestnut

This is similar to A. hippocastanum but is smaller in its parts, sometimes it has shortlystalked leaflets, its flowers are bright pink or red and its fruit comparatively smooth. 273

Flora of Monmouthshire Grown for its ornamental value, it has not been separately recorded from its close relative but it occurs scattered in the vice-county as a single tree or in short lines. One occurs on St. Lawrence Road near its junction with Mounton Road, Chepstow but it is grown elsewhere because of its attractive inflorescences.

glabrous apart from hair tufts in the angles between veins; its leaves are palmate with 3-5 broadly-triangular lobes with long attenuated tips and often have red margins when young; the pale-yellow flowers are in open erect, 8 x 3 cm panicles, flowering in May when rather concealed among the leaves; the fruit has widely spread wings. Introduced from the Caucasus or Asian Turkey in 1838, but not as popular as many other Acers. In vc 35 there is a tree in a wood between Llanover House and the church, SO/31.09, 26.4.04, CT, TGE. 1 t

ACERACEAE Maple family Family members are deciduous trees or shrubs with opposite leaves (often palmately lobed or ternate or pinnate) lacking stipules; the actinomorphic flowers frequently greenish or yellowish are in terminal clusters; they have 5 free sepals and petals and 8 stamens; the fruit is composed of 2-winged samara. The ornamental value of the Maple family, and the skill at producing hybrids and varieties by the horticultural trade, have introduced many more examples than I have space to cover.

! Acer platanoides

Acer campestre

Field Maple

This is a smallish, deciduous tree with pale grey bark and hairy twigs; its smallish, palmate leaves with hairy margins have 3-5 lobes that are oblong but widest above the middle, with a few blunt, lobe-like teeth towards the apex; the flowers are yellowish-green in small, erect, hairy clusters among the leaves; the fruits are usually hairy and have horizontal wings.

Norway Maple

This is a large, deciduous tree with large, palmately 5-7-lobed leaves, the lobes are sharply-pointed and have extra, sharply-pointed teeth; the flowers open before the leaves as bright yellowish-green, broad upright panicles; the paired fruits have widely angled wings.

It is native in open woods, copses, hedges and fields. Widespread in vc 35 apart from the coalfield region and close to the Severn, but has suffered from the removal of hedges and scrub at field margins. 326 t

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Introduced from N Europe, they are widely planted and occasionally become naturalised after wind dispersal into woods and hedgerows. It is often planted as a feature on estates and as street trees. 56 t

! Acer cappadocicum

! Acer pseudoplatanus

Sycamore

A large, deciduous tree with smooth bark, only flaking later in life. Its winter twigs are glabrous, have green buds in opposite and decussate arrangement with the terminal one the largest; its large leaves have 5 palmate lobes that are pointed and coarsely toothed; its flowers are yellowish-green, in longish, pendent panicles; the

Cappadocian Maple

This is a deciduous tree to over 20 m tall with 2nd year branchlets smooth and green; its leaves are 274

Flora of Monmouthshire fruits are hairy with wings at obtuse angles. Tar Spot fungus Rhytisma acerinum forms the numerous black patches on its leaves, so often on older trees it could almost be described as a character.

ANACARDIACEAE Sumach family These are deciduous shrubs with alternate, simple or pinnate leaves, which have petioles but lack stipules; small actinomorphic flowers are in large, terminal panicles; there are 5 basely-fused sepals, 5 free petals and stamens; the single-celled ovary has 3 styles; the fruit is a single-seeded drupe.

! Rhus typhina 22

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OXALIDACEAE Wood-sorrel family These are usually herbs arising from underground perennating organs; the leaves, usually ternate, are all basal; the actinomorphic flowers have 5 free sepals and petals, 10 stamens and a 5-celled ovary with 5 styles; the fruit is a 5-celled capsule.

Sycamore is an alien that has such viable, numerous, well-dispersed seeds that without the intervention of man has become dominant inside and outside many woods. 385 t

! Acer saccharinum

Stag’s-horn Sumach

This shrub with thick branchlets, thickly covered with red hairs looking like velvet, has pinnate leaves that turn yellow, orange, red or purple in autumn. The plants, inclined to sucker, are male or female and bear their green flowers in terminal clusters. It was introduced from NE America and planted in gardens, and on road and rail verges. The only vc 35 record is: a metre high plant on a small mound, on top of west bank of the R. Usk, Shaftesbury Park, Newport, ST/315.893, 1994, GH. 1 t

Silver Maple

An attractive tree to over 30 m with smooth, grey bark (it flakes later in life), apart from shallow fissures, and small burrs and sprouts; the spreading top has a domed outline; its young twigs are reddish with a grey bloom, then turn purple and bear red longish buds; the leaves are palmately-lobed with the central three longest and narrowed near their union, the 2 basal lobes are short and horizontally orientated; all are long pointed and with frequent, finely-pointed teeth of different lengths; the leaf’s upper surface is yellowish-green while the lower one is silvery, due to the densely matted white hairs on it; the veins and petiole are a deep pink to red. The young leaves open in reds and oranges; the stalked, reddish flowers appear before the leaves but fall, in Britain without producing seeds. Introduced from N America in 1725 and grown in large gardens, parks and as street trees, it has recently has had an upsurge in popularity, maybe the growth of garden centres is responsible. In vc 35 there is a fine, tall specimen, hosting bunches of mistletoe, in Mounton House grounds, SO/515.929, 1994; a younger tree was planted, to the west of the Norman town wall at the entrance to Chepstow’s main car park ST/532.938, 1995, TGE. 2 t

! Oxalis corniculata Procumbent Yellow-sorrel This is a hairy perennial with a creeping stem, rooting at its nodes; its small flowers are yellow in small umbels of up to 7 flowers, with all 10 stamens having anthers; it carries its capsules on deflexed stalks. 23

18 31

Introduced from warmer climes, it is now a weed of gardens, paths and lawns. In vc 35 sites are: 275

Flora of Monmouthshire appressed hairs and 3 heart-shaped leaflets at the top of petioles up to 10 cm; the solitary, white, cup-shaped flowers, with delicate-looking petals with mauve veins, have peduncles to 10 cm.

Castleton, ST/2.8 L, 1990, GH; on garage entrance, roadsides and tracks to a farm, Bryngwyn, SO/37.09, 38.09 and 39.09, 1970s, BMF; other sites are given as a tetrad letter only. 15 t

! Oxalis exilis

Least Yellow-sorrel

This could be called a small version of O. corniculata but for it having single flowers with 5 of the ten stamens lacking anthers. Introduced from the Antipodes, it has become a weed of gardens, paths and lawns. It is frequent in SE vc 35: a garden weed on paths and in beds in Westfield, Caldicot, ST/473.882, 1988, DJU, TGE; in rock garden & drive, Mounton Rd., Chepstow, ST/528.937, 2001, TGE; lawns and paths, Bailey’s Hay, Mathern, ST/51.91, 2001, TGE; on rail ballast, Rogiet, ST/44.87, 2001, TGE. 4 t

! Oxalis stricta

Upright Yellow-sorrel

This somewhat tufted, decumbent to erect species has stems to 40 cm sometimes rooting at the nodes; 6-8 mm, yellow flowers on pedicels (erect in fruit) are in cymose clusters; stems and leaves have septate and simple hairs. Introduced from N America, this has become a weed of gardens and arable fields. In vc 35 it has been recorded from: The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/53.01, 1987, AW, EGW; as var. rufa, Farewell Garden of Yew Tree Cottage, White Castle, SO/38.16, 1964, MC, det. MFW, 1990; 2 plants, crack in cement, S side of St. Mellon’s Church, ST/228.814, 1986, GH. 3 t

! Oxalis articulata

This is an inhabitant of woods and shady banks. In vc 35 only the Levels do not provide the required conditions. 290 t Plate 47

! Oxalis debilis Large-flowered Pink-sorrel A scaly bulb gives rise to more sessile bulblets and fleshy roots; petioles to 15 cm are topped by 3 heart-shaped leaflets, the underside of which have scattered appressed hairs, the leaf margins, chiefly, display orange to dark tubercles; the pinkishmauve flowers occur in a broad, umbel-like cluster on 20 cm peduncles. This S American introduction has become a weed spreading by bulblets in gardens and open ground. In vc 35 it has been recorded twice: a weed on an organic small holding, The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/53.01, 1987, AW, EGW; verge, Mounton, ST/51.93, 1987, TGE, UTE. 2 t

Pink-sorrel

This plant sprouts from a thick rhizome covered with brown scales; the leaves on long stalks arise from the apex of the rhizome and have heartshaped leaflets covered with orangey-brown tubercles; the 10-15 mm, pink flowers are arranged in umbel-like clusters at the top of a tall peduncle. Introduced from the eastern side of S America, it has become a well-known garden plant, sometimes naturalised, in stony and sandy soils, from seeds and rhizome fragments or garden cast-outs. In vc 35 it occurred on waste ground near R. Rhymney, Rhymney, SO/11.07, 1987, TGE, and one clump on cliff top, Sudbrook, ST/505.873, 2000, TGE. 2 t

Oxalis acetosella

GERANIACEAE Crane’s-bill family These herbs have lower leaves stalked and alternate, palmate or palmately or pinnatelylobed. The flowers are actinomorphic (in Pelargonium they are zygomorphic) with 5 free sepals and petals, there are 5 or 10 stamens but some may lack anthers; the fruit is a dry 5-celled schizocarp, with each cell single-seeded and drawn out into a beak attached to a sterile central column. As the schizocarp ripens and dries out, the tension in the cell walls increases until the beak coils suddenly and hurls the seeds into the air. The resemblance of the shape of the schizocarp to the

Wood-sorrel

Thin, white rhizomes spreading freely near the soil surface or in leaf mould give rise to spaced out fleshy scale leaves and leaves with a few 276

Flora of Monmouthshire head of a long-billed bird probably gave rise to the name Crane’s-bill.

pink to violet veins and apices notched to give them a heart shape. Grown in gardens and occasionally naturalised outside them. Wade (1970) called it very rare with sites at: Abergavenny, 1916, Mrs P; ‘plentiful for several years along a hedgebank between St Arvans and Pen-y-parc, ‘ ST/509.977, WAS (1920), refound at possibly the original site, 1988, UTE, 1997, TGE; hedge bank, E of house (former Chapel), Far Hill, Trellech, SO/469.044, 1982, SJT, 1990, SJT, TGE; hedgebank, The Narth to Pen-y-Fan road, SO/532.058, 1993, CT, GT; Wet Meadow Wood, SO/49.06, 1993, JFH. 4t

GERANIUM Crane’s-bills The stalked, lower leaves of this group are usually palmate or palmately-lobed; the actinomorphic flowers have 10 stamens with the outer 5 sometimes lacking anthers; the fruits release their seeds when the beak, remaining attached only at the top of the column, coils and slings the seeds away from the parent.

! Geranium endressii

French Crane’s-bill

This plant may forms large patches to over 50 cm high; the leaves, rising on long stalks from the spreading rhizome, are deeply 5-lobed; there are stalked glands on the sepals and top of the pedicels; the darkish-pink flowers c. 25 mm across have veins paler or the same colour as the petals, which are slightly notched at the tip; the fruit has a style 2.5-3.0 mm long and some hairs on the mericarp beak over 0.5 mm long. Introduced from the Pyrenees, it is now grown in gardens from whence it has escaped on to waste ground. Wade (1970) gave it as rare and recorded at: Buckholt, *; Upper Redbrook; Lone Lane, Pentwyn, Penallt, *, all SGC; Cuckoo Wood, Llandogo, *. More recent sites are: roadside, Nantyderry, SO/333.061, 1989; Crumlin, ST/20.98, 1990, both RF; 1 square metre, Argoed, ST/178.998, 1997; W of Llanellen, 1996, both TGE. 4 t

Geranium rotundifolium Round-leaved Crane’s-bill This is a rather short annual, with an ample coating of simple and glandular hairs; its lower leaves are roundish in outline with 5-9 lobes toothed at their apices and divided to less than halfway; the pink flowers, occurring in pairs in a lax arrangement, are 10-12 mm across and have 5 sepals ending abruptly in very short point, and 5 petals with rounded, or nearly so, ends; the smooth, hairy fruits are on spreading stalks often upturned at the ends. 23

! Geranium x oxonianum Druce’s Crane’s-bill

This fertile G. endressii x G. versicolor hybrid ranges from resemblance of the one parent to similarity to the other. This introduction has become naturalised on verges and other grassy places. Vc 35 sites are: several patches on a verge under hedge, below Shirenewton Golf Clubhouse, ST/47.93, 1970 to present day, det. EJC; track side, Mathern Palace, ST/524.903, 1982, both TGE; roadside, Pen-y-fan to Narth Road, SO/526.059, 1991, JFH; Cwrt-yBella graveyard, ?ST/1.9 Z, 1997, PAS. 4 t

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It is a native on dryish, gritty or stony soils, often a weed of derelict or industrial areas of larger towns. In vc 35 it grows mainly near the Severn in industrial and waste places. Wade (1970) described the alien as very rare and gave 2 sites: Pontypool, *, THT; a few plants, Old Town Wall, Chepstow, *, WAS (1920). More recent sites are: disturbed ground, Newport Docks, ST/31.85, 1975-94, TGE; waste ground, Grofield, Abergavenny, SO/291.142, 1986; roadside bank, Sunny Vale, SO/291.161, 1986, both RF; E edge of Magor Reserve,

! Geranium versicolor Pencilled Crane’s-bill This is shortly rhizomatous to produce a compact if sprawling plant; the 5-lobed, palmate leaf is divided between ⅔ and 4/5 to the base of the lobes; there are no stalked glands on sepals or top of pedicels; the 15-18 mm white petals have 277

Flora of Monmouthshire Native, often near streams in meadows and open woods, and also on road verges. In vc 35 it has declined particularly on road verges during the 1960s when councils too readily carried out verge spraying with herbicides, and from grasslands where land owners reseeded old meadows and over-fertilised the land. It has survived in pockets along river banks, particularly on the upper reaches of the Rivers Wye, Monnow and Usk. Some roadsides are still good in stretches. 76 t Plate 48

ST/42.86, 1995, JDRV; Near garage & Fountain Inn, Rock, ST/18.98, 1997, TGE; on track in woodland screen, pulp mill, Sudbrook, ST/49.87, 1995, JDRV; many plants, rail ballast, disused shunting yards, Severn Tunnel Junction, Rogiet, ST/45.87 & 46.87, 2001, TGE, CT; many plants, weeds of gardens and waste places near Royal vc 35 Hospital, Newport, ST/31.87, 1998; industrial site, Machen, ST/21.89, 1989, both TGE; waste ground, near Pye Corner, Bassaleg, ST/27.87, 1988, EJS. 9 t

Geranium sanguineum Bloody Crane’s-bill Geranium sylvaticum

Wood Crane’s-bill

This has a horizontal rhizome that gives rise to much-branched stems that may form large patches; the plant lacks stalked glands; the leaves, roundish in outline, are deeply divided into 5-7 very narrow lobes, themselves divided into narrow lobes; the flowers are 25-30 mm across and are bright red to bluish-red (bloodcoloured); a short pair of bracts occur half way up the flower stalk. It is native on unimproved grassland, rocky ground, sand dunes and open woods, particularly on calcareous soils. 1st vice-county record near Chepstow Castle, 1773, John Lightfoot. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 4 sites: Wyndcliff, 1773, JLi; 1853, TWG; JHG; WAS; SH; AEW; near Chepstow Castle, 1773, JLi; Piercefield Woods, WAS; Wye Valley, near Monmouth, SH. There have been no recent native sites but it was recorded on limestone rubble, Dixton Road Bee Orchid site, SO/527.149, 1988, EGW, and there have been some reports of garden escapes. (5 t)

This is a rather tufted, erect perennial to 70 cm with leaves round in outline, but deeply divided into c. 7 lobes, almost to the base; the purplishpink flowers are between 22-26 mm across and flowers and buds point upwards, the petals frequently have white bases and have rounded apices, sometimes slightly notched. Native in woods and meadows, frequently near streams or on road verges in the north of Britain. Vc 35 has only two sites, one described as a valley, above Llanthony Abbey, in the Honddu Valley, left side ½ mile above farm at c. 300ft (100 m), AL, and the other Grwyne Valley, *, AL, MSP; EV, ?R. In spite of searches in SO/2.2 no plants have been refound since 1985, TGE. (2 t)

Geranium pratense

Meadow Crane’s-bill

This is similar to Wood Crane’s-bill in size and division of its leaves and its abundance of glandular hairs, but its leaves are more deeply dissected, it has sepals with longer points and the blue flowers are larger to 25-30 mm across; the flowers and buds tend to droop to face outwards or downwards

Geranium columbinum Long-stalked Crane’s-bill

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278

Flora of Monmouthshire Geranium columbinum is a slender, hairy plant that seldom reaches 60 cm and climbs on neighbouring plants to attain upper height limits. It has simple hairs only. Its leaves are deeply divided, almost to the base, into 5-7 narrow lobes, which are further finely divided pinnately. The purplish-pink flowers are produced on two long, fine pedicels over 2.5 cm long, at obtuse angles to each other, at the head of an even longer, slender peduncle. The fruit has few or no hairs. This plant grows on unimproved grassland and in scrub mainly on calcareous soils. In vc 35 it has suffered from reseeding of old meadows and from the loss of limestone grassland to housing developments, particularly in the SE corner. The distribution map has been produced since 1985 and shows the concentration on the limestone of the SE corner and the curved eastern edge of the coalfield where the limestone reaches the surface. There would be far fewer dots if the map showed 2004 records only. 41 t

! Geranium ibericum Caucasian Crane’s-bill It grows into an upright, tufted plant to 50 cm high; its leaf is divided to ⅓ from its base into 9-11 lobes; it has no stalked glands; the flowers are a violet-blue, with 24-26 mm petals notched at the apex. Introduced from the Caucasus, it has been naturalised in E Lothian and in an old churchyard, in Cardiganshire (Ceredigion). Wade (1970) reported it on a roadside, near Cwmyoy school, SO/2.2, 1942, SGC; at Abergavenny, 1924, GCD. (2 t)

! Geranium x magnificumPurple Crane’s-bill This G. ibericum x G. platypetalum hybrid may grow to over 70 cm high, its leaves are divided into 9-11 lobes, usually to less than 4/5 towards their base, and has in equal proportions simple and stalked glands on pedicels, peduncles and upper parts of the stem; its 20-24 mm flowers are purple-violet. Bred for gardens, it has been reported naturalised by roads and on waste ground. In vc 35 it was recorded with other garden throw-outs at the disused rail station, Govilon, near Abergavenny, SO/27.13, 1985, RSWa. (1 t)

Arc. Geranium dissectum Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill Vegetatively, this is similar to G. columbinum, but it has larger basal leaves and much shorter peduncles, redder flowers and densely hairy sepals and fruit.

! Geranium pyrenaicum Hedgerow Crane’s-bill This hairy perennial growing from fibrous roots, may reach 50 cm (seldom more) with fairly erect stems; it has simple and glandular hairs; its leaves have a rounded outline, but are divided into 5-7, wedge-shaped lobes with blunt teeth at the apices; the purplish-pink, 14-18 mm diameter flowers occur on deflexed pedicels.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

Widespread in Britain on a variety of habitats, both waste and cultivated land. In vc 35 it is widespread except on upland moorland where other plants crowd it out. It is highly adaptable, utilising any spare grassy sites. 347 t

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279

Flora of Monmouthshire Geranium pyrenaicum grows in unimproved meadows, hedgerows, in grassy and rough ground. Wade (1970) described it as a denizen and very rare and gave only one site: roadside, near Tintern, SH. Its appearance in vc 35 seems to be in a broad band in the lowlands just to the east of the coalfield, and most often on road or lane verges or waste areas. My experience is that, though it is a perennial, it does not persist anywhere year after year, it likes disturbed ground and it does not survive vigorous competition. 38 t Plate 51

plants as weeds of garden, The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/53.01, 1987, EGW; abandoned rail track, near Llandogo, SO/535.044, 1986, EGW; several metres on railway bridge, Penpergwm, SO/323.101, 1991, TGE; Gwent Wildlife Trust Reserve, Rogiet Common, ST/453.884, 1991, TGE, UTE; gritty area, Sudbrook, 1991, JDRV. 18 t

Geranium molle

Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill

This is similar to G. pusillum but it has bright pink flowers, the pedicels have short and long hairs; excluding the beaks, the mericarps are glabrous and usually ribbed; all the stamens have anthers.

Geranium pusillum Small-flowered Crane’s-bill This annual’s short hairs makes it appear greygreen; its decumbent to ascending stems seldom reach 40 cm in height; its leaves are divided into 79 lobes to just over half way to the base; the flowers are a pale lilac, to only 4-6 mm across; the petals are notched at the tips; the outer 5 stamens lack anthers, the hairs on the pedicels are all short; the smooth mericarps are appressedhairy.

18 31

Native, in unimproved grassland and on cultivated and waste land. Widespread in vc 35, but it is seen in flower less often because of the perceived necessity to have all grassy areas near human habitation mown like bowling greens. 264 t

Geranium lucidum 31

Shining Crane’s-bill

35 23

It is native to waste and cultivated land and bare areas in grassland. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave these sites: near Hadnock siding; Lady Park Wood, SGC; Bishpool; Rhiwderyn, SH; Chepstow; Tintern; Sudbrook, *; Rogerstone Grange, St. Arvans, *, WAS; The Coombe, Shirenewton, DL; Town Dock, Newport, SH; Burness Castle Quarry, TGE. More recent sites are: gateway in hedge, Mount Ballan, Caldicot, ST/488.891, 1986, TGE, UTE; road bank, Dixton, Monmouth, SO/527.150, 1990, JFH; Cwmyoy, SO/29.23, 1989, SAR; grassy bank, S wall, Chepstow Castle, ST/53.94, 1990, JDRV; Llanwern, ST/3.8 U, 1987, ME; more than 20

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280

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows in rocky habitats and hedge banks preferring calcareous soils, especially near the sea. The only site in the vice-county where it was probably accidentally introduced was a 20 m² colony among shrubs on eastern edge of Avondale Children’s Play Area, Blaenavon, SO/253.085, *, 2000, REH, conf. TGE, 1st vice-county record. Very little showing in 2004, during which the site was bulldozed; 5 patches, 2007, TGE; 5 plants, Pontypool-Blaenavon rail track, SO/231.098, 2006, JBr. 2 t

Geranium lucidum is a nearly hairless annual which seldom achieves 40 cm in height; its basal, long-stalked, roundish leaves are divided to about halfway into 5 blunt lobes that have 3 blunt teeth at their apices. All leaves are a shiny green, frequently flushed with red. The deep pink flowers protrude from a ribbed calyx, which is narrowed below the petals and rather bulbous near the pedicel. A plant of bare soil, rocks, walls and stony ground, preferably with a calcareous substrate. In vc 35 it is frequent on the Carboniferous Limestone of the SE, on the eastern ridge and widespread in the north-west. It is infrequent on the upland of the coalfield and in the central low farmland and the Levels. 97 t

Geranium robertianum

! Geranium phaeum

Dusky Crane’s-bill

This is an erect, tufted plant to over 70 cm, its stems are branched in upper parts; its dark-green leaves are divided to at least ½ way, into 5-7 deeply toothed lobes; the large, 15-20 mm, paired, dark-purple flowers look almost black in the shade, are diagnostic in Britain; the petals are slightly bent back; buds droop; the mericarps are hairy. It has been introduced from mainland Europe to gardens with streams, shady copses, hedgerows or wood borders. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave the following sites: Osbaston, *, 1925, HR; near Llangwm-isaf Church; Chepstow, JHC; near Pen-y-cae-mawr, Wentwood, *, WAS; Michaelstone-y-vedw, *; Marshfield, 1953, HN. Some recent records: 1-3 plants, road/stream side, Tintern, SO/525.018, 1975, TGE; roadside and churchyard, Penallt Old Church, 1982, SJT; small patch, roadside hedgerow, Pen-y-cae-mawr (Shoolbred’s old site?), ST/409.951, 1997, MJ. 3 t

Herb-robert

This hairy, low-growing, annual to biennial, strong-smelling herb is frequently flushed red. The long-stalked lower leaves are 5-lobed, each deeply lobed again, the upper 3-lobed leaves, subdivided into similar lobes, have shorter stalks; the 14-18 mm across, bright pink, occasionally white, flowers have a distinct claw and scarcely notched limb; the pollen has a distinct orangey colour; the mericarps, with sparse ridges, are hairy. 23

ERODIUM Stork’s-bills These have flowers and fruits similar to Geranium, but have simple, or pinnate, or pinnately or ternately-lobed leaves, mainly in basal rosettes.

Erodium maritimum 31

A common native of coastal sites, woods, hedgerows, banks and scree. In vc 35 it is common throughout favouring rocky, scree-like surfaces. 384 t

!Geranium purpureum

Sea Stork’s-bill

These are tiny, hairy plants, frequently with a basal rosette of simple leaves; the lowest leaves may be toothed or shallowly, pinnately-lobed, or may have branching, prostrate stems; the 4-6 mm across flowers may be pink, white or lack petals and, where present, may fall early, they are borne solitary or in pairs on stalks, longer than the subtending leaves; the petals are ± equal to the sepals in length. This is a native on fixed sand dunes or short, barish grassland. In vc 35 it has been recorded only in the SE corner and as an introduced species. Wade (1970) suggested that the record of near Chepstow

Little-robin

This is very similar to G. robertianum, differing in its smaller flowers 7-14 mm across, its yellow anthers and densely ridged mericarps. 281

Flora of Monmouthshire by SH was probably an error. Genuine records are: unintentionally introduced with gritty sand from Norfolk into La Cuesta garden, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1981, TGE (still present on drive 2004); one plant on sea cliff, Sudbrook, ST/503.872, 1978, TGE (never refound); many plants in several sites on tracks and rail ballast, MOD, Caerwent, e.g. rail ballast at ST/478.908, 1987, CT; 1000s on ashy path, Kilpale, ST/468.918, 1991, TGE, CT. 3 t (1 t)

bunkers, rail ballast, tips and where sand has been dumped. 32 t BALSAMINACEAE Balsam family Family members are hairless and succulent herbs with simple, petiolate leaves which are alternate, opposite or in whorls of 3 arrangement; the flowers are zygomorphic and made up of 3 petaloid sepals, the lowest of which is extended into a characteristic spur; 5 petals, the upper one free and the lateral pairs united at the base; the 5 stamens are fused around the ovary by their anthers; the fruit is a 5-celled, explosive capsule with many seeds to each cell.

Arc. Erodium moschatum Musk Stork’s-bill This relatively robust annual has pinnate leaves with the main leaflets divided to up to ⅜ to the midrib; the plant smells of musk when crushed; the flowers are pale purple; the beaks of the mericarps are 2-4.5 cm and the apical pits in the groove have sessile glands. It grows on walls, waste ground and where wool shoddy has been used as a fertiliser. In vc 35 it is alien and has been recorded at 3 sites: on wall top, Cwmyoy, SO/29.23, AL; near Alexander Dock, Newport, ST/3.8, SH; once grew along the top and on the side of the sea wall, Rumney, ST/2.7, *, destroyed by reconstruction of wall. (3 t)

Erodium cicutarium

IMPATIENS Balsams These herbs have 3 sepals and the 2 lower petals are joined so there appear to be 3 petals as well; ovules are numerous.

! Impatiens capensis

Orange Balsam

It is an annual to over a metre in height; the 2-3 cm flowers are yellow or orange with orange to brown blotches, the lowest sepal is 1-2 cm long with a 1 cm spur recurved under and parallel to itself.

Common Stork’s-bill

This annual is similar to E. moschatum also having pinnate leaves and pale purple flowers but the plant tends to be larger and the main leaflets are divided nearly to the midrib; the upper 2 petals often have a basal black spot, and the mericarps’ beak is 1.5-4 cm long and its apical pits are glandless.

20 23 19 22 18 21

18 32

It grows along the edge of pools, streams and reens. Wade (1970) described it as a rare denizen and named these sites: by the Alexandra Dock feeder, Tredegar Park, and reens round ‘The Belt’, near Tredegar Park, ST/28.86, 1909, SH; Percoed Reen, Coedkernew, near Duffryn, *; Marshfield. More recent records are: Pontycwcw Reen, ST/303.845; Old Dairy Reen, ST/2983.8438; Sea Wall Reen, ST/3023.8525; Percoed Reen, ST/2891.8390, 1982-83, all NCC Reens Survey; S end of lake Tredegar Park, ST/28.85, 1984, JPC; 2

This is a plant of open grassland and sand dunes. In vc 35 it occurs on roadsides, quarry floors, golf courses where sand has been used to create 282

Flora of Monmouthshire Since its introduction, it has become an invasive menace to native plants, spreading along waterways and from them into neighbouring damp places over much of the British Isles. In vc 35 it is particularly abundant and persistent on the Rivers Wye, Monnow and Usk. 168 t Plate 52

plants E side lake Tredegar Park, ST/288.855; 9 patches, Pontycwcw Branch Reen, ST/3000.8425; 7 patches, Pont Estyll Lane, ST/2917.8320; 7 patches, Percoed Reen, ST/2875.8369 to 2877.8371; 4 patches, Percoed Reen, ST/2894.8386 to 2903.8396; 1 patch ditch, E side of railway, E of Duffryn High School, ST/3025.8480; 5 patches, Pontycwcw Reen ST/3026.8457; 6 patches roadside ditch, Coedkernew, ST/2749.8322; 2 patches on banks of reen, at right angles to Ponty-cwcw Reen leading to Old Dairy Farm, ST/3073.8414; no plants were found in Main Docks Feeder and stream below grid. reference, N of Tredegar House, ST/2794.8676 or in Marshfield area, both sites mentioned in Wade; all records 2003, TGE. 6 t Plate 53

! Impatiens parviflora

ARALIACEAE Ivy family These may be woody, evergreen climbers, deciduous shrubs or herbaceous perennials, with simple petiolate, alternate leaves, usually with palmately lobed or 1-2 pinnate; they lack stipules; the white to greenish flowers are actinomorphic, bisexual or having male and bisexual flowers on the same plant and they are grouped in umbels or clusters of umbels; the fruit is a black berry with 25 seeds.

Small Balsam HEDERA Ivies These are evergreen woody climbers with simple leaves, pedicels not jointed, 5 petals and stamens.

A herb to 60 cm with 0.6-1.8 cm long, pale yellow flowers, the lowest sepal of which tapers to a ± straight spur less than 15 mm. It grows in damp places in woods and under shady hedgerows. In vc 35 there are two sites: c. 100 plants, for 50-100 m both sides of Twyn Lane, Glascoed Village, SO/33.01, 1988-89, RF (the plants have not re-appeared since); between tarmac and stone wall, Trethomas to Machen, ST/20120.89020, 2004, MPi. 2 t

! Impatiens glandulifera

Hedera helix subsp. helix

Common Ivy

In this subspecies the stellate hairs on young leaves and stems are whitish, usually with 4-8 rays, some parallel to the leaf surface and some pointing away from it; the leaves are up to 8 cm across and many are lobed to more than ½ way to the base.

Indian Balsam

This has tall, stoutish, erect stems to over 2 m and leaves opposite or in whorls of 3 with sharply pointed teeth; the 2.5-4 cm large, pinkish, purplish or white flowers are spotted in the throat and have a lower sepal continued as a spur bent at c. 90º and measuring in total from 14 mm to double that length.

20 23 19 22 18 21

It climbs trees and walls and spreads widely on the ground, particularly in woods. It is found in most tetrads in the vice-county and it appears to be more dominant on many woodland floors than in my youth. 382 t

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283

Flora of Monmouthshire

Hedera helix subsp. hibernica

Atlantic Ivy

Its stellate hairs on young leaves and stems are pale yellowish-brown with all its rays parallel to the leaf surface; the leaves are frequently more than 8 cm across and lobed to less than ½ way to the base. 4 t

APIACEAE Carrot family These are herbs (rarely shrubs) ranging from annuals to perennials; the leaves, very occasionally simple, are large and pinnately divided, often with inflated, sheathing bases; the inflorescence is an umbel, usually compound, with or without bracts at the primary umbel, and with or without bracteoles at subsequent, further umbel divisions; the flowers are actinomorphic, or zygomorphic, when the outer petals are longer than the inner ones; there are 5 sepals, often merely teeth around the top of the ovary; there are 5 white, pink or yellow petals and 5 stamens; the ovary is 2-celled but contains only 1 ovule in the upper part of each cell, the 2 styles often arise from the top of an apical swelling; the fruits are schizocarps with 2 mericarps and are often diagnostic in size, shape, compressions, sculpturing and the angles of the styles, as are the characteristics of the oil glands on the mericarps. It is relatively easy to place a plant correctly into Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae, the old name), because of the arrangement of flowers in umbels, but descriptions of vegetative parts and inflorescences of similar plants is more difficult and both the BSBI Umbellifer Handbook that gives descriptions and illustrations of the plants, and the New Flora of the British Isles (Stace 1997), that gives illustrations of two views of the fruits, should help in achieving the correct identification.

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It is common in bogs, fens, marshes and in very wet areas near stretches of water. In vc 35 it is most common in the wetter parts of the uplands and on the Levels. 122 t

! Hydrocotyle ranunculoides Floating Pennywort Similar to H. vulgaris but tends to have long branching, glabrous stems that bear large roundish leaves to 7 cm across, that have a petiole attached near the middle, at the head of a deep notch. The leaf, with round-ending lobes, is divided to c. ½ way to the centre; in water, it forms bunches of dangling roots at the nodes; the branched stems spread out several metres across water surfaces so that pieces that are broken off can drift away to form new colonies; the fruit is subglobular. Introduced from N America this invasive menace to native species, has overwhelmed ponds and some unthinking owners have transferred their surplus to nearby waterways where it has quickly spread in rivers, canals, ponds etc. In vc 35 it is believed to have originated from a garden centre in the Marshfield area and has proved difficult to eradicate. Sites are: 4 large patches Broadway Reen, Marshfield, ST/265.817 to 267.815, 1996; 2 patches of 2 m², Broadway Reen, SE of Marshfield, ST/270.813, 1997, 3 patches, 2001; 4-5 patches, Drenewydd Reen, Marshfield, ST/266, 823 to 267.825, 1996; 2 patches Drenewydd Reen, Marshfield, ST/274.831, 1998, all TGE. 2 t

HYDROCOTYLE Pennyworts These are perennials with procumbent, rooting stems bearing simple ± orbicular, often shallowly lobed leaves, usually on long, thin, erect petioles, that are longer than the axillary peduncles that they subtend; the flowers are small and obscure; the fruits are laterally compressed but roundish from one view.

Hydrocotyle vulgaris

Marsh Pennywort

Its size depends on its habitat; its leaves are roundish and peltate and on erect petioles, and hide the small flowers at their base; short hairs may be found at the top of the petioles and on the underside of the leaves.

SANICULA Sanicle Sanicles are almost glabrous perennials arising from a basal rosette of deeply, palmately-lobed, serrated leaves on long petioles; they lack stipules; the umbels have long-stalked male and sessile 284

Flora of Monmouthshire bisexual flowers above short bracteoles and persistent sepals; the fruits are slightly flattened and are covered with hooked bristles.

Sanicula europaea

tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1977, TGE (one plant transferred to my garden seeded and produced several plants that seeded on to my gritty drive, where they flowered until 1994). (1 t)

Sanicle

Sanicle stems, arising from leaf rosettes, are erect to c. 40 cm; the dark green, shiny leaves are deeply divided into 5 wedge-shaped lobes, each of which is shallowly lobed and toothed; the pink or white flowers are in tight clusters forming compound umbels.

CHAEROPHYLLUM Chervils These herbs have solid stems that persist for more than a year; the leaves are 2-3 times pinnate; bracts may be present or absent, bracteoles are present; the white or pink, actinomorphic flowers lack sepals; the slightly compressed, glabrous fruit is more than 3 times as long as wide and has low, wide longitudinal ridges.

Chaerophyllum temulentum Rough Chervil

This rather slender, erect biennial to 1 m flowers from mid-summer; its purple-spotted stems, petioles and leaves are noticeably hairy and the stems are usually distinctly swollen below each leaf; the dark-green, pinnate leaves are comparatively small and flexuous and are deeply serrate with teeth abruptly pointed; the compound umbels may not have bracts but bracteoles do occur at the base of the white, actinomorphic flower clusters; the 5-6 mm ribbed fruit tapers to an apex where 2 styles project from their swollen bases.

18 31

It grows in deciduous woodlands in loamy soils. In the vice-county it is widely found in lowland woods and near the valley floors in the western uplands. 154 t

ERYNGIUM Sea-hollies These glabrous perennials have stalked, simple or pinnate, basal leaves, with a range of stem leaves with at least the upper ones spiny; the small flowers form globose or ovoid capitula, with a ruff of leaf-like spiny bracts below, and entire or 3-lobed bracteoles, with 1-3 spines, longer than the flowers, subtending the upper flower umbels; the slightly-compressed, scaly or bristly fruits, sit on persistent sepals.

! Eryngium planum

18 31

It grows mainly in hedges and on wood borders and in the decreasing wild grassy places. It is commoner in the northern half of vc 35, mainly near hedges and wood edges. 208 t

Blue Eryngo

E. planum is a stiffly-erect herb to 50 cm with serrate, oblong-ovate, basal leaves, with cordate or truncate proximal ends; the upper, spiny, stem leaves are deeply lobed; the bracts are linearlanceolate; the 1-1.5 cm across, ovoid capitula are deep blue and the fruits are scaly. Introduced from mainland Europe to British gardens, it has become naturalised in waste places. In vc 35 it grew on waste ground on the rubbish

ANTHRISCUS Chervils These are somewhat similar to Chaerophyllum but have hollow stems and 6-9 mm smooth fruits that taper to the apex with indistinct ribs only at the tip. 285

Flora of Monmouthshire

Anthriscus sylvestris

sites: Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/52.12, *, SGC; Machen, ST/2.8 E; Portskewett, ST/4.8 Z, both SH (1909); Mounton, ST/5.9 B, WAS (1920); Windmill Lane, Rogiet, ST/45.88, 1942, JCE; Duffryn, ST/29.85, SH (1909). There have been no recent records. (5 t)

Cow Parsley

Cow Parsley is an erect, pubescent perennial to 1.5 m, with basal leaves 3-pinnate and is a considerably branched plant. Most plants are usually fruiting by time Chaerophyllum temulentum starts flowering.

MYRRHIS Sweet Cicely These are large, tufted, hairy perennials with hollow stems and smelling strongly of aniseed when crushed; they grow to between 1-2 m high; only bracteoles are present; the leaves are 2-4 pinnate; the flowers have white petals but no sepals; the slightly-compressed fruit more than 3 times as long as wide is ridged but glabrous or minutely hairy.

! Myrrhis odorata 18 31

Sweet Cicely

Only in ideal conditions does this plant reach 1.8 m high, its triangular leaves, with broadly lanceolate, deeply toothed lobes and often distinctive white blotches, have wide basal sheaths; the 2-4 mm across, white flowers, with unequal petals, are in large umbels with many rays; the deeply ridged, elliptic fruits are in tight clusters turning a dark, shiny-brown when ripe and are held very visibly above the foliage.

It is native in hedgerows, wood margins and grassy places. In the vice-county it is missing from only some of the western uplands. Following the council spraying of verges in the 1960s it has become dominant on many hedge banks because it is more resistant to herbicides than many other natives that were once common there. It also has increased in response to nitrogen running off from overfertilised fields. 358 t

SCANDIX Shepherd’s-needle These are rather short annuals with hollow fruiting-stems; they have 2-4 pinnate leaves; its umbels are simple; only 3(-5) toothed bracteoles are present; their persistent sepals are tiny being less than 0.5 mm long; the white flowers are zygomorphic; the non-compressed fruit is long and narrow with a beak 3-many times as long as the rest of it.

Arc. Scandix pecten-veneris Shepherd’s-needle

This is an almost glabrous annual seldom reaching a height of 50 cm; the leaf divisions are linear: umbels, possessing a small number of rays, and opposed to a leaf consist of white flowers with outer petals larger than the inner ones; the fruits are scabrid with upward directed bristles. A former, frequent weed of arable and waste land in England more scattered elsewhere. J.H. Clark (1868) reported that the plant was abundant in cornfields. Wade (1970) gave only the following 6

Myrrhis was introduced from the mountains of C and S Europe and has become naturalised roadsides, banks, waste land and grassy places in N England and Scotland. In the vice-county it has found the western uplands suitable for naturalisation. The plant in the Caerwent area is in a garden. Wade (1970) described it as a rare denizen at: Abergavenny district, 1886, JWs; Llanthony district, SH (1909), AL; Grwyne Fawr Valley, *, AL, 1920, ?Richards; Pont-y-spig, *, 286

Flora of Monmouthshire Pontypool, EL; Cwm Ffrwd-oer, near Varteg; near Trevethin Church; near Pontypool, JHC (1868), AEW (no sign of plant, 2001, but new housing to E and NE may have been responsible); Bedwellty Churchyard (St Sannan’s); Rhyswg Fawr, Abercarn, AM; Pontnewynydd, CC. Recent records are: riverside, NW of Little Goetre, SO/350.239, 1989, 1990, RF; roadside, Ton-y-felin, ST/196.988, 1990, RF; roadside, Upper Cwm Farm, SO/253.125, 1990, TGE, RF; St Sannan’s Churchyard, SO/166.003, 1994, PAS; 1995, CT; 2003, TGE; 1 plant, bank of R. Grwynne, just S of Tabernacle Chapel, SO/28438.22669, 1986, PCH, JH; 2001, TGE, GSH, CT; 2 plants at foot of wall, NW of Blaen-y-cwm cottage, SO/253.283, 1986, PCH, JH; 2001, TGE, GSH, CT; 14 plants, opposite entrance to Barn Cottage, NW of Goose and Cuckoo, SO/2895.0725, 1988, RF; 2001, TGE; 1 patch, Mynyddislwyn, ST/19359.94194, 1990, RF; 2001, TGE; side of disused rail track, E of Abersychan, SO/268.050, 1988, RF; 2 plants, railside, Abersychan, either side of stone culvert, SO/269.054, 2001, REH. 13 t

SMYRNIUM Alexanders Alexanders is a glabrous perennial to over a metre high, with solid stems and large leaves divided into broad, ternate or pinnate lobes; bracts and bracteoles are few or none; the sepals are minute; the actinomorphic flowers have yellow petals; the slightly flattened, ovoid fruits are black with conspicuous ridges and are numerously grouped on the many-rayed umbels.

Arc. Smyrnium olusatrum

Alexanders

Alexanders forms large plants with conspicuous, dark, glossy-green leaves with the base of the petiole broadly sheathing the stem; the flowers are a dull yellow and the numerous black fruits are numerously grouped on the conspicuous, many-rayed umbels above the foliage. 23

CORIANDRUM Coriander Corianders are unpleasant smelling, solidstemmed annuals, with short-lived, long-stalked basal leaves, that are divided into few, broad lobes; the upper leaves are finely 3-pinnate, there are usually few bracts and bracteoles; the conspicuous sepals are persistent; the white or purplish flowers are zygomorphic; the small fruits are globular.

! Coriandrum sativum

18 31

Introduced from mainland Europe, it is now widely naturalised in Britain, mainly near the coast on cliffs, banks, waste places and on road verges, particularly leading down to the sea, where they frequently form linear colonies. Wade (1970) described it as a rare denizen and gave these sites: Machen; Usk, BMF; Bassaleg; Chepstow, EL; Chepstow Castle, *; banks of the Wye, WAS (1920); Minnetts Lane, Rogiet, 1942, JCE; 19842004, TGE, CT; Other more recent records: hedgerow, Burness Castle Quarry, Rogiet, ST/46.88, 1968-2004, TGE, CT; woodland, Crossway, ST/49.88, 1970, TGE; S facing verge, Llanvapley Church, SO/367.140, DTP; roadside, Llanfoist Bridge, Abergavenny, 1986, RF; patches S facing roadside bank, Lower Machen, ST/22.88, 1988, PB, TGE; The Bryn, SO/30 J, 1986, JJ; Croesyceiliog, ST/3.9 C, 1988, KMB; Newport Docks, ST/31.85, 1985, GB; Goldcliff, ST/36.83, 1986, TGE, UTE; roadside, near crossroads, ST.

Coriander

C. sativum is glabrous, having erect, smooth stems to usually less than 50 cm; the long-stalked, almost simple, lower leaves soon wither; the widely spaced, 2-3 pinnate, stem leaves have linear lobes; the white to purplish flowers produce small, globular fruits that become easily detached when ripe. It smells of mice or curry. Introduced from the E Mediterranean, it mainly occurs as a casual on tips or where bird seed is used. It was recorded: on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85 & 30.86, 19751978, TGE, det. EJC; on spread coal waste, near River Ebbw, SO/21.03, 1988, RF; roadside bank leading up to tip, Dan-y-graig Quarry, 1986, ST/23.90, TGE. 2 t (2 t) 287

Flora of Monmouthshire Maughan’s Green, 1985, PCH, JFH; road verges, A4136, Kymin Hill and The Garth, 1988, BJG; River Ebbw bank, Risca, ST/23.91, 1992, JH; 1 plant, A40 verge, Monmouth, SO/513.130, 1993, BJG; clump opposite ‘Red Hart’ pub, Llanvapley, SO/36.14, 1996, JDRV. 16 t

Pimpinella saxifraga

CONOPODIUM Pignut A knobbly, underground tuber gives rise to glabrous, basal, long-stemmed, 3-pinnate leaves with linear lobes, the even narrower stem leaves, smaller and spaced out, have pinnate lobes; there may be 2 bracts, though usually none, but it does have several bracteoles; the white actinomorphic flowers lack sepals; the ribbed fruit is widest near its base and is less than twice as long as wide.

Conopodium majus

Burnet-saxifrage

The base of older plant stems is fibrous due to the covering of remains of previous stem-leaves; the first basal leaves of spring are simply pinnate, with 3-6 pairs of oval leaflets edged with short, sharp teeth; the lower stem-leaves are variously bipinnate with paired, arched, linear lobes, the upper ones are pinnate, smaller and with 3 pairs of linear lobes; the erect stems develop a narrow hollow only after flowering, they are branched above and end in many slender rays terminated by clusters of many dainty, short-pedicelled, white flowers. 23

Pignut

The slender erect stems seldom reach 50 cm in height, with the basal leaves shrivelled by flowering time, resulting in the plant looking under-nourished or sickly.

19 23

18 31

This grows in unimproved pastures and on roadside banks. It is harder to find and far less numerous due to the re-seeding of so many fields to feed an ever-increasing number of sheep. 203 t

AEGOPODIUM Ground-elder Ground-elder rhizomes promote the formation of patches with new plants spread out along the rhizome; the leaves are a mixture of pinnate and ternate forms with large, ovate-lanceolate, toothed lobes; there are no bracts, bracteoles or sepals; the white flowers are actinomorphic; the fruit is widest below the middle.

18 31

In spite of its appearance, it survives in open woods, unimproved grassland, usually at the margins of fields, or along hedgerows. In vc 35 it has certainly disappeared from many fields due to agricultural ‘improvements’. I used to sample the earthy-tasting ‘nut’, dug up with a penknife. 276 t

Arc. Aegopodium podagraria Ground-elder The slender, creeping rhizomes enable the glabrous plant to form colonies; its large leaves are 2ternate; its 3-4 mm fruits are narrowly ribbed. Introduced from mainland Europe, it has become a widespread weed of waste places, verges, cultivated and open ground. In vc 35 it is associated with human habitation and agricultural activities and spreads along nearby lane verges and on to waste ground. Eradication from gardens is

PIMPINELLA Burnet-saxifrages These perennials may have hollow or solid stems; their leaves are usually pinnate or bipinnate; they lack bracts, bracteoles and sepals; the actinomorphic flowers are white or pinkish; the glabrous fruits, with narrow ribs, are compressed, but still roundish from one view. 288

Flora of Monmouthshire difficult as tiny fragments of broken rhizomes are capable of producing new plants. 342 t

The mass of 2 mm fruits makes up for their lack of size. It grows in water and along the banks of rivers, reens and lakes and in ditches and marshes. In vc 35 there is a concentration on the Levels and along the R. Usk, though over-intensive management of both areas have caused losses. 98 t

CRITHMUM Rock Samphire These are glabrous, branched perennials with solid stems that are woody-based; the leaves are 2-3pinnate with long, very narrow, fleshy lobes; there are several simple bracts and bracteoles; the sepals are tiny; the actinomorphic flowers are yellowishgreen; the fruit is ovoid with prominent ridges and is spongy when fresh.

18 31

Crithmum maritimum BERULA Lesser Water-parsnip These are glabrous, hollow-stemmed herbs growing from stolons; its lower leaves are pinnate with many pairs of lanceolate, toothed lobes; there are several, often lobed, bracts and bracteoles, the sepals fall early; the white flowers are actinomorphic; the small, slightly-compressed fruits are roundish and have narrow ribs.

Berula erecta

Rock Samphire

The shrubby plant with fleshy, long, linear leaflets, the yellowish-green flowers, forming umbels and the fact that it grows on coastal rocks, cliffs, banks or shingle are diagnostic. 23

Lesser Water-parsnip 21

18 31

18 32

In vc 35 it has grown on the low sandstone cliffs at Sudbrook for as long as I can remember. Now rocks are used to build the sea wall along the shore of the R. Severn to protect the banks from erosion by the powerful storm-driven tides, a new habitat has been provided which C. maritimum is utilising. All sites are: scattered along low sandstone cliffs, Sudbrook, ST/504.872, 1945-2004, TGE; 1 plant among shore rocks, Redwick, ST/41.83, 1983, DU; 1 plant, stone sea wall, Nash, ST/338.823, 1984-86, TGE, DU; 1 plant base of sea wall, St. Bride’s, Wentlooge, ST/30.81, 1987, TGE, UTE; road verge, near M48, Rogiet, 1993, RDR; 1 large plant, loose stone barrier, edge of saltmarsh, S of Caldicot, ST/480.870, 1996, TGE; 2 and c. 20

Stolons enable this erect herb to form linear colonies along waterway banks; its erect leaves have 5-10 pairs of leaflets and a long petiole with a ring on it just above half way; the leaflets are broadly elliptic and up to 6 cm long; the primary rays of the umbel are relatively short so that the ultimate flower umbels form a close cluster. The umbels are terminally placed so that the aggregate of small flowers is very visible. 289

Flora of Monmouthshire plants in 2 m² in two patches on stony foreshore, SE of Sutton Farm, ST/3042.8181, 2001 & 2004; 1 large plant, top edge of rock barrier, shore, off Rogiet Rifle Range, ST/468.864, 2001, TGE; among barrier rocks, shore, Lamby, ST/232.777, 2001, TGE, GSH, CT; 1 plant among rocks, between Collister Pill and West Pill, ST/458.860, 2001, CT; 2 m² on top of barrier rocks, shore, W of Sutton Farm, ST/3043.8182, 2002, TGE; 1 m² on stony foreshore, just W of Lighthouse Inn, ST/300.815, 2004, TGE, CT; several plants on small promontory, W end of Rumney Great Wharf ST/232.776; 2 plants, Little Wharf, ST/222.776, both 2006, TGE, CT. 9 t Plate 55

have only 2-4, 1-3 cm primary rays which thicken in fruit; the pedicels are very short to give tight, semi-globose, partial umbels; there are no bracts and 7-16 linear bracteoles; the partial umbels are globose in fruit with stoutly-obconical mericarps with inflated corky ridges. It grows in marshy places and in shallow water, mainly in the eastern half of England. In the vicecounty it was common on the Levels, but the deepening of the reens and the steepness of the sides has greatly decreased the occurrence of the plant in the last twenty years. Land drains has had a detrimental effect on colonies in the marshes and ponds of the Raglan area. 54 t

OENANTHE Water-dropworts These are herbs associated with water; they often have tuberous roots and 1-4-pinnate leaves, they have no bracts or just a few and numerous bracteoles; their white flowers, with persistent sepals, range from actinomorphic to slightly zygomorphic; the fruits are often over twice as long as wide and are longitudinally ridged.

Oenanthe pimpinelloides Corky-fruited Water-dropwort This is an erect perennial to 1 m; the pithy, solid, striated stem develops a small hollow later; the roots start normally but form ovoid tubers at 23 cm from the base of the stem; the lower leaves are rather narrowly lanceolate, with the lobes wedge-shaped and divided almost to the base except at the apex where there are blunt teeth; the upper leaves are pinnate with linear lobes; the petioles are longer than the blades; there are 1-5 bracts above which are c. 10 rays of different lengths to give the umbels a slightly flattened shape; the rays and the pedicels thicken in fruit; the 3-3.5 mm long fruit is equal in length to the styles; the partial umbels harden but never become globose. This plant grows on dry or damp grassland on banks, by ditches, ponds or roadsides. In Wales, the only extant site is a clayey, roadside bank, near Tynewydd, ST/272.915, with 1 plant 1985, 2 plants 1994, 3 plants 1997, 1 plant 2002 following too vigorous and too early cutting of the verge in 2001, all TGE. 1 t Site Plate 56

Oenanthe fistulosa Tubular Water-dropwort 23

18 31

Oenanthe lachenalii Parsley Water-dropwort

This is a glabrous perennial with roots gradually widening into a spindle-shaped tuber; striate, usually solid stems may reach 1 m in height with lower leaves usually 2-pinnate, with wedge-shaped leaflets (similar to small hawthorn leaves) to oval ones, the upper leaves 1-2-pinnate with linear lobes; it has 1-5 bracts; the umbels have more than 10 rays; the 2-3 mm, white flowers have short pedicels; neither the rays nor the pedicels thicken in fruit; the 2.5-3 mm, ovoid fruits have styles shorter than themselves; the fruiting partial

This is an erect or sprawling, narrow, glabrous perennial spreading by stolons; individual plants have conspicuous, barish stems which have a large hollow, except at the nodes, and compress easily between finger and thumb; there are spindle-shaped, tuberous roots; the leaves are inconspicuous, 1-2-pinnate, narrowly oblong or lanceolate, with mainly linear lobes, their petioles are longer than their blades; the flowers are white or pinkish, with persistent, acute sepals; the outer petals are largest; the compound umbels 290

Flora of Monmouthshire umbels do not become globose; each fruit is inversely conical with blade-like ridges.

conspicuous, persistent sepals; the 4-5.5 mm, lightly-ridged fruit is usually cylindrical and has 2 styles half as long as it and erect and parallel to one another. It grows in shallow water and in marshes. In vc 35 it is widespread, and, though less common in calcareous streams, it is not absent from them 325 t.

Oenanthe aquatica Fine-leaved Water-dropwort

This annual or biennial has robust stems and lacy foliage, its spindle-shaped tubers shrink as flowers and fruits are produced; the striate, hollow stems grow to over a metre high; the lower leaves are 3-4-pinnate with the final lobes deeply lobed becoming linear if submerged, stem leaves are 2-3-pinnate are finely divided and their petioles have a sheathing base; some umbels are leaf opposed and have rays longer than the peduncle, and are often larger than the terminal ones; there are 0 bracts, 4-8, linearlanceolate bracteoles; neither rays nor pedicels thicken in fruit; the 2 mm flowers are white, with persistent sepals; the 3.5-4.5 mm fruit is ovoid with broad ribs, divergent styles less than ¼ as long as the fruit.

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It is native to grassy, brackish meadows, marshes and ditches near the coast. It is scattered along the Levels and the lower, tidal reaches of vc 35’s main rivers. The lowering of the water table on the Levels is having an adverse effect on its sites and numbers have dropped in the last twenty years. 23 t

Oenanthe crocata Hemlock Water-dropwort

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It grows in shallow water and ditches that may dry up in summer. In the vice-county Wade (1970) stated it was rare to locally frequent and gave these sites: In the north: Llanfoist, *; On the Levels: Coedkernew; Marshfield; St Brides, Wentlloog, SH (1909); near Magor, *, ? Nelmes; TGE; Undy; near Pil-du, St. Mellons; Peterstone, Wentlloog, *. Since the NCC ‘Survey of Reens’ 1982-83 there has been a big reduction of records from the Levels to 8 only since 1985. More records have come

This is by far the most robust-looking Oenanthe in vc 35, forming large tufted plants to 1.5 m; it forms large 6 x 1 cm tubers at the base of the stem, which is grooved and hollow; the 3-pinnate, lower leaves are large with sheathing petiole bases and broad lobes deeply divided into smaller ones that have crenate to bluntly toothed margins; the umbels are compound and large with numerous, smooth rays 3-8 cm long, which like the pedicels do not thicken in fruit; the white flowers have 291

Flora of Monmouthshire from ponds and marshes between Abergavenny, Monmouth and Tintern. Recent records are: c. 5 plants, pond edge, Clawdd Mill, 1974-1985; a few plants, reen, Alpha Steel, Newport, ST/33.84, 1979; 1 plant, reen, Near entrance to Uskmouth Power Station, ST/34.82; reen, Nash, ST/34.83; reen, Undy, ST/43.86, 1982, all TGE; field ditch, near North Court Farm, Redwick, ST/404.854; near Skinner Reen, ST/34.83; Caldicot Level, ST/343.832; reen, St. Brides, Wentlloog, ST/3.8 B 1982-83, NCC survey; pond, Llandenny, SO/41.03, 1988, DEL; 20 plants, Llanover, SO/336.104, 1988, RF; SE Rumney, ST.2.7 J, 1989, NCC; pond, Maes Gwyn, Llandenny, SO/414.045, 1988, DEL; many plants, pond, Llanfoist Farm, SO/295.129, 1990, RF; 30-40 plants, 1994, TGE; 1 plant, in new reen, parallel to Goldcliff road, ST/362.826, 2002, TGE; 3 plants by sluice, Saltmarsh, SO/346.825, 2004, TCGR. 12 t

subsp. cynapium has stems to 1 m, the flowers have bracteoles more than twice the length of the longest pedicel, which is twice the length of the fruit. A common plant of gardens, waste and arable land. Subsp. agrestis has stems to only 20 cm, the bracteoles are equal to the length of the longest pedicel, which is shorter than the fruit. It grows on arable land. All the plants I have looked at critically have been subsp. cynapium but generally it was recorded without differentiation. In vc 35 it is widespread but less common on the higher land. It occurs usually in small numbers. 175 t FOENICULUM Fennel These are tall, glabrous perennials to over 2 m with solid stems that become hollow; the 3-4-pinnate leaves has all leaves filamentous; they lack bracts, bracteoles and sepals; the actinomorphic flowers are yellow; the narrowly, ovoid fruits are 2-4 times as long as wide and have raised thick ribs.

AETHUSA Fool’s Parsley This is a glabrous annual with hollow stems; the leaves are 2-3-pinnate, it lacks bracts, but has 3-4 bracteoles; the actinomorphic, white flowers lack sepals; the glabrous fruit is slightly, dorsallycompressed, almost as wide as long with raised, wide-keeled ridges.

Aethusa cynapium

Arc. Foeniculum vulgare

Fool’s Parsley

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Fennel

An erect, glaucous, striate stem bears leaves with the entire petiole as a sheath enclosing the stem; the leaf blade is divided into long, narrow filaments; the yellow flowers are in large, compound umbels. The plant has a distinctive smell when crushed.

It is usually c. 30 cm in height with triangular, 23-pinnate leaves with short petioles, mostly sheathing; the umbels are compound but not usually very big and are terminal or leafopposed; the flowers are hermaphrodite with the 3-4 peripheral bracteoles long and strongly reflexed.

It grows in docks, by tidal parts of rivers and in open coastal sites. In vc 35 there is a concentration of sites near Newport, elsewhere it is scattered with seldom more than 1-2 plants at a site. 26 t

292

Flora of Monmouthshire SILAUM Pepper-saxifrage They are glabrous, solid-stemmed perennials with 1-3-pinnate leaves; they have 0-3 bracts, numerous bracteoles and yellow, actinomorphic flowers in smallish compound umbels.

Silaum silaus Pepper-saxifrage It has glabrous, striate stem to 1 m tall, with its base clad in fibres the remains of previous leaf petioles; basal leaves have long petioles with triangular blades with simple, very narrow, oblanceolate segments or in threes resembling a bird’s toes; the smallish yellow umbels are mainly terminal, but a few are axillary.

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It grows in damp places by rivers, on waste ground, tips, roadsides and in ditches. In vc 35 it is almost absent from higher ground, with populations mainly occurring along the river banks and waysides. 123 t

BUPLEURUM Hare’s-ear These are usually herbs with simple, entire leaves; entire bracts and bracteoles may be present but they lack sepals; the actinomorphic flowers are yellow; the fruits are variable.

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Bupleurum tenuissimum Slender Hare’s-ear

This is a waxy-grey, much-branched annual; the flexuous branches are thin and wiry and may reach a height of 50 cm; the leaves are almost linear and often curved laterally; only the lower ones are petiolate; the umbels have few rays, so they are small as are the yellow flowers and the tiny clusters of slightly flattened round fruits.

It grows in unimproved grassland and near rivers. In vc 35 it is in the south and east. It used to be common on the Levels and elsewhere where there were more unimproved meadows. 52 t CONIUM Hemlock Hemlocks are glabrous biennials with hollow stems and leaves 2-4-pinnate; they have entire bracts and bracteoles and white, actinomorphic flowers and sub-globose fruits with wavy ridges.

Arc. Conium maculatum

Hemlock

This plant can grow to 2.5 m high, with erect, hollow stems spotted and blotched purple; the large, basal, triangular leaves, deeply dissected pinnately have long petioles; the white flower umbels have over 10 rays; the 2-3.5 mm fruits are ovoid and have diagnostic, prominent, wavycrenate ridges on the mericarps. It smells of mice.

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293

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 25 Bupleurum tenuissimum Slender Hare’s-ear 294

Flora of Monmouthshire top of sea wall, west of Windmill Reen, ST/400.830 to 408.832; 10-20 plants, top of sea wall, NE of Portland Grounds, ST/399.830; 200 m of plants, SW of Porton House, ST/380.823 to 382.823; 1-5 plants, top of sea wall, E of Elm Tree Farm, ST/377.822, all 1996; c. 10 plants, E of Magor Pill, ST/439.847 to 442.850, small number, E of Chapel Farm, ST/44.85; 3 tiny patches, W of Hill Farm, at ST/366.822, 367.821 & 369.820; 2 plants, W of Sluice House Farm, ST/2510.7877; 2 plants, E of Sutton Farm, ST/3056. 8199; 1 plant, off Rogiet Rifle Range, ST/468.864, all 2001, TGE. Though only a small sample of the 1996 effort, the 2001 counts illustrate the variation in numbers between years. The largest patches of tall (c. 45cm) plants were found on the northern edge of the large colony of Limonium vulgare in a saltmarsh on Little Wharf near the mouth of the R. Rhymney, ST/220.775, August, 2006, TGE, CT. 14 t Figure 25

Bupleurum tenuissimum grows in grassy, coastal sites, where spring tides can reach. Its small and wiry structure makes it difficult to find in the general greenness, which is increasingly grazed by cattle and sheep; the tiny dots of its yellow flowers reveal it, or its wiriness is so different from the growth form of other plants. In vc 35 most colonies are rather short and exist on the sea wall, others can be found on the edge of the turf above the muddy saltmarsh or on the brackish grassland. Wade (1970) said it was very rare and gave only 2 sites: Magor, *, WAS; and Rumney, *. In walking, in stages, from Chepstow to Cardiff in 1996 I found it in large numbers in 14 tetrads. Populations vary from year to year, but it can be abundant. The records except where stated otherwise are mine: scattered plants, drier saltmarsh, Caldicot Pill, ST/485.872, 1972; many plants, grassy saltmarsh, Blackrock to St Pierre Pill, ST/516.887, 1972; abundant, edge of grassy bank, Goldcliff Pill, ST/366.827, 1983, +CT; scattered plants, grassy, brackish turf, SW of Saltmarsh, ST/34.82, 1985; brackish grassland, Rogiet Moor, ST/46.86, 1985; salt marsh, just E of Magor Pill, ST/439.848, 1985, JPC; 1994, ST/439.849 to 442.850, 2001, 2004; edge of sea wall, S of Redwick, ST/41.83, 1986; many plants, upper grassy saltmarsh, NE of Sutton Farm, ST/30.81, 1987; ST/30.82, 1988, +UTE; grass near sea wall, W. Goldcliff, ST/37.82, 1991, E of Porton House, ST/39.82, 1991, +UTE; 50+ plants, sides of water-filled ditch, upper saltmarsh, E of Chapel Farm, ST/447.856; 50+ plants, W of Mathern Pill, ST/530.901; 100s plants, wellgrazed, edge of bank, stone fortified, just SW of square concrete building on Rumney Great Wharf, ST/252.788; a few plants, in brackish grass, NE of Sutton Farm, ST/304.818; 100s of plants near water ditch, NE of Sutton Farm, ST/306.821; top of sea wall, Goldcliff Pill to Hill Farm, ST/36.82; Sutton Farm to West Usk Lighthouse, ST/30.82, both CT; 10, 000 to 100, 000 plants top of sea wall, Goldcliff Pill to Hill Farm, ST/365.824 to 365.822; 20 plants, N side of Goldcliff Pill, ST/362.826; 100s of scattered plants among flattish upper saltmarsh, S side of Goldcliff Pill, ST/365.825 to 365.827; 100s plants, short turf, S of sea wall, Magor Pill, ST/439.848 to 440.848; 100s plants in short and stony turf just E of pipeline, W of Caldicot Pill, ST/480.871 to 483.871; c. 100 plants, over sea wall, off Rogiet Rifle Range, ST/471.865 to 466.864; c. 1000 plants near sea wall to edge of grass, Hunger Pill to N of M48 Wye Bridge, ST/540.907 to 544.916; scattered along 800 m on

APIUM Marshworts Marshworts are very variable; their life cycle takes more than one year to complete; their leaves are simple pinnate with broad leaflets, except for A. inundatum where the submerged leaves are 2-3 pinnate with all divisions linear; bracts and bracteoles vary from 0-several, sepals are lacking; the white flowers are actinomorphic; the glabrous fruits are laterally compressed and have prominent ridges.

Apium graveolens

Wild Celery

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Wild Celery is usually erect but seldom attains 1 m in height with its solid stem; its leaves are simple pinnate, the basal ones long-stalked with the leaflets 5 lobed, the lower cauline leaves are 295

Flora of Monmouthshire similar but have short petioles, in the upper ones the wedge-shaped leaflets are 3-lobed; the white petals do not vary in size and the umbels are both terminal and axillary; the small c. 1.5 mm fruits are ovoid with prominent, narrow ridges and the styles are recurved. Note the Celery smell when crushed. It grows around the coasts of the British Isles to S Scotland. In vc 35 most plants grow in brackish soils on the Severn side of the sea wall and in suitable places many plants. Inland there are scattered plants often in wet places near streams. 37 t

Apium nodiflorum

lack sepals and have equal sized petals; the 2.5-3 mm, elliptic fruits have prominent ridges. It grows in lakes, ponds and ditches. In vc 35 there are 2 sites: c 10 plants NW edge of Penpergwm Pond, SO/322. 099, 1975, TGE; 1 plant in flower, 5-10 non-flowering, 2002, TGE, GSH, CT; c. 5 plants, 2003, TGE, CT; less than 10 plants 2nd pond, Penpergwm, SO/325.098, 1975, TGE; newly made pond, a quarter covered with it, Goldenhill, ST/42.97, 1996, GSH, CT. 2 t PETROSELINUM Parsleys These are glabrous herbs, with solid stems, with 13-pinnate, wide-lobed leaves, that complete their life cycles in 2 years at most; they have 1-3 entire or lobed bracts and several bracteoles; the sepals, if present, are tiny; the actinomorphic flowers are white or yellow; the slightly compressed fruits are longer than wide with prominent ridges.

Fool’s-water-cress

In the vegetative state it can be confused, by beginners, with Berula erecta, both being found in shallow water. However, its basal, serrated leaves have 2-4 pairs of leaflets whereas B. erecta has 5-9 pairs and the ring around the petiole is unique to the latter. Also the plant is less stiff, especially in water, where it sprawls. Its umbels are axillary, not terminal; the ovoid, 1, 52.5 mm fruits have prominent thick ribs.

Arc. Petroselinum crispum Garden Parsley This is a glabrous biennial with erect, striate, solid stems to over 50 cm; the lower, 2-3-pinnate, shiny leaves are triangular with sessile, broad, lobed and toothed leaflets, often with a crisped, wavy margin, a characteristic of cultivated plants; the cauline leaves become smaller and simpler up the stem and have a broad, sheathing petiole; the hermaphrodite flowers produced late in the second year are yellowish and produced in terminal and axillary, compound umbels with numerous long rays; there are 1-3 entire or trifid bracts, 3-8 bracteoles with broad scarious margins; the 2-2.5 mm, ovoid to ellipsoid, smooth fruit is laterally compressed and has low, narrow ridges. It grows on walls, rocky and waste places and is naturalised near human habitation. In vc 35 the long-present plants in Chepstow Castle, ST/53.94, are non-crisped. Wade (1970) gave 3 sites for this rare alien: farmhouse wall, Rockfield, 1934, *, SGC; hedge bank, Pwllmeyric, *, 1899, WAS; Chepstow, BSBI Excursion 1951; Recent records are: near keep, Chepstow Castle, ST/53.94, recorded independently in 1991, RF, JVHS, JDRV, in Barbican, 1993, TGE; other than its occurrence on waste ground, I have no details of garden parsley in Maerdy, Abergavenny or in Chepstow. Plate 46 3t

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It grows in marshes and by water. In vc 35 it favours reens on the Levels; land drains have destroyed many sites inland. 301 t

Apium inundatum

Lesser Marshwort

This glabrous, procumbent perennial has slender, weak, smooth stems submerged to some extent; submerged and lower leaves are 2-3-pinnate with linear lobes; the upper ones are pinnate and have lanceolate to ovate, often 3-lobed segments; the small compound umbels have mostly 2 rays of less than 1 cm; the white flowers

Petroselinum segetum

Corn Parsley

This is an erect, slender biennial to 1 m with a thin and branched stem; its pinnate leaves are long and narrow with over 10 pairs of toothed, 296

Flora of Monmouthshire lanceolate or narrowly triangular leaflets; the small white flowers are in narrow, compound umbels with few very unequal rays, that are directed upwards at acute angles and subtended by 2-3 linear bracts also directed apically; the effect is to produce a wiry plant that is not easily detected in tall grass or in grazed meadows.

Pill, ST/447.863, 1996; 3 clumps, top of sea wall, S of Angling Lake, ST Bride’s, Wentlooge, ST/291.809, 1996; 10 plants, E bank of Windmill Reen, Redwick, ST/4049.8402, 2002, all TGE. 8 t (6 t)

SISON Stone Parsley These are glabrous biennials with solid stems; the leaves are 1-2-pinnate, the lower with wide lobes; there are entire 2-4 bracts and bracteoles, the white, actinomorphic flowers lack sepals; the fruits are laterally compressed, glabrous and with narrow prominent ribs.

Sison amomum

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Stone Parsley

This herb has basal, pinnate leaves with oblong, serrate, leaflets, deeply lobed at their base with shallow lobes along the rest of the edge; upper leaves become smaller with linear leaflets; it has a stem that branches into thinner and thinner ones all proceeding to different length peduncles topped by small, thin-rayed umbels with tiny, white, hermaphrodite flowers; the smooth, 3 mm fruit is globose with prominent ribs. Similar to Petroselinum segetum but it has a petrol-like smell, has larger leaflets on basal leaves, more finely divided upper stem leaves and less unequal rays to the umbels.

It grows in barish or grassy places in pastures or arable fields and hedgerows. In vc 35 today it is confined to the Levels and is declining. Inland the ‘improvement’ of grassland has eliminated it and current Level drainage and some of the management has reduced suitable habitat. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 8 sites: Machen; Malpas, both SH(1909); near Portskewett railway station, *, 1865, WAS; roadside bank, Bishton, 1941, AEW, *; Dyffryn, SH; shade grown, among bushes, bank of Brass Gout, Llanwern, 1941, AEW; pathside, coast road, near New House, Rumney, 1949, AEW, *; clayey field, wet in winter, Goldcliff Pill, *, 1967, AEW. More recent records: c. 10 plants, reen side, Noah’s Ark, Caldicot Moor, ST/447.864, 1980, TGE; 12 plants, 1983, TGE, CT, 1 plant, 1994, TGE; reen side, near Bowleaze Common, ST/37.85, 1990, JDRV; Uskmouth, ST/3.8 G; Atlantic Shipyard, ST/3.8 H; Llanwern, ST/3.8 U, all 1982-3, NCC team; Green Moor, ST/3.8 X, 1985, PRG, SH; Redwick, ST/4.8 C, 1987, AJ, TGE, UTE; SE of Great House, ST/4.8 G, 1985, PRG; 3 plants, saltmarsh bank, near Seriphidium maritima, Magor Pill, ST/439.848, 1985; 8 patches along 50 m of reen bank, Mireland Pill Reen, ST/37.82, 1994, TGE; 815 plants, sea wall E of Sutton Farm, ST/30.82, 1994, CT; 1 plant, top of sea wall, W of Goldcliff Pill, ST/35.82, 1994, CT; c. 50 plants, bank of Prat Reen, ST/438.848, 1994; c. 40 plants, nr Collister

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It grows mainly in S and E England south of the Humber. In Wales it is said to be coastal. A glance at the distribution map shows that in vc 35, and though it has a more concentrated population on the Levels, it is also widespread in inland fields in the NE. 80 t 297

Flora of Monmouthshire ellipsoidal fruit exudes the Caraway smell when squeezed. It is an uncommon casual grown for its fruits used for flavouring. There is only 1 record: Wade (1970) reported JHC’s plant near Crumlin. (1 t)

AMMI Bullworts These are glabrous herbs with solid stems and complete their life cycles in no more than 2 years; the leaves are 1-3-pinnate; there are several bracts, mostly pinnately divided into linear lobes, and numerous bracteoles; the white flowers have outer petals slightly longer than inner ones; the ellipsoid fruits have narrow, prominent ribs.

! Ammi majus

Carum verticillatum

Bullwort

This glabrous annual has solid, striate stems to 1 m; it has variable leaves, the lower usually 1-2pinnate with ovate-lanceolate, toothed lobes and a sheathing base, the upper have narrower lobes, often pinnatifid, they also have a sheathing base; the umbels are large and compound with numerous, long, thin rays, subtended by linear, pinnate bracts as long as the rays and forming a conspicuous collar; the numerous narrowlylanceolate bracteoles form a simple collar under the thread-like pedicels of the white flowers. An introduction from S Europe, N Africa and Asia Minor, it has appeared on tips, waste ground where bird seed is scattered, or in fields fertilised with wool shoddy and occurs as a contaminant in carrot seed. In vc 35 records are: it occurred in two sites as single plants on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85 and 30.86, 1974, TGE, CT; Weed in carrot row, La Cuesta, Chepstow, ST/528.936, 1985, TGE; in carrot crop, The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/53.01, 1988, EGW. 4 t

ANGELICA Angelicas These hollow-stemmed perennials have leaves 2-3pinnate, the upper with broad, inflated petioles; they have 0-few short-lived, entire bracts, numerous bracteoles and inconspicuous sepals; the actinomorphic flowers are white, greenish-white or pinkish-white; the glabrous fruits are dorsally compressed with conspicuously winged, lateral ridges.

CARUM Caraways Caraways are glabrous herbs with hollow stems and life cycles that last at least 2 years; their leaves are 1-3-pinnate; their bracts and bracteoles vary from 0-many, the sepals if present are inconspicuous; the actinomorphic flowers are white; the ellipsoid fruit is laterally compressed, longer than wide and has narrow ribs.

Arc. Carum carvi

Whorled Caraway

This is the only umbellifer with long, narrow, tubular-shaped, basal leaves with palmatisect, filamentous segments in apparent whorls. This rises from a rootstock and is surrounded by the fibrous remains of old leaf petioles; the leafopposed, compound umbels of hermaphrodite, white flowers have numerous sub-equal rays on the end of longer peduncles; the up to 10 bracts are linear, acute and deflexed; bracteoles are similar but not deflexed; the 2.5-3 mm fruit is ellipsoid, smooth but with conspicuous ridges. It grows in marshes, streams and damp meadows and ditches in the west of the British Isles. There is only 1 site in the vice-county: 30-40 plants in a wooded, wet flush, Cwm Celyn, Blaina, SO/208.090, first discovered in 1990 by John Wohlgemuth, who was living in Cwm Celyn at the time. 1 t

Angelica sylvestris

Wild Angelica

Caraway

Caraway is an erect biennial lacking a fibrous base of old petioles; its leaves are 2-3-pinnate, the 5-10 mm lobes, often pinnatifid, are linear-lanceolate to linear with an acute, clear hard tip; the basal, longpetioled leaves are triangular-lanceolate; the upper leaves have broad, papery, sheaths for petioles; the compound umbels of hermaphrodite flowers have unequal rays and some umbels are leaf-opposed; the bracts and bracteoles are few or missing; the flowers are white or pinkish; the 3-4 mm

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298

Flora of Monmouthshire Usually this is a tall herb to 2.5 m, with smooth, purplish stems; the basal, 2-3-pinnate leaves are large and lanceolate-triangular in outline with multi-toothed, ovate leaflets; the peduncles and pedicels are shortly pubescent; the umbels are large with numerous long rays; the 4-5 mm fruits have thin, membranous wings. Angelica sylvestris grows in damp habitats in grass, by water in woods. Widespread in vc 35, particularly in woods and in marshes and drainage ditches. 338 t

var. hortensis, Garden Parsnip, is sparsely pubescent with straight hairs, a root often swollen and conical, though if the plant is persistent it will lose the swelling. var. sativa, Wild Parsnip, is pubescent with long wavy hairs, and roots that are not swollen. 23

LEVISTICUM Lovage These are tall perennials to 2.5 m, appearing glabrous at first glance, with hollow stems; the 2-3pinnate leaves smell of celery when crushed; there are numerous, entire bracts and bracteoles; the bracteoles are fused basally; the actinomorphic, yellowish flowers lack sepals; the fruits are very compressed dorsally with winged ridges.

! Levisticum officinale

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Lovage

Erect to 2.5 m, Lovage has large, lanceolateoutlined leaves, which are 2-pinnate with the leaflets wedge-shaped bearing various-sized teeth in the upper half; the 4-7 mm fruits are dorsally flattened but have prominent dorsal ridges and winged lateral ridges. Introduced from Iran, it occurs as a casual on rough ground, by walls and paths. It is uncommon. In vc 35 there are only two records; 1 plant over 1 m tall in a gap in the pavement housing a street lamp, Upper Nelson Street, Chepstow, ST/534.937, 1994, CASh, *, TGE, 1st vice-county record, *; 1 plant in border edge, entrance to ?bungalow, SW of Llanwenarth Church, SO/275.148, 1995, TGE. 2 t

Parsnips grow on rough, waste ground especially on calcareous soils. In vc 35 they are concentrated on the Levels, especially at the side of roads and tracks, near hedges and neglected fields. They are scattered elsewhere particularly along river banks. 65 t

HERACLEUM Hogweeds These are hairy biennials or short-lived perennials with hollow stems with simple and pinnately or ternately divided leaves; there are several bracts and bracteoles; the zygomorphic flowers are whitish or purplish with sepals varying in size; the ovary enlarges to a strongly, dorsally flattened fruit with winged lateral ridges.

PASTINACA Parsnips These are inconspicuously pubescent biennials with a distinctive smell; the leaves are 1-pinnate or ternate, with a terminal leaflet supported by 2 or 4 pairs of similar but smaller ones; there are 0-2, entire bracts and bracteoles; the actinomorphic flowers are yellow; they lack sepals; the fruits are flattened dorsally, with low dorsal and winged lateral ridges.

Heracleum sphondylium subsp. sphondylium Hogweed The habitat governs the size of this hairy herb but it may grow to over 2 m high; its leaves are pinnate with its leaflets lobed to more than half way to the midrib; its flowers vary from white to purplish with the outer petals of the umbels bilobed and c. twice as long as the inner unlobed ones; the fruits are 6-10 mm long. It is common in rough grass and by waysides. In vc 35 it is probably found in every tetrad, though unrecorded in a few. 388 t

Pastinaca sativa subsp. sativa Wild Parsnip It has erect stems to 1.8 m, yellow flowers and 4-7 mm fruits. The varieties have not been recorded separately, though var. sativa is much the commonest. 299

Flora of Monmouthshire the extent and speed of its spread as it was first recorded by R.I. Millichamp at Llanelen in 1967. Apart from swamping native vegetation, contact with the skin of many people causes the skin to become very sensitive to ultra-violet light and large painful blisters can develop when the skin is exposed to sunlight. 38 t Plate 54

Heracleum sphondylium 23

TORILIS Hedge-parsleys These are hairy annuals with solid stems; their leaves are 1-3-pinnate; they have numerous, entire bracts; there are several bracteoles; the persistent but insignificant sepals are hidden by the spines of the developing fruit; the white or purpletinged flowers have outer petals slightly longer than the rest otherwise they could be described as actinomorphic; the ovoid to cylindrical fruits are spiny.

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! Heracleum mantegazzianum Giant Hogweed This is easily recognised by its large size reaching over 5 m in height with huge basal leaves to 2.5 m divided like H. sphondylium; the flowers are white and produce 9-14 mm fruits with persistent sepals with oil glands swelling to 1 mm wide at their base.

Torilis japonica

Upright Hedge-parsley

This plant comes into flower as Anthriscus sylvestris is forming fruits. It is usually stiffer and more compactly erect with solid stems that do not branch as much; there are 4-6 or more bracts and the 2.5 mm fruits look bigger because of the massed, short, tapering hooked spines on them.

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35 18

Introduced from SW Asia to gardens as spectacular feature plants, their prolific seed production ensured their spread to the neighbouring countryside. Once they reached waterways their light buoyant seeds were soon carried rapidly to germinate and form dense cover on river banks to the detriment of native species. In the vice-county the R. Usk’s course can be picked out on the distribution map from where it enters the vicecounty W of Abergavenny to the mouth of the Usk, where S of Uskmouth Power Station it forms a mini-forest on the bank. The map also illustrates

It grows in hedgerows, wood-borders and clearings and on little disturbed grassland. Widespread in vc 35, it is most frequent in hedgerows and woodmargins. 315 t

Arc. Torilis arvensis Spreading Hedge-parsley This is similar to T. japonica but it has 0-1 bracts, 3-4 mm fruits equipped with ± straight spines, minutely hooked at their ends. 300

Flora of Monmouthshire Torilis arvensis was introduced from mainland Europe; it became a weed of arable land but now is rare and a casual. Wade (1970) gave one record from a cornfield near Raglan, 1807, then added ‘Hamilton records this as common. If this was so when he published his flora of the county, 1909, it has completely disappeared as a weed of cultivation within the last 50 years.’ My only record is for my own garden, La Cuesta, Chepstow, ST/528.937, from 1981 to 1984 then a gap of ten years when it re-appeared in 1994 and has spread ever since. The origin was almost certainly from BSBI Recorder, vc 7 N Wiltshire, Joan Swanborough’s garden in Chippenham, seeds must have been in the soil attached to other plants from her rock garden she wrapped up for my wife in 1980. The plant was in her garden and in a hedgerow not too far from her home. 1 t

Torilis nodosa

TURGENIA Greater Bur-parsley Allied to Torilis but Turgenia differs in having fruits with non-persistent sepals and with fruits bearing broad-based spines arranged in rows on the ridges.

!Turgenia latifolia

Greater Bur-parsley

This annual has 3-5 bracts and strongly zygomorphic flowers. It is a very rare casual from S Europe. The only vc 35 record (reported under the old name Caucalis latifolia) by Wade (1970) was in a field, formerly used as a poultry farm, Kymin Hill, Monmouth, *, June 1929, SGC. (1 t) DAUCUS Carrots Carrots are rather variable biennials with solid stems; the leaves are 2-3-pinnate; the numerous bracts are pinnate with filiform-lobes and are often longer than the rays and form a conspicuous collar under the compound umbels; the bracteoles are numerous; the sepals are small; the zygomorphic flowers colour the large domed, compound umbel white except for the central flower which is often red or purple; the fruit is dorsally compressed with 4 ridges, crested with straight barbed spines, alternating with ridges bearing only short, weak bristles.

Knotted Hedge-parsley

This is a branched plant with each branch, even with its small compact umbels and leaves, very narrow. Individual slender stems are usually procumbent and bear small umbels at the spaced out stem nodes opposite small narrow, lanceolate, 1-3-pinnate leaves; the pinkish-white flowers are almost lacking in peduncles and pedicels, and particularly when the fruits have formed explains why the plant was named Knotted Hedge-parsley. The fruits have mericarps with spines minutely hooked on the outer surface whilst tubercles adorn the inner one.

Daucus carota subsp. carota

Wild Carrot

Wild Carrot has a white, non-swollen tap root; it has an erect stem with rather upright branches bearing variable, green, slightly hairy, fern-like foliage; the pinnate bracts make a conspicuous collar under the umbels; the rays of the umbels curve upward to create a concave fruiting umbel after flowering.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31

35 19

It grows on arable and barish ground mainly near the coast. In vc 35 it favours the sea wall or banks of reens, and is found fairly close to the Severn. 12 t

18 31

301

Flora of Monmouthshire Wild Carrot grows on established grassland mostly on calcareous soils, especially near the coast. In vc 35 it is frequent on the Levels, on the turf above Carboniferous Limestone and along roads and rivers in such areas. 119 t

Centaurium pulchellum

Lesser Centaury

Similar to C. erythraea but it is usually an annual and lacks a basal leaf-rosette; the flowers have 1-4 mm stalks between the base of the calyx and the bracts and 2-4 mm corolla-lobes. 23

GENTIANACEAE Gentian family Family members are glabrous herbs with simple, entire, opposite leaves lacking stipules; They have actinomorphic, bisexual flowers that are in terminal cymes or may be solitary; the usually 4 or 5 sepals are fused to some extent; there are usually 4-5 petals, which are fused into a corolla tube; stamens match the petals in number, and are carried on the corolla tube; the fruit is a dehiscing capsule.

CENTAURIUM Centauries The flower parts are in 5s; the keeled, linear calyxlobes are longer than the calyx-tube; the corolla is pink or white and the anthers become twisted after they dehisce.

Centaurium erythraea

It grows along woodland rides, in damp grass or on bare ground often near the coast. In vc 35 it is rare and infrequent in appearance and not persistent. Wade (1970) described it as a rare colonist and gave only one site: cultivated field, Llanolway, SO/43.03. More recent records are: numerous plants on path through marsh, by timber importer shed, Newport Docks, ST/31.84, 1977-79, TGE, CT; c. 1000 plants on 500 m of clayey track, Upper Tal-y-coed Wood, SO/415.161- 415.163, 2002, TGE, 3 plants only, 2003, TGE; 15-25 plants, roadside bank, near revetment 840, MOD, Caerwent, ST/467.918, 2004; c. 1000 plants, both sides of FC track for 300m, Wentwood, W of Bicca, ST/436.944, 2005, both CT; 25-50 plants, dried out mud, NW end of Treowen Pond, SO/46.10, 2005, HVC; c. 300 plants in 2 sites, Kings Wood, SO/479.128, 2006, SJT, 20-30 plants, shallow W end of quarry, Minnetts Wood, ST/449.894, 2006, CT. 7 t (2 t) Plate 144 site

Common Centaury

This is an erect biennial with a basal leaf-rosette at flowering time; there are 1-2 bracts at the base of the calyx; the calyx is less than ¾ as long as the corolla-tube; the usually pink flowers are congested at the head of the stem on stalks 0-1 mm long; the corolla-lobes are 4.5-6 mm. 23

BLACKSTONIA Yellow-wort These are annuals with yellow flower parts in 68s; the calyx is divided almost to the base with linear, flat lobes; anthers are not twisted.

18 31

Blackstonia perfoliata This plant requires well-drained soil among grass or on bare places. In vc 35 it is less common in upland areas but nowhere does it form dense colonies. 221 t

Yellow-wort

It is a glaucous herb with erect stems; the pairs of triangular-ovate stem-leaves are fused at the base around the stem; the 5-10 mm corolla-lobes are longer than the tube. 302

Flora of Monmouthshire yard. Colin Titcombe and I have had several searches in the area, without success, because this is probably the site that was mentioned several times above. (5 t)

Blackstonia perfoliata 23

Gentianella amarella subsp. amarella Autumn Gentian

This is similar to G. campestris but it usually has a basal leaf-rosette, the usually 16-18 mm flowers are a dull purplish or blue colour but may be pink or white, with usually 5 lobes, 4-7 mm long; the calyx is more than half as long as the corolla and its lobes are about the same width as each other.

18 31

35 23

It grows on calcareous substrates and dunes. In vc 35 it is common on the Carboniferous Limestone in the SE and NE and infrequent in the west. 60 t Plate 59

GENTIANELLA Gentians Gentians are annuals or biennials with flower parts in 4s or 5s; the corolla is blue or purplish; the lobes either have fringed margins or similar features on at their bases on the inner surface.

Gentianella campestris

Field Gentian

This is a rather short, erect annual or biennial with little-branched stem bearing oval leaves which are smaller at the base and often shrivelling by the time of flowering; the 15-25 mm long pale blue or white flowers have four 611 mm lobes and a cylindrical corolla-tube, and a calyx, which is less than half as long as the corolla, with 2 wide lobes and 2 narrower ones. It grows in grassland and dunes. There has been only one doubtful record (1977) since the first half of the twentieth century and it is probably extinct in the vice-county. All records were in grassland: Wade (1970) described it as a rare native at Cwm Bychel, SO/28.27, 1885, EG; Catbrook, SO/5.0B, *, AL, before 1951, SGC; Severn Tunnel Junction; Portskewett, SH (1909); near Broadstone, Tintern, ?SO/50.03, WAS (1920). In Flowering Plants of Wales (Ellis 1983), there is only 1 post 1930 record expressed simply as ST/5.1 and pre-1930, SO/5.0, SO/2.2 and ST/1.8 which could be either vc 35 or 42 and vc 35 or 41 respectively; ST/4.8 and ST/5.8. My only record is ?pasture, near Severn Tunnel Junction, ST/462.875, 1977, MWa. This latter site appears to be among the old rail tracks, an area much disturbed since the closure of the shunting

It grows on mainly calcareous grassland, open woodland and dunes. It is uncommon in the vicecounty: on Carboniferous Limestone, Pwll-du, Carreg Gywir, 1972, TGE, 1988, RB; 40-50 plants, stony, woodland path, the Minnetts, Rogiet, ST/449.892, 1971, TGE, CT; 1-10 plants, short, calcareous turf, 270-310 m, Mynydd Machen ST/234.896, 1991, JW; quarry edge, Danygraig, ST/235.907, 1991; quarry, S of Risca, Ochrwyth, ST/233.897, 1992, both JFH; 100s of plants, forestry track edge, Minnetts-Ifton Great Woods, ST/45.89, 1993-97, TGE, UTE; abundant around quarry, Pwll-du, SO/25.11, 1986, TGE, RF; 20-30 plants, floor, base of quarry face, Pwll-du, SO/251.116, 2003, TGE, CT; near path around steep coal waste, below field centre building, Pwlldu, SO/246.117, 2003, TGE, CT. 5 t APOCYNACEAE Periwinkle family Members of this family are somewhat woody perennials bearing simple, entire, opposite, evergreen leaves, shortly petiolate and lacking stipules; the actinomorphic, bisexual flowers are 303

Flora of Monmouthshire solitary in the leaf axils; there are 5 sepals fused at the base and 5 blue, rarely white, petals fused into a corolla tube, 5 corolla-inserted stamens; 2 free ovaries with 1 style but the normal 2 follicles are seldom produced in Britain.

VINCA Periwinkles These are creeping shrubs with flowers solitary in the leaf axils; stamens with broadly triangular, hairy connective flaps; styles united into a column and enlarged at the top with a plume of white hairs.

! Vinca major

Greater Periwinkle

Plants with the margins of their leaves and calyxlobes minutely pubescent are Vinca major. The ovate 25-90 mm leaves, the blue-purplish corolla-lobes 7-17 mm long, the corolla-tube 1215 mm long and 3-5 cm long corolla limb constitute diagnostic features.

SOLANACEAE Nightshade family These are herbs or shrubs with simple or pinnate leaves lacking stipules and usually alternate; the 5-part, actinomorphic or only somewhat zygomorphic, bisexual flowers are borne solitary or in axillary or terminal clusters; petals are basally fused and the stamens are attached to the corolla-tube; the fruit is a berry or capsule.

NICANDRA Apple-of-Peru These are glabrous annuals with simple, lobed leaves; the solitary flowers are axillary; the calyx is deeply 5-lobed, enlarging in fruit; the shallowlylobed corolla is bell-shaped and the fruit is a dryish berry.

! Nicandra physalodes

Introduced from the Mediterranean it has escaped from gardens into nearby hedges, open scrub, woods and waste ground. In vc 35 it is recorded mainly near human habitation in the eastern half. 70 t

Arc. Vinca minor

Apple-of-Peru

This is a foetid annual that may form quite a bushy plant to 2 m high; the alternate leaves are simple with lobed and toothed outline; the lilac to bluish, bell-shaped flowers 2-4 cm long are solitary in the axils of the upper leaves; the winged calyx is green or black tinged, greatly enlarges, though the brown, globose berry is never completely enclosed. Introduced from Peru and an element in birdseed or in wool shoddy, it has become an occasional casual in gardens or waste ground. In vc 35 it was mainly a casual in gardens where wild birdseed was used, though seed sold in garden centres for these poisonous, ornamental plants is beginning to confuse the issue. The first record was a plant on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, 1975, TGE;, *; 2 plants on a slurry heap, Trecastle Farm, reported by the owner and det. TGE; Penyclawdd, SO/45.07, 1982, MF, RTy; 1 plant soil heap, near footpath, Drybridge Park, Monmouth, SO/500.129, 1999, DTP; 1 plant in

Lesser Periwinkle

Plants lacking pubescence on the margins of leaves and calyx-lobes are Vinca minor. It is similar to V. major but smaller in all parts and is hairless. It has 15-45 mm leaves, 9-11 mm corolla-tube, 3-4 mm corolla-lobes and a corollalimb 25-30 mm long. Probably introduced from mainland Europe but now naturalised mainly in woodland and hedgerows. In vc 35 there are some large colonies in woodland and not all of them near large old houses. 38 t 304

Flora of Monmouthshire garden border, Newton Green, Mathern, ST/518.917, 2003, KCJ, TGE; 1 plant in bed of shrubs/herbs, Walnut Tree Cottage, ST/3842.0508, 2004, GSH. 4 t (2 t)

shiny-black berry lies in a persistent, starry calyx. All parts are poisonous. It grows in shady woods and on path sides, in rocky terrain, often on calcareous substrates. Never common in the vice-county, it occurs most often in the two limestone regions of the Lower Wye Valley. It has now become rare partly because some over-safety-conscious people destroy it because of its tempting but poisonous berries and partly because young plantations of deciduous woods are allowed to grow more dense for too long a period before they are thinned out. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 8 sites for it, viz. Near Hadnock, SO/5.1H;, *; between May Hill Station and Dixton, SO/5.1B, *; Lady Park Wood, SO/5.1M; Redding’s Inclosure, SO/5.1M, *, all SGC; Staunton Road, near Monmouth, SO/5.1G, 1944, RL; Live Oaks Quarry, ST/54.97, WRP; Blackcliff, ST/53.98, WAS; below Wyndcliff, ST/5.9, I, Miss W More recent records are: cliff ledge and tumbled rocks, below Wyndcliff, ST/530.974, 1982-85, TGE; 2 plants, N side of road into Liveoaks Quarry, ST/537.978, 1985, TGE; track edge, between Lady Park Wood and R. Wye, SO/547.149, 1986, TGE, UTE; forestry track, Lady Park Wood, SO/541.142, 1992, BJG; 1 immature plant, S side of track, under Lady Park Wood, SO/547.148, 2001, TGE, TCGR; 1 plant flowering, S side of track nr Biblins, SO/5473.1451, 2003, TGE; 2 plants, outcrop 50 m NE of Far Hearkening Rock, SO/5417.1507, 2005, TCGR. 1 t (6 t)

LYCIUM Teaplants Teaplants are prickly, arching shrubs that shed their simple, entire leaves; the flowers are axillary in very small groups; the calyx is an irregularly, 2lipped cup which hardly grips the fruit; the corolla is funnel-shaped; the fruit is a berry.

! Lycium barbarum Duke-of-Argyll’s Teaplant This is a slightly spiny, deciduous shrub with down-curved branches bearing alternately or in clusters, narrow, elliptic leaves; the purple c. 1 cm, trumpet-shaped flowers turn brown and have protruding stamens; the rather ovoid fruit is a red berry attractive to birds. 23

HYOCYAMUS Henbane Henbanes are unpleasant smelling, glandularhaired biennials with simple, toothed or lobed leaves; the solitary flowers occur in two rows on one side of the stem in the axils of the upper leaves; the funnel-shaped 5-lobed calyx becomes flask-shaped with a bulbous base that encloses the fruit; the funnel-shaped corolla has 5 distinct lobes; the fruit is a capsule that dehisces by a detachable lid.

18 31

Introduced from China as a coastal hedging plant. It occurs in vc 35 in 5 hedges near the Severn but is also in scattered inland sites as well. 17 t ATROPA Deadly Nightshade They range from glabrous to glandular-hairy perennials with simple, entire leaves; the 5-lobed calyx enlarges, but not to hide the slightlyflattened, globose, shiny-black berry; the bellshaped corolla is shortly lobed.

Atropa belladonna

Arc. Hyoscyamus niger

Henbane

Henbane is a stout, bushy plant to 50-80 cm; with an unpleasant smell and purple-veined, tanyellow, trumpet-shaped, 2-3 cm across flowers; in the autumn, the brownish fruits are borne on one side, in two lines, on one side of the curved branched spikes at the top of the plant quite distinctively held above the shrivelled leaves. All parts are poisonous.

Deadly Nightshade

These may form large herbaceous bushes to over 1 m high with ovate to elliptic, pointed leaves; the brownish-violet, nodding, bell-shaped flowers are 2-3 cm long and are borne solitary in the axils of the upper leaves; the large globose, 305

Flora of Monmouthshire Henbane grows on barish ground near the coast or on rich, light soil, near farm buildings or on waste land. Wade (1970) described it as a rare alien (it is native in Britain) and gave eight sites: Abergavenny, ?SO/2.1X, *, 1929, TLW; Llwyna Farm, Llantrisant, ST/39.95, c. 1945, HOG; Chepstow Road, near Christchurch, ST/3.8P; about Chepstow, ?ST/5.9G, 1868, EL; near the R. Severn, Rumney, ST/2.7I, SH (1909); sea wall, Peterstone, Wentloog, ST/2.7U; 1943, JWa; St Brides, Wentloog, 1955, JDD; leafy rosette only, sandy/stony, upper shore Sudbrook, ST/502.873, 1968, TGE. In vc 35 its occurrence is probably at one site only now. Derek Upton, an authority on many aspects of the Severn Estuary through many years of studying it, recounts how a bloated dead bull was washed up in 1989 on to the shore at the mouth of the Goldcliff Pill. On a re-visit to the site in 1990 he found numerous rosettes of Henbane dotted around the now very much decayed carcass. As Henbane was new to the site it poses the question what was the origin of the plant and what part did it play in the bull’s death? The plant numbers have waxed and waned to the present day (64 plants, 1996, MJ, TGE; still there 2004) on this rather gravelly soil and neighbouring rough grassland. Other more recent records are: rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1976-77, TGE, CT; Forestry Commission track Rogiet, ST/450.888, 1979, TDP, JDP; many rosettes (none persisting to flowering) under sea wall, N of Goldcliff Pill, ST/361.825, 1980s, TGE, CT. 2 t (10) Plate 58 & Site Plate 57

especially after being ‘stratified’ in the human gut and so form large colonies at sewage works and on stream margins or on gravelly islands. In vc 35 it grows in scattered sites affected by human activity. It grew on rubbish tips on the edge of Piercefield Park, ST/52.94, 1970; Level of Mendalgief, Newport ST/30.85, 1973-80; foreshore, near a broken sewer pipe, Hunger Pill, ST/539.910, 1996, all TGE; on spoil heaps, Goldcliff Pill, ST/363.826, 1996 MJ; at sewage works at Abergavenny and Newport; on the gravelly margins or islands in the R. Usk, Afon Llwyd, are just a few examples. 27 t

SOLANUM Nightshades These are herbs or shrubs with leaves either simple and entire or pinnate; the flowers are solitary or in axillary or leaf-opposed cymes; the usually deeplobed calyx is star- to cup-shaped; the corolla is lobed and star-shaped; the fruit may be a succulent or dry berry.

Solanum nigrum subsp. nigrum Black Nightshade Usually a rather low-growing annual with oval, slightly lobed leaves that are blackish; the flowers are in clusters; the calyx less than half the length of the petals is bluntly-lobed; the starry white flowers with yellow, upright, appressed stamens are in clusters of 5-10; poisonous fruits ripen from green to black to up to 1 cm succulent globes. 23

LYCOPERSICON Tomato Tomatoes are glandularly-hairy annuals with pinnate leaves of varying sizes; the drooping flowers are in leaf-opposed cymes; there is a deeply-lobed star-shaped calyx; the corolla is also star-shaped; the fruit is the familiar globose berry.

! Lycopersicon esculentum

Tomato

Tomatoes can vary from erect to scrambling plants especially when weighed down by 2-10 cm across red to orange fruits; the 5-6 mm yellow petals have darker midribs and reflexed tips; the petals alternating with the sepals form a double star c. 2 cm across. Introduced from C. and S America to provide salad crops. The seeds of ripened crops are very fertile

18 31

It grows on waste and cultivated ground and often survives well at the edges and sometimes amid such crops as maize. In vc 35 it is common on the Levels and scattered mainly in the lowland. 156 t 306

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 26 Solanum rostratum

307

Buffalo-bur

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Solanum villosum

produce plants the following year. Though not frequent, most years a plant will be recorded somewhere as a casual. 16 t (1 t)

Red Nightshade

It is similar to S. nigrum but has yellow to red fruits in clusters of 3-5. It is an infrequent casual where wool shoddy, birdseed or oilseed is used. The only vice-county record is along the edge of a maize crop near Manor House Farm, Rogiet, ST/457.876, 1992, TGE, *. 1 t

Solanum dulcamara

! Solanum rostratum

Buffalo-bur

This is a plant covered with golden spines, they are all over the stem, with some fine spine-like acicles; the leaves are very irregularly and deeply lobed and have scattered spines on the underside veins; the c. 15 mm, yellow flowers produce fruits covered by a persistent calyx, which in turn is covered with bristles that enlarge into a dense mass of long spines. An introduction from N America in wool shoddy, birdseed and other sources, it finds its way on to tips, arable fields and waste places. In the vicecounty it has occurred twice: 1 plant, the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1975; 1 plant, ST/30.86, 1982, both TGE, det. EJC. (2 t) Figure 26

Bittersweet

This is a perennial scrambling to varying heights by climbing on surrounding plants, because only the stem bases are woody; its leaves range from lanceolate to a three-part leaf with a large terminal lobe arising from two small basal ones; the star-shaped, deep purple flowers with 5 reflexed lobes and have erect, appressed, pale yellow anthers in clusters of 10-25; the fruits are egg-shaped and ripen to red, succulent berries. All parts are poisonous.

DATURA Thorn-apples These usually glabrous annuals grow to over a metre tall with thick, branched stems; the simple, coarsely-toothed or lobed leaves are shiny; the solitary flowers are axillary; the narrowlytubular calyx has 5 short teeth; the lobed corolla is trumpet-shaped; the fruit is a spiny capsule splitting by 4 thick-walled valves.

! Datura stramonium 19

18 31

It grows in a variety of damp habitats. In the vicecounty it is widespread in hedges, woods, ditches and streamsides. 369 t

! Solanum tuberosum

Thorn-apple

This is a 1.5 m tall, glabrous, well-branched, thick-stemmed annual with largish, bluntly-lobed, shiny leaves; it has erect, 5-10 cm long, narrow, trumpet-shaped, white or purple flowers, solitary in the axils of the upper leaves and sometimes in the fork of the stem; the ribbed calyx is half the length of the corolla; the fruit is a spiny, 4-7 cm, walnut shaped capsule, splitting to reveal dark brown to black seeds. It grows on bare and cultivated or waste ground. In the vice-county several occurrences are reported in some years but there may be intervals of several years between reports. Described as a rare casual, Wade (1970) gave 6 sites: the Kymin, Monmouth; Chippenham, SGC; Raglan Castle, EHW; Michaelstone y Vedw, 1953, LEH; Portskewett, WAS; Marshfield, *, EV. Recent records are: 3 in fruit, lake side, St Pierre, ST/51.90, 1974; waste ground, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, 1975; garden, Llanbadoc, ST/36.98, 1979 (var. tatula); garden, Gwern-ddu, ST/40.97, 1984, all TGE, CT; farm rubbish heap, Gwehelog,

Potato

This is a herbaceous perennial with stems ending in subterranean, swollen tubers, which when exposed to light turn green and become poisonous; its pinnate leaves of varying-sized leaflets die off in British winters; the star-shaped corolla is white, purple or mauve; the green to purplish, globose fruits are also poisonous; the tubers are the only parts that perennate. It was introduced from S America to become a staple food for the poor in Europe. Its tubers turn up on tips, some remain in the fields, missed during the harvest, some fall off the over-laden carts so 308

Flora of Monmouthshire SO/383.044, 1989; farm garden weed, Llanarth, SO/386.124, 1989, both DEL; a weed of vegetable garden, La Cuesta, Chepstow, ST/53.92, 19802004, TGE; 1 plant, waste ground, Sunnybank Farm, Devauden, SO/4821.0004, 2006, KR. 7 t (2 t) Plate 60

6 cm long; the 10-25 mm, white, pink or pink and white striped corolla is very shallowly lobed. It is a lowland plant of cultivated ground, short grassland and waysides. It is common in vc 35 on undisturbed verges especially. It is infrequent on the western and northern upland. 257 t Plate 63

! Datura ferox

CALYSTEGIA Bindweeds These perennials produce white rhizomes from which grow trailing and climbing stems that bear large triangular, sagittate-based or roundish, kidney-shaped leaves; the axillary, solitary flowers usually have two, ovate or saccate bracts that wholly or partly hide the calyx; the trumpet-shaped corolla is usually very shallowly lobed and greatly exceeds the calyx; the fruit is globose. They flower in late summer.

Angel’s-trumpets

It is similar to D. stramonium in general size and structure, but has shorter calyx teeth, a shorter, white corolla, the fruit has fewer but stouter spines with wider bases. It is a wool or bird seed alien on tips, arable fields and gardens. In vc 35 in 2001 it was reported from 2 gardens and in a field among a crop: 1 large plant, garden bed, liberally treated with farm manure in 2000, Newton Green, Mathern, ST/518.918, KCJ, TGE; 2 plants, 2006; many plants in crop, Pwllmeyric, ST/517.922, RH; 1 large plant, growing in garden near a wild bird feeding station, Llancwm, Llanvair Discoed, CWT, TGE, CT. 2 t Plate 61

Calystegia sepium subsp. sepium Hedge Bindweed This has glabrous stems, petioles and pedicels and paired bracts that are 2-4.5 cm wide, not or slightly overlapping but exposing the sepals; the trumpet-shaped, white corolla is 3-6 cm usually unlobed.

CONVOLVULUS Field Bindweed In Britain it is a deep-rooted perennial with rhizomes and trailing and climbing stems; its leaves are usually triangular with hastate or sagittate bases; the axillary flowers are usually solitary and have a pair of linear bracts nearly half way along the pedicel; the broadly trumpet-shaped corolla dwarfs the calyx; the fruit is a globular capsule.

Convolvulus arvensis

Field Bindweed

18 31

It grows in various habitats from hedges, ditches, watery places to waste ground. In vc 35 this is the commonest Calystegia. 345 t

C. sepium forma schizocarpa This has the corolla deeply 5-lobed. 1t

18 31

C. sepium subsp. sepium forma colorata

It differs in having a white corolla with pink stripes. It was recorded in a ditch, N side of Church Lane, NW of church entrance, Marshfield, ST/261.825, 1994, GH. 1 t

The need to climb might see the plants reach 1 metre or more in height in scrub or up fences but on verges it is usually quite short; the leaves are 2309

Flora of Monmouthshire

Calystegia sepium subsp. roseata

It differs in its stems, petioles and pedicels are sparsely shortly pubescent and has a 4-5.5 cm white with a 5-pink-striped corolla. It has been recorded: at lower entrance to NNR Coed Wen, Penhow, ST/415.897, 1992, JFH; in hedge W of Llanhennock, ST/345.925, 1997, GH. 2t

! Calystegia pulchra

Hairy Bindweed

This is similar to C. sepium but it has stems, petioles and narrow, wavy-winged sparsely and shortly pubescent petioles; the 5-7.5 cm corolla is pink or white with pink stripes; the bracts are pouched and strongly overlapping. It has been suggested that it is a hybrid because it is not highly fertile and because it shares the pubescence of some subspecies of C. sepium.

18 31

It is naturalised in hedges and rough, waste ground. It is more concentrated in the southern half of vc 35 and scattered elsewhere, but infrequent on high ground. 144 t

CUSCUTACEAE Dodder family Dodders are rootless, chlorophyll-lacking parasites that twine around their hosts attaching themselves to and extracting nutrients via thread-like stems attached to haustoria; the scale-like, sessile leaves lacking stipules are alternate; the tiny, actinomorphic, bisexual flowers are in dense, globose heads; there are 4-5, basally-fused sepals, 4-5 petals fused into a tube and 4-5, corolla tube-borne stamens subtended by tiny scales; the fruit is a capsule dehiscing transversely.

18 31

Cuscuta epithymum

Dodder

It is naturalised in hedges and on rough waste ground. The 7 sites in vc 35 are: back lane by River Ebbw and houses, Cwm, SO/182.055, 1987; hedge, Rhymney, SO/11.07, 1988; NE of Sirhowy, SO/15.10, 1988, all TGE; side of new road, Blaina, SO/201.073, 1988, RF; roadside, Tredegar, SO/14.09, 1989, TGE; roadside bank, Winchestown, SO/191.103, 1989, TGE, RF; roadside, E of church, Pant-du, SO/207.016, 1996, PPA, TPB, TGE. 9 t

This has thin, reddish stems, flower parts in 5s; the sepals are acute and the stamens exserted. The styles plus elongate stigmas are usually longer than the ovaries and the flower clusters 510 mm across, and corolla-tube scales below the stamens often reach them. It is mainly parasitic on Gorse and Heather but can spread to and utilise other heathland plants. There is only a single record for vc 35 in Wade (1970): near Rogiet, *, 1942, JCE. (1 t)

! Calystegia silvatica

! Cuscuta epilinum

Large Bindweed

Flax Dodder

This is similar to C. epithymum but differs in that the styles plus stigmas are shorter than the ovary and the corolla-tube scales do not reach the stamens. Cuscuta epilinum is parasitic on Linum usitatissimum but is now extinct in Britain. The

This glabrous climber has bracts strongly saccate and overlapping so that the sepals are hidden; the 6-9 cm, trumpet-shaped corolla is white but sometimes striped pink on the outside only, rarely it is lobed.

310

Flora of Monmouthshire only vc 35 record (Wade 1970) was on flax, Cefnila Farm, near Usk, SO/36.00, 1868, JHC. (1 t)

! Cuscuta suaveolens

Llanusk; all JHC; Castell-y-bwch, *; The Glyn, Itton; Coedcae, Shirenewton, *, all WAS; bog, large colony, Llwyn-y-Celyn, ST/479.941, 19722005), TGE. More recent records are: bog near Triley Court Pond, SO/30.17, 1985, Ty’r Morwydd staff; boggy path, edge of trees, S end of Henllys Fen, ST/26.92, 1985, TGE; bog, near Pont-y-spig, SO/287.208, 1987, TGE, MP; boggy meadow, Upper Cwm Farm, SO/254.125, 1987, RF; boggy meadow, The Malps, SO/275.102, 1988, RF; boggy meadow, SE of Beaufort School, SO/182.115, RF; flush, Nant Gwyhay, SO/191.002, 1990; valley mire, over 100 plants, wet heath, 260270 m, Ty’r Sais and Nant Gwrhay, SO/190.001, 1991, CM, JPW; Rhyd Lanau, SO/293.202, 1991, both SK; pond, Penpergwm, SO/326.098, 19722004, TGE; pond, Llantarnam, ST/304.928, 1998, AW, EGW. 20 t

Medick Clover

This is similar to C. epithymum but its flowers are in lax, racemose-paniculate inflorescences with some pedicels as long as the flowers; the calyx lobes are triangular-ovate, the corolla lobes are erect, the stigma is capitate and the corolla is persistent, surrounding the globose to ovoid capsule. It is an extremely rare casual on cultivated Medicks and Clovers especially. The only record for vc 35 was given in Wade (1970) on Antirrhinum majus, Glansychan Park, Abersychan, 1847, JWB. (1 t) MENYANTHACEAE Bogbean family These are aquatic or semi-aquatic perennial herbs with alternate leaves; the 5-part flowers have calyces lobed nearly to the base; the petals are fused at the base and fringed around the edge and also hairy on the inner surface; the fruit is a globular to ovoid capsule.

Menyanthes trifoliata

NYMPHOIDES Fringed Water-lily These have simple, alternate leaves on vegetative stems but opposite leaves on flowering ones and both are cordate and floating; the actinomorphic, yellow flowers are axillary and the petals are fringed around the margins; there are pin- and thrum-eyed versions as in Primula.

Bogbean

This is a semi-aquatic perennial with sturdy runners from which arise long-petioled, vertical, ternate leaves with entire, ovate leaflets; the 1416 mm fringed, starry flowers are pink outside and white inside and are borne in erect clusters.

! Nymphoides peltata

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Fringed Water-lily

This aquatic perennial spreads over pond surfaces by long, creeping stems; the 12 x 10 cm round, floating leaves are split to the centre where they are attached to the petiole; the upper surface of the blade is green often with purple blotches and the lower one purple; the yellow flowers are 3-4 cm across with fringed margins are held just above the surface. It grows in still or slow-moving fresh water. It quickly becomes naturalised when introduced in ponds, lakes etc. It is not mentioned in Wade (1970) and I have only met with it in vc 35 in the last 15 years, and it not native here. The first record was in South Row Reen, Redwick, ST/400.835, 1987, WS (it had not been seen in that reen before, despite previous visits); several patches, Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, S of Bettws Lane Bridge, No 27, ST/3007.8970, 2002; several patches, edge of Fishing Pool, near Bettws Leisure Centre, ST/299.899, 2002; widespread, Liswerry Lake, ST/341.876, 2002, last 3 records TGE. 4 t

It grows in shallow ponds, and fens and bogs where there is a considerable amount of surface water. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 14 sites: Grwyne Fawr Valley; near Pont-y-spig, both AL; near Penpergwm Station, RWR; base of Coalpit Hill, Fforest, SGC; Llanfoist; Abersychan, SH; near Brynmawr; near Bettws; Llangybi; 311

Flora of Monmouthshire POLEMONIACEAE Jacob’s-ladder family These perennial herbs have opposite, simple leaves or alternate, pinnate ones, and lack stipules; the actinomorphic flowers are in terminal clusters, have parts in 5s, the base of the sepals are fused into a tube, the white to purple or blue petals are likewise fused, the stamens are borne inside the corolla-tube; the fruit is a capsule opening by 3 valves.

BORAGINACEAE Borage family These are bristly herbs with more or less simple, entire leaves arranged alternately on the stem; stipules are absent; the bisexual flowers may be actinomorphic or slightly zygomorphic and are often arranged in spiralling cymes; the flower parts are in 5s, the sepals are fused into a tube with 5 lobes or teeth, the petals are also fused into a tube with 5 blue or pink lobes, often with a scale, hair tuft or swelling in the tube mouth; the stamens are mounted in the corolla tube; the fruit is a schizocarp, a cluster of four, 1-seeded nutlets.

POLEMONIUM Jacob’s-ladder It has petiolate, pinnate leaves with 5-15 pairs of entire leaflets; the corolla-lobes exceed the length of the tube; the stamens are exserted and the base of the filaments are hairy.

! Polemonium caeruleum

LITHOSPERMUM Gromwells These are hairy or bristly herbs with lanceolate to narrowly-elliptic leaves; the flowers are solitary in the leaf axils, somewhat clustered when flowering separating into fruit; the calyx has 5 separate sepals; the purplish-blue or white to yellowish, actinomorphic corolla is composed of a lower tube with 5 lobes around the rim; the equal stamens are included in the corolla-tube as is the style; the nutlets may be smooth or warty.

Jacob’s-ladder

An erect herb with blue flowers, only occasionally white. Native in N England on limestone grassland, screes, rock ledges and wood margins. Records in vc 35 are: an escape, Ancre Hill, Monmouth, SO/503.136, 1992; escape, disturbed ground, Monmouth, SO/527.153, 1992, both BRG; rear end Res. Station, Cleppa Park, ST/278.848, 1994, GH; margin of St. Pierre Golf Course, ST/51.91, 1995. JDRV. 7 t

Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum Purple Gromwell This perennial spreads by rhizomes and has long sterile trailing branches interspersed with erect flowering stems; the 11-16 mm corolla is purplishblue; the nutlets are a smooth, shiny, white. It grows on calcareous substrates in scrub and wood margins and is a rare plant in Britain. In vc 35 it was on a wood border, at Carrow Hill, ST/43.89 seen by JCE in May and by AEW in June 1944. Changes in forestry and farming practices since the 1939-45 war brought about its extinction. Colin Titcombe and I searched the site unsuccessfully in the 1970s. (1 t)

HYDROPHYLLACEAE Phacelia family These are annuals with alternate, pinnate-lobes; the bisexual, actinomorphic flowers are in spiralled clusters; the flower parts are in 5s, only the petals are fused into a tube with 5 short lobes at the apex; the fruit is a two-valved capsule bearing a deeplydivided style.

! Phacelia tanacetifolia

Phacelia

Phacelia is a tallish, very hairy, branched annual with its leaves irregularly-lobed from base to tip or pinnate with lobed and toothed leaflets; the 69 mm mauvy-blue flowers are clustered in a spiralled-coil and bear prominent stamens with long filaments. It has been accidentally introduced from the west of N America in imported seed, or planted as a food plant for bees or for ornament in gardens. Vc 35 records are: c. 10 plants, waste ground, Horsington Yard, Abergavenny, SO/29.14, 199091, RF det. AJA; 1 plant in meadow grass, Greenacres, Mitchell Troy, SO/49.10, 1996, LMW; c. 300 plants, in 25 m strip of land across a field, E of Gwern-eiddy, S of Raglan, SO/415.061 to 417.062, 1996, JRDV. 3 t.

Lithospermum officinale Common Gromwell It is a tallish, tufted, hairy perennial with upright stems, branched about and above halfway; the pointed leaves are lanceolate and have noticeable veins on the lower side, only the lower ones are stalked; the creamy or whitish, funnel-shaped flowers are 4-6 mm long and occur in small numbers at the head of branches; the fruits are shiny, white nutlets. It grows in woodland margins, tracksides and scrub. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent on the limestone, very rare on Old Red Sandstone and gave these sites: Lady Park Wood; near Hadnock Quarry, *; between Monmouth and 312

Flora of Monmouthshire Hadnock, *; near Pandy, *, all SGC; between Usk and Llanllowell, JHC; near Wyndcliff, FAL, AEW; Portskewett; Shirenewton; near Chepstow, *, these 3 WAS; Llandogo, *, HR; between Undy and Rogiet, Rowlands (in Wade 2 Rowland are listed but no Rowlands); The Minnetts, *, JCE, AEW; Carrow Hill; Rogiet.

the 3 records in Wade (1970) are over 50 years old; these were Cefnila, near Usk, SO/36.00, 19th Century, JHC; Kymin Hill, Monmouth, *, SO/52.12, to 1951, SGC; Newport Docks, ST/3.8?C, to 1953, JMa. (3 t) ECHIUM Viper’s-bugloss These bristly, usually biennial herbs have ovate lower leaves and lanceolate to oblanceolate upper leaves; the flowers are in terminal and lateral narrow panicles; the calyx has sepals joined only at the base; the pink, purple or blue zygomorphic corolla has a tube shorter than its unequal lobes; some of the unequal stamens are exserted, the apex of the bifid style is exserted also; the warty to ridged nutlets sit on a collar-like base.

Echium vulgare

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Viper’s-bugloss

This is a bristly biennial with a single or several stems; the stalked leaves are elliptical or lanceolate, becoming narrower and sessile up the plant; the 15-20 mm, tubular flowers with 5 lobes opens obliquely, they are pink in bud but open to a pale to dark blue colour and form branched, coiled cymes; the stamens are long and exserted; the fruit is hidden in the persistent calyx.

More recent records for L. officinale: trackside, The Minnetts, ST/44.89, 1975-2004; Burness Castle Quarry, ST/46.88, 1982, TGE; trackside Thicket Wood, ST/44.88, 1989; trackside, Slade Wood, ST/45.89, 1989, all TGE, CT; 1990-1, JDRV; near earth mound, deposited when the Severn Tunnel was excavated, Caldicot Pill, ST/49.87; roadside/Parson’s Wood, ST/49.91, both 1985, TGE, UTE; dumped soil, below Wyndcliff, ST/53.97, 1985, TGE; riverbank, Monument, Abergavenny, SO/284.144, 1986, RF; wall at May Hill, Monmouth, SO/515.126, 1986, RF; rough grassland, Llanmelin Fort, ST/46.92, JDRV, 1991, more than 10 plants, 1997, TGE; c. 10 plants, wood/meadow edge, E end of Lower Wyndcliff Wood, ST/533.972, 1994; track edge, Great Barnet’s Wood, ST/511.935, 1995; 2 plants, 2001 waste land, SE of Great Dinham, ST/483.919 to 484.918, 1996, four sites, TGE. 15 t

18 31

It grows in open, well-drained habitats, shingle being one of them. Wade (1970) described it as a very rare native and gave these 10 sites: Govilon; bank of R. Monnow above Pandy; at Monmouth Gap, *, all SGC; bank of R. Monnow, opposite Kentchurch, 1944, RL; Pontypool, THT; Newport, JHC; Usk, BMF; near Rogiet, *, WAS; railway bank, Severn Tunnel, JCE; Portskewett, TGE. More recent records are: waste ground, Llanwern, ST/355.873, 1972, ST/38.86, 1981, CT; 20 plants, R. Monnow bank, Llancilio, SO/377.252, 1980,

Arc. Lithospermum arvense Field Gromwell This is an erect, bristly, annual which has solitary stems that branch little, strap-like leaves with indistinct side veins; the 5-9 mm flowers are creamy-white, though the corolla-tube may be bluish, and they are borne in terminal cymes that elongate when the 4 shiny, white nutlets develop from the flowers. It frequents arable fields, open grassy sites and rough waste ground. It is probably now extinct as 313

Flora of Monmouthshire SJT; roadside/Longditch Wood, Llanwern, ST/37.87, 1986; R. Monnow gravel, near Pentwyn, SO/376.252, 1987; 1 plant, near R. Rhymney, Rumney, ST/208.799, 1989, all 3 TGE, UTE; garden weed, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1987, TGE; 100s of plants, waste ground, E of Severn Tunnel Junction, ST/468.876, 1996, TGE, CT, DJU; 400+ plants, Newport Docks, ST/312.845, 1997; 5 plants behind sea wall, N of Goldcliff Pill, ST/363.826, 1996-97, MJ; Malpas bypass, E side A4042, ST/31.91, 1998, CT; several plants, gritty bank on waste ground, W of roundabout, Lamby, ST/219.783, 2000, TGE; 1 large plant, track edge, near River Sirhowy, The Rock, 2001-02, TGE; MOD Caerwent, ST/478.920, 2002, TGE; 15 spikes, half a kilometre W of Skenfrith, SO/456.203; 3-4 spikes, Skenfrith Castle Weir, SO/458.205, both 2002, SJT; 2 plants, R. Monnow bank, near Pentwyn, SO/3783.2522, 17 plants, SO/3787.2525, 1 plant, SO/3828.2531; 3 plants, SO/3872.2544; 4 plants, SO/3883.2554; 12 plants, SO/377.252, all 2002, TGE; 1 plant, edge of leat, N of castle, Skenfrith, SO/457.202, 2002, GSM. 17 t Plate 62

! Pulmonaria officinalis

Lungwort

A rather short, tufted, bristly, perennial herb with large, broadly-lanceolate, stalked basal leaves and smaller, sessile, half-clasping stem leaves; both have a pale-blotched upper surfaces, the hairs on the lower surfaces make them less noticeable; the terminal cymes are subtended by leafy bracts; the 13-18 mm corollas range from red in bud, to purple or blue; in the ‘eye’, 5 tufts of hairs alternate with the stamens. 23

! Echium rosulatum

Lax Viper’s-bugloss

This is similar to E. vulgare but has arching to ascending stems to 75 cm, a 11-20 mm pinkishviolet corolla with 3-4 stamens exserted; the lax inflorescence has leafy bracts longer than the calyx. A large patch of many rooted plants grew in a rough, waste area near a wooden shed in Barry Docks, where I saw it in 1980 and 1984; I transferred a small rooted piece to my garden in 1984 and it not only survived but has produced many offspring in different parts ever since. In 1985 when the docks site was revisited, the whole area had been cleared of all vegetation, the shed had vanished and the site was fenced and prepared for an industrial building. Unless it survives elsewhere, it became extinct then. 1 t

It favours shaded or semi-shaded habitats with rich, deep soils. It is scattered in vc 35, naturalised but not far from human habitation. 16 t SYMPHYTUM Comfreys Comfreys are bristly-haired, perennial herbs arising from creeping rhizomes to form close tufted colonies; the crowded flowers are in spiralled cymes; the corolla is narrowly, bell-shaped with small, triangular lobes, the included stamens alternate with 5 scales in the ‘eye’ of the tube; the style protrudes.

Symphytum officinale

Common Comfrey

This has strongly decurrent, stem-leaves that form wings extending to further than the internode below; the corolla is a dull, purple or creamy-white. It grows by walls, waysides, in fens and marshes and in rough ground. It is commoner in the eastern half of vc 35 and forms linear colonies by rivers and verges where disturbance is minimal. 178 t

PULMONARIA Lungworts Lungworts are slightly hairy, tufted perennials with lanceolate to ovate, basal leaves; the flowers are in terminal clusters; the calyx is shortly divided into pointed lobes; the actinomorphic, blue, red or purple corollas are ± equally divided between tube and the lobed part; there are pin and thrum-eyed kinds; the equal stamens are included in the tube; the fruits are smooth nutlets, only slightly hairy. 314

Flora of Monmouthshire of R. Usk, Little Hardwick Farm, Llanellen, SO/301.116, 1977, VAW, 1st vice-county record; 50 m both sides of hedge bank, A4293, IttonDevauden road, ST/482.975, 1981, PJ, SJT (it survives to the present time 2005 but how successfully depends on the vicissitudes of the hedge/wood management, TGE); near woodland path, the Pentre Farm, SO/284.159, 1988, RF. 3 t Plate 64

Symphytum officinale 23

! Symphytum grandiflorum Creeping Comfrey

This has unbranched stems to 40 cm, arising from rhizomes to form extensive colonies; the flowers open to a pale yellow often flushed reddish on the outer surface. Introduced from the Caucasus to provide floriferous ground cover in gardens and nearby woodland. In vc 35 the one record is by woodland stream, Whitebrook, SO/530.068, 1998, BJG, 1st vice-county record. 1 t

18 31

! Symphytum x uplandicumRussian Comfrey This S. officinale x S. asperum hybrid is similar to S. officinale but differs in that its parts are more bristly; its open corolla is blue to violet or purplish; its leaves are shortly decurrent or clasping. S. asperum has deep blue flowers but is not present in vc 35.

ANCHUSA Alkanets Alkanets are usually rather bristly herbs with lanceolate, shortly-petiolate or sessile leaves; the flowers are in terminal or lateral cymes; the calyx is varyingly divided; the corolla is actinomorphic to slightly zygomorphic with a corolla-tube longer than the lobes and blue to purple or yellow; the equal stamens are included in the tube; the ridged and tubercular nutlets have a collar-like base.

Arc. Anchusa arvensis

Bugloss

19 23 18 22 31

35 21

It grows on road verges, wood margins, in waste places and banks of waterways. In vc 35 it is less common than S. officinale but forms denser colonies on sandy river banks and on verges. 103 t

! Symphytum tuberosum Tuberous Comfrey This is an erect, little or unbranched perennial to over 50 cm growing from thickened rhizomes; the elliptical or lanceolate basal leaves wither by flowering time; the flowers are a pale, dullyellow colour. It grows in damp woods, hedgerows, ditches and riverbanks. In vc 35 there are only 3 records: side

18 31

Bugloss is a bristly annual with ascending stems, lanceolate, undulate, toothed leaves, the lower ones petiolate and the upper ones sessile and somewhat clasping the stems; the calyx is divided to mid315

Flora of Monmouthshire way; the 4-6 mm flowers have a bent corollatube and are bright blue or very pale, and solitary or a few in the leaf axils; the bracts are leaf-like; the nutlets have a netted surface. It grows on arable land, usually on the margins, on waste ground, sandy heaths and quarries, often near the coast. In vc 35 it requires disturbed or barish soil. Wade (1970) described it as a rare colonist, and gave these sites: near Onen, *, SGC; Llanbadoc; Llanusk, JHC; near the Old Forge, Tintern, SH; WAS; Upper Redbrook, *, SGC. In recent years it has become more sporadic in appearance. Some recent records are: disturbed soil on W edge of Caerwent Quarry (Carboniferous Limestone), ST/475.895, 1972, CT; 3 plants, steep slope, W edge, now disused quarry, ST/473.896, 2004, TGE, CT; garden weed, The Pentre, SO/283.156, 1986, RF; 2 plants near bridge over branch railway line, SW of Mount Ballan, ST/487.890, 1986, TGE, UTE; arable fields, Hadnock Farm, SO/53.15, 1988, BJG; 9 plants, edge of wheat field, SO/5300.1507, 2003, TGE; weedy arable, SE of Clytha Castle, SO/36.08, 1990, JDRV; 50-100 plants, arable-cow kale, Llancayo Farm, SO/36.02, 1997, CT; waste ground, near revetment 29, MOD, Caerwent, ST/478.909, 1997, JSW. 13 t

Anchusa officinalis

long stalk and sessile stem leaves; the blue, actinomorphic flowers are in terminal and lateral cymes; the calyx is lobed to near the base; the stamens and simple styles are included; the ridged nutlets are borne on a globose, stalked base.

! Pentaglottis sempervirens

18 31

Alkanet

Alkanet is a rough, hairy, short-lived perennial, with erect, unbranched stems and lanceolate to linear leaves 1-2 cm wide; the calyx is divided to half-way; the 7-15 mm purplish flowers are borne in long, coiled cymes; the nutlets are coneshaped. It grows in grassland and rocky places. In vc 35 it is a garden escape. The sites mentioned by Wade (1970) were Usk and Redbrook, *, SGC. (2 t)

! Anchusa azurea

Green Alkanet

This forms a bushy, bristly, herbaceous perennial with long-petiolate basal leaves to 40 cm; the bright blue corolla is 8-10 mm across and has a white ring around the ‘eye’ of the corollatube with white lines joining it from the midpoint of the lobes down the mid line.

It was introduced to British gardens from SW Europe and has become naturalised in hedges, wood borders and stream banks, in all cases near houses. In vc 35 it seems to have been planted outside the strict limits of the garden. Similar plants with less obscuring foliage and a larger flower mass have been brought in via garden centres. 83 t BORAGO Borages Borages are bristly, annual herbs, though with the warmer winters some survive to the spring; the ovate leaves narrow abruptly to the stalk; the inflorescence is a terminal, rather lax cyme; the calyx consists of 5 sepals joined only at the base; the actinomorphic corolla has 5 large, blue lobes, the equal stamens are exserted or included; the simple style is enclosed by the stamens; the ridged nutlets sit on a collar-like base.

Garden Anchusa

This is similar to A. officinale but it is taller with leaves from 15-50 mm wide; the calyx is lobed almost to the base; the violet or deep blue, 15-25 mm flowers have a tuft of hairs in the ‘eye’ of the corolla-tube. An introduction to gardens from S Europe, it is a rare casual in Britain. The two vc 35 records given in Wade (1970) are Grosmont, SGC, and near Christchurch, *. (2 t)

! Borago officinalis

PENTAGLOTTIS Green Alkanet These are stiffly hairy perennials with ovate, pointed, basal leaves narrowed suddenly into a

Borage

This is an erect annual to 60 cm; the basal, lanceolate to ovate leaves have wavy margins and abruptly narrow into a long petiole, the stem 316

Flora of Monmouthshire leaves are a smaller, sessile version; the bracts are leaf-like; the calyx of 5 narrow, pointed lobes alternate with the pointed bright-blue petals curved backwards from the white scales around the ‘eye’ of the corolla-tube, through which the purple-black stamens and the style protrude as a narrow tapering column; the star-shaped flowers, 20-25 mm across tend to droop in terminal and axillary clusters of 5-8.

a white ring centre, the lobes are longer than the corolla-tube; the equal stamens are fully exserted and appressed around the simple style; the ridged nutlets have a collar-like base.

! Trachystemon orientalis Abraham-Isaac-Jacob This hispid herb is erect to 40 cm; the 4-7 mm calyx enlarges in fruit to 10 mm; the 9-12 mm corolla has patent and recurved lobes. Introduced from SW Asia it has been naturalised on shady banks and dampish woods. The only vc 35 record was 2-3 m² at the foot of a shady bank of a derelict garden, S of Abbey Hotel, Tintern, ST/531.997, 1983, MARK, CK. 1 t

MYOSOTIS Forget-me-nots These hairy herbs have narrow, alternate leaves; the frequently blue flowers are often in paired cymes on a coiled peduncle, which unfurl as the buds open; the calyx has 5 pointed lobes cut to half way; the actinomorphic corolla, usually pink in bud, is split into 5 to half way; the equal stamens and style are usually included; the nutlets are smooth but have a keel.

18 31

Introduced into herb gardens from S Europe. It is a rather uncommon casual in vc 35, always connected with garden escapes or dumped refuse. 9 t

! Borago pygmaea

Myosotis scorpioides

Water Forget-me-not

This has a calyx with all its hairs more or less straight and closely appressed; the style is longer than the calyx-tube and often exceeds the lobes at flowering; the calyx lobes, forming equilateral triangles, are less than half the length of the calyx; the corolla is up to 8 mm across.

Slender Borage

This is a rather bristly perennial with longish oblong basal leaves with long petioles becoming oval, sessile ones with similar lower bracts the diminish markedly up the inflorescence; the 4-6 mm calyx expands to 8 mm in fruit; the 5-8 mm blue corolla is borne on a long pedicel which droops and has 5 suberect lobes; the stamens are included in the corolla-tube; nutlets are 3-4 mm. Introduced from Corsica or Sardinia in 1932, it has become infrequently naturalised on heathy ground. The sole record for vc 35 was a narrow band of plants among foxgloves and bracken across a sloping field at Yew Tree Cottage, Lone Lane, Penallt, SO/527.092, 1995, SJT, det. TGE (site now overgrown). 1 t

TRACHYSTEMON Abraham-Isaac-Jacob This is a stiffly-hairy perennial spreading by rhizomes; it has ovate, long-petioled, basal leaves with cordate to rounded bases; the inflorescence consists of several dense cymes forming a terminal cluster; the calyx tube and lobes are more or less equal in length; the blue, actinomorphic corolla has

It grows on the margins of ponds and waterways and in wet fields. In vc 35 it is less common now than in the 1980s due to the effect of drainage of the Levels and farmland. 189 t 317

Flora of Monmouthshire

Myosotis x suzae a hybrid Forget-me-not

This hybrid between M. scorpioides and M. laxa is partially fertile; its corolla is 5-7 mm across and the style is about equal in length to the calyx tube, but generally it varies in characteristics between it two parents. In wet areas often near streams. The only site was very wet, near Rhiw-las Mill, SO/39.07, 1987, TGE. 1 t

Myosotis secunda

Creeping Forget-me-not

This has erect stems to 50 cm sending out stolons; it has appressed hairs above and patent ones below; the appressed-hairy calyx is lobed to half-way or more; the corolla is up to 6 mm across; the style is shorter than the calyx-tube at flowering.

18 31

Myosotis sylvatica

Wood Forget-me-not

This is an erect to ascending, tufted perennial to 50 cm with patent hairs; the calyx has a dense covering of appressed and erecto-patent hairs and may have some patent, hooked ones on the tube; the corolla, up to 8 mm across, has flattish lobes.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

It grows in wet, often acidic substrates near streams and pools and in bogs. In vc 35 it is predominantly to be found in the western uplands. 77 t

Myosotis laxa

Tufted Forget-me-not

This is an erect to ascending annual to perennial with appressed hairs; no stolons are produced; the leaves are more than 4 times as long as wide; the calyx lobes extend more than half-way, with narrow teeth forming an isosceles triangle with the base shorter than the sides; the corolla is up to 5 mm across. It grows by the side of ponds and waterways and in wet fields. In vc 35 it is common on the Levels and near rivers, but has declined due to drainage and the clearance of the river banks to increase the acreage for crops and for the convenience of anglers. 130 t

It grows in woods, on scree and rock ledges. In vc 35 some colonies are found in woods but many localities originate from gardens. 105 t

Arc. Myosotis arvensis Field Forget-me-not This is a tufted erect to ascending annual with patent hairs that contribute to its greyish-green colour; the calyx has many patent hooked and some sub-erect hairs; the corolla, up to c. 3 mm across, has concave lobes.

318

Flora of Monmouthshire application of fertilizers of all sorts: scores of plants, sandy bank, Sudbrook, ST/504.874, 19772000, TGE (this was on the fort’s inner defensive bank, also on the edge of Sudbrook’s current football pitch. All was well until a Welsh TV company came looking for a suitable venue for a village team to perform for a production called ‘Score’. The pitch had many bare patches especially in the goal-mouths. This was unsatisfactory so measures were taken to improve the appearance of the pitch. It was transformed into a green paradise but unfortunately so was the bank. From a short turf full of botanical goodies, it now supports a tall coarse vegetation dominated by Raphanus maritimus (Sea Radish) and a dearth of goodies); stony grassland, MOD Caerwent, ST/481.917, 1985, TGE; dry sandy bank, 3 plants, lane by The Nurtons, SO/534.009, 1985, EGW; several plants, Roman wall, Caerwent, ST/46.90, 1991, JDRV; 1000s plants scattered over calcareous turf MOD Caerwent, ST/4.9Q, 1991, TGE, UTE; outcrop, above Hadnock Quarry, SO/54.15, 1995, BJG; 10-20 plants, side of railway track, MOD, Caerwent, ST/484.904, 2003, TGE; 2 plants, road verge, MOD Caerwent, ST/479.919, 2003, TGE. 10 t

18 31

Myosotis arvensis grows in open situations on well-drained soils. In vc 35 it has declined on farmland due to management changes, and is seen as frequently on margins or in open rides in woods. 283 t

Myosotis ramosissima Early Forget-me-not This is usually a short, erect annual to 25 cm coated with patent hairs; the calyx has a mixture of many patent-hooked and some sub-erect hairs; the pedicels are no longer than the fruiting calyx and usually shorter; the corolla, up to 3 mm across, is usually blue when it opens; the calyx lobes are triangular.

Myosotis discolor Changing Forget-me-not M. discolor is similar to M. ramosissima but its corolla is up to 2 mm across and which is yellow or cream at first, changing to pink to blue during which time the tube lengthens to more than that of the calyx; the calyx-lobes are oblong to lanceolate.

20 31

35 19

It grows in dry open habitats on sandy or limestone soils. Wade (1970) gave dry banks, and quarries on limestone, and walls for habitat and said it was very rare. His sites were: walls Skenfrith, SGC; walls, Caerwent, *; quarry, Portskewett; Runstone, *; Tintern;, *; near the Old Forge, Tintern, all WAS; Rogiet, TGE. Some recent records of a plant that has suffered from re-seeding and over-

18 31

It also grows in dry habitats on sandy or limestone soils. In vc 35 it is sparsely scattered, and appears also in seasonally wet grassland. 77 t (1 t) 319

Flora of Monmouthshire This is a slender, hairy, square-stemmed perennial with lower stalked, deeply lobed or some 1-2 pinnate-lobed leaves that become smaller, less stalked and lobed the higher they are on the stem; the inflorescence consists of slender, branched spikes on leafless peduncles; the 2-5 mm pale-pink corollas are weakly 2-lipped. It grows on well-drained substrates, usually in waste sites, on rough ground, waysides etc. In vc 35 it favours these sites influenced by human activity and is often found near habitation. 60 t

CYNOGLOSSOM Hound’s-tongue Cynoglossum species have flowers borne in cymes that lack bracts; the 5 lobes of the calyx are only joined near their bases; the 5 spreading lobes of the corolla arise from a short tube, circling the top of which are 5 scales; the 4 nutlets are covered with hooked spines.

Cynoglossum officinale

Hound’s-tongue

The abundance of hairs turns this 60 cm herb greyish; the untoothed, lanceolate-oblong leaves are shortly stalked in the lower leaves, and sessile and clasping in the upper ones; the 5-6 mm flowers are a dull purple; the developing 4 slightly-flattened nutlets lie on a star-shaped, enlarged, 5-lobed calyx, each lying flat and joined by a thickened, spathulate hinge to the base of the style, the exposed part of the nutlet is covered with hooked spines. It grows in dry, rough grassland, wood margins, in gritty substrates including sand-dunes near the coast. Wade (1970) regarded it as very rare and gave 5 sites: The Leys, SO/5.1H, SGC; Usk, c. mid-19th century, JHC; near Cilfeigan Park, SO/3.0K, *; Wyndcliff, ST/5.9I, WAS (1920); on R. Severn shingle bank, between Mathern Oaze and St. Pierre Pill, ST/53.90, WAS (1920). It is now believed to be extinct in this vice-county. (5 t)

LAMIACEAE Dead-nettle family These often aromatic herbs or shrubs have square stems, with simple, entire to deeply-lobed and opposite leaves lacking stipules; the zygomorphic flowers usually have 2-lobed upper and 3-lobed lower lips (except in Ajuga and Teucrium where the upper lip is very much reduced) and occur in lateral clusters, frequently in leafy whorls at the nodes; stamens are in 4s; the fruit is a cluster of 4 one-seeded nutlets. STACHYS Woundworts These are herbs with opposite, crenate to serrate leaves; the calyx has 5 equal, pointed lobes; the corolla is mainly red (yellow or white less common) with a hooded upper lip with 4 stamens within its shelter, and 3 lobes form the lower lip; the flowers are in whorls in the axils of leaves.

VERBENACEAE Vervains These herbs have squarish stems with opposite leaves, that may be simple and toothed or deeply pinnate-lobed; the flower parts are in 4-5s; the calyx is small; the corolla lobes are grouped in 2upper and 3-lower to give the smallish flowers a two-lipped appearance; the fruit has 4 nutlets.

Stachys officinalis

Betony

Arc. Verbena officinalis

Vervain 21

23 20 22 19 21 18 31

18 32

Betony is a stiffly erect, softly-hairy perennial arising from a persistent basal rosette of longstalked, oblong, crenate to bluntly toothed leaves, with cordate bases; the stem has only 2-4 pairs of leaves; the 12-18 mm long flowers are a

320

Flora of Monmouthshire bright purplish-red, the upper ones in a dense, oblong spike subtended by a pair of leaves often with a smaller cluster subtended by the next lower pair of leaves. Betony grows in undisturbed grassland, heaths, hedge banks and open woodland, avoiding heavy clays. In vc 35 it is uncommon on the higher uplands and the Levels. It has declined due to the so-called improvement of meadows and the too liberal use of fertilizers. 183 t

are arranged in whorls at the spaced nodes in the axils of the leaves which narrow as they proceed up the spike-like inflorescence. It grows in shady positions in woods, hedgerows and field edges. Widespread in vc 35, it is an opportunist utilising suitable waste and uncultivated pieces of land. 383 t

Stachys x ambigua

Hybrid Woundwort

This is a stout-stemmed, erect to ascending, densely white-woolly perennial to 75 cm; its stem and calyx have only eglandular hairs; thick surface-rhizomes give rise to sterile leaf-rosettes; the leaves are cuneate at the base; the flowers are purplish-pink. Introduced from SW Asia to give a silvery-white contrast to the usual green of many plants, it very occasionally survives when it is discarded and ends up on tips or on waste ground. The two vc 35 records are: with other garden throw-outs, near disused rail station, Govilon, SO/274.137, 1989, RF, 1st vice-county record; 30 x 15 m colony, waste ground near hospital, dry heath near metalled track, Comin coed-y-moeth, SO/158.017, 1994, PAS. 2 t

This uncommon or maybe under-recorded hybrid between S. sylvatica and S. palustris is intermediate between its parents, its leaves are shortly-stalked; its flowers are paler than S. sylvatica and darker than S. palustris. It grows by water or on hedge banks with either parent or with neither. Wade (1970) gave 7 sites for it: Llantilio Crossenny, SO/3.1X, *, 1941, ENe; Bedwas, ST/1.8U; near Pontnewydd, ST/2.9Y; Goytre, SO/3.0D; Trellech, SO/?5.0C, 2nd half of 19th century, AL; St. Arvans, ST/5.9D; Shirenewton, ST/4.8W, both WAS (1920). The 3 recent records are: Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, near Goytre, SO/31.04, 1989, TGE, UTE; a small patch in ditch carrying a small stream draining into Llandegfedd Reservoir, N end, SO/330.006, 1997, TGE, UTE; a patch in damp area The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/53.01, 1991, AW, EGW. 3 t (7 t)

Stachys sylvatica

Stachys palustris

! Stachys byzantina

Lamb’s ear

Hedge Woundwort

18 31

This is an erect, roughly-hairy perennial that has creeping rhizomes and a strong smell due to stalked glands on its upper parts; all leaves are paired and stalked with the lower ones cordate at the base; the calyx has equal teeth; the 13-18 mm long flowers are a deep reddish-purple colour with light markings on the lower lip and

Marsh Woundwort

This pubescent perennial is stiffly erect to over 1 m, with stalked glands on its upper parts; only its lower leaves are stalked; it forms colonies from its creeping, surface-rhizomes; the 12-15 mm long, pinkish-purple flowers are in a dense spike of close whorls with subtending leaves beneath the 321

Flora of Monmouthshire lower whorls only, these are detached from the crowded upper ones. It grows on river, stream, canal and pond margins. In vc 35, the records on the distribution map pick out the N-S courses of the rivers and also the network of reens on the Levels. 201 t

BALLOTA Black Horehound These are perennial herbs with serrate leaves and trumpet-shaped calices that have 5 lobes ending in abruptly contracted points; the corolla is purplishpink, its upper lip hooded and its lower one 3lobed; the 4 stamens are contained within the upper lip; the longish inflorescence consists of spaced whorls of flowers.

! Stachys annua Annual Yellow-woundwort This slightly-hairy annual is erect to 30 cm with shortly toothed, stalked, oblong lower leaves and sessile upper ones; this seems poorly named as ‘yellow-woundwort’ all the specimens I have seen have 10-16 mm white flowers with perhaps the hint of cream. It has arrived from mainland Europe and appears on rubbish tips and disturbed or cultivated soils. The first vice-county record was from the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1980, TGE; two spots in my garden shared 5 plants Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1984, TGE. (2 t)

Arc. Stachys arvensis

Arc. Ballota nigra

Black Horehound

This is an upright to straggling, square-stemmed perennial with a strong smell; the short-stalked leaves are roughly heart-shaped with prominent teeth; from the trumpet-shaped calyx, a hooded, 2-lipped, purplish-pink corolla emerges. 23

Field Woundwort

Similar in growth to S. annua but usually only 25 cm high though I have seen them use other plants to climb higher; it also has shorter, oval leaves and much smaller, 6-8 mm flowers, that are pale-purple falling after anthesis to leave enlarged calices with long, out-curved, pointed lobes, containing 4 small nutlets in the tube base.

18 31

This is a late summer and autumn flowering plant of waysides, hedgerows, rough and waste ground. In vc 35 it is a plant of the lowlands and frequently occurs near farm buildings. With the pressure on land due to massive house building programmes and a large increase in sheep numbers, it has declined in both numbers and sites. 84 t

LEONURUS Motherwort Motherworts are erect, perennial herbs to over 1 m tall, with palmately-lobed basal and stem leaves, the upper ones becoming ternate; the calyx has 5 stiffly-pointed, spreading lobes; the pinkisk-purple corolla has a hooded upper and 3-lobed lower lip; the 4 stamens lie within the upper lip; the whorls of flowers occur in the spaced leaf axils.

18 31

This is a declining weed of arable land. The number of tetrads has declined drastically and by 2005 the number of sites in any one-year is probably no more than 5 mainly due to former sites now used for maize crops with all the ensuing use of herbicides, or the spraying of haulms before harvesting if the crop is potatoes. 47 t

! Leonurus cardiaca

Motherwort

Motherwort is a variously pubescent plant with palmately to ternately lobed, toothed leaves; the pinkish flowers may be purple spotted, are 8-12 mm long and the upper lip is very hairy above. 322

Flora of Monmouthshire Motherwort is introduced from mainland Europe probably for medicinal purposes, it has very occasionally become naturalised in waste places. Records for this very rare alien in Wade (1970) are: Abergavenny district, 1886, JWh; near Gelligroes Mill, ST/1.9 B, 1922-3, AM; Christchurch, ST/34.89, 1773, JLi (1st vice-county record); Lower Machen, ST/2.8J, *, 1935-37, EPP; Tintern, SO/5.0 F, WAS (1920); Pen-y-clawdd, SO/45.07, 1937, MPa. Now probably extinct in the vicecounty. (6 t)

Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. argentatum Garden-yellow Archangel This subspecies is similar to subsp. montanum but has large, conspicuous, whitish blotches on its leaves all year long; the fruiting calyx is more than 12 mm and the upper lip of the corolla is more than 8 mm wide. 23

LAMIASTRUM Yellow Archangel These are perennial herbs forming small colonies from the spreading stolons; the calyx has 5 spreading, abruptly-pointed lobes; the yellow flowers have a rather upright, hooded upper lip and a 3-lobed lower lip; the 4 stamens, with glabrous anthers are sheltered within the hood; the inflorescence consists of many-flowered whorls in the spaced-out leaf axils.

18 31

Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. montanum Yellow Archangel

Introduced into British gardens for its attractive foliage, it spread out of these into the nearby hedgerows; because its runners soon over-run small gardens, weeding-out has taken place and garden throw-outs have resulted in it becoming established in the countryside. Some records for vc 35: roadside bank near Cefntilla Court, SO/40.02, 1991; eastern edge, wood Thornwell, ST/54.91, 1992; lane bank, Llanhennock, ST/35.92, 1993; Bedwas, ST/1.8Z, 1993, all TGE; Cae Cob Villa, St Mellons, ST/234.810, GH; path, Llangibby Park Wood, ST/35.97, 1999, TGE. 8 t

This is an erect herb to 60 cm with leaves green or with smallish, greyish blotches developing during the season; it has acutely serrate bracts from 1.7 to 3.6 times as long as wide; the fruiting calyx is less than 12 mm long; the flowers are usually 10 or more at each node and at 4 or more nodes; the upper lobe of the corolla is more than 12 mm and the upper lip of the corolla is more than 8 mm wide. 23

LAMIUM Dead-nettles These herbs have opposite, heart-shaped, serrate leaves, sometimes deeply serrate; the calyx has 5 more or less equal, narrow, pointed lobes; the corolla has a hooded, upper lip and a largely 1lobed lower lip, with very much reduced pointed and rounded side lobes; the 4 stamens are sheltered in the hood; the flowers are congested at the stem apex or in the leaf axils where the internodes are longer.

18 31

Arc. Lamium album

White Dead-nettle

This perennial may form a small colony from rhizomes or stolons; it has green leaves; its 18-25 mm corolla is white and has a curved tube and 23 teeth each side of the lower lip.

It is native in woods, wood margins and hedgerows. Widespread in the vice-county but in smaller numbers than in the past. 304t 323

Flora of Monmouthshire the axils of the upper leaves to present a compact inflorescence at the apex of the stems; the subtending leaves have teeth less than 2 mm long.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 31

Lamium album is a lowland plant of verges and rough ground. It is widespread, usually in small numbers and often near buildings in vc 35. 228 t

! Lamium maculatum

18 31

18 34

Introduced from mainland Europe into gardens for its ornamental leaves, it was found to be quite vigorous and weeding throw-outs have appeared on tips and waste ground. In vc 35 most plants have been in hedgerows or wood margins not far from house or farms. 9 t

Arc. Lamium purpureum

This is very similar to L. purpureum but the teeth on the flower-whorl subtending leaves are more than 2 mm long, these leaves are a neater triangle and distinct when known. It appears on cultivated and waste ground, often with L. purpureum. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave only one site: near Pontnewydd, 1st half of the 19th century, CC. It was reported to me just once at The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/5.0F, 1987, AW, EGW (this site has been farmed organically for as long as known and managed sympathetically, but AW and EGW say they have been unable to find it for several years now that part of the land is managed separately from theirs. 1 t (1 t)

Arc. Lamium hybridum Cut-leaved Dead-nettle

This is a plant of weedy places in gardens, farm yards and cultivated areas. In vc 35 it is still widespread except in large, sheep-grazed, acidic fields. 315 t

Spotted Dead-nettle

This is a rhizomatous or stoloniferous perennial with leaves usually marked with large, white blotches in Britain; the 20-35 mm, pinkishpurple corolla has a 10-18 mm curved tube and the lower lip has 1 tooth on each side.

Arc. Lamium amplexicaule Hen-bit Dead-nettle This is also similar to L. purpureum but has those leaves subtending the flower whorls are sessile, its calyx is 5-7 mm at flowering and has a white, spreading pubescence, and the teeth are erect to converging at fruiting. The flowers often fail to open. It grows on open, cultivated and waste ground. Wade (1970) stated it was very rare and gave four sites. Unfortunately in vc 35, because it is listed on

Red Dead-nettle

Usually these are short, hairy, square-stemmed, purplish annuals, with petiolate, serrate to crenate toothed leaves; the purplish flowers are whorled in 324

Flora of Monmouthshire the record card, it has usually been noted only as a tetrad without details, but some recent records are: 50+ plants, garden weed at the Nurtons, Tintern, SO/53.01, 1985, EGW; 20+ plants, arable field, E of Woodfields, SO/487.044, 1987, EGW; A466 roadside on soil spoil, below Blackcliff, ST/28.83, 1992, CT; Trellech Common, SO/516.089, 1992, JFH; c. 10 plants, on sea wall rubble, SE of Maerdy Farm, Rumney, ST/236.799, 1996, TGE. 6 t

lower lip variously marked near its base and ending in a slightly emarginate, flattish tip. 23

GALEOPSIS Hemp-nettles Hemp-nettles are annual herbs with simple, toothed leaves; the flowers are in dense whorls, the uppermost crowded; the calyx has spiny teeth; the corolla is zygomorphic; the upper lip forms a hood sheltering the 4 stamens within; the 3-lobed lower lip has various markings; the corolla tube has a hairy throat.

Galeopsis angustifolia

18 31

It is found on arable land, particularly in marginal hedgerows, waste and open ground. It is widespread in vc 35 though usually in patches of small numbers. Some of the records may include G. bifida. 293 t

Red Hemp-nettle

With its narrow, lanceolate leaves and rather long internodes, not swollen at the nodes, this herb has a weedy look; the calyx is 8-13 mm long; the 15-25 mm long, red corolla has pale honeyguides that narrow to the ‘eye’ of the flower. This is a weed of arable land on mainly calcareous soils or on coastal shingle. There have been no records of it since 1972 when I became Recorder. Wade (1970) said of it very rare and gave only 2 records: St Woolos and Forge Lane, Dyffryn, both Newport, SH (1909). (2 t)

Galeopsis bifida

Bifid Hemp-nettle

This is similar to G. tetrahit but the central lobe of the lower lip is distinctly emarginate and its sides are curved down, the markings are darker or the whole lobe may be purple. 23

Arc. Galeopsis speciosa Large-flowered Hemp-nettle

This is a large plant to 1 m with ovate leaves; its flower parts are large for the genus in Britain; its calyx is 12-17 mm long; its corolla is 27-35 mm long; the corolla is yellow with the central lobe of the lower lip mostly bright purple. It grows on arable land, in waste areas including road verges. Wade (1970) said Conway’s record in Watson’s ‘New Botanist Guide’ was probably an error for G. tetrahit. Maybe, but GANH assured me that he recorded it c. 50 years ago to the west of Llanfrechfa Hospital on land now built over. (1 t)

Galeopsis tetrahit

18 31

It grows on arable land, waste and open ground. Wade (1970) quoted only one record; The Glyn, Itton, WAS (1920). This newly separated species, though not as frequent as G. tetrahit, is not uncommon and may be under-recorded. 34 t

Common Hemp-nettle

This plant has stiff bristly-haired stems swollen at the nodes; the leaves are ovate and serrate; it has a 12-14 mm calyx of which 10 mm consists of five, stiff, golden-brown spines; a 12-20 mm pinkish-red corolla has the central lobe of the 325

Flora of Monmouthshire Sychan, SO/246.044, 2000, TGE; down to 3 plants 2001, TGE, CT; no plants 2002, TGE. No sightings in other sites since, suggesting the species is close to extinction in the vice-county. 6 t

MARRUBIUM White Horehound These perennial, tomentose herbs have stalked, roundish, rugose leaves with bases abruptly contracted or cordate; the white flowers are in dense whorls on a leafy stem; the calyx has 10 equal teeth curled backwards at flowering before straightening later; the corolla has a bilobed upper lip and a 3-lobed, flat lower lip; the 4 stamens are sheltered within the corolla tube.

! Marrubium vulgare

SCUTELLARIA Skullcaps These perennials form small patches through spread of their rhizomes; the leaves are entire to serrate; the calyx is 2-lipped, the upper one with a round appendage; the corolla starts as a long tube ending in two lips, the dorsal one forms a small hood and the lower is 3-lobed.

White Horehound

The dense indumentum gives this thymescented, branched plant a whitish appearance; the 12-15 mm flowers appear small; the 10 hooked calyx-lobes add to the above as diagnostic features.

Scutellaria galericulata

Skullcap

18 31

This is a shortly-creeping, rather erect perennial with sessile to shortly petiolate, ovate to lanceolate, crenate-margined leaves, with rounded to cordate bases; the 10-18 mm violet-blue, turned-up corolla-tube has a pale base. It grows by water or in wet grassy meadows on calcareous or neutral substrates. In vc 35 it is found on the Levels and by rivers but has declined due to land drainage in both habitats. 80 t

It grows on dry, calcareous grassy and barish waste places, but not in the higher uplands. Wade (1970) stated it was very rare and gave 3 sites: near the R. Wye, above Monmouth, ST/5.1, 1921, CGT; castle grounds, Chepstow; Coedkernew, ST/2.8, both SH (1909). Five recent records have occurred in one area from Pontypool to S of Blaenavon on coal waste or nearby hillside, the sixth record, S of Twyn-y-Sheriff was believed to be a garden throwout as it was with Silybum marianum, Lunaria annua, Lavatera arborea, Cichorium intybus, Iris foetidissima and Narcissus sp. The recent records are: 2 plants trackside, Talywain, SO/257.047, 1980, RH; grazed grassland, S of Waun-felin, SO/262.013, 1986, TGE, UTE; rough grassland, near Griffithstown, ST/28.99, 1986, TGE, UTE; landscaped coal waste, below Mynydd Varteg, SO/26.06, 1987; roadside, Cwm Cyffin, SO/ 221.013, 1988, both RF; garden escape, SO/4.0C; coal waste, Craig Wen, SO/251.053, 1988, RF; 14 plants in front of ruined cottage, above Cwm

Scutellaria minor

Lesser Skullcap

Lesser Skullcap is a rather short, slender perennial with usually a little-branched stem, it has narrow, sessile, oval to lanceolate, paired leaves toothed near their bases and not often longer than 5 cm; the 6-10 mm long, pink flowers have an almost straight tube. It grows best in damp habitats, wet peaty heaths and open woodland on acid soil. In vc 35 there is a concentration of records in the western heathy uplands but it also grows in suitable wet, acidic areas around the Wye Valley. 52 t 326

Flora of Monmouthshire Scutellaria minor

! Teucrium flavum

Yellow Sage

A small, stout shrub with ovate, somewhat shiny, leathery leaves with petioles as long as the width of the leaf-blade; the stems are velvety due to the indumentum, the calyx is 7-10 mm long; the corolla is yellow. Introduced from the Mediterranean to gardens. Vc 35 has one record: a garden escape, Pwllmeyric, ST/5.9, WAS (1920). (1 t)

AJUGA Bugles These are annual or perennial herbs with almost entire to deeply lobed leaves; the calyx has 5 equal teeth; the corolla has a very small, inconspicuous upper lip and a 3-lobed lower lip; the stamens stand proud.

18 31

Ajuga reptans

TEUCRIUM Germanders These may be herbs or low shrubs with serrate or deeply-lobed leaves; though the calyx is 2-lipped the corolla has a single, 5-lobed lower lip with the 4 stamens standing erect and prominent unlike other Labiates apart from Ajuga; the flowers are in distant whorls in leaf axils or concentrated in a spike-like cluster in the axils of reduced bracts.

Teucrium scorodonia

Bugle

Bugle forms patches due to its creeping stolons; the petiolate, persistent, shortly-toothed lower leaves are usually noticeably shiny, the upper, shortly-toothed leaves are concentrated on the upper part of the flowering stem, which is hairy only on opposite sides; the 14-17 mm long flowers with calices, corollas and stamens are a pale, violet-blue, but occasionally white, and occur in leafy spikes.

Wood Sage

This is a perennial herb to 50 cm with petiolate, somewhat shortly-serrate, rugose, heart-shaped leaves; the 8-9 mm long flowers are greenishcream with the upper calyx tooth much wider than the other 4; the anthers are maroon.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31 19

Bugle grows in woodland and waste places on calcareous or near neutral soils. It is widespread in vc 35, particularly in damp woodlands and to a lesser extent in damp grasslands. 283 t

18 31

NEPETA Cat-mints These are perennial herbs with serrate leaves; the calyx has 5 almost equal teeth; the corolla may be white or blue with a rather open to hooded upper

It grows in a range of habitat types and soil pHs. In vc 35 it mainly grows in woods, hedges and hills. 265 t

327

Flora of Monmouthshire crenate-toothed leaves; it has 15-20 mm long, blue bisexual flowers and female ones that are smaller; the flowers are distant in the axils of the paired leaves. It grows in woods, hedgerows and rough ground, often on heavy soils. It is common in vc 35. 346 t

lip and a 3-lobed lower lip; the 4 stamens are sheltered within the upper lip.

Arc. Nepeta cataria

Cat-mint

Catmint may grow to 1 m tall; it is a densely greypubescent perennial, that is mint scented; the 1-4 cm long, ovate leaves have cordate bases; the 710 mm long, white flowers have purple spots on its lower lip and have purple anthers; the flowers are densely crowded into terminal inflorescences and in remote whorls in lower leaf axils. It appears in hedgerows, waysides, banks and rocky places, usually on calcareous substrates. Wade (1970) considered it a rare denizen and gave these 4 sites: Rhymney Valley, SH (1909); Troy House, Monmouth, AL; Caerwent, *, WAS; SH; and Newport, JHC. Recent records are waste ground, E side of A40, W of Hadnock, SO/527.149, 1989, EGW; earth bank, Horsington, Abergavenny, SO/29.14, 1990, RF; 2 plants, edge of allotments, Monmouth, SO/508.122, 1993, BJG; weed on organic farm, The Nurtons, SO/5.0F 1994, EGW. 5 t

PRUNELLA Selfheals These perennial herbs may have paired, entire or deeply divided leaves; the calyx has 2 lips, the short, upper lip has 3 very short teeth, the lower lip 2 long teeth; the 4 stamens are protected by the upper lip; the flowers are in the axils of bracts in a compact head.

Prunella vulgaris

GLECHOMA Ground-ivy These hairy perennial herbs spread by long, creeping stolons that root at the nodes; the leaves are crenate-serrate; the calyx has 5 equal teeth; the corolla has a flattish, hooded upper lip and is usually blue, less often pink or white; the 4 stamens are sheltered within the hood.

Glechoma hederacea

Selfheal

This plant has decumbent stems often rooting at lower nodes and paired, petiolate, oval or lanceolate, entire or little-toothed leaves; the calyx has finely pointed teeth; the 13-15 mm long flowers are a deep violet-blue, less commonly white or pink, forming a compact, roundish or cylindrical head immediately subtended by a pair of leaves, the head becomes longer and more cylindrical in fruit. 23

Ground-ivy

18 31

It is a widespread weed of many habitats, largely on calcareous or neutral soils. In vc 35 it is a successful weed frequenting lawns in the limestone areas. 388 t

! Prunella laciniata 18 31

Cut-leaved Selfheal

This is similar to P. vulgaris but has variously shaped leaves, some cut nearly to the mid-rib and a larger 15-17 mm corolla which is white or cream. It grows on dry calcareous soils in grass. The one record for this white flowered, cut-leaved plant in

Ground-ivy has leafy stolons that can exceed 1 m and give rise to ascending to erect stems with petiolate, kidney to heart shaped, coarsely 328

Flora of Monmouthshire Introduced from S Europe into British gardens for its pleasant lemon scent when brushed against, it has become naturalised in scrub, on cultivated land and shady habitats from dispersed seed and from garden throw-outs. In vc 35 it is much grown in herb gardens and has been scattered, usually by human activity. 23 t

the vice-county and Wales was at Common-y Coed, ST/436.891 in 1971, TGE, CT. At that time it was on an unimproved, flower-rich meadow with Platanthera chlorantha dotted over the eastern half and into the narrow strip of woodland that separates the field from the narrow road joining Undy to the Common-y-Coed houses. There is a bank on the southern boundary of the field that had a variety of plants including Trifolium striatum. There were also patches of bramble and small saplings. When we revisited the field a couple of weeks later the brambles and much of the field had been treated with a herbicide and the Prunella and the Platanthera were yellowing and curling up; neither has re-appeared since. On 8 September 2003 a visit to the part of the field near the southern border least affected by the herbicide, revealed 25 rosettes of Cirsium eriophorum, a rare vc plant, 4-5 of C. acaule and 20 plants of Carduus nutans, but only Prunella vulgaris was found. (1 t)

CLINOPODIUM Calamints These annual or perennial herbs have entire to serrate leaves; the 2-lipped calyx has a 3-toothed upper lip and a lower lip with 2 longer and narrower teeth; the corolla varies from white to pinkish-purple and has a shallowly 2-lobed upper lip and a short 3-lobed lower lip; the 4 stamens are protected within the corolla; the flowers are numerous in the axils of leaves lower in the inflorescence, and become fewer but closer together in the upper part.

Clinopodium ascendens Common Calamint This plant has stem leaves 1.5-4 cm long or more; the axillary flower-clusters are in contracted cymes on a common peduncle; the calyx tube is straight or symmetrically curved on upper and lower sides, the teeth of the lower calyx lobe are 2-3 mm long; the pinkish-purple corolla is 10-16 mm long.

MELISSA Balm These are perennial herbs with toothed leaves; a calyx which is 2 lipped with 2 long teeth on the lower lip; the corolla is pale yellow ageing white to pink with a slightly hooded 2-lobed upper lip and a 3-lobed lower lip, the 4 stamens lie within the hood; the inflorescence consists of remote whorls in leaf axils.

! Melissa officinalis

Balm

The plant smells strongly of lemon when even lightly bruised; it has toothed, ovate, petiolate leaves, cordate or truncate at the base; the 8-15 mm rather small corolla is white.

20 23 19 22 18 21

18 32

It grows on dry, rough, unimproved grassy banks usually on calcareous substrates. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave the following sites: opposite the Biblins, *; Redding’s Inclosure, *; White Castle, near Llantilio Crossenny, *; Lady Park Wood, all SGC; Grosmont Castle, 1955, SEN; Pant-yr-heol, Henllys; Ifton; Wyndcliff; Caldicot, four sites SH (1909); Portskewett, *; Llanvair Discoed, WAS (1920). Recent records are: open

329

Flora of Monmouthshire mm long, violet flowers are marked white on the lower lip near the ‘eye’; the flowers are usually in 2-6s in the axils of leaf-like bracts, forming a loose, terminal inflorescence. It grows in dry, bare or sparsely grassy areas, among rocks and usually on calcareous substrates. Wade (1970) described it as very rare, on roadsides quoting 3 sites: Lady Park Wood, SO/5.1 M, SGC; near Magor, ST/4.8; 1904, JSC; Grey Hill, Wentwood, ST/4.9, 1942, JCE. There are no recent records. (3 t)

wooded bank, Slidy Hill, Crick, ST/48.90, 1975, CT; in grass, White Castle SO/379.168, 1985, PCH, JH 3-4 plants, grass outside the N wall, 2002, JB; field edge, N of B4233, E of Tal-y-Coed Court, W of Onen, SO/424.147, PCH, JFH; R. Usk meadow, Abergavenny, SO/284.144, 1986, RF; grassy bank, road edge, Cuhere Wood ST/45.92, 1990, JRDV; several plants, ST/457.926, 1994, TGE; 3 plants, ride in Chepstow Park Wood, ST/50.98, 1990, JDRV; several plants, on S Roman wall, Caerwent, ST/47.90, 1991, JDRV; 2002 CT; grassy bank, foot of tower, in Barbican, Chepstow Castle, ST/53.94, 1991, JDRV; 30-40 plants, ST/532.941, 1994, TGE; near track to earthwork, Wolvesnewton, ST/45.99, 1993, JDRV; 3 patches, old quarry floor, The Minnetts, ST/453.893, 1996, TGE, UTE; R. Usk/wood border, SW of Hospital, Abergavenny, SO/284.143, 2003, TGE, CT. 12 t

Clinopodium vulgare

HYSSOPUS Hyssop These are short, evergreen shrubs with entire leaves; a calyx with 5 equal teeth; a 2-lipped corolla, with a flattish, 2-lobed upper and 3-lobed lower lip; the 4 stamens project beyond the corolla; the flowers are in distant whorls below and in congested whorls at the top of the inflorescence.

Wild Basil ! Hyssopus officinalis

This is a softly-hairy, erect perennial to 40 cm bearing petiolate, broadly oval leaves; the 12-22 mm long, pale red flowers are crowded in a terminal head and in dense axillary whorls above subulate and ciliate bracteoles; the flowers do not all open at the same time. 23

ORIGANUM Wild Marjoram These perennial herbs have petiolate, entire, lanceolate leaves with small teeth; the calyx has 5 equal teeth; the reddish-purple, occasionally white, corolla has a shallowly, 2-lobed lip; the 4 stamens project beyond the corolla of bisexual flowers; the inflorescence is a corymbosa panicle composed of stalked, dense cymes in the axils of leaves.

18 31

This grows in hedgerows, wood margins and grassy scrub where drainage is good. Apart from the Levels and the western coalfield uplands, where it is largely absent, it is surviving in reduced numbers in the east and has declined due to improvement of meadows. 217 t

Clinopodium acinos

Hyssop

This is an erect, almost glabrous, aromatic subshrub to 60 cm; its stems are largely unbranched; its oval to lanceolate, blunt leaves are glandular and slightly shiny; the 7-12 mm long, bluish flowers with an erect upper lip and a 3-lobed lower one are borne in a leafy spike of small whorls. Introduced from C. and S France to herb gardens in Britain, it has become naturalised in a few places. The only record in vc 35 was a single plant on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, 1975, TGE, conf. EJC. (1 t)

Origanum vulgare

Wild Marjoram

This is an erect, hairy, aromatic perennial with oval, petiolate, glandular leaves; the calyx is 2lipped; the 4-7 mm flowers are purplish, red or rarely white, with large, dark purple bracteoles. It grows on rough, dry grassland, hedgebanks, road verges and open woodland usually on calcareous soils. In vc 35 it is frequent on the Carboniferous Limestone of the south-east in the Wye Valley, but also scattered elsewhere. 58 t

Basil Thyme

This is a short, hairy annual or short-lived perennial, branching from the base; the small, petiolate leaves are oval to lanceolate; the 7-10 330

Flora of Monmouthshire the eastern ORS ridge and in the NW Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 9 sites.

Origanum vulgare 23

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35 18 31

! Origanum majorana

Pot Marjoram

THYMUS Thyme Thymes are largely strongly aromatic, prostrate subshrubs with small, oval, shiny, evergreen, sessile leaves; the flowers are in roundish, oblong or cylindrical heads; the calyx is bell-shaped, 2lipped and hairy in the throat; the corolla has a straight tube from which the 4 stamens protrude, it has a single, upper, emarginate lobed-lip and a 3lobed lower lip.

More recent records are: limestone pasture, Livox, ST/533.972, 1971, TGE; limestone pasture, Brockwells, Caldicot, ST/467.897, 1971, 1975; 1998, CT; grassland, Pentwyn, Grwyne Fawr, SO/260.257, 1991, JPW; many plants, neutral grassland, Tintern Cross slopes, SO/506.005, 1991, JPW, CM; 1000+ plants, short grassland, Skirrid Farm, SO/329.169, 1991, JPW, IC; numerous and widespread, short turf, MOD, Caerwent, ST/4.9Q, V, 1991, TGE; many galled plants, ST/4736.9127, 2003, TGE; 1000+ plants, steep upland, The Fferm, SO/266.257, 1991, CM, JPW; Pentwyn, SO/ 258.274, 1991, CM, JPW; 1000+ plants, steep grassland, Buckholt, SO/520.148, 1992, JPW, CM; over 100 plants, Pysgodlin, SO/265.157, 1992, CM, JPW; many plants, Box Cottage, SO/473.044, 1992, CM, JPW; a few plants around limestone outcrops, Blorenge, SO/272.100, 1998, GSM; grassy bank, W of cottage, bottom of Cwm Bychel, SO/28.27, 2000, TGE, GSH, CT; edge of loose rocks, N end of the Tumble, SO/2578.1181, 2002, GSM; meadow N of Newton Court, Monmouth, SO/51.15, 2004, CT. 17 t

Thymus pulegioides

Thymus polytrichus

This is a greyish-tomentose, very aromatic herb to 60 cm; the lower leaves are petiolate, ovate to spathulate and cuneate based, the spicules are on stalks in the axils of leaves and have a ring of 3-4 mm bracteoles; then the 2.5 mm calices, and finally 4 mm, white, pale lilac or pink corollas; the spicules are orbicular and tightly clustered to form a narrow terminal panicle Cultivated as a pot-herb it was introduced into Britain from N Africa or SW Asia. The only vicecounty record was from waste ground, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1977, TGE, conf. EJC. (1 t)

Large Thyme

Wild Thyme

This has procumbent stems that root profusely to produce vegetative mats; the decumbent to ascending flowering stems to 10 cm bear small, elliptic to elliptic-oblong leaves with almost flat margins and on the lower internodes bear hairs mainly on two opposite sides; the pink to pinkish-purple flowers occur in roundish, terminal clusters.

This has leaf margins flat or nearly so; the leaves are elliptic to elliptic-oblong or narrower; the stems are procumbent and rooting at the nodes; the squarish stem’s lower internodes have most hairs concentrated on the angles. It grows on short, fine turf or in barer places of coarse turf on well-drained, calcareous or sandy soils. In vc 35 it occurs more frequently on the Carboniferous Limestone on the eastern side, on 331

Flora of Monmouthshire 23

18 31

Thymus polytrichus grows on short, fine turf over calcareous substrates or open sandy or rocky places; ant hills are often favoured. Wade (1970) described it as locally common on heaths, pastures and dry banks, chiefly on limestone. He gave sites, in the north region: The Hendre, near Monmouth, SGC; Pont-y-spig; in the west: Mynydd Maen, 1957, MAB; The Blorenge; Machen; Mynydd Machen; near Ebbw Vale; near Aberbeeg; in the central area: near Coed Newydd, Trostrey; in the eastern district: common. Records since 1985 show that there is now a bigger concentration of records in the north-west: an area of least management change? There are still clusters of records on the limestone areas and the eastern Old Red Sandstone ridge, but where the hills are lower they have been ploughed, fertilized and re-seeded and thus heathland reduced. 70 t

It is common by rivers and lakes and in fens and marshes. In vc 35 it has declined because of drainage, changes in river bank management, the lowering of the water table and the need to keep the main drainage reens clear of any obstruction. 154 t MENTHA Mints Mints are rhizomatous or stoloniferous perennials with a mint smell that ranges from sickly sweet to strongly peppermint when fresh; the leaves are variable in shape and hairiness and though entire leaves can be found they are usually serrate; the flowers are hermaphrodite or female and may be mixed on a plant or separated on different plants; the flowers are densely clustered in axillary, leafsubtended whorls or in long or short, tapered, terminal spike or in a blunt, cylindrical or roundish head with axillary clusters at the nodes below; the calyx and corolla are weakly 2-lipped; the calyx has 5 teeth and the corolla 4 lobes. When determining a mint it is necessary to look at the main stem, its leaves and flowers; the characteristics of side stems can be atypical and lead to mis-identification. Because of the variation in some species and the hybridisation that takes place it may be impossible to identify a particular specimen in the field.

LYCOPUS Gypsywort These perennial herbs have leaves edged with large teeth or lobes; the calyx has 5 equal teeth; the 4 nearly equal lobes give the corolla an actinomorphic appearance, however, the purple-spotted white lobes consist of a dorsal one that is wider than the other 3 and has an emarginate tip; each flower has only 2 stamens which are prominently displayed beyond the corolla.

Mentha arvensis Lycopus europaeus

Gypsywort

Corn Mint

This is a hairy, fertile plant with a sickly scent and a height to 50 cm; the hairy leaves are ovate to lanceolate-elliptic with a cuneate base, the teeth are very shallow; the 1.5-2.5 mm long, hairy calyx is broadly campanulate with deltoid or broadly triangular teeth; the corolla is lilac.

Gypsywort’s stems are upright to 1 m and bear short-stemmed leaves opposite and decussate and with noticeable lobed or toothed margins; the 3-5 mm flowers are densely clustered in the leaf axils.

332

Flora of Monmouthshire 23

almost absent from the north, but it is still occasional elsewhere. 82 t

Mentha x smithiana

18 31

Mentha arvensis grows in arable fields, on margins of damp woodland rides, grassy fields and pond margins. It has declined with the ‘improvement’ of pastures and the use of fertilizers. 153 t

Mentha x verticillata

Whorled Mint 21

This M. arvensis x M. aquatica usually sterile hybrid is hairy and has a sickly scent, is more robust than M. arvense and is well over 1 m tall; its hairy, often ovate leaves are often red-tinged, they have sharper teeth than M. arvense; the bract leaves tend to become smaller as they ascend the inflorescence; the 2.5-3.5 mm, distinctly ribbed calyx is tubular and has narrowly triangular teeth; the stamens are often included in the corolla; the interrupted whorls of flowers may become crowded at the top.

18 31

18 32

It is possibly of garden origin, appearing on river banks, damp places and waste ground. Wade (1970) stated it was rare and gave 8 sites: Bigsweir, SO/5.0H, AL; bank of R. Monnow, Osbaston, SO/5.1C, *, 1935, SGC; near Llanfoist, SO/2.1W; by the Afon Lwyd, between Llantarnam and Pontnewydd, ST/3.9C; streamside, Mounton, ST/5.9B, 1893, WAS; Botany Bay, near Tintern, SO/52.02, 1937, EPP; banks of R. Wye, Hadnock, SO/5.1, 1940, SGC; between Whitebrook and Penallt, SO/5.0I, *, 1943; bank of R. Wye, Biblins, near Monmouth, 1943, Botany Bay, Tintern, SO/52.02 all three SGC. More recent records are: streamside, Shirenewton, ST/44.95, 1975, CT, det. TGE; several patches, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1982, TGE; R. Wye bank, S of Monmouth, SO/52.10, 1985, TGE; on wet disused rail, NE of Pentwyn-mawr, near Pennar Lane, ST/196.965, 1988, TGE, RF; disused garden, split by by-pass, Hardwick, Chepstow, ST/53.93, TGE; 6 plants, R. Wye bank, Llandogo, SO/528.040, 1986, EGW; R. Monnow bank,

Tall Mint

This red-tinged subglabrous triple hybrid M. arvensis x M. aquatica x M. spicata has a sweet to spearmint smell and a height to over a metre; its glabrous, often broadly ovate, leaves have sharp, forward-pointing teeth; the pedicels are glabrous; the 3.5-4 mm tubular calyx has long narrow teeth that are somewhat ciliate; the sterile flowers are lilac with anthers often exserted; the verticils are interrupted below, crowded above to form a long, narrow, spikelike inflorescence.

It may be found on arable land, wet, open places in woods and on river banks. Wade (1970) described as common in the north and east of the vice-county and occasional elsewhere. There appears to be a change as it is common in the west and east but 333

Flora of Monmouthshire Pentwyn, SO/378.253, 1988, RF; River Ebbw edge, Risca, ST/2.9F, 1992, JFH; streamside, near Park Glade Estate, SO/52.01, 1994, TGE. 5 t (12 t)

Mentha x gracilis

flowers subtended by larger bracts at the next lower node; the 3-4.5 mm tubular calyx has narrowly-triangular teeth.

Bushy Mint

This usually red-tinged M. arvensis x M. spicata hybrid, less than a metre in height, has usually glabrous, ovate to lanceolate leaves with short petioles; the 2-3 mm long, campanulate calyx has narrowly-triangular ciliate teeth to 1 mm long; the usually sterile lilac flower occurs in whorls of flowers, interrupted below becoming crowded above, with bracts reducing in size from bottom to top.

18 31

It grows in wet places, marshes, fields, ditches and by water. In vc 35 it is still widespread but like other semi-aquatics has lost habitat to land drainage. 293 t

Mentha x piperita

18 31

Peppermint

This M. aquatica x M. spicata hybrid is often redtinged and smells of peppermint; the petiolate leaves are lanceolate with rather small teeth; the pinkish-lilac flowers are grouped in a roundishtopped, cylindrical head subtended by small bracts.

It grows in damp places and on waste ground as a result of escaping or being thrown out of gardens. Wade (1970) stated it to be rare and gave these 5 sites: opposite the Biblins, SO/5.1M, *; bank of R. Monnow, near Monmouth Cap, SO/39.26, *, both SGC; Hadnock, 1944, RL; near Llandogo, SO/53.04H, *, WAS; near Penallt, SO/52.10, SGC. Some more recent records: R. Monnow bank, Skenfrith, SO/45.20, 1985, PCH, JH; waste ground, exposed by new by-pass, Chepstow, ST/532.937, 1987, TGE; W of Lower Redbrook, SO/53.09, 1987, SK; R. Usk bank, Llanover, SO/31.09, 1987, TGE. 8 t (1 t)

Mentha aquatica

Water Mint

This plant is usually pubescent to 90 cm with a strong, sweet smell; its petiolate leaves are ovate with rounded to truncate bases and shortish teeth, usually pointing to the apex, and that abruptly narrow to a short point; the inflorescence is usually fertile and forms a lilac, globular head subtended by a pair of small bracts, with another touching, congested cluster of lilac

18 31

It usually grows in wet places often on the edges of small streams. In vc 35 most records are for the northern half of the western coalfield and for the middle third of the Wye Valley. 40 t 334

Flora of Monmouthshire

Mentha spicata

1st vice-county record; 1 square metre on disused railway edge, Pye Corner, Bassaleg, Newport, ST/273.873, 1996, TGE; 3 large patches, Garn-yrerw, N side of the B4248, in village SO/23.09 2002, CT. 3 t

Spear Mint

A very variable mint, glabrous, and smelling of spearmint. Most plants are glabrous but some are sparsely hairy; the leaves are sessile with shallow, long teeth or sharp-pointed teeth pointing towards the apex; the non-leafy inflorescence makes a narrow cylinder of shortly-interrupted whorls of lilac flowers, congested at the top, some similar spikes grow from several nodes immediately below; bracts subtending the whorls are very small. Spear Mint is believed to have originated long ago in the Mediterranean as a hybrid between M. suaveolens and M. longifolia, the latter occurring there but not in Britain; many forms have since arisen, some looking more like the one parent and some the other.

Mentha x villosa

Apple-mint

19 23 18 22 31 21

18 32

This sterile M. spicata x M. suaveolens hybrid varies to resemble either parent so has leaves ranging from lanceolate to suborbicular, lightly to densely hairy, having a musty or weakly spearmint odour; var. alopecuroides Bowles’ Apple-mint is most like M. suaveolens but having a weak spearmint scent, it has strongly rugose leaves which are broader, usually larger, and more rotund and with a serrate margin of spreading teeth; the flower spikes are condensed, usually less branched and the corolla is pink. var. villosa is more intermediate between the parents. var. nicholsiana has lanceolate-oblong pubescent leaves with a somewhat acuminate apex, and patent teeth. Commonly grown in gardens and naturalised on rough and waste land. In vc 35 it is largely confined to the NW Records for the varieties have not been consistently separated. 26 t

It may be of garden origin but now occurs in waste places, on tips and river gravels. There are more records in the wetter west of the vice-county. 76 t

Mentha x villosonervata Sharp-toothed Mint This M. spicata x M. longifolia hybrid is a greyishtomentose, sturdy, erect plant to 90 cm tall and smelling of spearmint; it has long, largely sessile, lanceolate leaves with prominent, patent teeth; the inflorescence consists of a terminal spike of close, leafless, congested whorls of pink flowers grouped close together apart from the lowest one or two whorls that may be slightly detached; a few similar, paired or single spikes may arise from the next two nodes below, but they are subtended by leafybracts. Believed to be garden escapes or throw-outs, they are occasionally naturalised on waste ground. Only 3 records have come to light in vc 35: a clump near River Sirhowy, Hollybush, SO/16.03, 1988, TGE

Mentha rotundifolia

False Apple-mint

This is very similar to some variants of M. x villosa but is fertile, always pubescent, its rugose leaves are oblong-lanceolate with a rounded base and subacute to obtuse apex with patent teeth. It grows on damp and rough ground. The records for this species worry me. Wade described it as widespread but not common and then gave 29 sites, 335

Flora of Monmouthshire but he did not mention M. suaveolens, M. x villosa or M. x villosonervata. My one record is on a master card for MOD, Caerwent (mainly my records but four other people have made contributions) and I have put a cross in the middle of the name written at the bottom in the ‘other species’ space. All records are probably errors. 1 t

Mentha pulegium

have a cordate base, the lower leaves are long stalked becoming sessile higher up; the longest hairs on the calyx are brownish and glandular, the large violet-blue, only occasionally white or pink, flowers vary between 2 and 3 cm long in bisexual flowers and often less than 1 cm in female flowers and are in whorls of 4-6; the hooded upper lip is markedly curved with the style and bifid stigma projected well beyond its tip. This nationally rare plant is at the westernmost edge of it range. It grows in calcareous meadows and waste places. The 1st vice-county record was in a field adjoining Rogiet Rectory, ST/45.88, 1903, Miss E Vachell. Wade (1970) gave the following recorders for the same site: 1915, ESM; WAS; 1916, 1917, HJR; 1943, JCE; 1964 3 plants, 1967, no plants; 1971, 14 plants, all three NCC records; 1977, 8 plants and 5 seedlings, TGE; 1982, 16 plants in three clumps, PW; 1994, 2 robust, healthy plants covering 1 m x 50 cm, TCGR, LW, TGE. Also 2 compact plants, 2003; 3 plants in cluster and 1 plant separate from the cluster. 1 t (1 t)

Pennyroyal

This plant has two forms, one stiffly erect to 30 cm and the other procumbent and creeping though both forms are hairy in the throat of the calyx, which has two lower teeth longer than the 3 upper teeth. The entire to sparsely toothed leaves are elliptic with a cuneate base and an obtuse to round margin at the apex; the 2-3 mm calyx is narrowly campanulate and the corolla is lilac. It grows in damp grassy and heathy places or by ponds. Wade (1970) said it was very rare but native and gave a single site for it at Rogiet, 1942, JCE. One recent verified record was an upright plant by the track N of a conservation lake, Garn-yr-erw, SO/232.102, 1999, JFH, SW; one other record on the bank of the R. Usk, just N of Trostrey Lodge, SO/35.07, SO/35.07, 1989, EJS, ME. By myself and with a friend a search was made of the bank and though mints were present Pennyroyal was not found. Joan Searle was meticulous and I am loathe to dismiss her record. The record at Garn-yr-erw was where work involving bringing material to the site was involved and the paucity of records makes me doubt its status as a native in the vice-county. 2 t (1 t)

Salvia verbenaca

SALVIA Claries These are herbs or shrubs with simple leaves that have serrate or crenate margins; both the calyx and the corolla are 2-lipped; the upper lip of the calyx is entire or with 3 short teeth, the lower lip has 2 longer teeth; the upper lip of the blue, purple, pink or yellow corolla is strongly hooded, while the lower is 3-lobed; the 2 hinged stamens are protected within the hood; the flowers are arranged in distinct, bracteate whorls in lax spikes or racemes.

Salvia pratensis

Wild Clary

This is similar to S. pratensis but its leaves are raggedly pinnate-lobed with the upper ones and the stem often purplish; the open flowers are smaller, 1-1.5 cm long, though the cleistogamous ones are often less than 1 cm; the longest hairs on the calyx are white and eglandular; the corolla has few or no glandular hairs. It is found on dry, grassy or rocky habitats and roadsides often where there are well-drained calcareous or sandy soils. In vc 35 the 5 sites were: banks of the R. Usk, Newport; Chepstow, both JHC (1868); between Chepstow and St. Arvans, *, WAS; Wye Valley, near Chepstow, SH; 2 weak plants in rocky terrain at the north end of Burness Castle Quarry, ST/460.883, 1972-75, TGE (the 1976 drought that turned green vc 35 into a burntup desert killed many plants in the quarry including the two Wild Claries). (5 t)

! Salvia verticillata

Whorled Clary

This is an unpleasant smelling, hairy perennial with unbranched stems bearing some sessile glands; the leaves may be ovate or irregularlyshaped with a truncate or cordate base; the dull purplish 8-15 mm long flowers with an almost straight upper lip are in dense whorls of 15-30. Salvia verticillata is an uncommon casual of rough ground at docks, road and rail sides. There is only

Meadow Clary

Normally an erect, hairy, tufted herb to 80 cm, but when in pastures it is often trodden on and eaten by cattle; slight fragrance is provided by glands on the upper, branched stems, the calyx and the corolla; the stalked doubly-serrate, rugose leaves 336

Flora of Monmouthshire one record at Newport Docks, ST/3.8, *, 1952, JMa. (1 t)

ST/456.873, 1999, AW; 2001, TGE; 2002, TGE, CT. 5 t (3 t) Plate 65

HIPPURIDACEAE Mare’s-tail family These perennial herbs spread in water or mud by rhizomes; their stems have obvious air cavities and bear simple, linear, sessile leaves in whorls of 612; stipules are lacking; the very small flowers occur singly in a leaf axil; the female flowers are borne in the upper whorls and the male and bisexual flowers are found lower on the same plant; the perianth merely forms a small rim on the ovary apex, where there is a single style and possibly a solitary stamen; the fruit is a singleseeded nut.

CALLITRICHACEAE Water-Starworts A difficult group to identify to species level for the following reasons: more than one species may occur in the same stretch of water, the submerged leaves of the early season may have rotted away by the time the flowers or fruits develop, especially if the still water surface is covered by Duckweeds and Algae, fruits are not always produced, a very good lens or better still a binocular microscope is required and finally a grapple is useful for collecting material remote from the bank. The Plant Crib (Rich & Jermy 1998) gives excellent guidance, keys and drawings.

Hippuris vulgaris

Mare’s-tail Callitriche stagnalis Common Water-starwort

The stems in water may become 1 m tall with the flowers borne on the aerial part, which also sprout leaves to 8 cm long; on mud the stems and leaves are usually shorter.

Even if aquatic its flowers are aerial and they produce c. 2 mm stamens, at anthesis, the anthers c. 0.5 mm wide make almost globose pollen with sculptured surfaces; The fruits are almost circular from the side view that reveals the broad wing 0.07-0.25 mm wide.

22 23

18 31

Though it can grow on mud, it is usually found emerging from the surface of ponds or slowmoving water. Wade (1970) described it as rare and, apart from a record at Caerleon, gave others only from the Levels: Caerleon, SH; ditches by the Severn, between Rogiet and Magor, *, WAS; Dyffryn, SH; Whitewall Common, Magor, 1944, RL, AEW; near Collister Pill, Undy, *. More recent records are: Whitewall to Blackwall, ST/42.86, 1957-74, NCC, MW; ST/425.867, 2002, TGE: Noah’s Ark, ST/44.86, 1957-59, 1962, NCC; Whitewall; Ponds, Prescoed Camp, ST/347.993, 1986, CT; 2000, CT, TGE; small pond, S of Cwm Farm, E of Coed-y-Paen, ST/350.984, 1995, TGE; 2000, TGE, CT; S side of narrow pond, N of M4 toll booths, ESE of Severn Tunnel Junction,

18 31

This plant may grow on wet mud or in ponds, rivers, ditches and muddy conditions. In vc 35, as in the rest of Britain, it is the most common of the Water-starworts. 149 t

Callitriche platycarpa Various-leaved Water-starwort This is similar to C. stagnalis but the stamen is c. 4 mm at anthesis with anthers c. 0.1 mm wide that produce ellipsoid or misshapen pollen grains; the fruit is almost circular when the 0.070.1 mm wing is in view. 337

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows in similar places to C. stagnalis but probably favours moving water. Some sites of C. stagnalis might be of this species. Wade (1970) gave these sites: Glebe Farm, Bedwas, *; Marshfield, *, 1830s, CC; Mounton, *, WAS; near New House, Rumney, *. Some more recent vc 35 records are: Caldicot Level, near Mathern Oaze, ST/53.90; Newhouse, ST/53.91; reen, Wilcrick, ST/40.87; reen, Green Moor, ST/39.85, all 197374, NCC; pond, Penpergwm, SO/325.098, 1975; reen at right angles to sea wall reen, near Hunger Pill, ST/53.90, 1999, both TGE. 4 t (4 t)

Callitriche brutia Pedunculate Water-starwort This plant has opaque leaves often with more than 1 vein and visible stomata; the leaf-apex ends in a somewhat asymmetric cleft but does not suddenly expand into a bicycle spanner-like end; minute, sessile hairs present on leaf-stem and leaf-axils are composed of cells radiating from the centre (see Plant Crib); the flowers may be submerged, with practically colourless pollen, which has sculptured surfaces; 1-1.4 x 11.2 mm fruits are often longer than wide, with wings usually greater than 0.1 mm wide; the usually persistent styles are reflexed and appressed to the fruit. This grows in shallow water that may dry up in summer. It is uncommon in vc 35. Wade (1970) under old name C. intermedia subsp. pedunculata gave 1 site: Undy, *. More recent records are: Caldicot Level, N of Mathern Oaze, ST/53.90; S of Thornwell, ST/53/91; SW of Wilcrick Hill, ST/40.87; Green Moor, ST/39.85, all records in reens, 1957-63 NCC records; small pond, Rhiw-las Mill, Raglan, SO/394.072, 1988, DL, TGE; water meadows, Undy, ST/?, *, 1951, AEW;, *, 1954, JD, both re-det. CDP, 1990. 1 t (5 t)

Callitriche obtusangula Blunt-fruited Water-starwort This plant has aerial flowers so produces none when submerged by rising water; it has yellow pollen with a sculptured surface and a fruit longer that wide with blunt edges that bear no wing; the persistent styles are erect. 23

Callitriche hamulata Intermediate Water-starwort

This is similar to C. brutia but differs in the leaf ends suddenly in an expanded deep notch resembling a bicycle spanner; the 1.2-1.5 mm fruit is circular when viewing the greater than 0.1 mm wide wing. It grows usually in acidic conditions in more persistent ponds, rivers and water-filled ditches. Wade (1970) gave 10+ records under the aggregate name C. intermedia with only 2 records of subsp. hamulata which were at Marshfield, *; and Undy, *. More recent records are: in wet ditch, Wentlooge Levels, ST/24.80, 1987, SB; reen, E of Duffryn, Newport, ST/304.844, 1987, ME; new woodland, trackside pond, Wetmeadow Wood, SO/499.064, 1999, TGE. The lowering of the water table has dried out many wet ditches and reens, particularly between Chepstow and Newport with the result this species is now hard to find. 3 t (10 t)

18 31

It grows in ponds and streams and in nearby wet conditions. The lowering of the water table on the Levels has dried out most of the ditches and I have only seen it in three places since 1990 and they are now completely dry. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent and gave: Mitchell Troy; Caldicot, 1939, BW; near New House, Rumney; Peterstone Wentlloog, *; Marshfield, *; Undy, *; Magor, *. More recent records are: reen, Noah’s Ark, ST/44.86, ST/45.86, 1975; 1957-63; Bridewell Common, ST/43.86, 1968; Bishpool, ST/34.88, 1972; all NCC records; ditch, between rail and Liswerry Pond, ST/341.876, 1990, TGE; N end of Sea Wall Reen, Undy, ST/444.868, 1987, CDP, NFS; Rogiet Moor, vc 35 Levels, ST/464.863, 1999, NFS, RVL. 7 t (11 t) 338

Flora of Monmouthshire PLANTAGINACEAE Plantain family Some of these herbs may have woody stems; the alternate leaves are entire or variously divided but are often in basal rosettes; there are no stipules; the flowers are small, usually bisexual and wind pollinated, and in varying numbers in axillary spikes or exceptionally solitary; flowers are actinomorphic with a scarious corolla that has a short tube ending in 4 lobes; usually there are 4 stamens alternating with the corolla lobes; the fruit is a capsule opening transversely.

PLANTAGO Plantains These lack stolons, have leaves in basal rosettes and bisexual flowers with parts in 4s and borne apically in tight clusters on upright stems; the stamens grow from the corolla tube.

Plantago coronopus

18 31

In vc 35 it occurs mainly along the Severn coast, with only a few, suitable tidal river salt marshes available inland. 31 t

Buck’s-horn Plantain

A somewhat hairy plant with linear, toothed to pinnately-lobed leaves forming a basal rosette; the c. 4 cm cylindrical flower spikes are on stalks to 20 cm.

Plantago major subsp. major Greater Plantain It has a rosette of lanceolate, 5-9 ribbed leaves that are abruptly contracted into a longish stalk; the flowers form compact flower spikes to 20 cm on stalks to 40 cm long; each fruit capsule contains 4-15 seeds.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 31

It grows in barish places, often sandy or pebbly, near the coast. In vc 35 they are found along the Severn margin and a short distance up the tidal parts of rivers. 34 t

Plantago maritima

18 31

It grows on cultivated or grassy land, including lawns. It probably occurs in every tetrad. 397 t

Sea Plantain

The largely glabrous basal rosettes have toothed, broader leaves than in P. coronopus with no pinnate lobing; the c. 7 cm flower spikes are on longer stalks, to 30 cm. It also grows on the coast but in the wetter parts of the salt marsh or in wet, rocky places in the mountains.

Plantago major subsp. intermedia Greater Plantain This is very similar to subsp. major, but each capsule contains 14-25 seeds with some capsules holding more or less than that; it is usually a smaller plant with shorter spikes, leaves with 3-5 veins and a broadly cuneate base. 339

Flora of Monmouthshire The basal rosette is composed of narrowly lanceolate, ribbed leaves, gradually narrowed to a short petiole; the flowering spike is short to 4 cm or just over, on strongly furrowed stalks to 50 cm long. It grows in grassy places. It is probably present but unrecorded in the remaining squares. 393 t

Subsp. intermedia grows usually close enough to the sea to come under the influence of salt spray. Only 1 record has been made in vc 35 at S side of Black Rock Point, Portskewett, ST/510.882, 1987, AOC. 1 t

Plantago media

Hoary Plantain

The remotely toothed leaves forming the basal rosette are softly and greyish hairy, and are broadly ovate with short petioles, so forming a tight rosette; the outside of the corolla tube is glabrous; the apical flowering spike is much shorter and neater, 6 or more cm long on a 40 cm long, downy stalk

LITTORELLA Shoreweed These are stoloniferous perennials with single-sex flowers, the males on long stalks with parts in 3-4s and the females, with parts in 2-4s, in 1-3s at the base of the male stalks; the fruit is a 1-seeded nut.

Littorella uniflora

Shoreweed

The rosette leaves are semi-tubular, taper abruptly to a fine point, and have sheathing bases; the several stamens are 1-2 cm long on stalks that place them at the same height as the leaves; the female flowers are almost hidden in the leaf sheaths.

21 31

35 20

This grows in grassland on a calcareous or basic substrate. In vc 35 there is a concentration on the Carboniferous Limestone of the SE and a scattering elsewhere where basic deposits occur. 41 t

Plantago lanceolata

Ribwort Plantain

18 32

It grows in shallow water of lakes or on sandy or gravelly acid soils exposed by falling water levels, and only then do they flower. Wade (1970) gave Pen-y-fan Pond, near Oakdale, *; and Wentwood Reservoir, *, 1962, AP. More recent records are: a broad band at water level of 10,000s of plants, Wentwood Reservoir, ST/42.92 to 43.93, 1995, TGE; 100s of plants shallow water, Pen-y-van Pond, ST/19.00, 1970-89, TGE; 1985 PSJ; plant numbers reduced, 2003, TGE, CT; W bank of Cwm Tillery Lake, SO/219.072 & SO/220.073, 1987 RF; pond, Blaenavon, SO/239.097, 1998, AW, EGW; 100-300 plants, middle pond, Waun-ypound, SO/1530.1075, 2002, CT, TGE; small patch, E side of inlet of Llandegfedd Reservoir,

340

Flora of Monmouthshire SO/321.002, 2004, CT; shore, SO/3223.9997, 2004, TGE, CT. 6 t

! Forsythia x intermedia

BUDDLEJACEAE Butterfly-bush These are deciduous or semi-evergreen shrubs with entire to serrate, simple leaves; the small, actinomorphic flowers occur in dense panicles; the calices and corollas consist of 4-lobes, fused to form tubes; the 4 stamens arise in the corolla tube; the fruit is a 2-valved capsule with narrowlywinged seeds.

! Buddleja davidii

Forsythia

This hollow-stemmed shrub has erect, arching branches bearing flowers with strap-like, yellow petals that hang downwards. Grown in gardens to give early spring colour, it has been rather neglected by recorders and probably occurs in derelict gardens, neighbouring hedgerows or stream banks but has been recorded only on the River Ebbw bank at Risca, ST/2.9F, 1992, JFH. 1 t FRAXINUS Ashes Ashes are deciduous trees usually with pinnate leaves; the petal-less flowers produce fruits, with wings longer than broad, in drooping bunches.

Butterfly-bush

This is an arching, branched shrub to 4-7 m with opposite leaves that are lanceolate to narrowly ovate; lilac or white flowers curve in long, pyramidal, dense clusters.

Fraxinus excelsior

Ash

This deciduous tree has smooth, greyish bark and pointed, very dark brown buds, arranged opposite and decussate on thickish twigs; the panicles may have bisexual, male or female, or a mixture of flowers on the same tree; the single, oblong, winged fruits, droop in bunches known as Ash ‘keys’.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

It grows on disturbed waste or bare ground, walls and in scrub. It is widespread in vc 35 utilising the spreading of coal waste and the resulting landscaping following the collapse of the coal industry. 204 t

18 31

OLEACEAE Ash family These are woody perennials with opposite leaves; the petiolate leaves are simple to pinnate with entire or toothed margins; they lack stipules; the actinomorphic flowers vary tremendously but usually have 4 fused sepals, 4-6 fused petals, a 2celled ovary and 2 stamens.

Because of the numerous viable winged fruits produced, Ash appears in woods, hedgerows and scrub freely, and almost certainly occurs in every tetrad. 387 t SYRINGIA Lilac Lilacs are deciduous shrubs with simple leaves and white, 4-lobed, tubular lilac or purple flowers opening after the leaves; the fruit is a capsule.

FORSYTHIA Forsythias These are deciduous shrubs with simple leaves or leaves with 2 basal leaflets; the 4 yellow petals, fused into a 4-lobed tube, and the flowers appear before the leaves in the spring; the fruit is a capsule.

! Syringia vulgaris

Lilac

Lilac can form a shrub to over 5 m with ovate leaves that have truncate or cordate bases; the 341

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows on basic soils in hedgerows and scrub. In vc 35 there are less in unpopulated areas, probably because the land there is more intensely farmed and scrubby bits with privet are cleaned out. 205 t

flowers form large, terminal clusters tapering to a narrow apex. 23

! Ligustrum ovalifolium 22

Garden Privet

This is similar in growth to L. vulgare but it retains more of its leaves in winter and they are broadly ovate with a variable apex; the young stems and panicle stems are not hairy; the corolla lobes are much shorter than the tubes.

18 31

Grown in gardens, they may survive when the garden becomes derelict. In vc 35 rural farmers often filled gaps in their hedges temporarily with garden shrubs which sometimes became permanent and naturalised, Lilac being an example, as many of the records are in hedges. 61 t

18 31

LIGUSTRUM Privets Privets are deciduous or evergreen shrubs with simple leaves; the white corolla is a four-lobed tube opening after the leaves; the fruit is a small, globular, black berry grouped in small terminal clusters.

Ligustrum vulgare

18 33

SCROPHULARIACEAE Figwort family This is a large family consisting mainly of north temperate herbs and a few shrubs. Its simple, pinnately-lobed or irregularly-shaped leaves are alternate or opposite and deciduous (apart from the evergreens of Hebe); they lack stipules; the inflorescence is racemose or cymose; the bisexual flowers are zygomorphic with 2-lips (I picture a Snapdragon as a large extreme but easily examined flower as a model, which is modified in different relatives), though nearly regular in Verbascum; 2 of the 4 stamens are longer than the others and are all attached to the corolla; the fruit is a 2-celled capsule. The square stems and opposite leaves often result in beginners assuming some species belong to the Deadnettle family, but the capsules rather than the four nutlets show that they are Figworts

Wild Privet

It is a popular garden hedge with yellow and variegated varieties; it persists after gardens are abandoned or many occurrences may be garden throw-outs. 77 t

This suckering shrub loses many leaves in the autumn but still retains many; young and flowering stems are minutely hairy; the narrowly elliptic leaves have pointed apices; the corolla tube and lobes are of equal length.

342

Flora of Monmouthshire bright orange; the upper 3 filaments are clothed in whitish or yellowish hairs but the lower 2 are glabrous. Native in France and Germany, it was introduced to gardens in Britain and from there escaped to rubbish tips, waste and bare ground, waysides and dry habitats. It first appeared in the vice-county in several places in the 1970s thus: several plants, the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1976, TGE; several plants, waste ground, Newport Docks, ST/30.86, 1977, TGE, CT; waste ground, Goldenhill, near Chepstow Racecourse, ST/51.94, 1978, TGE; Newport rubbish tip, ST/30.85, 1978-1984, TGE, CT; several plants, rubbish tip, Piercefield Park, near the Alcove, ST/528.948, 1978, TGE. 1 t (1 t)

VERBASCUM Mulleins These have varying life-cycles but are often biennials. They have tall, erect, smooth to ridged stems. The leaves are alternate; the corolla is often yellow but may be white or purple and has 5 almost equal lobes topping a short corolla-tube; there are usually 5 stamens, less commonly 4 with very hairy filaments on the upper three. Hybrids are frequent and very variable.

Arc. Verbascum blattaria

Moth Mullein

This is usually a biennial to 1 m with stalked glands on the upper parts of the stems, but glabrous in the leaves and the lower part of the stems; the stalked yellow or white flowers occur 1 to each axil; the 3 upper anthers are kidneyshaped, the 2 lower ones decurrent; the pedicels are longer than the calices; violet hairs occur on all filaments. Grown in gardens, it escapes to waste and rough ground. Wade (1970) described it as a rare alien and gave 4 sites in Monmouth area; Chippenham Meadow, *; Dixton, *; near May Hill Station, *; all SGC; Red Hill Farm, Wonastow, 1952-8, HJV. The only new record since was 6 plants on edge of track, N end of Cliff Wood, ST/505.942, 2003, TGE. 1 t (4 t) Plate 66

! Verbascum virgatum

! Verbascum densiflorum Dense-flowered Mullein This is very similar to V. phlomoides but the base of the stem leaves are decurrent almost to the node below. It was introduced to Britain from mid-western to north-west Europe as a fine garden plant with an abundance of flowers. It is found on waste ground. The only vice-county site was a single plant growing on a verge of a narrow track used by the Council Highways Dept. to store road material, Dixton, Monmouth, SO/516.133, 1997, TGE, UTE. 1t

Twiggy Mullein

This is similar to V. blattaria but differs in that it has stalked glands above and below on the plant; it usually has more than 1 flower per bract axil and the pedicels are mostly shorter than the calices. It grows in fields and dry, waste places. In vc 35 only one site has been reported: 50-100 plants have occurred on disused railway sidings, E of Undy, ST/44.87, 1993-2004, TGE. The plants originally had several flowers per bract axil, followed by the lower part of the inflorescence having that arrangement but the upper bracts had only a single flower per bract. At present, most plants have 1 flower per bract, though a few still retain 2-3 flowers per bract. 2 t

! Verbascum phlomoides

Verbascum thapsus

Great Mullein

Orange Mullein

These are large to 1.5 m, branched biennials densely covered with greyish to whitish hairs; the basal leaves are oblong-elliptical with the upper, non-decurrent leaves narrower and pointed; the stems terminate in simple inflorescences of yellow flowers 2-5 cm across, densely packed in a woolly spike; the anthers are

A tall, white-felted biennial to 2 m, usually with an unbranched, woolly stem with blunt, elliptical to oblong, basal leaves and upper ones with decurrent bases; the 12-35 mm, yellow flowers are densely clustered in spike-like racemes; the 343

Flora of Monmouthshire It is native and grows on rough and waste ground. In vc 35 most of its sites are centred on Newport Docks. Wade described it as rare and gave 2 sites: Croesyceiliog, Cwmbran, *, 1967, CJ; Newport Docks, 1830-7, CC; SH (1909). Recent records are: c. 10 plants, near marsh, and timber imports, Newport Docks, ST/305.862, 1972, TGE, CT, still present in 1993; disturbed ground, side of Tredegar House, Newport, ST/28.85, 1984, JPC; on gravel S of M4, Electricity Sub-station, Began, ST/228.829, 1986, GH; roadside edge, industrial area, W side of R. Usk, Newport, ST/320.872, 1990, GH; 1 plant, waste ground, old shunting yards, E of Undy, ST/44.87, 1991, TGE. 7 t

anthers are orange with the 3 upper filaments clothed in white hairs while the lower 2 are almost glabrous. Great Mullein grows in many grassy or dry stony places, often on calcareous substrates. In vc 35 it can appear in any waste grassy place, and is widespread. 185 t

! Verbascum chaixii

Nettle-leaved Mullein

This biennial has an erect stem 1-2 m tall with a branched terminal inflorescence; the leaves are roughly nettle-shaped with a truncate or rounded base, the lower side thinly coated with branched hairs and the upper side sparsely hairy and somewhat shiny; the flowers are yellow with the anthers kidney-shaped and joined transversely to the filaments, which have a coating of violet hairs; there are 2 or more flowers to a bract axil and the pedicels are nearly all the same length and as long as the calices; there are 2 small bracteoles per pedicel base. Introduced into British gardens from S and C Europe, it has escaped to waste and rough ground. In vc 35, several plants were recorded on a built up Afon Llwyd river bank at Croesyceiliog, ST/298.964, 1980, TDP, JDP; c. 10 plants, E bank of Afon Llwyd, Croesyceiliog to Pontnewydd, ST/29.96, 1981, TGE. 1 t

! Verbascum nigrum

! Verbascum pulverulentum Hoary Mullein This mealy, white, woolly biennial grows to between 1 and 2 m tall with short petioled, oblong, basal leaves and sessile, cordate-based smaller leaves higher up the stem; the yellow flowers, 1825 mm across, form large tapering spikes in a branched inflorescence; there are 5 stamens, the filaments of which are all clothed in white hairs; the indumentum is shed gradually and often litters the ground around a plant, leaving stems and leaves unevenly mealy. It is native and local in East Anglia, but it is also grown in gardens elsewhere and escapes on to waste ground. All records in vc 35 are from around Redbrook: Upper Redbrook, *, 1937, SGC; 2 plants on roadside, Redbrook, SO/537.103, 1981-2, TGE, conf. EJC; road verge/waste ground, 1992; walls and banks, SO/536.102, 1993, both BJG. 1 t

Dark Mullein

This is very similar to V. chaixii with violet hairs on the filaments, but is usually c. 1 m tall with basal leaves cordate at base and with simple or little branched inflorescences; the pedicels are of different lengths and some more than twice the length of the calices.

! Verbascum lychnitis

18 31

White Mullein

This grey, downy biennial to perennial can grow to 1.5 m tall but is often less, has ridged unevenly mealy stems; it has short stalked, oval to oblong basal leaves that are greenish above and mealy white below; the sessile, pointed upper leaves are smaller; the 12-20 mm diameter flowers are white with pedicels usually over 6 mm long; the 5 stamens have filaments covered with white or yellowish hairs. It grows in hedges, waste places, old quarries, railway embankments, scrub and on rocky substrates. In vc 35 it has been recorded in 2 places, firstly in Newport Docks, SH (1909); and secondly 2 patches on landscaped disused shunting yards, Severn Tunnel Junction, ST/457.874 and 455.874, 3 and 1 plant respectively in 2002, CT; the population increased into double figures by 2004, TGE, CT. 1 t (1 t)

344

Flora of Monmouthshire SCROPHULARIA Figworts Figworts are mainly perennial herbs, fewer are biennial; they are erect plants with squaresectioned stems, the leaves are in opposite pairs; the zygomorphic flowers are arranged in cymes that are a part of lax racemes or panicles; the calyx has 5 equal lobes, the corolla is 2-lipped usually with a saccate base to the tube, the upper lip has 2 lobes joined at their base, the lower 3 lobes vary in size and shape; there are 4 stamens, the fifth often occurs as a scale-like staminodes.

Scrophularia nodosa

Common Figwort

This is an erect, generally glabrous perennial up to 1 m tall; the stem angles do not bear wings; the double-toothed, stalked and pointed leaves have a cordate base, becoming smaller and shorter stalked ending in sessile leaf-like bracts in the inflorescence; the 7-9 mm long flowers are greenish with a purplish-brown, upper lip; wasps are the main pollinators; the sepals have a narrow scarious margin.

Scrophularia umbrosa

Green Figwort

This is similar to S. nodosa but has broadly winged stem angles; the leaves are sharply toothed and are somewhat cuneate; the bracts are more leaf-like; the olive-brown flowers have slightly toothed sepals with a membranous margin; it has a lobed staminodes. It grows in damp, shady places such as stream edges. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave one site: riverside, Bigsweir, AL. There have been no other records. (1 t)

! Scrophularia scorodonia Balm-leaved Figwort

This is a hairy perennial with stalked glands in the inflorescence; the stem angles lack wings; the stalked, hairy leaves are ovate and doubly-toothed; the bracts are largely leaf-like; the 8-12 mm long flowers have a dull purple upper lip; the sepals have broad membranous margins; the staminode is unlobed. Probably introduced from Europe or the Channel Isles, this has been naturalised in Newport Docks since at least 1972. There it grows on rough ground on rail ballast and other gritty substrates. Records are: several patches in Newport Docks, ST/31.85, 31.86, 30.86, 1972-73, TGE, CT; and recorded continuously, particularly near the Gasometer and disused rail terminals there, ST/31.86 until 1998, when entry permits were refused. 2 t

18 31

It grows mainly in damp, open woodlands but also in other shady places. Widespread but not usually in large numbers in vc 35. 333 t

Scrophularia auriculata

Water Figwort

This is similar to S. nodosa but it is a larger plant that has narrow wings on the stem angles and larger elongated-oval leaves with a rounded apex and often small basal lobes; the sepals have a wide scarious margin; the bracts are more linear. It prefers lowland, wetter habitats, frequently on banks of waterways. In the vice-county it thins out dramatically in the uplands and becomes restricted to the river valleys. 247 t

! Scrophularia canina

French Figwort

This glabrous perennial with rather woody stems, that branch frequently, have narrow, pinnately-lobed leaves with some toothing, the upper leaves are elliptical to oblong, not necessarily lobed and arranged alternately; the 345

Flora of Monmouthshire bracts are small; the 5 mm long, numerous flowers are dark reddish-purple; the sepals have broad, membranous edges. Native in mountains in N France and S Germany in sandy and calcareous rocky places and in low altitude pine woodland. In vc 35 it appeared on an ash ridge in an otherwise marshy area of Newport Docks, ST/312.854, 1973, TGE, CT det. GAM, *. The dead, branched, woody stems remained in situ for at least two years but failed to sprout again. (1 t) Plate 67

near Tredegar, *, 1967, GB; Tintern, 1929, CA. More recent records, largely in the northern region of the coalfield: in pool, The British, Abersychan, SO/25.04; stream side, SO/253.035, both 1985, RH (it has been present in streams and a marsh at The British (a demolished coal mine) until the last visit in 2004, TGE); pond (probably introduced) The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/53.01, 1986, EGW; stream side above Big Pit, SO/235.086, 1987, RF; A4042 roadside, Mamhilad, SO/312.025; brook side, Llanover, SO/319.084, both 1987, JJ; by streams, Ebbw Vale Garden Festival site SO/1.0 T: SO/1.0 U, 1987, AW, EGW (sites probably destroyed in the construction that followed, EGW); stream side and wet ditch, Cwm Celyn, SO/206.087, 207.087; stream side, Forge Pond, SO/242.087, both 1987, RF; rail track and wet ditch, S of Tallistown, Llandafal, SO/189.039; rail track and wet ditch, Cwm Llan-dafal, SO/189.041, both 1988, TGE, UTE; River Ebbw side, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.09, 2000, TGE. 11 t (1 t) Plate 68

MIMULUS Monkeyflowers These are usually rather fleshy, perennial herbs with opposite and decussate leaves; the flowers are yellow, blotched with orange, brown or red, and are borne solitary in the axils of the upper leaves to form leafy racemes; the 5-toothed calyx is tubular to narrow, bell-shaped and the corolla has a 2lobed upper and a 3-lobed lower lip; there are 4 stamens. These species and hybrids have been much confused in the past, and need checking carefully (see Plant Crib for full account). Plate 141 site

! Mimulus moschatus

! Mimulus guttatus

Monkeyflower

This is a low-growing, almost glabrous perennial with hollow stems and toothed, broadly oval leaves, the lower leaves stalked and the upper ones sessile; the 25-45 mm corolla is yellow (sometimes with orangey-brown spots in the mouth, but never on the lobes), the hairy bulges, often spotted orangey-brown, on the base of the lower lip obscures the mouth; the pedicels are glandular-hairy.

Musk

This is a low-growing, sticky, glandular-hairy perennial with an ascending, hollow stem; its shortly-stalked leaves are oval; the pale yellow flowers sometimes have red nectar lines pointing to the ‘eye’ of the corolla. 23

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

It grows in wet areas of marshes or in very shallow streams. In vc 35, apart from one marsh in the Wye Valley, all the sites are clustered in marshy trickles in the coalfield hills, often where water was used near the mine buildings. Wade (1970) described it as a very rare denizen and gave the two sites as:

It grows in marshes and margins of waterways. It was widespread in the western half of vc 35 but some of the records, where flowers had spots on the lobes, could refer to a hybrid especially as the record card only included this plant. 74 t 346

Flora of Monmouthshire 1996, PPA, TPB, TGE; 20 m², Garn-yr-erw, SO/237.098, 2000, TGE, GSH, CT; 12 t (1 t)

! Mimulus guttatus x M. luteus x M. cupreus a triple-hybrid Monkeyflower This is a spectacularly showy plant with the corolla lobes very much blotched with orangeyred and brown, the latter predominant and often quite dark; it is glandular-hairy in its upper parts; the flowers are sterile.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31

! Mimulus x burnetiiCoppery Monkeyflower 18 31

This is a M. guttatus x M. cupreus hybrid that is similar to M. x robertsii but has a coppery corolla, red-dotted, with a paler ‘mouth’ and lacking the dark blotches on the lobes; the ‘mouth’ is not obscured. Grown in gardens, it escapes to local streams which run by. The single vc 35 record was 2 patches of a petaloid form in a stream, Grwyne Fawr Valley, SO/25.28, 1982, TGE, UTE. 1 t

It grows in shallow streams and on their margins. Apart from the occurrence in the reen draining into Magor Pill for a short period, it is confined to the rivers and marshy margins of the rivers in the north of the coalfield uplands. The records are: reen at Magor Pill, ST/43.86, 1982, TGE, det. EJC, 1st vice-county record; Llechryd to Rhymney, in river, SO/10.08, 1988, TGE, UTE, det. AJS; many plants, stream, CWM, near Ebbw Vale, SO/183.056, 1989; Cwm Gwyddon, ST/23.95, 1991, both RF, det. AJS; opposite steelworks, Ebbw Vale, River Ebbw, E bank; SO/1722.0927, 2000, TGE; large plant, River Sirhowy, The Rock, ST/1915.9868, 2001, TGE. 7 t

! Mimulus robertsii

! Mimulus luteus

Blood-drop-emlets

This is a fertile, glabrous plant, apart from some glandular hairs in the inflorescence, with ascending stems to 50 cm; the 25-45 mm corolla is yellow with red spots in the ‘mouth’ and red blotches on the lobes. It is mainly recorded in streams in the north of England. The one vc 35 record was near Abercarn, *, 1953, RES, which is assumed to be correct and not the commoner M. x robertsii, which was not recognised in 1953. (1 t)

Hybrid Monkeyflower

This sterile M. guttatus x M. luteus hybrid is glabrous in lower parts and glandular-hairy to varying degrees above; it is fairly upright to 50 cm; the 25-45 mm corolla is yellow but blotched reddish-orange to purplish-brown in ‘mouth’ and on the lobes. It has a garden origin and has entered streams in the Wye Valley but is commoner in the valley rivers of the western uplands. Some of the records are: several plants, Mill Reen, Magor Pill, ST/43.86, 1982 (Miss) ? Howard; Cas Troggy Brook, Earlswood Bottom, ST/44.94, 1984, TGE; stream, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.09, 1990, TGE, RF; 1992, GH; 1m², Nant Big, Averbeeg, SO/205.021,

! Mimulus x maculosus Scottish Monkeyflower This is a fertile M. luteus x M. cupreus hybrid varying in characteristics between its parents; the corolla is often yellow with orangey-red spots or blotches. Developed as a garden plant, it has escaped into Scottish rivers. It has also been sold to southern gardeners, and has again escaped into nearby streams. One vc 35 record only, from a stream, Cwm Gwyddon, ST/238.959, 2001, TGE. 1 t 347

Flora of Monmouthshire ANTIRRHINUM Snapdragon The Snapdragon is a tufted perennial having entire leaves with a single midrib; the large flower has a short calyx with almost equal lobes; the 2-lipped corolla has a tube which is saccate at its base and has no spur; the lower lip has swellings that obscure the ‘mouth’; the capsule dehisces by 3 apical pores.

! Antirrhinum majus

Snapdragon

18 31

It grows on bare, gritty areas and arable land and is often associated with railways. In vc 35 its frequency on railway ballast has been greatly reduced by the treatment of the track and borders with herbicides in recent years. 89 t

Chaenorhinum origanifolium

18 31

This plant forms tufts with glandular-pubescent stems, erect or decumbent, c. 10 cm tall (though the height depends on the calcareous substrate and its moisture content); the paired lower leaves may be green or purplish on upper side and purplish-red on on the lower side; they are small, thickish, glandular-hairy, roundish-lanceolate and measure 14-15 mm long and 10 mm wide but are narrower up the stem; the 13 mm corolla has a 5-7 mm tube with 5-equal sized, deep blue lobes (2 to the upper lip and 3 to the lower, the latter having a whitish boss only partially obscuring the open mouth), the tube is very pale with blue veins and an insignificant, basal, 3-4 mm, cylindrical spur; the 5, blunt-tipped, narrowly oblanceolate, glandularhairy, green sepals are often purple-tinged and as long as the corolla tube. Ageing flowers fade to a very pale colour. This subspecies originates from the Iberian Peninsula where it grows to 1500 m altitude, and has been recorded for the first time in Britain on a stone wall, near the SE corner of the Monnow Bridge, SO/504.124, Monmouth, in the summer of 2006, by HVC. On the bridge, she was watching Sand Martins using artificial tubes and noticed blue patches on the wall. Three tufts at the base of the railings on the top of the wall in June, 2007 enabled Heather to examine them and use the internet to make a correct identification to species level. Seven more tufts were scattered on the near-

Snapdragon is an erect to ascending plant, glabrous or glandular-hairy above; the 3-4.5 cm long flower is usually pink to purple but may be yellow, orange or a mixture of those colours. A garden introduction from SW Europe which has spread to walls, quarries, rocky terrain and waste places. In vc 35 it is usually found near human habitation or activity. 58 t CHAENORHINUM Toadflaxes These are annuals or perennials forming tufts from the base of which new shoots appear; they have simple leaves with a single midrib; the slightly unequal calyx lobes vary from over half as long to the same length as the corolla lobe; the swellings on the lower lip do not completely obscure the tube ‘mouth’; the short, conical spur completes the base of the corolla tube; the capsule dehisces by irregular-shaped, apical openings.

Arc. Chaenorhinum minus

origanifolium subsp. Iberian Toadflax

Small Toadflax

These are erect annuals usually clothed in short, glandular hairs and seldom attaining 20 cm in height; the lower stem leaves are oblong to oblanceolate; the 6-9 mm corolla is pale purple with the swelling on the lower lip a pale yellow. 348

Flora of Monmouthshire towards the light, and after pollination bend away from it to push the fruit into the substrate.

vertical wall face. The wall is all that is left of a much longer wall south along the river bank after flood alleviation measures taken in 1988. Cymbalaria muralis shares the same wall and often the same joint; it has much paler flowers a more noticeable spur and larger, ivy-leaf shaped leaves. Another subspecies, crassifolium, has been naturalised on old walls at West Malling, W. Kent since c. 1880, and less permanently on other English old walls but that has pink or lilac flowers. 1 t Plates 96 & 97; Plate 97 taken midday, in bright June sunshine misleads by making the flowers appear pale blue instead of their deep blue.

MISOPATES Weasel-snouts These are annuals with entire leaves having a single mid-rib; the calyx lobes are unequal and all longer than the corolla tube.

Arc. Misopates orontium

18 31

It is now naturalised on walls and rocky terrain, growing out of mortar or cracks. In vc 35, only the absence of mortared walls, neglected pavements or rocky banks prevents it from occurring in every tetrad. 251 t

Weasel’s-snout

Weasel’s-snout is an erect, hardly-branched annual with linear to narrowly elliptic, untoothed leaves, opposite below and alternate above; the 10-15 mm long, pink, very shortlystalked flowers occur in a cluster of leaf-like bracts and form a raceme; the swellings on the lower lip close the ‘mouth’; the calyx lobes are as long as the tube; the glandular-hairy capsule dehisces by 3 apical pores. It is a weed of cultivated ground but is increasingly rare due to the use of herbicides. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave two sites: near Abergavenny, *, JHC, AEW; Caerwent, *. More recent records are: 1 plant verge of new road, Penpergwm, SO/32.10, 1960, CT; 2 plants, arable field edge, W of Tump Farm, Wilcrick, 1988, TGE, UTE. 1 t (3 t)

KICKXIA Fluellens These annuals have leaves varying from ovate to elliptic to broadly arrow-shaped, and with pinnate veins; the equal lobes of the calyx are as long as the corolla tube, which ends in a narrow, conical spur; the lower lip has bosses that obscure the flower ‘mouth’.

Arc. Kickxia elatine

Sharp-leaved Fluellen

CYMBALARIA Ivy-leaved Toadflaxes These are perennials with trailing stems and leaves with palmate veins and shallow, blunt lobes; the calyx has unequal lobes that fall short of the corolla tube length; the corolla has a narrowly cylindrical or conical basal spur; the lower lip bosses obscure the ‘mouth’; the capsules dehisce by longitudinal apical slits.

! Cymbalaria muralis subsp. muralis Ivy-leaved Toadflax

This has trailing, almost glabrous stems and a 916 mm, pale-bluish corolla including a 1.5-3 mm spur; it may be sparsely and shortly hairy on new growth and the calyx; the pedicels turn the flowers

This ground hugging, stickily-hairy annual with slender trailing stems may be raised to 40-50 cm by the growth of erect plants over which it trails. The stalked leaves are hastate to arrow-shaped 349

Flora of Monmouthshire (except the youngest leaves which are often rounded); the 7-10 mm long flowers have a violet upper lip and a yellow lower one and are borne on long, slender stalks, arising from the leaf axils; the capsules are globose. It grows on arable fields and on field borders. In vc 35 it is becoming scarce due to root crops being replaced by maize, where herbicides are much used, or arable land being encouraged to revert to pasture with no bare soil. Because of crop rotation, Fluellens can be irregular in appearance. Wade (1970) described K. elatine as rare and gave eleven sites. More recent records are: disturbed ground, Caerwent, ST/47.89, 1970-85, CT, TGE; garden, Chepstow, ST/52.94, 1975-78, TGE; cereal weed, Kilpale, ST/469.924, 1983-4, TGE; 1 plant improved meadow, Bishton, ST/39.87, 1986; arable, Wilcrick, ST/409.883, 1988, both TGE, UTE; 6-10 plants, arable field margin, Pengarreg Plantation, SO/430.067, 1986, EGW; introduced, clearing in conifer plantation, Great Graig, Syfyrddin, SO/405.219, 1985, Forestry Commission rides, Graig, Syfyrddin, SO/405.216 and 427.225, 1986, both PCH, JH; meadow, Jingle Street, SO/471.108 and 472.109, 1986, HVC; arable, Underwood, ST/383.893, 1986, TGE; c. 40 plants, corner of maize field, Red House Brake, SO/469.931, 1997, TGE; fields, near Pontrhydan Cottage, SO/43.08; near Newland, SO/43.09; SW of Dingestow Court, SO/44.08; Dingestow Court, SO/44.09, all 1998, SDSB; 10+ plants Littlemill Farm, SO/425.174, 1999, Egleton; 1 plant, rail cutting, MOD, Caerwent, ST/482.907, 2000, TGE, CT; 1 plant, near gate to field, W side of road, 100 m S of Middle Hendre Farm, SO/455.134, 2002, HVC; more than 100 plants in same field after harvest, SO/454.132, 2002, TGE; c. 24 plants, inside gateway, among sparse stalks of oats, E side of road c. 100 m S of Middle Hendre Farm, SO/456.132, 2002, HVC; after harvest, more than 200 plants, TGE; more than 100 plants, with Stachys arvensis, Galeopsis bifida, Tripleurospermum inodorum, Spergula arvensis and Gnaphalium uliginosum in barley field, Llantrisant Fawr c. ST/4073.9857, 2002, TGE. 18 t Plate 145 site.

It also grows among arable crops but is very rare in the vice-county. Wade’s records were: near Minnetts Wood, 1942, JCE; and Newport Docks, SH. The only recent records are: oat field, Kilpale, ST/468.924, 1980, CT; abundant 1983-5; few plants, arable, Kilpale, ST/469.931; 11 plants, margin of maize crop, with K. elatine, Agrostis gigantea, Anagallis arvensis and Persicaria lapathifolia, Kilpale, ST/469.928, 2002, all TGE; C 10 plants road/stream side Jingle Street Bridge, SO/4754.1069, 2005, HVC: in oat field, below Great Manson Farm, SO/494.157, 2006, DEG. 3 t

Arc. Kickxia spuria

It grows in established habitats in grassland, in road, rail and river margins, on waste and cultivated land. In vc 35 it does seem to be a marginal plant, but has become less common. 181 t

LINARIA Toadflaxes These are herbs with different life cycles, with simple, untoothed, sessile leaves, alternate above and frequently whorled below; bracts occur in spike-like racemes; the unequal calyx lobes are shorter than the corolla tube; the spurred corolla is 2-lipped; there are 4 stamens and a globose capsule.

Linaria vulgaris

Common Toadflax

A tufted perennial to 60 cm, usually glabrous but may be glandular-hairy in upper branched parts; the single-veined leaves are linear to narrowly elliptical and rather crowded; the 18-35 mm, yellow flowers with 6-13 mm spurs have prominent orange bosses, and are borne very upright in a dense raceme; the globose capsule sheds broadly-winged, discoid-shaped seeds. 23

18 31

Round-leaved Fluellen

This is like K. elatine in growth but is more robust with hairy, heart-shaped to ovate leaves, larger 8-18 mm long flowers with a curved spur and pubescent pedicels. 350

Flora of Monmouthshire

Linaria x sepium

still be found on little or disused rail tracks, where the use of herbicides is absent or infrequent. 52 t

a hybrid Toadflax

This fertile L. vulgaris x L. repens hybrid is intermediate between its parents, with a pale yellow corolla with blue or reddish veins. It grows near its parents. In vc 35 it occurs on waste, gritty ground near railway lines. Now less common due to spraying with herbicides on rail track and nearby verges. Wade (1970) gave 1 site, Tintern, 1929, CA. Some recent sites are: railway ballast, c. 10 plants, Newport Docks ST/315.859, 1994, TGE; 1 large plant, on disused rail track, N Argoed, SO/177.005, 1997, TGE, UTE; c. 10 plants, disused shunting yards, Rogiet, ST/45.87, 1999-2000, TGE; near Canal Wharf, Govilon, SO/270.137, 2000, MP. 6 t (1 t)

! Linaria purpurea

DIGITALIS Foxgloves Foxgloves are biennial or perennial herbs, with pinnate-veined leaves, alternating up the stem; the colourful corolla is weakly 2-lipped, with a long tube and short lobes; there are 4 stamens.

Digitalis purpurea

Purple Toadflax

These are tall, erect, tufted, glabrous perennials to 1 m tall; usually a rather narrow plant with numerous linear leaves, the lower whorled; the purplish-violet flowers form a dense raceme that tapers upwards; the corolla is 7-15 mm long, including the 3-6 mm spur; the pedicels equal the length of the bracts. Naturalised near human habitation, it appears on walls, waste ground and verges. In vc 35 it is a frequent garden escape. 86 t

Arc. Linaria repens

Foxglove

Foxglove is an upright, usually unbranched, tall herb to 2 m; its oval to lanceolate, bluntly toothed leaves taper to a winged petiole and decrease in size up the stem; the 4-5 cm long, thimble-shaped corolla is a shiny, purplish-red, with some hairs on the inside and on the lobe edges; the lower lip is marked with darker spots and circles inside. 23

Pale Toadflax

18 23 31 22

It grows in open woodland, scrub and hedge banks, particularly on acid soils. Widespread in vc 35, making a fine show in woodlands the year after a clear fell. 358 t

ERINUS Fairy Foxglove These are low-growing, tufted, perennial herbs, with alternate leaves pinnately veined; the flowers have a tube almost the same length as the almost equal, notched lobes; there are 4 stamens; the fruit is a 4-valved capsule.

18 31

! Erinus alpinus

This is a tall, glabrous, tufted, branched, rhizomatous perennial with linear leaves, whorled below; the 8-15 mm flowers are white or pale lilac with violet veins; the bracts and pedicels are of equal length; the flowers with 3-5 mm spurs form a loose raceme. It grows in dry, well drained, stony places. In vc 35 it was not infrequent on or near rail tracks and can

Fairy Foxglove

This forms tufts of largely basal, toothed, oblong leaves, only the lower stalked; the flowers are a bright, purplish-red and arranged in small clusters that elongate in fruit. Introduced to British gardens as a rock plant, it colonises walls and available rocky terrain. In vc 351

Flora of Monmouthshire 35 it spread over a large old wall, Tre-wyn, SO/328.228, 1985-7, TGE, UTE. 1 t

VERONICA Speedwells Speedwells are annual or perennial herbs with opposite or whorled leaves, upper ones sometimes alternate; flowers are in racemes, in terminal clusters, or singly in leaf axils; corollas are often blue with darker veins, less often pink or white with dark pink veins; the calyx is deeply 5-lobed; the corolla usually has 3 equal-sized upper lobes and a small lower one; there are 2 stamens; the fruit is heart-shaped or 2-lobed.

18 31

Veronica serpyllifolia subsp. serpyllifolia Thyme-leaved Speedwell

It grows on drier grassland, in open woodland and on heaths. In vc 35 it occurs on the higher ground. The ploughing of lower heathland has adversely affected the numbers of sites. 173 t

This low, creeping, mainly glabrous perennial roots at the nodes; its oval, negligibly toothed, shortstalked leaves are paired at the base of alternating leaf-like bracts, in a loose terminal raceme; the 6-8 mm pale-blue, or occasionally white corolla lobes have dark purplish-blue veins; the 4-5 mm, hairy capsules are heart-shaped and shorter than the calyx.

Veronica chamaedrys Germander Speedwell This is a hairy, sprawling, ascending perennial with stems bearing two opposite lines of hairs; the sessile, opposite, serrated leaves are oval to oblong; the 9-19 mm, bright blue flowers have a white ‘eye’ and are subtended by small elliptic bracts; they are borne in paired, lax racemes on long stalks arising from leafy nodes; the capsules are heart-shaped and are shorter than the calyx.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31

35 19

It grows in open grassland and on cultivated land, at low altitudes. It is widespread in vc 35 occurring as scattered plants. With the drying out of the Levels, it is appearing there more often. 336 t

Veronica officinalis

18 31

Heath Speedwell

It grows in a variety of habitats, including hedgerows, unimproved grassland, woodland, banks, etc. In vc 35, though still widespread it is adversely affected by lane banks being scraped away by wider tractors and other vehicles, or by fertilisers leaching out from adjacent fields. 362 t

The branching, prostrate stems form patches in suitable habitats; the paired, softly-hairy leaves are toothed and shortly-stalked; the 6-8 mm, lilac flowers have darker veins and are borne singly or in pairs, in dense, ascending, long-stalked, terminal racemes, that taper to the flowers in bud; the hairy, heart-shaped capsules are longer than the calyx. 352

Flora of Monmouthshire

Veronica montana

alternate up the stem; its flowers are pale pink or pale blue with darker veins or white; the bracts are small; the glabrous, kidney-shaped capsule is much longer than the calyx. It grows in marshes, bogs, shallow water of ponds and ditches and in wet meadows. In vc 35 it is scattered on the Levels, on river edges and in the decreasing number of wet areas. 40 t

Wood Speedwell

Generally a sprawling, softly-hairy perennial with stems hairy all round; the shortly-stalked, toothed leaves are alternate or in opposite pairs; the 8-10 mm, mauve flowers with darker veins are subtended by linear bracts and are borne paired in lax racemes on long stalks arising from leafy nodes; the prominent, longer than wide, kidneyshaped capsules have a glandular-hairy margin and are longer than the calyx.

Veronica beccabunga

Brooklime

This has thick, glabrous, procumbent to ascending fleshy stems, rooting before ascending; the stalked, oval to oblong leaves have bluntlytoothed margins; the 5-8 mm, blue flowers are borne on longish, stalked racemes arising in opposite pairs from a leafy node; the 2-4 mm, glabrous, roundish capsule is equal to shorter than the calyx.

20 23 19 22 18 31

It grows in damp, deciduous woods. In vc 35 woodlands are scarce on the Levels and tend to be coniferous on the western uplands, resulting in few localities in those regions. 257 t

Veronica scutellaria

Marsh Speedwell

It grows in wet habitats, particularly in shallow streams, the margins of ponds, lakes and rivers, and in ditches and marshy meadows. It is widespread in vc 35. 332 t

Veronica anagallis-aquatica Blue Water-speedwell

Though usually glabrous, this erect perennial may have glandular hairs in the inflorescence; the pale green leaves are oval and stalked becoming sessile and lanceolate up the stem; the long-stalked racemes of pale blue flowers with darker veins are paired from the upper nodes; the fruit pedicels are erecto-patent. It grows in marshes, and very wet meadows or in margins of ponds and streams. In vc 35 it appears to have become very scarce, certainly on the Levels. I have not seen a single plant for at least 10 years. 8 t (11 t)

18 31

This is a straggly to ascending, usually glabrous perennial, rooting at the nodes and with paired, opposite, narrowly oblong leaves, often tinged reddish-brown; its longish-stalked, lax racemes 353

Flora of Monmouthshire Veronica anagallis-aquatica

Veronica arvensis

18 31

Veronica catenata

It grows in dry conditions, on walls, banks and cultivated ground. Widespread in vc 35, but it may be overlooked. 255 t

Pink Water-speedwell

This is similar to V. anagallis-aquatica but differs in having all sessile, darker green leaves, flowers pink with reddish veins and patent fruit pedicels

! Veronica peregrina

American Speedwell

It is somewhat similar to V. arvensis but it is glabrous, more branched and open, with relatively longer and narrower leaves; the tiny 23 mm flowers are white; the capsule is oval, slightly notched and shorter than the calyx. This is a native of S America but has become naturalised in much of Europe on cultivated and damp soils and by streams. In vc 35 it originated in the Welsh Tree Services Garden Centre near Raglan, SO/388.088, 1986, CAS; and imported into La Cuesta garden, ST/52.93 with plants bought from the Raglan Garden Centre, 1987 (still present in 2005). 2 t

18 31

Arc. Veronica agrestis Green Field-speedwell

Veronica catenata grows in still, shallow water or in nearby wet muddy areas. The lowered water table and accompanying drainage of the Levels has reduced numbers considerably. Every plant bearing paired racemes examined recently has been this species rather than V. anagallis-aquatica. 37 t (1 t)

Veronica arvensis

Wall Speedwell

This is an upright, usually little-branched, hairy, sometimes glandular annual; the paired, lower, ovate, slightly toothed leaves are shortly stalked, but become sessile up the stem; the tiny 2-3 mm across, bright blue flowers occur singly in leaf axils, in narrow, spike-like racemes; the heartshaped capsule, glandular hairy on the margins, is as long as the calyx.

18 31

354

Flora of Monmouthshire number of botanists in that half of the vice-county may also contribute to this pattern. 80 t

These are hairy, spreading annuals with mainly alternate, palish-green, oval leaves with bluntlytoothed margins; the 3-6 mm flowers borne singly on long, slender, curved pedicels, in the leaf axils, usually have the upper three petals blue and the lower, smaller one white, though the lower half of the two adjacent petals may be tinged white; the fruiting pedicels are often recurved.

Veronica persica Common Field-speedwell Because of its branching stem and mode of growth, this hairy annual forms patches; its stalked leaves are broadly oval-triangular with blunt teeth; the comparatively large, 8-12 mm flowers, on long slender pedicels, have the upper 3 petal lobes bright blue and the small lower one white; the diverging lobes of the capsule are keeled and sit in longer, wide spreading sepals.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

35 18

It grows on cultivated soils. In vc 35 it is thinly scattered but absent from the Levels and the higher land. 41 t

! Veronica polita

It grows in a variety of cultivated soils. It is widespread in vc 35. 325 t

Grey Field-speedwell

It is very similar to V. agrestis, but has tiny 3-6 mm concolorous, bright blue flowers, and capsules with short, arched, eglandular hairs mixed with a varying number of patent glandular hairs.

! Veronica filiformis

Slender Speedwell

18 31

The creeping nature of this hairy perennial forms a mat of stems, rooting at the nodes; the small, roundish leaves have blunt teeth that give a crenate-edged appearance; the 10-15 mm pale

Veronica polita grows in cultivated soils. In vc 35 it is frequent, especially in the eastern half, which probably has better soils for gardens. The greater 355

Flora of Monmouthshire blue flowers have a much paler lower lobe and also a paler lower part of the 2 adjacent lobes, and they are borne singly per node on long very fine pedicels. Introduced into Britain from Asia Minor and the Caucasus early in the nineteenth century, it was not until the 1920s it found favour in gardens as a rock plant. Since then it has spread into grassy habitats and invaded lawns, churchyards and verges. It is widespread in vc 35, apart from in the western uplands. 164 t Plate 69

Veronica

Arc. Veronica hederifolia subsp. lucorum Ivy-leaved Speedwell This is similar to subsp. hederifolia but has thinner, hardly fleshy leaves with the terminal lobe longer than wide; the flowers are smaller, whitish or pale lilac with pedicels 3.5-7 times as long as the calyx, with an adaxial row of short hairs and a scattering of longer, patent hairs elsewhere; the 0.6 mm anthers are whitish and the style is usually 0.5 mm or less long. 23

hederifolia

is divided into 2 subspecies. The dichotomy of having either a blue undehisced anther or a grey/white one has been the dominant deciding diagnostic feature because the other characters seem to appear haphazardly on either subspecies. Use the Plant Crib for all the diagnostic characters.

Arc. Veronica hederifolia subsp. hederifolia Ivy-leaved Speedwell

This has varying forms, mostly hairy, rather sprawling and branching annuals; the somewhat fleshy leaves are shaped around the apparently palmate veins, each of which ends in a blunt lobe; the terminal lobe is usually wider than long; the 4-9 mm flowers are pale blue with pedicels shorter than the leaves; the glabrous calyx has marginal long, patent cilia; the 1.0 mm anthers are blue, the pedicels are 3-4 times as long as the calyx with an adaxial row of longish patent hairs; the style is 0.7-1.0 mm long.

18 31

! Veronica longifolia

18 34

Garden Speedwell

SIBTHORPIA Cornish Moneywort These perennials, with alternate leaves which have palmate veins, spread by rooting stolons; the inconspicuous, whitish, apparently actinomorphic flowers have a short tube usually bearing 5 slightly longer lobes, and usually 4 stamens.

This glabrous to minutely pubescent plant is erect to 1 m with acute, lanceolate leaves, serrate to biserrate, with sharp-pointed teeth, the leaves occur 2-4 to a node; the many blue flowers are in long, dense racemes; the corolla is more than 2 mm longer than wide. It was introduced from mainland Europe to British gardens. The only vc 35 record was a single plant on waste ground outside a tall garden wall, near Llanfoist Church, SO/28.13, 1990, TGE, det. EJC. 1t

It grows in shady places in woodlands and hedgerows. In vc 35 it is reasonably common except in the uplands. 183 t

Subsp. hederifolia grows in woodland margins, arable fields, verges and gardens. In vc 35 it is less common than subsp. lucorum. 43 t

Sibthorpia europaea

Cornish Moneywort

This slightly hairy plant has prostrate, spreading, thread-like stems that branch a little 356

Flora of Monmouthshire and root at the nodes; the alternating, pale green leaves are roundish-lobed at the vein ends and are borne on long, slender petioles; the 1.5-2.5 mm, solitary, white to cream flowers are borne on long, slender pedicels arising from a leaf axil; the capsule splits into halves. This thrives in very damp conditions, usually on banks of streams. In vc 35 the only site is on the left bank of Nant-y-Draenog, N of Cwmfelinfach, ST/1877.9279, 1st vice-county record, 1990, R. Fraser, 22 cm²; 1994, TGE; 4 x ½m, 2002, TGE, MARK, SJT, CT, MS; 3 patches, 2003, TGE.1 t Plate 71

EUPHRASIA Eyebrights Eyebrights are so-called because of their historical use in treating certain eye conditions. They are semi-parasitic, annual herbs; their leaves are opposite and toothed, the bracts are large and leaflike; the two-lipped flowers are borne in leafy spikes, they are white, pink or purplish, often marked yellow on the base of the lower 3-lobed lip; the 4-lobed calyx is tubular or somewhat bell-shaped, but not inflated; there are 4 stamens and a capsule that splits longitudinally to release numerous, furrowed seeds that lack an oil-body. This is a critical group and advice on consulting an expert referee should be followed, as suggested on page 272 in the Plant Crib. Variation and hybridisation makes identification very difficult and at least 5 undamaged, well-grown specimens bearing both flowers and fully formed capsules need to be examined (best carried out with a good hand lens or a binocular microscope). The Latin names in brackets are currently used by Dr A. Silverside, the BSBI referee for the group. All the following detailed records are based on determined material and all segregates are underrecorded. Euphrasia agg.

MELAMPYRUM Cow-wheats Cow-wheats are annuals semi-parasitic on roots of various other vascular plants; like many other semi-parasites they blacken in the drying press; they have opposite and entire leaves; the calyx has 4 entire lobes; the mainly yellowish corolla has the ‘mouth’ somewhat concealed by the bosslike lower lip swellings; the small numbers of oilbody bearing seeds are held in a capsule.

Melampyrum pratense subsp. pratense Common Cow-wheat A rather variable annual, with erect stems to 50 cm, that frequently forms patches, some extensive, the opposite, sessile, short-stalked leaves are narrowly oval; the flat, opposite bracts are sessile and lanceolate with long, tapering apices, sometimes with 1-2 basal teeth, otherwise entire; the 10-18 mm yellow flowers, sometimes with the upper lip marked red or purple, are in leaf axils and are borne in lax, one-sided spikes.

19 23 18 22

Many recorders send in their records in this unspecific form. 133 t

Euphrasia rostkoviana subsp. rostkoviana (E. officinalis subsp. rostkoviana)

Common Eyebright This is an erect, often red-tinged, short-stemmed plant, with 0-5 branches often branched again, with the main internodes less than 3 times longer than the leaves; the middle and upper leaves have an indumentum of stalked glandular hairs 10-12 times as long as the head; this is our largest flowered

18 31

Melampyrum pratense grows in acid to neutral soils. So far, the plants examined in vc 35 have proved to be this subspecies. 59 t (1 t) Plate 70 357

Flora of Monmouthshire Shirenewton; Catbrook, AL; between Gockett Inn and Trellech, 1944, RL; Mounton Valley, 1949, EAE; Great Barnetts Woods, TGE; between St Brides and Rogiet, *. More recent records are: grass bank, Livox Farm, ST/533.972, *, 1985; hillside, Upper Race, R. Wye bank, S of Tintern, ST/537.992, *, 1996, all recent records TGE and verified by AJS. 3 t

species with 8-12.5 mm long, 2-lipped corolla, with the upper lip lilac and a 3-lobed lower lip white with lilac veins and a yellow ‘throat’; the capsule does not exceed the calyx. It grows on stable pastures, river meadows in lowland and hilly districts. Wade (1970) said of it that it was locally frequent and gave 16 sites but the records were made before the hay meadows were ploughed and re-seeded. His records were: below Llanthony Abbey, 1946, JWG, NS; near Cwm Lasgarn, Abersychan, *; Cwrt Henllys, *, Pant-yr-eos, Henllys, *; Trellech, Earlswood, *; St Brides Netherwent; The Minnetts; Runstone; between Tintern and Catbrook, *; The Ganllwyd, *; between the Minnetts and St Brides, *; Bigsweir; Wyndcliff, *, both WAS, RL; Troy House, HJR; Newchurch West, WAS; TGE; Mounton, *. More recent records are: disused quarry, damp meadow, Coed Llifos, ST/456.967, 1999; TGE; Blackcliff, ST/532.984; meadow, N of Little Wood, ST/ 484.907; foot of steep bank, N perimeter road, ST/469.923; NE corner of Bee Orchid Field, ST/ 490.915; E side of revetment 1005, ST/465.920; N of NE reservoir, ST/489.919, all 2003 and TGE. All recent records verified AJS. 7 t (17 t)

Euphrasia arctica subsp. borealis an Eyebright This Eyebright is very variable, it has an erect stem with 0-5 pairs of long branches from near the base, usually starting from 3-5 nodes up; the leaves may have blunt or pointed teeth on the same plant; the 6-9 mm long flowers have a white lower lip with violet veins and a lilac upper lip; the capsules are 4.5-6.5 mm long. It grows mainly in damp hay meadows and rough grassland in the north and west. Wade (1970) described it as rather rare and gave these 10 sites: Honddu Valley, 1946, JWG, NS; SGC; Cwmcarn, 1956, FEJ; near Beaufort; Pont-y-spig, *; near Cwrt Henllys, *; near Pant-yr-eos, *; near Castelly-bwch, Henllys, *; The Park, Christchurch; Pontypool, *; Earlswood, *, WAS. More recent records are: N of St Arvans, ST/51.97, 1978, hillside, near old colliery, W of Pontypool, SO/27.00, 1986, UTE; a robust, glabrous form in a grassy area, S of Brynmawr, SO/18.11, 1987, Garn-yr-erw, SO/23.10, 1988, all TGE and det. AJS. 4 t (10 t)

Euphrasia rostkoviana subsp. montana (E. officinalis subsp. monticola) an Eyebright This has similar glandular hairs but differs from subsp. rostkoviana in that it has 0-3 branches, internodes 2-6 times as long as leaves, the lowest flower is usually at node 2-6 and it grows usually in drier upland vegetation. Wade (1970) said it was rare in moist mountain meadows and gave 3 sites: below Tarren-yr-Esgob, *; Cwm Lasgarn, Abersychan, *; Hafodyrynys, *. The only recent record is in a meadow with Succisa pratensis (in wetter parts) and Centaurea nigra, Penperlleni, SO/327.055, 1997, TGE, det. AJS. 1 t (3 t)

Euphrasia anglica

Euphrasia arctica subsp borealis x E. confusa a hybrid Eyebright This is intermediate between its parents. It grows among its parents. In vc 35 records are: N of St Arvans, ST/51.97, 1978, TGE; near old colliery, hillside W of Pontypool, SO/27.00, 1986, TGE, UTE; a robust, glabrous form grows in a grassy area S of Brynmawr, SO/18.11, 1987, TGE; and near B4248 north side, Garn-yr-erw, SO/23.10, 1988, TGE, all det. AJS. 4 t

an Eyebright

This is similar to E. rostkoviana with long-stalked glandular hairs with stalks 10-12 times as long as the head but it has wavy or curved stems, internodes shorter than the leaves, smaller, 6.5-8 mm flowers which are white to pale lilac. It grows in grass in wet soils or on heaths. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent and gave 9 records, again before the huge loss of unimproved hay meadows. His records were: Llanthony, AL; Buckholt Wood, near Monmouth, *, SGC; between St Arvans and Wyndcliff, JHC; AEW;

Euphrasia arctica subsp. borealis x E. nemorosa a hybrid Eyebright This hybrid is intermediate between its parents. It grows among its parents. In the vice-county its 3 records are: woodland track, The Oaks, SO/51.01, 1997; turf over Carboniferous Limestone, Rogiet Common, ST/453.884, 1997; in disused Carboniferous Limestone quarry, S end of Lasgarn Wood, SO/272.031, 2000, all TGE det. AJS. 3 t 358

Flora of Monmouthshire

Euphrasia tetraquetra

turf over coal waste, N of Varteg, SO/263.066, 2000; pathside on coal waste, above River Ebbw, near large works, Ebbw Vale, SO/1723.0923, 2001, all TGE and det. or conf. AJS. 7 t

an Eyebright

This has stout, erect stems to c. 15 cm with 0-5 pairs of short branches parallel to the main stem. A view from above reveals each branch forms a neat, compact, squarish-pyramidal structure. The 5-7 mm lowest flower occurs between 5 and 9 nodes, and usually has a white or lilac upper lip and a white lower lip. The only possible record, still to be confirmed, is 10-20 plants on ballast of disused rail track, Blaenavon Railway Museum, SO/23624.09253, 2004, TGE. ? 1 t

Euphrasia nemorosa

Euphrasia nemorosa x E. rostkoviana (E. nemorosa x E. officinalis subsp. rostkoviana)

a hybrid Eyebright This is intermediate between its parents. It grows among its parents. According to C.A. Stace this is the first world record of this hybrid. It occurred in an extensive swarm on the floor of a disused limestone quarry, Blackcliff, ST/533.984, 1988, TGE, det. AJS. 1 t

an Eyebright

This erect, frequently purplish plant has 1-9 long, slender branches at c. 45º to the main stem; the sharply-toothed, darkish-green leaves with prominent veins may be flushed with purple; the 57.5 mm long flowers have a lilac upper lip and a white with lilac veins lower one; the oblong capsule is concealed in the calyx. It is a lowland plant of unimproved pastures, scrub, woodland rides and waste areas. Wade (1970) said of it fairly common on O.R.S and limestone of the north, south and east, locally frequent in the coalfield upland and absent on the Levels. Today the ‘improved’ pasture has very few records, if any, but it is probably the commonest species in the vice-county. 15 t

Euphrasia pseudokerneri

an Eyebright

This is somewhat similar to E. nemorosa but is usually shorter, with shorter and narrower leaves, which have more pointed teeth; larger, 7-9 mm long, white to pale lilac flowers, which usually start flowering at nodes 10-16. It prefers dry, chalky soils but as in vc 35, it does well on dry limestone soils. Many plants grow in turf over Carboniferous Limestone soil, S of Little Dinham Wood, ST/47.91, 1994; many plants, E of revetment 812, ST/4656.9189, 2003, both TGE and det. AJS. 1 t

Euphrasia confusa

an Eyebright

This short, much-branched Eyebright has smallish, bluntly-toothed, oval leaves; the lower bracts are broader than the leaves; the 5-9 mm long flowers are variable in colour, sometimes white, purple or even yellow; the broadly-oblong, notched capsule exceeds the length of the calyx. It grows on dunes, well-drained moorland and heaths. In vc 35 it is confined to the NW uplands. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave four sites - above Llanthony, EBB; Nantybwch, *; Cwm Tysswg, *; Mynydd y Garn fawr, *. More recent records are: SW flank of Bal Mawr, SO/258.265, 1994, det. TGE, conf. AJS; edge of track to quarry, SE of Carreg Gywir, SO/245.122, 1997, AOC, AN; drier parts of wet heath, Varteg, SO/2648.0638; ash track, N edge of Waun Afon Bog, SO/220.108, both 2003, TGE and verified AJS. 5 t

Euphrasia nemorosa x E. pseudokerneri a hybrid Eyebright This is intermediate between its parents. Its presence is governed by the specific requirements of the E. pseudokerneri parent. Thus all 6 vice-county records are confined to MOD, Caerwent. They are all on short turf over Carboniferous Limestone at, ST/490.915; rough meadow, ST/488.916; near revetment 1056, ST/479.918, all 1999, TGE; E of revetment 812, ST/466.919; near revetment 845, ST/466.921; N boundary fence, both sides of road, ST/466.933, all 2003, TGE, all det. AJS. 3 t

Euphrasia nemorosa x E. confusa a hybrid Eyebright This is intermediate between its parents. It grows among its parents. In vc 35 its records are: Abundant at, ST/50.98, 1985; and ST/49.97 both tracks in Chepstow Park Wood, 1985; trackside, Hale Wood, ST/47.96, 1994, det. GH; meadow, damp in parts, Underwood, ST/383.892, 1996, det. GH; Wet Meadow Wood, SO/496.062, 1997; short

Euphrasia micrantha

an Eyebright

This is a slender, upright Eyebright with 2-7 pairs of branches 45º or less to the main stem; the oval leaves are usually less than 8 mm long with a few, sharpish teeth; the 4.5-6.5 mm long flowers are usually lilac, violet or purple, the lowest flower 359

Flora of Monmouthshire occurring between 6 and 14 nodes; the roundish capsule seldom exceeds the calyx. It is usually found with Calluna on heathland. The only vc 35 record was on upland moorland, SE of Carreg Gywir, SO/246.122, 1997, AOC & AN. 1 t

Euphrasia scottica

PARENTUCELLIA Yellow Bartsias These are erect annuals with opposite, toothed leaves; the 4-lobed calyx is not inflated; the flowers are usually yellow with a 3-lobed lower lip, that does not obscure the ‘mouth’; the capsule contains many smooth seeds that lack oil-bodies.

an Eyebright ! Parentucellia viscosa

This is similar to E. micrantha but its stems are less branched and its leaves are greener on top and darker below, it often has long internodes; its white flowers have a lilac upper lip and the lowest flower occurs between node 4 and 7. The plant is found on wet moorland. The one vc 35 record was in a flush, NW slope of Twym Barlwm, ST/2.9L, 1986, TGE, det. AJS. 1 t

Yellow Bartsia

This is an erect, glandular-hairy annual, usually unbranched; the opposite, coarsely-toothed leaves are lanceolate with the middle part almost parallel-sided; the leaf-like bracts diminish in size up the inflorescence; though long, white flowers may occur, they are usually yellow; the 16-24 mm corolla is 2-lipped, the upper hooded, the lower 3-lobed, with the ‘mouth’ open; the capsule is hairy. It grows in damp grassland, usually close to the coast. Both the vc 35 sites were artificial. The first was a single plant on newly raised bank of the R. Usk at Llanbadoc, ST/378.998, 1985, SJT; the second was on a levelled site for an industrial purpose that supported c. 500 plants, Llantarnam, near the Britax & Panasonic buildings, ST/2984.9298, 2001, SW; TGE; more than 30plants disturbed ground, Mamhilad, SO/3127.0249, 2005, EGW. 2 t (1 t)

ODONTITES Bartsias Bartsias are semi-parasitic annuals with opposite leaves; the entire, lobed calyx is not inflated; the flowers are yellow or pale purple with a 3-lobed, lower lip that has no swellings to obscure the ‘mouth’; the capsule contains few seeds, that are furrowed and lack an oil-body.

Odontites vernus subsp. serotinus Red Bartsia This subspecies develops 2-8, longish, paired branches, that make an angle with the main stem of over 50º; there are 2-7 pairs of leaves between the top and bottom pairs of inflorescence branches; the flowers are pinkish purple and the lowest occurs between the 8th and 14th nodes.

RHINANTHUS Yellow-rattles These are annual, semi-parasitic herbs with paired, sessile leaves and similar bracts; the usually yellow flowers form a spike-like, terminal raceme; the persistent, toothed calyx becomes inflated and the ripe seeds are rattled inside by the wind or passing animals; the longtubed corolla has an upper lip with 2 teeth on opposite sides just below the apex; there are 4 stamens.

Rhinanthus angustifolius Greater Yellow-rattle

This is a very variable, erect herb to 50 cm; the dark-green, toothed leaves are narrowly lanceolate; the glabrous bracts are lanceolate with sharp-teeth and longer than the calices; the 16-20 mm long, pale yellow or brownish flowers have a curved upper lip and closed ‘mouth’; the calyx is glabrous. It grows in grassland and cornfields. In vc 35 it occurred on a newly-created and grassed dam and survived only for one year. There were 15-20 plants at Greenmeadow Community Farm, Cwmbran, ST/27.96, 1992, CT. 1 t

18 31

Subsp. serotinus grows in grass on waste ground, on verges and in arable. In vc 35 the plants examined have all been this subspecies, but as the recording card did not list subspecies vernus it could be present but unrecorded. 138 t 360

Flora of Monmouthshire forms a tube curved outwards at the mouth; the 2-lipped corolla has a hooded or beaked upper lip and a 3-lobed lower one; the 4 stamens are sheltered in the upper lip.

Rhinanthus minor subsp. minor Yellow-rattle This has erect stems to 50 cm with black streaks or dots on them; the stems usually have no branches, the dark-green, toothed leaves are parallel-sided for most of their length; the sharply-toothed bracts are triangular; the 13-15 mm long flowers are yellow or brownish with violet (rarely white) teeth and a somewhat open ‘mouth’, the lowest flower occurs at node 6-9.

Pedicularis palustris

Marsh Lousewort

This annual to biennial usually has a single, erect stem to 60 cm; its leaves are variously lobed, often, in part, pinnately-lobed, wider at the base tapering to a blunt apex giving a ferny effect, the leaves often alternate but may be opposite or whorled and decrease in size above giving the plant a pyramidal shape; the calyx is pubescent with 2 short, variously dissected lobes; the 2lipped, 2-2.5 cm long corolla is pinkish-purple; the upper lip is hooded with the toothed apex pointing down; just behind the apex is a tooth on the lip edge on either side, then there is a gap and another tooth on each side, usually revealed by pressing down the lower lip gently; the capsule is slightly longer than the calyx and contains unwinged seeds.

23 31

35 22

It grows in grass in a range of habitats, mainly on basic or calcareous substrates. Modern farming methods have greatly reduced its occurrence and I doubt if 150 tetrads still had it by 2004. 150 t Plate 77

Rhinanthus minor subsp. stenophyllus Yellow-rattle

This is similar to subsp. minor but has several pairs of long flowering branches from basal to middle parts of the stem, the 1.5-4.5 cm leaves are linear-lanceolate tapering from the base. The flowers are usually yellow. It grows in wet fields and fens. The vc 35 records are in wet areas between Lower Farm and Bedwellty Pits, SO/157.060, 1989 TGE, UTE; and meadow between the B4423 and the Afon Honddu, SO/284.279, 1990, TGE. This subspecies could be under-recorded. 2 t

18 31

It grows in quite wet heaths and bogs. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 12 sites as follows: Grwyne Valley; near Pont-y-spig, both AL; Blorenge, SH; Lllangybi, JHC; Ynys-y-fro, SH; near Michaelstone y Vedw, *; by Coed Mawr, near Rhiwderyn; Kilgwrrwg Bottom; Catbrook, near Tintern; Tintern Parva, last three, WAS; Llwyn-ycelyn, TGE. Farm drainage schemes have changed some of the above sites. More recent records are: bog, Llwyn-y-celyn, ST/479.948, 1971-2004, TGE; wet field, near M4, Underwood, ST/385.895, 1985, PRG; (c. 40 plants, 1999) 1987-2004, TGE; CT; Wet field, Goetre, SO/327.056 (drained for housing), 1987, VAW; fen, Henllys, 1971-2004, TGE; CT; 2 patches (7 and 4 plants), very wet bog,

PEDICULARIS Louseworts Louseworts are semi-parasitic, usually perennial, often-tufted herbs that turn black in drying presses; the usually pinnately-lobed leaves are alternate or less commonly opposite or whorled; the bracts are leaf-like; the flowers are in terminal, spike-like racemes; the 5-toothed, somewhat 2-lipped calyx 361

Flora of Monmouthshire Chapel Farm, Pontyspig, SO/2869.2081, 2002, TGE, GSH, CT. 6 t Plate 72

LATHRAEA Toothworts Toothworts have rhizomes covered with fleshy scales; the calyx has 4 equal lobes; the flowers have pedicels arising from leaf axils.

Pedicularis sylvatica subsp. sylvatica Lousewort

Lathraea squamaria

Somewhat similar to P. palustris but differs in having several stems that are procumbent to ascending to only 25 cm: a glabrous calyx of 4 short, dissected lobes; the flower upper lip lacks the lower pair of teeth; the calyx, which has a glabrous pedicel, is as long or longer than the capsule, which contains partially winged seeds. It grows on drier parts of heaths and bogs. In vc 35 its numbers have reduced significantly with ‘improvements’ to farm fields. 88 t Plate 73

Toothwort

Toothwort has aerial stems to 30 cm and usually off-white apart from the corollas which may be pink; on a short pedicel, the calyx is glandularpubescent and is more than half as long as the 1420 mm corolla; the fruit is a many-seeded capsule. It grows in woods and hedgerows usually on Corylus and Ulmus. In vc 35 it is found largely in the woods of the north and east, though seem to be missing from some of the sites of 20 years ago.

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

Pedicularis sylvatica subsp. hibernica Lousewort

Wade (1970) reported it as locally frequent and gave 15 sites for it. More recent records are: wood, E of St Kingsmark Secondary School, ST/529.943, 1985-97, TGE; Wyndcliff Wood, ST/52.97; Blackcliff Woods, ST/532.987, 1982-2005, TGE; wood, Coppice Mawr, ST/49.94, 1985, TGE; 5-10 plants on Corylus, old wood, below The Nurtons, Tintern, SO/535.014, 1985, EGW; on Alnus glutinosa and Corylus, in old deciduous wood Upper House, Grwyne Fawr Valley, SO/282.237, 1986, SAR; on riverside Alder, Glen Trothy, SO/375.188, 1987, RF; Bigsnap Wood, SO/53.06, 1989, EGW; 1 plant under Beech, Livox Wood, S of Monmouth, SO/520.111, 1987, BJG; 5 plants Hazel Coppice, Redding’s End, SO/546.136, 1987, BJG; on Willow and Poplar, near R. Honddu, SO/324.208, 1989-91 woodland, N side of Pontyspig valley, SO/2.2V, 1990, BK; on Willows, side of R. Usk and Llanfoist Golf Course, SO/299.125, 1990, RF; many colonies, Clapper’s Wood, R. Monnow bank, SO/465.187, 1991, TGE;

This grows in similar habitats but differs from subsp. sylvatica only in having pubescent calices and pedicels. The only vice-county record was a few plants on wet Pontllanfraith Heath, ST/166.963, 2001, MARK, CK, TGE. 1 t OROBANCHACEAE Broomrape family These whitish, brownish, reddish or bluish, erect, perennial herbs are parasitic on roots of other plants; their lack of chlorophyll means that they rely on their hosts for sustenance; their sessile, entire, simple leaves are scale-like, alternate and lack stipules; their zygomorphic flowers are in axils of bracts and form terminal racemes or spikes; the calyx has 2-5 fused sepals forming a 2-5 toothed tube, the 2-lipped corolla consists of 5 fused petals; the 4 stamens are borne on the corolla tube; the 2-celled capsule bears a single style terminating in a capitate, 2-lobed stigma. 362

Flora of Monmouthshire 2 sites, Lasgarn Wood, SO/276.045-279.046, 1991, SW; base of Iron Age fort, Pierce Wood, ST/534.957, 1982-2004, TGE; wood W side of Coombe, ST/45.93, 1991, JDRV; 2 clumps on Alnus glutinosa, Pandy, SO/334.223, 1987-88, RF; on Willows, Glandwr, SO/331.253, 1987, MGR, SAR; Cuhere Wood, ST/453.928, 1987, TGE, UTE; 1991, JDRV; on Willow and Alder, banks of R. Monnow, Oldcastle, SO/332.245, 1991, SAR; 1 m² edge of Cuhere Wood, ST/457.927, 1996, TGE, UTE; Ty-coch, SO/285.222, 1998, GSM; many parches on Corylus, Littlemill Farm, SO/425.174, 1999, Egleton; wood, Coed Perth-y-plod, near Monmouthshire & Brecon Monmouthshire & Brecon SO/229.159, 2000, SW; under Tilia and Laurus, Pierce Wood, ST/5319.9548, 1 plant either side of wood track leading into a field of Reddings Farm, ST/532.987; a few plants, N end of Linen Well Wood, ST/5283.9870, 2002, TGE; on Elm, Pontypool Park, SO/289.005; on Hazel, Denbridge Lane, Cwmavon, SO/269.053, both 2002, SW; woodland edge, Abersychan, SO/278.046, 2004, SW; 4 spikes, roadside bank under Prunus sp. N of Hoaldalbert Farm, SO/399.237, 2003, TGE; lower path edge, NW corner of Ysgyryd Fawr, SO/328.181, 2003, CT; 2 patches near path from small car park, Cwm Coed-y-cerrig, SO/292.211, 2003, DG, TGE, CT; 15-20 plants, river/roadside, S of Llanthony, SO/289.275, 2003; c. 12 plants, on Corylus, between road and river, E of Stanton, SO/314.212, 2003; 3 spikes, wood by R. Monnow, Kentchurch, SO/414.255, 2004, all SJT. 28 t Plate 75

! Lathraea clandestina

All species are declining in numbers. Some are rare and in danger of becoming extinct in Britain. Rumsey and Jury (Watsonia 18: 257-295, 1991) give keys, descriptions, drawings of whole plants and individual flowers, and distribution maps of all British species.

Orobanche purpurea

Yarrow Broomrape

This plant usually has shortly-hairy, 15-45 cm tall, unbranched, dark-bluish, glandular stems, mealy above; the inflorescence on the upper third of the stem consists of 18-26 mm dull, bluish-purple flowers which are twice as long as the mealy, hairy calyx that has 4 teeth and 2 bracteoles, similar to the teeth, on each side; the stamens, inserted 5-8 mm above the corolla base, have white or pale blue anthers. It is very rare and parasitic on Achillea millefolium in rough grassland. Both vc 35 records could refer if not to the same plant then to the same tetrad. 1st recorded by the side of lane a mile or so SW from Chepstow with Achillea millefolium growing within 2-3inches by Dr Hort (Phytologist 1852). Mrs G C Francis recorded it in 1913 near Mathern. (1 t)

Orobanche rapum-genistae Greater Broomrape This plant has a 20-90 cm, glandular-hairy, greater than 8 mm wide, yellowish-red stem, swollen at the base; the inflorescence extends along most of the stem but is denser above; the 15-30 mm bracts are linear-lanceolate; the 8-15 mm calyx has 2 bifid lips; the 20-25 mm, pale yellow, bell-shaped corolla is red on the inside; the entire upper lip has spreading edges and a lower lip with the central lobe much bigger than the two lateral ones; the back of the corolla is curved from base to apex; the stamens are inserted on to the corolla tube 2 mm or less from the base; the wide-spreading anther lobes are yellow. It is parasitic mainly on Broom or Gorse in rough grassland. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave 3 sites, Buckholt Wood, SO/50.16, *, SGC; Bettws Newydd, JHC on Broom, Coetgae, near Chepstow, ST/472.962, 1939, BW. More recent records are: c. 5 plants on bank of A449, Coed y fedw, SO/445.086, 1979, CT; TGE; 11 spikes on two Brooms, between A4042 and R. Usk, Brynglas, ST/3130.9034, 2004 (dried flowering spikes could have been from 2003) CT, TGE (no new growth seen in 2005). 1 t (3 t)

Purple Toothwort

The 4-5 cm, purple-violet flowers arise directly on pedicels as long as the calyx from the axils of scale leaves on the upper part of the rhizome; the capsule has 4-5 seeds. Introduced from W & SW Europe, it is parasitic on Salix and Populus on damp soils. The only vc 35 record is in the garden of Yew Tree Cottage and the green lane that runs up one side of it, Lydart SO/500.092, 1987, JFH. Which came first - the plant in the lane or in the garden? 1 t Plate 74 OROBANCHE Broomrapes Broomrapes are parasitic perennial herbs lacking chlorophyll but having rhizomes; the leaves are scale-like; the flowers are usually sessile and have a 2-lipped corolla which has a 2-lobed upper and a 3-lobed lower lip. There are 4 stamens, with 2 anthers conspicuous in the hood of the upper lip. 363

Flora of Monmouthshire

Orobanche hederae

Common Broomrape has a glandular-pubescent, reddish-brown stem flushed purple, usually less than 40 cm tall and swollen at the base; the brownish scale leaves are narrowly lanceolate; the bracts are as long as the 10-16 mm flowers; the calyx usually consists of 2-bifid, acuminate lobes; the 10-18 mm long purplish-tinged corolla, with a regularly curved back, has a lower lip with 3 equal lobes and purplish anthers. It is parasitic on a range of herbaceous plants including Hypochaeris and Daucus. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 12 sites for it, Hadnock Farm, near Monmouth, *, SGC; Rhadyr, near Usk, JHC; Usk; Coed-y-paen, 1920, Rickards; near Christchurch, *; Llandogo; Bigsweir, 1873, BMW; Mathern, 1912-3, GCF, WAS; Trelenny; near Chepstow, WAS; Rogiet; The Minnetts, 1943, JCE; Caldicot, JR. More recent records are: meadow, The Brockwells, Caldicot, ST/468.897, 1972-85, CT; railway embankment, Portskewett, ST/493.881, 1972-1986, road verge, Fiddler’s Elbow, SO/529.136, 1990, BRG; TGE, CT; dry bank, St Kingsmark Secondary School, ST/528.943; 1974-87, TGE, DJH; on Compositae and Trifolium, meadow, Caldicot, ST/486.877, 1975-85, TGE; on Wild Carrot, railside, Caldicot Pill, ST/495.876, 1979, TGE, det. DJH; 4-5 plants R. Wye bank, SO/52.14, 1988, EGW; small colony, under pylons, rubbish tip, Lamby, ST/221.776, 1990, GH; on Senecio greyii, in bed in Sainsbury Supermarket Car Park, ST/31.88, 1990, MPr; 30+ plants Newport Docks, ST/316.862; 1400 plants, N end of docks, near rail track, ST/311.862, both 1997, MJ; S of dam, Llandegfedd Reservoir, wood path, ST/323.984, 1999, CT. 14 t

Ivy Broomrape

This usually has a purplish stem less than 8 mm wide and can grow to 40 cm tall; it is glandularpubescent and has a swollen base; the 12-22 mm bracts are ovate-lanceolate and pointed; the 10-15 mm calyx is bifid or entire; the 12-20 mm long corolla with a constricted ‘mouth’ is a pale cream, tinged with purple; the filaments are glabrous or sparsely hairy. It grows on Hedera helix on walls and among trees or bushes. Wade (1970) described it as rare to locally common and gave 8 sites, Monmouth Castle; woods near Ysgyryd Fawr, EL; about Llanthony Abbey, JB; Raglan Castle, CGT; Chepstow Castle, *, EL, WAS; Wyndcliff, 1896, Trans. Worc. Nat. Club; plentiful about limestone cliffs by the Wye, WAS, Portwall School walls, 1943-1964, TGE. Removal of ivy from the walls of Monmouth and Raglan Castles and Llanthony Abbey has killed it in the 3 sites, and Portwall School was demolished for houses. More recent records are: at foot of garden wall, Chepstow Museum ST/536.942, 1970-1994+, Museum staff, TGE; railway cutting, under Bulwark, ST/538.927, 1979-1982, TGE; foot of wall, Portwall School, ST/534.936, 1964-1985, TGE; limestone cliffs, Chepstow Castle, ST/533.941, 1991, RF; JHS; 1997, TGE; base of conifers, Larkfield Secondary School, Chepstow, ST/529.933, 1995, TGE (trees cut down and houses now built there); churchyard, St Mary’s, Chepstow, ST/536.939, 1994, JDRV; 1995, TGE; at foot of wall, lane, near Huntfield Cottage, Chepstow, ST/531.938, 1995-6. 2 t (6 t)

Orobanche minor var. minor Common Broomrape

Orobanche minor var. flava Common Broomrape

This variety’s stems to 20+cm tall, corolla and stigmas are yellow; the stems are glandularhairy; the inflorescence is dense; the 6-14 mm long, ovate-lanceolate bracts equal the corolla length; the near filiform calyx is without lobes; the 10-14 mm corolla has an emarginate upper lip and a lower lip with 3 nearly equal lobes that are crisped; the filaments are inserted 3-3.5 mm from the base of the corolla; the yellow stigma lobes touch at the base. This is parasitic on Hypochaeris and relatives. In vc 35 there are 3 sites, which are: 140 spikes on ballast, Newport Docks, ST/315.861, 1973; 13 in 1991, TGE, CT det. DJH; ST/311.862, 420+ plants in 1997, MJ; meadow bank, The Brockwells,

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364

Flora of Monmouthshire ST/469.896, 1977, CT; c. 10 plants, on Teasel or Parsley, La Cuesta garden, ST/529.934, 19902005, TGE. 3 t Plate 78

straightish spur is 3-6 mm long; the flowers are borne on long slender, glandular-hairy stems. 23

ACANTHACEAE Bear’s-breeches family These are herbaceous perennials with leaves in a basal rosette, some on the stem may be alternate or opposite; the petiolate leaves are simple or pinnately-lobed; stipules are absent; the zygomorphic flowers are in robust terminal spikes, each in axils of bracts with spiny teeth; there are 2 linear bracteoles; sepals number 4 two small lateral and 2 large, the upper and lower fused at the base; the corolla has a short tube and a 3-lobed lower lip only; the fruit is a 2-celled capsule with a persistent style.

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! Acanthus mollis

Bear’s-breeches

This has a 1 m stem glabrous above; the acutelytoothed leaves are deep-pinnately-lobed; the 3.55 cm corolla is white with purplish-red veins; the glabrous bracts are often purplish. It was introduced to gardens from Mediterranean countries and has been planted in the countryside. One plant in Hill (?Mill) Wood, SO/?33.05 H, 1988, RF; one plant apparently planted on the edge of a field close to the road leading to the Kymin, near Monmouth, SO/520.129, 2003, TGE. 2 t

It grows where there is an acid substrate in bogs, wet heaths, moorland, ditches and on wet rocks. Wade (1970) stated it was frequent in the Honddu and Grwyne Fawr Valleys, very rare elsewhere and the current distribution map confirms that. His sites were: Honddu and Grwyne Fawr Valleys; the Hatteralls and the Ffwddog, AL; about Llanthony, *, THT, SH, SGC; Varteg, AEW; Pontypool, JHC; near Castell-y-bwch, Henllys, ES, AEW; Trellech Bog, *, SH, WAS. More recent records are: 3 plants peat bog, Cleddon (Trellech), SO/507.039, 1975, TGE (these did not re-appear after that year); E of Hay Bluff, SO/2.3K, 1985, TGE, MARK; Pandy Mawr fen/bog, ST/263.926, 51 plants, 1975, TGE; 51 leaf rosettes, Henllys Fen, ST/263.926, 1975-2002, TGE; 62 leaf rosettes 1997, MJ; c. 5 plants, 2003, TGE; springs near rock outcrop, Hatteralls, SO/302.255, 1987; springs, steep mountainside, above Llanthony, SO/298.277, 1989; springs, Loxidge Tump above Broadley Farm, SO/283.288, 1989, last three SAR; mossy flush, Bâl-bach, SO/275.262, 1986, MARK, CK; very boggy bank, Pontyspig, SO/287.208, 19872003, TGE; CT; 149 plants, beside 2 mountain springs, above Llanthony on Hatterall Ridge, SO/300.275, 1987, MGR, SAR; 2 plants on right side of Cwm Bychel, SO/279.270, 2000, TGE, GSH; 20 plants, in open flush, Bâl Mawr, SO/264.266, 2002, SDSB, GSM. 9 t (14 t)

LENTIBULARIACEAE Bladderwort family These are insectivorous perennials, rootless in water or rooted but stemless in bogs or wet heaths. PINGUICULA Butterworts Butterworts have soft, pale yellowy-green leaves with a sticky-surface, and forming a basal rosette with the margins curled inwards and which can further curl to enclose small invertebrates when their movements stimulate the leaf; the white or blue flowers on long pedicels have a superficial resemblance to Violets; the calyx and corolla are usually 2-lipped; the corolla has a 2-lobed upper and 3-lobed lower lip and a noticeable spur; the fruit is a capsule.

Pinguicula vulgaris Common Butterwort This plant survives the winter as a bud that produces a rosette of oblong, yellow-green leaves late spring; the 10-15 mm long violet flowers have a pale patch that highlights the violet pollen-guide lines on the lower lip, which has 3 oblong lobes with expanded ends; the pointed,

UTRICULARIA Bladderworts These are free-floating or resting on the bottom of shallow water, the stems spread horizontally and bear leaves divided into linear or filiform segments that bear 1-4 mm bladders; from a 365

Flora of Monmouthshire central point grows an erect stem bearing a raceme of yellow flowers; each flower has a 2-lipped calyx and a spur; the flower’s larger lower lip is entire; the stems, leaves, and outside of the bladder and the inside of the spur bear elliptical or circular glands; the leaf margins have bristled-teeth; there are trigger-hairs on the flap of the bladder and inside 2 or 4-armed hair-like, glandular cells capable of creating negative pressure by the rapid absorption of water from inside the bladder; the trigger-hairs pick up movement near the entrance to the bladder and trip the mechanism that causes the flap to flip inwards allowing an influx of water, which carries Copepods into the chamber.

spread widely later, they are borne singly; the buds tend to droop but the 10-veined capsule, which dehisces by pores in the upper half, is held erect. 23

Utricularia australis

Bladderwort

All the stems of U. australis have free-floating, green leaves and bladders; the leaf segments are filiform with toothed and bristled margins; the hair-like bladder glands have 2 long arms 1.2-2 times as long as the 2 short arms; the 8 mm or more lower lip of the pale to mid-yellow corolla has flat or slightly upturned margins; the 8-15 mm pedicels, at flowering, lengthen sinuously to 10-30 mm afterwards; glands occur inside on both surfaces of the spur. It is native, usually in base-rich still or slowmoving water. Wade (1970) said it was very rare in ditches and reens. He gave the following records, Wye Valley, near Chepstow, SH; reens between Lower End, Magor and Llandevenny, *, 1904, JSC; Magor, *, WAS; Magor-Llanwern, 1957-59 (not seen from the 1960s onward following spraying with herbicides, TGE). (3 t)

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It grows in open areas of woodland and on marginal banks. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent. How things have changed; even the 8 tetrads of 1990 are now down to 3 tetrads, with only 1 plant in one of those sites, TGE. Wade’s sites were between Pandy Station and the Hatteralls, EL; near Skenfrith, c. 1894, CP; Beaulieu Wood, *; near the War Fields Cottage, Coleford Road; Hadnock Wood, *; Pritchards Hill; between Monmouth and Staunton, *; Redding’s Inclosure; above the Coleford Road, near Monmouth, SGC; Priory Grove Wood, Monmouth, 1944, RL; Coed-y-paen, CC; near Llangybi, EF; Cefnila, 1920, Rickards, AEW; near Trostrey Common, SA; near Llanllywel, EF; Bigsweir; between Tintern and Trellech, 1873, BMW; between Bigsweir and Monmouth, 1891, GHB; Tintern, AL; SH; between Wyesham and Redbrook; near Whitebrook, *, SGC. More recent records are: 1 plant, field side of hedge, E of Berllan-helyg, SO/403.103, 1973, BMF; c. 20 plants, track side, middle part of Lower Hael Wood, SO/530.077, 1979, reduced to 2 plants on bank near track, 2000; 1 plant, same bank, 1991, JDRV (since then none); numerous plants on wood path, Highmeadow Woods, SO/541.132, 1983-4, MARK, CK; 1 plant, 2000, TGE; 3 patches track side TDD, TGE et al.; A4136 roadside, Redding’s Inclosure, SO/533.131, 1985, PJ; several plants, woodland path, Gwern-Ddu Wood, ST/402.976, 1987, TDP, JDP, TGE; 1 plant in 1994, TGE; Lydart, SO/49.08, 1988, JFH; woodland, Penrhos, SO/41.11, 1987, LP; garden, Lydart, SO/500.092, 1988, JFH, 100+ plants in grass, woodland part of

CAMPANULACEAE Bellflower family These herbs have various life-cycles and usually white latex; the usually alternate, simple leaves lack stipules; the frequently large and showy flowers are hermaphrodite and actinomorphic in various arrangements; the 3-5 narrow-toothed calyx is fused to the ovary; the variously-lobed corolla is often bell-shaped and usually 5-lobed; there are 5 stamens; the numerous-seeded capsule dehisces through slits or pores.

Campanula patula

Spreading Bellflower

This is an erect, slender-stemmed, widelybranched biennial; the oval-lanceolate, slightly hairy basal leaves change to sessile, linearlanceolate and pointed higher up; the calyx lobes are linear; the 20-25 mm long, blue to pale blue flowers are initially bell-shaped but the 5 lobes 366

Flora of Monmouthshire wild garden, Lydart. 2006, LHa, JAi; Setaside meadow, N of Great Warfield Well, SO/528.134, 1988, BJG; road banks and Setaside fields, Fiddler’s Elbow, 1992, BRG; grassy clear-fell, Redding’s Inclosure, SO/535.133; 5 plants, 1997, TGE; 1 plant, roadside bank, between Groes-llwyd and Tre-wyn, SO/325.226, 2003, GS, MGt. 9 t (17 t) Plate 76

It grows in meadows, wood margins and openings and waste places in C and N Europe. It is introduced mainly as a border plant to British gardens. It seeds freely and plants may be discarded with general garden rubbish into the nearby countryside, as in the two cases in vc 35. 2 t

! Campanula medium

Canterbury Bells

This is a bristly biennial with a basal rosette of lanceolate leaves in the first year and in the second year has a branched, erect stem with sessile lanceolate leaves; the hairy, heart-shaped sepals are conspicuous; the 30-50 mm long flowers are deep-bluish, tubular to bell-shaped with 5 short, pointed lobes curved outwards; they are borne singly on short stalks from a bract axil and held upright in a lax raceme; the 5-lobed stigma reaches almost to the corolla lip. It grows in dry, open sites in SE France and C Italy. Introduced to British gardens, it has been modified from the wild form. It is only a casual in vc 35. 1 t

! Campanula portenschlagiana Adria Bellflower This is a plant that sprawls over both the substrate and other low plants; its leaves are broadly triangular and bluntly uniserrate; the leaf blades are c. 2 cm long; its calyx is glabrous and shortly 5-lobed; its corolla is funnel to bell-shaped, with spreading-lobes less than 2 cm across. It is much grown in rock gardens and on walls and sometimes escapes outside. The three vc 35 escapees are all close to human habitation. 3 t

! Campanula poscharskyana Trailing Bellflower,

Campanula latifolia

This spreads more widely than C. portenschlagiana and has multi-serrate leaves, somewhat heartshaped with blades over 3 cm long; the flowers open flatter with longer, narrower-looking lobes with the hairy calyx lobes showing between them. People tend to forget which is which when looking at C. portenschlagiana and C. poscharskyana; my method is to consider the specific names, both begin with P for petals and the first differentiating letter is the third an R in the first for restricted spread of the petals and S in the second for spreading petals. It is much grown in rock gardens and on walls and occasionally spreads outside, as is the one case in vc 35. 1 t

Giant Bellflower

This is a tall, erect, tufted, somewhat hairy perennial to over 1 m tall with a stem bluntly ridged; the middle and lower leaves are sessile and lanceolate, regularly toothed and cuneate; the calyx is c. half as long as the corolla; it is toothed and shortly hairy with narrowly triangular lobes, but no appendages; the 40-55 mm long, blue flowers are ascending to erect on short to medium pedicels; the pendent capsule dehisces through pores at its base. 23

! Campanula persicifolia Peach-leaved Bellflower

This is a rhizomatous perennial with erect, unbranched stems to 80 cm and may form rosettes from the rhizomes; its long, basal leaves, broader in the upper half, have a broadlyscalloped edge; the cauline leaves are narrowly lanceolate with a toothed and somewhat curled over margin; the calyx has 5 linear lobes; the 2040 mm long blue or white, broadly bell-shaped flowers are borne singly on a medium-length pedicel from a bract axil and are held horizontal to erect in a lax raceme; the style divides into 3 prominent stigmas.

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It grows in woods, hedge banks and on river and stream banks. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent and gave broad site locations. More recent 367

Flora of Monmouthshire records are: Minepit Wood, ST/531.979, 1970; 2 sites near rail track, Upper Hael Wood, SO/53.08, 1979; river/wood side Lady Park Woods, SO/54.14, 55.14, 1978, all TGE; R. Usk islands, Trostrey Forge, SO/356.075, 1988-90, JEL; near River Ebbw, Bassaleg, ST/27.87, 1986, EJS; riverside, Fro-fawr, SO/328.095, 1987-9, RF, TGE, CT; large colony, in E part of Whitfield Wood, ST/497.962, 1990, TGE; c. 20 plants, R. Monnow bank, under Clapper’s Wood, SO/465.187, 1991, TGE; roadside, Penallt, SO/521.084, 1991, JFH; W bank of Afon Honddu, Bugle Bridge, Llanthony, SO/289.273; N roadside bank, Llanthony, SO/283.279, both 1993, TGE, UTE; more than 10 plants, SW roadside bank, S of Probyn’s Allotment, SO/520.097; 10-20 plants, W roadside bank, S of Cae-cawr House, SO/511.089, both 1994, TGE; 1 plant, R. Monnow bank, Llangua Church, SO/389.257, 1997, TGE; 2 plants, R. Usk bank, near Llancayo Bridge, SO/37.02, 1998, CT; hedgebank, E side of Vale of Ewyas, SO/289.245, 1999, TGE; R. Wye bank W side, just S of Lower Redbrook bridge, SO/535.098, 2000; c. 100 plants R. Wye, Washing’s Wood, SO/529.100, 2001, both TGE; several plants, Tregagle roadside hedge, SO/527.079, 2002, GN; 90 flowering spikes on verges of very minor roads near Penallt Old Church, SO/524.105; 511.090; 514.090; 514.090; 18 spikes on 6 sites in Lone Lane, Penallt, SO/524.090; 527.091; 526.094; 528.094; edge of disused rail line, below Penallt, SO/534.093, all 2002, 3 7 and 3 plants, bank of R. Monnow, at Alltyrynys rail bridge, SO/344.235, NE of Little Goytre, SO/354.238, NW of Little Goytre, SO/349.239, all 2003, SJT. 31 t Plate 79

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More recent records are: 2-3 plants, hedgerow, Berllan helyg, SO/403.103; 4-5 plants, over 8 m, N of Llanystanc, SO/409.109; 2-3 plants, hedgerow, Park Wood, SO/427.115; hedgerow, SW of Aberffrwd Mill, all 1973, BMF; 3 plants, woodland path side, Redding’s Inclosure, SO/53.13, 1979, TGE; a few plants Lady Park Wood, SO/54.14, 1982, TGE, 1987-8, BJG; 23 plants, wood edge, Cwm Coed-y-cerrig, SO/290.211, 1987, TGE; 1991, SAR; R. Usk edge, W of Kemys Commander, SO/34.04, 1990, JDRV; rocky, limestone woodland Pwll du, SO/251.115, 1986, RF; woodland, Strawberry Cottage, SO/314.215, 1987, RF; 5 plants, 1997, TGE, UTE; field edge, Pilstone, SO/542.058, 1985, EGW; 1 plant near footbridge over R. Grwyne Fawr in damp, deciduous woodland, SO/278.243, 1988, SAR; 3 plants, bank of R. Honddu, near Cwmyoy, SO/294.234, 1988, SAR; roadside, Parc Gwyn, SO/347.152, 1989, RF; 3 plants, damp deciduous woodland, bank of R. Honddu, SO/325.208, 1989, SAR. 16 t (2 t) Plate 80

Campanula trachelium Nettle-leaved Bellflower This is somewhat similar to C. latifolia but slightly shorter (to 80 cm) and less sturdy; its reddish stems are sharply ridged; its middle and lower leaves are petiolate and cordate at the base and the teeth are more jagged and irregular in size; the corolla is 25-35 mm long and deeper lobed. Campanula trachelium is native in base-rich woods and hedgerows. Wade (1970) stated that it was rare except in the north of the vice-county, where it was locally frequent, and gave 15 sites for it.

Campanula rotundifolia

Harebell

It is a stoloniferous herb to 40 cm tall with long, stalked, orbicular basal leaves with blunt teeth at the ends of veins; the stem is slender with alternate, linear, stalked, cauline leaves; the small calyx has 5 patent, linear lobes; the 12-20 mm long, pale to bright blue corolla is bellshaped and occurs at the end of a long, slender pedicel; the inflorescence is a lax raceme. It grows in acid grassland, limestone/calcareous soils, fixed dunes and rock ledges. It is found in the hilly areas of the vice-county and is completely absent from the coastal levels. 136 t

368

Flora of Monmouthshire locally frequent and gave 14 sites. More recent sites are: along 100 m of Castroggy stream’s banks, S of Earlswood, ST/441.952, 1971-81; marshy ground, Pen-y-van, SO/52.05, 1974, both TGE; Cwm Tillery, SO/22.07, 1974, GANH, in open woodland, 1995, TGE; acid heath, Blackwood, ST/166.964; acid heath, Oakdale, ST/194.986, both 1983, Meadows Team; wet area N of Pen-y-van Pond, SO/194.005-197.007, 1985 TGE, PSJ; 1994, PAS; seasonal stream, Pant-y-gollen, SO/285.026, 1986, RF, TGE; wet wood, Cwm Merddog Reserve, SO/18.06, 1987, AW, EGW; streamside, Nant Tysswg, SO/13.05, 1988, TGE, UTE; peaty grassland, Cwm Tysswg, SO/134.065, 1989, RF; peaty grassland, Ty Glyn, SO/136.091; peaty grassland, Pont Gwaithyrhaern, SO/164.043, both 1989, RF; upland heath, Twyn yr Oerfel, ST/185.906, 1989, TGE, UTE; peaty grassland, Sheep Wash, SO/241.062, 1989, RF; woodland flush, Cwm Celyn, SO/20.09, 1990, JWo; roadside bank, Sirhowy Valley, ST/188.910, 1990, AO; Garden City, SO/165.077, 1990, SK; peaty grassland, Ty Pentre, ST/192.943, 1990, RF; stream side, Nant Gwyddon, ST/23.96, 1991, JDRV; marshy grass, Pennar Gannol, ST/203.963, 1991, SgK; 100s, Ty’r Sais and Nant Gwrhay, SO/190.001, 1991, CM, JPW; streamside, Craig Hafodowen, ST/24.97, 1993, TGE; around small pond at head of springs, Twyn-yr-Hyddod, SO/152.058, PAS; marshy area between Carn Stwpa and Highlands, SO/146.067, 1994, PAS, 1995, TGE; many patches, woodland paths, The Forest, Llangybi Fawr, ST/34.97, 1995, TGE; trackside, Mynydd Twyn-glas, ST/273.977, 2001 in stream and on bank, W of Forge Side, SO/2413.0824, 2001; flush, near air shaft, Cwm Tillery, SO/2256.0673, all 2001, TGE, GSH, CT. 40 t Figure 20, page 186

Campanula rotundifolia 23

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WAHLENBERGIA Ivy-leaved Bellflower These are perennial herbs with thin, creeping stems bearing thin, pale-green, ivy leaf-shaped leaves but having extra lobes in large plants; the solitary, blue, actinomorphic flowers are axillary; the filaments and anthers are free; there are 3 linear stigmas; the capsule dehisces by apical pores.

Wahlenbergia hederacea Ivy-leaved Bellflower The filiform stems are procumbent to 30 cm; the veins of the leaves are palmate, each ending in a broad-based tooth; the small calyx is persistent; the 6-10 mm long, narrow, bell-shaped, blue flowers are pendent on long, filiform pedicels. 23

JASIONE Sheep’s-bit This has blue flowers which are tightly packed in a compact head on a long peduncle; the style, terminating in 2 stigmas, projects from the tubular corolla; the capsules dehisce by apical valves.

Jasione montana

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Sheep’s-bit

This is a hairy herb with ascending stems clad on the lower half with hairy, linear-lanceolate leaves with wavy margins; the blue (occasionally white) flowers are in terminal, orbicular heads on a shallow ‘saucer’ of oval bracts; the styles and stigma conspicuously protrude beyond the lobes of the corolla.

Wahlenbergia is often found on stream banks, but also in other damp places on heaths, moors and in woods. In vc 35 it is concentrated on stream banks in the western uplands. Wade described it as 369

Flora of Monmouthshire Jasione montana

RUBIACEAE Bedstraw family This family of herbs or dwarf shrubs usually has its simple, untoothed-leaves in whorls though some may have opposite leaves; stipules are leaf-like; the flowers are in dense cymes or panicles; they are funnel-shaped, usually with 4 lobes (a few have 5); corolla tubes vary in length depending on the species; the calyx is small; the fruit may be dry or succulent.

SHERARDIA Field Madder These are annuals with leaves in whorls of 4-6, flowers in whorls of 4-10 in terminal and axillary, stalked clusters, with 8-10, leaf-like bracts forming a flattish ruff at the base; the calyx has 4-6, linear lobes; the 4-lobed corolla is mauve; the fruit is two scabrid nutlets surrounded by the persistent calyx.

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It grows in acid soils in grass, sand and on rocks. In vc 35 it grows in the western highlands and on the Old Red Sandstone of the Tintern to Penallt ridge. Wade (1970) stated it was locally common and gave 13 sites and the general comment that it was common in the coalfield uplands. Some more recent records are: scattered plants on steep hillside, Wye’s Wood Common, SO/51.02, 196074; less than 10 plants near footpath, Bargain Wood, SO/52.03, 1984, both TGE, UTE; roadside bank, St Illtyd, SO/215.016; roadside bank, W end Abercarn, ST/211.955, both 1994; TGE; Cwmcarn Forest, ST/24.93; Hafodrynys-Pontypool, ST/227.957, both 1998, CT; Bargain Wood, SO/520.036, 1998, CT; c. 20 plants, Cwm Du, SO/25.02, 2001, JB; bank, of dam below disused reservoir, Nant y Draenog, ST/189.934, 2002, TGE, MARK; c. 50 plants, 2003, TGE, SJT. 45 t

Sherardia arvensis

LOBELIA Lobelias These have flowers in terminal racemes; the palelilac to blue corolla is split into 2-lips with 2 narrow lobes to the upper and 3 lobes to the lower lip; the filaments and anthers are fused by the sides around the style; the capsule dehisces by 2 apical valves.

! Lobelia erinus

Field Madder

This is a procumbent to ascending annual, branching from the base, the leaves range from oblanceolate to elliptical with acute points; they form sessile whorls of 6; the clustered 3-4 mm, 4lobed, mauvish-pink flowers have a ruff of leaflike bracts; the 2-7 mm, globose, bristly fruit sits in a saucer of 4-6, enlarged sepals.

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Garden Lobelia

It grows in thin grass, as in some lawns, and in arable fields. In vc 35 it is concentrated on the southern lowlands and in the river valleys elsewhere. It can be found in lawns, churchyards, and on the old walls of Caerwent Roman camp. 36 t

These annuals are largely glabrous, usually erect to 30 cm; the purplish (occasionally white or pink) flowers have the upper corolla lobes narrower than the lower ones, which are rounder and have an apiculate apex; the flowers are few in the small racemes. It is introduced from S Africa into gardens, it escapes into pavement cracks and nearby rough ground, and it also may be found on tips. In vc 35 it is a casual. 6 t

ASPERULA Woodruffs Woodruffs have a range of life-cycles; their leaves are arranged in whorls of 4-8; the 4-lobed, variouscoloured flowers are in dense, terminal clusters 370

Flora of Monmouthshire with a whorl of leaf-like bracts at their base; the calyx is minute or absent; the fruit is a pair of nutlets.

! Asperula arvensis

pointing prickles on the edges; the 4-7 mm fragrant, white flowers occur in lax, stalked heads; the 2-3 mm fruit has hooked bristles. It grows in deciduous woodland or hedgerows on calcareous or base-rich, damp soils. In vc 35 it is mainly a woodland plant, rather reduced in numbers by the replacement of deciduous trees by conifers which strew the ground with needles that produce an acid substrate. 114 t

Blue Woodruff

This is glabrous with the exception of hairs on the edges of the bracts; it has whorls of 6-8, equal sized linear leaves and dense cluster of 56.5 mm long, blue corollas with a long tube and small lobes. It grows as a casual on tips and waste places. It is probably introduced from S Europe in birdseed. The only vice-county record is in a garden at Parc Seymour, ST/40.91, 1974, EAL, det. TGE. (1 t)

! Asperula orientalis

Galium uliginosum

Fen Bedstraw

This glabrous perennial has spreading to ascending stems which are square, with downward-facing prickles on the angles; the single-veined leaves, in whorls of 5-8, are lanceolate to linear-lanceolate with a stronglymucronate apex; the 2.5-3 mm white flowers with a short tube and yellow anthers form a panicle; the 1 mm fruit has a covering of shortdomed tubercles.

Oriental Woodruff

This is similar to A. arvensis but has a longer corolla 7-12 mm long. It was introduced to British gardens from SE Asia. The one record for vc 35 was a single plant in undisturbed ground at Caerllan Field Centre, SO/49.08, 1991, PCa, det. TGE conf. EJC; Peter Carpenter assured me nothing had been done to the land and he had seen nothing like it in the previous 13 years of his residence. 1 t

GALIUM Bedstraws Bedstraws have leaves in whorls of 4-12, sessile and equal-sized; the flowers are in terminal or axillary cymes; the flowers have minute calices, 4lobed, white to yellow corollas; the fruit is a pair of nutlets.

Galium odoratum

Woodruff

31 23

It grows in wetter parts of marshes and fens. In vc 35 it has become much less common than indicated by the distribution map due to drainage of farmland and the amount of water taken by the Water Companies to supply the large increase of population in the vice-county. 31 t

Galium palustre subsp. palustre Common Marsh-bedstraw

This is similar to G. uliginosum, but lacks the strong mucronate tip to the leaves, which occur in whorls of 4-6 and are less than 20 mm long; its inflorescence is cylindrical; the pedicels are less than 4 mm at flowering; the flowers are mostly 2-3.5 mm across; the fruit is about 1.6 mm.

18 31

Woodruff has stolons that produce patches of erect, square stems to 45 cm tall but often less; the elliptical leaves form whorls of 6-8 with forward 371

Flora of Monmouthshire Galium verum is a rather sprawling, stoloniferous perennial with a round stem and 4 raised lines of hairs; the dark green, linear leaves, with apiculate or mucronate apex, are in whorls of 8-12; the golden-yellow flowers have a short tube and acute to apiculate lobes, and form a dense, oval to cylindrical panicle with stalked, paired clusters from a whorl of leaf-like bracts at each node; the fruit is smooth to lined. It grows in dry, grassy places favouring coastal and calcareous substrates. In vc 35 it is concentrated in the Wye Valley and on the limestone of SE Monmouthshire; here however habitat has been lost to extensive house building, still gathering pace. 56 t

Galium palustre 23

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Galium mollugo

It grows in damp meadows, ditches, marshes and fens but can survive in dryer areas than G. uliginosum, but is also declining in numbers due to loss of habitat in vc 35. 292 t

Galium palustre subsp. elongatum Common Marsh-bedstraw This is similar to subsp. palustre but most leaves are greater than 20 mm long; the inflorescence is conical; the pedicels are mostly greater than 4 mm across; the corolla is 3-4.5 mm across and the fruit is c. 1.9 mm. It is said to be more robust and commoner than subsp. palustre nationally. It is most obvious in standing water. In vc 35, the presence of only subsp. palustre on the 1985-90 recording card probably accounts for the relative rarity of records of subsp. elongatum. 3t

Galium verum

Hedge Bedstraw

This is usually a tall to 1.5 m, glabrous perennial with square, smooth stems; the single-veined leaves are broadly oval with apiculate to longmucronate tips, and occur in whorls of 6-8; the 2-3 mm, white flowers have a very short tube and apical, mucronate lobes with the point at least 2 mm long; the fruit is smooth and ripens black. 23

Lady’s Bedstraw

The characters of the so-called two subspecies mollugo and erectum are not so clear-cut as suggested with the subspecies mollugo appearing on calcareous substrates when it should be the other subspecies. Thus I have referred all plants to G. mollugo. It grows in dryish, grassy places and in hedgerows. In vc 35 it is less frequent in the western third of the vice-county. 159 t

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372

Flora of Monmouthshire

Galium x pomeranicum

non-flowering shoots; the leaves on the flowering stems are oblanceolate, have forward pointing prickles on the margins and an apiculate to mucronate apex less than 0.2 mm long; there are 58, single-veined leaves in the whorls; the white corolla has a very short tube; the fruit has a highraised, subacute tubercles. It grows on acidic, dry grassland, open woodland and in rocky places. In vc 35 it is mainly found on the acidic uplands, occurring infrequently on the central farmed lowland. 192 t

a hybrid Bedstraw

This G. mollugo x G. verum hybrid has pale yellow or rich creamy flowers; leaves narrower and longer than G. mollugo and wider and less bright yellow than G. verum. To find this hybrid it is necessary to find both parents growing together. The boundary between them should be searched. Usually the contrast between the leaves and flowers of the hybrid and its parents is then obvious. The only vice-county site recorded is of numerous plants in a meadow at MOD, Caerwent, ST/490.912, 1993, JPW; 2000, TGE. 1 t

! Galium sterneri

Galium aparine

Limestone Bedstraw

This slender perennial has smooth stems; the apiculate to mucronate, 1-veined leaves have points less than 0.2 mm long and occur in whorls of 5-9; the leaf margins have some backwardly directed prickles with flowering shoots bearing linear to linear-elliptic to oblanceolate leaves; the flowers are usually white, less often pale cream; the fruit has minute, low-raised, subacute tubercles. It grows on limestone or base-rich grassland. The 2 sites in vc 35 are: on steep bank of industrial furnace waste, Big Pit, Blaenavon, SO/234.086, 2002, AW, 1st vice-county record (a search of the bank since has failed, revealing only G. saxatile); a small, spaced colony on a forest track (the chippings on the track did not react to vinegar), Craig y Trwyn, near Abercarn, ST/238.973, 2002, TGE, CT. 2 t

Galium saxatile

Cleavers

This is a tall annual to 3 m using its downwardly curved prickles on its square stem and on its leaf margins to scramble upwards on other stiffer plants; the 1-veined leaves, in whorls of 69, are oblanceolate and strongly mucronate at the apex; the dull-white flowers are in small, stalked clusters of 2-5 from a whorl of bracts on a longer peduncle, arising from the upper leaf whorls; the globose, green or purple fruit has a dense coat of bulbous-based, hooked bristles. 23

Heath Bedstraw

18 23 31 22

It is a native on arable ground, open woods, hedgerows and waste ground. It probably occurs in every tetrad in the vice-county. 390 t

Arc. Galium tricornutum

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Corn Cleavers

This is similar to the common G. aparine but is shorter to 30 cm, the flowers are in clusters of 3 the fruit stalks are strongly recurved and the fruit is acutely papillose but not coated with hooked bristles. It is believed to be introduced from mainland Europe to arable land in Britain. The only records reported in vc 35 in Wade (1970) were nr

It is a decumbent to ascending perennial to 30 cm with smooth stems forming a mat of flowering and 373

Flora of Monmouthshire Llanmellin, *, WAS (1920); on Kymin Hill, Monmouth, *, SGC. (2 t)

elliptical, dark green, leathery leaves are in whorls of 4-6; the 4-5 mm, pale yellowish-green, 5-lobed flowers form a leafy panicle that produces 4-6 mm, black, fleshy fruits.

CRUCIATA Crosswort These are hairy, perennial herbs with square stems, branched at the base, bearing simple, entire leaves in whorls of 4, the yellow flowers having 4 petals, arise in whorls of stalked clusters from the base of the leaves. The fruits are single or paired, smooth, black nutlets.

Cruciata laevipes

Crosswort

These are usually 30-40 cm high, with square, hairy stems bearing many whorls of 4, broadly elliptic, 3-veined leaves, these subtend whorls of many, pale yellow, 4 lobed flowers; Small black fruits are borne singly or in pairs on stems that recurve as they ripen.

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This is a native in open woods, hedges, scrub and rocky places. It is concentrated on the Carboniferous Limestone of SE vc 35. 17 t

CAPRIFOLIACEAE Honeysuckle family These are deciduous or evergreen shrubs or woody climbers with opposite leaves; the flower parts are in 5s, hermaphrodite and in various arrangements; the calyx is usually small; the flowers may be actinomorphic or zygomorphic with a corolla tube ending in lobes; the stamens are joined to the tube; the fruit may be a berry or nutlet.

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SAMBUCUS Elder Elders are deciduous shrubs or perennial herbs; the numerous flowers, in various, compound cymes, are actinomorphic; there are 5 stamens; the fruit is a drupe with 3-5 seeds.

It grows on unimproved, rough, calcareous grassland, often near rivers. In the vice-county, the meadows of MOD, Caerwent ST/46.91 provide the ideal conditions and tens of thousands dominate there. 52 t

Sambucus nigra

Rubia peregrina

Elder

Elder is a deciduous shrub or small tree less than 10 m tall, usually with corky bark and pith in the centre of the twigs, which are somewhat brittle; the pinnate leaflets, usually 5 are elliptic with acute teeth; stipules are absent; the creamywhite flowers are in large terminal clusters; the fruits are berries usually ripening black. Elder grows in woods, hedges, waste and rough ground, often calcareous or nitrogen-rich soil. It is frequent around badgers’ setts, and it is often attacked by Jew’s Ear fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae). In vc 35 it can be found in most tetrads. 384 t

RUBIA Madders These are evergreen perennials that scramble over other plants to 1.5 m; the leathery, dark green, 1veined leaves are narrowly elliptic; the yellowishgreen, 5-lobed flowers form axillary and terminal panicles; the calyx is minute and the corolla tube is very short; the fruit is succulent and 1-seeded.

Madder

This hairless, evergreen perennial, with a creeping rootstock, scrambles freely over other plants aided by the downward-turned prickles on the square stem; the 1-veined, oval to 374

Flora of Monmouthshire Sambucus nigra

VIBURNUM Viburnums Viburnums are usually deciduous but may be evergreens with usually simple leaves; because the actinomorphic flowers are numerous in corymbose, compound cymes, thus showy, they are favourites with householders with large gardens; some clusters are surrounded by large sterile flowers; there are 5 stamens; the fruit is a 1-seeded drupe.

Viburnum opulus

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Guelder-rose

This deciduous shrub has 3-lobed leaves, irregularly-toothed; the flattish corymbs of white flowers have a central mass of small, fertile flowers surrounded by large, sterile ones; the globular, fleshy berries ripen red.

Arc. Sambucus ebulus

Dwarf Elder

This deciduous, perennial spreads by rhizomes and may become 1.5 m tall; the stems are not woody like S. nigra and they bear pinnate leaves of usually 7-13, acute, toothed, lanceolate leaflets; the ovate stipules are conspicuous; the usually white flowers have purple anthers and occur in terminal, flattish-topped clusters; the ripe fruits are black berries.

It is native in woods, hedges and scrub. In vc 35 it is widespread in deciduous woods and hedges. 247 t Plate 81

Viburnum lantana

Wayfaring-tree

19 23 18 31

It grows at waysides and on disturbed ground. In vc 35 it is often destroyed by the activities of man; it was long established in the towers and at the foot of the walls of Caerwent Roman wall until the authorities decided to ‘clean up’ the site. Other people must have their verges looking like their lawns, so out comes the Dwarf Elder, thus some of the recent records, shown on the distribution map will have gone before an update. 16 t

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375

Flora of Monmouthshire Viburnum lantana is a deciduous shrub usually to 2-3 m but occasionally may form a tree to up to twice that height; the leaves are largish oval to heart-shaped, prominently veined and woolly underneath; the creamy-white flowers are equalsized and all fertile and form a largish, terminal corymb; the fruits are longer than wide and pass through green to red to black as they ripen.It grows in open, deciduous woods, hedges and scrub on calcareous or base-rich soils. It is concentrated on the Carboniferous Limestone of the SE corner of vc 35, though it has been planted on verges elsewhere by well-intentioned authorities. 35 t

! Viburnum tinus

roundish leaves usually with an obtuse apex; sterile shoots often have deeply lobed leaves; the 5-8 mm flowers are pink and pubescent on the inner surfaces; the 8-15 mm fruit is white and pithy. It was introduced from NW America to shrubberies and has spread to hedges, woods, scrub and waste ground. Widespread in vc 35, mainly in hedges and waste woodland often near human habitation. 217 t LEYCESTERIA Himalayan Honeysuckle These are deciduous and glabrous shrubs though not very woody; the leaves are simple and usually entire; the actinomorphic flowers are in drooping, terminal spikes, among large, reddish-purple to purplish-green bracts; there are 5 stamens and the fruits are several-seeded berries.

Laurustinus

This is an evergreen shrub to 6 m with entire leaves that are slightly glossy above and with tufts of hairs against the mid-rib especially at the junction with side veins; the white to pink flowers are all fertile and produce sub-globose fruits that ripen to blue-black. It has been introduced to large gardens from S Europe and may be a woodland relic or have spread to rocky woods. It is not uncommon in the Avon Gorge across the Severn Estuary but does not seem so in the Wye Valley gorge, yet. 1 t

! Leycesteria formosa Himalayan Honeysuckle The leaves of this shrub have a cordate base and an attenuated apex and the margin is irregularly wavy; the inflorescence is pendent from the arched stem tip and consists of 15-20 mm long, white trumpet flower suspended amid a chain of reddish-purple bracts shaped like the leaves; this chain provides the plant with another common name – Gypsy’s Earings; the fruit is a multiseeded berry. This Himalayan introduction to British shrubberies is dispersed by birds and readily germinates in disturbed ground in open woods, scrub and waste ground. In vc 35 it occurs never far from human habitation. 8 t

SYMPHORICARPOS Snowberries Snowberries are deciduous shrubs with either entire, simple or deeply lobed leaves; the actinomorphic flowers are numerous in terminal spikes; there are usually 5 stamens; the fruit is a drupe with 2 seeds.

! Symphoricarpos albus

Snowberry LONICERA Honeysuckles These shrubs or climbers may be deciduous or occasionally evergreen with opposite, untoothed leaves; the 5-lobed calyx is small; the flowers are zygomorphic with a 4-lobed upper lip and a singlelobed lower lip or may be actinomorphic with 5 lobes; there are 5 stamens, sometimes projecting and prominent; the fruit is a bluish-black berry, sometimes cupped in bracteoles.

! Lonicera nitida

18 31

Wilson’s Honeysuckle

This is a quick-growing, upright shrub with purple stems arching at the ends; the 6-20 mm evergreen leaves are opposite and decussate and ovate with rounded bases; the 5-7 mm, actinomorphic, cream flowers are in pairs in the leaf axils; the small bracts at the base of the

Snowberry’s rhizome produces many erect stems that arch to 2 m; flowering stems bear opposite, 376

Flora of Monmouthshire flower taper evenly to a fine point and do not obscure the ovaries; the berry is violet.

tinged purple, are in terminal whorls; the glandular-pubescent flowers produce a cluster of red berries. It is common in woods, hedges and scrub. Dense shade restricts flowering. The bark is used in the construction of Dormice’s nests. 323 t

Lonicera nitida 23

! Lonicera caprifolium Perfoliate Honeysuckle

This is similar to L. periclymenum but the terminal leaf pair (and sometimes the next two pairs) is fused to form a ‘saucer’ below the whorl of flowers; the bracteoles, if present, are tiny; the berries are orange. Introduced from S Europe to British gardens, it sometimes becomes naturalised on nearby hedges or waste ground. In vc 35 it has occurred as garden escapes. 2 t

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ADOXACEAE Moschatel family These herbs perennate by fine rhizomes spreading near the soil or leaf mould surface; the petiolate leaves, lacking stipules, are 3-ternate, on the flowering stem they are opposite; the arrangement of the actinomorphic, yellowish-green, bisexual, terminal flowers is on the 4 side faces of a cube with one on top; this has given rise to the popular names of ‘Town Hall Clock’ and ‘Five-faced Bishop’ for the plant Adoxa moschatellina.

Introduced from China as a quick-growing shrub suitable for forming screening hedges and because it clips easily it is also a medium for topiary. Its berries are transported by birds to nearby hedges, woods and rough ground. Its cuttings root quite easily and gardeners’ habit of dumping prunings in nearby woods or on to rough ground, or temporarily filling in gaps in hedges has led to more records than I expected. 52 t

Lonicera periclymenum

Honeysuckle

Adoxa moschatellina

Moschatel

This erect rather delicate, fleshy plant may be 15 cm tall with long-stemmed, 2-3 ternate leaves, though the flowering stem arising from a white, scaly rhizome bears opposite, 1-ternate leaves; the 5 terminal flowers form a 6-10 mm cube.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

Honeysuckle is a deciduous climber twining its stem around the stems and branches of shrubs and small trees to climb to 10 m: the 3-7 cm, ovate to elliptic leaves are opposite; the 1-2 mm bracteoles partially obscure the ovaries; the 40-50 mm, zygomorphic yellow flowers, sometimes

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377

Flora of Monmouthshire Moschatel grows in lightly shaded places in woods, hedgerows and in mountains, usually in damp humus-rich soils. Its specific habitat requirement limits its appearance but it is reasonably common in vc 35. 218 t

It grows on walls, paths, pavement edges and dunes. In vc 35 it is more common in the south of the vice-county and the Wye Valley near human habitation, where it was probably grown as a salad crop in the near past. 20 t

VALERIANACEAE Valerian family These herbs have simple or pinnate leaves, which may or may not have stalks, but lack stipules; the calyx is small consisting mainly of teeth; the numerous flowers form terminal clusters of compound cymes; the individual corollas are tubular shaped ending in 5 lobes at the apex and either slightly pouched or with a spur at the base; the stamens vary between 1 and 4; the ovary is superior and the fruit is dry and indehiscent.

Arc. Valerianella carinata Keeled-fruited Cornsalad In this species, the fruit is the same width when turned through 90º but is clearly taller than wide; the calyx on top is extremely small; it has a very deep groove on one surface. Apart from its absence from dunes it grows where V. locusta grows. Wade (1970) gave it as rare in the following sites: Abergavenny, 1886, JWh; Llanover, *, 1951-2, JF; Tintern and Chepstow, AL; and Mounton, WAS (1920). More recent records are: rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, *, 1978, TGE; Myrtle Cottage path, Llandogo, SO/523.043, 1991, JFH. 1 t (6 t)

VALERIANELLA Cornsalads Cornsalads are annuals with stems that fork 2-5 times; they bear opposite, simple, entire or toothed leaves which may have a few lobes; the calyx is small but persistent on top of the fruit, with a shape that aids diagnosis; the corolla tube is neither pouched nor spurred; there are 3 stamens and stigmas; ovary sterile cells vary from small to large. Without ripe fruit diagnosis is nigh impossible, and fruits should be viewed from both the side and from the front.

Valerianella locusta

Arc. Valerianella rimosa Broad-fruited Cornsalad Its smooth fruit is broader from one view, particularly its base, the calyx, which usually has only one tooth, is often only one sixth of the fruit length; the fruit has a small number of fine grooves and/or longitudinal ridges; its walls are easily broken. It grows in cornfields and on rough ground. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave the only record as abundant in some barren fields near Raglan, 1850, JWs. (1 t)

Common Cornsalad

The calyx is insignificant; the narrow aspect of the fruit shows a groove almost the whole length, which is greater than the width; the 90º view shows the fruit wider than long, due mainly to a noticeable bulge on one side. This is the commonest of the Cornsalads.

Arc. Valerianella dentata Narrow-fruited Cornsalad Here the fruit is broader from one view than that at right-angles, with a 2-toothed calyx between a quarter and a half as long as the fruit; the 2 longitudinal ribs separate the flat surface from the rounded one; the fruit has hard walls. It grows in cornfields and on rough ground. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave seven sites: Tregare, SO/4.1A*; Duffield’s Farm, Redbrook, SO/53.11, *, both SGC; near Tintern, SO/5.0A, 1873, BMW; Mounton, ST/51.93, *; Llanfair Discoed, ST/4.9L; Llanmelin, ST/4.9, *; near St Lawrence, Chepstow, ST/5.9G, all WAS (1920). There have been no recent records. (6 t)

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378

Flora of Monmouthshire Unlike V. officinalis, its lower, rather round leaves are entire, the upper stem leaves are pinnate with the terminal leaflet only equal to several lateral leaflets; this species is generally much smaller than V. officinalis. It grows in marshes, fens, bogs and streamsides, often in carrs and wet woods. Drainage of farmland has reduced the number of sites. Wade (1970) stated it was common and gave 24 sites though some referred to valleys, which might include many sites. Some recent sites are: Wet meadow/Loysey Wood, SO/495.064, 1971, SJT; streamside, Long Row, ST/279.997, 1985-90, RF; TGE; damp woodland, Holy Well, 1988-89, many recorders; marsh near M4, Underwood, ST/386.895, 1984, PRG; 1987, TGE, UTE; 2003, TGE; boggy pasture, E of White House, SO/425.145, 1987, PCH, JH; acid grassland, The Ffeun Grwyne Fawr, SO/261.260; Blaengavenny, SO/313.189, both 1991, SK; marshy area below rocky scree, SE of Maes-y-Beran, SO/302.254, 1989, SAR; Alder Carr, Henllys Fen, ST/262.926, 1997, TGE; on grassy slope, below Pant-yr eos dam, ST/258.915; on wet area below Ynysfro Reservoir dam, ST/285.888, both 1997, TGE, CT; disused railway, Pontrhydyran-Sebastopol, ST/295.978, 1998, EGW; streamside, Offa’s Dyke path, Monmouth, SO/49.13, 1989, PJ. 47 t

VALERIANA Valerians These perennials have branched main stems; there may be simple or pinnate leaves; the flowers are packed in compound cymes and may be hermaphrodite or have plants of one sex only; feathery extensions grow out of the calyx apex giving the inferior fruit a shuttlecock appearance; the corolla tube base may be slightly pouched; there are 3 stamens and stigmas; sterile cells of the ovary are not conspicuous.

Valeriana officinalis

Common Valerian

This plant has glabrous stems to 2 m; the leaves are pinnate or pinnately-lobed; the lower leaves are long-stalked, the upper ones short stalked and smaller; the terminal leaf is not larger than all the lateral ones; the hermaphrodite flowers are pink or white. 23

CENTRANTHUS Red Valerian These herbs are annuals or perennials with main stems that branch and have simple to pinnate leaves; the bisexual flowers form dense compound cymes; the corolla has a downwards pointing spur; the calyx develops long feathery projections to give the fruit a small, shuttlecock appearance.

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It grows on hedge banks, wood borders and riversides. It is fairly widespread in vc 35. 168 t

Valeriana dioica

! Centranthus ruber

Marsh Valerian

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Red Valerian

Red Valerian has an erect, stout, glaucous stem bearing opposite, entire, simple, glaucous, pointed lower leaves and upper leaves sessile, sparsely toothed, broad-based with an attenuated pointed apex; similar shaped bracts reduce in size up the inflorescence; opposite branches grow from the leaf bases later; opposite, stalked, rounded clusters of pinkish-red or white flowers grow from the base of the bracts; the largest compound cluster is produced at the stem apex; the corolla has a long, narrow tube with a fine, downwards pointing spur at its base and 3 lobes pointing down, 1 pointing up and 1 offset at the top; the odour is at first sweet but on

379

Flora of Monmouthshire entire leaves form a rosette that only withers in the second year when the flowering stems grow; these bear opposite leaves that are fused around them to make a cup-like base that holds rain water; the pinkish-blue flowers open first in a ring towards the base of the large, spiny, ovoid flower-head that can grow to 8 cm long. Bracts on the receptacle have stiff, straight, apical spines.

continued contact it becomes like the worst smell produced by cats. Centranthus ruber 23

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

Introduced from the Mediterranean lands to beautify dry places like walls, cliffs, rocks, sands and banks, it has become naturalised by seed in similar places in the wild in Britain, including vc 35, where it is frequent. There is a fine display, mainly with white flowers on a bank of the bridge road traversing the railway lines just south of Marshfield, ST/266.817, 1970-2004, TGE. 122 t

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Wild Teasel favours wet and rough habitats on clays and by water, waysides, railways and woods. In vc 35 it is very much at home on the Levels and it is frequent along riverbanks. The loss of former habitats due to land drainage is shown by the many old records on the distribution map. 149 t (26 t) Plate 82

DIPSACACEAE Teasel family This family consists of biennial and perennial herbs with opposite, simple or pinnate leaves that lack stipules; the numerous flowers form dense heads on a common receptacle surrounded by a ruff of bracts; the calyx is small; the flowers are slightly zygomorphic and are bisexual or have a mixture of sexual types; the corolla tube has 4-5 lobes with larger lobes to the outside; the 4 free stamens, borne on the tube, protrude beyond the corolla; the fruit is an achene.

! Dipsacus sativus

Fuller’s Teasel

Similar to D. fullonum but it has cylindrical flower heads, the patent basal bracts are not spiny but the receptacular bracts are equipped with short, stiff, recurved, apical spines, and the stem leaves have few or no prickles on the midrib underside. An introduction to Britain but a rare casual today occurring on tips and waste ground from birdseed. The only vc 35 record was on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1976, TGE conf. EJC. (1 t)

DIPSACUS Teasels Teasels are biennials; the stems are armed with spines; the leaves are simple or pinnate; the small flowers form dense ovoid or roundish heads, sitting on a ruff of bristly bracts; the 4-5 toothed calyx is small; the 2-lipped, 4-5 lobed corolla has 2 or 4 stamens; the dry fruit often has a persistent calyx attached.

Dipsacus fullonum

Dipsacus pilosus

Small Teasel

Small Teasel has erect, bristly, branched stems to 2 m; its rather rugose, basal leaves are longstalked and heart-shaped with blunt, marginal teeth giving them a crenate edge, the blade extends decurrently but narrowly down the petiole; higher up the stem the leaves may have 2

Wild Teasel

This tall, erect, stiff-stemmed biennial may be over 2 m tall, the stiff spines adorn the stem angles; the 1st year, long, elliptical, prickly but 380

Flora of Monmouthshire lobes at the petiole junction; the 6-9 mm, white flowers form a small to 2 cm, globose flowerhead; the numerous, linear, bristly bracts form a ruff under the head.

flowers on the outside of the head have longer lobes radiating outwards. 23

18 31

It grows on unimproved grassland, hedgerow banks, open woods usually on calcareous substrates. In vc 35 it has suffered from the ‘improvement’ of grasslands and has lost ground on the picture presented by the distribution map, largely recorded during 1985-90. 139 t (1 t)

Dipsacus pilosus grows in damp, shady places on the edges of woods or woodland paths often on calcareous soils. In vc 35 its stronghold is the Wye Valley and woods on the eastern side, the seeds possibly carried in water and on the treads of wheels or walking boots. 14 t

SUCCISA Devil’s-bit Scabious These are sparsely hairy perennials with flowers of mixed sexual combinations; the leaves are opposite, simple and entire; there are leafy bracts forming a cup at the base of the flower head and smaller ones under the individual flowers; the calyx has 4-5 bristle-topped teeth; the epicalyx is 4-angled; the flowers are all the same size with a 4lobed corolla.

KNAUTIA Field Scabious These perennials have mixed-sex flowers, hairy stems with simple and crenate-edged to pinnate leaves; there are leafy bracts forming a ruff at the base of each head of flowers but unlike Dipsacus species no bracts at the base of each flower; the outer, 4-lobed flowers are longer than the inner; the calyx has 8 long bristles and there is a 4-ridged epicalyx terminated in a cluster of hairs.

Knautia arvensis

Succisa pratensis

Field Scabious

Devil’s-bit Scabious

This perennial may reach a height of well over a metre; it has stem, leaves and bracts covered with bulbous-based hairs; the lowest leaves are stalked, opposite and simple; the next ones above are larger with crenate margins and the uppermost are pinnate, in between are intermediates; the bracts at the top of the stem are entire and lanceolate; the flowering head terminates the stem on a long peduncle with two smaller peduncles on each side also terminating in heads, though usually smaller ones; a cup of ovate bracts edged with long hairs surrounds the receptacle, which bear mauve or blue flowers, each with its own small calyx bearing 8 erect bristles; the

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381

Flora of Monmouthshire described it as rare and gave three sites: Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, *, CC; WAS; Tintern Abbey, JHC and Chepstow, JHC; WAS. More recent records are: many patches, Rogiet Common, Minnetts Lane, ST/453.884, 1981, CT; 1984-2004, TGE; over 100 plants, meadow behind Coombe Mill, ST/459.927, 1991, JPW, CM; walls, Chepstow Castle, ST/533.941, 1991, JVHS; large colony on bank below S wall of Chepstow Castle, ST/532.940, 1994, TGE; a few plants, top of lower cliffs over R. Wye, Piercefield Cliffs, ST/537.962, 1994, TGE; 10 plants, unimproved small meadow surrounded by maize crops, Common-y-Coed, ST/437.890, 2002, TGE. 7 t (2 t)

Succisa pratensis has a short, stout rootstock producing stems and leaves which have a thin covering of short, stiff hairs; the entire, basal leaves are oblanceolate and gradually tapered into a long petiole and pointed at the apex; the opposite, stem leaves narrow upwards becoming linear bracts at the inflorescence; the peduncle that continues the stem, at a pair of bracts, ends in the largest domed head of blue flowers, but there are two peduncles, subtended by the same bracts, ending in smaller domes; the corolla has unequally-sized lobes; the 4 stamens protrude beyond the corolla. It grows in a variety of grassy places. Widespread in vc 35 though it seldom occurs on the Levels. 194 t Plate 85

ASTERACEAE Daisy family Members are annual to perennial herbs with a basal rosette only, or more often with alternate stem leaves that may be simple and entire or toothed or compound, usually pinnate or pinnately lobed, lobes terminating in spines in some groups e.g. Thistles; there are no stipules; the flowers are compound with tube-like flowers seated on a disc-like receptacle in a dense terminal head or capitulum (seldom there is only a single flower); there are no sepals or they are modified to form a pappus of teeth, scales, bristles or a membranous ring; the edge of the receptacle sports a large number of leaf-like bracts (phyllaries) that resemble the calyx of simple flowers; the tubular or disc flowers usually end in 5 lobes or teeth though outside flowers often have a strap-like ligule (ray) radiating outwards like a petal, sometimes with apical teeth as well; flower heads with ligulate flowers are represented by daisies and dandelions, which are much wider than long. Sometimes rays are absent. Sometimes the receptacle is of small diameter and the capitulum is longer than broad and may singly terminate a flower stalk though more often clusters of such capitula form compound spikes, racemes or panicles.

SCABIOSA Scabiouses These are bisexual perennials with opposite leaves, simple to pinnate with various margins and often forming basal rosettes; flower heads are flattish or semi-spherical and on long stalks; they consist of a receptacle, surrounded by leafy bracts, with each flower on it subtended by a narrower bract; the calyx has 5 long bristles; the epicalyx is 8-ridged; the corolla has a short tube.

Scabiosa columbaria

Small Scabious

This is a multi-branched, hairy perennial with simple, stalked, oval, basal leaves and the rest of the leaves 1-2 pinnately-lobed with very narrow lobes; the 20-40 mm flower heads are mauve and have outer flowers somewhat larger than the inner ones and the outer flower lobes larger than the rest. 23

ECHINOPS Globe-thistles Globe-thistles are tall, impressive plants and have deeply, pinnately-lobed leaves with white to greywoolly undersides and lobes ending in weak spines. The single-flowered, rayless capitula are arranged densely in globose, blue to white, solitary heads.

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It grows in dry places on calcareous substrates in grass, among rocks and on walls. Wade (1970) 382

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Echinops sphaerocephalus Glandular Globe-thistle

This is often over 1.5 m high. Its erect phyllaries are hardly curved at the apex and are densely covered with glandular hairs, the corollas on the top of the large globose heads are greyish. Introduced to British gardens from Southern Europe, it sometimes becomes naturalised in waste places or remains as a relic of abandoned gardens. A few plants were found on the west side of the main driveway through Cleppa Park, Newport ST/278.848, 1994, by GH during development of the site. 1 t

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! Echinops bannaticus

Blue Globe-thistle

This plant seldom exceeds 1.25 m tall. Its phyllaries have no glandular hairs and the corollas are bluish. Introduced from SE Europe to British gardens, it has occasionally become naturalised on waste ground or has remained as a relic from abandoned gardens. Vc 35’s record was a single plant south of a Populus trichocarpa on waste ground, west of a waterfall, Cleppa Park, Newport, ST/278.847, 1994, GH. 1 t

ARCTIUM Burdocks Burdocks are biennials with stout roots and simple leaves; the petiolate, basal leaves are large and heart-shaped, the upper cauline ones are smaller with a lanceolate shape; the flower heads are globose made more so by the numerous spreading spine-like phyllaries that have weakly hooked ends; the corolla is purple (occasionally white) and has a pappus of rough, yellowish, free hairs. The mature capitula sizes are given as width x length (height).

CARLINA Carline Thistle These are thistle-like biennials with pinnatelylobed, spiny leaves; the receptacle bears only tubular corollas; the outer phyllaries are leaf-like but the inner ones are scarious and straw-yellow giving the appearance of ligulate corollas; the pappus consists of feathery hairs, united at the base.

Arc. Arctium lappa

Greater Burdock

The lowest part of A. lappa’s basal leaves are solid and its flower heads tend to grow to the same height on terminal peduncles at least 2.5 cm long; its large capitula vary from 2.0-3.0 x 3.3-4.7 cm. 23

Carlina vulgaris

Carline Thistle

Carline Thistle produces a leaf rosette only in the first year and this withers on the production of a short stem that bears alternate, oblong leaves with wavy, spiny edges, in the second year; the stem may terminate in a single capitula though more often it produces a cluster of heads with stalks that raise them all to nearly the same level; the receptacle is covered with brownish-yellow tubular florets surrounded by a ring of strawcoloured, papery phyllaries, which persist through the winter. This thistle grows in short grassland on calcareous or sandy substrates or on fixed dunes. In the vicecounty most plants occur in the lower hills in the west though there are disjunct populations elsewhere. 53 t Plate 83

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It grows on margins of tracks, in fields and woods as well as in waste places. In vc 35 it is fairly widespread in the lowlands though nowhere in large numbers, and has disappeared from ‘improved’ fields. 139 t 383

Flora of Monmouthshire

CARDUUS Thistles These are annuals or biennials with spiny-winged stems bearing lobed, densely spiny leaves; the capitula occur in groups of 3-10; the spiny-tipped phyllaries are tapering, linear to narrowly ovate and occur in many rows; the pappus consists of many rows of simple hairs joined at the base. Carduus and Cirsium are similar thistles but their pappus structure separates them. My mnemonic for this is Carduus ends in S and has simple hairs forming the pappus and Cirsium ends in an M and has multi-branched (feathery) hairs in the pappus.

Carduus tenuiflorus

Arctium minus

Lesser Burdock

Lesser Burdock may have pedunculate or sessile capitula, the middle involucral bracts are no more than 1.6 mm wide; the involucre may be shorter or longer than the corollas; the capitula measure c. 3.2 x 2.4 cm. 23

18 31

Slender Thistle

Its stems reach over 60 cm in height with spinywings extending continuously to the capitula; the leaves have grey to white cottony undersides; the plant has a tall, narrow outline; it has stalked or sessile, near-cylindrical capitula less than 14 mm across and corollas with 5 lobes almost equal in size; the phyllaries are thin and transparent at the edges and usually have unthickened mid-ribs.

It occurs over most of the vice-county but farming practices have reduced numbers and habitats dramatically. 332 t

Arctium nemorosum

Wood Burdock

The terminal capitula of Wood Burdock are sessile; the middle involucral bracts are usually greater than 1.7 mm wide; the involucre exceeds the corolla by 1.2-6.0 mm; the capitula are up to 4.0 x 2.9 cm.

20 23 19 22 18 31

18 32

It grows near the coast. In vc 35 it frequents the sea wall, mainly that bordering the Rumney Great Wharf. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 6 sites. More recent records are: rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1977-78, TGE; sea wall, Goldcliff, ST/377.823, 1993, TGE, UTE; sea wall, E of Porton House, ST/39.82, 1993, TGE, UTE; sea wall, Rumney Great Wharf, ST/23.77 to 248.787, 1995, DJU, TGE. 8 t

It grows mostly in semi-shade and in open woods on calcareous substrates. Wood Burdock is less common than the various forms of A. minus. 95 t

! Carduus pycnocephalus Plymouth Thistle This is similar to C. tenuiflorus but has discontinuous spiny-wings on the stems and 384

Flora of Monmouthshire bare peduncles under the capitula; the stems and leaves are more densely white-cottony; the phyllaries have thickened edges and midribs in the upper half. Introduced from S Europe and known from Plymouth since 1868, it has occurred casually elsewhere where wool shoddy and birdseed are used. In vc 35 the only site was on waste ground at Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Site, SO/17.07, 1987, AW. 1 t

Carduus crispus

Welted Thistle

This differs from C. tenuiflorus and C. pycnocephalus in having bell-shaped capitula 15-20 mm across (excluding the flowers) and corollas with 1 lobe deeply divided from the others. The stems are continuously spinywinged to the capitula or nearly so and bear leaves almost glabrous on the underside; the mostly stalked capitula are held erect and are in clusters of 2-4; the diverging involucre bracts taper gradually to longish but softish points.

18 31

18 33

This native thistle grows near hedges, streams and ditches and on disturbed ground with a rich or basic nature. In vc 35 the distribution along river banks is clearly evident by the N-S line of records. 118 t

Carduus nutans

CIRSIUM Thistles These biennials or perennials may or may not have spiny-winged stems; the leaves may be deeply lobed or have toothed margins, both equipped with spines or bristles; the simple, ovate to tapering phyllaries have various kinds of pointed apices and are packed around the lower part of the capitula; the corolla is often purple, but may, less commonly, be white or yellow; the pappus consists of many rows of feathery hairs joined at their bases (see Carduus). Thistles are less numerous due to campaigns to eradicate them, but they are resilient and any relaxation in the battle allows a resurgence. The seeds are a valuable food source to birds such as goldfinches.

It is a native found in established, grassy places, waysides and on disturbed ground of a calcareous nature. In vc 35 it occurs in the ChepstowCaerwent-Caldicot area and east of Monmouth on Carboniferous Limestone which also favours the appearance of some plants on the edge of the coalfield. It is largely missing from the central farming areas where land ‘improvement’ may be a contributory factor. 50 t Plate 84

Cirsium eriophorum

Woolly Thistle

This is a tall (to 1.5 m) and stout, white-haired biennial with wingless stems; the leaves have stiff bristles on long, pinnate lobes, tapering to long, stiff spines on each point; the flower heads are large and globular to 50 mm across, with numerous inner bracts interspersed with white, branched hairs emerging from them; at the top are numerous purplish to red corollas forming a flattop and narrower summit to the globe. It grows on dry grassland, on banks and among scrub on calcareous soils. Wade (1970) described it

Musk Thistle

This is distinguished by its discontinuously spiny-winged stem and lower parts of the flower stalks, its large 30-60 mm across (excluding the flowers) stalked capitula are slightly flattened globes and nod sideways as they develop and corollas that are a deep, bright red.

385

Flora of Monmouthshire as rare and gave 6 sites for it in the north and south-east. Of the 13 records in the vice-county there are only 2 extant sites in 2005: 18 plants in meadow on the edge of Ifton Great Wood, a site of long standing, ST/456.887, 2002, CT; 27 rosettes, 1 flowering spike, 2005, TGE, CT; c. 25 plants, meadow, Common-y-Coed, ST/438.885, 2003, CT; 40 plants, 2004, TGE, CT; c. 40 plants, on bank, Upper Grange Farm, ST/428.887, 2005 DJU. 4 t (9 t) Plates 86 & 87

Cirsium vulgare

Spear Thistle

Spear Thistle has erect stems to 1.5 m tall, armed with discontinuous spiny wings and deeplylobed and spiny-margined leaves that ascend the stem to the apex; the involucre is globular to 40 mm, consisting of straight bracts topped with yellowish spines, above which are the flat-topped group of purplish-red corollas which form a mass of equal width to the involucre.

18 31

18 32

It grows in grassy and waste places on disturbed, fertile or base-rich soils. In vc 35 it probably occurs in every tetrad. 400 t

Cirsium dissectum

Some of the more recent records are: Rhydd-yfedw marsh, Itton, ST/47.95, 1957-81, TGE; bog, Cleddon, SO/51.04, 1950-81, TGE; fen, Magor, ST/425.866, 1950-85, TGE; 1000 plants, 1991, JPW, CM, TB; 5 square metres, meadow, Penllwyn Grasslands, SSSI, Pontllanfraith, ST/167.962, 1981-2001, TGE; JPW, CM; fen, Henllys, ST/262.924, 1985, TGE; Coed Llifos, ST/458.965, 1985, TGE; Llwyn-y-Celyn, ST/480.946, 1985, TGE; 1992, JPW, CM; 20 m² marshy ground, Peny-van Pond, SO/1943.0064, 1988; marsh, Craig-yRhacca, ST/19.89, 1988; marshy meadow, Aberbargoed, ST/16.98, 1987, all 3 TGE, UTE; wet meadow, Underwood-Llanmartin, ST/387.895, 1987, TGE; marsh, Pant-y-Gollen, Trevethin, SO/286.027, 1988, RF; marsh, Pontyspig, SO/28.20, 1984-1990, TGE; marshy meadow, SE of Limekiln Wood, ST/28.92, 1989, TGE, UTE; marshy ground, Crumlin Old Farm, ST/202.991, 1988, KR, AW; 1991, SK; 1992, JPW, CM; marshy and acidic grassland, Nant Cwm-Crach, SO/171.001, 1990, SK, 1992, JPW, CM; marshy grass, Heol Ddu, ST/174.945, 1991, SK; 1000+ plants, 1992, JPW, CM; marsh, Coed Cae, SO/292.023, 1991, SK; Ty Gwyn, ST/20.97, 1991, SK; Ty’r Sais & Nant Gwrhay, SO/189.001, 1990, TGE; SO/190.001, 1991, JPW, CM; Memorial Park Meadow SSSI, Pontllanfraith, ST/177.963, 1991, JPW, CM; Lower Ground SSSI, Penrhos SO/411.126, 1991, CM, MY, KSW; LangstoneLlanmartin Meadows, ST/382.897; 1991, JPW, CM, TB; ST/385.895, 1991, DPS, GB; Plantation Farm and the Gethley, ST/473.997, 1991, JPW, CM, KSW; many plants, Fairfield, ST/404.900, 1992, JPW, CM; many m² in meadow over peat, Barecroft Common, ST/417.866, 1999, TGE; more than 50 plants, wet area, Pen-deri Farm, SO/189.001, 2003, TGE, CT. 33 t Plates 88 & 89

Meadow Thistle

This is a rhizomatous perennial with erect, unwinged cottony stems to 80 cm; the elliptical to lanceolate leaves are cottony beneath and have a soft, spiny margin; some leaves may be deeply lobed; the flower-head bracts (outer ones are spine-tipped) are lanceolate, hairy and appressed to form a globose involucre topped by massed, bright purplish-red corollas that spread wider than the involucre. It grows in wet, unimproved, peat-based meadows, where it can form large patches. Wade (1970) said it was locally common and gave 21 sites. 386

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Cirsium oleraceum

plants, bank above Broadwell Farm, ST/497.913, 1991, TGE; on short calcareous turf, c. 30-50 plants, Mynydd Machen Common, ST/234.896, 1991, JSW; calcareous grassland, Craig-y-Perthi, Waltwood Hill, ST/384.879, 1991, CHu; < 10 plants on semi-improved neutral grassland, Tintern Cross slopes, SO/506.005, 1991, JPW; 100+, Woodbine Cottage, Wyesham, SO/523.118, 1992, JPW, CM; 30-50 plants, Pysgodlin, SO/265.157, 1992, JPW, CM; 30-40 plants, on grassy bank near road, RAF, Caerwent, ST/475.915, 1988, TGE; 1991, JPW, CM; 3-4 plants, old grassland bank, Common-y-Coed, ST/438.885, 1993, JDRV; 4-5 plants, 2003, CT. 11 t (1 t)

Cabbage Thistle

This is a tall (to 1.5 m), erect perennial with a stem leafy to the top and lacking wings; the softly spiny leaves are variously lobed, the upper yellowish-green with clasping basal lobes; the topmost leaves are unlobed and form a tight cluster of 5-6 around the terminal cluster of 2-6, erect, 25-35 mm wide, cup-shaped capitula, consisting of numerous bracts, with yellowish corollas emerging above, the group only slightly wider than the involucre. Introduced from mainland Europe and naturalised in parts of Britain, it occurs infrequently as a casual elsewhere. In vc 35 the only record was one plant on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1974, TGE. (1 t)

Cirsium acaule

Cirsium palustre

Marsh Thistle

This biennial is tall to 1.5 m, with a continuous, winged stem to the top; its narrow, mostly unstalked, lanceolate leaves are deeply pinnately-lobed and very spiny and hairy above; the 10-20 mm, purple (occasionally white) flower heads have erect, purple-tinged bracts that are rather softly-spiny.

Dwarf Thistle

This perennial has a basal rosette of deeplylobed, spiny leaves and usually 1-3, sessile capitula consisting of many, purplish, erect, pointed bracts, in the middle of which protrude numerous reddish-purple corollas spreading much wider than the involucre; sometimes the capitulum is on a wingless but leafy stem, seldom longer than 10 cm.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31 18 31

It favours damp habitats in meadows, marshes, woods and hedgerows. Widespread in vc 35, but not as numerous as C. arvense. 365 t

It grows in short, base-rich grassland. In vc 35 it was concentrated on the Carboniferous Limestone of the SE corner, but ploughing and re-seeding of old grassland has caused the loss of the plant, as at Piercefield Park near Chepstow Racecourse. Wade (1970) described it as locally common in the east but rare elsewhere and gave 11 sites for it. More recent records are: 100s at Piercefield Park, ST/52.94 and 52.95, 1979, TGE, now gone; c. 50 plants, The Brockwells, ST/468.897, 1985, CT; meadow, Dinham, ST/48.91, 1985, TGE; c. 10

Cirsium arvense

Creeping Thistle

This thistle perennates by long rhizomes from which rise wingless stems 1 m tall, bearing spiny leaves with various lobing borne the whole length of the stem; the pale lilac flower heads are loosely clustered at the top with heads of 15-25 mm with the corollas spread only slightly wider than the involucre, which is roundish at the base, tapering gradually upwards and consisting of purplish, erect bracts, which at the base are squat, 387

Flora of Monmouthshire strongly spiny teeth; the flower-heads are thistleshaped with many rows of phyllaries, the outer of which are large, recurved and possess spiny teeth; the corollas are purple.

becoming longer and tapering to short, spiny tips above. Cirsium arvense 23

Arc. Silybum marianum

18 31

Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle is an annual or biennial to over 1 m with unwinged stems bearing pinnately-lobed, spiny-margined leaves which are shiny-green above with white variegations, particularly along the veins; the upper leaves are simple, spiny and stem-clasping; the outer flower bracts are noticeably large and out-curved hiding the lower part of the 4-5 cm capitula, which are topped with bright-purple corollas. Introduced from the southern Europe, it is naturalised on roadsides, waste and cultivated soils. Wade (1970) described it as a rare alien and gave four sites, Abergavenny, 1886, JWh; Chippenham, *, SGC; garden weed, Chepstow, *, WAS; Newport, JHC. The three recent records are: builtup R. Ebbw bank, Risca, ST/23.91, 1986; grass verge, B4598, Coed-y-Fedw, SO/444.087, 1989, both TGE, UTE; 2 plants, middle of field, S of Vicar’s Allotment, SO/509.058, 2002, CT. 3 t (4 t)

It is a persistent weed of grassland, hedgerows, arable and grows on any neglected ground where it gains a foothold. It occurs in every tetrad. 401 t ONOPORDUM Cotton Thistles This group has tall (to over 2 m), stout stems, spiny-winged to the top; the spiny leaves are toothed to lobed; the many-rowed, spiny-tipped, simple, linear-lanceolate phyllaries enclose a flattish-topped inflorescence of purple corollas with protruding styles above.

SERRATULA Saw-wort These perennials have non-spiny stems, leaves and phyllaries; the leaves are pinnately-lobed almost to the midrib; the many-rowed phyllaries are simple and acutely pointed; the corollas are usually purple; the pappus consists of many rows of free, simple hairs, the outer shorter.

Arc. Onopordum acanthium Cotton Thistle Most of the plant is covered with white, cottony hairs that hide the leaf and wing veins; the capitula are 2-6 cm wide and have the shape of the Scottish emblem and consequently are called the Scotch Thistle by some people. Introduced from mainland Europe in the 16th century, it is naturalised in established grassland, disturbed and waste ground. In vc 35 it has populations disjunct in time and place and must be considered a casual. Described by Wade (1970) as a rare alien, he gave 6 sites for it. More recent records are: road verge, Rogiet, ST/450.879, 1973, CT; rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/309.858, 1980, TGE; 62 plants, Newport Docks, ST/312.845, 1997, MJ; 3 plants, meadow, near R. Usk, SW of Llanwenarth Church, SO/2707.1464, 2003, CT. 2 t (6 t) Plate 90

Serratula tinctoria

Saw-wort

This is a slender plant to over 50 cm somewhat branched above; its dark-green leaves are narrow with narrow, pinnate, toothed lobes; the flowerheads have dark-purple, simple bracts forming a narrow, ovoid base from which the purple corollas protrude. It is native in damp grassland, scrub, open, deciduous woodland, wet heaths, cliff tops and rocky streamsides. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent and gave 12 sites. Some more recent sites are: Carrow Hill Wood, ST/43.89, 1972, TGE, CT; marshy ground, Rhydd-y-Fedw, ST/47.95; fen, Henllys, ST/262.927, wet road verge, W of Bettws, ST/27.90, all, 1985, TGE; Waun-y-Pound, SO/15.10, 1986, TGE, UTE; Scrapyard Heath, Pontllanfraith; wet meadow, Nant Gwrhay, ST/16.98, 1987; wet meadow, Nant Philkins, ST/19.98, 1988, marsh, Graig-y-Rhacca,

SILYBUM Milk Thistle These are short-lived herbs with unwinged, slightly hairy stems, bearing leaves variously lobed with 388

Flora of Monmouthshire ST/19.89, 1988 all TGE, UTE; acid heath Cwm Celyn, SO/205.088, 1986-1990, JWo., TGE, RF; a few plants, trackside in light woodland, Pen-yrheol, SO/428.114, 1987, PCH, JH; damp path, Hardwick Plantation, ST/45.89, 1984; ST/44.89, 1985, TGE, CT; acid fields, Whitelye, SO/51.01, 1985, EGW; Cwm Merddog, SO/18.06, 1987, AW, EGW; marshy Grassland, Ty’r Sais, SO/189.001, 1991, JPW, CM; Varteg Waste, SO/261.056; Penllwyn, ST/172.959; marshy grass, Heol Ddu, ST/174.945; marshy grassland, Crumlin Old Farm, ST/203.990, all 1991, SK; Cwm Dows, S of Croespenmaen, ST/197.976, 1991, SMG; reclaimed coal waste, E of Beaufort, SO/184.115, 1998, AW, EGW; few plants, wet meadow, Penderi Farm, SO/18.00 and 19.00, 2003, TGE, CT. 26 t Serratula tinctoria

18 31

It is native in dry grassland, quarries and marginal sites. In vc 35 it is concentrated on the Carboniferous Limestone of the south east, but has suffered badly from the loss of habitat caused by the large housing programmes for that area and the extra pressure on the remaining fields. 27 t Plate 91

! Centaurea montana Perennial Cornflower

This is a sturdy, usually branched, rhizomatous perennial coated with whitish hairs and usually with simple leaves, with unlobed and untoothed margins that run decurrently down the stem; the flower-head is rather similar to C. scabiosa but has pinkish tubular flowers with a fringe of longer, blue corollas with a lower lobe separated from the other 4 long lobes.

18 31

CENTAUREA Knapweeds Knapweeds have various life-cycles; their stems and leaves lack spines; their leaves are simple and entire to more or less pinnate; the many-rowed phyllaries are tipped with filaments, teeth or a scarious border; the corolla has a range of colours though often purplish; the outer flowers are often longer than the inner ones; the pappus is either absent or consists of many, simple to toothed, free hairs.

Centaurea scabiosa

Greater Knapweed

This is a sturdy, rather rough to touch, tall to well over 1 m, perennial with longish, narrowlypinnate-lobed leaves, the lower stalked; the bulbous involucre is covered with dark-green, ovate bracts fringed with dark bristles; the numerous, purple, tubular flowers with protruding styles emerge above with a fringe of much longer flowers with 5 long lobes.

Introduced into British gardens from the mountains of southern Europe, it has become naturalised on hedge banks and wasteland, usually near past or present human habitations. In vc 35 it has been recorded chiefly on hedgebanks but also from rubbish tips, graveyards and on railway sides. 31 t 389

Flora of Monmouthshire

Arc. Centaurea cyanus

thickened under its capitula which have a globular base covered with bracts with brownishblack, triangular, terminal, toothed appendages; the corollas emerging from this are purplish-red with prominent, dark styles and form a disc-shaped inflorescence.

Cornflower

This is a rather slender, erect annual to 50 cm or more; the leaves are linear-lanceolate, only some of the lower ones may have a few pinnate lobes; the oval bracts with a very dark, deeply-toothed, apical fringe cover an almost cylindrical involucre, from the centre of which emerge numerous blue, tubular flowers, surrounded by much longer blue corollas with 6 quite broad, terminal lobes. Though native, it is seldom naturalised in cornfields and most plants reported are casuals, originating from birdseed or escapes from gardens or deliberately sown on verges by well-meaning authorities. 4 t (9 t)

! Centaurea calcitrapa

Red Star-thistle

This is a branched perennial with grooved but almost glabrous stems; the narrow linear to oblong leaves (only the lower stalked) are pinnately-lobed, with narrow lobes terminated by a bristle; the very shortly-stalked flower-heads possess only pale-purple tubular corollas, surrounded by bracts, each ending in a long, yellow spine; the flower-head often sits on a starshaped group of narrow, green, toothed, leaflike bracts. Introduced from mainland Europe, probably for its novelty-value, it is naturalised in a few waste places. The only vc 35 record is for Newport Docks by JHC in the 19th century. (1 t)

! Centaurea diluta

18 31

It grows in established grassland, grassy verges and waste land. In vc 35, though still widespread, it has declined in numbers due to the ploughing and reseeding of old hay meadows. 376 t

CARTHAMUS Safflowers These are annuals with rather woody stems bearing entire leaves or with spine-tipped teeth or lobes; the capitula have a basal ring of green, lanceolate, spiny, leaf-like bracts and broadbased, pale-brown bracts, with a spiny, lanceolate, green, leaf-like terminal appendage forming a broad-based cone topped off with long, ligulate, yellow to orange corollas; the pappus is lacking, or consists of pointed scales.

Lesser Star-thistle

This is a branched annual with round-ended, strap-like leaves with somewhat, clasping bases with at least one side decurrent down the stem; a flower-head terminates each stem branch; the straw-coloured phyllaries have a toothed upper margin, often with a short yellowish spine at the apex and 2 smaller spines on its base; the pinkish corollas are tubular in the centre, with much longer corollas with paddle-shaped ligules, arranged peripherally; these ligules have 3 pointed lobes at their tip and a separate, lower, pointed lobe. It was introduced from the W Mediterranean and occurs on waste ground and rubbish tips. It appeared on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, 1975-8, TGE, det. EJC. (2 t)

Centaurea nigra

! Carthamus tinctorius

Safflower

This can have erect, glabrous stems to 60 cm; the leaves are entire with spiny margins; the phyllaries are entire to toothed, with a spiny or bristly margin, the outer ones leaf-like; the corolla is yellow to reddish-orange; the pappus is lacking. Introduced, probably with birdseed, from SW Asia, it has appeared as a casual on tips and waste ground. It appeared on disturbed soil on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, *, in 1975 and again in 1978, TGE, CT, det. EJC. (2 t)

Common Knapweed

This is an erect, roughly-hairy perennial to 1 m and branched to various degrees; its stems are 390

Flora of Monmouthshire This annual grows to 1 m or more, with a hairy, lower stem; the lower leaves are narrow with a large, terminal leaflet and much smaller lateral ones; the toothed, upper leaves are lanceolate to ovate; the branches of the upper stem terminate in small capitula to 2 cm across; the yellow ligules are c. 1.5 times as long as the inner phyllaries and the ripe achenes half as long. It grows in hedgerows, open woods and waste and disturbed ground. Common in marginal sites in most vc 35 tetrads. 362 t

CICHORIUM Chicory These perennials have firm roots that produce a leafy stem with short-stalked capitula, subtended by a leaf; phyllaries develop in 2 rows; scales occur on the receptacle among the ligulate, blue corollas; the angular achenes are beakless.

Arc. Cichorium intybus

Chicory

This usually has erect, stiff stems to over 1 m bearing oblanceolate leaves that range from deeply-lobed to merely toothed higher up the stem; the 2.5-4 cm across, flattish capitula are made up of strap-like, sky-blue ligules with their squarish ends bearing short teeth. It grows on grassy verges, rough grassland and waste areas, particularly on calcareous soils. Though a perennial, chicory does not persist in many places because management of land changes. Recent records are: around slurry pit, Cannes Farm, N of Monmouth, SO/514.149, 1988, BJG; many plants gateway, The Trap, Devauden, ST/49.98, 1990, TGE; 2-4 plants, near Maryland, SO/51.05, 1993, JDRV; 5 plants, Lower Tre-fal-du, pools, SO/4612.0823, 2002, TGE. 4 t (22 t) Plate 92

HYPOCHAERIS Cat’s-ears Cat’s-ears have a range of life cycles and grow from strong roots; the usually leafless stem bears small, scale-like bracts along it and 1-3 capitula at its end; the phyllaries occur in several rows; receptacle scales are present; the pappus consists of 1-2 rows of dirty-white to pale brown hairs, the single or inner row has feathery hairs; all the flowers are ligulate; the achenes are finely ribbed.

Hypochaeris radicata

Cat’s-ear

This perennial to more than 50 cm has erect stems and a basal rosette of oblanceolate leaves with sinuate lobes; these rather hairy leaves appear to have bites taken out of them and this probably gave rise to the English name; the capitula are 2-4 cm across, and open afresh each day; the pappus hairs are in 2 rows with only the inner feathery, the beaked central achenes are 8-17 mm long (including the beak).

LAPSANA Nipplewort These have varying life cycles, leafy stems, many, rather small capitula with 2 rows of phyllaries, those in the outer row incomplete; there are no scales on the receptacle and no pappus; the corollas are yellow and the multi-ribbed, beakless achenes are somewhat flattened.

Lapsana communis subsp. communis Nipplewort

22 23

18 31

It grows in grassy places. In vc 35 it occurs in most if not all tetrads though it has been reduced in numbers by ploughing and re-seeding of grassland. 383 t

18 31

391

Flora of Monmouthshire distribution map illustrates the complex surface geology of the vice-county. 240 t

LEONTODON Hawkbits These perennials have strong roots and stems bearing small scale-like, simple or branched bracts; the phyllaries are in several rows; receptacle scales are present; the pappus has 1-2 rows of dirty-white to pale brown hairs, the inner or single row feathery, the outer of simple hairs or a scaly-ring; the yellow ligules are often striped red or grey on the outside.

Leontodon autumnalis

Autumn Hawkbit

The stem is up to 60 cm tall, usually branched and bears narrow leaves that are glabrous, at least above, and toothed to deeply pinnatelylobed; hairs, if present, are simple; the capitula are 20-35 mm across with all corollas ligulate and yellow with red stripes on the undersides; the linear-lanceolate capitulate bracts may have no to many hairs; the peduncles are branched low down.

18 31

Leontodon saxatilis

Lesser Hawkbit

This is like a smaller, less green-hairy version of L. hispidus and differs in that the pappus of the outer achenes is a scaly ring (to see this it is necessary to take a capitulum, cut it in half then remove the florets until you have only the back row of achenes and a row of phyllaries left; each of these achenes is surmounted by a transparent coronet (the scaly ring); the only Hawkbit with this ring is L. saxatilis).

22 31

35 21

L. autumnalis grows in grassy places but is less common in ‘improved’ meadows. It can still be found in most tetrads in vc 35. 381 t

Leontodon hispidus

Rough Hawkbit

This plant can attain a height of 60 cm and is noticeably white-hairy, all leaf hairs being forked; the leaves are oblanceolate, sinuatedentate to deeply-lobed and form a basal rosette; the peduncles are long and unbranched; the 1113 mm phyllaries are white-pubescent, the ligules are yellow apart from some which may be reddish on the underside; all achenes have a pappus of hairs. Its distribution is somewhat restricted to basic or calcareous grassland. With this in mind, its

18 31

This grows on acidic to calcareous grassland. In vc 35 it seems to be the least common of the Hawkbits, which may be due to its smaller size and difficulty in competing against the vigour of grasses of ‘improved’ meadows, or it may be due to the extra steps needed to confirm its identity. 145 t 392

Flora of Monmouthshire PICRIS Oxtongues These are herbs armed with numerous stiff bristles with hooked ends, stems ending in several capitula, phyllaries in several rows, no receptacle scales and a pappus that consists of 2 rows of whitish, feathery hairs. The corollas are yellow and the achenes are transversely wrinkled.

Arc. Picris echioides

Bristly Oxtongue

This bristly biennial with branched stems has elliptic to oblong leaves, with somewhat wavy margins and some of the bristles arising from raised, blister-like pimples on the leaf surface; the lower leaves have winged stems, the upper ones are sessile; all the florets are ligulate; the capitula are 20-25 mm across with bristlymargined, heart-shaped bracts and a white pappus.

18 31

It grows on grassland, open or rough ground, mostly on calcareous substrates. Wade (1970) described it as locally common and gave 16 sites. By 2005 many sites have been lost, mostly in the last 20 years. 43 t

TRAGOPOGON Goat’s-beards These have various life-cycles; the stems are leafy, simple or branched; the phyllaries are in a single row; the pappus has a single row of mainly feathery but also some simple hairs; the outer achenes have dirty-white to pale-brown, simple hairs; the ligules are yellow or purple. Sometimes it is called ‘Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon’ because the capitula open early but close about midday.

18 31

Tragopogon pratensis subsp. pratensis Goat’s-beard

This herb has erect stems to 75 cm, usually glabrous, with narrow, lanceolate leaves; this has long, narrow, pointed, patent phyllaries; in this subspecies the yellow ligules are as long as the phyllaries. It grows in grassy places, particularly in marginal sites, mainly in the eastern half of Britain. Wade (1970) stated it was rare and gave 2 sites for it, Pontypool Road Station, *; and Portskewett, WAS. No other sites have been reported. (2 t)

It grows on disturbed, rough and waste ground and by streams. In vc 35 it occurs close to rivers, but becomes more common near the Severn on damp clays. 96 t

Picris hieracioides

Hawkweed Oxtongue

This stiffly-hairy perennial has erect stems and bristly, narrow, lanceolate to oblong leaves, sinuate toothed to lobed, the lower stalked, the upper sessile with clasping bases; the capitula are 20-35 mm across; all the florets are yellow and ligulate, the 11-13 mm, black-haired phyllaries, though similar, have outer ones shorter and patent; the pappus is off-white and the achenes may have a short beak.

Tragopogon pratensis subsp. minor Goat’s-beard Similar to subsp. pratensis but its ligules are only half as long as the phyllaries.

393

Flora of Monmouthshire Tragopogon pratensis

Sonchus arvensis

Perennial Sow-thistle

This is tall and erect to 1.5 m, with creeping stolons, and may be glabrous or glandular-hairy with yellowish glands; the leaves are variously, pinnately-lobed; the flower-heads are large, 40-50 mm across, in lax clusters at the top of the stem and their appearance on our verges is a sign that summer is nearly over.

20 23 19 22 18 31

It grows in grassy places, road verges and cultivated soil. Widespread in vc 35, but mainly in marginal sites. 201 t

! Tragopogon porrifolius

Salsify

This is very similar to T. pratensis but it is taller to 1 m and has enlarged stems below the capitula and purple ligules as long as the phyllaries. Introduced from the Mediterranean as a vegetable, it has become naturalised in waste and rough ground and on coastal banks. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 4 sites for it, near Malpas, *; by the Wye below Tintern Abbey, *, probably an escape from past cultivation at the Abbey, CCB; 1875, HS; WAS; near Chepstow, *, WAS; Rumney, *, BMO. More recent records are: many plants, narrow grassy R. Wye bank caused by the river swirling round the Lancaut bend and eroding the rest of the bank, ST/539.964, 1984, DJU; 3 plants 1994, TGE; 85 plants on the narrow crescent and 1 plant on southern edge of the semicircle, 2001, TGE; 1 on grassy path, Alpha Steelworks, ST/337.844, 1994, MJ, TGE; 11 plants, wet, rough, grassy meadow, 1994, TGE; 3 plants, near top of sea wall, on land side, E of outfall of Windmill Reen, Redwick, ST/410.832, 2000, CT. 5 t Plate 93

Sonchus arvensis tends to be a marginal plant on road verges, river and stream banks, on waste ground and on coastal brackish marshes and dunes. In vc 35, like other parts of Britain, it is essentially a lowland plant and is much less common in the western hills. 240 t

Sonchus oleraceus

Smooth Sow-thistle

SONCHUS Sow-thistles These herbs have various life-cycles; they have branched leafy-stems that produce latex when broken; the leaves are toothed to lobed, often softly-prickly and have clasping bases; their phyllaries are in several rows; there are no receptacular scales; white, simple hairs of 2 or more rows make up the pappus; the ligules are yellow; the achenes are flat and ribbed.

18 31

It may have stems up to 1.5 m tall; it is glabrous apart from near the capitula, where it is glandular-hairy; its leaves are variously pinnatelylobed, more deeply so in the middle stem leaves; 394

Flora of Monmouthshire (1970) stated it was rare and gave only 5 sites for it. It has spread considerably in the last 35 years. 81 t

stem leaves have clasping bases that extend in the plane of the leaves into triangular-pointed lobes, bearing few, short teeth; the phyllaries are glandular-hairy; the achenes are transverselyribbed. Sonchus oleraceus grows on cultivated ground, verges and waste places. It is widespread in vc 35. 357 t

Sonchus asper

Prickly Sow-thistle

This is similar to S. oleraceus but the leaves have more and deeper teeth on the margin, and clasp the stem with deeply dentate, backwardly curved lobes that form as much as ¾ of a circle.

18 31

! Lactuca virosa

18 31

Great Lettuce

This is similar to L. serriola though usually taller to 2 m, stouter stemmed, thicker leaved with the spines on the underside of the midrib often small and less significant; the leaves are often well-lobed and a darker green; the stems and leaf midribs are maroon-tinged; the ripe achenes vary from 4.2 to nearly 5 mm and range from maroon to blackish.

It grows on cultivated land, waste places and verges. It probably occurs in every vc 35 tetrad. 381 t

LACTUCA Lettuces These have various life-cycles, leafy stems, branched in upper part and bearing many capitula; there are several rows of phyllaries, no receptacle scales; the pappus consists of 2 rows of white, simple hairs; the ligules may be yellow or blue; the achenes are flattish, ribbed and beaked.

Arc. Lactuca serriola

Prickly Lettuce

This has pale-green stems to over 1.5 m tall with usually sharply-dentate, unlobed leaves, however pinnate, rather blunt-ended lobes occur on some plants; the mid-ribs bear curved spines on the underside; the ripe achenes are usually 3-4 mm and olive-grey in colour. It grows on waste and rough ground and in marginal sites. In vc 35 it is frequent at the coast and the Levels and by rivers at Monmouth. Wade

Lactuca virosa grows on waste ground particularly in marginal sites. In vc 35 it is far less common and was slower appearing than L. serriola, but is on the increase. Wade (1970) had no records. The plant, on railway ballast, from Severn Tunnel Junction, Rogiet, submitted by WAS, proved to be L. serriola (AEW, TCGR). 12 t 395

Flora of Monmouthshire CICERBITA Blue-sow-thistles These perennials often have rhizomes, and leafy stems branched above bearing many capitula with phyllaries in several rows; they have no receptacular scales; they have a pappus of small, dirty-white to yellowish-white hairs in 2 rows and corollas which are blue to mauve, and beakless, flat, ribbed achenes.

! Cicerbita macrophylla Common Blue-sow-thistle

This rhizomatous perennial, which can form large patches, has erect stems to 2 m bearing lower leaves (hairy on lower side veins), that have large end-lobes, shaped like the pointed-tipped spades, and rounded, clasping basal lobes, which sometimes have a pair of lateral lobes; the plant is largely glabrous but sometimes is glandular-hairy on upper parts; the flower-heads are large to over 30 mm across with mauve to blue ligules. Introduced from the Urals in the early part of the 20th century, Cicerbita has become naturalised on roadsides, waste and rough ground in the last 35 years. In vc 35 there are scattered records, some probably transported as bits of rhizomes in movement of soil. Recent sites are: roadside junction of dual carriageway with Mamhilad road, SO/312.025, 1989, JJ; entrance to FC car park, E of Pandy Mill, ST/494.942, 1985-2005, TGE. 7 t (2 t)

18 31

TARAXACUM Dandelions These are perennials with tap-roots, and leafless stems topped by a single capitulum; phyllaries are in 2 rows with the outer row appressed, patent or recurved; there are no receptacular scales; the pappus consists of several rows of white, simple hairs; the yellow ligules often has a coloured stripe on the lower side; the achenes are cone-shaped narrowing to a beak above. This is a critical group in which 235 to 250 microspecies have already been named in Britain and 142 of them have been recorded in this vicecounty. The group has been divided into 9 sections, 6 of which are represented in this vice-county, namely Erythrosperma, Spectabilia, Naevosa, Celtica, Hamata and Ruderalia. The last section is the largest, represented in Britain by over 120 microspecies. To attempt to name Dandelions reference must be made to B.S.B.I. Handbook No 9 Dandelions of Great Britain and Ireland (1997), by A.A. Dudman & A.J. Richards; even to put them into the correct Sections reference to New Flora of the British Isles 2nd edition (1997) by Clive Stace is necessary. The current state of knowledge in the vice-county is shown below. Every record has been made by TGE (in March or April), unless otherwise stated, and has been determined or confirmed by A. J. Richards, C. C. Howarth or A. A. Dudman. Specimens of every microspecies have been lodged with the National Museum of Wales, *. The earliest date entry gives the first vice-county record.

MYCELIS Wall Lettuce These short-lived perennials have leafy stems branched above and bearing many small, yellowflowered capitula; the phyllaries are in 2 unequal rows; there are no receptacular scales; the pappus consists of white, simple hairs in 2 unequal rows; the flattish achenes are ribbed and shortly beaked.

Mycelis muralis

Wall Lettuce

This glabrous perennial has a single stem branched above and bearing pinnately-lobed and toothed leaves with a large, triangular end lobe; the capitula are 1-1.5 cm across and each possess only a small number of yellow florets. It grows in shady woods, on rocks and walls and in shady, marginal sites. It is widespread in vc 35, except on the Levels and in the western uplands. 294 t

396

Flora of Monmouthshire Section Erythrosperma

Taraxacum lacistophyllum

Taraxacum argutum

Short turf, RAF, Caerwent, ST/47.91, 1989; Lias sandstone turf, Sudbrook, ST/50.87, 1985-91; meadow bank, W of Hendre, SO/447.147, 1993; coal waste, The British, Abersychan, SO/25.04, 1993-96; short turf over coal waste, Rock, ST/18.99, 1993; short turf, near road, Graig Amenity Wood, Blaenavon, SO/26.07, 1997; short turf, Cwm Iau SO/30.24, 1998. 7 t

Rough grass, W of Forge Hammer, Cwmbran, ST/28.95, 1989; sparse grass over coal waste, The British, Abersychan, SO/25.04, 1991; sandy bank, R. Monnow, Skenfrith Castle, SO/45.20, 1993; roadside bank, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.08, 1996; on covered reservoir, S of Blaenavon; SO/262.067, 1997, with CT; turf over coal spoil, Cwm Du, SO/25.02, 1997; steep bank, NE of Brook House, SO/428.218, 1998; short turf, Cwm Iau, SO/307.245, 1998; field, N of Ty Parson, SO/292.081, 1998; field bank, Hendre Glyn Farm, SO/285.075, 1998; waste ground, N of Festival site, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.07, 2000; stony ground, above Hadnock Quarry, SO/539.152, 2000; forest track, Cwm Gwyddon, ST/24.96, 2002. 13 t

Taraxacum oxoniense It is scattered mainly in the western uplands where vegetation is low and sparse. In vc 35 it grows among short turf over coal waste and in disused quarries. 20 t 23

Taraxacum brachyglossum Newport, ST/3.8, GCD; Machen, ST/2.8, AEW; Chepstow, ST/5.9, TGE; short turf, Piercefield Park, ST/520.957, 1981 & 1991; Lias bank, Sudbrook, ST/502.873, 1982 & 1991; stony bank, Dinham (RAF Caerwent), ST/472.912, 1989; Mynydd Llanwenarth, SO/277.163, 1991, MVM; waste ground, Lamby, ST/217.785; 2000; waste ground, N of Festival site, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.07, 2000. 5 t (3 t)

Taraxacum degelii

On coal waste, Upper Race, ST/275.991, 1998, 1st vice-county record. 1 t

Taraxacum proximum R. Monnow meadow, near Skenfrith Castle, SO/45.20, 1993. 1 t

Taraxacum fulviforme Rumney, ST/2.7, 1922, AEW; Machen, ST/2.8, 1923; rocky upland, Daren, SO/29.24, 1978, AGM; Trellech, SO/487.057, 1995, MVM; cliffs, Sudbrook, ST/50.87, 1996; roadside meadow, Blorenge, SO/26.12, 1998; forest track, Cwm Gwyddon, ST/24.96, 2002. 4 t (3 t)

Section Spectabilia

Taraxacum faeroense Tintern, SO/5.0 1892; Cleddon, 1914, both WAS; ST/4.9, 1981, TGE; marshy meadow, Llwyn-ycelyn, ST/479.948, 1981; ledges, Tarren-yr-Esgob, SO/25.30, 1984; Bryn Serth, SO/148.108, 2000. 1 t (5 t)

Taraxacum glauciniforme Rocky upland, Daren, SO/29.24, 1978, AGM; ashy rail ballast, RAF, Caerwent, ST/479.908, 1993; short turf, Graig, Blaenavon, SO/268.078, 1997. 2 t (1 t)

Section Celtica

Taraxacum akteum

Taraxacum inopinatum

Unimproved meadow, Old Red Sandstone, ‘Fernlea’, SO/475.015, 2000, ‘N. Hants wet meadow and old Oxon meadows only other British sites’ AJR. 1 t

Steep rocky slope, Tarren yr Esgob, SO/254.305, 1985; ledge, 1995; wet field near pond, E of Holy Well, SO/298.052, 1993; garden weed, Chepstow, ST/528.937, 1999. 3 t (1 t) 397

Flora of Monmouthshire Abergwenllan Wood, SO/324.065, 2000; road bank, Highmoor, ST/460.894, 2002. 16 t (2 t)

Taraxacum bracteatum It grows in damp and often shady places. In vc 35 it is found on wet coal waste, shady banks of rivers, sides of roads and lanes and marshy meadows. 19 t (1 t)

Taraxacum excellens Grassland, RAF, Caerwent, ST/46.92, 1992; waste ground, N of Festival site, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.07, 2000. 2 t

Taraxacum breconense Short grass, covered reservoir, S of Blaenavon, SO/262.067, 1997; short grass, near stream, Cwm Du, SO/252.021, 1997, TGE, CT. 2 t

Taraxacum fulgidum Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113; Dingestow, SO/46.10, both 1995, MVM. 2 t

Taraxacum britannicum Taraxacum fulvicarpum

Stony, quarry floor, Wyndcliff, ST/526.973, 1984, CCH, RJP; rocky ledges, Tarren-yr-esgob, SO/25.30, 1984; lane bank, Caer Licyn, ST/38.92, 1987; Wet Meadow Wood, SO/498.064, 1990, JFH; rocky bank, RAF Caerwent, ST/465.920, 1992; rough, wet grassland, Upper Cwmbran, ST/274.968, 1989; grass, Waun-y-Pound, SO/15.10, 1993; roadside bank, Pontyspig, SO/287.210, 1996; stony acidic turf, Graig Wood, Blaenavon, SO/26.07, 1997; roadside bank, Foresters Oaks, ST/42.94, 1998. 8 t (2 t)

Hedgebank, N of Llanvihangel SO/323.219, 1999. 1 t

Crucorney,

Taraxacum gelertii

Lawn, Bedwas, ST/16.89, 1988; churchyard, Llangeview, ST/397.907, 1992. 3 t

ST/4.9, 1981, TE; grassy area, Priory Wood, SO/353.058, 1984; meadow, Coppice Mawr, ST/49.94, 1984; R. Wye meadow, S of Newhouse, ST/54.91, 1992; wet hillside, S of Ysgyryd Fawr, SO/328.172, 1994; roadside bank, Gaer Fawr, ST/44.99, 1995; near Tafalog Bridge, SO/27.29, 1995; roadside, Pontyspig, SO/28.21, 1996; High Grove Wood, ST/42.89, 1997; path Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1999; Wattsville, ST/204.914, 2000; Graig Wood, SO/2485.1665, 2003. 10 t (2 t)

Taraxacum celticum

Taraxacum haematicum

Catbrook, SO/506.026, 1995, MVM; damp meadow, Llandewi Rhydderch, SO/345.136, 1999; waste ground, N of Festival site, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.07, 2000; lane bank, Caer Licyn Lane, ST/391.928, 2000; verge, Highmoor, ST/460.894, 2002. 5 t

Short turf over coal waste, Cwm Du, SO/25.02, 1997; near Heston Brake, ST/506.886, 1999; verge, near Penallt Old Church, SO/53.10, 1999. 3 t

Taraxacum cambricum

Taraxacum hesperium Llanvapley, SO/364.140, 1984, MVM; roadside, Llandegfedd, ST/32.98, 1984-87; Llandogo, SO/526.042, 1986, AMB; near bridge, Machen, ST/21.89, 1992; 1996; churchyard, Llangeview, ST/397.907, 1992; minor road verge, Lydart, SO/49.08, 1993; roadside bank, NE of Pen-yClawdd; SO/45.07, 1994; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; S of Coedy-Prior, SO/29.09; Ochram Brook, Cwm Mawr, SO/290.097, 1996, lane bank, Caer Licyn, ST/391.928; Wattsville, ST/204.914, 2000. 10 t (2 t)

Taraxacum duplidentifrons Track, Whitebrook, SO/53.06, 1985, MVM; edge of Cath-Cobb Wood, St Mellons, ST/234.812, 1986. GH; rough grassland, Upper Cwmbran, ST/ 27.96, 1989; grassland, Dinham, RAF (Caerwent), ST/47.91, 1989; roadside Cwmcarn, ST/217.931, 1989; upland, Sugar Loaf, SO/277.163 & SO/280.163, 1991, MVM; laneside, Machen, ST/21.89, 1992; Coed-y-Prior Common, SO/288.103, 1994, MVM; lane bank, Hale Wood, ST/47.96, 1995; Trellech, SO/493.056, 1995, MVM; grounds, Caerllan Field Study Centre, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, near Bog, SO/510.038, both 1996, ITG; short grass, The British, Abersychan, SO/25.04, 1996; road verge, Hill Farm, SO/28.08, 1998; hedgerow, S of

Taraxacum lancastriense Rocks, Daren, SO/29.24, 1978, AGM; R. Usk bank, N of Usk, SO/36.02, 1984. (2 t)

398

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows on verges of roads, lanes and rivers, in meadows and sometimes on walls. It appears in all the above habitats in vc 35. 28 t (2 t)

Taraxacum landmarkii S.E. of Llanfoist, SO/29.12, 1978, AGM; ledges, Tarren-yr-Esgob, SO/254.305, 1984; roadside, Pen-y-Fan, SO/19.00, 1988; grassy bank, Box Farm, W of Skenfrith, SO/43.21, 1993; NW of Llanthony, SO/278.284, 1994; field bank, Hendre Glyn Farm, SO/28.07, 1998. 5 t (2 t)

Taraxacum unguilobum Wet heath, Pen-y-fan, SO/19.00, 1988; rough grass, Tredegar, SO/14.09, 1989; short turf over coal waste, Rock, ST/18.99, 1993; Blaenserchan Quarry face (disused), above Llanhilledd SO/23.01, 1993; roadside bank, Mynyddislwyn Church, ST/194.939, 1994; short grass, MOD, Caerwent, ST/479.908, 1995; hilly, roadside bank, SO/21.01, 1996; wall, Cwm Ffrwd-oer, SO/25.01, 1996; coal spoil, Cwm Du, 1997. 9 t

Taraxacum nordstedtii This grows in damp grassland. In vc 35 it is the commonest Dandelion in wet grassland. 32 t (8 t) 23

Section Naevosa

Taraxacum euryphyllum 21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

Taraxacum porteri Hedge bank, Holly House, Michaelstone, ST/25.85, 1991; roadside bank, E of Duke’s Farm, SO/41.20; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/570.038, 1996, ITG; trackside, Tal-y-Coed Wood, SO/41.15, 2003. 4 t

18 31

It favours a range of damp, grassy places and marginal shady sites. This spotted leaved dandelion can be found on hedge and river banks, forest tracks and roadsides in scattered locations in vc 35. 22 t (6 t)

Taraxacum subbracteatum 23

Taraxacum maculosum Llanthony, SO/28.27, 1978, AGM; Pen-y-Fan, SO/19.00, 1988. 2 t

Taraxacum richardsianum Roadside, Itton, ST/48.96, 1982; marshy meadow, Magor Reserve, ST/42.86, 1985; wet heath, Goetre, SO/32.05, 1989; Blorenge, SO/288.103; Llanthony, SO/289.278, both 1994, MVM; Cwm Iau, SO/30.23, 1998; roadside bank, Hill Farm, SO/28.08, 1998; trackside, Lady Park Wood, 8t SO/538.146, 2000.

18 31

399

Flora of Monmouthshire Section Hamata

Taraxacum hamatum

Taraxacum atactum Rough grass, near bike track, Graig-y-Rhacca, ST/19.89, 1990; grass over coal waste, Waun-yPound; SO/151.106, 1993; grassy bank, Box Farm, W of Skenfrith, SO/43.21, 1993; roadside bank, S of Mynyddislwyn, ST/195.924, 1994; roadside bank, Gaer Fawr, ST/44.99, 1995; verge, Longditch Wood, ST/37.87, 1995; Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1996; roadside, Clytha, SO/36.08; minor roadside, Risca, ST/23.91, 1997; High Grove Wood, ST/42.89, 1997; roadside bank, W Blorenge, SO/26.12, 1998; roadside bank, Near Hill Farm, SO/28.08, 1998; roadside, E of Llanfoist, SO/29.12, 1998; waste ground, near Lamby, ST/217.785, 2000; unimproved meadow, ‘Fernlea’, SO/475.015, 2000; wood edge bank, Craig vc 35, ST/2414.9929, 2001. 16 t

18 31

This grows in a range of habitats but chiefly in shady places, in woodland and particularly in grassland. In vc 35 it is widespread from walls to marshy meadows, from roadsides to disused rail tracks. 30 t (5 t)

Taraxacum hamiferum

Taraxacum boekmanii

R. Wye bank, Dixton, SO/523.137, 1980, VMa; S of Meend Farm, SO/507.088, 1980, MCh; Croes Hywel, SO/348.144, 1984, MVM; hedge bank, Cwm, ST/46.92, 1988; St Mary’s Vale, SO/280.163, 1991, MVM; grassland, Graig-yRhacca, ST/19.89, 1992; wood/roadside bank, Peny-Clawdd, SO/445.083, 1994; Cophill, ST/508.948, 1995, MVM; meadow, Little Mill Farm, SO/426.174, 1999; Festival site, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.06, 2000; A465 verge E of Abergavenny, SO/305.135, 2002; pathside, Telltale Wood, SO/46.12, 2003. 9 t (1 t)

18 31

It grows in open woodland, roadsides, waste land and unimproved meadows. It is widespread in vc 35 particularly roadsides and to a lesser extent, woodland paths and grassland. 34 t

Taraxacum kernianum Grassy bank, Bedwas, ST/16.89, 1985; grassland, Graig-y-Rhacca; ST/19.89, 1992; verge near Penallt Old Church, SO/52.10, 1999; roadside verge, W of Little Mill, SO/317.026, 2000; verge A472, Pantygasseg, ST/2590.9994, 2001. 4 t (1 t)

Taraxacum hamatiforme Shady, grassy bank, edge of Graig Wood, SO/2585.1611, 2003. 1 t

Taraxacum lamprophyllum

Taraxacum hamatulum

Abergavenny, SO/322.145, 1984, MVM; roadside bank, Graig-y-Rhacca, 1992; roadside, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1996, ITG; near Ochram Brook, Cwm Mawr, SO/290.097, 1996. 3 t (1 t)

Marshy field, Llwyn-y-celyn, ST/479.948, 1981; damp acid meadow, Lydart, SO/50.08, 1991; near Heston Brake, ST/506.886, 1999; verge A465, E of Abergavenny, SO/305.135, 2002. 3 t (1 t)

400

Flora of Monmouthshire

Taraxacum lancidens

Taraxacum pseudohamatum

Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1998; small Holding, Leechpool, ST/506.886, 1999; roadside verge, Little Mill, SO/317.026, 2000; trackside, Tal-yCoed Wood, SO/41.15, 2003. 4 t

Roadside bank, Penrhos, SO/41.11, 1995; Caerllan Field Centre grounds, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/570.038, both 1996, ITG; forest roadside, Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; roadside grass, near Maerdy Farm, SO/372.247, 1997; road verge, W of Ravensnest Wood, SO/503.001, 2000; pathside, Telltale Wood, SO/46.12, 2003. 7 t

Taraxacum marklundii Woodland trackside, Barbados, Tintern, SO/50.01, 1992; wall, Pen-y-Parc, ST/50.97, 1994; wet meadow, Waterwheel Nursery, ST/483.963, 1999; meadow, Little Mill Farm, SO/426.174, 1999. 4 t

Section Ruderalia

Taraxacum aberrans Near verge, Pennallt Old Church, SO/52.10, 1999; verge, A472, Craig Gwent, ST/2461.9917, 2001. 2t

Taraxacum subhamatum ST/4.9; ST/3.8, both 1981, TE; marshy meadow, Llwyn-y-celyn, ST/479.948, 1981; meadow, Mounton, ST/51.93, 1981; roadside, Nash, ST/34.83, 1984; near R. Rhymney, Llanrumney, ST/212.806, 1986, GH; damp acid meadow, Whitebrook, SO/50.08, 1991; roadside grass, Aberbargoed, ST/16, 98, 1992; grass over coal waste, Waun-y-Pound, SO/15.10, 1993; marsh, Steppes Farm, SO/42.01, 1995; Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113, 1995, MVM; cycle track verge, Newhouse Roundabout, ST/53.91, 1996. 7 t (5 t)

Taraxacum acroglossum Roadside, Llanhennock, ST/35.92, 1987; Capel-yFfin, SO/254.315, 1994, MVM; roadside bank, N of Tredegar, SO/1348.0134, 2001. 3 t

Taraxacum acutifidum Marsh, Steppes Farm. SO/42.01, 1995; Trellech, SO/493.056, 1995, MVM. 2 t

Taraxacum spiculatum

Taraxacum acutifrons

Small field, Cock-y-North, ST/27.93, 1998; damp meadow, Llandewi Rhydderch, SO/34.13, 1999; lay-by, A465, SW of Great Goytre, SO/3558.2395, 2002. 3 t

Rough grass, Waun-y-Pound, SO/15.10, 1993; SW of Wyesham, SO/513.122. 2 t

Taraxacum aequilobum Hedgebank, Llanellen, SO/30.10, 1987, RF; unimproved meadow, Pentwyn Farm, SO/52.09, 1993; meadow, Crossway Green, ST/523.945, 1993; roadside, Gaer Fawr, ST/44.99, 1995; Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1995, MVM; forest roadside, N of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; path, wood edge, Chepstow Comprehensive School, ST/52.94, 1997; verge, W of Tre-wyn, SO/32.22, 1999; near Tintern Abbey, SO/53.00, 2000; rough meadow, Underwood, ST/385.892, 2000; rail ballast, Pye Corner, ST/275.872, 2001; wood edge bank, Craig Gwent, ST/2464.9925, 2001; hedgebank, Brockwells, ST/471.897, 2002; trackside, Tal-y-Coed, SO/41.15, 2003. 13 t

Taraxacum sahlinianum Roadside, S of Mounton Church, ST/51.92, 1992; sandy bank, R. Usk, Llancayo, SO/35.02; rough grass, roadside Goldcliff, ST/37.82, 1995; Chepstow Garden, ST/52.93, 1995; Mitchell Troy, SO/493.104, 1995, MVM; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; Ochram Brook side, Cwm Mawr, SO/290.097, 1996; Festival site, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.06, 2000; waste grassland, near Lamby, ST/217.785, 2000; trackside, Tal-y-Coed Wood, SO/41.15, 2003. 10 t

Taraxacum quadrans W of Noddfa, SO/506.084, 1980, MCh; Llandogo, SO/526.042; Tal-y-Coed, SO/417.153, both 1986, AMB; Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113, 1995, MVM; Caerllan Field Centre grounds, SO/492.082; roadside, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, both 1996, ITG; road verge, S of Abergwenllan Wood, SO/324.065, 2000; lay-by, A465, SW of Great Goytre, SO/3558.2395, 2002. 5 t (3 t)

Taraxacum aequisectum Wall, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1984; 1988; both MVM; 1996, ITG; verge of Penallt Common, SO/51.08, 1993; road verge, Coed-y-Prior, SO/29.09, 1996; Ochram Brook side, Cwm Mawr, SO/290, 097, 1996. 3 t

401

Flora of Monmouthshire Bog, SO/510.038, both 1996, ITG; forest roadside, N of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; roadside, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1996, ITG; field, Cocky-North, 1998; verge near Penallt Old Church, SO/53.10; roadside, S of Abergwenllan Wood, SO/324.065, 2000; grass in churchyard, Pye Corner, ST/278.871, 2001; roadside bank, N of Tredegar, SO/1348.1034, 2001. 16 t (2 t)

Taraxacum alatum Wet meadow, Mathern Mill, ST/51.91, 1985; NE embankment, dual carriageway, Cypress Way, St Mellons, ST/245.817, 1987, GH; Carboniferous Limestone rock, Chepstow Castle, ST/53.94, 1992; moorland track, S of Rogiet, ST/45.86, 1993; roadside bank, NE of Pen-y-Clawdd Church, SO/45.07, 1994; Caerllan, SO/492.084, MVM; Caerlllan Field Studies grounds. SO/492.084; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, both 1996, ITG; forest roadside, N of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; roadside Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1996, ITG; top of roadside bank, N of Newhouse roundabout, ST/53.91 1996; Rumney Great Wharf, ST/23.77, 1996. 12 t

Taraxacum angulare Dingestow, SO/464.105; Usk, ST/387.995, both 1995, MVM; above and W of Tre-wyn, SO/32.22, 1999. 3 t

Taraxacum angustisquameum Wood trackside, Barbados, SO/51.01; roadside, Whitebrook, SO/53.06, 1998. 2 t

Taraxacum amplum Between road and R. Usk, Usk, SO/387.952, 1995, MVM; path side, Telltale Wood, SO/46.12, 2003. 2t

Taraxacum atonolobum

Taraxacum anceps

Taraxacum aurosulum

Pontyspig, SO/28.21, 1996; Roadside bank, W of Blorenge, SO/26.12, 1998; roadside bank, S of Abergwenllan Wood, SO/324.065, 2000; trackside, Tal-y-Coed Wood, SO/41.15, 2003. 4 t

S of Ty Mawr Convent, SO/504.077, 1980, MCh; Llanvapley, SO/364.141, 1991; Dingestow, SO/46.10, 1995, both MVM; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, ITG; near Heston Brake, ST/506.886, 1999; roadside, S of Abergwenllan Wood, SO/324.065, 2000. 5 t (1 t)

Roadside bank, Onen, SO/432.147, 1995, MVM. 1t

Taraxacum ancistrolobum 23

Taraxacum chloroticum

Forestry trackside bank, ST/2595.9998, 2001. 1 t

Taraxacum chrysophaenum

Craig

Gwent,

Meadow, Crossway Green, ST/523.945, 1994; rough grass, Goldcliff, ST/37.82, 1995; Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1999. 3 t

Taraxacum coartatum Roadside grassy verge, Llanllowell, ST/39.98, 1998; hedge bank, Brockwells, ST/471.897, 2002. 2t

18 31

R. Usk bank, Llancayo, SO/35.02, 1984; roadside Gaerllwyd, ST/45.96, 1984; roadside, Llanhenock, ST/35.92, 1987; hedgebank Graig-y-Rhacca, 1988; acid roadside bank, Whitebrook, SO/51.07, 1991; grassy bank, Chepstow castle, ST/53.94, 1992; unimproved meadow, Pentwyn Farm, SO/52.09, 1993; meadow Crossway Green, ST/523.945, 1994; Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon

Taraxacum cophocentrum Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113, 1995, MVM. 1 t

Taraxacum cordatum Llandenny, SO/43.92, 1985; hedgebank, Oaks, ST/40.92, 1988; unimproved meadow, Brockwells, ST/46.89, 1991; orchard, Llanvihangel Court, SO/328.206, 1991, RF; sandy bank R. Usk, Llancayo, 1992; Usk, ST/387, 995; Cleddon, 402

Flora of Monmouthshire SO/504.038, both 1995, MVM; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; R. Monnow bank, Llangua, SO/38.25, 1997; waste ground, N of Festival site, Ebbw Vale, 2000. 8 t (1 t)

SO/534.066, 1985-89, MVM; sandy bank of R. Usk, Rhadyr, SO/36.02, 1992. 5 t

Taraxacum corynodes

Taraxacum diastematicum

Meadow, Llandenny-Llansoy, SO/43.03, 1985; rough grass, E of Pill, Goldcliff, ST/37.82, 1995; Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113, 1995, MVM; Cleddon Lane, S of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG. 3 t (1 t)

Verge A472, Craig Gwent, ST/2461.9917, 2001; rail ballast, Pye Corner, ST/27.87, 2001. 2 t

Taraxacum densilobum Cleddon, SO/504.038, 1995, MVM. 1 t

Taraxacum dilaceratum Wet meadow, Llandenny, SO/42.04, 1985; R. Monnow meadow, near Skenfrith Castle, SO/45.20, 1993; wood/roadside, near Longditch Wood, ST/37.87, 1994; Monmouth, SO/508.083, 1995, MVM; verge, near Penallt Old Church, SO/52.10, 1999; road verge, W of Little Mill, 2000. 5 t (1 t)

Taraxacum croceiflorum 23

Taraxacum dilatatum

Garden border, Mount Pleasant Hospital, Chepstow, ST/527.937, 1992; unimproved meadow, Pentwyn Farm, SO/52.09, 1993; trackside, Tal-y-Coed Wood, 2003. 3 t

Taraxacum edmondsonianum

18 31

Roadside bank, NE of Pen-y-Clawdd Church, SO/45.07, 1994; forest roadside, N. of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; forest trackside, Craig Gwent, ST/2595.9998, 2001. 3 t

Dingestow, SO/46.10; Cleddon, SO/504.038, Trellech, SO/490.056; Usk, ST/387.995, all 1995, MVM; Caerllan Field Centre grounds, SO/492.082; roadside, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, both 1996, ITG; Newhouse Roundabout, ST/53.91, 1996; field, Cock-y-North, ST/27.93, 1998; Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1999; wet meadow, Waterwheel Nursery, ST/483.963, 1999; wall of churchyard, Pye Corner, ST/277.871, 2001; grassy bank, Highmoor, ST/460.894, 2002; trackside, Tal-yCoed Wood, 2003. 13 t

Taraxacum ekmanii 23

Taraxacum curtifrons Roadside bank, NE of Pen-y-Clawdd, SO/45.07, 1994. 1 t

Taraxacum cyanolepis

R. Wye meadow flooded by spring tides, below Alcove Wood, ST/53.95, 1997. 1 t

It grows in grassy habitats, roadsides and waste areas. It is scattered mainly in the Eastern half of the vice-county. 24 t (8 t)

Taraxacum dahlstedtii Tredegar, SO/14.09, AEW; Lias cliff ledge, Sudbrook, ST/ 50.87, 1987, GH; wet heath, Graigy-Rhacca, ST/19.89, 1988; wall, Whitebrook, 403

Flora of Monmouthshire Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG. 2 t (1 t)

Taraxacum exacutum Lawn, Chepstow Health Centre, ST/53.93, 1992; N of Newhouse Roundabout, ST/53.91, 1996; verge A465, E of Abergavenny, SO/305.135, 2002; verge Crossway, ST/493.888, 2002. 4 t

Taraxacum incisum Artificial roadside bank, SO/1348.0134, 2001. 1 t

Tredegar,

Taraxacum expallidiforme Itton, ST/49.96, 1990; unimproved meadow, Brockwells, ST/46.89, 1991; roadside bank, Linthill, SO/45.19, 1991; grassy bank, Chepstow Castle, ST/53.94, 1992; roadside, Mounton Church, ST/51.92, 1992; R. Usk sandy bank, Llancayo, SO/35.03, 1992; unimproved meadow, Pentwyn Farm, SO/52.09, 1993; Llanellen Court, SO/304.104, 1994, MVM. 8 t

Taraxacum insigne Track, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1985, MVM; Carboniferous Limestone meadow, Brockwells, ST/46.89, 1991; meadow, Rogiet, ST/45.89, 1991; rocky, grass bank, RAF, Caerwent, ST/470.910, 1992; roadside bank, NE of Pen-y-Clawdd, SO/45.07, 1994; near Longditch Wood, Bishton, ST/38.87, 1994; Cleddon Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; verge near Llangua Church, SO/390.253, 2002. 7 t (1 t)

Taraxacum exsertiforme Forest road, N of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; wood edge bank, Craig Gwent, ST/2414.9929, 2001. 2 t

Taraxacum interveniens

Taraxacum fagerstroemii

Taraxacum intumescens

Cleddon, SO/504.038, 1995, MVM. 1 t

Roadside bank, S of Mynyddislwyn, ST/195.924, 1994; Rumney Great Wharf, ST/23.77, 1996. 2 t

Rough grass, Goldcliff, ST/37.82, 1995; grassy roadside bank, Five Lanes, ST/443.905, 2000; unimproved meadow on ORS, “Fernlea”, SO/475.015, 2000; verge Crossways, ST/493.888, 2002. 4 t

Taraxacum fasciatum Rough grassland, Mathern, ST/51.91; 1985; canal bank, Malpas, ST/30.90, 1987; Stanton, SO/31.21, 1987, RF; wall, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, both 1989; 1994, MVM; 1996, ITG; meadow over Carboniferous Limestone, Rogiet, ST/45.88, 1991; sandy bank, R. Usk, Llancayo, SO/35.02, 1991; roadside, Gaer Fawr, ST/44.99, 1995; Cleddon, SO/504.038, 1995, MVM; Caerllan Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038; roadside, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, three sites 1996, ITG; roadside, E of Llanfoist, SO/29.12, 1998; verge A472, ESE of Hafodrynys, SO/2359.9889, 2001; verge, A472, Craig Gwent, SO/24.99, 2001. 11 t (1 t)

Taraxacum lacerifolium 23

Taraxacum hemicyclum

Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1984. (1 t)

It grows on road verges and meadows. It is scattered widely in the vice-county. 29 t (2 t)

Taraxacum horridifrons Cleddon Lane, and Tintern-Trellech roadside, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; R. Monnow bank, Llangua, SO/38.25, 1997; trackside, Tal-y-Coed Wood, SO/4173.1587, 2003. 3 t

Taraxacum laeticolor Wall, Congregational Chapel, Llanover, SO/315.079, 1984; R. Usk bank, Llancayo, SO/34.03, 1984; wall, Blackwood, ST/17.98, 1992; meadow, Crossway Green, Chepstow, ST/523.945, 1994; roadside bank, Llanerthill, SO/437.044,

Taraxacum huelphersianum Meadow, Llandenny, SO/42.04, 1985; wall Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1988, MVM; Cleddon 404

Flora of Monmouthshire 1994; roadside bank, Llan-y-Stanc, SO/40.10, 1995; marsh, Steppes Farm, SO/423.018, 1995; Llansoy, SO/439.018; Dingestow, SO/464.105, both 1995, MVM; verge near Penallt Old Church, SO/52.10, 1999; rough meadow, Underwood, ST/385.892, 2000; shrub bed, St. Woolos Hospital, ST/305.875, 2000; verge, Crossway, ST/493.888, 2002. 10 t (2 t) T. laeticolor

Taraxacum lingulatum 23

20 23 19 22 18 21 31 20

18 32

R. Wye bank, Dixton, SO/523.137, 1980, VM; 1981, MVM; rubbish tip & docks, Newport, ST/30.85, 1981; ST/3.8, 1981, TE; the Green, Devauden, ST/484.988, 1985; Llandogo, SO/526.042, 1986, AMB; strawberry field, Began, ST/229.833, 1986, GH; marsh, Graig-y-Rhacca, ST/19.89, 1988; grassy area, Dinham (RAF, Caerwent), ST/47.91, 1989; meadow over Carboniferous Limestone, Rogiet, ST/45.88, 1991; acid upland trackside, W of Bedwas, ST/16.90, 1991; meadow S of Bishton Church, ST/38.87, 1994; Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1995; Dingestow, SO/464.105, 1995, MVM; Caerllan. Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038; roadside, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, three sites 1996, ITG; roadside bank, N. of Tredegar, SO/1348.0134, 2001; A465 verge, E. of Abergavenny, SO/305.135, 2002. 12 t (5 t)

Taraxacum latens Hedgebank, Wern-y-Melin, SO/40.10, 1995. 1 t

Taraxacum laticordatum Croes Hywel, SO/333.142, 1984, MVM; grassy bank, Coppice Mawr, ST/49.94, 1984; lane bank, Gaer Fawr, ST/44.98, 1985; hedge bank, Michaelstone Bridge, ST/24.85, 1991; roadside bank, Penrhos, SO/41.11, 1995; Dingestow, SO/464.105, 1995, MVM; road verge, Whitebrook, SO/53.06, 1998; roadside, Blorenge, SO/26.12, 1998; verge near Penallt Old Church, SO/52.10, 1999. 6 t (3 t)

Taraxacum lucidum Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, both 1996, ITG; field, Cock-yNorth, SO/27.93, 1998; meadow, Littlemill Farm, SO/426.174, 1999. 4 t

Taraxacum latisectum Meadow, Llandenny, SO/42.04, 1985; Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113, 1995, MVM; short turf over gravel/ash, Cwm Du, SO/25.02, 1997. 2 t (1 t)

Taraxacum latissimum Taraxacum lunare

Minor road verge, Lydart, SO/49.08, 1993; meadow, Crossway Green, ST/523.945, 1994; meadow near Longditch Wood, ST/38.87, 1994; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; forest roadside, N of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; A4042 verge, W. of Little Mill, SO/317.026, 2000. 6 t

Dingestow, SO/464.105, 1995, MVM. 1 t

Taraxacum macrolobum A4042 verge, W. of Little Mill, SO/317.026, 2000. “Rarely collected plant, note the dark and ± purplish, erect, external bracts and leaf shape” AJR. 1 t

Taraxacum leucopodium Sudbrook, ST/505.876, 1994, MVM. 1 t 405

Flora of Monmouthshire Usk meadow, Clytha, SO/35.08, 1996; waste ground, Lamby, ST/217.785, 2000. 4 t (2 t)

Taraxacum maculatum Rail ballast, disused rail, Pye Corner, Newport, ST/275.872, 2001. 1 t

Taraxacum obtusifrons Monmouth, SO/508.078, 1995, MVM; Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, both 1996, ITG. 3 t

Taraxacum melanthoides Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1994, MVM. 1 t

Taraxacum multicolorans Meadow, Crossway Green, Chepstow, ST/523.945, 1994; roadside, Underwood to Llanmartin, ST/39.89, 1995; sea wall bank, Rumney Great Wharf, ST/23.77, 1996; damp meadow, Heston Brake, ST/506.886, 1999. 4 t

Taraxacum ochrochlorum R. Monnow meadow, near Skenfrith Castle, SO/45.20, 1993; Sudbrook, ST/505.876, 1994; Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1995; Cleddon, SO/504.038, 1995, last three MVM; cycle track verge, Newhouse Roundabout, ST/53.91, 1996. 5 t

Taraxacum necessarium Grassy area, Priory Wood, SO/35.05, 1984; grassy verge, minor road, Lydart, SO/49.08, 1993; Onen, SO/432.147, 1995, MVM; meadow edge, The Cot, ST/50.99, 1998; wet meadow, Waterwheel Nursery, ST/483.931, 1999; A465 verge, S.E. Abergavenny, SO/305.135, 2002. 6 t

Taraxacum opertum Cleddon Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; forest roadside, N of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; unimproved meadow, “Fernlea”, SO/475.015, 2000. 3 t

Taraxacum pachymerum

Taraxacum nigridentatum

Dingestow, SO/464.105, 1995, MVM; Cleddon Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; stony ground, top of Hadnock Quarry, SO/53.15, 2000; A465 lay-by, SW of Great Goytre, SO/3558.2395, 2002. 4 t

Meadow, near Mounton Church, ST/51.92, 1992; Sandy bank, R. Usk, Llancayo, SO/35.03, 1992; rough grass, Waun-y-Pound, SO/15.10, 1993; R. Monnow meadow, near Skenfrith Castle, SO/45.20, 1993; track, near sea wall, Magor Pill, ST/43.84, 1993; grassy roadside, Cuhere Wood, ST/45.92, 1995; rough grass, Goldcliff, ST/37.82, 1995; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; meadow, Cwm Llanwenarth, SO/25.12, 1996; damp meadow, Llandewi Rhydderch, SO/34.13, 1999; waste ground, N of Festival site, Ebbw Vale, SO/17.07, 2000; grassy area S. of Aber gwenllan Wood, SO/324.065, 2000; roadside bank, Caer Licyn, ST/391.928, 2000. 13 t

Taraxacum pallescens Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113, 1995, MVM; Cleddon Lane verge, SO/51.03, 1996. 2 t

Taraxacum pallidipes Gravely gateway, Gocket Inn, SO/497.080, 1990, JFH; Dingestow, SO/46.10; Usk, ST/387.995; Cleddon, SO/504.038, last three 1995, MVM; Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082, 1996, ITG; trackside, Tal-y-Coed Wood, 2003. 5 t

Taraxacum nitidum Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082, 1996, ITG; road verge, Mescoed Bach, 1998. 2 t

Taraxacum pannucium Daren, SO/29.24, 1978, AGM; roadside, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1982; Llanvapley, SO/364.141, 1991, MVM; hedge bank, Linthill, SO/45.19, 1991; R. Wye meadow, S. of Newhouse Farm, ST/54.91, 1992; R. Usk sandy bank, Llancayo, SO/35.03, 1992; grassy bank, Chepstow Castle, ST/53.94, 1992-3; Sudbrook, ST/505.876, 1994, MVM; meadow, Crossway Green, Chepstow, ST/523.945, 1994; Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113, 1995, MVM; small holding, Leechpool, ST/502.893, 1999; A4042 verge, W of

Taraxacum “non-severum” R. Monnow meadow, SO/45.20, 1993; Sudbrook, ST/505.876, 1994, MVM. 2 t

Taraxacum oblongatum Verge, Bigsweir, SO/537.057, 1984, MVM; Chepstow Park Wood edge, ST/48.97, 1985; roadside, Llanhennock, ST/35.92, 1987; forest roadside, N of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; R. 406

Flora of Monmouthshire Little Mill, SO/317.026, 2000; roadside bank, Caer Licyn, ST/391.928, 2000; roadside and damp meadow, S. of Abergwenllan Wood, SO/324.065, 2000. 13 t T. pannucium

Taraxacum piceatum Hedge bank, Parc Seymour, ST/40.92, 1982; 1988; meadow, Gaerllwyd, ST/45.96, 1984; meadow, near Llandegfedd Reservoir, ST/32.98, 1987; disused rail, Bedwas, ST/15.89, 1988; damp, acid meadow, Whitebrook, SO/50.08, 1991; trackside, acid upland, W. of Bedwas, ST/10.90, 1991; short, sandy turf, Sudbrook, ST/50.87, 1991; roadside, Huntsman Hill, Chepstow, ST/53.93, 1993; track, near sea wall, Magor Pill, ST/43.84, 1993; meadow Crossway Green, Chepstow, ST/523.945, 1994; marsh, Wern-y-melin, SO/41.10, 1995; Trellech, SO/493.056, 1995, MVM; Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082, 1996, ITG; damp meadow, near Heston Brake, ST/506.886, 1999; A465 lay-by, W. of Pentwyn, SO/3779.2509, 2002. 14 t (1 t)

18 31

35 23

Taraxacum pannulatiforme

Hedge bank, Cwm (Coombe), ST/46.92, 1982; hedge bank, Parc Seymour, ST/40.92, 1982; roadside, Coppice Mawr, ST/49.94, 1984; meadow over Carboniferous Limestone, Rogiet, ST/457.880, 1991; hedge bank, Linthill, SO/45.19, 1991; lawn, Chepstow Health Centre, ST/53.93, 1992; lane bank, Graig-y-Rhacca, ST/198.894, 1992; roadside bank, NE of Pen-y-Clawdd, SO/45.07, 1994; meadow Bishton, ST/38.87, 1994; meadow Crossway Green, Chepstow, ST/523.945, 1994; Dingestow, SO/46.10, 1995, MVM; Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, both 1996, ITG; road verge, Clytha, SO/36.09, 1996; R. Usk Meadow, Clytha, SO/35.08, 1996; damp meadow, near Heston Brake, ST/506.886, 1999; meadow Littlemill Farm, SO/426.174, 1999; damp meadow, Llandewi Rhydderch, SO/34.13, 1999; unimproved meadow, “Fernlea”, SO/475.015, 2000. 16 t (3 t)

18 31

Taraxacum planum Roadside bank, N.E. of Pen-y-Clawdd, SO/45.07, 1994. 1 t

Taraxacum polyodon Roadside grass, Gaer Fawr, ST/44.99, 1985; stony, grassy verge, Pant-y-Goytre Bridge, SO/34.08, 1992; Caerllan, SO/492.084; Usk, SO/387.995, both 1995, MVM; roadside verge, Llanfihangel Crucorney, SO/32.22, 1999; stony ground, wireworks, Tintern, ST/516.003, 2000. 5 t (1 t)

Taraxacum pannulatum Hedge bank, Parc Seymour, ST/40.92, 1982; Llandogo, SO/526.042, 1986, AMB; lane bank, Graig-y-Rhacca, ST/198.894, 1992; Cleddon Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG. 2 t (2 t)

Taraxacum porrigens Pathside, Graig Wood, SO/24.16, 2003 “Very good, distinctive material. Note pink inner petioles. This is a very rare British plant” AJR. 1 t

Taraxacum pectinatiforme

Taraxacum procerisquameum

R. Monnow meadow, near Skenfrith Castle, SO/95.20, 1993; roadside bank, near Hill Farm, E. of Blaenavon, SO/28.08, 1998. 2 t

Grassland, Sudbrook camp, ST/50.87, 1982; grassy verge, Coppice Mawr, ST/49.94, 1984; grassy 407

Flora of Monmouthshire verge, Haysgate, ST/50.91, 1985; meadow, Bailey’s Hay, Mathern, ST/51.91, 1985. (3 t)

roadside, E. of Llanfoist, SO/29.12, 1998; rough ground, Sluice Farm, ST/253.379, 1998. 6 t

Taraxacum pseudoretroflexum

Taraxacum subcyanolepis

Verge, Cleddon Lane, SO/51.03, 1996. 1 t

Onen, SO/432.147; Dingestow, SO/46.10; Monmouth, SO/508.078; SO/510.077, all 1995, MVM. 3 t

Taraxacum pulchrifolium Rough grass, Goldcliff, ST/37.82, 1995. 1 t

Taraxacum subexpallidum Pilstone Farm, W. of Bigsweir Bridge, SO/537.057, 1984, MVM; Gaerllwyd, ST/45.96, 1984; Llancayo, SO/36.03, 1984; Gaer Fawr, ST/44.99, 1985; trackside, acid upland, W. of Bedwas, ST/16.90, 1991; roadside bank, N.E. of Pen-y-Clawdd, SO/45.07, 1994; Llansoy, SO/439.018; Monmouth, SO/512.077, both 1995, MVM; Cleddon Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/519.038; roadside, Whitebrook, SO/340.066, both 1996, ITG; rail ballast, Pye Corner, Newport, ST/2773.8717, 2001; roadside bank, N. of Tredegar, SO/1398.0134, 2001. 9 t (4 t)

Taraxacum rhamphodes Roadside/heath edge grass, Mynydd-alltyr-fach, ST/42.92, 1987; canal bank, Malpas, ST/30.90, 1987; wet heath, Graig-y-Rhacca, ST/19.89, 1988; Usk, ST/387.995, 1995, MVM; hedge bank, Foresters Oaks, ST/437.962, 1998. 5 t

Taraxacum sellandii Roadside, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1982; near Caldicot Castle, ST/48.88, 1995; Dingestow, SO/460.099, 1995, MVM; Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082; Cleddon Lane, S side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, both 1996, ITG; forest roadside, N. of Howick, ST/500.955, 1996, HØ; A4042 verge, W. of Little Mill, SO/317.026, 2000; Coed Abergwenllan, SO/324.065, 2000. 6 t (1 t)

Taraxacum sublaeticolor Hedgebank, E. of Duke’s Farm, SO/41.20, 1995; Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113; Usk, ST/387.995, both 1995, MVM; garden path, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1999. 4 t

Taraxacum sinuatum

Taraxacum sublongisquameum

Whitebrook, SO/533.067, 1984, CCH, RJP; track, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1985-86, MVM; track, Graig-y-Rhacca, 1992; Sudbrook, ST/505.876, 1994, MVM; marsh, Wern-y-Melin, SO/41.10, 1995; roadside, Ty Uchaf, SO/41.09, 1995; marsh, Steppes Farm, SO/42.01, 1995; Dingestow, SO/46.10; Usk, SO/387.995; Llansoy, SO/439.018, all three 1995, MVM; rock cleft, foreshore, Sudbrook, 1996; A4042 verge, W. of Little Mill, SO/317.026, 2000. 8 t (1 t)

Path, Orles Wood, Lydart, SO/506.095, 1990, JFH; roadside bank, S. of Mynyddislwyn, ST/195.924, 1994. 2 t

Taraxacum subpraticola Pilstone Farm, MVM. 1 t

Bigsweir,

SO/535.055, 1988,

Taraxacum tenebricans Damp meadow, Coed Abergwenllan, SO/32.06, 2000. 1 t

Taraxacum stenacrum Rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1981; roadside, Kymin, SO/523.132, 1984; 1985, both MVM; roadside, Llanllowell, 1998; A472 verge, Pantygasseg, ST/2564.9975, 2001; A465 verge, E. of Abergavenny, SO/305.135, 2002. 3 t (2 t)

Taraxacum trilobatum Road verge, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1982; track, Graig-y-Rhacca, 1992; Cleddon Lane, S. side of Cleddon Bog, SO/510.038, 1996, ITG; shrub bed, St. Woolos Hospital, Newport, 2000. 3 t (1 t)

Taraxacum stereodes

Taraxacum tumentilobum

Wall, Whitebrook, SO/534.066, 1989, MVM; R. Monnow meadow, near Skenfrith Castle, SO/45.20, 1993; track near sea wall, Magor Pill, ST/43.84, 1993; Cleddon Lane, SO/51.03, 1996;

Top of grassy bank, New House roundabout, ST/53.91, 1996; wet meadow, Waterwheel Nursery, ST/483.963, 1999; verge, near Penallt Old Church, SO/52.10, 1999. 3 t 408

Flora of Monmouthshire

Taraxacum undulatiflorum

Taraxacum vastisectum A472 verge, Pantygasseg, ST/2564.9975, 2001. 1 t

Taraxacum xanthostigma

R. Wye meadow, Dixton, SO/523.137, 1980, VM; road verge, Itton, ST/48.96, 1982; 1985; Mitchell Troy, SO/503.113, 1995, MVM; rough field, Underwood, ST/385.892, 2000. 4 t

It grows on roadsides and in waste areas. In Gwent it occurs mainly in the eastern half. 21 t (9 t)

CREPIS Hawk’s-beards These have different life-cycles; the branched stems have spirally-arranged leaves, frequently with prominent lobes; the phyllaries are in 2 rows, the outer shorter and curved away from the inner; the usually yellow florets are all rayed; the simplehaired pappus is usually white; the achenes are usually spindle-shaped.

Taraxacum undulatum

Crepis paludosa

18 31

Marsh Hawk’s-beard

This is an almost glabrous plant that spreads by rhizomes; its medium to dark green leaves are elliptical with teeth on shallow lobes; the 15-25 mm capitula are yellow to dull orange in a lax cluster; the narrow phyllaries have simple, sticky, black, glandular hairs; the brittle hairs of the pappus are yellowish-white; the achenes are beakless. It grows in wet and shady places. In the vicecounty the only site is by the stream, Afon Cibi, The Park, SO/286.173, 1st recorded in 1990 by RF in 100s; 1997, TGE, CT. 1 t Plate 94

18 31

Crepis biennis

Verge, Llanvapley, SO/383.142, 1984, MVM; roadside grass, Gaer Fawr, ST/44.98, 1985; sandy bank, R. Usk, Llancayo, SO/36.03, 1992; R. Usk bank, Llanfair Kilgeddin, SO/358.089, 1992; sandy bank, R. Monnow, near Skenfrith Castle, SO/45.20, 1993; Whitebrook, SO/534.066; Sudbrook, ST/505.876, both 1994, MVM; Monmouth, SO/512.077, 1995, MVM; Caerllan Field Studies Centre grounds, SO/492.082, 1996, ITG; New House roundabout, ST/53.91, 1996; roadside, W. Blorenge, SO/26.12, 1998; wet meadow, Waterwheel Nursery, ST/483.963, 1999; grassy bank, Tre-wyn, SO/328.228, 1999; wall, Tre-wyn, SO/328.227, 1999; verge, N. of Llanfihangel Crucorney, SO/32.22, 1999; waste ground, near Lamby, ST/217.785, 2000; roadside bank, Caer Licyn, ST/391.928, 2000; roadside bank, N. of Tredegar, SO/1348.0934 and SO/1348.0134, 2001; grassy bank in field, Graig Wood, SO/25.16, 2003. 16 t (2 t)

Rough Hawk’s-beard

18 31

This is a hairy biennial to over 1 m tall has rather firm stems, the darkish green, basal leaves are longish, strongly-toothed to pinnately-lobed, the upper leaves are lanceolate to linear not clasping 409

Flora of Monmouthshire the stem; the 20-35 mm capitula are in lax, flattopped groups with yellow ligules; the linearlanceolate phyllaries, pubescent on their inner surfaces, have yellowish or black hairs, sometimes glandular; the 4-7.5 mm, 13-20-ribbed, beakless but narrowed achenes have a pure white pappus. Crepis biennis grows in various grassy places, mainly on road verges. Wade (1970) described it as rare and quoted 3 sites: near Raglan Castle, 1946, NS; near Crick, *; Caldicot, both WAS. Recent records are largely around Monmouth. Huge quantity, Monmouth, SO/500.119-504.120; 10 plants, edge of maize field, Monmouth, SO/512.121, both 1992, BRG; 100s plants, Overmonnow Link Road, 1997, TGE, UTE; 1 plant, forestry track, St Pierre Great Woods, ST/500.922, 1997, TGE, UTE; <50 plants, Portal Road, Overmonnow, SO/501.124, c. 12 plants, near retaining wall of Wonastow Brook, Wonastow Road, SO/5010.1238, both 2003, HVC. 7 t (3 t)

Crepis capillaris

! Crepis vesicaria

Beaked Hawk’s-beard

This branched, hairy but not bristly perennial may grow to over 75 cm tall; the lower leaves are deeply and pinnately lobed, with pointed lobes of an irregular nature, the lower leaves are stalked and the upper ones simpler and clasping the stem; the 15-25 mm capitula, upright in bud, have yellow outer ligules, striped brownish underneath; the inflorescence is lax with peduncles of different lengths to produce a flattish top; the achenes are 5-9 mm long with a beak as long as the body. 23

Smooth Hawk’s-beard 19

This branched, largely glabrous annual or biennial may grow to 75 cm but is often shorter; its branched stems are rather slender; the pale green leaves of the basal rosette are toothed or lobed like those of the Dandelion, the stem leaves are narrow with some basal lobes that clasp the stem, the small, 10-15 mm capitula have yellow corollas, the ligules often red underneath. The pappus is soft and white.

18 31

It grows in grassy places particularly on verges of road and rail sides and on waste ground. In vc 35 it is scarce on ‘improved’ grassland, and is most frequent in the south of the vice-county. 154 t

! Crepis setosa

Bristly Hawk’s-beard

This is similar to C. vesicaria but has longer basal leaf lobes, the upper parts of the stems and phyllaries are bristly and the corollas are a paler yellow. It grows as a casual in grassy places in Britain. There only vice-county record was from a meadow/house boundary fence, near Llanfoist, SO/300.119, 1991, RF. 1 t

PILOSELLA Mouse-ear-Hawkweeds These are stoloniferous perennials; the sometimes leafy stolons produce erect peduncles or stems topped by 1-many capitula; the simple basal leaves vary from narrowly elliptical to oblanceolate; the phyllaries are in several rows, the receptacular-disc lacks scales but the pits on it have various surrounds; the ligulate florets are yellow or orange; the simple-haired pappus is discoloured white or

18 31

C. capillaris is a grassland species in unimproved meadows, road verges, churchyards or lawns. In vc 35 it is common but as it flowers in late summer and autumn, grass cutting may have resulted in some under-recording. 303 t 410

Flora of Monmouthshire brownish; the 10-ribbed, beakless achenes are spindle-shaped.

of many capitula at its head; the patent hairs on the stem become blackish near it apex and the phyllaries are covered with the same kind of hairs; the flowers are a dark, reddish-orange, the ligules prominent. Introduced from mainland Europe, it has become naturalised on disturbed ground, walls, roadside and railway banks where it is associated with human activity, which sometimes takes it far away from gardens (its probable origin) to remote forest track sides. In vc 35 it is scattered but occurs in all the above types of site. 39 t

Pilosella officinarum Mouse-ear-hawkweed This stoloniferous perennial has long, slender stolons bearing small, simple, hairy leaves and erect peduncles topped by comparatively large, hairy, pale yellow flowers, with prominent ligules. 23

HIERACIUM Hawkweeds In the following accounts, the nomenclature follows the new Hieracium account in Sell & Murrell Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, volume 4 (2006). Most of the records are based on vouchers in NMW determined by D. McCosh.

Hieracium acuminatum sensu stricto Previous records for H. acuminatum sensu lato have now been revised into H. acuminatum sensu stricto, H. argillaceum and H. consociatum. The are now only two records: Penterry, ST/51.98, 1985, TGE, *; NW Tredegar, roadside bank, SO/12.10, 1989, TGE, *. 2 t

18 31

It prefers well-drained substrates in short grassland, and on banks or stony ground. In vc 35 it is most frequent on the hills maybe because the grasslands are less ‘improved’. 239 t

Hieracium argillaceum 23

! Pilosella aurantiaca

Fox-and-cubs 22

23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 31

Widespread, and under-recorded. 39 t (9 t)

18 31

Hieracium anglorum Historical records: Cwmbran, undated, *; Govilon, railway embankment, SO/2.1, 1900 and 1906, AL, *; Newport Docks, waste ground, ST/32.84, 1968, AEW, *; Old colliery Ynys Ddu, ST/18.92,1928,

This has stolons that are mainly subterranean and form leafy rosettes of hairy, oblanceolate leaves from which arises an erect, hairy stem bearing 1-2 leaves at its base and a tight cluster 411

Flora of Monmouthshire ST/53.98, 1915, WAS, *; Abercarn, track side, ST/24.93, 1986, TGE, *; Alpha Steelworks, Industrial ash, Newport, waste ground, ST/33.84, 1994, TGE, *; Bedwas, hedgebank near ST/15.89, 1988, TGE, *; Cwm Kendon, roadside, ST/20.98, 1986, TGE, *; Darren Cliffs, Cwmyoy, jumbled rocks SO/29.24, 1995, TGE & JB, *; Hafodyrynys, ST/22.99, 1987, TGE, *.

AEW & HAH, *; rough heathy ground near Tre Hir quarry, Bedwas, ST/1.8, 1923, AEW, *. Recent records: Aberbargoed, coal waste tip, ST/15.99, 1988, TGE, *; Cilfeigan Park, woodland path, SO/35.00, 1988, TGE, *; Ebbw Vale, wall at N end of British Steel site, SO/170.096, 1992, GH, *.

Hieracium aterrimum This is an introduction similar to H. grandidens. There are two historical records: Chepstow, wild on rockery, 1905, WAS, *; Machen, 1906, *.

Hieracium diaphanoides There are two records: Colliery Tip, Aberbargoed, ST/15.99, 1987, TGE, *; Llechryd, roadside bank, SO/11.10, 1988, TGE, *.

Hieracium aviicola This has recently been separated from H. strumosum sensu lato. There are two records: Pont Esgob, SO/2.3, 1906, AL, *; Crumlin, wall, ST/22.98, 1987, TGE, *.

Hieracium diaphanum Old Pennant Grit quarry near Pandy Mawr, Bedwas ST/1.8, 1923, AEW, *.

Hieracium calcaricola

Hieracium dowardense

This includes narrow-leaved forms of H. tridentatum. One record: Aberbeeg, 1926, AEW, *.

This is a very restricted endemic centred on the Wye Valley. Blackcliff, 1917, WAS, *; Whitebrook, SO/52.07, 1985, TGE, *. (2 t)

Hieracium consociatum Hieracium eboracense

St Anns, Chepstow, ST/59 H, 1891, WAS, *; rock outcrop forming base of wall, Steep St, Chepstow, SO/531.935, 1984, TGE, *; Cleddon Bog, SO/5.0C, 1984, TGE, *; Earlswood, ST/49 M, 1918, WAS, *; E of Fairoak Farm, ST/51.99, 1994, TGE, *; Gelligroes, ST/17.94, 1968, AEW, *; wall, Blaen-y-cwm, Grywne Fawr Valley, SO/253.284, 1988, GH, *; Kilgwrrwg, ST/4.9, 1910, WAS, *; SE of Llanbradach, ST/15.90, 1986, TGE, *; roadside nr Llanbradach, 1986, TGE, *; Llandeilo United, SO/413.202, 1986, PCH, JH, *; Lower Earlswood, 1918, WAS, *; Stone rail bridge below Markham, ST/17.01, 1988, TGE, *; S of Mynydd Pen-y-Fan, SO/19.01, 1996, TGE, *; NW of Pandy Mawr, ST/25.93, 1996, TGE, *; Penterry, ST/51.98, 1985, TGE, *; nr Penterry, ST/51.98, 1986, TGE, *; Skenfrith Castle wall, SO/45.20, 1995, TGE, *; St. Arvans, Devauden Rd, nr Pontysaison Junction, ST/50.98, 1987, TGE, 1993, TGE, *; St. Igy, 1997, TGE, *; Between Itton School and the Glyn, ST/4.9, 1920, WAS, *; The Narth, SO/52.06, 1994, TGE, *; Ty Pentre, ST/187.941, 1990, TGE, *; Wainfelin, waste ground, roadside, SO/27.01, 1988, RF, *; Ysgyryd Fawr, SO/34.17, 1986, TGE, *. 13 t (12 t)

There are two old records: Roadside, near Brook farm, ST/3.9, 1944, AEW, *; Border of wood, Wye wood, Trelleck, sandstone, SO/5.0, 1892, WAS, *. There are two recent records: Canal bridge SW of Llanover, SO/308.074, 1994, TGE, *; Near disused station Triley Mill, SO/31.17D, 1989, TGE; 1990, TGE, *. 2 t (2 t)

Hieracium elevatum A very rare plant from South Wales: Afon Honddu S of Llanthony, SO/29.27, 1988, TGE, *.

Hieracium erubescens (H. lepidulum)

W of Bettws, hedgebank, ST/27.90, 3rd Welsh record, also at ST/260.900, both 1985, TGE (both *). The records require verification. (1 t)

Hieracium exotericum aggregate There are five records for this probable introduction: Llanrumney, river bank, ST/2.8, 1930, AEW, *; Angiddy valley, wall, SO/52.00, 1985, TGE, *; Aberbargoed, ashy track wall, ST/15.99, 1987, TGE, *; Llanfoist, roadside S of, 1997, TGE, *; Troy House, stone wall on bend of B4293 near, SO/50.11, 1988, JFH, *. 3 t (2 t)

Hieracium daedalolepioides This includes some plants which have previously been included in H. diaphanum. The records are: Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, 1904, WAS, *; Blackcliff, 412

Flora of Monmouthshire

Hieracium glevense

Hieracium pachyphylloides

This species is quite widespread in South Wales. Abergavenny, SO/3.1, 1897, CBa, *; Cord Ithel, Llandogo, sandstone bank, SO/5.0, 1904, WAS, *; Lasgarn Wood, limestone, 1923, AEW, *; Roadside between Symonds Yat and Hadnock quarries, near Monmouth, SO/5.1, 1944, RL, *. More recent records are: Angiddy valley, bank, SO/5.0, 1985, TGE, *; Blackcliff, ST/53.98, 1983, TGE, *; Broadley, roadside near SO/28.28, 1996, TGE, *; Coed Cam, SO/413.203, 1986, PCH, JH, *; Cwmcarn, woodland path ST/2.9C, 1991, TGE, *; Freehold Wood, Abersychan, SO/272.031, 2000, TGE, *; Llandogo, sandstone rock, SO/5.0, 1893, WAS, *; Llangibby Park, roadside bank SW of, ST/35.97, 1995, TGE, *; Llanthony, roadside bank S of, SO/29.27 1995, TGE, JB, *; Llanfoist, shady bank above Canal Cottage, SO/2.1, undated, RF, *; Newport Docks, ST/31.84, 1980, TGE, *.

This species is endemic to the limestone of the Wye Valley, mainly in the Symonds Yat-Great Doward area where only two small colonies are now known to survive. The only vc 35 records are from limestone cliffs above the Wye, Piercefield, 1893, WAS, *; it appears to have gone.

Hieracium pellucidum A characteristic species of limestone rocks: Black Mountain, 1898, AL, *; Pont y Saison, sandstone bank, SO/50.00, 1894, *; Craig yr Hafod, rock ledge, SO/2.1, 1959, AEW, *; limestone quarry (disused), Pwll-du, SO/25.11, 1995, TGE, *; several plants on ledges, S end of Tarren yr Esgob, SO/254.305, 2002, TGE. 2 t (2 t)

Hieracium sabaudum 23

Hieracium grandidens An introduction scattered in Britain. Machen, ST/2.8, 1909, HJR, *; Between Wyndcliff and Tintern, limestone banks, ST/5.9, 1909, WAS, *; Tintern Road, near Blackcliff, bank, ST/5.9, 1920, WAS, *; Wentwood, Red marl, ST/4.9, 1923, AEW, *; Penheol y Gadd-fawr, roadside bank near, ST/2.8, 1924, AEW, *; between Trelleck and Llandogo, roadside bank, SO/5.0, 1926, WAS, *. More recent records are: minor roadside bank N of Parc-seymour, ST/408.924, 1993, TGE; Cot Lane, ST/50.99, 1985, TGE, *; roadside bank E of Fairoak Farm, ST/51.99, 1994, TGE, *; Llangibby, hedgebank W of, ST/36.96, 1993, TGE, *; Livox quarry, quarry and river bank, ST/53.97, 1985, TGE, *; roadside bank near Bettws, ST/270.902, 1986, TGE, *; opposite Llan-bradach, ST/15.90, 1993, TGE, *; Tintern, wall on east side of A466, ST/538.994, 1994, TGE, *; Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, 1983, TGE, *.

18 31

The commonest hawkweed in vc 35. 119 t

Hieracium salticola Recorded three times: Mount Ballan, disused railway, ST/490.886, 1999, TGE, *; N of Alexandra Dock, railway line, ST/3.8D, 1988, TGE, *; Newport Docks, railway ballast, ST/31.86, 1980, TGE, *. 3 t

Hieracium leyanum Records for this species from Tarren yr Esgob are probably in vc 42, and it was recorded in error from Piercefield cliffs.

Hieracium scabrisetum Scattered in vc 35. 30-50 plants in grassland, Pontypool Park, SO/291.010, 2006, TGE, CT, det. TCGR. 17 t

Hieracium nemophilum Recorded four times: Chepstow, rocks south of Railway station, 1891, WAS, *; Cwm Celyn, near Blaina, SO/20.08, 1987, TGE, *; Llechryd, roadside N of, SO/11.10, 1988, TGE, *; Risca, limestone quarry, ST/2.9, 1924, AEW, *. 2 t (2 t)

Hieracium scanicum An uncommon but widespread species, recorded on rocks above reclamation area, opposite Tiler's arms 413

Flora of Monmouthshire between Blaina and Abertillery, SO/198.062, 1987, PCH, JH, *. 1 t

ST/18.94, 1990, TGE, *; Mynyddislwyn, roadside bank W of, ST/194.946, 1990, Fraser, R., *; Heoly-Cefn, rich acid grassland, ST/161.989, 1995, PAS. 6 t

Hieracium spilophaeum These plants with densely spotted leaves used to be recorded as H. maculatum; Disused rail tracks, Newport Docks, ST/31.86, 1995, TGE, *; Newport Docks, railway track, ST/31.86, 1977, AEW, *; Reclaimed coal waste, Cefn Fforest, ST/16.98, 1997, TGE, *.

Hieracium umbellatum ssp. umbellatum 24 t 23

Hieracium stenstroemii

Recorded twice: Tintern, roadside, ST/5.9P, 1985, TGE, *; Wall near George Hotel, Angiddy Valley, Tintern, SO/52.00, 1985, TGE, *.

Hieracium subaequialtum This plant may have been recorded as a blackheaded form of H. sublepistoides: Llanfoist, wall, SO/2.1, 1923, AEW, *; Tarren yr Esgob, SO/2.3, 1944, AEW, *; Henllys, wall of Vale Farm, ST/27.92, 1990, TGE, *; Llanthony Abbey, roadside bank NW of, SO/28.28, 1984, TGE, *; Penishaplwydd, SO/34.23, 1988, TGE, *.

Hieracium vagum

Hieracium subamplifolium

Recorded once: Itton-Devauden Road, ST/43.96, 1984, TGE, *. 1 t

18 31

Widespread in vc 35.

Scattered in vc 35. 9 t (3 t)

Hieracium virgulatorum 2 t Recorded twice: Old shunting yards, Severn Tunnel Junction, ST/455.874, 2000, TGE, *; Slade Wood, path, ST/45.89, 1986, TGE, *.

Hieracium sublepistioides Recorded five times: dry bank above old water course near Tintern, SO/5.0, 1893, WAS, *; near Llanedeyrn (Monmouthshire side of river), 1921, EV, *; Llanfoist, hedgebank, 1923, AEW, *; Pontypool Park, wall near entrance, SO/28.00, 1989, TGE, *; roadside bank opposite Tintern Abbey, ST/59.99, 1984, TGE, *. 5 t

Hieracium vulgatum Recorded three times: Govilon, railway embankment, SO/2.1, 1906, AL, *; Newport Docks, railway side, ST/31.84, 1985, TGE, *; Vale Farm, wall, ST/27.92, 1990, TGE, *. 3 t

Hieracium submutabile FILAGO Cudweeds These annuals are coated in white, woolly hairs; the leaves are alternate and entire; the capitula, with brownish corollas, are small and in terminal and axillary clusters of 2 to 40; the florets are tubular, and of two kinds, small and female around the outside and larger and male in the centre; the outer phyllaries are green and the inner scarious.

This species is quite widespread in South Wales: Tintern, sandstone bank near Old Furnace, SO/5.0, 1893, WAS, *; Grwyne Vawr Valley, SO/28.22, 1983, TGE, *. (2 t)

Hieracium sylvularum A species similar to H. grandidens which has been recorded at Great Goytre, SO/3.2, 1926, AEW, *.

Hieracium umbellatum ssp. bichlorophyllum

Filago vulgaris

Recorded six times: Newchurch West, ST/4.9N, 1984, TGE, *; Parc-seymour, ST/4.9B, 1984, TGE, *; Lane bank N of Parc-seymour, ST/40.92, 1990, TGE, *; Mill House, Penhow, hedge bank, ST/39.92, 1990, TGE, *; Mynyddislwyn, roadside,

Common Cudweed

This white, woolly annual has erect stems to 40 cm bearing somewhat wavy leaves widest in the lower half; there are roundish clusters of 10-40 capitula at the apex of all branches and 414

Flora of Monmouthshire overtopping the highest leaves; the outer phyllaries are acuminate; the florets are yellow.

ANTENNARIA Mountain Everlasting These small, tufted, slightly whitish, woolly, dioecious perennials have a basal rosette of entire leaves from which arises an unbranched stem bearing spirally arranged, similar but smaller leaves; the capitula are in umbel-like clusters of 2-8; the corollas, wider in the males, are all tubular and surrounded by persistent, thin, papery phyllaries.

Antennaria dioica

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F. vulgaris grows where vegetation is sparse on gritty substrates on waysides, moors, sands and in arable fields. Wade (1970) said it was rare to locally frequent and gave 8 sites. In the vice-county today the gritty surface of coal waste, some woodland tracks and railway ballast favour it, but it is not a common plant as its name suggests. 6 t (9 t)

Filago minima

Mountain Everlasting

The leaf rosettes of this plant arise from branched rhizomes and often form extensive mats; the rosette leaves, white-hairy beneath, are oblanceolate and notched at their tips; the corollas are pink and the surrounding perianthlike phyllaries are whitish in males and pink in females. It is found on heaths, moors or in uplands, with a preference for calcareous or basic substrates. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave only the three sites, about Abersychan, JHC; Blorenge; Twyn Barlwm, Risca, SH. There are no recent records. (3 t) ANAPHALIS Pearly Everlasting These are white, woolly perennials, which are either male or female; the leaves are narrowly lanceolate and entire; the inflorescence is corymbose with several rows of papery, white phyllaries surrounding the yellow, tubular florets, of which the males are the wider.

Small Cudweed

This is similar to F. vulgaris but is smaller in all aspects with 2-5 mm across capitula, which are more ovoid and only 2-7 in each cluster.

! Anaphalis margaritacea Pearly Everlasting 23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

18 31

It is native in barish places on gritty substrates. In vc 35 it is frequent on settled coal waste. 56 t

This upright or ascending perennial is pearlywhite-hairy with entire, narrowly lanceolate leaves which do not form a basal rosette but alternate up 415

Flora of Monmouthshire the branched stem; the 8-12 mm capitula have yellow florets, on a scale-less, convex receptacle, surrounded by persistent, pearly-white, papery phyllaries, the outer of which form a perianthlike collar; the numerous capitula form a low, dome-shaped cluster at the head of the branches. Introduced from N & E Asia or N America as a feature plant, it has spread rather freely and has been discarded on river banks, woodland path sides and waste ground. In vc 35 it was recorded from the banks of the R. Rhymney by Edward Llwyd early in the 18th Century and is still there. It is also frequent by other streams and on coal waste of western and upland vc 35. Elsewhere it is scattered mainly in the southern half in open woodland. 62 t Plate 95

Red Sandstone, woodland bank, Wentwood, ST/425.943, 1974, TGE; Old Red Sandstone, woodland path, N side of Gray Hill, ST/435.942, 1975, CT; woodland path side, Wentwood, ST/413.937, 1975, TGE; several plants, steep woodland path side, High Meadow Woods, SO/546.127, 1979, TGE; woodland path side, Little Oaks, ST/413.935, 1976, TGE, CT; 1981-2, TGE, UTE; numerous by forestry cottages, Wentwood, ST/427.942, 1981, CT; numerous, path, S of Five Paths, Wentwood, ST/433.947, 1982, CT. As it is over 20 years since last seen, despite constant searches, it must now be considered as extinct. (15 t) Plate 98

Gnaphalium uliginosum

GNAPHALIUM Cudweeds These are woolly-haired perennials with small, yellowish to brown capitula; the flattish receptacle has no scales; all phyllaries are scarious and may be glabrous or woolly on the lower half; all florets are tubular, the inner, wider ones are hermaphrodite and the outer ones female.

Gnaphalium sylvaticum

Marsh Cudweed

This is a white-woolly annual to 20 cm but frequently less with branched, erect to decumbent stems; the alternate leaves are narrowly lanceolate; the capitula are in small terminal and axillary clusters, exceeded by subtending, leaf-like bracts; the corollas are yellowish-brown with pale-brown phyllaries tipped dark brown. 23

Heath Cudweed

This has erect stems to over 50 cm, one-veined, narrow oblanceolate leaves, green on upper side, white-woolly on lower, decreasing in size as they progress up the stem; the inflorescence is a narrow, interrupted spike; the capitula are in clusters subtended by the phyllaries, which are grey-green in the middle and brown around the margins; the brownish pappus consists of hairs united at their bases. It occurs on heaths and woodland path margins, mainly on acid, sandy soils. In vc 35 it has appeared on Old Red Sandstone substrates. Wade (1970) described it as rare to locally frequent and gave the following sites: Cwm Bychel, Llanthony, AL; Kymin Hill, Monmouth, *; Half-way House Wood, Monmouth, *; Beaulieu Farm, Monmouth, *; Reddings Inclosure; New Hill, Grosmont, *; Hadnock Wood, *; Lady Park Wood; Pritchard’s Hill, *, all SGC; between Estavarney Farm and Goytre, JHC; Foxwood, SH; Beacon Hill, Trellech, AL; Wentwood, *, WAS; Bulmore, SH; The Barnetts Farm, near Chepstow; Barbadoes Hill, Tintern; near Trellech Bog; Devauden; near Pandy Mill, Itton, *; Chepstow Park Wood, *; Itton, all WAS; Llanvair Discoed, DL; near Caer Licyn, Kemeys Inferior. More recent records are: on Old

18 31

It favours damp, clayey or calcareous habitats in meadows or on cultivated soil. It is widespread in vc 35, and was probably missed in some tetrads because it grows in unpromising habitats which do not entice botanists into them. 307 t INULA Fleabanes These are perennials with simple, alternate leaves; the capitula are clustered at the top of the branched stems in subcorymbose clusters; the florets are yellow, hermaphrodite and tubular in the centre and female and shortly-rayed on the outside; the greenish phyllaries are in several rows. 416

Flora of Monmouthshire

Arc. Inula helenium

Elecampane

These large, hairy perennials may grow to over 2 m tall with large, oval, toothed leaves with cordate bases, medium dark green above, white hairy beneath; the 6-9 cm capitula are large, with hermaphrodite, tubular disc florets, and numerous, spreading outer florets with narrow strap-like, yellow ligules.

18 31

Inula conyzae favours dryish habitats on calcareous soils among rocks, in open woodlands and on grassland. In the vice-county it is concentrated on the Carboniferous Limestone of the SE, NE and the marginal limestone of the coalfield, where limestone waste of the ironworks has been deposited, and in the open woods of the Wye Valley. 53 t

18 31

PULICARIA Fleabanes These have terminal clusters of varying numbers of capitula at the same level; the central, tubular florets are surrounded by numerous, yellow-rayed florets; the pappus is a single row of hairs with an outer row of scales.

Introduced from Asia, probably for medicinal or ornamental purposes. It is naturalised on waste ground, in meadows, orchards etc. In vc 35 it appears to have been planted near Runston Church (now a ruin) and escaped to nearby meadows and road verges. Wade (1970) described it as rare to locally frequent, and gave 18 sites for it, all in the northern or eastern parts of the vice-county. Some recent records are: 1 plant, meadow, Runston, ST/496.915, 1976, TGE; several plants, Dinham ST/478.920, 1976, TGE; 1 plant, road edge, E side of M48, Crick, ST/493.905; 1990, JDRV; near gate, Wonastow, SO/475.107, 1981-2, HVC; roadside Wonastow-Hendre road, SO/45.13, 1998; 1 plant, SO/45.12, 1999, CT. 7 t (5 t)

Inula conyzae

Pulicaria dysenterica

Common Fleabane

Ploughman’s Spikenard

This perennial has tough, varyingly pubescent, reddish stems to over 1 m; the lower, broadlyelliptical leaves are bluntly-toothed, the upper lanceolate, smaller and sessile; the 9-11 mm capitula are clustered together at the head of branches roughly at the same level; all the florets are tubular, only the outer ones with very short, insignificant rays; the inner phyllaries are purplish.

18 31

This is a densely-hairy, grey perennial, capable of forming patches by means of spreading rhizomes; the erect stem may be 1 m tall; the lanceolate leaves, greenish above, have cordate bases; the 15-30 mm capitula are daisy-like with 417

Flora of Monmouthshire parallel to the mid-rib for most of its length, and are scabrid-hairy on both surfaces. The mature plant has many stems each in its upper half having arching branches forming a pyramidal, yellow inflorescence.

a large, flat receptacle covered with orangeyyellow, tubular florets surrounded by yellow, ligulate florets with narrow rays pointing outwards. It favours damp habitats in meadows, ditches and banks of rivers and streams. It is widespread in vc 35, despite losses due to land drainage. 221 t

SOLIDAGO Goldenrods Goldenrods are perennials with erect stems to over 2 m; their leaves are simple, serrate and narrow gradually at either end; though the yellow capitula are small, they are numerous and close enough to provide a colourful inflorescence; the many-rowed phyllaries are green; the pappus is in 1-2 rows.

Solidago virgaurea

Goldenrod

A variable perennial in height, hairiness and in production of yellow flowers, but usually upright to c. 50 cm in height; the leaves have many pairs of short lateral veins, not always conspicuous; the 10-30 disc florets are surrounded by up to 12 ligulate florets with 4-9 mm rays; the inner phyllaries are more than 4.5 mm long.

Introduced from N America to give height to the back of herbaceous borders, it has become naturalised by seeding onto wasteland. Rather scattered throughout vc 35, though frequent in the western valleys. 22 t

! Solidago gigantea

Early Goldenrod

This is similar to S. canadensis but is often taller to 2.5 m; it often has a bluish-green stem; and its stems and leaves are glabrous.

20 31

35 19

It is mainly a woodland plant, but is also found in rocky places, hedgerows and less often in grassland. In vc 35 it is concentrated in the Wye Valley woodlands and in the western valleys as well as a scattering along riverbanks. 128 t

18 31

It is introduced from N America as backing for herbaceous borders, it has become naturalised on wasteland. It has escaped quite widely in the western valleys of vc 35 assisted by the demolition of the mines and the landscaping of the area around. 37 t

! Solidago canadensis

Canadian Goldenrod This is tall to over 2 m with erect stems, hairy at least in the upper half; its leaves have at least one pair of lateral veins running from the base 418

Flora of Monmouthshire ASTER Michaelmas-daisies These are perennial herbs with alternate simple, entire, ovate to linear leaves; the capitula are conspicuous, whether solitary or in clusters; each capitulum has a central disc of yellow, tubular florets surrounded by a single row of ligulate, female or sterile florets, their outwardly pointing rays white, pink, purple or blue. Many colonies have been recorded simply as Michaelmas Daisies; the following have been examined in more detail.

neatly appressed to the capitula. It is a rather untidy and insubstantial plant. Introduced to British gardens and the most frequent Aster to escape, usually by wind-borne seed. In vc 35 it is most often encountered near railways. Vc 35 records are: large patch, rail embankment, S of Woodfieldside, ST/182.967, 1992; rough grassland Newport Docks, ST/314.852; railside, old shunting yards, E of Undy, ST/445.874, all 1993, TGE, det. PFY, 1994; roadside verge, Croes Wen, ST/318.967, 1997, TGE, UTE; near base of railway bridge, Chepstow Road, Newport, ST/318.884; W bank of Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, under M4 bridge, ST/302.895; S of Malpas Brook, Lyne Road, Newport, ST/310.890; waste ground, below railway lines, S side of Cardiff Rd, Newport, ST/301.866, all 1994, GH. 6 t

! Aster x versicolor Late Michaelmas-daisies This A. laevis x A. novi-belgii hybrid is upright to over 1.5 m and is practically hairless; its middle leaves are c. 3 times as long as wide and somewhat clasping the stem; its phyllaries are white bordered with a central green patch in the upper half and are half as long as the inner ones. It was introduced to Britain as a border plant, and has become naturalised on rough and waste ground. In vc 35 it has been found where people have dumped material on waste ground not far from their homes, though the use of cars has extended the distances involved. Some records with detail are: waste ground, near R. Usk, Crindau, Newport, ST/31.89, 1988, TGE, 1st vicecounty record, *; ‘form with small capitula’ both PFY, 1994, collected same site and date, TGE. 5 t

Aster tripolium

Sea Aster

This succulent, glabrous biennial seldom reaches 1 m in height; its capitula may have only tubular florets, or tubular florets surrounded by a complete or partial ring of bluish-mauve ligulate florets; the phyllaries are fewer and blunter than other species in the genus in Britain. 23

! Aster x salignus Common Michaelmas-daisy

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

It grows mainly in salt marshes on the coast or within tidal reaches on river banks. In vc 35 it is in every tetrad reached by main tidal surges. 46 t

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ERIGERON Fleabanes These Aster-like herbs have varying life-cycles and are variable in other characters; the narrow leaves tend to be alternate; the capitula vary from single to many per stem; the central tubular florets are white or yellow and hermaphrodite; the peripheral ligulate florets are in 2 rows; the herbaceous phyllaries have membranous margins and are in

This A. novi-belgii x A. lanceolatus hybrid, practically hairless with no stalked glands, has erect stems to c. 1 m; the middle leaves are 4-10 times as long as wide and slightly clasp the stem; the outer phyllaries are almost as long as the inner, are widest below the middle, and are 419

Flora of Monmouthshire several rows; the pappus is variable but most often has a single row of hairs.

Erigeron acer

Blue Fleabane

This hairy herb has stems that branch near the top and seldom grow to a height of 60 cm; the entire stem-leaves are lanceolate to oblanceolate; the bluish-mauve ligules are 2-4 mm long and are about equal to the pappus.

19 23 18 22

Accidentally introduced from N America. In vc 35 it has probably been introduced via Newport or Cardiff Docks, from whence it has passed northwards via road and rail links. 53 t

! Conyza bonariensis

18 31

Argentine Fleabane

Similar to C. canadensis but larger to over 2 m tall, much more hairy, often with inflorescence branches exceeding the height of the main stem and capitula larger from 7-10 mm. Introduced accidentally from tropical America or France. Until comparatively recently it was unrecognised nationally and thus under-recorded. The only record was on waste ground, Newport Docks, ST/31.86, *, 1980, TGE, det. EJC. 1 t

It grows on open turf on sandy or calcareous soils. In vc 35 it is found chiefly on the Carboniferous Limestone of the SE and NE, or edge of the coalfield, where the waste of steel production contains calcareous products or where limestone is used in the construction of roads or tracks. 35 t

! Erigeron x Conyza = Conyzigeron CONYZA Fleabanes These annuals have narrow, alternate leaves; the numerous capitula have hermaphrodite, tubular florets only or if female ligulate florets occur the ligules are not very long; the herbaceous phyllaries are in several rows and may have a membranous margin; the pappus has a single row of hairs.

! Conyza canadensis

This E. acer x C. canadensis hybrid is intermediate in pubescence and capitulum size (1-2 mm ligules pale mauve) and is sterile; it resembles C. bonariensis in habit but with broader leaves bearing longer hairs and a noticeable number of abortive capitula. It grows with its parents in suitable, disturbed, waste sites. In vc 35 it was recorded as a few plants on the rubbish tip and in the docks, Newport, ST/30.85, 1980, TGE. ALG. 1 t

Canadian Fleabane

This is an annual that may grow to over 1 m tall with a thin, sparsely hairy, green stem with many thinner branches; there are numerous, small, 2-5 mm capitula with white ligules surrounded by narrow, appressed phyllaries; the pappus is conspicuous; many of the lower, narrow leaves have shrivelled by anthesis and the overall effect is to make the plant appear undernourished and weedy.

OLEARIA Daisy-bushes These are shrubs or trees with evergreen, alternate or opposite, simple leaves, woolly-haired below and with smooth or prickly-toothed margins; there are numerous capitula in clusters; the capitula have yellow or white tubular, disc florets and, if present, white peripheral, ligulate florets; the scarious phyllaries are in several rows; the pappus consists of a single row of hairs. 420

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Olearia macrodonta

TANACETUM Tansies Tansies are aromatic, biennial to perennial herbs with alternate, pinnately-lobed leaves; the capitula are of discoid or radiate florets only and have peduncles of different lengths to produce a flattopped inflorescence; the pappus is reduced to a short rim.

New Zealand Holly

This is a shrub to 6 m with alternate, 5-12 cm, ovate, deeply-prickly, wavy-margined leaves; the rather flat-topped clusters of capitula have reddish disc florets and white ligulate ones. Introduced from New Zealand for ornament in coastal districts, it is only likely to become naturalised there. In vc 35 the only record was one plant on the bank of a small reservoir in Chepstow Park Wood, ST/494.977, 1985-92, TGE. Though not coastal and probably planted when the banks were enhanced, it has survived for many years. It remains to be seen if it produces offspring. 1 t

Arc. Tanacetum parthenium

BELLIS Daisy These are herbaceous perennials with toothed and petiolate, simple leaves in a basal rosette; the leafless peduncle is terminated by a single capitulum, which has yellow, tubular disc florets surrounded by ligulate florets with white, pink or red ligules; the herbaceous phyllaries are in 2 rows; the pappus is lacking.

Bellis perennis

Daisy

The obovate leaves are bluntly-toothed and overlap in the rosette; several peduncles arise from the stock, each topped by a 15-30 mm across capitulum with yellow, tubular disc florets surrounded by numerous, narrow white ligules, often tipped red or the whole underside red; flore pleno or double flowers sometimes occur.

18 31

Tanacetum vulgare

18 33

Tansy

Tansy is an erect, aromatic perennial to over 1 m; its leaves have many pairs of lobes, deeply toothed; the stem is branched near the apex, each branch terminating in a capitulum of only deep yellow disc florets to form a flat-topped cluster. The photograph, taken of a plant growing on the gravel, below the right bank of the R. Usk to the west of Llanvihangel Gobion in September, 2003, shows the galls among the flowers caused by a gall-midge Rhompalomyia tanaceticola. Most plants of the large colony were infected, but some had the galls on every aerial part.

Introduced from SE Europe it has become naturalised on walls, cultivated soils and waste places. In vc 35 it is never far from human activity and its nasty tasting leaves have been eaten to relieve headaches by those who believe in traditional medicines. 199 t

Feverfew

Feverfew is an aromatic herb, which has erect stems, branched above, and may be over 50 cm tall; it often has yellowish-green, bluntly-lobed leaves; the yellow disc florets are surrounded by a ring of white ligules to give daisy-like capitula.

Daisy grows in short turf. In vc 35 it is found in every tetrad where there is short turf, such as lawns, churchyards, cut verges, etc. 398 t 421

Flora of Monmouthshire 1998, TGE; bank of R. Usk, Newport, ST/32.85, 1979, TGE; near Uskmouth Power Station, ST/3.8G, 1985, SP; sea wall, SE of Great House, ST/42.83, 1988, TGE, UTE; R. Wye bank, opposite Hardwick Quarry, ST/537.930, 19851998, TGE; sea wall, Goldcliff, ST/363.825, 1991, TGE; edge of grassy bank, Rumney Great Wharf, ST/24.78, TGE, CT. 10 t

ARTEMISIA Mugworts These may be aromatic herbs or small shrubs, with alternate leaves that may be entire or finely divided; the small, brownish capitula have yellow, tubular, bisexual inner florets and female outer florets, with filiform corollas; there is no receptacular scale or pappus.

18 31

Tansy is to be seen in marginal sites. In vc 35 it is frequent along river and stream banks and road, track and rail verges. 143 t Plate 99

Arc. Artemisia vulgaris

SERIPHIDIUM Sea Wormwood These are like Artemisia but all flowers are identical with male and female parts functional.

Seriphidium maritimum

Mugwort

This is usually an erect and tufted perennial to over 1 m tall; its leaves are 1-2-pinnately-lobed, dark green on the upper side and silvery-hairy beneath and becoming sessile up the pithy, reddish stem; the small capitula are ovoid, with silvery-haired phyllaries and brownish-yellow or purplish florets, and form densely packed panicles.

Sea Wormwood

This is a 50 cm or more, decumbent, silverywhite, woolly perennial, with 1-2 pinnatelylobed leaves with terminal, branched panicles and non-flowering, leafy branches with linear leaf-lobes; the numerous, small capitula are ovoid with yellow florets that contrast with the rest of the plant.

21 23

18 31

This grows on road and riversides, in hedgerows and on embankments. It is widespread in vc 35. 315 t

18 31

Arc. Artemisia absinthium

Wormwood

Wormwood is an erect, tufted, strongly aromatic, silky-hairy perennial; the 1-2 pinnate, oval, lobed leaves are white, silky-hairy on both surfaces with 2-4 mm wide terminal and side lobes; the 3-5 mm, numerous, subglobose, nodding capitula form dense panicles.

It is a coastal and estuarine plant on grassy or stony banks usually at the edge of the saltmarsh. Wade (1970) gave it as locally common along the Severn and in tidal reaches of the Wye. More recent records are left bank, Magor Pill, ST/438.848, 1950-2005; Mathern Oaze bank, ST/52.89, 1950422

Flora of Monmouthshire 23

18 31

Artemisia absinthium grows on roadsides, waste ground and in coastal places. In vc 35 it is common in the western valleys, but is also scattered elsewhere. 79 t

! Artemisia biennis

! Achillea ligustica

Southern Yarrow

This is similar to A. millefolium, but has stemleaves less than 3 times as long as wide and less than 10 pairs of primary lateral lobes; the smaller capitula are c. 3 mm across and the inner phyllaries are less than 3 mm and more numerous, and though the ligules are white the extra phyllaries give a greenish look to the inflorescence. Introduced from the Mediterranean area, it has become naturalised in the area of the gasometer and rail terminals in Newport Docks, ST/31.86, since 1953, JMa. 2 t

Slender Mugwort

This is a green, aromatic, erect annual to well over 1 m tall with glabrous, twice-pinnate leaves with long, pointed lobes; the short-stalked, dense inflorescence forms a narrow spire with horizontal leaves emerging well beyond the capitula in late autumn. It was introduced accidentally from Asia and N America in grain and wool shoddy, and appears as a casual. In vc 35 it appeared in waste areas of Newport Docks, ST/32.84, and persisted for many years. 3 t

Achillea millefolium

Yarrow

ACHILLEA Yarrows These are perennial herbs with shallowly-toothed, simple to finely divided and fern-like leaves; the small capitula are clustered in a fairly flat-topped inflorescence with hermaphrodite, tubular disc florets and female ligulate peripheral florets with white to red ligules; there are receptacular scales but no pappus.

Achillea ptarmica

Sneezewort

Sneezewort is an erect perennial to over 50 cm tall with lanceolate leaves edged with many, short, sharp teeth; the capitula, with white ligules, occur in lax, flat-topped clusters. It grows in damp, grassy places, by rivers, streams and in marshes, in acid or neutral soils. Widespread in vc 35, though the number of sites has been reduced by drainage. 135 t

18 31

This is an erect, rhizomatous herb with leaves twice pinnately-lobed and with the lobes finely divided to give the foliage a feathery appearance; the middle stem-leaves are more than 3 times as long as wide with more than 15 pairs of primary lateral lobes; the 4-6 mm across 423

Flora of Monmouthshire capitula occur in flat-topped clusters of usually more than 50; the ligules vary from white to red. Yarrow grows in short grass, roadsides and on banks. Though probably in every tetrad in the vicecounty, it is less common in ‘improved’ fields. 398 t

Shirenewton, and in 1984 on the roadside at Penyclawdd, SO/45.07. There were also 100s on Cwrt-y-Brychan Farm, SO/44.01, 1984, EBB. 1 t (15 t)

! Anthemis tinctoria

CHAMAEMELUM Chamomile These are aromatic, grey-hairy perennials with creeping and rooting stems; the leaves are alternate and 2-3-pinnate with linear segments; the capitula have yellow, tubular disc florets and white ligulate florets; there are scales on the receptacle and no pappus on the achenes.

! Chamaemelum nobile

Chamomile

This silvery-grey, aromatic, mat-forming herb has alternate, feathery leaves; the 18-25 mm capitula have yellow disc-florets and white reflexed, peripheral ligules; the phyllaries are linear with white margins. It grows in short, sandy turf, often near the coast. A doubtful county record was made at Pontnewydd by JHC and published in Watson’s New Botanist’s Guide, 1837. Because Clark’s list contained other maritime plants, Wade (1970) suggested it could be correct. (1 t)

CHRYSANTHEMUM Crown Daisies These annual herbs have varyingly-lobed simple leaves; 3-7 mm across capitula with tubular and ligulate florets, the latter yellow or with cream or cream and yellow ligules, and 2.5-3 mm, unwinged achenes that are deeply ridged.

ANTHEMIS Chamomiles These are herbs or dwarf shrubs usually with divided leaves and capitula with yellow, female tubular florets, among which are scales, on a domed disc with white-rayed, outer florets; the pappus is lacking or forms a low rim.

Arc. Anthemis cotula

Yellow Chamomile

This is a varyingly-hairy, branched perennial with 2-pinnately-lobed leaves, grey-hairy beneath, with small-toothed, narrow lobes; the 25-45 mm across capitula are a rich yellow; the central tubular florets are on a flattish disc with numerous spreading, yellow, ligulate florets around them; the receptacular scales are oblonglanceolate ending in a point. This is an alien casual on waste land. It is an infrequent casual in vc 35. Wade (1970) gave one site in Newport Docks, 1920s, RLS. More recent records are waste ground, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, and 1980, TGE; waste ground, near houses, S of Aberbeeg, SO/21.01, 1987, RF. 1 t (1 t)

Arc. Chrysanthemum segetum Corn Marigold This is a glabrous, glaucous, rather fleshy, sparingly branched, short-lived perennial with simple, oblong leaves, that are toothed or lobed to different depths towards the midrib; the 35-55 mm capitula are flattish with yellow florets darker in the disc.

Stinking Chamomile

This is an erect, foetid, largely glabrous annual with alternate, 2-3-pinnately-lobed leaves with linear, ultimate lobes; the 13-30 mm wide capitula have domed discs bearing yellow tubular florets with scales in the central part only, the peripheral florets have white ligules that become reflexed at maturity. It grows chiefly on cultivated land, arable especially, and waste ground, particularly on heavy, rich clays. Wade (1970) described it as a colonist, frequent to common on cultivated ground and roadsides in all districts. In vc 35 today, it is exceedingly scarce. Apart from Red House, where it, with other scarcities, was deliberately scattered from a packet of wild flower seed purchased from a SW England source, I have seen it only in 1970 and then only a few casuals in a field gateway at

18 31

424

Flora of Monmouthshire spiral or paired, spathulate, toothed leaves, abruptly contracting into a long, narrow base; the capitula, 25-50 mm across, have yellow discs and strap-like, white ligules. It grows in rich grassland and roadside banks. In vc 35 it is widespread, and dominant on some roadside banks. 297 t

Introduced from mainland Europe, it is a naturalised or casual weed of arable or waste land. Wade (1970) described it as a colonist locally common in the north, central and east regions. In vc 35 there have been no extant populations for several years. If, however, the land to the west of Caerwent, or in between Llanllowell and the R. Usk or the fields around Llancayo or farmland between Penpergwm Station and the big roundabout S of Abergavenny had been ploughed and not treated with herbicides, personal observations suggest there would have been a big bloom of Corn Marigold in the last fifteen years. Recent records are: farmland, St Pierre, ST/51.90, 1972; Caldicot, ST/47.89, 1973-80, TGE, CT; around Nant-y-carw, SO/384.077, 1973, BMF; west of Caerwent, ST/457.905, 1974; rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, 1977 both TGE, CT; unused grassland, Fairwater, ST/27.94, 1986, TGE; waste ground, Pen-twyn, SO/26.03, 1987, BSBI meeting; roadside, St. Brides Wentlooge, ST/2996.8209, 1990, PAS; edge of Maize crop, Llanllowell, ST/336.983, 1991, DEL; 100+ plants, in Cow Kale, Llancayo Farm, ST/386.983, 1997, CT. 6 t (18 t) Plate 100

! Leucanthemum x superbum

LEUCANTHEMUM Oxeye Daisy These are perennial herbs with simple, sharply toothed leaves; the capitula have yellow disc florets and white ligulate florets with the tubular part bearing two narrow, translucent wings, and achenes with translucent canals; there are no receptacular scales or pappus

Leucanthemum vulgare

Shasta Daisy

This L. lacustre x L. maximum hybrid is like an overgrown L. vulgare but bigger in all its parts, growing to over 1 m tall; its leaves are oblong and spathulate, narrowing gradually and edged with shallowly to deeply-jagged teeth; the capitula are 60-100 mm in diameter.

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This garden introduction escapes or is thrown out or is naturalised on waste ground or waysides. It is most frequent in the valleys and southern parts of the vice-county. 20 t

Oxeye Daisy

MATRICARIA Mayweeds These are annual herbs with a conical, hollow (cut the capitulum in half) receptacle; the white ligules are not always present; the achenes have 4-5 low ribs and no oil glands.

Arc. Matricaria recutita

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Scented Mayweed

This glabrous, branched annual is scented; its ascending to erect stems bear 1-3-pinnatelylobed, alternate leaves with linear, pointed segments; the capitula have a hollow, conical disc bearing deep yellow tubular florets, surrounded by white ligulate florets that become reflexed on maturity. It is common on lowland, cultivated land, particularly in arable fields. In vc 35 it is

This is an erect to more than 50 cm, slightlyhairy perennial with short, leafy stolons and 425

Flora of Monmouthshire widespread on lowland arable and disturbed ground. 203 t

Tripleurospermum maritimum Sea Mayweed This herb to over 50 cm tall has succulent leaves divided into many leaf-segments; the stalked capitula have large, yellow, solid, domed discs with white, spreading rays; the 1.8-3.5 mm long achenes have three close, strong ribs on one surface with two, distinctly elongated oil-glands near the top of the opposite face. It grows in coastal habitats and may be spread along salted verges. In vc 35, I suspect that most of the sites away from tidal reaches of riverbanks are errors, due to some plants of T. inodorum or the hybrid having slightly elongated oil-glands. Salted verges may have played a part in my suspect inland sites. ? 51 t

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! Matricaria discoidea

Arc. Tripleurospermum inodorum Scentless Mayweed

This is similar to T. maritimum but has nonsucculent leaf-segments, which are acute or bristle-tipped and has achenes with three strong ribs separated by two granular areas on one surface with two orbicular or slightly elongated oil-glands on the opposite face.

Pineappleweed

This pineapple-scented, glabrous, branched, erect, bright-green annual has feathery, 2-3pinnately, linear-lobed leaves; the green capitula are egg-shaped with short, ovoid, green phyllaries with white, scarious margins; the disc florets have 4-lobed corollas.

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

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It grows on waste and cultivated land. In vc 35 it is by far the commoner of the two Tripleurospermum species. 327 t

Introduced accidentally from NE Asia, it has become a widespread weed of barish, waste places. It appears in every lowland tetrad in vc 35. 384 t

SENECIO Ragworts These are herbs or rarely shrubs or weak climbers with leaves all basal or often alternate; the capitula, usually in flat-topped clusters, have hermaphrodite, tubular, disc florets and outer female, usually rayed florets; both floret types are usually yellow; the phyllaries are usually in 1 row but sometimes there is a much shorter outer row.

TRIPLEUROSPERMUM Mayweeds These herbs have various life-cycles; they have ferny, much-divided leaves with linear lobes; the capitula have mainly white, ligulate florets, yellow disc florets, and a solid receptacle; they have no receptacular scales and the pappus forms a very low rim. 426

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Senecio cineraria

It grows on a wide range of grassland types, on rather impoverished soils. In vc 35 it occurs in most tetrads, despite efforts to eradicate it. 375 t

Silver Ragwort

This Ragwort has stems, woody below, leaves and phyllaries densely, silvery-woolly-hairy; the mostly stalked leaves are lobed to the midrib with round-tipped lobes; the 12-15 mm capitula have 10-13, bright yellow rays grouped to form flattish heads. Introduced to British coastal gardens from the Mediterranean region, it appears in waste places as a throw-out. In vc 35 it was recorded on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, TGE, CT; and in other waste areas at Newport, Pontypool and Monmouth. 5 t

! Senecio x albescens

Senecio aquaticus

a hybrid Ragwort

This S. cineraria x S. jacobaea fertile hybrid is intermediate between its parents. It has more and narrower lobing in the ultimate divisions of its 2-3 pinnate leaves and the stems and leaf surfaces are hairy, and grey-green (rather than woolly-white as in S. cineraria); it is more grey and hairy than its other parent; it has pubescent disc-achenes like S. jacobaea. It is found on waste or disturbed ground where both parents occur. In vc 35, several plants were found on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, TGE, CT, det. EJC. 1 t

Senecio jacobaea

Marsh Ragwort

Unmistakeably a Ragwort, one which is sparselyhairy and has herbaceous stems branched from near the base and bearing little-lobed, lower leaves; the upper leaves have a few lateral lobes and a much larger terminal lobe; the lax inflorescence of a small number of 25-30 mm wide capitula with 12-15 mm yellow rays forms a shallowly-domed crown; the outer phyllaries are ¼ to ⅓ as long as the inner ones and none is black-tipped. 23

Common Ragwort

This is a tall, almost glabrous perennial to 1.5 m tall, branched above; the lower leaves are pinnately lobed with a small terminal lobe; the upper stem leaves are 1-2 pinnate and partially clasp the stem; the 12-15, golden-yellow rays give a diameter of 15-25 mm to the capitula, which are arranged in a flat-topped cluster; only the inner phyllaries are black-tipped.

It grows in marshes, damp meadows and by streams. In vc 35 it is a lowland plant of marshy ground and in river meadows. It is widespread but far less common as a result of land drains. 126 t

Senecio erucifolius

Hoary Ragwort

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427

Flora of Monmouthshire near Plantation Farm, Kilgwrrwg, ST/47.97, 1990, TGE. 1 t

This grey-downy Ragwort has tall, erect stems headed by a fairly compact, flattish-topped cluster of 12-15 mm, bright-yellow capitula with 13 ligulate florets; the leaves are pinnatelylobed, somewhat greyish-hairy, particularly beneath, the lower ones only stalked, the upper ones have a clasping base; all ultimate lobes are pointed; the outer phyllaries are about half as long as the inner, no phyllaries have black tips. Hoary Ragwort grows on basic, rich soils mainly in marginal, grassy places. In vc 35 it is commoner near the Severn, in the north-east and along river margins. 84 t

! Senecio squalidus

Senecio vulgaris var. vulgaris

Groundsel

This has an erect, glabrous to webby-hairy, somewhat fleshy, herbaceous stem to 30 cm; the leaves are pinnately-lobed, some to more than halfway to the midrib; the upper stem leaves are sessile and clasp the stem; the capitula have yellow, tubular florets only and are cylindrical to slightly flask-shaped; the outer phyllaries are much shorter than the inner, at least some are black-tipped.

Oxford Ragwort

This has a herbaceous, almost glabrous, muchbranched stem with dark-green leaves lanceolate to pinnately-lobed, the upper clasping the stem and pointed at their ends; the capitula have bright-yellow florets with the 13 rays spreading from 15 to 25 mm across; all the phyllaries are black-tipped.

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It is a weed of cultivated, waste and disturbed land. It grows in most of the vice-county’s tetrads. 379 t

Senecio vulgaris var. hibernicus Rayed Groundsel

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It is native on the volcanic ash of Mount Etna and was sent to Oxford Botanic Garden in 1794. From there it appeared on old walls in Oxford and then spread along roads and eventually railways to other rather dry or gritty surfaces that resembled the habitat on Mount Etna. In vc 35 it is now widespread along rail tracks not treated with herbicides, tracks made from coal waste, pavements and roadsides. 159 t

Senecio x baxteri

a hybrid Ragwort

This S. squalidus x S. vulgaris hybrid is intermediate in leaf and capitulum characters and highly sterile. It appears near its parents. It grew

It is similar to var. vulgaris but has 7-11, up to 5 mm long, yellow, outer rayed florets. 428

Flora of Monmouthshire greyish by the hairs and the adhering dust; the leaves are deeply pinnately-lobed, shortly petiolate below and sessile and loosely clasping above; the capitula are similar in shape to S. vulgaris but the green phyllaries are not blacktipped and the outer florets are pale yellow and shortly-rayed and reflexed as they mature.

Rayed Groudsel is occasional on road and track sides. Wade (1970), under var. radiatus, described it as frequent to locally common. Some of vc 35’s more recent sites are: roadside, E of White Castle, SO/38.16, 1986; roadside near Pentwyn, SO/37.25, 1987, TGE, UTE; near Pontypool, SO/2.0V; roadside, town centre, Abergavenny, SO/298.147, both 1987, RF; track near Trehir Quarries, ST/15.89, 1988, TGE, UTE; verge, Lower Machen, ST/2.8J, 1988, JPB; roadside N of Little Skirrid, SO/31.14; roadside, Penishaplwydd, SO/34.23, both 1988, RF; on bridge over A449, E of Usk, SO/394.003, 1988, TGE, UTE; roadside, Llanfihangel Crucorney, SO/32.20, 1989, MGR, SAR; roadside, Trostrey, SO/361.041, 1991, RF. 18 t

Senecio sylvaticus

Heath Groundsel

This hairy, yellow-green annual of varying height may grow to over 50 cm tall; its ribbed stem bears short-stalked, deeply-lobed leaves, the lower broader in the upper half while the simpler upper leaves clasp the stem; the 4-6 mm long, flask-shaped capitula have bright-yellow florets, the outer 10-15 have short rays that turn down as they mature.

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It grows on dry, dusty, gritty substrates. In the vice-county these conditions are met with on the coal waste in the valleys of west vc 35, as the concentration of records demonstrates; it is also frequent in industrial areas in waste spaces or where temporary tracks and paths are laid down. 69 t

DORONICUM Leopard’s-banes These hairy, herbaceous perennials spread by means of rhizomes to form linear patches in hedgerows; the leaves are alternate; the capitula are large, yellow and daisy-like with a large, circular disc of hermaphrodite, tubular florets surrounded by numerous, female florets with long, spreading strap-like rays.

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! Doronicum pardalianches Leopard’s-bane

This herb has erect, hairy stems to over 60 cm, with some short, glandular hairs; the longstalked basal leaves have cordate bases, the sessile stem-leaves are heart-shaped and may have short, broad teeth; the 3-6 cm across, yellow, daisy-like capitula are clustered in small groups. Introduced from W Europe, Leopard’s-bane is naturalised in hedges and woods. Wade (1970) described it as a rare denizen and gave 7 sites for it. Some recent sites for it are: many metres, road verge S of Itton, ST/494.959, 1959-2000s, TGE;

It grows on acid, sandy soils, which drain easily, on heaths and in woods, where felling has opened up the canopy and especially where brushwood has been burnt. In vc 35 its appearance depends on woodland and heath operations that produce the necessary open and sparsely vegetated spaces. 47 t

! Senecio viscosus

Sticky Groundsel

This annual, to over 50 cm tall, is glandularhairy, often covered with dust or grit sticking to the secretions; the dark-green leaves turned 429

Flora of Monmouthshire Colt’s-foot’s 15 cm, erect, scaly stem emerges in early spring before the leaves and has a single capitulum at its apex; the numerous, outer, yellow florets have linear rays; the palmateveined, long-stalked leaves, grow quite large, are shallowly palmate-lobed and edged with different sized teeth. It grows in many habitats that are open and disturbed. In vc 35, very few tetrads do not have it. 372 t

Lydart House entrance, SO/49.09; Wye Valley roadside, SO/53.01; both 1982, TGE; 80 m SSW of Pentopyn, Ponthir, ST/334.936, 1986, JDP, EDP; road verge, the Kymin, Monmouth, SO/527.121, 1990, BJG; large colony in Whitfield Wood, ST/495.961, 1990, TGE; Piercefield Park, ST/52.95; Fedw Wood, ST/51.98, both 1991, JRDV; Lydart Orles Wood, SO/507.096, 1994, BJG; large area, 1997, TGE. 17 t Doronicum pardalianches

PETASITES Butterburs These herbaceous perennials arise from rhizomes; the leaves arise directly from the rhizome after the flowers; and have cordate bases, palmate veining and are cottony-hairy beneath; the flowering stems are scaly and bear clusters of capitula, forming a raceme or a panicle; each plant bears flowers functioning as one sex only; the flowers may range from cream to purple.

Petasites hybridus

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TUSSILAGO Colt’s-foot These are herbaceous perennials growing from deep rhizomes; all the leaves, arising directly from the rhizomes, have a cordate base, palmate veins and cottony-hairs on the lower surface; the flower stem, adorned with numerous, spirally-arranged scales, is terminated with a single capitulum; the florets are yellow; the phyllaries occur in a single row.

Tussilago farfara

Butterbur

This flowers in early spring, the large roundish, long-stalked leaves, grey-hairy beneath, have lobes that converge at the leaf sinus; the veins are palmate and where the veins reach the margin the tooth is slightly larger than the many others; the 30 cm flowering stems are produced before the leaves; the mature inflorescence, at the head of the stem, is a cylindrical raceme; the white florets, the phyllaries and tapering bracts are frequently tinged purple due to anthocyanin. 23

Colt’s-foot 21

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18 32

It grows in wet habitats, particularly by rivers and ditches. In vc 35 it is usually near rivers; the northsouth lines of records pick out the Wye and Usk and the east-west ones in the north delineate the Monnow. 92 t

430

Flora of Monmouthshire

! Petasites japonicus

achenes are curved like a letter C with a beak at the distal end. Introduced as a bedding plant, it has appeared on tips and waste land, usually as a throw-out. In vc 35 it is found on waste ground usually near human habitation, in scattered sites, but has shown no permanency. 12 t

Giant Butterbur

This can occur in large patches with large, roundish, long-stalked leaves over 30 cm across and with an unevenly toothed margin, the lobes at the leaf sinus are incurved; the hemispherical inflorescence has cream male florets and white female ones; the upper part of the peduncle has pale green bracts over 1 cm wide. Introduced from Japan as a waterside feature, it has spread along streams and rivers. In vc 35 it was first recorded as 1 m² on the bank of the Berthin Brook, a short distance NW of its confluence with the R. Usk, SO/37.01, 1988, CT. Later a large colony was found on the bank of the Berthin Brook, W of the entrance to the then Usk College of Agriculture, SO/36.01, 1990, TGE, UTE (this colony was probably the origin of CT’s plants). 2 t

AMBROSIA Ragweed These are hairy annual to perennial herbs; the pinnately-lobed leaves are opposite becoming alternate on the upper stem; the drooping, male capitula, having a flat receptacle and are in longish, terminal racemes, while the inconspicuous female capitula, in groups of 1-3, face upwards in the axils of the uppermost leaves.

! Ambrosia artemisiifolia ! Petasites fragrans

Winter Heliotrope

Though the flowers and leaves appear together from November to February, the kidney to heart-shaped leaves increase in size to 20 cm across by the end of spring; the teeth of the leaf margin are evenly-sized; the inflorescence is a broad, rather lax raceme with rather few capitula, which have vanilla-fragrant, narrow, pink florets; the green (sometimes purplish) bracts, which are broadly lanceolate and often spathulate-ended, spiral up the peduncle. It is a marginal plant, mainly of roadsides. Introduced from the central Mediterranean region for early nectar for bees, it has spread along Monmouthshire roadsides helped by road operations that have transferred bits of its rhizomes with earth and stone movements. 103 t

CALENDULA Marigolds These herbs have varying life-cycles, and alternate, simple, sessile or very shortly-stalked leaves; the capitula have ligulate florets of shades of yellow to orange; the 1-2 rows of phyllaries are green with scarious margins; there are no scales on the receptacle; the achenes of any one capitulum are not uniform and have no pappus.

! Calendula officinalis

Ragweed

This is a hairy, erect annual to 1 m but usually less; the leaves are much divided pinnately; the spike-like raceme of yellow-green, male florets terminate the stems; each drooping capitulum consists of united phyllaries joined to form a hood sheltering c. 8 florets with 5 united bracts; the 1-3, female florets are inconspicuously situated in the axils of the leaves just below the male florets but face upwards; the phyllaries, united at the base only, cover the lower half of the ovaries.

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Introduced in birdseed or oilseed, it turns up on tips and waste places. In vc 35, the 4 records are: Alexandria Dock, Newport, ST/3.8, *, 1942, JMac; potato field, The Wern Farm, Llansoy, SO/45.02, 1979, GCR; 1 plant in crack of paving, near Orchard Cottage, next to Fountain Inn, SO/502.012, 2000, AB, det. TGE; in bird-feeding area, *, Rolls Avenue, Monmouth, SO/5.1, 2003, PJ. 2 t (2 t) Figure 27

Pot Marigold

This odorous, hairy, branched perennial has simple, obovate leaves extending almost to the top of the stem, where the 4-7 cm, yellow to orange, daisy-like capitula appear singly at the apices; the numerous rays are broad, strap-like and twice the length of the phyllaries; the 431

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 27

Ambrosia artemisiifolia 432

Ragweed

Flora of Monmouthshire I observed flowering in a plant of Ambrosia artemisiifolia from Avonmouth Docks in 1997. The plant appeared to be slightly protogynous. At the base and contiguous with the inflorescence, the female flowers occurred in small groups in the axils of bracts, with more female flowers in the axils of bracts lying just below the others but not contiguous with them. The male flowers were in terminal groups on the main stem, though as the plant matures, axillary stems are also terminated by male inflorescences. Each campanulate bract holds 7-11 male flowers. The perianth is dark and encloses 5-9 stamens, whose anthers are joined by their inner surfaces. In the centre is a hydra-shaped cellular structure with 'tentacles' which are erect at first. As the anthers ripen, the central structure elongates and the 'tentacles' become patent, and the pressure bursts open first the perianth to reveal its five members, and then the triangular ‘caps’ of the grouped anthers. The ‘caps’ seem to be hinged so that they spring open and appear to be an extension of the now elliptical/lanceolate blade-like stamen. Further elongation of the central structure causes the 'brush' to push the majority of the pollen out below the bract, where the wind can scatter it widely. Some pollen may also fall on the stigmas of the female flowers below. This method of dehiscence of anthers is one of the most unusual in Britain.

RUDBECKIA Coneflowers These perennials have alternate, simple to deeplylobed leaves; the green phyllaries are in 2 or more rows; the receptacle is conical; the capitula have central, tubular florets, which may be yellow to purple-black; the peripheral, ligulate florets are yellow.

GUIZOTIA Niger These are annual herbs with simple, sessile leaves, opposite below and alternate above; the smaller, inner phyllaries are scarious, the outer are longer and wider; the inner, tubular florets, interspersed with broad scales, are surrounded by c. 8 yellow, ligulate florets; there is no pappus.

! Helianthus annuus

! Guizotia abyssinica

! Rudbeckia hirta ‘Gloriosa’ Black-eyed Susan This has erect, hairy stems to over 50 cm with simple, lanceolate leaves edged with very small, remote teeth; the capitula are 5-10 cm across with purplish-black, tubular disc florets and rays with ⅔ purplish-black and the distal ⅓ yellow. Introduced from N America to gardens, it rarely appears on tips, rough and waste ground. The one vc 35 record was for a few plants on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, *, 1979, TGE, det. EJC. (1 t) HELIANTHUS Sunflowers These herbs have varying life-cycles, simple leaves, opposite below and alternate above; the green phyllaries are in 2 or more rows; the receptacle is flattish with tubular, disc florets, outside which are numerous yellow-rayed florets; the disc scales almost enclose the achenes; the pappus consists of 2 narrow, caducous scales.

Sunflower

This annual has erect, usually unbranched stems to 3 m, terminating in a single capitulum with a receptacle 2-30 cm across, numerous, large yellow rays and black, flattish, oval achenes. Introduced from N America and grown as an ornamental or grown on a large scale as oilseed. It occurs on tips, waste ground or where wild birdseed is used. In vc 35 it was recorded on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport ST/30.85 and 30.86, 1985, TGE, CT; 1-3 plants, on Afon Llwyd gravel, Craig-y-felin Wood side, ST/30.97, 1987, TDP, TGE. 1 t (2 t)

Niger

These are usually erect herbs to less than 1 m tall with sessile, lanceolate leaves, slightly clasping the stem; the capitula are 2-4 cm across, including rather untidy-looking yellow rays. Introduced from E Africa in birdseed and oilseed and found in docks, on tips and at bird-feeding stations. In vc 35 it has been recorded at 3 sites; 510 plants, on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1975, *, TGE, det. EJC; 197679, TGE, CT; 2 plants on gravely island in Afon Llwyd, Craig-y-felin Wood, ST/300.979, 1987, TGE, TDP; 1 plant, in crack in paving stones, Orchard Cottage, next to Fountain Inn, SO/502.012, 2000, AB, det. TGE.1 t (2 t) Plate 102

! Helianthus x laetiflorus Perennial Sunflower This H. pauciflorus x H. tuberosus hybrid is a bristly-hairy perennial with erect stems to 1.5 m tall; there is usually more than one capitulum, 12.5 cm in diameter, per stem. It is commonly grown in gardens and has its origin there. It escapes or is thrown out and occurs on waste ground near houses. In vc 35, the two sites 433

Flora of Monmouthshire were on a gravelly island in the Afon Llwyd, on the edge of Craig-y-felin Wood, ST/30.97, 1987, TDP, TGE; waste ground near the Afon Llwyd, Llanyrafon, 1987, RDP, TGE. 2 t

Duffryn, ST/43.99, 1985, TGE; 10-20 plants, among cobble stones, in square, Usk, SO/377.009, 2001, GSH; 5 plants, built up entrance, Blackwall, Magor Reserve, ST/425.865, 2001, TGE. 2 t (4 t)

GALINSOGA Gallant-soldiers These rather leafy annuals have petiolate, simple, ovate, opposite leaves, small capitula with phyllaries in 2 rows, the outer much shorter than the scarious-bordered inner ones.

BIDENS Bur-marigolds These are usually annuals with opposite leaves ranging from simple and toothed to pinnatelydivided; the capitula, with slightly domed receptacles, usually do not attract attention as they are rayless, though B. cernua may have conspicuous, yellow rays and B. frondosa sometimes has smaller, white rays; the phyllaries consist of green outer and scarious-bordered inner ones; receptacular scales are present; the central achenes are diagnostic having pappus scales with barbed, strong bristles.

! Galinsoga parviflora

Gallant-soldier

These may grow to over 50 cm tall, sparsely coated with hairs, some glandular; the receptacle scales end in 3 lobes, the central one largest; the pappus scales have a fringe of hairs of ± the same length. Introduced accidentally from S America, it has become naturalised on cultivated and waste ground. Believed to have been spread in Monmouthshire from a port on the south coast of England via the Midlands, Barry and garden centres in seed composts. It has been recorded in the Newport, Abergavenny and Chepstow districts but may be further afield than that. Records are for: rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.86, *, 1975, TGE, conf. EJC; garden path side, Reservoir House, Llantarnam, ST/303.923, 1982, R. Hewitt, conf. TGE; in concrete flower tubs, Caerleon Secondary School, ST/33.90, 198587, TDP, JDP; base of walls and gate posts, near garage, Monk St. Abergavenny, SO/300.142, 1986, GH; c. 1000 plants, Neil McDonald’s Nursery, Llanfoist, SO/285.137, 2003, TGE, CT; troughs in Abergavenny filled with flowers by McDonald’s also had the weed in quantity. 5 t (1 t)

! Galinsoga quadriradiata

Bidens cernua

Nodding Bur-marigold

This has erect stems to over 50 cm; the simple, narrow, toothed, sessile leaves are tapered to both ends and often joined around the stem by its opposite partner; the somewhat compressed, 4angled achenes have a narrow base that widens gradually upwards to end in 4 bristles at the end of the angles; the angles and the bristles are equipped with downwardly-directed barbs. 23

Shaggy-soldier

This is similar to G. parviflora but differs in having stems densely covered with long, spreading hairs mixed with glandular hairs on the peduncles; the receptacular scales are usually simple but may be mixed with some that have 1 or 2 small, lateral lobes; the fringe of hairs on the scales contains a fine, terminal awn. Introduced from S America, it occupies cultivated and waste ground. It has been recorded in 6 sites in vc 35 and is associated with the use of peat-based compost. Records are: 1 plant in a Chepstow garden, ST/52.93, 1979, TGE; in tubs, Rolls Hall, Monmouth, SO/508.128, 1982-84, PJ, det. TGE; on disturbed ground, side of Tredegar House, Newport, ST/28.85, 1984, JPC; cottage garden,

18 31

It grows on the edges of ponds, canals and streams, in ditches and marshy fields. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 7 sites for it. In vc 35 it is under threat from canal boats using re-opened stretches of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, lowering of the water-table on the Levels and the use of land drains on farmland. It is doubtful that 19 sites could be found in the vice-county in 2005. More recent records are: reen, Whitewall, ST/42.86, 1957-58; waste ground, Llanwern, 434

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows on the edges of ponds, canals and streams, in ditches or marshy fields. Wade (1970) described it as widespread but not common and gave 20 sites for it. It is the commonest of the 3 vc 35 Burmarigolds, but it less frequent than formerly due to land drainage. 72 t

ST/375.872, 1972, CT; wet meadow, Magor, ST/41.86, 1975, both TGE; Drenewydd Reen, ST/275.831, Stutwall Reen, ST/415.867, both 1982-3, NCC Reen Survey; reen side, Duffryn, ST/30.84; 1985, ME; marshy fields, Marshfield, ST/27.82, NCC Reen Survey; Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Cwmynyscoy-Sebastopol, ST/29.99, 1986, TGE, UTE; Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal margin, W of Llanellen, SO/29.11, 1987, RF; canal margin, Mamhilad, SO/30.03, 1987, TGE, UTE; canal margin, Pontypool, SO/293.002, 1987, AJI, MI, RF; Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Five Locks-Forge Hammer, ST/28.96, 1988; near R. Usk, Kemys Commander, SO/34.04; springs, near The Pant, SO/37.07, 1989, TGE, UTE; marsh, Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal–Malpas Brook, ST/30.89, 1989, TGE; Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Tamplin Lock-Malpas, ST/29.91, 1989; 2001, both TGE, UTE; R. Wye side, SE of Wyesham, SO/52.11, 1990, BJG; 2 patches, damp ground near Tredegar House, Newport, ST/288.853, 1994, MJ; many plants, S & E side, Penpergwm Pond, SO/326.098, 1999, TGE; 10-20 plants, both edges of reen, NNE of Church, Marshfield, ST/262.826, 2003, TGE. 19 t (1 t)

Bidens tripartita

! Bidens frondosa

Beggarticks

This has stalked, pinnately-lobed leaves, the terminal lobe large and the lateral lobes stalked; the achenes, very dark when mature, are flattened with upwardly-directed stiff hairs on the two sides that continue as 2 stiff bristles with downwardly-directed stiff hairs. Introduced from the Americas, it has become naturalised by canals and rivers and other wet places. In the vice-county it was first recorded in Newport Docks in 1954 by D. McClintock. More recent sites are: waste ground, Newport Docks, ST/31.85, 1972; 1 plant, 1982, both TGE; waste ground, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1973, TGE; garden weed, Chepstow, ST/52.93, 1975-94, TGE; canal bank, Pontnewydd, ST/29Y, 1987, 5 Locks, Lowlands, ST/287.967, 1987, TGE et al.; RM, det. AEW; canal, Five Locks-Forge Hammer, ST/28.96, 1989, TGE, UTE; reen side, Saltmarsh Lane, Goldcliff, ST/352.832, BSBI meeting, det. GMK; frequent in Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Highcross, Newport, ST/272.888; 14 Locks, Highcross, ST/283.885, both 2001, TGE. 4 t (2 t)

Trifid Bur-marigold

This has stalked, variably-lobed leaves, though some have 3 lobes with the terminal one unstalked or with a short, winged stalk and the other 2 sessile; the 4-angled achene is more compressed than that of B. cernua becoming suddenly wider at its apex, two of its angles continue as long bristles, 1 or 2 of the other angles may continue as a short bristle; both ribs and bristles have downwardly-pointing barbs.

COSMOS Mexican Aster These are annuals with all leaves opposite and 2-3pinnate with filiform lobes; the green, narrow, outer phyllaries have a scarious border, the inner are wider and totally scarious; the large, rayed capitula have a flat receptacle on which there are scales; the pappus has usually 2 bristles with downwardly-directed barbs; the numerous rays are usually pinkish-purple and the tubular disc florets are yellow.

! Cosmos bipinnatus 20

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Mexican Aster

This often grows to over 1.5 m with opposite, pinnate leaves divided into thread-like segments; the daisy-like capitula are 2-4 cm across with pinkish-purple rays, that tend to fade to pink with age, and are borne singly on long, slender stalks. Introduced to British gardens from Mexico and the southern U.S.A., it was a frequent casual on tips before their sanitisation, and in other waste areas.

435

Flora of Monmouthshire In vc 35 it was a common sight on the rubbish tip, on the Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/35.80 and 36.80 throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. (2 t)

clustered on short stalks at much the same level; the hairy, greenish phyllaries are in two rows, the outer much shorter; the pink corollas have very short apical lobes with much longer, palepink styles protruding conspicuously. It grows in a range of habitats, in grassland, woodland, disturbed and waste ground, in wet or dry conditions. It is widespread in vc 35, apart from on the higher land of the north and northwest. 283 t

TAGETES Marigolds These fragrant annuals have pinnate leaves, opposite on much of the stem, alternate above; the single row of phyllaries are fused to form a sheath around the capitulum.

! Tagetes minuta

LILIIDAE Monocotyledons Monocotyledons are usually herbaceous, have stems which, if thickened, are never from a permanent ring of cambium, the vascular bundles being scattered from the stem margin to the centre; the seed root is short-lived; the leaf main veins are parallel to each other and the secondary veins do not form a branched net-structure; the flower parts are normally in 3s; the pollen is bilaterally symmetrical; and the seeds have 1 cotyledon only. Exceptions to the above occur.

Southern Marigold

This marigold has somewhat woody stems that may be over 1 m tall; the paired, pinnate leaves spread almost horizontally; the shortlystemmed, toothed leaf-segments are narrowly lanceolate and dotted with sessile glands; cylindrical capitula, less than 4 mm wide, are clustered on short stalks at the apex of the plant; each capitulum usually has 3 ligulate florets with yellow-green rays less than 3 mm long. Tagetes minuta is introduced from S America, usually with wood. In vc 35 its only occurrence was 2 plants on hard core, behind Taylor Bros. Building, Crindau, Newport, ST/31.89. 1988, TGE, 1st Welsh record. 1 t

BUTOMACEAE Flowering-rush family These glabrous, aquatic perennials root in mud and send up flowering stems to 100 cm or more; all the leaves are basal, simple, strap-like, parallel-veined and lack stipules; the top of each peduncle ends where c. 6 pointed bracts encircle the point where the peduncle divides into slender pedicels; each pedicel bears a single, bisexual, actinomorphic flower with parts in 3s. The fruit consists of a group of 6 follicles.

EUPATORIUM Hemp Agrimony These perennials have leaves with 3 deep lobes that are elliptical and toothed; the corolla is mauvy-pink or much less commonly white.

Eupatorium cannabinum

Hemp Agrimony

Butomus umbellatus

Flowering Rush

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35 18

This has erect, densely-hairy, purplish-red stems, bearing opposite, short-stemmed leaves of 3 lobes with a pair of smaller leaves arising in their axils; the pinkish capitula are densely

Flowering Rush has erect, narrow, parallelveined leaves, amidst which rise smooth 436

Flora of Monmouthshire flowering stems to over 1 m tall, ending in a terminal umbel of pink flowers, with 3 pink, boat-shaped sepals alternating with 3 rounded, pink petals and many stamens with pink anthers. This grows in ponds, canals, ditches and river margins. In the vice-county it grows in reens, ponds and on the margins of rivers. It has no permanence in the reens because many are now dried out, due to the lowering of the water table and fairly regular excavation by JCBs. It is certainly more numerous in the northern half of the Wye, though views of it are becoming obstructed by the tall, invasive Indian Balsam. Wade (1970) stated it was locally frequent and gave 11 sites. More recent records with at least 1-km grid references are: over 100 plants, between Redbrook and Dixton, SO/51.11 and 52.13, 1987-1990, BJG; in stream and reen, Collister Pill, ST/447.863, 1987; 8 clumps, reen, St Mellons moors, ST/24.81, 1987, GH, NFS, CDP; Duffryn, ST/30.83, 1989, ME; ?introduced, small pond, Beechwood Park, Newport, ST/332.839, 1990, PAS; Middle Road Reen, Redwick, ST/406.838, Faendre Reen, ST/24.80; Cockenton Reen, Redwick, ST/413.845; Cold Harbour Reen, ST/42.84, 1991, Botanical Survey of Reens; planted, North Lake, Cleppa Park, ST/280.846, 1994, GH; 10 plants, Pratt Reen, E side of Sewage Works, Magor Pill, ST/43.84, 1994, TGE; 45 plants, Lighthouse to R. Ebbw estuary, ST/31.82 to 31.83, 1994, CT; reen, adjacent to R. Severn, S of Redwick, ST/40.83, 1996, JRDV; east bank of R. Wye, SO/535.102, 1999, CT; 14 plants, Vaindre Winter Sewer, 30.82 to 31.83; 14 plants, E bank of Windmill Reen, Redwick, ST/4052.8396, both 2002, TGE; W bank, R. Wye, E of Upper Hael Wood, SO/532.079, 2002, SJT; 48 flowering/fruiting plants, margins of Hendre Lake, 9 flowering/fruiting plants, Pil-du Reen, W & E of Hendre Lake, ST/245.804, both 2002, TGE, many more vegetative plants in all 3 sites; 11-12 flowering plants, W bank of R. Wye, 20 m upstream of Bigsweir Bridge and 2 more 30 m downstream, SO/538.051, 2002, SJT; 64 plants on W side and c. 50 on E side of Wye between Redbrook Rail Bridge, SO/533.098 and start of Livox Wood, SO/522.114; 23 flowering plants from Bigsweir Bridge SO/53.05 N to where trees obscure views of river edge, 2002, TGE; 56 plants on Wye bank N of Wye Bridge, Monmouth, SO/511.128 with many plants 25-30 m downstream of it, 2003, SJT. 35 t Plate 101

ALISMATACEAE Water-plantain family These are hairless aquatics rooted in mud in shallow water; the simple, elliptic to ovate leaves are usually basal and lack stipules; flowers vary from solitary to simple or compound umbels, or may be whorled; the flower parts are free and in 3s or multiples of 3; the fruit is a cluster of achenes or follicles containing few seeds. SAGITTARIA Arrowheads The basal leaves have blades that vary in shape due to their position in the water, emergent leaf blades are sagittate, floating leaves may be elliptic and submerged ones linear; the upper whorls of flowers are male and the lower female; the 3 petals are white and conspicuous; the stamens are numerous; each flower produces a globose fruit; the plant over-winters as a special bud produced on stolon ends.

Sagittaria sagittifolia

Arrowhead

Its long petioles, emerging from the water, end in sagittate blades with all 3 lobes pointed; the flowering stems come up among the leaves with 2-4 whorls of 3 flowers 2-3 cm across; the sepals are green with a scarious margin, the petals are white often basally blotched purple; the anthers are purplish; the fruits are globose. 23

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It grows in ponds and slow-moving canals, reens and rivers. Wade (1970) said it was locally common on the Levels and rare elsewhere and gave 6 sites for it. Recent site records were concentrated on the Levels, though reen management is not favourable to stable populations, and in the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. Records are: canal, Pontymoel, SO/298.011, 1989, RF; canal, Malpas to Waen Lock, ST/30.89; 437

Flora of Monmouthshire canal, Forge Hammer to Ty Coch, ST/28.95 to 29.93, 1989, scattered plants along both stretches, TGE, UTE; 40 m² of Broadway Reen, Peterstone Wentlooge, ST/271.812, 1996, TGE; patches along Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, SO/306.041 to 314.063, 2000, TGE; 2 m² and 1 m² in Vaindre Winter Sewer at ST/311.828 and 308.825 respectively, 2002, TGE; reen full of it NE of Newhouse, ST/30.83, 2002, TGE. 24 t Plate 103

BALDELLIA Lesser Water-plantain This is a low, short, creeping perennial with tapered, lanceolate leaves and 1 or 2 whorls of white or pale lilac flowers with the petals blotched yellow at their bases; the fruits are a globose cluster of achenes.

18 31

It grows in ponds, reens, canals, ditches and slowmoving water. In vc 35 it is widespread except on the higher ground. The extraction of water, land drainage and the lowering of the water table have adversely affected its numbers. 163 t

Baldellia ranunculoides Lesser Water-plantain This has a short, erect, flowering stem ending in a single whorl of pedicels each bearing a single, 10-16 mm across, 3-petalled, white or lilac flower, each petal is blotched yellow at its base; the pointed achenes are in a globose cluster. It grows in wet margins of ponds, reens, streams and in marshes and bogs. There have been no records of it in vc 35 since the 1950s and it must be considered extinct here. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 5 sites which were: Llanthony district, SH; near Llandenny, SGC; Trellech Bog, AL; Magor, *, SH; WAS; near Rumney, *. My own records are: wet land and nearby reen, Bridewell Common, ST/43.86, 1950-55; and reen, Redwick, ST/42.85, 1957-59. (7 t)

Alisma lanceolatum Narrow-leaved Water-plantain This is similar to A. plantago-aquatica but it has leaves that are lanceolate and cuneate-based; the pinkish flowers open usually well before midday and the erect, straight style occurs in the upper half of the achene. 23

ALISMA Water-plantains The leaves of these plants range from linear to long-stalked and broadly ovate, all from a stock rooted in the mud; the rather small flowers usually form a whorled panicle; the petals are white to pale mauve, with a basal, yellow blotch; there are 6 stamens; the fruit has a single whorl of achenes.

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Alisma plantago-aquatica

Water-plantain

It grows less commonly in the same watery places as A. plantago-aquatica. Wade (1970) stated that it was rare and gave 2 sites, Peterstone Wentlooge, *, SGH; and Undy, *. Later records in the vicecounty are: Several plants, Collister Pill Reen, ST/44.86, 1987, TGE; Llanover, SO/306.084, 1987; Cwm Celyn, SO/297.092, 1988; Bridge Farm, SO/295.115, 1990; Coed-y-Person,

The basal leaves of this perennial are long-stalked and end in a broadly lanceolate blade that has a truncate or shallowly cordate base; the longer flowering stems, sometimes to 1 m tall, have a panicle of several whorls of 3-petalled, white to occasional purple-tinged flowers 6-10 mm across that open after midday; the style protrudes from about half way up the achene. 438

Flora of Monmouthshire It floats where water is slow moving on reens, canals, ponds etc. In vc 35 it is concentrated on the Levels and on the lower reaches of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. 34 t Plate 104

SO/278.137, 1990; Llanfoist, SO/291.122, 1990, all RF; Rogerstone, ST/26.89, 1985; Pontymister, ST/24.90, 1988, TGE, UTE; Penperlleni-Goetre, SO/31.05, 1997, TGE; all in the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal; W bank of R. Wye under Washing’s Wood, SO/528.107, 2001, TGE. 24 t

STRATIOTES Water-soldier Water-soldier is largely submerged but rises to the surface to facilitate pollination; the sessile leaves are narrowly lanceolate with saw-tooth edges in a crowded rosette; they lack stipules; the flowers are chiefly dioecious and emerge from a stalked spathe; the sepals and petals are in 3s but the white petals are much larger; the female flowers are solitary and sessile with a 6-styled ovary surrounded by sterile staminodes only, the males are on pedicels and have 12 stamens.

HYDROCHARITACEAE Frogbit family These submerged or floating aquatics have alternate or whorled leaves; the dioecious, actinomorphic flowers occur in 1s or 2s in axillary positions and are enclosed in bract-like spathes; the sepals and white petals are in 3s with many stamens; the capsule splits lengthwise. HYDROCHARIS Frogbit The small, neat, round leaves with a basal sinus floating on the water surface have often hidden, dangling roots below; the leaves form a basal rosette with large, entire stipules enclosing the petioles; the plants are mostly dioecious but a small number are monoecious; the conspicuous flowers have petals considerably larger than the sepals, males have 9-12 stamens some of which are reduced as staminodes, the females 6 staminodes only.

Hydrocharis morsus-ranae

! Stratiotes aloides

Water-soldier

The aquatic has been likened to a pineapple top because of the rosette of sharply-toothed linearlanceolate, rather brittle leaves; the 30-45 mm, white flowers are held just above the water surface in late summer; female plants dominate but mainly in the eastern half of England. It grows mainly in calcareous ponds, canals and dykes. It has been deliberately introduced into artificial ponds along the coast road between Newport and Cardiff: water park pond, near Autophon Factory, Cypress Way, St. Mellons, ST/249.815, 1994, GH; many plants in artificial pond, Industrial Park, ST/223.787, 1996, TGE. 2 t

Frogbit

This plant consists of floating stolons giving rise to clusters of stalked leaves at intervals; the floating leaves are roundish with a sinus almost closed by the leaf lobes either side of the petiole junction; the white flowers of 3 petals up to 2 cm across have a yellow patch at their bases; the males are in stalked whorls of 1-4 with 12 stamens and the females solitary with 6 styles.

EGERIA Large-flowered Waterweed Rooted in mud, its branched, submerged stems have 4-5 whorls of sessile leaves that are long and narrow and minutely toothed; it has no stipules; the long pedicel emerges from a sessile spathe on the stem and bears a white flower just above the water surface.

! Egeria densa Large-flowered Waterweed Its stems may spread to more than 2 m and bear leaves to 30 mm long by 1 mm wide which terminate in an acute point; the 3 white petals are much larger than the 3 sepals; there are 9 stamens in the male flowers; female plants have not been recorded in Britain. Introduced from S America to rather still, warm, watery habitats, it has probably been thrown out into nearby waterways. In vc 35 it was seen flowering freely in the Cwmbran Basin at the southern end of the navigable portion of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, ST/2878.9702,

18 31

439

Flora of Monmouthshire 2000 by BCh, sharing the water with Ceratophyllum demersum, Elodea nuttallii and Azolla filiculoides. 2 t

ponds and the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal and the edges of rivers, than E. canadensis. 23

ELODEA Waterweeds From roots in the mud, long, branched stems spread bearing minutely toothed, sessile, opposite lower leaves, while the upper are in whorls of usually 3-4 leaves; female plants only occur in Britain and their solitary flowers are on long, thread-like pedicels emerging from a sheathing spathe, sessile on the stem.

! Elodea canadensis

Canadian Waterweed

Its long stems bear oblong to ovate leaves with obtuse or broadly acute tips, and usually in whorls of 3 measuring 0.8 to 2.3 mm wide c. 0.5 mm from the apex.

18 31

18 32

It was introduced from N America as an oxygenating plant for aquaria and ponds and has become naturalised in ponds, lakes, reens, canals and slow-moving water. The 1st vice-county record was in 1893 by WAS. It was once common in the reens of the Levels and in the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal but is gradually being supplanted by E. nuttallii. 99 t

! Elodea nuttallii

The first vice-county record was from the R. Wye near the left bank, just S of the cable bridge at the Biblins, SO/549.143 in 1982 at a BSBI meeting I was leading, when a keen, very young, rather wet and muddy TCGR breathlessly, trailing bits of vegetation, triumphantly presented the assembled party with a tatty bit of waterweed which he declared to be Elodea nuttallii. Some other records are: a reen, Goldcliff, ST/370.829, 1983, TGE; 1986, TGE, UTE; Torwick Reen, NW of Peterstone Great Wharf, ST/24.79, 1985, AJ, det. NTH; Goldcliff Pill feeder reen, ST/36.82, 1985, TGE, UTE; reen, SE Rumney, ST/2.7C, 1985, NCC record; artificial pond, Autophon Factory, St. Mellons, ST/249.815, 1988, GH; Mamhilad Canal, SO/30.03, 1989, TGE, UTE; Lower Meend Farm, SO/509.082, 1989, JFH; Liswerry Pool, Newport, ST/34.87, 1990, TGE; planted in pond, Danygraig Reserve, ST/23.90, 1992, JFH; reen, north of West Usk Lighthouse ST/31.83, 1994, CT. 28 t

LAGAROSIPHON Curly Waterweed The stems, rooted in the mud, are long and branched under water; the minutely-toothed leaves, spirally arranged along the stem, have 2 tiny, basal scales, and are curled back towards the stem from which a filamentous pedicel carries a reddish flower, with parts in 3s, to the surface; there are 3 deeply bifid styles.

Nuttall’s Waterweed

This is similar to E. canadensis but with leaves in whorls of 3-4, strongly recurved and/or twisted and with acute or acuminate tips; the width of the leaves are 0.2 to 0.7 mm c. 0.5 mm from the apex; fresh root tips are white to greyish-green; the sepals are up to 2.5 mm long. Introduced from N America it has spread to ponds, lakes, reens, canals and slow-moving water. In vc 35 it is already more common in many reens, small

! Lagarosiphon major

Curly Pondweed

The long stem, rooted in the mud, is densely covered with leaves recurved almost to touch the stem to form a green cylinder from which a thread-like pedicel, via a sessile tubular spathe, 440

Flora of Monmouthshire apart from the long-fringed styles on the ovary which forms a cylindrical, 7-10 mm long fruit of 3 fertile cells, narrowing at the base and on a short pedicel.

grows upwards to the water surface, above which it produces a tiny, reddish flower of 3 sepals and 3 petals of equal size (never seen by me); the ovary bears 3 deeply bifid styles. It grows in ponds, lakes, canals and slow-moving water. In vc 35 it was first recorded in an artificial pond on Lower Grove Farm, SO/454.186, 1976, by RP The pond had been constructed the previous year. Accompanying plants were Potamogeton natans, P. pectinatus and P. pusillus all appearing by natural means. Other records are: planted in water park, Cypress Way, St. Mellons, ST/249.815, 1994, GH; many m² in small lake, Severn Tunnel Junction, ST/4593.8734, 2003, TGE, NFS. 4 t (1 t)

APONOGETONACEAE Cape-pondweed family

These are aquatic perennials rooted in the mud of lakes and ponds, the stem rising to the surface from a tuberous base. The leaves also arise on long stalks from the base and float on the surface. The flowers of 1-2 tepals form along each branch of a Y-shaped fork at the head of the stem. The stamens are numerous.

! Aponogeton distachyos

It grows in marshes or wet fields. In vc 35 it has decreased due to land drainage. Wade (1970) said it was common and gave 13 sites, some of which encompassed many tetrads. Some recent records are: lowland marsh, Llwyn-y-celyn, ST/479.949, 1973, TGE; many plants, wet meadow shallow ditches, Magor, ST/41.86, 1975, TGE; many plants, marshy field, near R. Rhymney, NE of Llanbradach, ST/154.921; wet meadow, near Pant Brook, Llandewi Rhydderch, SO/35.13, 1986; damp meadow, Wilcrick Moor, ST/39.87, three plants in 1986, wet meadow (SSSI) between Underwood and Llanmartin, ST/385.895, 1987, four plants, TGE, UTE; very wet meadow, Pontyspig, SO/28.20, 1987, TGE, MP; wet pasture, Lower Farm, SO/156.055; wet field, S of LlwynGwyn, SO/306.187, 1987; N part of Triley Court wet wood, SO/304.177, 1987-8, all three RF; wet meadow near brook, Cwm Llanwenarth, SO/25.12, 1988, TGE, RF; wet field, Twyn-yr-Argoed, SO/43.07, 1988, DEL; scattered in base-rich flush, N of Pen-y-galchen, SO/246.122, 2003, CFB. 17 t

Cape Pondweed

The leaves with deeply incised veins are oblongelliptic. The 10-20 mm long white tepals are petallike. The fruit is a group of 3 follicles. Imported from S Africa and planted in ponds where it is naturalised and often persistent. First vc record reported as abundant in small pond above colliery tip, below Twyn yr Hafod, Mynydd Bedwellty, SO/151.058, 2002, SDSB, GSM. 1 t JUNCAGINACEAE Arrowgrass family These are glabrous perennials with leaves in basal rosettes, growing from rhizomes; the linear leaves have a basal sheath; the sessile, inconspicuous, hermaphrodite flowers, on leafless stems, are arranged in a simple, terminal raceme; the 6 sepaloid tepals surround a 6-celled ovary that splits into 3 or 6 1-seeded segments in fruit.

Triglochin maritimum TRIGLOCHIN Arrowgrasses These superficially resemble small rushes but the 3 or 6 one-seeded fruit segments separate them.

Triglochin palustre

Sea Arrowgrass

It is similar in structure to T. palustre but it is a much bigger and sturdier plant, with leaves flat on upper side of leaf bases, flowers and fruits, particularly more crowded and noticeable; the fruit has 6 fertile cells and is rounded at its base. This is confined to salt marshes or grassland subject to salt spray. In vc 35 it grew along the salt marshes of the Severn and the lower tidal reaches of the Usk and Wye. The building and raising of

Marsh Arrowgrass

The sheathing base of the filamentous leaves hide the base of the 1-2, erect, flowering stems; the upper side of the broad base of the leaves is deeply furrowed; the flowers are insignificant, 441

Flora of Monmouthshire the sea wall close to the muddy shore has reduced the available habitat and the population has become much more sparse. 32 t

main veins parallel to the midrib are translucent and lighter than the rest of the leaf. This separates it from the somewhat similar P. polygonifolius.

Triglochin maritimum 23

18 31

It thrives in many watery habitats with varying quantities of nutrients required for plant growth. It is no wonder that in vc 35 it is the commonest Potamogeton with opaque, green, floating leaves to be found in the reens on the Levels, in small ponds and in the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. 73 t

POTAMOGETONACEAE Pondweed family These are glabrous, perennial aquatics, having stems with alternate or opposite leaves; the leaves may be submerged, floating or if the petioles are stiff enough, held above the water surface; the leaf shape varies from linear to broadly elliptic; the leaves have a sheathing base that is either free and stipule-like or fused to the leaf base forming a sheath with a free flap at the end; the small flowers have 4 sepaloid tepals and 4 stamens and form fruits in a cluster of usually 4 achenes or drupes (sometimes there is only one).

Potamogeton polygonifolius Bog Pondweed 23

POTAMOGETON Pondweeds All the leaves, apart from those subtending the inflorescence, are alternate, and all have a membranous sheath or stipule; their small fruits have a thin, soft, outer layer covering a hard inner shell.

Potamogeton natans Broad-leaved Pondweed

18 31

This has large to 10 x 4.5 cm, opaque, green, oblong-elliptic, floating leaves on submerged, long, flexible petioles especially at the junction with the blade which makes it appear jointed at right-angles; submerged leaves have no blades, instead the petiole is modified to function as a narrow leaf; the 6 x 1 cm stalked, cylindrical inflorescence has numerous, tightly packed flowers and is held just above the water surface. If a fresh floating leaf is held up to the light the

It has rhizomes and stems of varying thicknesses; its leaves vary in shape governed by its habitat and their position on the stem; they are translucent, pale-green, linear low on the stem, elliptic when submerged, and many times longer than wide when higher up the stem, and, if floating, the leaves are green (pinkish-brown when young), slightly coriaceous, and ovate-elliptic, and up to 3 442

Flora of Monmouthshire times as long as wide; if it is growing in a dryish ditch the leaves may be broadly ovate and up to twice as long as wide. The main lateral veins, when viewed against the light, are darker than the rest of the leaf, thus distinguishing it from P. natans. It has a cylindrical inflorescence of closely packed flowers and a reddish-brown fruit with a straight, apical beak. It is confined to shallow ponds, bogs, ditches and small streams on acid soils. In vc 35 it is found mainly in the boggy region of the NW uplands and boggy patches above the R. Wye. 39 t

Potamogeton lucens

mm on stout peduncles; the fruit is brownishgreen with an apical and straight beak. 23

Shining Pondweed

All the leaves of P. lucens are submerged; they are large to 20 x 6.5 cm, varying in shape from elliptic-obovate to oblanceolate with somewhat wavy margins and are a shiny, yellowish-green; the midrib is noticeable with 4-5 lateral veins on each side, there are numerous secondary veins forming a network sweeping across from midrib to margins; the 30-80 mm stipules on the main stem reducing to 20 mm on short branches are open, rigid, translucent and pale green and persistent; only 2 veins are obvious, dry or wet, and are winged on the lower half. This lowland species requires deepish, calcareous water in lakes, canals, slow sections of rivers and fenland drains. The one record, in the Wye just N of Bigsweir bridge, SO/538.051 was of a small, apparently rooted patch, reached with a grapnel, could have been swept down from limestone gorges near Symonds Yat following a vegetation trim for the benefit of anglers or canoeists. Two older records are: R. Wye, Monmouth, SO/5.1B, 1935, SGC; R. Wye, E of Hadnock Quarries, SO/5.1, 1944, RL, both det. JED & GT. (1 t)

18 31

Like P. natans, P. perfoliatus has a wide tolerance of nutrient concentration and water conditions. In vc 35 it has been lost from most ditches near the sea wall as most are dry for much of the year, particularly E of Newport, due to the lowering of the water table and it is present only in slowmoving stretches of the rivers and canals. Many former reen sites are now devoid of it. 13 t

Potamogeton pusillus

Lesser Pondweed

This is a filamentous pondweed with less than 2 mm wide, linear, submerged, 3-veined leaves with mucronate tips; its stipules are fused proximally in a tube around the stem. 23

Potamogeton perfoliatus Perfoliate Pondweed

It has robust rhizomes and long, smooth, trailing stems; all leaves are submerged and little longer to many times longer than wide; they are translucent, various shades of green, most are broadly ovate with amplexicaul bases and rather blunt apices; the midrib and maybe 1-3 prominent lateral veins have pale bands of tissue each side of them, there may be 5-12 more but faint lateral veins and even fainter crossveining, but much less conspicuous than for P. lucens. The 3-22 mm stipules are open, delicate, translucent and round-tipped and soon shed; the inflorescences of 12-20 flowers are up to 25 x 8

18 31

It prefers base-rich waters in lakes, ponds, canals, rivers, streams and reens. It is concentrated in reens on the Levels but the increasing growth of Duckweeds is restricting light reaching the submerged plants, to their detriment. 34 t 443

Flora of Monmouthshire SO/3223.5159; SO/3237.3012, 1978, NTHH; reens, near Sluice Farm, ST/25.79; Cold Harbour Reen, ST/42.94; Meres Reen, ST/39.84, 1982-3, NCC Survey (Reens); Rhosog Fawr Reen, ST/247.791; Rhosog Fach Reen, ST/228.777; Summerway Reen, ST/270.819; New Dairy Reen, ST/304.836; Wharf Reen, ST/307.823, all 1991, Botanical Survey (Reens); pond, Blaenavon, SO/239.097, 240.097, 1998, AW, EGW. 40 t

Potamogeton obtusifolius Blunt-leaved Pondweed It has no rhizomes; the filamentous, 3-5-veined, submerged, linear leaves are 2.5-3.5 mm wide, obtuse to round-ended with an apiculate tip, and usually less than 10 cm long; the fruit is 2.6-3.2 mm long. It grows in lakes, ponds, canals and streams. In vc 35 it seems to be collected less commonly than one would expect. Wade (1970) made no mention of it and there are only 5 records, which are: Mill Reen, near Magor Pill Farm, ST/429.868, Rhosog-Fawr Reen, Peterstone, ST/266.807, both 1989-91, Botanical Survey (Reens); reen, near Cold Harbour Pill, ST/43.84; Pen-y-fan Pond, SO/195.001, 1996, TCGR, PAS; 6 x 2 m, Dingestow Court Lake, SO/451.094, 2006, SDSB 5 t

Potamogeton berchtoldii

Potamogeton trichoides Hairlike Pondweed It has no rhizomes; its smooth, thread-like stems bear only narrow, submerged leaves; the leaves have long tapering apices, a prominent, wide midrib and faint lateral veins; the stipules are very long, tightly-rolled and greenish; its usually warty fruits have less than 4 carpels.

Small Pondweed

It has no rhizomes; the stems are very slender, branched and have well-developed nodal glands; the 3-veined leaves are submerged, 0.5-2.3 mm wide and linear; the midrib is conspicuous and has a band of pale tissue either side and a lateral vein outside each; the stipules are open; the green fruits are 2.7 x 1.8 mm.

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In Britain, it is recorded from ponds, lakes, reservoirs, drainage ditches, canals and gravel pits. In vc 35 it has been found only on the Levels and in every case in the reens and ponds. 24 t

Potamogeton crispus 18 31

Curled Pondweed

From a compressed stem, up to 9 cm x 12 mm, alternate, conspicuously, wavy leaves are produced which are narrowly oblong, sessile and blunt-tipped, with short-toothed margins, they are green often with a brownish or reddish tinge; axillary peduncles bear terminal inflorescences, and at their base, up to 17 mm, delicate, open, translucent stipules, which are pinkish or brownish; it has long-beaked fruits. It grows in lakes, ponds, canals, rivers and streams. In vc 35 it occurs in upper stretches of the main rivers, in lakes and in reens of the Levels. It is widespread but decreasing due to reens drying up,

It grows in all sorts of watery habitats. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 5 sites for it. In vc 35 it is frequent in ponds and reens on the Levels and ponds towards northern parts. Some more records are: Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Pontypool, SO/2.0, * BM, 1837, CC; Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Crumlin, ST/2.9, * K, 1858, GB; near Heol-las, St Brides Wentlooge, ST/2.8, *, 1974, CS, PMW; St Brides Wentlooge, ST/2.8, *, 1975, PMW; reen, St Mellons, ST/2.8, 1975, * BM, PMW; all det. JED & GT; R. Usk, 444

Flora of Monmouthshire dense covering of reens by duckweeds and run off fertilizers from adjacent land. 55 t (13 t)

which has caused many reens to dry up, has reduced the number of available sites considerably. In 2005 it is less common than in 1985. 50 t (5 t)

Potamogeton crispus GROENLANDIA Opposite-leaved Pondweed It is distinguished from Potamogetons in usually having all leaves in opposite pairs, with only the uppermost having 2 membranous stipules fused to the edges of the leaf base; the fruit has a thin, papery pericarp.

Groenlandia densa Opposite-leaved Pondweed

Its rounded stems may be slender or robust and variously branched; all its paired leaves are submerged; they clasp the stem and are lanceolate to ovate, bright green to brownish tinged, often recurved and wavy with an obtuse tip. It grows in shallow, often calcareous water in ponds, ditches, streams, rivers and canals. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave JHC’s record at Usk, but continued ‘no specimens exist in Clark’s Herbarium, the record must therefore be considered a doubtful one. The only more recent record was ‘occasional in streams in SO/3.0 & 3.1’ (no grid references were given) and came in a letter from BMF in 1973. She was usually reliable and she came from the same area as JHC, though not of the same century. (? 2 t)

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Potamogeton pectinatus

Fennel Pondweed

It grows from slender to robust rhizomes; stems are similarly slender to robust and generously branched; the long, olive-green leaves are all submerged, linear to filiform, with finely acuminate apices; the midrib is bordered on each side by one large or sometimes a mixture of large and small air channels; the lateral veins are inconspicuous; the leaf sheaths are long, open and convolute, green with hyaline edges; it fruits better in stillish water and there its leaves tend to be wider and flatter.

RUPPIACEAE Tasselweed family These submerged, aquatic, perennial herbs of saline or brackish water have alternate, linear leaves with sheathing bases; the bisexual flowers have no perianth and occur on a long peduncle subtended by two, small leaves; the 1-6 pedicels elongate as the 4 drupelets form the fruit.

Ruppia maritima

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Tasselweed

The thin stems and the pale green, linear leaves less than 1 mm wide and sheathing at their bases could be mistaken for the filiform Potamogetons but for the terminal inflorescence, the lack of a perianth, the 1-6 pedicels that lengthen in fruit and leaves that have a midrib only; the peduncle, though flexuous, does not shorten by spiralling in fruit. It is found in brackish ditches and pools. The only vc 35 records, made before the mid 1920s, are for the south of Undy and between Undy and Magor, ST/4.8, WAS. (2 t)

It grows, often abundantly, in brackish water or water rich in nutrients in lakes, rivers, streams, canals, ditches, ponds and water in gravel or sand pits. In vc 35, the Levels and upper Wye hold most sites. The building of the sea wall, cutting off the source of salt, and the lowering of the water table 445

Flora of Monmouthshire Rogiet Moor Reen, ST/459.860, both 1987, NS, CDP; ST/457.859, 1994, TGE; NRA2 deep excavation, near bottom end of Outfall Lane, St Brides Wentlooge, 1994, CT; 500 m, in sea wall reen, near Hunger Pill, ST/538.904 to 539.909; c. 10 m, Roggiett Moor Reen, just E of Collister Pill, ST/453.857, both 1999, TGE; extensive patch, E end of lagoon, Uskmouth Wetlands Reserve, ST/3359.8259, 2001-2003, TGE; 1 m² new reen, Goldcliff, ST/367.828, 2002, TGE. 33 t

ZANNICELLIACEAE Horned Pondweed Family This is another family with filiform stems and linear leaves which are sheathing and almost free at the base; they could be mistaken for filiform Potamogetons but for the chiefly opposite leaves and the monoecious flowers usually solitary or in clusters of 2-5 with no perianth.

Zannichellia palustris

Horned Pondweed

This perennial has filiform stems and clusters of opposite leaves which subtend the small numbers of sessile flowers; the fruit is diagnostic being canoe-shaped with a long style like a bowsprit. If no fruits are present, I take a piece of the weed home and leave it in a shallow dish of water out of the sun, and usually fruits appear in a week or so.

ZOSTERA Eelgrass family These herbs grow from rooting rhizomes between high and low water levels on the coast; the inflorescences are on short branches terminated by a leaf blade, the sheathing base of which protects the flowers among the narrow, parallel-sided, flexuous, waving leaf blades in the tidal currents; the monoecious flowers lack sepals and petals; the ovary has a single, forked style. The plants vary in size depending on where they are growing. In the Severn Estuary, their rhizomes are anchored in the gravel beds. The extent of the gravel beds (as shown on the 1:25,000 map) varies from none to quite large areas depending on the date of the survey carried out for the map. The force of the wind combined with the tide conditions can cover all the gravel beds with mud or sweep them clean of it.

Zostera marina

Eelgrass

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Zannichellia palustris grows in slow sections of rivers and in brackish water. In vc 35 it is commonest in the reens of the Levels and scattered sites in the R. Usk. By 2005 it was in far fewer sites than in the late 1980s as most of the sea wall reens, a former stronghold, were dry due to the drastic lowering of the water table on the Levels. Wade (1970) said it was locally common in ponds and reens and gave 8 sites for it. Some more recent sites are: reens, Newhouse, ST/53.91; Collister Pill, ST/45.86, both 1970, TGE; sea wall reens, Caldicot Level, ST/53.90, 1957-74, TGE; reen, Sluice Farm, ST/25.79; Rhosog Fawr Reen, ST/26.80; Church Reen, ST/26.82; Mireland Pill Reen, ST/36.82 & 37.82; Saltmarsh Reen, ST/35.83, all 1982-82, NCC Survey; reen Magor Pill, ST/43.84; reen, Goldcliff, ST/35.82, both 1984, TGE; in shallows, R. Usk, Newbridge-on-Usk, ST/38.94, 1987, TGE; W end of ditch, N of Black Rock, ST/513.884;

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If this Eelgrass is growing with the other two British species, it is usually twice as big in all its parts; its rhizomes, anchored in gravel, mud or sand, are between 2-5 mm thick; from them grow a much branched plant; its 5-11-veined leaves with tubular basal sheaths are from 20 to over 446

Flora of Monmouthshire from Caldicot to Undy, ST/47.85-47.86, ST/48.8648.85, 1972-2000, TGE, DJU, CT, conf. TGT. 4t Plate 106 & Figure 28

Zostera angustifolia Narrow-leaved Eelgrass This smaller branched version of Z. marina has leaves 1-2 mm wide (1 mm in the Estuary) with 35 veins; its stigmas are about as long as the styles. It grows rooted in the gravel, sand or mud between low and half way up to the high tide mark; though T. G. Tutin in 1972 identified one specimen from a packet of Eelgrass collected off the Caldicot shore as Z. angustifolia I have not been able to convince myself that the smaller, branched plants are anything other than the smallest versions of Z. marina. It grows in coastal waters between the extremes of tidal ranges. The only record was of a plant collected in the mid-tidal range off Caldicot growing on gravel of the Black Bedwins, ST/485.865, *, 1972, TGE, det. TGT. ?1t

Zostera noltii

Dwarf Eelgrass

This has unbranched or little-branched stems, bearing flowers in tube-like structures, ending in leaves to 1 mm wide (in the estuary), the presence of retinaculae (flaps) protruding from the flowering tube at the fruiting stage is diagnostic (see drawing); some stems are sterile with sheaths which do not form tubes. It grows between the extreme tidal marks but reaches higher up the shore than the other two Eelgrasses. In the Severn Estuary it is often the most widespread but it is the smallest plant and does not have the same impact on the eye in the shallow water of the moving tide. 4 t Figure 28

Figure 28 Zostera inflorescence in fruit showing the retinaculum.

ARACEAE Lords-and-Ladies family Britain has only a tiny proportion of this largely tropical and sub-tropical family; plants of this hairless group arise from subterranean rhizomes or tubers; British and European examples have stalked, basal leaves; in monoecious plants the small flowers are borne on a common stalk (the spadix) with the females below the males; the spadix is often terminated in a cylindrical structure called the appendix.

100 cm long x 2-10 mm wide, but nearer the lesser measurements in the Severn Estuary; the ovaries are held in a 9-12 cm (seldom exceeding 5 cm in the Estuary) tubular container at the base of a leaf, where a panel in its side splits open to reveal the bifid stigmas twice the length of the style; motile pollen cells swim to the stigmas to effect pollination. It is scattered around the coast and in some estuaries and grows near and below the low tide end of the beach. In the Severn Estuary it is found lower down the shore unless there is a water-filled gulley higher up. It is widespread off the shore

ACORUS Sweet-flags The sessile, entire, linear, Iris-like leaves arise directly from the rhizome; the inflorescence consists of an unadorned, horn-shaped spadix of 447

Flora of Monmouthshire tightly packed bisexual flowers bearing 6 tepals and 6 stamens and a 2-3-celled ovary that produces no fruit.

! Acorus calamus

the cylindrical appendix terminates the spadix; the spathe encloses the flowers, then opens up into a long, pointed hood. The flowers are enclosed in a leafy case called a spathe often terminating in a hood that shelters the flowers and acts as a reflector for the scent produced by the spadix. Visiting pollinating insects are trapped in the lower part of the spathe by downward directed hairs in the neck of the spathe. With pollination complete, the spathe withers releasing the insects still alive to carry fresh pollen to the next flowers.

Sweet-flag

The tall Iris-like leaves are transversely wrinkled on one side of the mid-rib, which causes the leaf to curve gently towards that side. Crushed fresh leaves emit a spicy odour. The yellow-green spadix is up to 9 x a little over 1 cm, tapering upwards; but is sparsely produced. It grows in shallow margins of ponds and lakes and along the edges of rivers and canals. It is alien in vc 35 and has recently been planted for interest in private garden ponds or to enhance properties of businesses. The records are: in ornamental Carp pond near clubhouse of Caerleon Golf Course, ST/3561.9035, 2003; a pond margin Cleppa Park, Newport, ST/2793.8476, 2005; a variegated form, in a small garden pond with carp, NNE of Michaelstone-y-Fedw, ST/2447.8503, 2005; in a neglected, corporate pond, S of Tredegar Park, Newport, ST/2853.8422, 2005, all JA, MDBR. 4 t

Arum maculatum

LYSICHITON Skunk-cabbages These perennials develop large tufts of leaves from rhizomes in very wet substrates; the very large leaves develop after the Arum-like flowers.

Lysichiton americanus

Lords-and-Ladies

The leaves appear early in the year, some green and some purple-black-spotted, the midrib green; the appendix may be yellow or purple, the 10-20 cm spathe may have dark spots; the 3-5 cm fruiting spike bears green ovaries that ripen into red berries with 1 or more seeds.

Skunk-cabbage

The stout, yellowish-green spadix ends in a swollen, tapering end covered with numerous, wart-like protuberances, the flowers, responsible for an unpleasant smell, the end is partially enclosed in a large, yellow hood-like spathe; the deep green, obovate leaves develop from the same rhizome after the flowers. The American name is derived from the cabbage-like leaves and the bad odour. It grows in shallow water or saturated soils. In the vice-county it grows in 3 sites, two within 200-300 m of each other. On a streamside in a narrow wood on the east side of the Clytha/ R. Usk Picnic Site; a large colony on north side of boundary wall of Clytha Park, both SO/36.08, 1990, CT; and in Whitebrook, north side of Trellech Hill, SO/505.075, 1992, HS; 2006, TGE, CT, SJT. 2 t

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It grows in hedgerows and woods on basic, rich soils. In vc 35 it is widespread, thinning out only on the Levels and in the western uplands. 315 t

! Arum italicum ssp italicum Italian Lords-and-Ladies This is similar to A. maculatum but the leaf blades appear early in winter and have a pale midrib; the spadix’s appendix is yellow; the fruiting spike is 10-15 cm and the spathe is never spotted. It was introduced to gardens where it spreads quite quickly and gets thrown out and sometimes ends up in the countryside. 2 t

ARUM Lords-and-Ladies The long-petiolate, triangular, hastate to sagittate leaves rise from short, stout rhizomes; the spadix bears pale green, female flowers separated from the male flowers by a short gap;

DRACUNCULUS Dragon Arum These have short, tuberous rhizomes giving rise to semi-palmately, deeply lobed leaves on the base of a thick stem which terminates in a large spathe that 448

Flora of Monmouthshire For a duckweed this has large, roundish, floating fronds up to 10 x 8 mm with at least 7 roots hanging below and 7 veins on the upper surface; each frond has a shiny, dark green upper surface and often a purplish-red lower one; each side has a bud pouch. Spirodela polyrhiza may be found in canals, ponds, reens and other ditches. In vc 35 it is most common on some reens on the Levels. 39 t

conceals the base of the spadix, which has a long appendix; there are no tepals, 2-4 stamens, a 1celled ovary and a red-berried fruit with several seeds.

! Dracunculus vulgaris

Dragon Arum

This evil-smelling plant has leaves with 20 cm lobes, a large, dark purple, triangular, 25-40 cm long spathe, which partially encloses a dark purple spadix almost as long. The stem bearing this colourful structure has its green colouring almost obscured by pale brown mottling. It was introduced to gardens from C. and E Mediterranean countries and has become naturalised in old gardens or in hedges, rough ground and canal and river banks as a result of throw-outs. In the vice-county, one plant appeared on the side of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Risca, ST/23.91, 2005, UB. 1 t

LEMNA Duckweeds These have fronds with 0-1 roots and 1-5 veins and float on or just below the surface of water.

Lemna gibba

Fat Duckweed

The fronds, produced in spring or summer, develop strongly swollen, semi-hemispherical undersides with usually 4-5 veins originating from a single point; air spaces are visible on the upper side.

LEMNACEAE Duckweed family These are tiny, aquatic perennials that float on or near the surface of fresh water as undifferentiated, green, shallow, saucer-like or spade-shaped fronds; the new fronds grow as buds on the older fronds and remain attached as new buds appear to form a colony; water disturbance can break up a colony into several colonies; seeds are also, though rarely, produced by flowers with no perianth in hollows on the upper surface; there are 1-2 stamens and 1 ovary.

SPIRODELA Greater Duckweed This small, green, saucer-shaped plant has at least 7 roots from a point below and 7 veins on the upper surface.

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It appears on ponds, canals, reens and other ditches, in water rich in nutrients and often with traces of salt. In vc 35, the greatest concentrations are on the reens of the Levels. 44 t

Lemna minor

Spirodela polyrhiza

Greater Duckweed

Common Duckweed

This has rather flat, ovate fronds, usually 2-5 mm long with at least 3 veins. It floats on a wide range of water surfaces including lakes, ponds, reens and other ditches. It is the commonest duckweed in vc 35. 206 t

18 31

449

Flora of Monmouthshire Lemna minor

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18

31 31

Lemna trisulca

Introduced from the Americas, it is invading the same habitats as the other duckweeds. In vc 35 it has appeared in reens and ponds on the Levels, where it is spreading quite quickly. 18 t

Ivy-leaved Duckweed

Easily recognised by its submerged, translucent, pale green, oval fronds, pointed at one end with a stalk-like projection at the other end, and a single root beneath; new ‘stalks’ grow at right angles away from the origin of the first to form new fronds, which remain attached to create a chain of numerous fronds; smaller fronds bear the simple flower.

WOLFFIA Rootless Duckweed This has small fronds with no roots or veins; it usually floats on the water surface.

! Wolffia arrhiza

Rootless Duckweed

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18

31 31

Lemna trisulca frequents ponds, canals, reens and other ditches. In vc 35, the Levels and the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal are the chief places for it but it is also thinly spread in ponds and small lakes across northern Monmouthshire. 56 t

! Lemna minuta

The frond is up to 1.5 x 1.2 mm, is globular with one, small, flattened surface. This is the world’s smallest flowering plant but has not been known to flower in Britain. Wolffia occurs in ponds and reens and other ditches. In vc 35 it is confined to the Levels. The 1st record was Saltmarsh, in two reens, ST/352.833, 1983, PRG; Saltmarsh Reen, ST/351.830, 1991, TGE, UTE; Saltmarsh Lane, S of Saltdene Farm, ST/353.832, 2001, TGE; millions of plants, in Sea Wall Reen, S of Saltmarsh, ST/344.823-349.823, 1996, TGE; reen, Goldcliff, ST/360.829, 1996,

Least Duckweed

This introduction is the second smallest Duckweed, having elliptic fronds with 1 vein only (and difficult to see), usually 2-5 mm long. 450

Flora of Monmouthshire their activities, but with brackish water largely excluded and marshy land a thing of the past, many plants have disappeared off the Levels.

TGE; Elver Pill Reen, just east of the pump house, ST/387.850 and ST/388.850, 2001; Petty Reen, ST/419.864; Stutwall Reen, Barecroft Common, ST/415.867; Sea Wall Reen, Noah’s Ark, Caldicot Moor, ST/445.867, 1999, TGE; Lakes Reen, ST/ 3435.8542; Monkscroft Reen, S of Llanwern Steelworks, ST/373.855; 2001, TGE; Cors Crychydd Reen, ST/2221.7844, 2001, TGE. 10 t

Juncus squarrosus

Heath Rush

Juncus squarrosus has stiff leaves, rounded beneath, grooved above with a sheathing base forming a flattened rosette in the middle of which is an erect stem to 50 cm bearing a terminal, brown inflorescence with bracts at its base; the lowest bract is the longest but is still shorter than the inflorescence. Diagnosis is aided by the leafy rosette.

JUNCACEAE Rush family This family is distinguished from all other similar ones (e.g. grasses and sedges) in having flowers with 6 tepals, 6 stamens and a single, 1-3-celled ovary with 3-many ovules.

JUNCUS Rushes These glabrous herbs have basal and cauline leaves either flat with 2 faces, or cylindrical with one face; sometimes the cylinder is slightly compressed but it still retains a single face; the 1-3-celled ovary has many ovules to produce a capsule with many seeds. Which are leaves and which are stems? Before writing the account on Juncus I went out along the Severn coast to look at J. maritimus, J. effusus J. inflexus and J. subnodulosus; only the last has leaves according to Fitter and Fitter (Collins Guide to Grasses, Sedges and Rushes). Stace (1997) states rushes have either leaves with two faces (flattish) or one face (cylindrical). Juncus subnodulosus had cauline leaves, usually two, the other three had cylindrical, basal leaves (they had no inflorescences on them); this is the criterion I have used in determining leaves. Most of the maps for common plants were compiled between 1985 and 1990 and those showed that J. effusus and J. inflexus were widespread on the fields near the Severn. What a transformation in 20 years! The fields now are dry, short grass being grazed by cattle, horses and especially by sheep, or planted with Maize. The frequent damp areas of J. effusus and J. inflexus have gone and with them other rushes. The porous pipes inserted in narrow trenches across the fields have taken the surface water to the reens which have been deepened more and more and joined to the deepest outflow reens draining into the Severn via sluice gates. To complete the job, the sea wall was built and all sections joined up, and more recently raised even higher, so the land behind it is no longer flooded by spring tides. The result is that surface water no longer lies there for 2-3 months at the end of winter and farmers are not held up in

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In vc 35 it grows chiefly on the acid heaths and moors of the western hills. 69 t

! Juncus tenuis

Slender Rush

This is a tufted Rush with most leaves basal which, though flattish, are very slender, as are the erect stems which do not often exceed 50 cm; the terminal inflorescence is straw-coloured and exceeded by one and often by two narrow, leaflike bracts. 23

451

Flora of Monmouthshire Introduced from the Americas, it has spread on damp, barish ground particularly on paths and tracks. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave what must be the first vice-county record on damp ground by an old colliery tip, Crosskeys, *, 1968. I saw it first in wet hollows in Newport Docks, ST/306.862, 1972, and about the same time in wet woodland near Monmouth, SO/542.142, 1972, CT. Since then it has been recorded more and more, though the bulk of records have come from the western valleys. Three examples are: trackside, coal tips, Talywain, SO/25.04, 1986, RH; track, Mynydd Machen, ST/217.905, 1994, TGE; near R. Sirhowy, Hollybush, SO/166.037, 1994, PAS. 65 t Figure 29

Juncus compressus

Round-fruited Rush

This perennial has firmly-rooted, short rhizomes that produce a tufted plant with erect, slender stems to 50 cm bearing a terminal inflorescence exceeded by the lowest bract; the slender leaves are mostly basal; the outer 3 tepals are obtuse or round-tipped; the anthers are up to 1 mm long and about as long as the filaments; the capsule is semi-globose and contains seeds to 0.5 mm long. It grows in marshes, wet meadows, on the upper edges of saltmarshes and sandy or muddy edges of the sea. In vc 35 the first and only site is in a small, wet hollow by a small bridge taking White House farm track to the nearby B4233 road, SO/425.147, 1966, EM-R; 1991, PCH, JH; 1991 and 2003, TGE. 1 t

Juncus gerardii

Saltmarsh Rush

This is similar to J. compressus but its anthers are 1-2 mm long, and 2-3 times as long as the filaments, the 0.5-0.8 mm style is about as long as the stigmas and the seeds are 0.5-0.7 mm long. 23

18 31

This dark green Rush grows in damp, shallow, hollows on the grassy edges of saltmarshes and on the banks of brackish reens and other ditches. To complicate the separation of these two similar Rushes, J. gerardii turns up inland on verges of roads where sea sand has been used in winter and J. compressus is sometimes found on the edges of saltmarshes. In vc 35 the main populations are found close to the Severn but there is a scattering of sites inland near roads. 47 t

Juncus foliosus

Leafy Rush

This has a simple, fibrous root system which facilitates its uprooting; it has a much-branched slender stem with leaves over 1.5 mm wide; the 6

Figure 29 Juncus tenuis Slender Rush 452

Flora of Monmouthshire tepals usually have a dark line either side of the midrib; the anthers are at least slightly longer than the filament and the seeds have 10-15 longitudinal ridges on their testas. It is similar to Toad Rush but the leaves are much more conspicuous. It grows on the edge of fresh water, wet meadows, ditches and marshes. The only and 1st record for vc 35 was c. 10 plants in a marshy area S of Ty’r-sais Farm, ST/187.001, 1996, TCGR, PAS. 1 t

Juncus bufonius

Toad Rush

Juncus bufonius usually has a short, muchbranched, slender stem with leaves seldom exceeding 1.5 mm wide; the inner tepals are acute to subacute and longer than the capsules; no tepal has a black line either side of the midrib; the anthers are usually 0.3-1.1 times as long as the filaments; the fresh seeds lack longitudinal ridges visible with a x20 lens.

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Recent records are: a small colony, large marsh, Newport Docks, ST/312.852, 1973-1983 (when marsh was filled with rubble), TGE, CT, det. GAM; in interrupted patches stretching over 50 m of a wet meadow, Wern Mellin, SO/410.108, 1990, JPW, CM; 1994-5, TGE; marshy meadows, Underwood-Llanmartin, ST/385.895, 1984, PRG; 1991, TB, CM, GB; 1992, 2000 and 2005, TGE; field ditch, N of Petty Reen, Barecroft Common, ST/420.862, 1998, CSL; reen edge, Barecroft Common, west, ST/417.862, and east. ST/419.866, 1999, TGE. 6 t

Juncus articulatus

18 32

Jointed Rush

This has an erect or decumbent stem to 50 cm arising from a rhizome; the leaves are distinctly septate (felt clearly between fingers and thumb), curved and compressed; the inflorescence has rather upright branches with tepals and capsule acute and dark brown.

It is common in various damp places near fresh or brackish water. In vc 35 it is widespread. 288 t

Juncus subnodulosus Blunt-flowered Rush

This rush is a strong grower, to over 1 m tall, from rhizomes; its leaves, usually 2 cauline as well as basal, have very noticeable transverse septa, easily felt if the leaf is passed between fingers and thumb; the straw-coloured inflorescence has widely spreading branches to right angles or more; the outer tepals are obtuse and incurved at the apex, giving the capsule a blunt appearance. It grows in fens, marshes and dune slacks on baserich, peaty soil. In vc 35 it is very uncommon, Wade (1970) stated it was very rare and gave only one site, a first vice-county record, between Trellech and Penallt, AL.

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453

Flora of Monmouthshire Juncus articulatus grows in a wide range of wet habitats. Widespread in vc 35 but has declined with the loss of wet habitats. 267 t

Juncus x surrejanus

a hybrid Rush

This J. articulatus x J. acutiflorus hybrid is intermediate in tepal shape and size and has low fertility. It grows in wet situations, usually with parents. The only site was in fields near the Sôr Brook, ST/34.94, 1988, EB, LBB, TGE. 1 t

Juncus acutiflorus

Sharp-flowered Rush

Juncus acutiflorus has erect stems to 1 m and septate (test by drawing between fingers and thumb), tall, straight, cylindrical leaves; its inflorescence is larger and more branched than J. articulatus; its straight tepals taper to a point but are shorter than the acuminate point of the dark brown capsule.

Juncus maritimus

Sea Rush

This plant has stiff, erect stems to c. 1 m, forming a tufted plant that often forms dominant patches; the stiff leaves and bract are sharp-pointed; the bract overtops the rather erect branches of the inflorescence, appearing to be a continuation of the stem and making the inflorescence appear lateral; the inflorescence is greenish to pale strawcoloured.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31

35 19

It grows in wetter parts of marshes, flushes and mountain streamsides. Widespread in vc 35, but again has been lost from many habitats that have been drained. 218 t

Juncus bulbosus

18 31

Bulbous Rush

This is found in the upper regions of a saltmarsh or in coastal grassland covered by spring tides. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave a single site for it near St Pierre Pill, *, WAS. here are now nearly 1000 plants between Black Rock and St Pierre Pill, ST/515.887, 1971-2005, TGE. Other recent records are St Brides Wentlooge, ST/31.83, 1987, NCC; saltings, Mathern Oaze, ST/52.89, 1990, TAJ; large colony, upper saltings, Uskmouth, ST/331.827, 1996, CT; TGE; 1 clump, mouth of R. Rhymney, Lamby, ST/221.775, 2001, TGE, GSH, CT. 6 t Plate 142

It has an erect, trailing or floating stem to 30 cm, often swollen at its base and rooting at the nodes, particularly on trailing or floating stems which are often viviparous; the inflorescence is not widely branched and produces flowers that have green to dark brown, acute outer tepals and obtuse inner ones. It grows in many types of damp habitats. In vc 35 the reduction of wet sites has reduced numbers and it is commoner in the wetter, western uplands.126 t 454

Flora of Monmouthshire

Juncus inflexus

inflorescence). It has a smooth stem below the inflorescence when fresh and not too old.

Hard Rush

This is a densely tufted plant to 1 m with slender but firm, glaucous stems and leaves, ribbed when fresh and containing broken, whitish pith resembling the rungs of a ladder when the green epidermis is peeled away from one side; the inflorescence, from a compact initial structure, grows into suberect branches bearing dark brown tepals as long as the dark brown capsules.

20 23 19 22 18 21

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Hard Rush grows in marshes, wet meadows, ditches, by flowing water and in dune slacks. It is widespread in vc 35. 338 t

Juncus x diffusus

Juncus conglomeratus

Compact Rush

This is a densely tufted plant to c. 1 m with stems distinctly ridged but dull when fresh and with continuous pith; the brown inflorescence is tightly compact; the capsule is retuse but apiculate. The inflorescence should have a ridged stem below it.

a hybrid Rush

This J. inflexus x J. effusus hybrid often stands out from its surrounding parents by overtopping them in height; the stems are not glaucous and have continuous pith unlike J. inflexus whereas the inflorescence is similar to it. Fertility of this hybrid is low. It usually appears as a single plant, where at least J. inflexus grows. Wade (1970) gave a site near New House, Rumney, *. More recent records are: one plant, Coed-y-Moors, SO/35.00, 1988, TGE, UTE; W of Afon Honddu, 1988, TGE, UTE; one large plant, near Keepers Pond (Pen-fford-goch), SO/254.106, 1997, JPW. 2 t

Juncus effusus

It grows in marshes, bogs, wet meadows, damp meadows and woods, ditches and other watery places. This is much more common than the other rushes about 1 m tall. In vc 35 few tetrads do not have it. The pith was used by our ancestors who soaked it in animal fat to make rush lights for their humble dwellings. 384 t

Soft Rush 18

This is densely tufted and forms large patches; the erect stems to c. 1 m are a smooth, glossy green and have continuous, whitish pith which can be seen by peeling back the green epidermis; the lax, pale brown inflorescence has widely divergent branches after a compact beginning (there is a variety subglomeratus with a compact

It grows in the same wet habitats as J. effusus. In vc 35 it is widespread but it is missing from many tetrads. 206 t 455

Flora of Monmouthshire banks in wood, Blackcliff, ST/53.98, 1988, EGW, RoF; Hill Wood, Glascoed Village, SO/331.021; woodland, Ton, SO/331.021; woodland, Brynderi, SO/394.168, all three 1989, RF; roadside Dixton, SO/517.139 to 518.141, 1991, JFH; roadside Trostrey, SO/361.041, 1991, RF; roadside bank, Rickett’s/Malthouse Woods, Skenfrith, SO/ 456.207; S facing trackside bank, Pwllplythin Wood, both 1993, TGE, UTE; numerous tufts, near E-W path, towards W end of Graig Wood, SO/252.164, 1996, TGE, UTE; N side of Offa’s Dyke Path, Limekiln Wood and in wood edge, SO/466.127-468.128, 1997, TGE, UTE; roadside banks, around Tintern Cross Pond, SO/50.00, 1998, TGE, UTE, NBE; 1-5 plants in Upper Tal y Coed and Great Grange Woods, SO/415.163; 1-5 plants, mossy bank, Telltale Wood, SO/4688.1233; 1-5 plants N side of Cwm Coedycerrig road, SO/3030.2145, all three 2003, TGE. 32 t

LUZULA Wood-rushes These are tufted perennials with flat, grass-like leaves, hairy at least on the basal margins; the flowers have 6 perianth tepals and a 1-3-celled capsule containing 3 seeds.

Luzula forsteri

Southern Wood-rush

Luzula pilosa

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Hairy Wood-rush

This is a much commoner Woodrush but similar to L. forsteri except it has some basal leaves wider than 4 mm, its lower inflorescence branches reflex in fruit, its seed has a curved or hooked appendage over half as long to even longer than the seed.

This is a slender, erect plant with narrow leaves up to 4 mm wide and inflorescence branches erect or nearly so, even in fruit; the flowers are borne singly; the tepals and fruit are dark brown and taper gradually to a longish point; the anthers are longer than the filaments and fruit; the seed has a straight, terminal appendage up to half its length. It grows in woodlands and hedgerows. Wade (1970) stated it was locally common to locally frequent and gave 13 sites, through ‘woods about Monmouth’ could have meant many sites. Recent records that have at least a 4-figure grid reference are: near works shed, Raglan Castle, SO/41.08, 1971, APC, GDW; woods, Piercefield, ST/53.96, 1973, TGE; stony ground, Bulwark, ST/53.92, 1977-81, TGE; near Temple Doors, Piercefield Park, ST/52.96, 1978, TGE; rocky outcrop, foot of SW tower, west gate, Chepstow Castle, ST/532.942, 1982, TGE; 3-4 plants, wooded area near riverside, Young’s Grove, SO/535.095, 1985, EGW; several plants, bank at foot of railway cutting, Bulwark, ST/53.92; rocky bank, Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, 1985, TGE; a few plants, side of road through wood, near Skenfrith, SO/464.202, 1986, PCH, JH; lane bank, 1993, TGE; several plants, Strawberry Cottage Wood, SO/314.215, 1988; c. 20 plants with L. pilosa and possible hybrid, 1997, TGE, UTE; less than 10 plants, Buckle Wood, SO/51.00, 1988, EGW;

18 31

It grows in woods, hedgerows and among heather on moors. In vc 35 it is widespread in woods but never in dense patches. 151 t

Luzula sylvatica

Great Wood-rush

This is the largest of the British Wood-rushes, growing to 80 cm tall with shiny leaves up to 2 cm wide; it is densely tufted with long rhizomes; the heavy, spreading inflorescence is much branched, each branch terminating in clusters of 2-5, brown flowers. 456

Flora of Monmouthshire

Luzula multiflora subsp. multiflora Heath Wood-rush

Luzula sylvatica 23

This is a tufted plant with no runners; its leaves are distinctly hairy; its tallish stems terminate in a small number of erect peduncles ending in clusters of 8-16, red-brown flowers with anthers about as long as the filaments; the globular fruit is about as long or longer than the tepals; the white appendage is ¼ to ½ as long as the seed, which is 1.1(-1.2) mm long.

19 23 18 31

It grows in neutral to acid substrates by shady streams, in woodlands and on moorland. In vc 35 it favours the Wye Valley ridge or western uplands where acid conditions prevail. 88 t

Luzula campestris

Field Wood-rush

This is a short, tufted, hairy plant with a cluster of one sessile and 3-8, shortly stalked, heads each composed of 5-10, dark brown flowers with bright yellow anthers 4-5 times as long as the filaments; the globular, brown fruit is shorter than the tepals.

18 31

It grows on acid substrates in grass, on heaths, moors and in woods. In vc 35 it is commoner on higher land. 146 t

subsp. congesta This is similar to subsp. multiflora except for the compact-lobed inflorescence due to the subsessile flower clusters but may have peduncles; the fruit is slightly shorter than the tepals; seeds (excluding appendages) 1.2-1.5 mm long.

22 31

35 21

Luzula campestris grows in dry grassland, particularly on calcareous or neutral soils. In the vice-county, it is frequent on lawns, where it is locally known as sweep’s brush because of the shape and blackish colour of its clustered inflorescence. It is the commonest Wood-rush in unimproved grassland. 311 t

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457

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows in wet, acid bogs. In vc 35 it occurs in bogs mainly in the wetter, western upland. 57 t Plate 105

Subsp. congesta grows on soils on heaths and moors, grassland and woods. In vc 35 it is found on more upland ground and is probably underrecorded. 11 t

Eriophorum latifolium Broad-leaved Cottongrass

CYPERACEAE Sedge family The Sedge family is somewhat grass-like but has a solid stem, often triangular in section; the flowers have no perianth except for a single scale, the glume at the base of each male flower consists of a glume and 2 or 3 stamens, and female flowers a glume and a single ovary with 2 or 3 styles.

This is similar to E. angustifolium but has all stems 3-sided, the stem leaves are shorter and with a short, 3-sided tip, the ligules are lacking, the longer spikelet stalks droop more loosely, the white, cottony bristles branch at their tips and the fruit is red-brown. It grows in fens and marshes with base-rich water. In vc 35 the two sites in which it has been recorded, are: numerous plants at two places on a boggy slope at Fforest Coal Pit/Cwm Coedycerrig, SO/2873.2083 and 2869.2081, 1990, MP, refound TGE, RF; c. 15 plants in Henllys Fen, ST/262.927, 1973-1998, TGE. 2 t

ERIOPHORUM Cottongrasses These are often tufted perennials with rhizomes; the stems may be smooth and cylindrical or triangular in section; the mainly basal leaves vary in cross-section shape; the inflorescence may terminate the stem as a single, large, multiflowered spikelet or many, large, multi-flowered spikelets, each on its own medium-length peduncle; the flower is hermaphrodite with more than 6 bristles forming a modified perianth which elongates to form a whitish, cottony head in fruit; there are 3 stamens and an ovary (unenclosed by a glume), with 3 stigmas.

Eriophorum vaginatum Hare’s-tail Cottongrass This has an erect, leafy stem that emerges from an enfolding sheath, and is terminated by a single, spikelet which develops in summer into a globular mass of fine, white bristles.

Eriophorum angustifolium Common Cottongrass

As this has long rhizomes, its cylindrical to bluntly triangular stems are not crowded into tufts; the ligulate, 2-6 mm wide stem leaves taper gradually to a long, 3-sided point; the 3-7, shortstalked spikelets, subtended by 1-3, leaf-like bracts, droop in fruit and display 2.5-5.0 cm, white, unbranched, cottony perianth bristles in summer; the fruit is dark brown.

31 22

Its habitat is wet peat, particularly in moorland bogs. In vc 35 it is confined to the western upland except for Cleddon Bog, near Trellech in the east. 18 t

TRICHOPHORUM Deergrasses Deergrasses are perennials forming dense tufts of slender, cylindrical or bluntly-angled stems; only the uppermost of the basal leaf sheaths possesses a blade, a distinguishing feature of the genus (see below), the stem terminates in a single,

18 31

458

Flora of Monmouthshire smallish, ovoid spikelet which has glumes that remain more or less erect when open to reveal the flowers and later yellow-brown nuts surrounded by bristles (modified tepals) which just overtop them. To separate the two subspecies and the hybrid between them, it is necessary to take three steps, first, decide the nature of the habitat; second, measure the length of the sheath opening and the blade length for at least 5 stems and calculate the ratio between each plant (measurements are aided by cutting across the stem 1 cm below the opening and then withdrawing the stem); third, take a transverse section of the stem and examine with a x400 microscope lens (see Watsonia 22: 209-233 to aid diagnosis). Subsp. cespitosum has not been found in the vicecounty. Figure 30

Trichophorum germanicum

develop into capsules and remain small. Confirmation by stem section is not so easy. It grows on moorland boggy peat. In the vicecounty, several plants were found on boggy peat, near pool, Mynydd Maen, ST/2595.9664, 2001, TGE, det. GAS; at least 2 clumps, on Waen Afon Bog, SO/219.105, 2002, TGE, det. MW, GAS. 2 t

subsp. Deergrass

cespitosum

The illustration above shows the oblique junction between sheath and blade for this subspecies and the resulting elliptic opening to accommodate the stem; the ratio of length of sheath opening/blade length is above 0.4. To confirm it is subsp. germanicum a section through the stem shows up the aerenchyma as holes in the stem tissue, neither of the other two have aerenchyma. 16 t 23

Figure 30 Trichophorum cespitosum subspecies. 1. subsp. germanica. 2. nothosubspecies foersteri. 3. subsp cespitosum. Habitats: 1 & 2 grow on acid bogs on moors and heaths. 3 grows on base-rich moors.

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Trichophorum foersteri

ELEOCHARIS Spike-rushes These are rather simple-structured perennials growing, in tufts of leaves and stems, from rhizomes; their stems may be smooth or ribbed with bladeless, basal sheaths; the stems are terminated by a single spikelet; the bisexual flowers, hidden behind the ‘glumes’ until anthesis, may have a perianth of up to 6 bristles, 3 stamens and a naked ovary possessing 2 or 3 stigmas; the leaves are stem-like but without a terminal spikelet.

cespitosum nothosubsp. hybrid Deergrass

This sterile subsp. germanicum x subsp. cespitosum hybrid will have a sheath opening intermediate between the elliptic one of subsp. germanicum and the circular one of subsp. cespitosum; ratio of length of sheath-opening/blade length averages 0.2-0.35. The ovaries do not 459

Flora of Monmouthshire boggy, roadside site, S of Mountain Ash Public House, SO/140.062; 1988; 2005, TGE, RF; 100s plants in flush, near air shaft, Cwm Tillery, SO/2256.0673, 2001, TGE, GSH, CT. 3 t

Eleocharis palustris subsp. vulgaris Common Spike-rush The stems vary in height but usually less than 75cm tall and when dry exhibit 20 or more ribs; the uppermost stem leaf-sheath apex is more or less horizontal; the elliptical spikelet consists of usually less than 40 flowers, and the two lowest glumes, at its base, each half-encircle it; the ovary develops into a spherical nut on which sits a conical style, almost a quarter as big, with a constricted base, tapers above into 2 stigmas.

Eleocharis quinqueflora Few-flowered Spike-rush This has rather loosely, tufted stems to 30 cm, with uppermost stem-sheath angled up to a blunt tip; the basal glume completely encircles the base of the short spikelet of few flowers; the ovary has 3 stigmas. It is found in fens, dune slacks and on moorland. In the vice-county it has been recorded on 1 site only: less than 10 plants grew at the output of an open flush on Bâl Mawr, SO/26.26, 2002, SDSB, conf. TGE. (1 t)

BOLBOSCHOENUS Sea Club-rush These are rhizomatous perennials often forming linear or dense patches; the stems are sharply trigonous with grass-like leaves, both basal and cauline; the many-flowered spikelets, usually sessile and in a tight cluster, are exceeded by several, long, leaf-like bracts; the flowers are hermaphrodite with perianth bristles 1-6 mm long which do not elongate in fruit; there are 3 stamens, an ovary not enclosed by a glume, and 2-3 stigmas.

18 31

It usually grows in water or in wet habitats, near water. In the vice-county it is still frequent but has lost many sites due to drainage. 141 t

Eleocharis uniglumis

Bolboschoenus maritimus

Sea Club-rush

This has 3-sided stems to well over 100 cm; the keeled basal and cauline leaves vary in width to 2 cm; the red-brown cluster of 1-3 cm long, cone-shaped, round-bottomed spikelets, partially sheathed by the base of one of the several leafy bracts, easily overtop the inflorescence.

Slender Spike-rush

This is similar to E. palustris but is somewhat smaller in its parts and its stem is shinier; the top of the uppermost stem-sheath is horizontal; the basal glume of the many-flowered-spikelet completely encircles it. The ovary has 2 stigmas. It usually grows in coastal marshes and dune slacks. The only vice-county record was at Machen ST/2.8E, May, 1923, AEW. (1 t)

Eleocharis multicaulis Many-stalked Spike rush

This has shortish, slender stems usually less than 30 cm tall, and is densely tufted; the uppermost, stem-sheath apex slopes at 45º to an acute tip; the lowest glume does not completely encircle the many-flowered-spikelet base; the ovary has 3 stigmas. It grows in acid, boggy and wet, peaty sites. In the vice-county it has been found in the following 3 places: in the Blaengaefog Brook, The British, Abersychan, SO/250.046, 1987, TGE, REH; in a

18 31

460

Flora of Monmouthshire Sea Club-rush is at home in brackish water in reens, pools and shallow ditches. In vc 35 it is confined to the Levels and margins of the main reaches of the major rivers emptying into the Severn. 41 t

of Pentre Bach Farm, E end of Field, ST/290.923; 1997, TGE; several linear metres of plants, left bank of R. Usk, Usk, SO/374.009, 1998, GSH; patch of c. 50 m along R. Usk bank, SW of Llancayo Farm, SO/360.026, 2000, GSH; 1 plant near water, where R. Monnow joins R. Wye, Chippenham, SO/512.123, 2003, HVC; 1 clump, on R. Monnow, 1 km up river of Tregate Bridge, SO/473.181, 2005, SJT. 15 t

SCIRPUS Wood Club-rush These may form an extensive colony of stems arising from rhizomes; the stems have 3 sides with rounded angles; there are grass-like basal and cauline leaves; the inflorescence is very widely branched, with the branches terminating in 1-3 spikelets and drooping noticeably in fruit or when wet; the hermaphrodite spikelets have 6 bristles (modified tepals), 3 stamens and stigmas and a glume-enclosed ovary.

Scirpus sylvaticus

SCIRPOIDES Round-headed Club-rush These grow in dense tufts of erect, cylindrical stems or a looser colony, depending on the spread of the rhizomes; usually only the uppermost leaf sheath possesses a noticeable blade, semi-circular in section; the inflorescence consists of numerous, tightly-packed spikelets forming sessile and various length but short stalked, globular clusters at the stem apex; the lowest, leaf-like bract continues the line of the stem making the inflorescence appear lateral; the hermaphrodite flowers lack perianth bristles, have 3 stamens and stigmas and an unenclosed ovary.

Wood Club-rush

The firm stems are over 1 m high, the long leaves to 2 cm wide and the greenish-brown spikelets are 3-4 mm long. 23

! Scirpoides holoschoenus Round-headed Club-rush

This, has stems capable of reaching 1.5 m in height; the leaves are up to 2 mm wide; the spikelets to 2 mm long form globes to 10 mm across. This grows in damp, sandy and gritty substrates near the sea or estuary margins. In vc 35 it has been known in Newport Docks since 1973 in a marsh between North and South Docks, ST/313.851, TGE, det. ACJ; there were dozens of plants until in 1983 the marsh was filled in to form a hard standing for imported Japanese cars. Several plants survived on the periphery to at least 1996. In 2005, Richard P. Kilshaw discovered six plants among rough grass between the S end of Lilleshall Street and the R. Usk, north of Spytty Pill, Newport, ST/3232.8740. This makes 6 sites north of the Bristol Channel as against 2 on the south side, and a coast that had a pre-industrial past. Oddly, it is regarded as native south of the Bristol Channel and alien north of the Channel. 2 t Plate 108

18 31

It grows in marshes and on river banks. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 10 sites for it. More recent records are: R. Usk bank, Usk, SO/37.02, 1978, TGE; 100s plants in a very wet meadow, Great Tyr Mynach Farm, SO/400.082, 1981, NSW, TGE; ditch, near R. Rhymney, Plâs Machen, ST/23.87, 1989, TGE, UTE; R. Usk island, Trostrey Forge, SO/356.075, 1988-90, DEL; R. Usk, Llanvihangel Gobion, SO/343.092, 1990, DEL; boggy meadow, Tymawr, Penallt, SO/401.081; many plants, marsh, near R. Sirhowy, N of Lower Farm and E of Bedwellty Pits, SO/15.05, 1988-95, TGE, UTE; meadow, Llantarnam Abbey, ST/31.93, 1988, TGE, UTE; near Pant Brook, between Bettws and Rhiw-lâs, SO/384.072, 1988, DEL; c. 20 plants, marsh, NE

SCHOENOPLECTUS Club-rushes These may have cylindrical or sharply trigonous stems; usually only the uppermost leaf sheath has a short blade (crescent-shaped in section); the 5-8 mm, spindle-shaped spikelets may be few461

Flora of Monmouthshire clusters of up to 4 at the apex of the stem; the lowest bract appears to continue the stem making the inflorescence appear lateral or it may be very short and scale-like; there is a lack of perianth bristles; there are 1-2 stamens, the ovary is unenclosed and there are usually 3 stigmas.

clustered or multi-clustered in sessile or stalked inflorescences; the lowest stem-like bract continues the stem beyond the inflorescence making it appear lateral; the perianth bristles vary from 0-6 and do not elongate; there are 3 stamens, an unenclosed ovary and 2-3 stigmas.

Schoenoplectus lacustris Isolepis setacea

Common Club-rush

Bristle Club-rush

Though the stems are less than 0.5 mm wide and seldom 10 cm high there are enough of them to make the plant noticeable; the chief bract usually exceeds the inflorescence and appears to be a continuation of the stem; the 1-4 spikelets are darkish red-brown with a green midrib; the shiny nut has longitudinal ridges, which can be seen with a x20 lens.

This has green (occasionally slightly glaucous), erect, cylindrical stems to 3 m tall, seldom as little as 1 cm in diameter in the middle; the inflorescence is variously branched with smooth, brown spikelets clustered in various numbers; there are 3 stigmas; the 2.5-3 mm nut has 3 sides. It is usually found in shallow water at the edge of lakes and other still water and on margins of rivers and canals. Wade (1970) gave no records for it. Since 1970, 1 plant occurred in Newport Docks, ST/314.853, 1973, TGE until several years later the area was converted into hard standing for imported Japanese cars; recorded on R. Wye bank near Wyastone Leys, SO/531.155 to 534.155; R. Wye bank below Bargain Wood, SO/530.028, both 1988, EGW. 2 t (1 t)

Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani Grey Cub-rush

This is similar to S. lacustris but can be only half as tall to 1.5 m and its stems are glaucous and only 3.5 mm wide near the middle, the spikelet glumes are densely papillose and reddish near the midrib when viewed through a x20 lens and the 2-2.5 mm nut is biconvex or planoconvex. It grows on edges of lakes, ponds, rivers and canals, in marshes, dune slacks and wet, peaty places, mostly near the coast. Wade (1970) said it was rare and gave two sites, near Rogiet, *, WAS and Marshfield, 1920, Richards. More recent records are: 2-3 plants, St Brides Wentlooge, ST/297.815, 1971, CT; 2 plants, in reen, Passage Wharf, Blackrock, ST/514.886, 1973, TGE det. GAM; reen, Noah’s Ark, Undy, ST/44.86, 1975, TGE; 4 small groups, field reen at right angles to sea wall, SSW of Hunger Pill, ST/538.906, 1999, TGE 1 t (3 t)

18 31

This occurs in a variety of wet habitats from ditches to fen and dune slacks. In vc 35 it is scattered in wet fields, above the Wye Valley and particularly in the wetter western uplands. 97 t ELEOGITON Floating Club-rush These are creeping perennials, mainly across the surface of water; the leafy stems are cylindrical and the leaves grass-like; there is a single 2-5 mm spikelet at the end of the branch subtended by a scale-like bract; the flowers are hermaphrodite with 3 stamens, an unenclosed ovary and 2-3 stigmas.

Eleogiton fluitans ISOLEPIS Club-rushes. These are usually small, densely tufted herbs with thin, cylindrical stems bearing basal leafsheaths with usually only the uppermost bearing a short blade; the 2-5 mm, sessile spikelets form

Floating Club-rush

The floating stems root at the nodes and extend across the surface for 50 cm or more but when the water dries up the plant is compact and noticeably leafy; the green to pale brown spikelets look small. 462

Flora of Monmouthshire It frequents peaty ponds, lakes and ditches and is not uncommon in the British Isles. Its frequency in the vice-county is very different. Wade (1970) made no mention of it and there has been only one record, a reen at Wilcrick, ST/405.874, 1974, CT. An eye was kept on the reen but it became densely vegetated and within two years was dry and the Club-rush had gone. As there are 1400 km of reens in the vice-county, it is surprising that the plant has not been more successful. (1 t)

Newport Docks, ST/312.852, *, 1973, TGE, CT, det. GAM; 1 plant on the bank of Mounton Road outside ‘The Haven’ in rough grass, ST/52.93, 1983, TGE; a garden weed at 15 Keene Avenue, Rogerstone, ST/282.874, *, 1995, CMH, Mrs M, det. GH; several plants, by drive/stream, Goitre, E of St. Mellons, ST/239.821, 2000, BM, det. GH. 2 t (2 t) RHYNCHOSPORA Beak-sedges These vary from tufted to spreading colonies arising from rhizomes; the leafy stems may be smooth and cylindrical or 3-sided; the inflorescence has a few, compact heads of spikelets composed of 1-3 flowers; the lowest bract varies from glume-like to leaf-like; the flowers are hermaphrodite with 5-13 perianthbristles, 2-3 stamens, an ovary not enclosed by a glume and 2 stigmas; the beak of the fruit is formed by the persistent style.

CYPERUS Galingales These are rhizomatous or tufted perennials which have 3-sided stems and grass-like, basal and stem leaves, the latter on the lower half of the stem; an inflorescence in an umbel-like cluster at the stem apex; some of the 2-10, leaf-like bracts exceed the inflorescence; hermaphrodite flowers with 1-3 stamens have an ovary not enclosed or completely concealed by a glume and usually 3 stigmas.

Rhynchospora alba It may form patches of loosely packed, c. 1 m stems growing from rhizomes; the inflorescence is not compact; the numerous, long to 2.5 cm and up to 2 mm wide, red-brown, spindle-shaped spikelets have 3 stamens, which occur at the apex of fairly erect peduncles of different lengths. It favours marshes, ditches and pond sides often near the coast. It was first discovered as a 1 m² patch in a marsh, in Newport Docks, ST/312.852, 1973, TGE, CT, det. GAM (it survived until 1983 when the marsh was filled in by the Dock’s Board); several patches in pond margin, Winslow Farm, Kilgwrrwg, ST/470.977, 1990, TGE; planted in pond, Cwm Celyn, SO/206.085, TGE, JWo; 1998, TGE, CT; large patch, planted, pond, Vicar’s Allotment, Trellech Common, SO/507.062, 1994, TGE; 1998, BJG. 4 t (1 t)

! Cyperus eragrostis

White Beak-rush

This has erect stems to 40 cm forming tufts with bulbous bases; the inflorescence is off-white and the head at the stem apex is not usually exceeded by the lowest bract. It grows in wet, acid, peaty substrates, but is very local. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave only one site at Trellech Bog, SO/5.0, *, 1873, AL; 1873, BMW; WAS; HSR. More recently it was found in a peat bog, Monmouth, SO/5.1, 1959, SGC. (2 t)

! Cyperus longus Galingale

CAREX Sedges These perennials are densely tufted or spread by rhizomes; the 3-faced stems (a few are cylindrical) have leaves (some near the base only) that may remain flat, some with channels, others are inrolled; 1-flowered spikelets are arranged in spikes, each, apart from the terminal one, subtended by a leafy or glume-like bract; each flower is single-sexed in the axil of a single glume; most sedges have only male flowers in the upper spikes and female in the lower spikes, some have female flowers in the base of the male spikes and very few are dioecious, yet others have spikes that are all similar; stamens are 2 or 3 and stigmas are 2 or 3. In Britain only C. dioica usually has dioecious spikes. The most important diagnostic features are in the inflorescence, especially the utricles. Other characters are valuable aides; note the illustrations to show the value of leaf sheaths and ligules to separate similar species.

Pale Galingale

This has short rhizomes and a more tufted appearance than C. longus, and its stems are shorter to just over 50 cm; it has a compact inflorescence with greenish to yellow-brown spikelets which are shorter but wider to over 2 mm. Introduced from tropical America, it is grown in southern Britain in gardens near water. It has escaped from there, or originates where wool shoddy has been used, or as a contaminant of grass seed. In vc 35 it was first recorded in the marsh in 463

Flora of Monmouthshire det. AOC; 10 plants, meadow next to Lark Rise, Trellech, SO/502.051, 2000, TGE; 12 tussocks, wet wood, N of Triley, SO/310.179, 2002; 1 tussock, in concrete ditch, SW of Pen-y-fan Pond, SO/1884.0009, 2003, both TGE, CT. 27 t

Subgenus Vignea These have 2 or more spikes all similar in appearance, though where the male and female flowers occur varies; the sessile spikes form compact, lobed inflorescences; there are 2 stigmas and a biconvex nut.

Carex paniculata

Carex x boenninghausiana

Greater Tussock-sedge

This is a large, tussocky sedge to 1.5 m tall; the rough, leafy stems are sharply 3-faced, and they over-winter; the inflorescence is a compact panicle, the 3-4 mm, greenish to blackish-brown utricles are winged along the beak, which is 11.5 mm long. The only sedge with which it could be confused, C. appropinquata, does not grow in vc 35. 23

Carex otrubae

18 32

False Fox-sedge

It is a densely tufted sedge with stout, 3-faced stems, winged on the angles, and to 100 cm tall; the keeled leaves are flat and long, abruptly tapering to a flat, sharp-point; the base of the blade has auricles and the 5-10 mm ligule is rather acute and tubular; the inner face of the sheath is hyaline and not wrinkled and has a straight upper edge; the long, multi-spiked inflorescence has smallish gaps between the spikes; the 3.5-5 mm male glumes are orangebrown and the female are apiculate; the 5-6 mm utricles are plano-convex with green ribs and a 11.5 mm bifid beak not split on the back; there are 2 stigmas.

a hybrid Sedge

This C. paniculata x C. remota hybrid looks like C. remota but it grows to c. 100 cm tall and has lower spikes up to 15 mm long. It is uncommon but sometimes turns up in wet areas with its parents. The only vice-county record was for a single tuft, in wet woodland by a stream, Cwm Merddog, SO/188.063, 1990, RF; 1991, RF, TGE. 1 t

It grows in marshes, fens, by water and in wet woods, favouring base-rich soils. In vc 35 it is scattered across central parts in marshy places and ditches. Some of the sites have been lost to drainage in the last 15 years. Wade (1970) described it as rare to locally frequent and gave 11 records. Some recent records with at least 4-figure grid references are: marsh, Rhyd-y-fedw, ST/47.95; marsh, Llwyn-y-celyn, ST/47.94, both 1970, TGE, 2002, TGE; in ditches, S of Trellech Church, SO/49.05, 1970-80, TGE; streamside, Cwm Merddog, SO/187.062, 1986-7; Blaen Ochram, SO/29.09, 1987, both RF; wet margin of Ebbw river, Aberbeeg, SO/204.019, 1996, TGE, PPA, TPB; marshy grassland, Blaengavenny, SO/31.18, 1991, SK; wet wood, Triley Great Wood, SO/311.182, 1991, RF; 30 m², wet field, SW of Rhadyr (Usk Tertiary College), SO/356.017, TGE, GSH, CT; 50 m W of Virtuous Well, Trellech, SO/502.052, 1999, TGE; coal waste/ boggy streamside, Cwm Du, SO/25.02, 1991, RF,

18 31

It grows in damp, heavy soils by reens, ditches, and tracks in woods. In vc 35 it is concentrated by reens on the Levels and more scattered elsewhere. 97 t 464

Flora of Monmouthshire

Carex spicata

It occurs on dry, acid grasslands. In vc 35 it is found on hedgebanks, grassy road verges, on walls and rail sides. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 4 records. Some more recent sites are: dry bank above edge of pond, MOD, Caerwent, ST/46.91, 1985-1998; defensive bank, E side of Iron Age fort, Sudbrook, ST/504.873, 1985-2000, both TGE; wall, Lone Lane, Penallt, SO/533.092, 1985, EGW; roadside, Llancayo, SO/37.03, 1987, TGE, UTE; W of Garndiffaith, SO/24.06, 1987, RF, det. TGE; grass verge, Triley Mill, SO/311.172, 1988, TGE, RF; roadside, E of Glengrwyney, SO/24.16, 1990, TGE, UTE; grassy bank, Dixton Bee Orchid site, Dixton, SO/528.151, 1990, TGE, det. RWD; upper rail edge, Craig y Crochan, ST/21.94, 1991, TGE; roadside, Langstone, ST/38.90, 1993, DEG; Parc Lodge, lane bank, near Porth-y-Parc, SO/288.166, 1997, TGE, CT; between R. Ebbw and Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Pontywaun, ST/219.926, 2001; 1 plant on N verge of Cwm Coedycerrig road, SO/3014.2141, 2003, both TGE. 14 t (10 t)

Spiked Sedge

This is rather like a smaller and narrower C. otrubae but has narrower leaves, no auricles, the frequently wine-red stained sheath is not tubular and does not have a straight upper edge, nor are there auricles; the 1-4 cm inflorescence produces only very faintly ribbed utricles but with a bulbous, corky base and a gradually tapering beak. 23

18 31

Carex divulsa subsp. divulsa

Grey Sedge

The tufted sedge, similar to C. spicata, differs in having an elongated inflorescence of 5-18 cm with at least the bottom 2 spikes shorter than the space between them, the spikes are fewflowered and they have colourless glumes; the 3.5-4 mm, somewhat erect utricles are symmetrically ovoid, shiny pale yellow or pale green turning dull black; the bristle-like bract of the lowest spike exceeds the length of its spike.

It grows on heavy, damp soils on road and rail sides, in meadows and on waste ground. In vc 35 it has a scattered distribution. 74 t

Carex muricata subsp. lamprocarpa Prickly Sedge This is similar to C. spicata but has a smaller inflorescence of 1-4 cm (more often less), a neat, ovate ligule, no distinctive wine colouring and no corky base to its utricles.

18 31

It grows in hedgerows, on field banks and in waste places and is not restricted by soil type. In vc 35 it is scattered more frequently in the eastern half of the vice-county. 105 t

465

Flora of Monmouthshire a setaceous-tipped, glumaceous bract, but different in that the terminal spikelet is female though it might have some male florets at its top, if it has a leaf-like lowest bract it exceeds the inflorescence, the stems are straighter with sheaths that are brown not hyaline.

Carex divulsa subsp. leersii Grey Sedge Grey sedge is similar to subsp. divulsa but is strongly calcicole, has yellow-green foliage, is more erect and stiff in habit, has larger, shiny, yellow utricles 4-4.5 mm long, which point away from each other as they ripen and turn dark red-brown and flower from May to late August, which is a month earlier at each end than subsp. divulsa. It grows on field banks, hedgebanks, calcareous walls and quarry crevices. Wade (1970) stated it was rare and gave 3 sites, near Tintern, the Usk road, near Chepstow and between Caerwent and Llanvair Discoed. More recent records are: a few tufts on defensive bank, Iron Age fort, Sudbrook, ST/505.873, 1976-96, TGE, det. AOC, RWD; 1 patch, S Roman wall, Caerwent, ST/468.903, 2002, CT, det. TGE, AOC; 1 plant, crevice, S end quarry rock face, Gilwern Hill, SO/247.124, 2002, TGE, conf. AOC. 3 t (3 t)

18 31

Carex arenaria

This has long, monopodial rhizomes producing lines of stems arising from the distant nodes, where roots are also produced; the stems are usually curved and leafy; the inflorescence is compact to 8 cm in length with spikes rather plump in fruit; the lowest glumaceous bracts have setaceous tips which exceed the spikes they subtend; the terminal spikes are male, the lowest spikes female and those between are male above and female below. It normally grows on sand dunes near the coast. In vc 35 it may have been introduced with imported sand but has since transferred to gritty coal waste or rail ballast. Wade (1970) made no mention of it. The 5 records since 1970 are: dozens on rail ballast, on edge of marsh, Newport Docks ST/312.853, 1973-1983, TGE, CT (site destroyed by infill of marsh with rubble); rail ballast (coal waste), Big Pit now Blaenavon Railway Museum, SO/231.093, 1987-2005, TGE, RF; 2005 CT; railway siding, Aberbeeg, SO/209.017, 1987, RF; rail embankment, SE side of rails, NE of Pontypool Station, SO/301.004, 1989, GH; coal waste, Cwm Du, SO/25.02, 1991, RF. 5 t (1 t)

Carex disticha

Sand Sedge It grows in wet meadows and fens. In vc 35 it is found in the western hills, where coal waste has been used as ballast, and the Levels east of Newport where water descends from the Carboniferous Limestone just inland from them. The only site where it shares a site with C. arenaria, its most similar relative, is the rail side at the Blaenavon Railway Museum. It was recorded by J.H. Clark, who described it as not infrequent, but Wade (1970) dismissed it ‘as probably an error’; I think Clark was correct. Records since 1966 are: Bowleaze Common, ST/37.85, 1966, PRG; several plants, withy bed, S of Moynes Court, ST/51.90, 1966, TGE; 1991, TAJ; Rush Wall Common, ST/41.86, 1967, PRG, TGE; 20-40 plants in wet meadow, W side of Magor Fen Reserve, ST/423.862, 1972-2000, TGE; wet meadow Wilcrick, ST/405.875, 1971, TGE, CT; wet ditches, near rail, Big Pit, SO/23.09, now Blaenavon Railway Museum, 1987, TGE, RF; 1997, TGE, CT, several metres, 2004, TGE, CT; wet field, Wern Mellin, SO/411.109, 1987, SK; Cwm Tillery, SO/2.0H, *, 1988, RF, conf. RWD; c. 10 plants, on coal waste, boggy streamside, Cwm Du, SO/25.02, 1991, RF; 5 plants, marsh, Underwood/M4/Llanmartin, ST/384.893, 2004, TGE. 10 t (5 t)

Brown Sedge

This is similar to C. arenaria in that it has scattered shoots in lines on its monopodial rhizome, the basal stem scales become dark brown and fibrous, an inflorescence of tightly packed, spindle-shaped, brown spikes which open out in fruit, the lowest spikelet exceeded by

Carex divisa

Divided Sedge

This spreads by thick, branched, woody rhizomes from which quite densely clustered, 466

Flora of Monmouthshire wiry, trigonous stems arise to 80 cm from short, thick, side branches; the narrow, stiff, mid-to grey-green leaves over-winter; the inflorescence is small, 1-3 cm long, made up of 3-8, clustered, spindle-shaped, brown to dark purple-brown spikes; the lower, stiff, largely setaceous bract usually exceeds the inflorescence. It grows in damp pasture or marshes, flourishing in brackish conditions close to the coast. Only one record has been made in the vice-county: abundant in a dockside marsh, Newport Docks, ST/312.852, 1973, TGE, CT, det. ACJ; 1977, AEW. The flooding of the marsh by the Dock Board in 1984, followed by infill with rubble, destroyed the habitat. (1 t)

heathland. In vc 35 it is rather more common on the higher ground, particularly in the west. 191 t 23

Carex remota

Remote Sedge

This green sedge forms tussocks where all parts are slender; the leafy stems have 4-9 spikes, which are separate apart from a few at the top that may be touching; a long, slender bract subtends the remote spikes.

20 33

Star Sedge

Short rhizomes lead to a densely, tufted plant with slender, trigonous stems to 40 cm; the glossy, thick, dark green leaves have white sheaths; the apical inflorescence consists of slightly separated, few-flowered spikes, which produce utricles that open to a distinctive starshape.

Carex echinata

35 19

It grows commonly in shady, wet sites in woods, on banks of streams and reservoirs. In vc 35 it is widespread. 282 t

Carex ovalis

18 31

Oval Sedge

It grows on acid, wet heaths, bogs and marshes. In vc 35 it occurs chiefly in the wet, western uplands. 108 t

It tends to form dense tufts often with the trigonous, solid stems out-curved or prostrate, leaving an open centre; the apex of the stem and the leaf edges are rough; the terminal inflorescence is a compact cluster of 2-9 spikes, mainly female above and male below, though some lower spikes are all female; the spikes become ovoid in fruit with widely spreading utricles. It is found around the edges of grassy hollows which retain water for some time, and it favours

Carex elongata

Elongated Sedge

This forms a dense tussock with slender 2-5 mm wide, flat, pale green leaves that droop gracefully outwards; the 3-10 cm, red-brown inflorescence is composed of 5-15, elongated spikes, each female above and male below, or the 467

Flora of Monmouthshire lower all female; the utricles spread as they ripen. It grows in wet meadows or by wet ditches in woods or other fresh water. In the vice-county, it grows along the margins of narrow water channels in Coed Robert Wood, SO/397.098, 1992, RF, conf. AOC; 91 tussocks counted by RF, RWD, TGE; 43 in 1999, TGE; 40-50 in 2005 by TGE, MARK, CK. 1 t

Carex curta

White Sedge

This is a loosely tufted sedge with slender, sharply trigonous stems to 50 cm; the flat, slender, pale green leaves reach the height of the stems; the inflorescence of 3-5 cm has 4-8 spikes spaced out but still just overlapping each other; they are female at the top and male at the base; the glumes are hyaline with a green midrib; the utricles may be green to yellow. It grows on wet heaths, acid mires and particularly in the uplands. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 3 sites: Redding’s Enclosure, *, SGC; Catbrook; Trellech Bog, *, WAS. The only recent record was of 2 plants in a wet field (an area converted in 1986-7 into a duck pond) at Kit’s Wood, Whitelye, Catbrook, SO/512.017, 1985, EGW. 1 t (3 t)

Subgenus 2

18 31

This occurs in a wide range of habitats, though is most common in various grasslands. In vc 35 it is commoner in untended bits of damp waste grassland. 268 t

Carex acutiformis

Lesser Pond-sedge

It forms extensive patches, with 3-faced, angled stems to 150 cm tall and leaves to 10 mm wide that taper gradually to a flat tip, and are often longer than the stems; the ligule is up to 15 mm long and acute (see diagram); the dark-coloured inflorescence occupies the upper ⅓ of the stem and consists of 2-3, sessile, clustered, male spikes, with oblanceolate, blunt-tipped glumes and 3-4, 2-5 cm, cylindrical female spikes, with pointed, lanceolate glumes, and all with long, leaf-like bracts and only the lower spike remote from the others; the hyaline-brown leaf sheath splits into a network of fibres; the ribbed utricles have a short, shallowly-notched beak.

Carex

This subgenus has 2 or more spikes, the apical one or more male, the lower one or more female; the male is distinctly different from the female; the male sometimes has female florets in it and the females sometimes have male florets in them; the lowest spikelet usually is subtended by a leaf-like bract; spikes are often sessile, though the lower ones may be long-stalked and pendent and remote from the upper ones; there are usually 3 stigmas; the nut varies in shape.

Carex hirta

Hairy Sedge

This plant usually produces extensive rhizomes and upright, trigonous stems to 70 cm tall forming tufts or widespread tillers; the leaves, hairy on both sides, have a sheath and 1-2 mm ligule, hairy on its free margin; the inflorescence, spread along ¾ of the stem, has 23, close male spikes, with hairy, brown glumes to 4-5 mm long at the apex and 2-3, usually remote, cylindrical female spikes on peduncles often longer than themselves and enclosed in the sheath of the long, subtending, leaf-like bract; the utricles are very hairy.

18 31

468

Flora of Monmouthshire Carex acutiformis grows in lowland marshes and swamps or on margins of reens and slow-moving water. In vc 35 it is found mainly on the margins of reens and in fens, though many of its former haunts have been drained or affected by the lowering of the water table. 44 t Figure 31

Carex pseudocyperus

Cyperus Sedge

This is a distinctive sedge in having yellow-green, loosely tufted shoots to 90 cm tall and an inflorescence of 1, upright, male spike and 3-5, pendulous, pale green, spiky female spikes on long, drooping slender stalks; the utricles fall early as soon as they are ripe. 23

Figure 31

Ligule shapes to help identification

18 31

Carex riparia

Greater Pond-sedge

This is similar to C. acutiformis in that it is a large sedge which grows by or in shallow water and forms extensive patches, has an inflorescence ⅓ the length of the stem, and 2-3 male spikes above 3-4 female spikes but differs in having leaves to 15 mm wide, and tapering to a short trigonous tip; the ligule, to 10 mm long, is rounded (see diagram), the glumes of the male and female spikes have acuminate tips that give the spikes a bristly appearance.

It grows in water, swamps, ponds edges of reens and canals. In vc 35 it colonises the margins of reens on the Levels and elsewhere river and pool edges.24 t Plate107

Carex rostrata

Bottle Sedge

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19

Its long rhizomes produce scattered stems to 100 cm, cylindrical and smooth below, and trigonous and rough above; leaves and bracts overtop the stems; the leaves are glaucous above and shiny, dark green beneath and over-winter; stomata are either confined to the upper leaf surface or are more numerous there; the sheaths

18 31

This grows on the margins of reens, rivers, ditches and ponds. In vc 35 it is most frequent on the Levels, but the lowering of the water table is reducing suitable habitats. 60 t Figure 31 469

Flora of Monmouthshire over 200 cm bearing long, narrow, red-brown, cylindrical spikes (the top 2 male and the lower 4-5 female) the female spikes may be up to 16 cm long, droop to one side, and are subtended by long, leaf-like bracts.

are thick, spongy, dark brown and streaked red, with a hyaline inner face that splits often forming a fibrous net; the 2-3 mm ligule is rounded; the inflorescence occupies up to half the stem and has 2-4, clustered, narrow, male spikes and 2-5, spaced female spikes having acute glumes and are subtended by long, leaf-like bracts; the 3.56.5 mm, patent utricles are yellowish, inflated below and tapering abruptly to a 1-1.5 mm beak shallowly notched at the tip. Carex rostrata grows in swamps, lake margins, ponds and peaty areas all with high water levels and with varying levels of acidity. In the vicecounty, many of its former haunts have been lost to drainage and it is now scarce and local. 4 t (8 t) Plate 109

Carex vesicaria

Bladder-sedge

It is similar to C. rostrata but differs in having acuminate female glumes, 5-8 mm utricles which are more erect and gradually taper into a 1.5-2.5 mm beak.

18 31

It grows on heavy soils in woods and by streams. In the vice-county, it is common in the Wye Valley woods and wooded valleys elsewhere. 95 t. Fig 32.

Carex sylvatica

Wood Sedge

This is a tufted sedge with stems to 60 cm and yellow-green, shiny leaves varying between 3-6 mm wide; the ligule is a short inverted V with a rounded tip; the inflorescence consists of a narrow, erect, green male spike and 3-5, drooping, green-pale brown female spikes on long, thread-like stalks; the green utricle has an obovoid-trigonous base with 2 prominent lateral nerves and a 1-1.5 mm long, narrow beak.

18 31

35 23

It grows on wet peat, swamps, marshes and nutrient-rich lake and pond margins. In vc 35 it is scattered mainly in the northern half of the vicecounty. 22 t Plate 110

Carex x involuta

a hybrid Sedge

This C. rostrata x C. vesicaria hybrid is intermediate between its parents but highly sterile, with female parts falling in mid summer. One plant in a tussocky marsh, Llwyn-y-celyn, ST/479.949, 1983, TGE, det. AOC. 1st vice-county Record. (1 t)

18 31

Carex pendula

Pendulous Sedge

This is a distinctive sedge that may form very large tufts, with 3-faced, bluntly-angled stems to

It grows scattered in woods on heavy, wet soils or chalk and clay mixtures. In vc 35 it is largely 470

Flora of Monmouthshire absent from uplands.223 t

The

Levels and the Figures 32 & 33

western

hidden by the sheaths, but be aware that quite often many of the lower utricles and their glumes fall off leaving what appears to be a long peduncle; the 3-4 mm, green, ellipsoid, often curved utricle has a 0.3 mm truncated beak and 3 stigmas. Carex strigosa is a plant of damp, deciduous woodlands on base rich, loamy soils. Wade (1970) said it was locally frequent and listed 13 sites. Today it is frequent on woodland path sides. The drawings of early winter ligules help to identify the three sedges in the vegetative state, when inflorescences are not available. 38 t Figures 32 and 33, and Plate 111

Carex flacca

Figure 32. Carex ligules to separate these species in winter.

Carex strigosa

Glaucous Sedge

This loosely tufted sedge has 3-faced stems with blunt angles with leaves 2-6 mm wide, glaucous beneath and a midrib reaching the tip; the inflorescence has 1-3 male spikes closely clustered and 1-5 remote female spikes; the glumes are purple-brown; the sheath of the lowest bract is less than 10 mm; the papillose utricles are symmetrical and closely packed.

Thin-spiked Wood-sedge 23

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

18 31

Carex flacca thrives on calcareous substrates in unimproved grassland, dunes and fens. In vc 35 it is widespread though improvement of farmland has reduced its numbers considerably. 249 t

This is a tufted sedge with stems to 60 cm though often gently arching parallel to and close to the ground; the basal leaves, particularly, form an inverted W in cross section to 10 mm wide; the ligule is an acute inverted V to 8 mm long; the inflorescence occupies up to ¾ of the stem length with 1 very narrow male spike and 3-6, spaced, narrow female spikes to 8 cm, which appear sessile, but the top ones may have short peduncles hidden by the bract sheaths, the lower ones may have 2 cm peduncles not all

Carex panicea

Carnation Sedge

This is very similar to C. flacca but differs in having both sides of its leaves glaucous and a midrib that falls short of the tip, which is trigonous and flat above, the asymmetrical utricles are, at most, minutely papillose, and loosely clustered so that the rachis can be seen between some of them. 471

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 33

Two similar species, Carex strigosa and C. sylvatica

472

Flora of Monmouthshire

Carex binervis

Green-ribbed Sedge

It is a tufted sedge with trigonous stems to 150 cm and orange-brown basal sheaths; the dark green leaves taper abruptly towards the apex; the female glumes are black or purplish-brown; the dark purplish-brown utricles are held at 45-60º to the spike axis and have two, prominent green ribs.

22 31

35 21

Carex flacca prefers neutral and acidic soils on moors, marshes and other wet places. In vc 35 it is probably more frequent on higher ground though it still occurs on undrained lowland sites. 144 t

Carex laevigata

Smooth-stalked Sedge

This tall, tufted sedge to 120 cm has sharplyangled, 3-faced stems; the abruptly tapered leaves to 60 x 1 cm are bright green; the basal sheaths are brown; the obtuse ligule is up to 5 mm long; the inflorescence has 1-2, up to 6 cm long, pale orange-brown male spikes and 2-4 distant, upright female spikes up to 5.5 mm long, the lowest spikelet droops on a thread-like stalk; the 4-6 mm subglobose, strongly ribbed utricle is green interspersed with red dots; the deeply bifid beak is 1.5 mm long.

Carex distans

18 33

Distant Sedge

This tufted (but not tufted on the coast) sedge has trigonous/cylindrical stems to 100 cm, greygreen leaves tapering gradually to a fine point and dull brown sheaths; the inflorescence has usually 1 male spike and 2-4, pale brown, cylindrical female spikes to 2 cm long; the utricles are greenish-brown. This is a coastal plant of brackish marsh or grassland near the sea that it is subject to high tide flooding or wind-blown spray. Wade (1970) stated that it was locally frequent to common by the Severn and on the tidal banks of the Usk and Wye. The building of the sea wall and the reen control has obviously changed all that; since 1972, I have seen or had reported to me only 3 sites and those occupied by less than 10 plants, and all 3 have been destroyed by changes to the habitat. Then I found a colony of 10 plants on grassland next to the Severn, west of the mouth of the R. Usk in 2001, when the brackish meadows had no grazing due to the ban on livestock movement to restrict the spread of Foot and Mouth disease.

It grows in upland grassland with acid, siliceous soils. In vc 35 it is confined to the hilly west and the eastern ridge above the Wye Valley. 56 t

It grows in damp shady places, more often in open areas of woods frequently by streams. In vc 35 it occurs chiefly in the west in marshes, wet woodlands and ditches, but also in Wentwood and in the Wye Valley woods. 54 t Figure 34. 473

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 34

Carex laevigata 474

Smooth-stalked Sedge

Flora of Monmouthshire Recent records for Carex distans are: 2 loose tufts on the bank of a reen just inland of the sea wall adjacent to the farm track past Magor sewage works, ST/438.848, 1973, TGE; small tufts in a marsh near timber importer shed, Newport Docks, ST/313.384, 1973-82, TGE (a liquid poured into the plant-rich marsh killed off nearly all the plants by the next year); ditch behind sea wall, Peterstone Wentlooge, ST/285.806, 1974, PMW, CS; 10 plants, on edge of a scrape, brackish meadow, adjacent the Severn, E of Sutton Farm, ST/3024.8173, 2001 (still present 2005), TGE conf. AOC. 1 t (3 t)

Carex hostiana

fedw, ST/47.95, *, 1974-5, TGE; c. 10 plants, fen, Henllys, ST/26.92, 1974-99, TGE, conf. RWD; 1020 plants, wet meadow, east of school, Aberbargoed, ST/16.98, 1987, TGE, UTE; wet grassland, near stream, The British, SO/25.04, 1988, RH, TGE; wet grassland, near stream, Rhiwlâs, SO/39.07, 1988, DEL, TGE; marshy meadow, adjacent to M4, between Underwood and Llanmartin, ST/38.89, 1987, TGE; damp, flattish area, Pentwyn, SO/258.274; boggy place, Tyr-sais, SO/189.001, both 1991, CM, JPW; peaty bog, Pontyspig, SO/288.206, 1990, TGE; scattered ‘Scrapyard Heath’, Pontllanfraith, ST/16.96, 1993, TGE; damp field, N of garden centre, Langstone, ST/378.905, 1997, AW, EGW; frequent in flushes, Bâl Mawr, SO/26.26, 2002, SDSB; 5 m², wet meadow, Pen-deri Farm, SO/1902.0019, 2003, TGE, CT. 27 t

Tawny Sedge

This sedge has scattered stems with greyishbrown sheaths and pale green leaves that narrow abruptly into a 2-3 mm, linear, trigonous tip; the inflorescence occupies up to ½ the stem length; there are 1-2 male spikes up to 2 cm long with brown glumes, 1-3 female spikes, with ovate, dark brown glumes, with broad, silvery, hyaline margins, are subtended by leaflike bracts that overtop them; the yellowishbrown to green utricles are held at an angle of 45-60º.

Carex x fulva

a hybrid Sedge

This C. hostiana x C. viridula subsp. brachyrrhyncha hybrid is intermediate between its parents, but completely sterile; it has long bracts, longer spikes than in subsp. brachyrrhyncha and fuscous when mature, male florets may occur at the top of female spikes. It occurs where the parents grow. In vc 35 it has only been found where the rare subsp. brachyrrhyncha grows. Several plants in boggy patch on slope, WNW of Chapel Farm, Fforest Coalpit, SO/286.208, 2002, TGE; frequent in flushes, Bâl Mawr, SO/26.26, 2002, SDSB, GM. 2t

Carex extensa

18 31

Long-bracted Sedge

This green sedge usually occurs on the upper saltmarsh of muddy or sandy shores, and may form very large tufts where competition from other plants is not too strong. It is distinctive partly because of its position on the upper edge of a saltmarsh and partly because its spikes are overtopped by its long leaf-like bracts, many of which droop at odd angles. It is a coastal plant that must be within reach of salt water at high tides or have periodic drenches of sea spray. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave only one site, near Magor Pill (where it survives today), recorded in 1945 by ENe, AEW. Today it is scattered along the Severn, mainly under threat from over- or under-grazing, the latter because invasive species like Juncus maritimus and Elytrigia atherica, when under-grazed, overwhelm it.

Tawny-sedge grows in wet flushes or marshes where the water is rich in bases but in some lowland sites tolerates slightly acid habitats. Wade (1970) described it as rare to locally frequent and gave 14 sites for it. Drainage and improvement of land has reduced it to uncommon with many of the 27 sites destroyed in the last 15 years, with the damage done a long time ago. Recent records, with at least four-figure grid references, are: more than 10 plants, bog, Llwyn-y-celyn, ST/480.946, 19701999, TGE; c. 10 plants in wet meadow, Rhyd-y475

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 35

Carex extensa 476

Long-bracted Sedge

Flora of Monmouthshire narrow, male spike and 2-4, ovoid, female spikes, the top ones touching themselves and the male spikelet; the lowest is distant, all are subtended by long, leaf-like bracts which may become reflexed; all the glumes become orangeor red-brown with green midribs; the 3.5-5 mm, flask-shaped, yellowish-green utricles are patent above and deflexed below, the beak is bent to one side. It grows in base-rich fens and calcareous, peaty habitats subject to flooding or flushing. Wade (1970) called it rare and gave only one site at Pontyspig. There are now two sites: many large tufts with subsp. oedocarpa, Dactylorhiza incarnata, D. maculata and Menyanthes trifoliata, at Pontyspig, SO/288.209, 2002, TGE, CT, conf. AOC; 5-10 plants, boggy patch above top pond, Waun-y-Pound, SO/151.108, 2002, TGE. 2 t

18 31

More recent Carex extensa records are: c. 10 plants in depression between grassy R. Wye meadow and Alcove Wood, ST/531.949, 1968, TGE; West Pill, Undy, ST/46.86; c. 20 plants, west bank of Magor Pill, ST/439.848, both 1972, TGE; to 2004, TGE, CT; near sea wall, SW of Cold Harbour Pill, ST/423.837, 1985, TGE, PRG; several metres, under edge of grassy bank with Juncus maritimus beyond, E of Blackrock, ST/515.886 to 516.887, 1995, TGE; less than 10 plants, near concrete ledge on edge of saltmarsh, SE of Uskmouth, ST/325.831, 1995, TGE; 2 plants, upper saltmarsh, just W of lighthouse, Uskmouth, ST/328.828, 1996, TGE; 5 plants, extreme west of Rumney Great Wharf, S of Maerdy Farm, ST/232.776, 2001, TGE, GSH, CT; 137 plants, mouth of R. Rhymney, S of Lamby, ST/221.775, 2001, TGE, GSH, CT; 30 plants, upper saltmarsh, shallow gulley, E of Sutton Farm, ST/3015.8163, 2001, TGE; 64 tufts at foot of 30 cm bank, from Mathern Pill to Mathern Oaze, ST/532.901 to 535.903, 2003, TGE; 2-3 patches, among stones of foreshore, W of Lighthouse Inn, St Brides Wentlooge, ST/2970.8132, 2004, TGE, CT; more than 100 large tufts a considerable extension from the colony close to Magor Pill to ST/433.844 close to sea wall, 2006, TGE, CT. 8 t (4 t) Figure 35

Carex viridula subsp. oedocarpa Yellow-sedge This is very similar to subsp. brachyrrhyncha especially the tall form, but differs in that the leaves of fertile stems may be more than half as long as the stems, the utricles do not exceed 4 mm and have straight or only weakly bent beaks, which are less than ⅓ of its total length.

18 31

Carex viridula subsp. brachyrrhyncha Yellow-sedge

Yellow-sedge grows in fens and peaty habitats which are less base-rich and it is not tolerant of the same high calcium content. It is quite common in the uplands of the west and in the Wye Valley and is scattered elsewhere. 136 t

This is a loosely tufted sedge with solid, trigonous stems to 75 cm but mostly less; the yellowish-green leaves are usually only half the length of the stem and narrow abruptly to a rough, blunt, trigonous tip; the sheaths are hyaline to pinkish-brown; the rounded, tubular ligules are 1 mm long; the inflorescence is at most ¼ of the stem length and consists of 1,

Carex pallescens

Pale Sedge

This is a distinctive sedge with loosely tufted, trigonous stems to 50 cm tall, rough on the 477

Flora of Monmouthshire sharp angles; the leaves, often hairy beneath, occupy the upper ¾ of the stem; the leaf sheath is brown, hairy and persistent with a hairy, hyaline inner face, which has a concave upper edge; the erect inflorescence, clustered at the apex of the stem, has 1, pale brown, slender male spike, often partly hidden by 2-3, short, green female spikes close below it; the leaf-like bract, subtending the lowest spike is longer than the inflorescence and has a crimped base; the utricle is shaped like a small acorn with an insignificant beak.

more than 10 plants on ledges, Wyndcliff, ST/527.972, *, Purchas; 1873, BMW; WAS; AL; AEW; TGE; more than 20 plants, woodland track side and cliff ledges, Blackcliff, ST/533.983, *, AEW; TGE; and Lady Park Wood, SO/54.14, *, SGC; 1988, JF, LC. Some sites not in Wade: in Staunton Woods, ST/5.1, 1855, CA (could it be in Gloucestershire?); just past the 2 mile stone, Usk Road, Well Head, ST/505.942, 1939, BW; on the southern edge of Whitfield Wood, ST/495.961 RWD asked me to check the site reported to him some time in the 1980s but I failed to find any plants, probably due to farming changes there. 3 t Figure 36

Carex caryophyllea

Spring-sedge

22 23

18 31

35 19

It grows in open, damp woodland, often on heavy clay. In vc 35 it has declined since the 1950s due to land ‘improvements’, including drainage. 48 t

Carex digitata

18 31

Fingered Sedge

This rhizomatous sedge seldom reaches 30 cm tall, it has blackish-brown sheaths; the shiny, green leaves to c. 2 mm wide are confined to the bottom of the stem where they curve outwards and then downwards to abruptly end in a trigonous tip; the inflorescence is terminal with 1, club-shaped, male spike with red-brown scales, 1-3 (but usually 2), red-brown, female spikes, clustered at the base of the male spike, with leaf-like bracts shorter than the inflorescence and sheathing at their base; the green, ovoid utricle is shortly hairy, has 2 ribs and a very short, notched beak. The simple structure of its inflorescence, the hairy utricle and its preference for calcareous grassland make it easy to recognise. In vc 35, Spring-sedge has declined due to limestone offering a good foundation for house building, to the ploughing and re-seeding of limestone grassland, and to the increased overgrazing of sheep in the lowlands. 106 t

This is distinctive in that it has tufted shoots to 25 cm of two kinds and that it flowers early in April; the one shoot has over-wintering buds surrounded by leaves at the apex and the other is lateral from the base of a shoot and is terminated by the inflorescence of 2-3, stalked, female, fingerlike spikes, clustered around and partially obscuring the thinner, smaller, apical male spike, though the lowest female spike is just below and separate from the others; the leaves are dark green and the spikes dark brown; the 3-4.5 mm, greenish-brown, hairy, obovoid utricles are somewhat concealed by the equally long, purplish glumes (see illustration). It grows in calcareous, open woodland by tracks and on ledges of limestone or chalk. In the vicecounty, it is found only in the Wye Valley, confined to the two, eastern limestone regions. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent and gave 5 sites, 3 of which have it today, they are: 478

Flora of Monmouthshire

Fig. 36 Carex digitata, Fingered Sedge (top) and Carex montana, Soft-leaved Sedge (bottom) 479

Flora of Monmouthshire

Carex montana

where it is abundant in open areas following a clear-fell. 46 t

Soft-leaved Sedge

This sedge arises from matted rhizomes; the basal red-brown scales become fibrous; the solid, slender, tightly clustered, trigonous stems may reach 40 cm but look less when they arch downwards, particularly in fruit; the narrow, pale green leaves taper gradually to a fine point also arch down; they have red-brown to bright red sheaths; the inflorescence consists of 1 male spike with red-brown glumes above 1-4, blackish-glumed female spikes, subtended by very short bracts; the 3 styles soon fall leaving dark, downy, obovoid, pear-shaped utricles with negligible beaks. It grows in rough grass over base-rich or limestone soils. Wade (1970) said it was locally frequent but gave only the Wyndcliff site with a specimen deposited in the NMW. This has not been my experience; I have seen only two plants in open coppiced woodland near the Wyndcliff car park, ST/524.972, 1961 and 1 plant on low ledge, at the foot of a cliff at Wyndcliff, ST/533.982, 1989. (1 t) Figure 36

Carex acuta

Slender Tufted-sedge

This is a tall, tufted plant to 120 cm with glaucous leaves, some taller than the sharply angled stem and having pendulous tips; the brown to red-brown sheaths are persistent with prominent cross-septa on the inner, hyaline face, which has a straight to concave upper edge; the inflorescence has 2-4, male spikes, though the lowest may have female florets at its base, and 2-4, dark-glumed female spikes with 2 stigmas (the latter separate it from C. riparia and C. acutiformis, with which it grows, as they have 3 stigmas); the green utricles are obovoid to globular with an insignificant beak. 23

Carex pilulifera

Pill Sedge

This is similar to C. montana on first sight but is different in that though the stems are slightly curved even in fruit they are still more erect, the female spikes are a greeny-brown and globular, the plant lacks the fibrous mass of rhizomes and occurs on acid soils.

18 31

It grows in ponds, riversides, on marshy ground with a permanently high water level. Wade (1970) said it was locally frequent to locally common and gave 7 sites, though ‘banks of the Wye’ could mean more than that. With land drainage taking its toll I find it increasingly uncommon, though viewing the banks of the Wye is made very difficult by the preponderance of Impatiens glandulifera Indian Balsam. Recent records are: reen, at Whitson, ST/36.84, WS; TGE, UTE; R. Wye bank, W of Brockweir, SO/538.012, 1988, EGW; R. Wye mud, below Lower Wood, Penallt, SO/528.107-8, 1994, TGE, UTE; R. Wye, stony edge, just E of cable bridge, The Biblins, SO/550.143, 1994, TGE conf. AOC. 6 t

18 31

Pill Sedge grows on dry, acid grassland, on heaths, moors and open woodland. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent and gave 19 sites for it. More recent records are frequent in the western uplands, in woods of the Wye Valley and in Wentwood

Carex nigra

Common Sedge

This is a very variable sedge, thinly to densely tufted, tall to 70 cm or short to less than 10 cm; its glaucous, narrow leaves may be between 2 and 3 480

Flora of Monmouthshire one of the group in the vice-county. It is tufted on short rhizomes with red-brown roots; the stems and leaves are stiff but slender and are usually less than 25 cm tall; the inflorescence, at first, is an apical, narrowly ellipsoidal, few-flowered spike, with a single, male spikelet at the top and vertically-directed female florets below; the bracts are glumaceous; as the utricles ripen dark brown they reflex, and remind me of the fleas of my childhood sucking my blood after a visit to the local cinema.

mm wide; the inflorescence has 1-2, male spikes above 1-4, sessile, female spikes with blackish glumes and 2 stigmas; the lowest leaf-like bract seldom exceeds the inflorescence; the ovoid, blackish-green utricles have a negligible beak. 23

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

It grows in a wide range of rather wet places. In vc 35 it is found mainly in the uplands in the west or on the eastern ridge. Everywhere, the excessive lowering of the water table combined with drainage has caused a decline in the species in the last 20 years. 139 t

Carex elata

18 31

It grows in fertile soils or places flushed with nutrient-rich water, largely in upland districts. In vc 35 it frequent in the western uplands such as the flushes of Bâl Mawr, SO/26.26, 2002, SDSB; abundant on the wet heath of The British, Abersychan, SO/25.04-25.05, 1994, RH, TGE; scattered plants on a wet meadow, Pen-deri Farm, SO/1902.0019, 2003, TGE, CT, to lowland sites such as 5 plants, Llwyn-y-Celyn Marsh, ST/478.948, 1997, TGE. 36 t Plate 112

Tufted Sedge

This sedge forms tussocks or is densely tufted; the solid, rough, sharply trigonous stems may be up to 100 cm tall; the glaucous, 3-6 mm wide leaves often equal the stem in length; the yellowbrown, acute, tubular sheaths to 10 mm are acutetipped; the inflorescence has 1-3, male spikes up to 5 cm long with the lowest female at the base and 2-3, sessile, overlapping female spikes to 4 cm long with some male at the top and having blackish glumes; the green-ribbed utricle is lemon-shaped with an insignificant beak. It flowers early in May and drops its fruits early in June. It grows by the rivers, reens and lakes in fens subject to flooding. In the vice-county, it has been found only on the edge of Bowleaze Reen, ST/377.855, 1983 (still present and spreading in 2004), PRG, conf. AOC; and on the edge of Crabtree Reen, ST/376.850, 1982-3 (absent in 2000-2004), NCC reen survey. 1 t

Carex pulicaris

POACEAE Grass family Annuals of this family have fibrous roots, perennials may also have rhizomes or stolons. They usually have hollow, cylindrical (not triangular in section) culms (stems) partitioned only at the nodes; stems are woody in only a few Poaceae e.g. Bamboos; the linear leaves have parallel veins and long, stem-enclosing sheaths usually with a membranous ligule or a fringe of hairs at the junction with the blade; the inflorescence may be a spike (as in the diagram), a raceme or a panicle, made up of one or more spikelets; a spikelet when open reveals the florets on a rachilla, at the bottom of which are usually 2 scales known as glumes, a floret has 2 scales the

Flea Sedge

This belongs to a small group of sedges that has an inflorescence that is a simple spike, but is the only 481

Flora of Monmouthshire outer of which is called a lemma and the inner a palea, protected between these are the 3 stamens and the ovary, lemmas or glumes may have an awn (a bristle) that continues the apex or arising from the back of the scale, the remaining parts of the floret are 2 very small structures called lodicules, which swell to open the floret for pollination and fertilization to take place; the resulting fruit is called a caryopsis where the seed coat and fruit wall are so fused they are inseparable. The structure of a grass is shown in the diagrams below. Figure 37

Fish Pond Wood, Llanrumney, ST/218.806, 1986, GH. (1 t) POOIDEAE

Nardus stricta

Mat Grass

This is a densely tufted perennial to 40 cm; the erect, unbranched culms are very slender, each with a low, single node; the hard, stiff, greyishgreen, grooved leaves are very narrow and inrolled to 0.5 mm in diameter, some of the outer leaves bent horizontally just above the basal sheaths (see photo); the inflorescence consists of many stems terminated in long, slender spikes with very narrow, acutely pointed, blackish spikelets arranged in 2 rows on one side of the spikelet, more noticeable when in anthesis when the spikelets open away from the spike axis.

BAMBUSEAE Woody bamboos These are woody bamboos or some are herbaceous perennials; the leaves have longitudinal, parallel veins but also some cross-venation, there is a short false-petiole; the lower sheaths of the main stems have either short or no blades; the spikelets have 3 or more florets, mostly bisexual; there are usually 2 glumes, 5 to many-veined, awnless lemmas, paleas with 4 or more veins, 3-6 stamens, 2-3 stigmas and 2-3 lodicules; flowering is very irregular.

SASA Bamboos These have smooth, cylindrical stems from 0.5 to 3 m tall; nodes have lateral branches; glabrous leaves are up to 9 cm wide with 5-13 veins each side of the midrib; there may be hairs or bristles fringing the leaf margins; there are 6 stamens and 3 stigmas.

! Sasa palmata

Grasses

Broad-leaved Bamboo

This has 2-3 m tall stems 7-10 mm thick, leaves to 30 x 9 cm with 8-14 veins either side of the midrib; the false-petioles are usually green; the main stem sheaths are glabrous. Introduced from Japan and naturalised in gardens and parks. The only record in vc 35 is in the wall of west pond, N of the camp site, Tredegar House, ST/285.852, 1988, GH, det. DM. 1 t

It is found on heaths and moorland in hilly and mountain grassland as well as on sandy and peaty soils. In the vice-county, it is concentrated on the western upland, but there is a scattering on the eastern ridge and in Wentwood. 114 t

PSEUDOSASA Arrow Bamboo These have smooth, cylindrical stems 1-5 cm across, mostly with 5-9 veins either side of the midrib; there are 3 stamens and stigmas.

ORYZOPSIS Smilo-grass These are perennials with membranous ligules, shiny lemmas each with a long, straight, deciduous, terminal awn, a short, smooth, basal callus and 2 lodicules.

! Pseudosasa japonica

! Oryzopsis miliacea

Arrow Bamboo

This has stems to 5 m tall and 1-2 cm thick; the leaves are to 30 x 4 cm. Introduced from Japan and Korea, it is the commonest naturalised bamboo in gardens and parks. The only record for vc 35 is for 3 clumps in

Smilo-grass

This is a tall to 1.5 m grass in dense tufts; each stem has many nodes with many, straight, slender branches arising in whorls at each node and many, small spikelets clustered at the apex of each branch; the lemma is 2-2.5 mm long with an awn of equal length. 482

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 37

Structure of a grass 483

Flora of Monmouthshire Smilo-grass is an introduction from S Europe as a wool alien or is grown as a garden ornamental. There has been only one record in the vice-county, on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport ST/30.85, 1975, TGE, det. CEH. (1 t)

Festuca pratensis

MILIUM Millets These are annuals or perennials with membranous ligules, awnless, shiny lemmas and 2 lodicules.

Milium effusum

Meadow Fescue

This grass has no rhizomes; it has culms to over 50 cm, with exposed nodes green; the open sheaths have glabrous, pointed auricles; the lowest 2 panicle nodes have 2 unequal branches, the shorter of which has only 1-2 spikelets; the spikelets are 9-11 mm long and the awnless lemmas 6-7 mm long. 23

Wood Millet

Milium effusum is a loosely tufted perennial to 1.5 m with a 3-5-noded stem; its flat leaves, to 30 x 10 mm, are rough on the margins; the panicles are broadly cylindrical in outline with 5-7, flexuous branches at most nodes, spreading at first then deflexed; the branches end in 1-7, one-flowered spikelets; the 3-4 mm, green spikelets are bluntly ellipsoid and look like the millet sold for cage birds.

18 23 31 22

It grows on unimproved, fertile grassland. In vc 35 it is less common now than in the 1950s-60s. 105 t

Festuca arundinacea

18 31

Tall Fescue

It is similar to F. pratensis but is a bigger plant; its culms, with green exposed nodes, lack rhizomes and grow to 120 cm or more; it has open sheaths that have prominent auricles, usually fringed with hairs; the lowest 2 panicle nodes have branches roughly equal, the shorter bearing 4many spikelets; the spikelets are 9-12 mm long; the lemmas 6-7.5 mm long with awns 0-4 mm long.

It grows in deciduous woodland on damp, humusrich soils. In the vice-county, it is frequent in the Wye Valley woods and woods of the central region. 92 t

FESTUCA Fescues These are perennials which may have rhizomes but not stolons; the inflorescence is a panicle with its spikelets composed of 3-many florets, all of which (apart from the most apical) are bisexual or sometimes like F. vivipara proliferating; the glumes are almost equal; the 3-5 veined lemmas are rounded on the back and acuminate to subacute at the apex and may have a terminal awn; they have 3 stamens.

18 31

484

Flora of Monmouthshire Festuca arundinacea grows in grassland, particularly marginal strips, of various types. It is widespread in the vc 35 lowlands. It is sometimes invasive and overwhelms smaller, rarer plants by the side of roads and railways. 172 t

Festuca gigantea

cliff ledges, Blackcliff Wood, ST/53.98, 1997, TGE, CT. 23

Giant Fescue

This has culms to over 100 cm tall with dark, violet-purple nodes (where they are visible), and glabrous, pointed auricles; the dark green leaves are glabrous and shiny; the ligules are up to 2.5 mm long; the panicle bears 8-13 mm spikelets, the lemmas 6-9 mm long with usually a wavy terminal awn twice as long.

18 23 31

18 32

It grows in open woodland and other shady places. In vc 35 it is widespread but largely absent from the western uplands and The Levels. 245 t

Festuca altissima

This grass reminds me of my indebtedness to Charles Hubbard, a gentleman who responded instantly imparting great detail. In the 1970s he helped me identify scarcer or more difficult grasses with patience and understanding of my inadequacies without embarrassing me. In 1973, I sent him a specimen of F. altissima; in confirming it, he said ‘Some years ago I looked for it in the Wye Valley, in a locality suggested by the late N.Y. Sandwith, but failed to find it’. I gave him details of where it grew and offered to accompany him to the site. In the correspondence that followed he admitted that, though he had seen it abroad and in cultivation, he had not seen it in the wild in Britain; and that now he had to be driven to sites to which access was easy and only a short distance on foot, so had to decline my offer. 5 t Figure 38

Wood Fescue

This has no rhizomes and grows to over 100 cm tall; the sheaths are open and there are no auricles; the ligules are 1-5 mm long; the panicles are pendant with 5-8 mm long spikelets bearing awnless, 4-6 mm lemmas. It grows on banks and rocky slopes in woodland. Today it is locally frequent in a few sites on the Monmouthshire side of the Wye Valley. Wade (1970) described it as rare in rocky woods mainly on limestone and gave 8 sites. More recent sites are: scattered plants on steep limestone slope, Piercefield cliffs, ST/534.958, 1972, TGE det. CEH; Old Red Sandstone in woodland, Far Harkening Rock, Lady Park Wood, SO/543.148; many plants, open, raised woodland, nr the Suckstone, SO/544.139 and 544.141, 1981; 1994, TGE; 3 separate stations near cliffs; 100s plants on

! Festuca heterophylla Various-leaved Fescue This has tufted culms over 100 cm tall and no rhizomes; its sheaths are completely fused; there are no auricles and the ligule is at least 0.5 mm long at the junction with the 3-veined blade; the 24 mm wide leaves are flat; the tiller leaves are folded lengthwise making them appear to be only up to 0.6 mm wide; the 6-18 cm panicle varies between open and contracted and tends to droop to one side; the 7-14 mm spikelets have 3-9 florets with narrow, pointed glumes; the 5-8 mm lemmas are terminated by a 1-6 mm awn. It was introduced from S Europe as an ornamental grass and has become naturalised on light soils in open, deciduous woods. In vc 35, there are about 80 tufts in a marginal woodland strip at The Hill Field Centre, Abergavenny, SO/29.15, 1987-92, RF, the second Welsh record. 1 t 485

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 38

Festuca altissima 486

Wood Fescue

Flora of Monmouthshire

Festuca rubra agg.

Festuca rubra subsp. litoralis

Red Fescue

The sterile stems (tillers) of Festuca rubra are extravaginal i.e. they burst through the base of the culm sheath, and then grow parallel to the ground before turning at right angles to grow upwards (see diagram on Figure 39) Red Fescue has quite long rhizomes that produce loosely packed culms to over 50 cm tall, greygreen, 5-9 veined leaves, often folded lengthwise to just over 1 mm wide, and ligules up to 0.5 mm long without auricles; the panicle is very variable but rather narrow; the spikelets are 7-10 mm long containing 4.5-6.5 lemmas with a terminal awn to over 2 mm long; the colour of the panicle is often reddish but not invariably so.

Red Fescue

The short rhizomes of subsp. litoralis produce dense swards to over 50 cm tall; the leaves are folded lengthwise making them appear to be 0.6-1 mm wide unopened, and the sclerenchyma in the upper ribs is sparse; the panicle is similar to subsp. rubra but has bigger 9-11 mm long spikelets with 6-8 mm long lemmas with awns to almost 3 mm long. 23

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

It is common in salt marshes around coastal Britain. In the vice-county, it occurs in suitable habitats along the Severn and in the lower tidal reaches of the Rhymney, Usk and Wye. 15 t.

18 31

Festuca rubra subsp. juncea

It grows in a wide range of grassy places. In vc 35 it is one of the commonest grasses but beware of introductions on roadsides where foreign seed is used and proliferating varieties in upland pastures as these have caused F. vivipara to be overrecorded. The following subspecies of F. rubra are under-recorded. 374 t

Red Fescue

This is similar to subsp. rubra but has short rhizomes which form dense tufts to 70 cm tall; often plants have very glaucous leaves, though not with all populations. It grows on coastal cliffs or grassy and rocky habitats round the coast or inland in hilly districts of N England. In the vice-county, it is very glaucous on raised ground on the bed of Sudbrook Docks (defunct), ST/508.877, 1985-87 and on the low sandstone cliff top, Sudbrook, ST/503.872, 1997, TGE. 1 t

Festuca rubra subsp. megastachys Red Fescue This has longish rhizomes which produce culms up to 1 m tall in scattered patches and tillers with flat leaves to 3.5 mm wide with sclerenchyma in upper ribs (see Stace (1997) p. 847); the panicles have spreading branches; the 7-11 mm spikelets have an upper glume to over 6 mm long and 5-8 mm long lemmas with awns to 3 mm long. It occurs on road verges where seed from Europe has been used. In vc 35 it has been recorded once on the bank of the R. Usk at Newport, ST/33.85, 1979, TGE, det. CEH. (1 t)

Festuca rubra subsp. commutata Red Fescue This is distinguished by having no or very few, very short rhizomes, so forms even denser tufts of culms to over 70 cm tall; its blades folded lengthwise appear to be 1 mm wide, half of their real width; the spikelets are 7-9 mm long; the upper glume is 3-5 mm long and the lemma 4.5-6 mm long with an awn to 2.5 mm long. It grows in various grassy places and is commonly used as a grass seed called Chewing’s Fescue. 487

Flora of Monmouthshire Wade (1970) quoted WAS who said it was common. I have only 2 records: a plant on the R. Ebbw bank, Newport Rubbish Tip, ST/30.85, 1978, TGE, det. CEH; waste soil, Alpha Steel, ST/33.84, 1999, TGE, MJ. 1 t (1 t)

long but can be half that; the spikelets are just over 6 mm long with rough lemmas between 3-4 mm long, which if possessing an awn, may be up to just over 1.2 mm in length; stomata are mostly less than 31.5 microns. Sheep’s Fescue usually grows on acid soils that have good drainage. It is highly concentrated in the western uplands in vc 35. Many of the lowland sites shown on the distribution map have disappeared due to land ‘improvement’ in the last 18 years. 158 t Figure 39 & 40

Fig. 39 Aid to separating closely similar species Festuca rubra and F. ovina.

Festuca filiformis Fine-leaved Sheep’s Fescue This is very similar to subsp. ovina but has spikelets seldom reaching 5.5 mm in length or lemmas 3.5 mm long, any awns possessed will not exceed 0.6 mm; leaves are pubescent at their base; lemmas are pubescent; stomata mostly greater than 31.5 microns. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 2 sites: 30-40 plants, ‘Warfields’, Staunton Road, Dixton Newton, SO/51, *, 1944, R.L. and at Rumney, *; More recent records are: many plants on a railway bank and on rail ballast at Portskewett, ST/493.883, 1985-94, TGE, and c. 10 plants on wet, grassy slope, St Julian’s Park, Christchurch ST/337.889, 1990-91, TGE. 2 t

All the tillers (sterile shoots) of Festuca ovina are intravaginal i.e. they grow from the base of the culm and parallel to the culm and within the basal sheath for a distance upwards (see diagram). Some or all tillers of F. rubra are extravaginal.

Festuca ovina agg.

Festuca x Lolium = x Festulolium an intergeneric hybrid This resembles L. perenne in its distichous arrangement of the inflorescence (the spikelets alternate in two opposite rows on either side of the floral axis) but the spikelets resemble those of F. pratensis though more flattened and have noticeably unequal glumes, with the lower glume reduced or absent. Anthers remain intact and pollen grains are largely absent. It is found in old water meadows and on roadsides, especially on rich, heavy soils. In the vice-county, it is met with infrequently and has been recorded 7 times in the last 20 years: 1 plant on overgrown playing field near Catbrook, SO/508.025; 3 plants on roadside by Limekiln Farm, SO/517.082; Trellech Grange area,SO/4.0Y; Llansoy area,SO/4.0L, all 1986, EGW; 1 plant grassy verge, NW entrance to Cae-hedydd Farm, Earlswood Common, ST/45.95, 1990, TGE; meadow, Wilcrick Common, ST/402.873, TCGR, det. TAC; Vauxhall Meadows, Monmouth, SO/505.132, 2006, DEG. 2 t (2 t)

Sheep’s Fescue

18 31

This plant has no rhizomes and is densely tufted with culms to 35 cm bearing rough leaves folded along the midrib to 0.7 mm wide (double that opened out); the panicle may be just over 7 cm 488

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 40

Festuca ovina agg. 489

Sheep’s Fescue

Flora of Monmouthshire

Festuca rubra x Vulpia myuros = x Festulpia an intergeneric hybrid

This perennial resembles F. rubra vegetatively with the lower glume half as long as the upper but has fewer and shorter rhizomes and some overlapping of the sheath, but it has a longer and narrower and less branched inflorescence; the anthers are indehiscent and all the pollen grains are empty; its awns are longer than the Festuca parent. This hybrid has been found only twice in the vicecounty: Mitchell Troy, 2 miles SW of Monmouth, SO/49.10, *, 1951, ENe; 2 tufts, in Newport, ST/321.879, 1988, TGE, det. CAS. Stace remarked ‘The Mitchell Troy plant is clearly a x Festulpia – the lower glume is half as long as the upper, anthers are indehiscent and pollen all empty. From elongated inflorescence shape I would say one parent is V. myuros, the other is either F. rubra or F. nigrescens but I do not believe we can tell hybrids involving these two parents apart. This plant has no rhizomes like F. nigrescens but nor do many plants of undoubted F. rubra x V. myuros. Nelmes’s plant is the earliest from anywhere in the world of V. myuros x F. rubra agg.’ 1 t (1 t)

18 31

! Lolium multiflorum

Italian Rye-grass

This is very similar to L. perenne but is an annual or biennial so lacks tillers, and it may grow to over 100 cm tall; there are 11-22 florets in its spikelets; its glume is ¼ to ¾ as long as the spikelet; its lemmas are greater than 3 times as long as wide and are usually awned. 23

LOLIUM Rye-grasses These grasses have various life-cycles, but neither rhizomes nor stolons; the sheaths are open; the inflorescence is normally a distichous spike, with the spikelets flattened so that the spikelets on opposite sides of the floral axis lie in the same plane with the narrow edges lying in concavities of the axis; apart from the most apical, the 2-many florets are bisexual; there are 2 glumes in the apical spikelet but all the rest have an upper one only; the round-backed lemmas have 5-9 veins and may or may not have a subterminal awn; stamens occur in threes.

Lolium perenne

18 31

It grows on rough and waste ground but is frequently sown in lowland meadows. It is widespread in vc 35 but is not persistent. 140 t

Perennial Rye-grass

Lolium perenne has a distichous-inflorescence, and tillers at flowering and fruiting time; the leaves are folded along the midrib, at first; the spikelets contain 4-14 florets with thin, blunt, unawned, flexible, elliptical lemmas that have rounded backs and the glume is ⅓ to longer than the spikelet (the diagram introducing grasses represents this grass). It grows in grassy places in most habitats. It probably exists in all tetrads in vc 35 and is the grass common in ‘improved’ pastures. 396 t

! Lolium rigidum Mediterranean Rye-grass This is similar to L. multiflorum but usually has unawned lemmas, the glume is to ¾ or longer than the length of the spikelet and there are usually 4-8 florets to a spikelet. This has been introduced from the Mediterranean region in grain and wool and appears on waste ground and on tips. Two records were made on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport 490

Flora of Monmouthshire st

ST/305.858, *, 1 Welsh Record, and ST/30.86, 1973, TGE, det. CEH. (2 t)

The only record was made on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, TGE, det. CEH. (1 t)

! Lolium rigidum x Lolium multiflorum a hybrid Rye-grass

VULPIA Fescues These annuals have open sheaths; the inflorescence is a narrow, little-branched panicle or raceme; apart from the most apical, the 2-many florets are bisexual; the upper glume is markedly longer than the lower one; the 3-5-veined lemmas, with rounded backs, have acute or acuminate apices with a long, terminal awn; the stamens number 1-3.

This annual or biennial is intermediate between its parents differing from L. multiflorum in having a longer upper glume and a shorter awn on the lemma, and from L. rigidum in having a shorter upper glume and a short-awned lemma. The only record of this rare British hybrid was made on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858, *, 1st Welsh record, and ST/30.86, 1973, TGE, det. CEH. (2 t)

Arc. Lolium temulentum

Vulpia bromoides

Squirrel-tail Fescue

This is a glabrous, usually loosely tufted annual to c. 50 cm tall, branched near the base; the sheaths have finely pointed, green leaves, and the membranous ligule forms a short collar at the base of the blade; the panicle is erect to slightly curved to over 10 cm tall and well exerted from the uppermost sheath; the florets tend to be concentrated to one side; the lower glume is only ½ to ¾ as long as the upper; the flattened lemma is greater than 1.3 mm wide and has a rough awn to 12 mm long; the anthers remain concealed at anthesis.

Darnel

This variable annual may grow to more than 70 cm tall and has spikelets consisting of 4-10 florets; the 1-3 cm glume is ¾-1.5 times as long as the spikelet; the lowest 2 lemmas are 5-8.5 mm long, usually with an awn greater than 10 mm long. Once a cornfield weed, it is now a rare casual on tips, waste ground, road verges or grassy areas. Wade (1970) described it as a rare casual and gave 2 sites for it: Chippenham, *, SGC, and Earlswood Common, WAS. More recent records are: several plants, the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1975, TGE, det. CEH; roadside, Llewellyn’s Dingle, ST/394.987, 1985, TDP, EDP; boundary of arable and pasture, Piercefield Park, ST/52.96, 1991, TGE; 1 t (4 t)

Arc. Lolium temulentum var. arvense a variety of Darnel

This is similar to L. temulentum but has unawned lemmas. Several plants were found on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1973-78, det. CEH; field edge, Golden Hill, 1985; roadside/field gateway, E of M4 bridge, W of Wilcrick, ST/403.887, 1987; top of steep meadow, Star Hill, SO/468.018, 1996, all TGE. 2 t (2 t)

18 31

This slender grass frequents dry places on heaths, hill grasslands and track sides. In vc 35 it is concentrated in the western hills and the eastern ridge. It is common on dry grassland near the rivers and by railway tracks. 124 t

! Lolium temulentum x Lolium rigidum a hybrid Rye-grass This hybrid has the general appearance of L. temulentum, the culms are tall and erect with large spikelets, but as with L. rigidum the spikelets are longer than their glume and have numerous florets, which were smaller than those of L. temulentum; the anthers do not open.

Arc. Vulpia myuros

Rat’s-tail Fescue

This annual may have solitary culms but more usually it is tufted to 70 cm tall, often erect to ascending from a bent base, though in fruit the long, linear panicles arch considerably to almost 491

Flora of Monmouthshire touch the ground; the culms seldom are completely exerted from the uppermost sheath; the lower glume is only one tenth to two fifths as long as the upper and the flattened lemma is less than 1.3 mm wide.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

! Cynosurus echinatus 18 31

Vulpia myuros grows on waste ground often sandy or gravely, and on minor, dusty bridges taking cattle over railway lines. In vc 35 it is less common in the western hills but is found on dusty tracks that served mines, tracks or bridges on The Levels and disused railway tracks in the Wye Valley. 68 t

CYNOSURUS Dog’s-tails These glabrous grasses lack rhizomes and stolons and have open sheaths; the inflorescence is a stiff, spike-like panicle, bearing 3-5 florets in fertile spikelets and sterile florets, narrowly fan-shaped with narrow lemmas arranged in a herring-bone fashion; the glumes are nearly equal in size; fertile, round-backed lemmas are 5-veined and awnless or with a long terminal awn.

Cynosurus cristatus

Rough Dog’s-tail

The usually tufted and branched culms of this annual may become 100 cm tall but more often only half of that; the leaf is 3-10 mm wide; the inflorescence is a 1-2 cm wide, roundish mass of spikelets packed on one side of the top of the culm; the 8-14 mm fertile spikelets have narrow, finely-pointed glumes and lemmas tipped with awns 6-16 mm long. It grows on disturbed waste and arable land. In the vice-county, it has been recorded only 3 times: near Usk, SO/383.012, 1961, LHD; on disturbed area, near stream outlet/roadside/disused rail, near Bedwas, ST/161.894, 1992, JPW; c. 100 plants on spread coal waste, W of Central Avenue, Cefn Fforest, ST/160.977, 1997, TGE. 2 t (1 t) LAMARCKIA Golden Dog’s-tail These are annuals with open sheaths; the inflorescence is a compact panicle; there are fertile spikelets in pairs with one bisexual and one vestigial floret and one sterile, containing 3 sterile and 2 fertile together, with one of the latter often not producing a caryopsis; there are 2 almost equal glumes, and 5-veined, round-backed lemmas with a long awn issuing from the bifid tip; stamens number 3.

Crested Dog’s-tail

This perennial forms tufts to 75 cm tall; the unbranched culms produce leaves 1-4 mm wide; the panicles are 4-10 mm, narrowly oblong; the fertile spikelets, almost concealed by the sterile ones, vary between 3-6 mm long and are usually tipped with awns to 1 mm long. Cynosurus cristatus is a component of old grassland which is much less common than ‘improved’ meadows. Thus in vc 35, it is still in probably all tetrads but is much less frequent. 389 t

! Lamarckia aurea

Golden Dog’s-tail

This forms short tufts to 20 cm tall with leaves 26 mm wide, with bluntly pointed or jagged, membranous ligules 5-10 mm long; the oblong, frequently golden panicle is to 9 x 3 cm; the 2-3.5 mm lemmas of fertile florets have an awn which varies between 5-10 mm long and so does that of the vestigial lemma; the lower part of the panicle, especially, droops in the mature state. 492

Flora of Monmouthshire Introduced into Britain from the Mediterranean area with wool imports, Lamarckia aurea occasionally occurs on waste ground, tips and cracks in city pavements. In vc 35, there have been only 2 records, both on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1 plant in June, TGE, ALG; 2 plants in July, TGE, both 1979. (1 t) Plate 113

inflorescence, to 14 cm wide, has slender, stalked branches in clusters of about 5 reducing up the panicle, the lower branches, especially, reflex at maturity; the 2-2.5 mm lemmas are bluntly oval. 23

PUCCINELLIA Saltmarsh-grasses These have various life-cycles and lack both rhizomes and stolons; they have open sheaths; the inflorescence is a panicle where the spikelets consist of 2-many florets which are bisexual apart from the most apical; there are 2 slightly unequal glumes, 5-veined, round-backed, unawned lemmas and 3 stamens.

Puccinellia maritima Common Saltmarsh-grass

This perennial spreads by means of long stolons to form a large circular patch and on saltmarsh mud creates a tangled mass of intermingling patches, from which ascending culms and tillers reach a height to 80 cm but often less; lemmas 2.8-4.6 mm long; anthers 1- 2+ mm long.

This occurs freely around the British coast and is not confined to the mud at the top of the salt-marsh but favours sandy or gravely soils near the coast and on verges of salt-treated roads inland. In vc 35, where most plants occur along the Severn coast some grow on lower stretches of the tidal river margins and on road verges well inland. Numbers are usually from 5-20 plants but sometimes they grow in hundreds and infrequently around a thousand e.g. 100s on Passage Wharf, Blackrock, ST/51.88, 1999, TGE; c. 1000 plants S side of track between sea wall and golf course, Peterstone, ST/281.805 and 286.806, 2003, TGE. 26 t

Puccinellia rupestris

Stiff Saltmarsh-grass

19 23 18 31

It colonises barish mud in salt-marshes and estuaries. It is the commonest, largest and stoutest of the 3 Saltmarsh-grasses in vc 35 occupying muddy stretches near the grassy Severn banks and the lower reaches of the tidal rivers. 35 t

Puccinellia distans Reflexed Saltmarsh-grass 18

This tufted perennial may be up to 60 cm tall but is often less and usually has a neat, rather delicate appearance; the panicle is restricted to the upper half of the culm; the loose

493

Flora of Monmouthshire This glabrous, tufted, spreading or prostrate annual or biennial is the shortest, to 40 cm or less tall, near the Severn; it is greyish-green and with stiff, usually densely packed panicles with short branches, mainly on one side of the culm; the blunt, oval, overlapping lemmas are 3-4 mm long. Puccinellia rupestris grows on drier and barer parts of the coast, frequently on paths or established gritty areas. In the vice-county, it is less frequent than the other Saltmarsh-grasses, though commoner to the western end of the Severn shore. It also appears on the Denny Island. Its annual or biennial life-cycle makes its appearance in any one spot uncertain from year to year. 16 t (2 t) Fig. 41

! Briza minor

BRIZA Quaking-grasses These are shortly-rhizomatous grasses with overlapping sheaths, the inflorescence is usually a panicle with slender pedicels at least 5 mm long and bearing flattened, bluntly triangular spikelets with usually 6-8, broadly ovate, bisexual florets (the movement of wind or plant causes vibration in the flattened spikelets on their long, slender pedicels).

Briza media

Lesser Quaking-grass

This slender annual may have culms to 60 cm tall, though plants in vc 35 were about half that height; the panicle has more than twenty, 2.5-5 mm spikelets. It is like a small version of B. media. It grows in arable, bulb fields and in waste places. Its home is the Mediterranean region from where our plants originate. The only vc 35 record for one year only was: 31 tufts (though one tuft separated out into 7 individual seedlings) in a field of oats and Vicia sativa subsp. sativa, S of Middle Hendre Farm, SO/4549.1328, 2002, TGE. HVC alerted me to the field where she also reported Kickxia elatine, which turned out to be widespread in a strip 20 m wide on the edge of the crop with c. 10 plants of Ranunculus sardous. 1 t

! Briza maxima

Greater Quaking-grass

This annual has culms to 75 cm with large, 8-25 mm long spikelets, which number less than 15 per panicle; the ovate spikelets are plump and are 14-25 mm long and 8-15 mm wide. Introduced from the Mediterranean region to British gardens, it seeds freely particularly in our warmer summers; apart from on tips it may now be found on banks and field margins in the south. The only vc 35 records reported are: waste ground, the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1977, TGE; E side of road through Marshfield, 1994, GH; soil waste, Goldcliff, ST/362.825, MJ; 1 plant, Pen y fal Road, Abergavenny, SO/29.14, 2003, MARK. 4 t

Quaking-grass

This perennial has culms and tillers at maturity and may be over 50 cm tall; the ligule is 1.5 mm or shorter; the leaves are limited to 4 mm width; the panicle has more than 20, nodding spikelets, each 3-5 mm long and as wide or wider, with 4-8 florets; the glumes and lemmas have rounded, somewhat hooded apices. It grows in grassy, unimproved, base-rich soils. In the vice-county, it used to be a common component of the hay fields from at least the 1930s to 1950s. Today it is absent from those same fields due to ‘improvement’. 152 t

POA Meadow-grasses These are annuals or perennials with the latter sometimes having rhizomes or stolons; they have overlapping sheaths and the inflorescence is a panicle; the 1-many florets (per spikelet), apart from the most apical, are bisexual and sometimes proliferate (e.g. P. alpina); there are 2 almost equal glumes; the lemmas are keeled on the 5-veined back and either awnless or terminated rarely with a short awn; the callus on the base of the lemma has a tuft of hairs; stamens number 3.

Poa annua

18 31

Annual Meadow-grass

This is the commonest Meadow-grass and has weak stems to 20 cm tall, often beaten down by wind or rain and rooting where nodes touch the soil; its leaves are often transversely wrinkled at maturity; the anthers are usually 0.6-0.8 mm long and 2-3 times as long as wide.

494

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 41

Puccinellia rupestris

Stiff Saltmarsh-grass

Poa trivialis

19 31

Rough Meadow-grass

35 18

Poa annua grows in a multitude of habitats in gaps between other plants. In vc 35 it utilises any soil space. 402 t

This perennial forms many tillers from its trailing stolons; its culms are rough (let them 495

Flora of Monmouthshire pass gently between finger and thumb) and erect to 70 cm; the leaves have ligules 4-10 mm long, the lowest panicle-node has 3-7 branches; it flowers later than P. pratensis. It grows in damp grassland, open woods and marginal land, often on the edge of water. It is common in vc 35, particularly on rural verges. 368 t

Poa humilis

Spreading Meadow-grass

This perennial has extensive rhizomes producing solitary culms at intervals along the rhizomes; the 2-4-noded culms are glabrous, erect and straight; at its lowest panicle-node it has only 2-3 branches; hairs usually occur at the junction of sheath and blade; the glumes are almost equal, both 3-veined and distinctly acuminate.

18 31

18 33

This perennial has rhizomes and 2-4, straight culms to over 50 cm tall; the narrow tiller leaves are 0.5-2 mm wide; the lowest panicle-node bears 3-5 branches; the glumes are clearly unequal; the lemmas are 2-3 mm long. This grass favours well-drained soil on banks, rough and rocky ground and walls. In vc 35, in spite of Stace’s (1997) comment ‘probably frequent throughout the British Isles and greatly under-recorded’ my impression is that it is decidedly uncommon in the vice-county. Records are: track, Newport Docks, ST/309.858, 1979, TGE det. CEH; roadside bank Caerwent, ST/471.897, 1980; roadside bank, Lydart, SO/500.093, 1991, JFH; 10 plants, dry limestone bank, MOD, Caerwent, ST/482.907, 2000, TGE, CT. 2 t (2 t)

Poa angustifolia Narrow-leaved Meadow-grass

It grows in grassland, road and rail sides, between curb stones and pavement on old walls, often on sandy or wet soils. In vc 35 it has disappeared where grassland has been re-seeded. 98 t

Poa compressa

Flattened Meadow-grass

Poa pratensis

Smooth Meadow-grass

This perennial flowers earlier than P. trivialis, has short, strong rhizomes and smooth, erect culms to over 50 cm; the leaves are rather shorter and more hooded than P. trivialis and its ligules are quite short, often less than 3 mm long; the lowest panicle-node produces 3-5 branches and the spikelets are rather plumper. It grows in various grasslands. The gaps on the vc 35 distribution map may be due to it being missed because of its earlier flowering, or it is missing from re-seeded grassland. 351 t

18 31

496

Flora of Monmouthshire This is an erect, tufted and slender perennial to over 50 cm with 1-3 mm wide leaves, held horizontally at right angles to the stem; it has short, truncate ligules 0.2-0.5 mm long; the lowest panicle-node has 3-6 branches. It grows in shady places such as woods, wooded banks, walls and hedge banks. In vc 35 it is commoner in deciduous woodland hence its infrequency in the western uplands, the Usk valley and much of The Levels. 150 t

Poa compressa is a glabrous perennial with widely spreading rhizomes from which strongly compressed, erect culms arise, the culm bends slightly at each of the 4-6 nodes; the leaves are bluish or greyish-green, the short ligule is 0.5-2 mm long; the brownish panicle is usually smallish and stiffly compact with 2-3, short branches at the lowest panicle-node. It grows on walls and stone buildings, paths, stony ground and well-drained banks. This grass has lost out to the repair and cleaning of walls and stone buildings as owners have enhanced the value of property as prices have risen steeply in vc 35 since the 1939-45 war. 63 t

! Poa palustris

DACTYLIS Cock’s-foot These perennials lack rhizomes and stolons but have strongly compressed tillers; their sheaths overlap; the inflorescence is largely a one-sided panicle or a terminal, lobed cluster of spikelets below which are two branches terminating in clusters of spikelets; each spikelet has 2-5, bisexual (apart from the most apical) florets; the 2 glumes are unequal; the 5-veined lemma is keeled on the back and a short, terminal awn may be present; stamens number 3.

Swamp Meadow-grass

This tufted perennial has erect culms to over 1 m tall; leaves are 2-6 mm wide; the ligule of the uppermost culm leaf 2-4 mm long and the lowest panicle-node usually supporting 4-6 branches. Introduced from other parts of Europe as a fodder crop or an alien in wool or grain imports to marshes, fens and damp grassland, it has become less common since the 1939-1945 war. The only vc 35 record was made in Newport Docks, ST/3.8, 1954, DM. (1 t)

! Poa chaixii

Dactylis glomerata

Broad-leaved Meadow-grass

This large, densely tufted perennial to over 1 m tall has large leaves 6-10 mm wide, with short ligules 0.5-2 mm long, and an uppermost culm-leaf shorter than its sheath. Introduced from mainland Europe as an ornamental grass in woods and copses. In vc 35 it was noticed on a lane bank, by Pen-y-clawdd Church, SO/45.07, 1946, NS. (1 t)

Poa nemoralis

CATABROSA Whorl-grass These perennials spread by stolons, have overlapping sheaths, an inflorescence which is a triangular panicle, spikelets with 1-3 florets, bisexual apart from the most apical, 2 unequal glumes, 3-veined, round-backed, truncate lemmas which lack awns and 3 stamens.

Wood Meadow-grass

Catabrosa aquatica

18 32

Whorl-grass

This glabrous, somewhat succulent, waterassociated grass forms a circular patch, particularly observable in water, with stolons rooted at the nodes and providing erect culms at close intervals; the soft, packed florets on the whorled branches give the inflorescence a smoky appearance; the broad, flat, blunt-tipped leaves arise from long, loose sheaths; the few florets per spikelet adds a blunt-looking aspect to the inflorescence. Many of those growing in reens close to the Severn have 1-2 florets only, which Stace (1997) refers to as var. uniflora.

Cock’s-foot

This has densely tufted culms to over 1 m; the sheaths and leaves are very rough and greyishgreen; the short awned lemmas have bristles on the keel. It grows in established grassland, open deciduous woodland, rough, waste or cultivated soils. In vc 35 it is almost certainly found in every tetrad. 398 t

497

Flora of Monmouthshire calcareous substrate. In the vice-county, it is scattered but absent from the central farmland. 37 t

It grows in water or associated mud. In vc 35 it is most frequent in reens near the Severn with two sites in shallow streams inland. 25 t

Catapodium rigidum var. majus Fern-grass variety

Catabrosa aquatica

This differs from the species in being much bigger with longer, broader leaves and a larger, a panicle much-branched, in 3 dimensions, the spikelets have 10-16 florets which, though the same width, are much longer. It is a coastal plant. In the vice-county, the one record was made on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1974, TGE, det. CEH. (1 t)

Catapodium marinum

18 31

CATAPODIUM Fern Grasses These annuals to c. 15 cm tall have open sheaths, an inflorescence which is a stiff, rather narrow raceme or a little-branched panicle; the spikelets contain 3-14 florets, most bisexual; 2 almost equal glumes, 5-veined lemmas, either smooth and round-backed or keeled towards the apex and 3 stamens (see diagram above).

Catapodium rigidum

Sea Fern-grass

This is clearly more distichous in it arrangement of spikelets on two, opposite sides of the rachis than C. rigidum and has an average of 6-8 florets per spikelet; the glumes average 2-3 mm long and lemmas to 3 mm long. It grows in coastal districts. There has been only one record: 20-30 plants in c. 1 m² on old, exposed, sea level, shelly soil, Rumney Great Wharf, ST/248.786, 1997, PMM, 1st vice-county Record; also TGE, PAS, DMT. 1 t PARAPHOLIS Hard-grasses These have narrow, cylindrical stems with a long, terminal inflorescence with cavities alternating from side to side up the rachis, into each of these cavities fit 2 glumes, side by side, making the inflorescence appear smoothly cylindrical; only at anthesis, when the glumes fall away do the single lemma and anthers and style become visible.

Fern-grass

This forms small tufts with stiff culms usually bearing stiff, spike-like racemes with spikelets, in 2 lines, on one side of the rachis; the spikelets average 4-6 florets each; the glumes are c. 1.4-2.4 mm long and the lemmas are 2-2.5 mm long.

Parapholis strigosa

Hard-grass

23 23

18 31

35 18

It is a plant of dry, barish habitats, such as banks, walls, sand, shingle and stony ground with a

498

Flora of Monmouthshire Parapholis strigosa usually has slender, erect, cylindrical culms, sometimes ascending or slightly curved to 25 cm tall; the very slender spike is not always fully exerted from the top leaf-sheath; the anthers are 1.5-3 mm long. This grows in brackish, thinly-vegetated soils near salt-marshes or on disturbed ground usually near the coast. In the vice-county, it is confined to the edge of the Severn or near the mouths of the Rhymney, Usk and Wye. 24 t

sharply 2-toothed, sometimes visible beyond the tip of the lemma; the anthers are 1.5-2.5 mm long and dehiscent to shed full and turgid pollen grains. 23

GLYCERIA Sweet-grasses These perennials are associated with water and may have rhizomes and stolons; their panicles may be little branched like G. declinata or multibranched like G. maxima; the spikelets may have 4-16, mostly bisexual, blunt florets, which fall separately when fruit is ripe; the glumes are usually 1-veined and the lemmas 7-veined.

Glyceria maxima

18 31

Reed Sweet-grass

This succulent, aquatic grass occupies shallow water or margins of ponds, lakes, ditches, slow streams and rivers. In vc 35 it has lost habitats as water tables have been lowered and wet areas have been drained. 275 t

This has self-supporting, erect culms to over 2 m tall, bearing multi-branched panicles with 5-12 mm spikelets, which have 4-10 florets with 3-4 mm, entire lemmas and paleas with smooth keels; the paleas are sharply pointed and shorter than the lemmas.

Glyceria declinata

Small Sweet-grass

This is similar to G. fluitans but has culms limited to 60 cm, lemmas 4-5 mm long and at least 3-toothed at the apex; the palea is sharply pointed with the points usually exceeding the lemma tip; the anthers are 0.6-1.3 mm long.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31

35 19

It grows in and by water in rivers, canals, ponds, lakes and reens. In vc 35 it occupies many unexcavated reens on The Levels, but is also found in rivers and ponds inland. 97 t

Glyceria fluitans

18 31

Floating Sweet-grass

It grows in shallow water and on mud of ponds, rivers, canals and in marshes, ditches and wet meadows. In vc 35 this has declined considerably since the records shown on the distribution map were made due to the loss of habitat. 113 t

This has decumbent to ascending culms to less than 1 m and is unable to hold its culms erect; the 5-15 mm long ligules are acutely pointed; the lemmas are 5.5-6.5 mm long; the paleas are 499

Flora of Monmouthshire underside (see drawing below), a diagnostic feature; the dark purple glumes are half to ⅞ as long as the rest of the pale floret between; the membranous ligule is very short. Melica nutans grows in woods, scrub and among shady rocks on limestone. In the vice-county, it is very much under threat because it is at its southern limit and subject to changes in forestry regimes. The main British population is in Scotland. 1st vicecounty Record, Piercefield Woods, 1773, JL. Wade (1970) described it as locally frequent and gave 10 vice-county sites all in the Wye Valley or near it. They are: Lady Park Wood, *; near Highmeadow Siding, *; railway bank between Hadnock and the Biblins, SGC; AEW; 2 miles west of Chepstow, FJAH; about Tintern, 1841, JM; 1853, TWG; 1886, HPR; 1920, ?WR; AEW; Wyndcliff, *, EL; WAS; TGE; AEW; Mounton, *; near Pandy Mill, Itton, WAS; Cuckoo Wood, Llandogo; Blackcliff, near Tintern. More recent records are: 1 clump, bank of Great Barnet’s Wood, near road opposite Kite’s Bushes, Mounton, ST/508.934, 1990, TGE; several plants, trackside, Blackcliff Wood, opposite entrance to Livox Quarry, off A466, ST/533.982, 1994, TGE; c. 10 plants, on floor of disused quarry, Blackcliff, W side of A466, ST/533.984, 19972005; TGE, CT; N side of the track going west from quarry face, at foot of 365 steps to the Eagle’s Nest, Wyndcliff, ST/526.973, 1994-2001, TGE. 3t Figure 42

Glyceria x pedicellata a hybrid Sweet-grass This G. fluitans x G. notata hybrid differs from G. fluitans in smaller lemmas of 5-5.5 mm and smaller 1-1.8 mm long anthers with indehiscent pollen grains, in having sterile spikelets, mostly empty and collapsed with no fruits formed. G. notata has far more spikelets on its branches. It grows on or near shallow water or on mud. Wade (1970) gave 8 sites for it. Today it is very uncommon and I have 2 sites: Whitelye Common, SO/50.02, 1984, TGE; wet area near stream, Lower House Farm, Wolvesnewton, ST/45.99, 1993, TGE. 1 t (1 t)

Glyceria notata

Plicate Sweet-grass

This Sweet-grass has much broader and more branched panicles than G. fluitans, and smaller, much blunter lemmas 3.5-5 mm long; the palea has shorter teeth; the anthers 0.2-1.3 mm long are shorter. 23

Melica uniflora

18 31

Wood Melick

This varies from erect to curved culms which have a sheath which has an apical bristle on the opposite side from the origin of the leaf-blade; the inflorescence is a little-branched panicle with few, erect spikelets per branch; the lower of the purple glumes has 3 veins.

It grows on mud or in shallow water of ponds, rivers, canals and in marshes. It is scattered in vc 35 but has lost habitat due to lowered water tables and drainage of wet land. 110 t

MELICA Melicks Melicks are shortly rhizomatous, woodland grasses; the inflorescence is a raceme or littlebranched panicle; the ligules are very short and flattish-topped; the spikelets possess 1-3, bisexual florets and an apical cluster of sterile vestiges; the lemmas are 7-9 veined.

Melica nutans

Mountain Melick

The erect culms bear a simple raceme that forms an arching curve with the spikelets hanging singly on short stalks from the

18 31

500

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 42

Melica nutans

501

Mountain Melick

Flora of Monmouthshire Melica uniflora occurs in woods and shady hedgebanks. It is largely absent from the western uplands and The Levels. 209 t

occurs in the vice-county in one site only, discovered on the southern end of the defensive banks either side of the western ditch of the Iron Age Fort at Sudbrook, ST/504.873, *, 1973, TGE, det. CEH. 1 t The site is threatened by activities of the Pulp Mill to its west, where timber is cut up into chips and blown from a high-mounted pipe into piles, ready for the vats, where it will be pulped for paper manufacture. In gales and strong winds, the chips have blown over the fence on to the banks, and the tannin and the decomposition has caused coarse vegetation to clothe the banks and reduce the habitat suitable for this grass, which was just surviving in a small area on the inner bank in 2005.

HELICTOTRICHON Oat-grasses These are tallish, tufted perennials without or with short rhizomes; the narrow inflorescence is the result of a little-branched panicle; the yellowish-green spikelets are smooth and shiny; the largely bisexual spikelets have 2-7 florets; the smaller, lower glume is 1-3-veined, the upper is 3-5-veined; the lemmas are 5-7-veined, shortlytoothed at the apex where a long, elbowed, dorsal awn is borne; the rachis is pubescent and a tuft of long hairs occurs at its joints.

ARRHENATHERUM False Oat-grass These perennials form loose tufts to over 1.5 m tall; the shiny inflorescence has clustered branches of different lengths alternately on opposite sides of the axis; the spikelets usually have 2 florets, the lower male, the upper bisexual; the glumes are unequal, the lower 1-veined and the upper 3veined; the lemma, bifid at the apex, has 7 veins, usually only the lemma of the male floret has a long, elbowed awn; hair-tufts on the rachis are 1-2 mm long; the ovary is pubescent at the apex.

Arrhenatherum elatius

Helictotrichon pubescens Downy Oat-grass The lower culm sheaths are softly pubescent, the spikelets have 2-3 florets, the rachilla hair-tufts have hairs mainly 3-6 mm long, the palea has smooth keels and the ovary and caryopsis have pubescent apices. 23

False Oat-grass

The lowest node of this tall grass sometimes has a slight swelling towards its base; it has 7-11 mm spikelets with a 4-6 mm lower glume and 7-10 mm upper glume; the 7-10 mm lowest lemma has an awn up to 20 mm long.

18 23 31

35 22

It grows on base-rich soils, usually limestone and chalk. In the vice-county, it is largely limited to the Carboniferous Limestone of the SE corner, but has lost much of its habitat to housing developments and the associated services. 11 t

Helictotrichon pratense Meadow Oat-grass

Its distinguishing characters are: the culm sheaths are glabrous, its spikelets have 3-6 florets, the hairs forming the tufts on the rachis are 1-3 mm long, the palea has scabrid keels, and the ovary and caryopsis have pubescent apices. This grows on base-rich grassland often on limestone or chalk, but prefers shorter turf and is commoner on mountains than H. pubescens. It

18 31

It grows in a habitat which is declining, where grass occurs in rough tufts on waysides, hedgerows, grassland, wasteland, coastal sand and 502

Flora of Monmouthshire shingle. In vc 35, in reduced numbers, it can still be found in most tetrads. 376 t

maturity; the longer glume is 18-25 mm long; the lowest lemma is 14-20 mm long, pubescent in the lower half and topped by 2 teeth up to 0.5 mm long. It grows as a weed in cereal crops, or on rough or waste ground. In vc 35 it is not uncommon, but is often not recorded because it is not accessible in the crop. 71 t

Arrhenatherum elatius var. bulbosum Bulbous False Oat-grass This differs in having 2 or more short, basal nodes swollen like corms, one above the other. It grows in rough grassy places. Random checks have been made by pulling up part of a tuft, and most efforts have produced the species, but 5 plants have had the short corm-like basal nodes, they were at: the school garden, St Kingsmark Secondary School, Chepstow, ST/52.94, 1974; garden, Mounton Road, Chepstow, ST/528.937, 1979; rough grassland, to SW of the Iron Age Fort, Sudbrook, ST/503.873, 1989, all TGE; garden, 23 Railway Terrace, Hollybush, SO/166.033, 1994, PAS; hedge bank, near Triley Wood, SO/313.182, 1997, TGE. 3 t (2 t)

! Avena sterilis

AVENA Oats These are usually large annuals with a loose panicle of large spikelets (ideal for beginners to study the structure of grass florets) on slender pedicels; the drooping spikelets have 2-3, bisexual florets (sometimes the apical 1-2 are reduced, male or sterile); the 7-11-veined glumes are almost equal in size; the 7-9-veined lemmas have either 2 points or 2 bristles at the apex and may or may not have a long, bent, dorsal awn; the rachilla-segments may have a tuft of hairs and the ovary may be pubescent all over or only at the apex.

Avena fatua

Winter Wild-oat

It is similar to A. fatua but the spikelet breaks up at maturity above the glumes only to free a 2-3 fruited segment with an ovate basal scar only on the lowest floret, the longer glume is 3245 mm long and the ligule is > 5mm long. A weed of cereal crops in S England or a wool or grain alien elsewhere. In the vice-county, a recent record was the first: a single plant (with A. fatua) on the edge of a maize crop, by the track to West Usk Lighthouse, ST/3092.8307, 2005, JPW. 1 t

! Avena sativa

Oat

This is similar to A. fatua but the rachilla either does not break up between the florets or there is no basal scar to the florets; the lemmas either have no awn or have a nearly-straight, glabrous awn. 23

Wild Oat

18 31

This is grown as a crop, or seeds germinate the following year in a different crop. In vc 35 it is not the commonest crop and is probably underrecorded. 16 t

18 31

TRISETUM Yellow Oat-grass These perennials possess neither rhizomes nor stolons; they have narrowish, much-branched panicles with mainly bisexual spikelets, each with 2-4 florets; the smaller lower glumes have 1 vein,

This annual to 1.5 m tall has spikelets of 2-3 florets each with an ovate, basal scar; the rachilla breaks up between the florets at 503

Flora of Monmouthshire the upper 3 veins, both are bifid with 2 short, apical, bristle points and a bent, dorsal awn; the rachilla is pubescent and the ovary glabrous.

Trisetum flavescens

It occurs particularly on dry, calcareous grasslands on hills and downs, coastal sand-dunes and dry lowland meadows and pastures. There has been only 1 site for it, varying in numbers from very few to scores, on cliff edges and the outer defensive banks of the Iron Age fort at Sudbrook, ST/504.873 and 504.872, *, 1982, 1st vice-county Record, and c. 50 plants, 2004, both TGE. 1 t

Yellow Oat-grass

The 50 cm plus stems are loosely tufted with pubescent sheaths and lower leaves; the 5-7.5 mm, shiny, golden spikelets have awns showing beyond the tips; the lowest lemma is 4-5.5 mm long with a 4.5-9 mm awn.

DESCHAMPSIA Hair-grasses These are densely tufted perennials lacking rhizomes and stolons; the loose, shiny panicles have c. 5 longer branches at the lowest point and less numerous, shorter branches at the apex; the variously coloured spikelets have 2 bisexual florets; the lower smaller glume has 1 vein and the upper usually 3 veins; the lemmas are 4-5 veined and usually have a dorsal awn; the rachilla segments are hairy with a tuft of hairs at the base of each; the ovary is glabrous.

Deschampsia cespitosa subsp. cespitosa Tufted Hair-grass

18 31

The tufts formed by this grass are up to 1.5 m or more tall; the leaves are 2 mm or more wide, with edges that cut through the skin if handled carelessly; the 3.5-5 mm sexual spikelets are dainty on the much-branched panicle; the branches have scattered apical-pointing teeth; the awn arising from the lower half of the lemma barely exceeds it; the hair-tuft at the base of the lower lemma reaches the apex of the rachillasegment above.

It is found in lowland, unimproved meadows, pastures and grassy margins, especially on limerich soils. In vc 35, many habitats have been lost to land ‘improvement’, new housing estates (especially in the SE corner) and the associated services. 137 t

KOELERIA Hair-grasses These tufted perennials lack rhizomes and stolons; their inflorescences are panicles but are spike-like because their numerous, densely-assembled branches are short; the mainly bisexual spikelets usually possess 2-3 florets; the shorter, lower glume is 1-veined and the upper 3-veined; the 3veined, acute lemmas sometimes have a very short apical awn; the rachilla is shortly pubescent, the ovary is glabrous.

Koeleria macrantha

Crested Hair-grass

This shortly pubescent, densely tufted grass has erect culms to over 50 cm, with the basal sheaths not persistent and not forming a network of fibres; the pale panicles consist of smallish, wedge-shaped, flattened spikelets with thin, shiny margins to glumes and lemmas.

18 31

It grows in damp meadows, track sides and shallow depressions. In vc 35 it is widespread, though less common in drained fields and on The Levels. 356 t 504

Flora of Monmouthshire

Deschampsia cespitosa subsp. parviflora Tufted Hair-grass

Holcus lanatus

This is similar to subsp. cespitosa but has 2-3 mm spikelets, with the hair-tuft at the base of the lowest lemma not reaching the apex of the rachilla-segment above. It grows in deciduous woods and shady hedgerows in the lowlands. Vc 35 has only two records: near but below the Wyndcliff, ST/523.969, 1988, TGE; under trees, R. Honddu edge, NNW of Cymyoy, SO/291.249, 1993, TGE. 2 t

Deschampsia flexuosa

Yorkshire-fog

This is a densely tufted grass usually with pubescent sheaths and culms (but may be glabrous); the upper lemma has an awn up to 2 mm long that curls back like a fish-hook at maturity, otherwise it seldom shows from the spikelet; the inflorescence spreads open more than H. mollis at anthesis; at this stage a field of the massed panicles of this grass look like a low-lying mist above the grass. It grows in rough grassland, on waste land, arable and in open woods. In vc 35 it is in every tetrad, but is not frequent on the edge of the Severn. 397 t

Wavy Hair-grass

The culms grow to 60 cm or more, bear mid to dark green leaves and an inflorescence with wavy branches and shiny, 2-flowered, 4-6 mm long spikelets with lemmas 3.5-5 mm long bearing awns from the lower half and clearly exceeding the lemmas.

Holcus mollis

Creeping Soft-grass

Because of its rhizomes, this spreads more than H. lanatus; it usually has glabrous sheaths and stems though the nodes are clothed with patent hairs, and the upper lemma has a bent awn that protrudes clear of the spikelet apex.

23 23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

It grows on acid heaths, moors, in open woods and on drier parts of bogs. In vc 35 it is associated with the hilly areas, though the ploughing of the lower heathland has caused a loss of it in the central farmlands. 166 t

This grows chiefly in woods and hedgerows, mostly on acid soils. It is rather uncommon on the limestone of the SE corner and on the edge of the coalfield. 317 t

AIRA Hair-grasses These annuals have a spreading or spike-like panicle; the spikelets have 2-bisexual florets; the glumes are almost equal, have 1-3 veins, which fall short of the apex; the shortly-bifid lemmas have 5 veins in the lower half where a bent awn arises; the short spikelets have very short rachillas; the lemma has a short, basal hair-tuft and the ovary is glabrous.

HOLCUS Soft-grasses Soft-grasses are densely tufted or spreading by rhizomes; the soft inflorescence has a tightly packed panicle that has 2-flowered spikelets, the lower bisexual and the upper male; the lower, keeled glume is 1-veined and narrower than the 3veined upper of equal length; the lower lemma is awnless, the dorsal awn on the upper arises from the upper half and both have a tuft of hairs at their base. 505

Flora of Monmouthshire

Aira caryophyllea

Silver Hair-grass

It usually has stems erect to 25 cm and with branches erecto-patent; the spikelets are of a silvery colour and 2.5-3 mm long; the anthers are 0.3-0.45 mm long and some pedicels are over 5 mm long.

18 31

ANTHOXANTHUM Vernal-grasses These may be annuals or tufted perennials; the inflorescence is a dense, spike-like panicle with narrow, spindle-shaped spikelets with pointed apices, exceeded by awns; the 2 lower, sterile florets have a 4-5-veined lemma, the lemma of the bisexual floret above has a long, dorsal awn, the terminal floret has 2 stamens, a 5-veined, awnless lemma and a 1-veined palea; no lodicules are present; the smaller, lower glume is 1-veined and the upper is 3-veined and exceeds the rest of the spikelet. Crushed plants emit the smell of newmown hay.

18 31

It grows on open, dry, sandy, gravelly or rocky banks on heaths and dunes. In vc 35 it favours the western hills and appropriate grassland near the Severn. 93 t

Aira caryophyllea subsp. multiculmis Silver Hair-grass This has culms to 50 cm, 2.2-2.5 mm spikelets on pedicels less than 5 mm long. It grows in well-drained banks and on rail ballast. In the vice-county, it grew on the sandy rail embankment of the branch line to MOD, Caerwent at Portskwett, ST/49.88, *, 1985, TGE. The embankment is now overgrown. 1 t

Aira praecox

Anthoxanthum odoratumSweet Vernal-grass 23

Early Hair-grass

This has erect to procumbent stems, usually to 12-16 cm tall but may be 25 cm, depending on the dryness and depth of the substrate; the pale inflorescence is usually a spike-like panicle, much more compact than A. caryophyllea with pedicels largely hidden; the spikelets are 2.5-3.5 mm long and the 1.5-1.9 mm caryopsis is also longer than that of A. caryophyllea. It grows in similar places to A. caryophyllea but mostly with an acid substrate. In vc 35 it is much more frequent on the higher ground both in the west and the east. 121 t

18 31

This c. 50 cm tall, tufted perennial has unbranched culms bearing narrow, longpointed leaves; the compact spike-like inflorescence has pointed florets, exceeded by awns from the second lemmas, to give it a bristly 506

Flora of Monmouthshire outline; the anthers are 3-4.5 mm long; it has no lodicules and styles appear before the anthers. It grows in a range of grassy places irrespective of altitude. In vc 35 it is at home on natural or seminatural grassland. 373 t

veins; the 1-flowered spikelets are flattened and obovate, and at maturity break above the glumes, which have a green keel broadly winged in the upper half, and which are persistent and as long as the spikelet. 23

PHALARIS Canary-grasses These are annuals or perennials spreading by rhizomes; the inflorescence is a compact or spikelike panicle, the lowest 2 spikelets occur as scales unless there is only one spikelet present; the terminal floret possesses 2 lodicules, equal, sharply-keeled glumes which are longer than the rest of the spikelet, an awnless 5-veined lemma and 3 stamens.

Phalaris arundinacea

Reed Canary-grass

This is a tall to 2 m perennial with long, creeping rhizomes that form erect colonies of whitishgreen, hairless culms and flat, long-pointed leaves to 35 cm x 18 mm and a large, clearly branched, pale, whitish-green inflorescence with lanceolate to oblong bundles of 5-6.5 mm, flattened spikelets.

18 31

It has been introduced from the western Mediterranean as bird seed and from bird cage cleanings which are transferred to tips and waste ground. Wade (1970) described it as an occasional casual on waste ground in the north, centre and east of the vice-county. It has occurred since in dozens on the rubbish tip at the northern edge of Alcove Wood, Chepstow, ST/528.948, *, 1973, TGE, CT, det. CEH; scores scattered over the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858, 1973; 1975; 1991, TGE, CT; 10 plants near wood chippings heap, Began, ST/228.830, 1986, GH; on shingle bed, Afon Llwyd, Llantarnam, ST/313.934, 1991, JFH; 1 plant in crack between paving stones where bird seed had been scattered, Orchard Cottage, SO/502.012, 2000, AB, det. TGE. 21 t

18 31

! Phalaris paradoxa

This leafy, deeply-rooting grass of wet habitats, particularly on the margins of watercourses, lakes and in marshes, is widely spread in the British Isles. In vc 35 it is a lowland plant, frequent on river, stream and reen banks. 207 t

! Phalaris canariensis

Awned Canary-grass

It is different from the other Phalaris species in that the culm has more nodes (4-5), shorter internodes that are angled to each other at each node, and the spikelets are more lumpy and hard; it has 6-7 spikelets in a cluster, the central one fertile and the surrounding ones sterile, all fall together at maturity. It is introduced from the Mediterranean region into cultivated and waste places. The only records are: 1 plant, the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1982, TGE; c. 100 plants in the corner of a field, New Dairy Farm, ST/3086.8337, 2005, JPW. 2 t (1 t)

Canary-grass

This is an erect, tufted annual usually 30-60 cm tall; the green, glabrous leaves are usually less than 20 cm x 12 mm with a long, tapering point; the uppermost sheath is inflated; the ovoid, spikelike panicle is whitish with prominent green 507

Flora of Monmouthshire In Phalaris paradoxa var. praemorsa, which has been found on the Newport tip, the glumes of the sterile spikelets are all deformed and clubshaped.

bearing branches into double figures; the branches remain patent after flowering. 23

AGROSTIS Bents Bents have variable life-cycles, have rhizomes or stolons or not; the ligule is membranous, the sheaths are open, the inflorescence is a branched, contracted or spreading panicle, the spikelet has 1, bisexual floret, 2 almost equal, 1-3-veined glumes usually both at least as long as the rest of the spikelet, 3-7-veined lemmas rounded on the back and may have a subterminal or dorsal awn, 3 stamens, 2 stigmas and a glabrous ovary. Though identification is possible in the field confirmation with (at least a x20 binocular microscope) is advisable.

Agrostis capillaris

18 31

It is a lowland grass occupying marginal habitats. It is widely but sparingly spread through vc 35, nowhere is it dominant. It seems limited to the edge of arable crops or margins of rough grassland and sometimes near rivers. 88 t

Common Bent

This is a 50-80 cm tall grass that perennates by means of rhizomes; its ligule is short and has a less than 2 mm high, flattish top; the panicle branches become patent at anthesis and the spikelets are separated and remain so after the caryopses are ripe and shed; the lemma lacks an awn or it is very short.

Agrostis stolonifera

Creeping Bent

This is usually less than 50 cm tall, perennating by leafy and rooting stolons thus forming a close turf, with glabrous culms arising from bent or prostrate stems; the 1-6 mm culm ligules are pointed to somewhat blunt; the panicles are narrow and rather compact opening slightly at anthesis and closing afterwards.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31

35 19

It grows in grassy habitats particularly on acid substrates. It is probably in all county tetrads. 379 t

! Agrostis gigantea

Black Bent

A 60-80 cm tall grass that perennates by means of rhizomes; its leaves often wider than 5 mm; it has tillers have flat-topped but ragged ligules longer than wide; the panicle is wide spreading with numerous, small spikelets towards the end of the branches, with the lowest panicle point

This common and variable grass has very catholic tastes with regard to altitude, types of soil, inland or coastal positions, open woodland or cultivated land. It is common in vc 35 and probably occurs in every tetrad. 366 t 508

Flora of Monmouthshire

Agrostis canina

the dense panicle has hair-like branches, upright particularly before and after anthesis. Brown Bent is common on heaths, hills and mountain grassland on sandy and peaty soils but is not as frequent as A. capillaris, which grows with it. In vc 35 it is more frequent in the western uplands but because of a shortage of botanists there and the species recent separation from A. canina it may be somewhat under-recorded. 13 t

Velvet Bent

This perennial has creeping stolons with fine, leafy tufts at the nodes to form a close turf; the ligules are up to 4 mm and are pointed; there are no rhizomes; the green, red or purple panicles have small spikelets on hair-like branches and pedicels; from near their bases, the lemmas bear bent awns that exceed the glumes 23

! Agrostis scabra

18 31

This fine-leaved grass grows in lowland damp or wet meadows, swamps or marshy ground often near water and in open woodlands. In the vicecounty, it has lost much of its habitat due to land ‘improvement’ such as re-seeding and heavy fertilisation, drainage, lowering of the water table, and heavy grazing by sheep. 61 t

Agrostis vinealis

CALAMAGROSTIS Small-reeds These are tall, coarse grasses arising from rhizomes; they have narrow, 1-flowered spikelets borne on short pedicels in loose to dense panicles, breaking up at maturity; the glumes are persistent and the grain falls enclosed by the lemma and palea; the glumes are longer than the 3-5-nerved, membranous lemma which has a basal awn with long hairs on the back, or an apical awn.

Brown Bent

Calamagrostis epigejos

18 32

Wood Small-reed

This may form dense colonies from creeping rhizomes; the 1-3-noded culms are erect or nearly so and rough just below the panicle; the flat, glabrous, dull green leaves have a scabrid, upper surface and blades to 70 x 1 cm; the erect, narrowly lanceolate panicle is close and dense before and after anthesis, and may be green, brown or purplish; the spikelets have long, narrow glumes with lemmas half the length and exceeded by encircling hairs.

Rough Bent

Though a perennial in N America, in Britain it behaves as an annual; it is very slender in all its parts growing to between 30 and 50 cm tall; the panicle occurs in the top ⅓ to ½ of the culm with hair-like, erect, scabrid (easily seen with a x20 lens) branches, which bend very easily in the wind; the few spikelets on the ends of the branches are very small; no awns were discernible, if present they are very short and hidden by the glumes. The plant may be recognised from Figure 43. Introduced as a contaminant in imported grain, it has become naturalised by the sides of roads and rails especially in docks. In the vice-county, 30-50 plants naturalised on the railway ballast, among several sets of railway lines in Newport Docks, ST/311.860, 1980-82, *, TGE, CT. Imported poles were imported and a creosoting station was set up where the plants were flourishing and the spray destroyed the colony by 1983. (1 t)

This is a densely tufted perennial to 60 cm with slender, creeping rhizomes but no stolons, leafy or otherwise; the ligule varies from acute to obtuse; 509

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 43

Agrostis scabra 510

Rough Bent

Flora of Monmouthshire The hemispherical swellings are diagnostic, visible to the naked eye but clearer still when viewed through a x10 lens.

Gastridium ventricosum

18 31

Calamagrostis epigejos grows in damp, open woods, ditches and fens and usually on heavy soils. It is not common in vc 35, growing on the edges of woods or by the sides tracks or railway lines. It has been lost from some of the sites shown on the maps due to natural succession. 23 t

LAGURUS Hare’s-tail These are annuals with slightly inflated upper sheaths terminated with a broad-based, lanceolate blade, and with a very dense ovoid, spike-like panicle softly silky-haired; 1-veined, equal glumes taper to an apical awn longer than the rest of the spikelet; the 5-veined lemmas are pubescent but without a basal hair-tuft, have 2 apical bristles extended as far as the glume awns and a dorsal bent awn exserted beyond the glumes; the palea is shorter than the main parts of the lemma.

AMMOPHILA Marram These perennate by strong and quick-growing rhizomes; the panicle is large and spike-like; the almost equal glumes exceed the rest of the spikelet; the 5-7 mm lemmas, at the most, have a tiny awn from near the apex, and a basal tuft of hairs half their length; the 2-4-veined palea is almost as long as the lemma.

! Ammophila arenaria

Nit-grass

This has panicles to 10 cm long and spikelets (as described above) to mostly 4 mm long; the lemmas are glabrous or minutely hairy at the base and sparingly hairy on the sides, awnless or with a twisted or bent awn to 4 mm long. An uncommon grass on limestone or chalk and a weed of arable or cornfields. Wade (1970) described it as a rare alien and gave 2 records: Chepstow, 1873, BMW; and Newport Docks, JHC. (2 t)

! Lagurus ovatus

Hare’s-tail

It has erect culms to over 50 cm (less in Britain) with distinct, softly pubescent sheaths and erecto-patent, lanceolate blades; the pale, ovoid, panicle to 7 x 2 cm consists of 7-10 mm, drooping, densely packed, overlapping, silkypubescent spikelets with awns up to 2 cm long. Introduced from S Europe as a decorative grass, it is now naturalised on shifting sand dunes in the Channel Isles and a rare casual in S Britain. The one occurrence in vc 35 was for several plants on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, *, 1977, TGE. (1 t)

Marram

It forms culms to nearly 1 m tall with in-rolled leaves densely covered on the upper side with a very short pubescence; the ligules may be up to 3 cm long and glumes up to 16 mm long. It is normally found on shifting sand dunes. In vc 35 it was a casual on an imported sand heap in Newport Docks, ST/315.860, 1973 onwards, TGE, CT. In the 1990s the sand and plant were removed during the building of a new road along the NW side of North Dock. 1 t

POLYPOGON Beard-grasses These are annuals or stoloniferous perennials, the culm often bent up from the lowest node; the inflorescence, covered with bristles is very dense; the spikelets have a single floret; the 2 glumes are nearly equal and keeled in the upper half, the lower is 1-veined and the upper may be 3-veined and they may be awned from the apex or unawned; the 5veined lemmas are truncate, toothed and may have an apical awn; the 2-veined palea is only slightly

GASTRIDIUM Nit-grasses These are annuals with cylindrical inflorescences tapered abruptly at the base and gradually at the apex; they have densely overlapping spikelets with 2 unequal glumes, with hemispherical, swollen bases that are slightly longer than the rest of the spikelet; the 5-veined lemmas have a very long, usually bent awn from the upper half.

511

Flora of Monmouthshire shorter than the lemma; the spikelet breaks away at a point on the pedicel.

ALOPECURUS Foxtails These are annuals or perennials which may have stolons; the inflorescence is a dense, spike-like panicle with 2 equal, 3-veined glumes, varying in length, keeled and with a rounded or very sharp apex, sometimes with their bases fused around the spikelet; the 4-veined lemma has a blunt apex with a base sometimes fused around the stamens and carpels, it has a long or short awn originating from the lower half, but no basal hair-tuft; it also lacks a palea. Separation of the species may be helped by noticing the habitat.

Polypogon monspeliensis Annual Beard-grass This annual occurs in small tufts of over 50 cm tall; the culms may be branched at the base and 3-6-noded; the uppermost sheath is often somewhat inflated; the panicle is a cylinder of short branches densely covered with very pale brown to whitish, silky hairs which hide them; teasing out a 2-3 mm, 1-flowered spikelet from the rest reveals 2 narrowly oblong glumes fringed with very short hairs and tipped with an awn to 7 mm long and a blunt lemma and palea half as long, the latter enclosing the 0.4-0.7 mm grain. This grows in brackish pastures and saltmarshes along the south coast of England and around the Channel Isles and on waste land and rubbish tips in or near docks. Many small patches were recorded on brackish waste ground in Newport Docks, ST/319.853, 1973-83, TGE, CT. The main area was then covered over then to make hard standing for imported Japanese cars. 1 plant, on waste ground nearby, was recorded in the docks in 1993, TGE. 1 t

Alopecurus pratensis

Meadow Foxtail

This perennial has culms to c. 1 m and soft, ‘tail’ and spike-like panicles 4-6 mm wide and appearing in April which is earlier than other ‘tailed’ grasses in unimproved pastures; the awns on the lemmas protrude at least 1 mm beyond the glumes; the glumes are fused for ¼ of their length and are conspicuously pubescent with hairs longer than 0.5 mm long. 23

! Polypogon viridis

Water Bent

This may be an annual or a perennial with creeping stolons, rooting at the nodes; though bent at a ground level node, the culm is then erect; the pointed leaves arise at a narrow angle to the stem; the membranous, 1.5-6 mm ligule has a blunt tip; the apical panicle has erect branches closely branched again and crowded with spikelets to the base; the pedicels are very short and jointed on the branches; the 1.7-2.2 mm spikelets are 1flowered, falling entire with pedicel attached; the 2 equal, membranous glumes are keeled above half way up the rounded back, the lower glume is 1-veined and the upper 3-veined; the 5veined, blunt and minutely toothed-tipped, thin lemma is half as long as the glumes; the 2-veined palea is slightly shorter than the lemma and the 1 mm grain is enclosed between them. It has been introduced from the Mediterranean region, naturalised in the Channel Isles and occurs in southern Britain on tips and waste and cultivated ground. The only vice-county record is for a few plants on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, *, 1980-82, TGE, conf. EJC. (1 t)

18 31

It is a lowland grass on damp, rich soils. In vc 35 its numbers have dropped due to the intensive farming methods; it is scarce in upland areas. 306 t

Alopecurus geniculatus

Marsh Foxtail

This perennial usually has glabrous, trailing culms often rooting where nodes touch the ground; the sheaths are whitish-green, the upper often inflated; the lanceolate blades are sharply pointed; the panicle is dense, spike-like and narrowly cylindrical to 7 cm long and 7 mm wide; the spikelets, on many short pedicels, are 1-flowered, flattened and fall entire; the glumes are blunt, keeled and only fused at the very 512

Flora of Monmouthshire base, they are 3-veined, thinly membranous and have a fringe of silky hairs on the keel, appressed hairs adorn the sides; the lemma is keeled, blunt and with its margins fused near the base, it has a basal awn that exceeds the glumes by 2-3 mm; as there is no palea, the grain is enclosed in the lemma.

Alopecurus bulbosus grows in saltmarshes or brackish meadows in coastal or estuarine margins and very seldom in damp meadows. In vc 35 its main home is on the few remaining brackish meadows inundated by high tides mainly by the Severn and to a lesser extent in the lower reaches of the Rhymney, Usk and Wye. 15 t Figure 44

Alopecurus aequalis

Orange Foxtail

This annual to short-lived perennial can reach c. 30 cm in height but often less; its culms ascend from a kneed base or from a prostrate stem that may root at the nodes; the upper part of the stem is whitish-green; the leaves and sheaths are glabrous with the upper sheaths being inflated; the inflorescence is a narrow cylinder c. 4 mm wide, with 1-flowered, flattened, pale-green spikelets, from which the lemma awns barely protrude; both glumes and lemmas are thin and membranous, with the keels of the glumes having a fringe of hairs and the margins of the lemma fused ⅓ -½ of their length; the anthers are a bright orange or golden-yellow. It grows on the margins or in the shallow water at the edges of pools, reservoirs and ditches especially where disturbance has occurred. In the vice-county, Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave a site in the margin of a pond, near Penpergwm Station, SO/32.09, *, 1929, RWR. More recent records are: c. 3 m² on pond margin, Clawdd Mill, SO/394.111, 1974, TGE; 1988, BM, WK; TGE, CT; more than 20 plants, pond margins, near Penpergwm Station, SO/324.098, 1975; 1991, TGE, det. CEH; abundant 1985, TGE, RH; abundant at W end, SO/322.099, 2005, TGE, CT; 19 plants, pond margin, just N of Moorcroft Cottage, SO/518.094, 1988, JFH; JFH, TGE; no plants were found, margins unsuitable in 2005, TGE, CT; 20 plants, muddy margin, north end of Llandegfedd Reservoir, SO/334.007, 1988, RF. 4 t Plate 115

Arc. Alopecurus myosuroides

18 31

It grows in wet places on the margins of ponds and slow moving water in ditches and hollows in meadows. In vc 35 it has suffered loss of habitat from drainage, lowering of the water-table and other changes in farming practices. 233 t

Alopecurus bulbosus

Bulbous Foxtail

This is similar to A. geniculatus but has swollen basal internodes looking like bulbs, the 2 glumes are fused only at the extreme base and lemma margins are fused for less than ¼ of the lemma length; the spike-like inflorescence is less than 4 mm wide. 23

18 31

Black-grass

It is a glabrous annual to over 50 cm with erect culms or arising from the apex of a low angled internode; the leaves are long and gradually taper to a fine point; the dense, spike-like panicle may be up to 12 cm x 6 mm and cylindrical but tapering gradually upwards for most of its length; the spikelet is flattened and contains a single floret, consisting of 3-veined, keeled glumes fused in their basal halves and very shortly hairy on keels and base of veins; the

513

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 44

Alopecurus bulbosus 514

Bulbous Foxtail

Flora of Monmouthshire edges of the 4-veined lemma are fused to half way up; the lemma’s basal awn reaches 4-8 mm beyond the lemma apex; the grain is enclosed inside the lemma and glumes.

Phleum bertolonii 18 31

Smaller Cat’s-tail

This is smaller than P. pratense in having culms usually shorter than 50 cm, panicles to 8 cm x 0.6 cm, glumes 2-3.5 mm, including the c. 1 mm awn.

It is a weed of arable and waste land. In vc 35 it occurs, usually, in small numbers on the edge of a cereal crop, and seldom in numbers of over 100 plants. A recent exception was 100s along a crop edge SE of Star Inn, SO/4603.0192, 2005, TGE, CT. 41 t

PHLEUM Cat’s-tails These are tufted perennials (except for the annual P. arenaria that grows on sand dunes but is not found in vc 35) with a cylindrical, spike-like panicle, consisting usually of 1-flowered spikelets with 2 equal, 3-veined glumes with short, apical awns and stiff hairs on the keels, a 3-7-veined, blunt-tipped, awnless lemma with no basal hairtuft, and a 2-veined palea, almost as long as the lemma and below which the spikelet breaks up.

Phleum pratense

18 31

It grows in grassy places. In vc 35 it seems to be declining and I doubt it is now in as many as the 128 tetrads shown above. 128 t

Timothy

BROMUS Bromes These annuals have membranous ligules, fattish, ovoid spikelets, with 3-5-veined, lower glume and 5-7-veined upper glume; a 7-9-veined, roundbacked lemma with insignificant bifid tips and 3 stamens. Bromus, Bromopsis, Anisantha and Ceratochloa are very similar, hence each English name includes Brome.

Timothy may reach 1.5 m in height, with its ‘cat’s-tail’ panicle up to 20 cm x 0.6-1 cm, though it is often shorter; the blunt glumes are 4-5.5 mm long including the 1-2 mm awns. It grows in grassy places. Widespread in vc 35, though not common in ‘improved’ pastures. 319 t

515

Flora of Monmouthshire

Bromus commutatus

It grows in damp grassy places. In vc 35 it is found in unimproved, wet pastures free from ‘improvements’ on The Levels and near rivers. Usually numbers of plants are small and near the margins of fields. This did not apply to meadows bordering the NE corner of Llandegfedd Reservoir, SO/33.00, where it was the dominant grass numbering 1000s over a large area, 2004, TGE, CT. 15 t

Meadow Brome

This is tall to 1 m with panicle branches spreading upwards and mostly longer than their 15-28 mm spikelets; the 8-11 mm lemmas are usually glabrous with a 3-10 mm, straight awn; the lowest rachilla-segment is usually greater than 1.3 mm long. 23

Bromus hordeaceus subsp. hordeaceus Soft-brome

This has erect to procumbent culms to 1 m tall; at least the lower, tubular sheaths are softly hairy; the panicle has branches shorter than the 12-22 mm spikelets; the 8-11 mm lemma is usually pubescent and terminated by a 5-10 mm long, rough awn.

18 31

35 22

It grows in grassy places, marginal sites, on rough ground and in damp meadows. In vc 35 it is not common, preferring river meadows and grassy, rural verges. Var. pubens with hairy lemmas was recorded on the sea wall, near the Paper Mill at Sudbrook, ST/499.874, 2001, TGE, det. LMS. 30 t

Bromus racemosus

Smooth Brome

This erect grass is usually less than 1 m tall with a rather narrow panicle with some branches longer than their 10-16 mm, glabrous spikelets, the firm lemmas are 6.5-8 mm long and the lowest rachilla-segment is up to 1 mm long.

It is a lowland grass of variable size growing in grassy places, marginal sites and on rough ground. It is fairly widespread in vc 35, though less numerous in improved pastures.

Subsp. longipedicellatus was recorded on the sea wall, near the Paper Mill, Sudbrook, ST/33.00, 2001, TGE, det. LMS. 352 t

Bromus x pseudothominei Lesser Soft-brome This has procumbent to ascending culms 10-60 cm tall with a compact panicle having all its branches shorter than its spikelets; the glabrous lemma is 6.5-8 mm long with a 3-7 mm straight awn. It grows in grassland, waysides and rough ground. In vc 35 it is an uncommon grass with the following records: 1st vice-county record, many plants, wet field, W edge, Magor Reserve,

18 31

516

Flora of Monmouthshire ST/42.86, 1979, TGE, det. CEH; 2 or 3 plants, roadside, Tintern Cross, SO/509.015, 1985; more than 5 plants on old rubbish heap, Trellech Grange, SO/494.018, 1986; more than 5 plants, SO/495.021, 1986; several plants, roadside, opposite Tintern Abbey, SO/532.000, 1986, all EGW; less than 10 plants, sheep-grazed meadow, Gwern Ddu, ST/399.976, 1994; meadow, near ‘Larkrise’, Trellech, SO/502.051, 2000, both TGE. 2 t (7-8 t)

! Bromus lepidus

(1970) gave only 2 records for this casual and there have been none since. Old records are: Ysgubor Newydd, Llanfrechfa Lower, *, CC; coast road, near Rumney, *. (2 t)

! Bromus lanceolatus Large-headed Brome This has ascending or erect, glabrous stems to 70 cm, with sheaths and leaves softly clothed with patent hairs; the panicle has 2-3 cm, erect, hairy spikelets with few having pedicels longer than themselves; the 11-18 mm, densely pubescent lemmas have 6-20 mm awns, from the upper half, diverging to nearly 90º at maturity. See drawing. Introduced from S Europe, in wool or birdseed or grown ornamentally, it appears as a casual. The only vc 35 records were several plants on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1979, TGE, det. CEH as var. lanuginosus. (1 t) Figure 45.

Slender Soft-brome

Usually an annual grass, it has erect, slender culms to over 50 cm but frequently less; the inflorescence and upper stem is glabrous, the leaves and sheaths are hairy though good light and a x20 lens is needed to see the hairs; the panicle branches are shorter than the slightly compressed spikelets providing a rather dense, short panicle, the spikelets have commonly 5-7 florets; the pointed, 4-5 mm long glumes are 3-7veined; the 5.5-6.5 mm, 2-toothed lemma is 7nerved with very thin margins; the paleas are shorter than the lemma and the grain is tipped with a tiny, brown, globular, hairy apex that shows through the transparent lemma tip. It grows in grassland, marginal sites and rough ground. Wade (1970) described it as frequent and gave 9 sites. It seems to have become rare and is probably extinct in the vice-county. The only recent records are: c. 10 plants in sandy soil on the edge of a cornfield, near the branch railway line Portskewett, ST/493.882, *, 1972, TGE, det. CEH; c. 100 plants on A466 verge, below Wyndcliff, ST/531.973, 1974-85, TGE, conf. CEH. (11 t)

Arc. Bromus secalinus

BROMOPSIS Bromes These are perennials with rhizomes of varying lengths; the roundish to slightly flattened spikelets are somewhat parallel-sided but taper at the tip; usually the lower, round-backed or slightly keeled lemmas are 5-7-veined, the pointed tips are minutely bifid; there are 3 stamens.

Bromopsis benekenii

Lesser Hairy-brome

This is like a small B. ramosa but only up to 1 m tall, with glabrous or minutely hairy upper sheaths and ligules to 3 mm, with more than 2 branches at the lowest panicle-node, the panicle branches are shorter and one-sided and bear 1 or a few spikelets each, anthers are up to 3 mm. It grows in shallow, calcareous soils in beech woods. It is rare in vc 35. Wade gave only 4 records: Piercefield Park, Wyndcliff, AL; between Wyndcliff and Tintern, *, Runston, WAS. More recent records are: between Wyndcliff car park and the Eagle’s Nest lookout, ST/574.973, 1975, TGE; 1 plant, shady path, near the Angiddy Brook, Tintern Cross, SO/509.004, 1994, TGE. 1 t (5 t)

Rye Brome

This annual or biennial varies in height to 1.2 m; usually the sheaths are glabrous or sparsely pubescent; its panicle consists of clusters of pedicels of varying lengths at spaced nodes along the axis, with 5 at the lowest node to 2 at the uppermost; usually a single, 12-20 mm spikelet terminates the pedicels, some of which are usually longer than the spikelet they bear; the lemmas are 6.5-9 mm long and tipped with a straight awn; the caryopsis is thick and wrapped around by the lemma margins after anthesis. Introduced, in the past, in grain, but with improved seed selection it has now become very rare. Wade

Bromopsis ramosa

Hairy-brome

This tall, loosely tufted grass to 2 m has lower sheaths with patent to reflexed hairs and pointed auricles and ligules to 6 mm; the panicle

517

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 45

Bromus lanceolatus 518

Large-headed Brome

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows on well-drained, calcareous limestone grassland and is losing habitat to housing developments in the south-east. 11 t

branches are spreading and stiff at first and pendent later; the spikelets to 4 cm x 6 mm have up to 11 florets and occur singly at the end of branches; there are usually 2 branches at the lowest point of the panicle; the 10-14 mm lemmas have straight, apical awns to 8 mm long; the anthers are 3-4 mm long.

! Bromopsis inermis

Hungarian Brome

This is somewhat similar to B. erecta but has long rhizomes and its tiller leaves are usually flat; it is not tufted; if the lemma has an awn it is not longer than 3 mm. This European grass has been grown for fodder but today is a contaminant in seed and may occur as a casual on waste or rough grassland, tips and marginal land. In vc 35, there are 2 records on waste ground, Industrial Estate, Trethomas, ST/17.88 and 18.88, 1988, TGE, UTE. There is an unconfirmed record from Newport Docks/Tip, ST/30.86. 2 t (1 t)

It is a lowland, woodland and hedgerow grass. In vc 35 it is absent from the western uplands and very infrequent on The Levels. 206 t

ANISANTHA Bromes These annuals have parallel-sided, slightly compressed spikelets that do not taper at their apices; the shorter, lower glume usually has 1 vein and the upper glume 3 veins; the lemma tipped with a long, straight awn is 7-veined; there may be 2 or 3 stamens.

Bromopsis erecta

! Anisantha diandra

18 31

Upright Brome

Because of its short rhizomes, this perennial is tufted with stiff, erect culms; the tubular upper sheaths are usually glabrous and lack pointed auricles; the ligules may be as much as 8 mm long; the spikelets, though shortly tapering at both ends, are mainly parallel-sided; the florets are plainly distichous with 7-nerved lemmas to 15 mm long and tipped with an awn to 8 mm long; the anthers are a reddish-orange. 23

18 31

Great Brome

Great Brome is a loosely tufted grass to 80 cm with 3-6-noded culms usually spreading; the tubular sheaths are hairy; the ragged ligule may be up to 6 mm long; the pointed leaves are rough when gently stroked towards their bases as are the branches of the panicle, which are in 2-4s and tend to droop at maturity with 1-2 spikelets at the ends; the 7-9 cm long (including the awns), wedge-shaped, slightly-flattened spikelets have unequal glumes and 22-36 mm, long, rough, straight, apical awns. Introduced from the Mediterranean region, it has become naturalised on rough ground, open grassland on warm sandy soils, tips and other waste places. In vc 35, the 1st vice-county record was for many plants near Chepstow Castle, ST/533.942, 1977, TGE, conf. CEH. Other records are: road verge, near Gasometer, Newport Docks, ST/31.86, *, 1977, TGE; waste ground, rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, TGE; near Langstone, ST/37.89, 1986, TGE; cliff top, Sudbrook, ST/50.87, 1987, GH; 2000-2004, TGE. 3 t (3 t)

519

Flora of Monmouthshire

Arc. Anisantha sterilis

shorter, that consist of unbranched, glabrous stems (rarely minutely pubescent just below the panicle); the leaves and lower sheaths are softly hairy; the ragged ligules are up to 4 mm long; the compact panicle is erect to slightly leaning with fine, clustered, minutely rough branches; the compressed spikelets soon open to a wedgeshape widest at the apex; the glumes are unequal, the lower 1-veined and upper 3-veined; the 7veined lemmas are 12-19 mm long and tipped with 2 teeth, just below which a 12-18 mm long, straight awn emerges. Introduced from the Mediterranean region, it is rare but is naturalised on rocky slopes and walls. Wade (1970) described it as a rare native and gave the first record for Piercefield Woods (on rocky slopes) ST/5.9, 1773, JLi, an early date which may have led Wade to suppose it was native and I might have agreed with him but for the history of Piercefield and its woods. Valentine Morris’s father lived in Piercefield near the cliffs and woods and had bought property in Antigua. Valentine (b. 1727) became Governor of St Vincent and the family made a fortune out of sugar (and slave labour). Valentine constructed the nationally famous walk from Chepstow Castle to the Eagle’s Nest, a lookout at Wyndcliff. He incorporated natural features like the Giant’s Cave through which the walk passed and man-made structures like The Grotto, a small cave stuck with stones and copper and iron cinders, and raised viewpoints like The Alcove, the base of which is still visible today. He also imported trees to enhance views from Piercefield house. Twice Joseph Banks dined at Piercefield and corresponded with Valentine. One such correspondence from Tahiti contained Banks’s description of the newly discovered Breadfruit Tree. Valentine saw the weakness to the economy of a one-crop West Indies, and suggested to Banks that if the tree could be brought to the islands of the Caribbean it would be ‘one of the greatest blessings they could possess’. Banks’s actions on the idea led to the appointment of Lieutenant William Bligh as captain of the ‘Bounty’ which was sent to the South Seas to collect a supply of saplings for transplantation, and the resulting mutiny on the return from Tahiti in 1789. Chepstow was also a big importer of wine and other goods from Spain, some of which would have found their way to Piercefield. There is a possibility that the grass may have been introduced in the various activities of the Morris family, which would make it a neophyte rather than a native.

Barren Brome

This is like a slender version of A. diandra but with toothed ligules to 4 mm long, 4-6 cm (including the awns) long spikelets, with only 1 spikelet to shorter branches and 3 to the longest, the spikelets have 1-2, sterile apical florets, 13-23 mm long lemmas with awns 15-30 mm long. 23

18 31

It grows on various waste sites, arable and in gardens and is frequent in marginal sites. In vc 35 it is common on verges and hedgerows but largely absent from higher ground. 320 t

! Anisantha tectorum

Drooping Brome

This is a hairy annual with loosely tufted culms with compact panicles that droop to one side, consisting of c. 4 slender branches at the lowest panicle-node to 1 at the highest; up to 8 spikelets, which become wedge-shaped at maturity, occur on each branch; the lemmas are 9-13 mm long and have membranous margins and a rough, 1018 mm long awn from near the apex; the spikelet has more than 3 sterile apical florets. Introduced to the British Isles from the Mediterranean region, it is naturalised but rare in East Anglia and introduced in grass seed mixtures to waste and cultivated land and tips elsewhere. In vc 35 it was first recorded on a grassy bank in the Ruffets, Chepstow, ST/528.937, 1975, TGE. Other records are: several plants in newly grassed area around, Chepstow Health Centre, Mounton Road, Chepstow, ST/530.936, 1977, TGE. conf. CEH; 13 plants, tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1978, TGE, conf. CEH. (2 t)

! Anisantha madritensis

Compact Brome

This annual usually has loosely tufted, erect to spreading, 1-4-noded culms to 60 cm, often 520

Flora of Monmouthshire More recent records are waste ground, near Chepstow Castle, ST/533.941, 1977, TGE, conf. CEH; many plants on a rocky outcrop near the castle and on the base of Port Wall on the opposite side of the Castle Dell, ST/53.94, 1977-1989, TGE; a plant in a crack in the pavement, Garden City, Chepstow, ST/532.935, 1980, TGE; edge of car park, Fountain Inn, SO/503.011, 1990, EGW; several plants, rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1991; 4 plants, A468 verge, Trethomas, ST/167.884, 1993; 50-100 plants, Bedwas Colliery (defunct), ST/180.893, 1993; 60 plants, path edge near wall, Trethomas school, ST/180.888, 1993, all TGE. 5 t (2 t)

BRACHYPODIUM False Bromes These have open sheaths; the inflorescence is a raceme usually with 1 spikelet per panicle-node; the pedicels are less than 2 mm long; the cylindrical spikelets have many bisexual florets apart from the top 1 or 2 which are reduced to male or sterile; there are two, short, unequal, 3-9-veined glumes; the lemmas are mostly 7-veined, roundbacked, pointed and awned; the ovary has a small, apicular, hairy, globular appendage.

Brachypodium pinnatum

CERATOCHLOA Bromes These short-lived perennials do not always produce rhizomes; the narrowly ovoid, slightly compressed spikelets have a 3-5-veined lower glume and a 5-7-veined upper one; the 7-11veined, acutely pointed lemmas are strongly keeled on the back; the florets have 3 stamens.

! Ceratochloa carinata

California Brome

This perennial usually has glabrous culms to 80 cm, leaves 4-10 mm wide and spikelets to 4 cm (excluding the awns); the 14-18 mm long lemmas have 7-9 veins, awns usually 6-10 mm long and edges and keels olive green with yellow between; the palea is ¾-1 times as long as the lemma body. Introduced from the west of N America rarely as a fodder crop, it more often enters Britain as a seed contaminant. In vc 35, several plants were first recorded on the edge of a field and inside a gateway and outside the next gateway, near Coed Morgan, SO/361.120, 1986, TGE, UTE. 10 plants in corner of field S of Llanwenarth Church (St Peters), SO/275.147, 2001, TGE, GH, CT; several plants on dumped soil, upper shore near mouth of Goldcliff Pill, ST/361.825, 1991, TGE, CT. 3 t (3 t)

! Ceratochloa cathartica

Tor-grass

This perennial may form dominant patches from the spreading rhizomes below; the erect and stiff culms to over 1 m high bear 3-6 mm wide leaves from often hairless sheaths; the stems are 2-3noded; the raceme is spike-like with 2-4 cm long, thin, cylindrical spikelets tapering to the tip alternating on opposite sides of the axis, each with c. 10-20 florets; the pointed glumes have 3-6 veins; the 7-nerved, hairless lemmas are tipped with a fine awn to 5 mm long. This is a grass, not favoured by ruminants, of rough grassland on chalk or limestone. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 3 records: Redding’s Enclosure, *; Lady Park Wood, *; + AEW; near Penallt, *, all SGC. Recent records are: 50-100 plants, between Piercefield Park and Cave Wood, ST/524.961, 1971-2003, TGE; c. 10 plants, wood/field edge on limestone, grassy mound above R. Wye, western extreme of Livox Farm fields, ST/533.972, 1971, TGE; scattered plants on Brockwell’s meadow, ST/467.897, 1973, CT; 2 x 1 m rough grass, side of railway, MOD, Caerwent, ST/478.910, 1997, JPW; c. linear 50 m² colony west side of disused rail track now new cycle track, south of viaduct and two bridges, Talywain, ST/2601.0390 to 2601.0394, 2004-5, TGE, CT. 4 t

Brachypodium sylvaticum

False Brome

It is a tufted, hairy perennial to under 1 m high coming up from short rhizomes, it has 4-5-noded, hairy stems, erect to spreading; the 6-20 cm long, spike-like raceme, curved and nodding, bears 412 green spikelets; the stiffly hairy lemma is tipped with a fine, rough awn to 12 mm long. False Brome is frequent in woods, hedgerows, copses and grassland converted from woodland. In vc 35 it is scarce in the western uplands and on The Levels. 307 t

Rescue Brome

This is similar to C. carinata but has 9-11veined, awnless (or awns seldom more than 3 mm long) lemmas and a palea ½ to ¾ as long as the lemma body. Introduced, less commonly, from C. and S America with grain and wool. In vc 35 there has been only 1 record: on the rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/304.855, 1978, TGE. (1 t) 521

Flora of Monmouthshire flexuous awn to 20 mm long and the rachilla stays intact bearing the glumes when the rest of the florets break free below the lemmas. This is a grass of shady places in deciduous woods and hedgerows particularly near streams. In vc 35 it is almost absent from the western uplands and infrequent on The Levels. 140 t

Brachypodium sylvaticum 23

ELYTRIGIA Couches These perennials have long rhizomes; the spikes have florets in a distichous arrangement, with all but the apical two bisexual; the spikelets are attached with their broad side facing the axis; the glumes are 3-11-veined; the 5-veined lemmas are unawned or with short awns; the spikelets remain intact or fall when their part of the rachis breaks away.

18 31

ELYMUS Couches These hairless perennials lack rhizomes; the inflorescence is a spike with single spikelets arranged alternately on opposite sides of the axis; each spikelet has bisexual florets apart from the top two; it is flattened and attached to the axis with the flatter side facing it; the 2-5-veined glumes frequently have short awns; the 5-veined lemmas vary from having none to long awns; the florets break up at maturity below the lemmas, leaving an axis bearing only glumes.

Elymus caninus

Elytrigia repens

Common Couch

This glabrous perennial is nefarious for its creeping, wiry rhizomes from which tufts or large colonies form; the flat leaves are dull green or greyish green and 3-10 mm wide; the sheaths have short auricles; the 3-8 florets are 10-20 mm long, somewhat flattened spikelets are attached broadside to the axis; the equal, rough, keeled glumes are 3-7-nerved and the 8-13 mm long lemmas have no awns.

Bearded Couch

18 31

This is a persistent weed of cultivated land. In vc 35 it is common, only thinning out on the western uplands. In var. aristata the lemmas have awns up to 15 mm long. It is scattered throughout vc 35. 348 t (1 t)

In the field this is similar to Brachypodium sylvaticum in that it is a tufted perennial and it has a spike with the spikelets alternating up opposite sides of the axis but differs in that it is more often less than 1 m tall, is almost hairless, its spikelets are more compressed and the flattened side is appressed to the axis, the lemma bears a

Elytrigia atherica

Sea Couch

This is similar to E. repens but is always glaucous and on the exposed margins of the 522

Flora of Monmouthshire 1980-2000, TGE; Ty Harry Wood, SO/446.078, 1988, EGW; several plants, Common Wood path side, ST/460.932, 1990, TGE; a few scattered plants, Blackcliff, 1984-1997, TGE. 4 t (3 t) Figure 46

middle and lower leaf sheaths is a fringe of hairs, which may be damaged by wave action and storms particularly late in the season, and the upper side of the leaf ribs are flat-topped. 23

HORDEUM Barleys Usually annuals without rhizomes, they have 3 spikelets per node, each with a single floret, the central one bisexual, the laterals bisexual, male or sterile; the 1-3-veined glumes with a long awn are very narrow; lemmas of bisexual florets are 5veined and have a very long awn; the rachis breaks up at each node.

! Hordeum distichon

18 31

This is a coastal grass thriving on the margins of sand dunes and saltmarshes where it can be invasive and oust shorter and weaker plants e.g. Bupleurum tenuissimum. In vc 35 it is confined to the Severn shore and the lower tidal reaches of the Rhymney, Usk and Wye. The inland records may be due to the use of winter-salting of roads, or mistaken identification with the glaucous form of E. repens. 46 t

Arc. Hordeum murinum

Wall Barley

HORDELYMUS Wood Barley These are tufted, erect, short-lived perennials with short rhizomes; the stems have hairy nodes and the sheaths have patent to reflexed hairs and short auricles; the ligules are less than 1 mm long; the sparsely-hairy leaves are flat to 14 mm wide; the dense spike is usually erect, the spikelets are in units of 3 per node; the erect, linear-lanceolate glumes are side by side and in front of the flat, similar-shaped lemma up to 17 mm long, and terminated by a fine straight awn to 25 mm long; the awns give a bristly appearance to the spike.

Hordelymus europaeus

Two-rowed Barley

It has spikes with 2 longitudinal rows of fertile spikelets producing seeds, each side of which is a sterile or male spikelet making up the triplet; both glumes and lemmas have very long, straight awns, giving the spike a bristly head. Grown as a crop and occurring as a weed in other crops in the rotation. In vc 35 it is an infrequent crop and less common as a casual weed. 9 t

18 31

This is usually a loosely tufted annual to over 50 cm, though more often less; the lower sheaths are usually hairy, the ligule is short not exceeding 1 mm and it has narrow, spreading auricles; the dense spike has spikelets in clusters of three with the lemma body and palea of the central floret longer than the 2 lateral florets, the central floret has a stalk less than 0.6 mm long; the glumes of the central florets have marginal hairs over 0.5 mm long; at maturity the triplet cluster breaks away as a unit.

Wood Barley

It is a distinctive grass (see description above and drawing below). It grows in woods usually on calcareous soils. It is rare in the vice-county. Wade (1970) gave 5 records: near Highmeadow Siding; Lady Park Wood, *; Redding’s Enclosure, *, all SGC; Piercefield Woods, JLi; Wyndcliff, *, WHP; 1926, CES. More recent records are: c. 20 plants, Lady Park Wood, high above R. Wye, SO/547.152, 523

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 46

Hordelymus europaeus 524

Wood Barley

Flora of Monmouthshire Wall Barley is essentially a marginal plant of wayside and waste land, particularly near buildings and walls. In vc 35 it is associated with man, his villages, roadside verges and edges of arable fields. 119 t

It grows in meadows and pastures, particularly on heavy soils. In the vice-county, there is a big concentration on meadows of The Levels, mouth of the Usk and along the Wye, and it is scattered elsewhere. 69 t

!Hordeum jubatum

Hordeum marinum

Foxtail Barley

This tufted perennial to 60 cm and with leaves to 4 mm wide has a dense spike with florets in units of 3; the glumes are awn-like; the central floret is bisexual and sessile and has a silky awn longer than 5 cm, the stalked lateral florets are often reduced to a single, awn-like lemma; the long, silky awns are white or less often pink, and cause the spike to curve and droop and look diagnostically like a squirrel’s tail. Introduced from N America (native in salt pans in Alaska) in grass and birdseed or in wool, it has become naturalised on roadsides, especially those salt-treated, where it may last a few years until native plants overwhelm it, or as on the Heads of the Valley road in Brecknockshire it may persist for tens of years. In the vice-county, it was first recorded on the embankment, E side of the dual carriageway, St Mellons, ST/239.819, 1987, GH. Other records are: mounds of soil on reen edge, St Mellons, ST/246.813, 1987, GH; in sandy, golf-tee edge, Upper Cwmbran, ST/28.97, 1989, TGE. 3 t

Hordeum secalinum

Sea Barley

This is similar to the other wild barleys but is shorter to 40 cm or often less, has a shorter 2-6 mm long spike with the lower spikelets and awns longer than the upper ones to give an outline that tapers to the apex; the central, bisexual spikelet is sessile and the stalked laterals are sterile; the glumes are awn-like except the inner ones of the lateral spikelets which are expanded to form a shallow, boat-shaped base. 23

Meadow Barley

18 31

This grows on thinly grassed banks near salt marshes. In the vice-county, Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 3 sites: Chepstow, ST/5.9, 1873, BMW; between Sudbrook and Rogiet, *, WAS and Peterstone, Wentloog, *. More recent records show it to be locally common to abundant locally between Newport and Cardiff. The sites are: numerous plants on foreshore, Peterstone Great Wharf, ST/26.79, 1984, CT, TGE; ST/27.79, 1985-89, TGE, CT; 20-30 plants, grassy area near sea wall, ST/276.804, 1987, TGE & Recording Group; waste ground, E of New Quay Gout, ST/279.807, 1987, TGE, UTE; numerous on salt marsh meadows, St Bride’s Wentlooge, ST/30.82, 1988, TGE, UTE; 1000s near sea wall, Rumney Great Wharf, ST/233.777, 1991, TGE, UTE; 2005, TGE, CT; 100s, NE of Sutton Farm, ST/305.818, 1993-2005, TGE, CT; N of West Usk Lighthouse, ST/312.833, 1993-2005, TGE, CT. 7 t (4 t)

18 31

This rather stiff, tufted perennial has stem leaves to 6 mm wide with short auricles and slender stems topped by an erect, compact spike with parallel sides; the sessile, central spikelet is bisexual and the lateral, stalked spikelets are male or sterile; the awn on the central spikelet is to 1.2 mm long; the 1-1.6 mm glumes are awn-like. 525

Flora of Monmouthshire TRITICUM Wheats These are annuals with 1 spikelet per node and usually having 3-7 florets, each with the 2 or more apical ones sterile; the keeled, pointed or shortlyawned glumes are truncate to bifid; they break up, at maturity, below each caryopsis, to leave glumes, lemmas and paleas on the rachis.

! Triticum aestivum

glumes, almost hiding the overlapping lemmas and paleas between them, the short ligule hairs with a longer tuft at each end, the 3-toothed tip of the lemmas, bearded at the base and its habitat help identification. 23

Bread Wheat 22

This hollow-stemmed annual to 1.5 m tall is a frequently-grown crop; its flat leaves are up to 16 mm wide and have curved, pointed auricles; it has compact, stout spikes with single spikelets alternating either side of the axis; the glumes are keeled on the upper half only; the lemmas are awnless or awned to 16 mm. Introduced from SW Asia, it is now commonly cultivated and occurs as a marginal plant or weed in other crops in the farming rotation. It is probably under-recorded in vc 35. 19 t

Triticum durum

18 31

Pasta Wheat

Heath-grass is frequent on moors, heaths and impoverished hill pastures. In vc 35 it is easier to find in the western uplands, Wentwood and on the eastern ridge. 138 t

It usually has dark grains, awns to 20 mm, the endosperm has a hard, bitty texture and the glumes are almost as long as the lowest lemmas. It is a rare, introduced casual with only one record for the vice-county: several plants on rubbish tip, The Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1975, TGE, det. CEH; it was possibly also recorded in 1976-78 but plants could have been T. turgidum, TGE. (1 t)

MOLINIA Purple Moor-grass These are densely-tufted perennials with the ligule a fringe of hairs and a long, narrow panicle with usually erect branches opening up for anthesis in some species; the spikelets contain 1-4, bisexual florets, 1-3-veined, ovate, almost equal glumes that cover only the base of the spikelet; the awnless, glabrous lemmas are 3-5-veined.

DANTHONIA Heath-grass These tufted perennials may be over 50 cm tall; the ligule is a fringe of short hairs; the short, stiff panicle is spike-like, and has 4-6 florets; the equal, 3-7-veined glumes are rounded below and keeled above and as long as the spikelets; the 7-9-veined lemmas have 3 tiny teeth at the apex, a tuft of hairs at the base and a fringe of hairs on the margins to half-way up.

Danthonia decumbens

Molinia caerulea

Purple Moor-grass

These form large tussocks obstructive to people walking off footpaths where this grass is dominant; the culms grow to little over 60 cm and bear narrow panicles to under 30 cm with branches less than 5 cm long; the dark purplish spikelets are 3-5.5 mm long with 3-4 mm long lemmas. It grows on moors, heaths, bogs, fens and cliffs where it is wet for much of the year. In vc 35 it is common in the western uplands, Wentwood and the eastern ridge. 120 t

Heath-grass

This usually has cleistogamous florets with minute anthers and stigmas, with pollination taking place early in the growing season when anthers and stigmas are in close contact and the spike-like panicle does not expand like the infrequent plant where the anthers and stigma are exerted for normal pollination; the usually rather short culms with short, few-flowered inflorescence has conspicuous, shiny, equal 526

Flora of Monmouthshire 20 to 60 cm long and having spikelets 8-16 mm long and white rachilla hairs to 10 mm long.

22 23 21 22 20 21 19 20 18 19 31

35 18

Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea Purple Moor-grass

This is similar to subsp. caerulea but is different in having culms that are usually over 60 cm and up to 150 cm tall, longer panicles from 30 to 60 cm long, the branches of various lengths (many over 10 cm long) spread a little at anthesis, the spikelets are 4-7.5 mm long and the lemmas 3.5 to over 5 mm long. These grow in fens, nearby scrub and by water with marginal, fen-like vegetation. AEW recorded the first vice-county record in a marsh by the side of the Roman road SW of Bassaleg, 1934 (not mentioned in his flora). Other records are: a few plants, S end of Llandegfedd Reservoir, ST/32.98, 1987, TGE; several plants, N end of Llandegfedd Reservoir, SO/334.007, 1988, RF; several plants at high water level, NW end of Llandegfedd Reservoir, SO/3268.0019, 2004, CT, det. TGE; Many plants, E of Trellech Beacon, SO/5160.0543, 2004, CT, det. TGE; many plants, ENE of Beacon Hill, SO/515.054, 2004, TGE. 4 t

This tallest of native grasses covers large areas of fen and swamp and on the margins of rivers and lakes. In vc 35 it occurs largely on The Levels and in the lower reaches of the Usk and Wye but nowhere does it form extensive areas as in the past. Drainage, the lowering of the water table and the extraction of water for the supply to the vast housing developments in the last fifty years are responsible for the decline. It has been widely planted at Llanwern for treating water and at the Wetlands Reserve at Uskmouth to attract such birds as Bearded Tits 91 t CYNODON Bermuda-grasses These perennials have scaly rhizomes and branching and creeping rhizomes; the ligule is a fringe of short hairs (to less than 0.5 mm long) with a longer tuft at each end; the inflorescence occurs at the apex of a vertical stem and consists of 3-6, slender, long spikes bearing small spikelets with a single bisexual floret made up of short, equal, 1-veined, acute glumes, and 3-veined, keeled, pointed lemmas without an awn; disarticulation takes place above the glumes.

PHRAGMITES Common Reed Extensively spreading rhizomes enable this perennial to form very tall, large stands; its ligule is a fringe of short hairs; it has a large spreading panicle consisting of spikelets of 2-6 or more florets which are bisexual apart from the lowest male or sterile ones; the unequal, narrow, 35-veined glumes cover only the base of the spikelet; the rachilla segments are adorned with long, white, silky hairs, obvious in fruit; the 1-3veined, lanceolate, pointed lemmas are awnless.

Phragmites australis

! Cynodon dactylon

Bermuda-grass

The culms arising from the branching stolons are up to 30 cm at their tallest; the ligule hairs are less than 0.5 mm long with a longer tuft at each end; the spikes radiating from the top of the vertical stem are 2-5 cm long, with spikelets 2-3 mm long, the spikelet rachilla forms a fine projection beyond the base of the last floret. A very common grass across the warmer regions of earth, where it may be used for lawns but is

Common Reed

The culms vary from less than 1 m to over 3 m tall usually with purplish panicles stretching from 527

Flora of Monmouthshire uncommonly naturalised in Britain on rough, sandy soils, wayside and coastal, short grassland. Wade (1970) gave the only vice-county record as: on South Celynen Colliery tip, Abercarn, *, 1959, FP. (1 t)

the mouth of the Rhymney and up the Usk and Wye for short distances. 27 t 23

SPARTINA Cord-grasses These perennials spread by rhizomes; they have a dense fringe of hairs forming the ligule; the inflorescence is an erect raceme of 2-12, long, erect spikes with spikelets bearing a single, bisexual floret; the unequal, 1-9-veined, acute glumes may be awned, the upper glume is as long or longer than the rest of the spikelet; the 1-3veined, keeled, unawned lemma has an acute or minutely notched apex.

18 31

! Spartina x townsendii Townsend’s Cord-grass

PANICUM Millets These are annuals to c. 1 m tall with broad, flat leaves tapering gradually to a long point; their ligule is a fringe of hairs or membranous with a fringe of hairs on the edge; the stout, rather stiff panicle consists of upright to spreading, slender branches, rather wavy especially near the spikelets which have 2 glumes, the longer, upper one as long as the spikelet, each spikelet has 2 florets, the lower male or sterile with a lemma as long as the spikelet, the upper is bisexual and small enough to be concealed between the lower lemma and the upper glume; the glumes and the lemmas are awnless; the spikelets break away complete when ripe.

This has culms to 130 cm tall but usually below 100 cm in estuaries subject to high tides and storms; the ligules, when not damaged by storms, are 1-1.8 mm long, the 2-8 spikes are 6-24 cm long; the spikelets are 14-18 mm long; the glumes are softly pubescent on body and keel; anthers 5 to less than 10 mm long are indehiscent and have empty pollen less than 45 microns across. It grows on the upper stretches of tidal mud flats, particularly in estuaries. In vc 35 it was probably introduced with S. anglica to stabilise and reclaim the upper shore, where erosion by storm-driven tides had damaged the banks. One to two plants, collected at six sites proved to be the hybrid townsendii; they were as follows: saltmarsh, Blackrock, ST/51.88, 1975; saltmarsh, Sudbrook, ST/50.87, 1978; saltmarsh, R. Ebbw, Newport, ST/31.84, 1978, all TGE, conf. CEH; SE of Goldcliff Pill, ST/36.82; saltings, E of Collister Pill, ST/45.85, both 1983, TGE; upper saltmarsh, Goldcliff, 1984, all TGE. (6 t)

! Spartina anglica

! Panicum capillare

Witch-grass

This grass may reach a metre in height; it has patent hairs on its leaf sheaths and its leaves; the acuminate spikelets have a lower glume just under half the length of the spikelet. The branches of the inflorescence are very fine and point upwards particularly as the lower branches are directed up by an enclosing uppermost leaf-sheath. This N American weed enters Britain in bird seed, with wool etc. so is found in gardens and docks and rubbish tips. One tuft in Old Vicarage garden, St Arvans, ST/517.965, 2006, NW 1 t

Common Cord-grass

Its culms seldom reach their full height of 130 cm on the edge of the estuary; though similar to S. x townsendii it differs from it in that its ligules measure 1.8-3 mm long (unless damaged), 2-12 spikes are 7-23 cm long and anthers are 7-10 mm long and pollen more than 45 microns across. It has spread along the south coast of England and been introduced elsewhere to fix mud flats and reestablish salt marshes and eventually grassland. It is the common Cord-grass in the Severn Estuary, in

! Panicum miliaceum

Common Millet

This has culms to over 1 m and a panicle to over 30 cm; the 4-6 mm spikelets are ovoid with the lower glume less than ⅔ of the spikelet length; the lower floret is sterile with an insignificant palea. 528

Flora of Monmouthshire Introduced from Asia in birdseed, Common Millet occurs as a casual on tips and waste ground. Wade (1970) gave a single record: among root crops, Bassaleg, *. More recent records are: several plants on rubbish tip, edge of Piercefield Park and Alcove Wood, Chepstow, ST/528.948, *, TGE, det. CEH; many plants, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858 and nearby, 1973-83, TGE, CT, det. CEH. 3 t (2 t) var. compactum differs in having very short branches only the bases of the main ones visible, the upper parts concealed by the dense, compact groupings of spikelets. It was recorded on the rubbish tip, Newport, ST/30.85, 1976, TGE, det. CEH.

ECHINOCHLOA Cockspurs Cockspurs are annuals that lack a ligule; the inflorescence is a raceme of dense spikes or racemes which may have racemose branches; the spikelets are usually in more than two rows, each spikelet has 2 glumes, the upper as long as the spikelet, and 2 florets, the lower floret male or sterile with a lemma as long as the spikelet; the smaller, upper, bisexual floret is concealed between the upper glume and the lower lemma; the 5-7-veined lower lemma may be awned, the upper awnless; the complete spikelet breaks away when ripe.

the 3-4 mm spikelets may have awns several times their length (the resemblance to the spurs fitted to fighting cocks led to the English name). Introduced from the tropics in birdseed (the main source) but some came in wool and soya bean imports. It has appeared on tips, waysides and waste ground. Wade (1970) gave one record for this casual: Fiddler’s Elbow, near Monmouth, *, 1944, RL. More recent records are: a few plants, on rubbish tip, Piercefield Park/Alcove Wood, Chepstow, ST/528.948, 1973, TGE, det. CEH; many plants, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858, 1973, TGE, det. CEH; 1980, TGE, conf. CEH; 1 plant at bird feeding station in Mathern garden, ST/520.915, 1987, TAJ, det. TGE; near rubbish bins, Cwm, SO/18.05, 1987, RF; old gardens near Dupont Factory, Mamhilad, SO/308.024, 1997, JFH; on gravely track, near skip for bird house sweepings, Tertiary College, Usk, SO/366.019, 1997, TGE, GSH, CT; 10 plants, Neil McDonald’s Nursery allotment, Llanfoist, SO/285.137, 2003, TGE; 1 plant, between pavement and road, exit to Castle Car Park, Chepstow, ST/535.942, 2005, TGE. 8 t (2 t) Var. breviseta differs in only lemmas of some spikelets having short awns and conspicuous tufts of long hairs at the base of the branches. Two plants, on rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858, *, 1973, TGE, det. CEH.

! Echinochloa crus-galli

! Echinochloa esculenta

Cockspur

18 31

Japanese Millet

This is similar to a non-awned E. crus-galli with to over 2 cm wide, flat, dark green leaves with a contrasting pale green mid-rib, and an inflorescence with all the spikes crowded together at the top of the culm; the 3-4 mm, fat, unawned spikelets are crowded together on the individual spikes; the florets may be brownygreen, tinged purple or more often blackishpurple, with the expanding, pale grain pushing open the upper glume and lemma to give a clear contrast at the apex. Originating in Japan, it is introduced in birdseed to Britain. As waste seed and cleanings from bird cages, it gets transferred to tips and waste ground. The first vice-county record was on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858, 1973, TGE, det. CEH; several plants each year to 1980, TGE, CT; several plants, rubbish tip, Piercefield Park/Alcove Wood, Chepstow, ST/528.948, 1973, TGE, det. CEH. (2 t) Plate 116

Cockspur has culms to 1 m tall bearing leaves 13 cm wide and no ligule; the raceme is up to 20 cm long with the upper branches racemes and lower branches racemes which are branched again; the primary branches are spaced up the axis; 529

Flora of Monmouthshire Introduced from S Europe in wool, birdseed, soya bean etc, it has occurred on cultivated and waste land, including tips. The first vc 35 record was several plants on rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858, 1973, TGE, det. CEH; followed again in 1978, TGE, CT; 1 plant, entrance to drive to house, Whitebrook, SO/53.06, 1987, TGE, UTE; 1 plant between pavement and road, entrance to Castle Car park, Chepstow, ST/535.942, 2005, TGE. Dingestow Ct. 3 t (2 t)

!Echinochloa frumentacea White Millet This is very similar to E. esculenta but with yellowish-green to straw-coloured spikelets which are 2.5-3.5 mm long, the lower lemma is acute or minutely apiculate and young leaves having a few, scattered hairs on the upper surface. Originating in India, it has been introduced in birdseed and in cleanings from bird cages to tips and waste land. The first and only record was: two plants among E. esculenta and Panicum miliaceum on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1982, TGE, ALG. (1 t)

! Setaria verticillata

SETARIA Bristle-grasses These are glabrous annuals or rhizomatous perennials with flat, dark green leaves to over 1.5 cm wide and with a conspicuous, pale green midrib; the ligule is a dense fringe of hairs; the inflorescence is a dense, spike-like panicle with very short, crowded branches, sometimes with small gaps between the lower branches; the spikelets have 2 florets, the lower male or sterile with the lemma as long as the spikelet, and the upper bisexual and smaller and just visible between the upper glume and lower lemma and 1-c.12, awnlike bristles borne on a pedicel and exceeding the spikelets; the lower glume is minute to ⅔ as long as the spikelet and the upper one ⅔ to as long as the spikelet; the lower lemma is 5-veined and both are awnless. The spikelets fall complete when mature, except in S. italica.

! Setaria parviflora

! Setaria viridis

Green Bristle-grass

This annual has culms to 1 m with glabrous leaves and cylindrical panicles to 10 x 1 cm; the upper glume is nearly as long as the spikelet; the 1-3 bristles below each spikelet extend well beyond the spikelet body and have forwardly-directed barbs; the spikelets are 2-2.5 mm long and the upper lemmas finely, transversely rugose; mature spikelets break away complete with only the pedicels and bristles left on the rachis.

Knotroot Bristle-grass

This perennial has short rhizomes, culms to over 50 cm, continuously cylindrical panicles up to 10 x 0.5 cm, the rachis has a dense but very short, hairy coat, the 6-8 bristles below each spikelet have apex pointing barbs, the spikelets are 2-2.5 mm long and the lemma is coarsely, transversely rugose (see drawing). Originally from N America, it was introduced with wool or birdseed and appears on tips and waste ground. The first and only record was a few plants on waste ground, the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, *, 1980, TGE. Figure 47 (1 t)

! Setaria pumila

Rough Bristle-grass

This annual has culms to 60 cm tall with shortly pubescent leaf-sheath margins and panicles to 14 x 1.5 cm, often interrupted in lower third; the 13 bristles, below each spikelet, have backwardly directed barbs (except with var. ambigua where they are forwardly directed); the spikelets are 22.3 mm long; the upper lemma is finely transversely rugose. This is introduced from S Europe in birdseed and other imports and ends up on cultivated and waste land and tips. The first and only record for vc 35 is a single plant on the rubbish tip Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1980, TGE. (1 t)

Yellow Bristle-grass

This is an annual with culms to over 50 cm, panicles up to 15 x 1 cm continuously cylindrical though not smooth-outlined in yellowish fruit; the rachis bristles have forwardly-directed barbs and are often reddish.

18 31

530

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 47

Setaria parviflora 531

Knotroot Bristle-grass

Flora of Monmouthshire Introduced from S Europe in birdseed, wool and other imports, Setaria viridis ends up eventually on mainly tips. Wade (1970) gave 2 sites for this casual; garden weed, the Kymin, Monmouth, *, SGC; Chepstow, AL. Other known records are: many plants on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858, 1973, TGE, det. CEH; 1975; 1978, 1983, TGE, CT; old gardens, near Dupont Factory, SO/308.024, 1997, JFH; 1 plant, on gravely track, near skip for birdhouse sweepings, vc 35 Tertiary College, Usk, SO/366.019, 1997, TGE, GSH, CT. 6 t (2 t)

! Setaria italica

Introduced from S Europe it was found on cultivated and waste ground and tips but is rare in 2006. The first and only vice-county record in vc 35 was in Newport Docks, SH (1909). (1 t)

! Digitaria sanguinalis

Hairy Finger-grass

This has elliptic spikelets 3 mm long; the outer nerves of the lower lemma (the flatter side of the spikelet) are minutely scabrid (rough points on nerves best seen with a binocular microscope at least ×20); upper glume ½ the length or less of the spikelet. This is an introduction in birdseed, wool or soya bean, turning up on tips and waste ground. The first vice-county record was on the rubbish tip, Lamby, ST/2.7, 1979, RGE; 1 large plant rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1982, TGE, ALG; on pavement, Rumney, ST/27 E, 1982, ARP. (1 t)

Foxtail Bristle-grass

This annual has culms to 1.5 m tall with panicles to 30 x 3 cm, which droop conspicuously from the middle; the spikelets are 2-3 mm long and the 1-3 bristles below each are shorter to a little longer than the spikelets and are armed with forwardly-directed barbs; the spikelets break away below the upper lemma leaving the glumes, lower lemma and bristles on the rachis. It is introduced from the Far East as cage-birds’ millet and as bird seed. It ends up on tips and waste ground in small quantities in late summer. The first vice-county record was: many plants of various sizes on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/305.858, 1973, TGE, det. CEH; 1975; 1978, 1981, TGE, CT; several plants, rubbish tip, Piercefield Park/Alcove Wood, Chepstow, ST/528.948, 1973, TGE, det. CEH. (2 t)

! Digitaria ciliaris

Tropical Finger-grass

Similar to D. sanguinalis but it has lanceolateelliptic upper glumes ⅔-¾ the length of the spikelet, and nerves of lemmas smooth. This casual is introduced from the Tropics in birdseed, wool and soya beans and appears on tips and dock areas. The first and only record in vc 35 was on rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1980, TGE. (1 t) SORGHUM Millets These are annuals or perennials with a large panicle having the spikelets in pairs, one bisexual and sessile and a thinner, stalked one sterile or male; the bisexual spikelet has 2 florets, the upper bisexual and the lower reduced to a lemma; both the glumes are long, the lower hardens and encloses the florets; the spikelets persist or break free complete.

DIGITARIA Finger-grasses These are annuals occasionally rooting at the nodes or rarely perennials; they have membranous ligules; the distal half of the culms are erect and topped by 2-9, erecto-patent, thin, 1-2 mm diameter spikes that may be 12 cm or more long; each spikelet has a lower glume that is very short or minute and an upper one ⅓-1 times as long as the spikelet and 2 florets, the lower sterile with a lemma as long as the spikelet, the upper is bisexual and roughly as long and is hidden or partially visible between the upper glume and the lower lemma; the spikelet falls as a unit.

! Sorghum halepense

Johnson-grass

This large, tufted perennial, growing to over 1 m high, has flat leaves to over 1.5 cm wide with forwardly-directed barbs along their edges; the ligule is surrounded by dense hairs; the large, dense panicle has erecto-patent, racemose branches and bears elliptic, purple-tinged spikelets in pairs on racemes; the glumes of the lower spikelet are hairy, the lower lemma has a long, twisted awn that is bent conspicuously. Introduced from N Africa in birdseed, grain spillage, wool waste and soya bean, it is found on waste land and tips, where it has short-term

! Digitaria ischaemum Smooth Finger-grass This has decumbent to erect culms to 35 cm, leaf sheaths only hairy at the mouth, pedicel-apex cup-shaped, the upper glume and lower lemma roughly the same length, and 2-2.3 mm long spikelets that are conspicuously yet minutely pubescent. 532

Flora of Monmouthshire survival, in the autumn. In vc 35 it was first found on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1973, TGE, det. CEH; followed each year to 1979, TGE, CT. Var. muticum one record on rubbish tip, Newport, ST/30.85, 1973, TGE, det. CEH. (2 t)

! Sorghum bicolor

broad surface facing the stem; their base is sheathing; there are no stipules; the terminal inflorescence is a spike of male flowers at the apex with females just below or a spike above and a raceme below or a panicle; the flowers are grouped as small spheres; the males open as white fluffy balls with spreading white filaments tipped with anthers; the females are a cluster of ovaries with long terminal beaks; the spiky, female spheres ripen to a brownish colour and break up to release individual fruits.

Great Millet

This annual may grow to 2 m tall and has a smooth, slightly inflated upper sheath with a membranous ligule topped with a fringe of hairs; its flat leaves are to 3 cm wide; the panicle is so compact that it largely hides the erect branches; the awnless spikelets are broadly ovate and a pale, creamy colour which contrasts with the orange anthers and stigmas; the glumes and lemmas are hairy. This African introduction in birdseed and grain is found on tips and waste ground, near docks in the autumn. It was first found in the vice-county on the rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1975, TGE, det. CEH; also recorded in a Chepstow garden, ST/31.93, 1979, TGE, conf. CEH. (2 t)

SPARGANIUM Bur-reeds The description above applies to these plants.

Sparganium erectum

ZEA Maize These annuals may grow to over 3 m tall with broad, flat leaves from 3 to over 10 cm wide; the terminal male panicle, made up of spike-like racemes, is up to 12 cm tall; the male spikelets are in pairs, one subsessile the other stalked; the female ‘cob’ forms in an axillary position at the base of leaves in the mouths of their sheaths, the ‘cob’ consists of a stout cylinder of female spikelets, each with 2 florets, the lower sterile and reduced, the upper, awnless female with equal glumes and styles that protrude conspicuously.

! Zea mays

Branched Bur-reed

This has an erect stem to 1.5 m tall and darkishgreen leaves bearing a keeled midrib; the inflorescence is branched, each branch ending in male flower clusters above spherical female ones; the tepals are dark-tipped. The fruits need to be examined to determine the subspecies of Sparganium erectum. See Plant Crib, Rich & Jermy (1998) pages 370-2.

Sparganium erectum subsp. erectum This has a fruit clearly shouldered below the beak, a dark brown, flat top usually 4-6 mm across. 23

Maize

The general description above fits the species. Grown increasingly as a crop for fodder, for its grain and for restaurants. In the vice-county, it is also a casual where grain is dropped or from birdseed on tips and waste ground. Inadequately recorded in the vice-county to give true figures, but it is much grown even up to the sea wall.

18 31

It grows in the shallow edges of ponds, lakes, rivers, reens etc. In vc 35 it is frequent on the Levels though it has declined due to the lowering of the water table and the excavation of reens, which leaves the banks too steep. The slower margins of rivers feature strongly as a good habitat. 137 t

SPARGANIACEAE Bur-reed Family These are large, glabrous, herbaceous perennials with creeping rhizomes, rooting in mud of watery habitats; their stems are simple or branched with simple, alternate, bright green, linear, entire leaves, which are triangular in cross-section and have their 533

Flora of Monmouthshire This has a stem 20-60 cm tall with pale green leaves keeled at the base and triangular in section; a simple, unbranched inflorescence having 2-3, male, spherically-grouped flowers at the apex with spaced out, spherical, female clusters below, mainly sessile though the lowest may be stalked; the tepals are wholly pale. Almost always in shallow water in ponds and slowmoving streams. Wade (1970) gave 6 sites for it and though 31 sites were noted between 1985 and 1990 it has become very infrequent in recent years due to land drainage. 31 t

Sparganium erectum subsp. microcarpum This has a fruit clearly shouldered below the beak but has a 2.5-4.5 mm dark-brown, rounded top below the beak. It is rooted in shallow water. Wade (1970) gave one record: reen near Pil-du Farm, St Mellon, *. More recent records are: drainage ditch, E of Pentre Bach, ST/289.924, 1999; R. Monnow, Monmouth Gap, SO/399.262, 1999; sea wall reen, SW of Peterstone Gout, ST/273.801, all TGE, and conf. or det. RVL. 3 t

Sparganium erectum subsp. neglectum TYPHACEAE Bulrush family These tall, glabrous, herbaceous perennials grow from rhizomes in the mud of shallow fresh water. The long, simple stems bear thick, alternate, linear rather spongy leaves from the submerged base; the unisexual flowers are borne in a long terminal, club-shaped cylinder or spadix, with the males above the females.

This has pale-brown, ellipsoid fruits, with no obvious shoulders and which are gradually tapered to the beak and are 2-4.5 mm across. It is rooted in shallow water. Wade (1970) gave the following sites for it: Llantilio Crossenny; canal, Risca to Crosskeys, *; near Pont Waun-y-pwll, Llandewi Fach; and Organy Pool, *. More recent records are: Nedern Brook, N of Caldicot Castle, ST/487.886, 1999; W of Sunset Cottage, both sides of road, Pontyspig Bog, SO/295.212, 1999, SAR; left bank, R. Usk, SW of Llancayo House, SO/362.025, TGE, all det. TGE, conf. RVL. 5 t

Typha latifolia

Bulrush

The stems may be over 2 m tall with some leaves higher still; the 18-30mm wide, dark brown, bristly part of the spadix contains the female flowers and above this and contiguous with it is the male flowers portion of the spadix.

Sparganium erectum subsp. oocarpum The pale-brown fruit is spherical but abruptly tapered to the beak and is 4-7 mm across; few fruits develop per head. It grows in shallow water. Vc 35’s first record was in Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Two Locks, Cwmbran, ST/290.940; the other was a drainage ditch, Pentre Bach, ST/289.924, both 1999, TGE, det. RVL. 2 t

Sparganium emersum Unbranched Bur-reed

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It is found in or near water. In vc 35 there is a concentration in reens on the Levels, but it is also common near or in rivers, ponds, lakes etc. 142 t

Typha angustifolia

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Lesser Bulrush

It is similar to T. latifolia but is a more slender plant with leaves seldom wider than 6 mm the more slender spadix has a gap of several

534

Flora of Monmouthshire outwards, and elliptical capsules containing seeds with long, fine projections at each end.

centimetres between the lower female and upper male part of it. Stace suggests it grows in more organic soils in similar wet habitats. It does not appear to be native in the vice-county appearing in few garden ponds. The most natural habitat is in a small lake at Great Tyr Mynach Farm, SO/40.08, 2005, TGE, but it used to be a pond largely full of Scirpus sylvaticus Wood Club-rush before it had been enlarged. 3 t

Narthecium ossifragum

PONTEDERIACEAE Water Hyacinth These are fresh water aquatics with bisexual flowers; the inflorescence is a raceme or panicle subtended by a spathe-like sheath; the perianth may be blue, lilac, yellow or white and usually consists of 6 segments; the styles are long and the fruit is a capsule or a nutlet.

! Eichornia crassipes

Bog Asphodel

These have iris-like foliage, usually with basal, 520 cm, slightly curved leaves all flattened in the same plane; the inflorescence is an erect raceme of star-shaped flowers with yellow tepals and densely, woolly, orange filaments and 6 orange-red anthers. 23

Water Hyacinth

This floats on the surface due to the inflated, airfilled petioles; the flowers are interesting as they have styles of three different lengths and pollen of different sizes and, as a consequence, anthers in different positions. It is grown as an aquatic ornament in Britain, though it is a pernicious weed and widespread in pantropical regions of the world. The only records in vc 35 are for a 3-4 m² stretch of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, W of Fourteen Locks, Newport, ST/272.888, 1995, MBr; it died out during the following winter and was reintroduced at ST/26.88 and 27.89, 1997, KEH, again to succumb to winter temperatures. 1 t

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It grows in bogs and wet, peaty, acid heaths and moors, often on mountains. Wade (1970) described it as locally common and gave 8 sites for it. In the vice-county most sites occur in the western uplands. Some recent records are: numerous on wet heath, Pontllanfraith, ST/16.96, 1972-2002, TGE; numerous on Cleddon (Trellech) Bog, SO/509.039, 1973-2005, TGE; Pen-y-fan Bog, SO/52.05, 197495, TGE; acid heath, Plâs Bedwellty, Blackwood, ST/166.964; acid heath, Oakdale, ST/194.986, both 1983, GMT; boggy ground, above the British, Abersychan, SO/25.04, 1986, RH; near ponds, Garn-yr-erw, SO/23.10, 1986; 1987, TGE, RF; unimproved field, Whitelye, SO/516.017, 1985, EGW; wet woodland, Cwm Merddog, SO/18.06, 1987; scattered patches, near Blaenavon, SO/2.0 1987, RF; rushy area, NE of artificial pond, Ebbw Vale, SO/156.081, 1988, Gallowsgreen, SO/264.069, all three sites, AW, EGW; acid bog, Coedcae Tyle, SO/208.058; acid bog, near Keeper’s Pond, SO/258.112 to 261.113; Varteg Road, Gallowsgreen, SO/263.068; wet gulley, Pant-y-gollen, SO/288.026, all four sites 1989, RF; Garden City, SO/165.077; acid flush, Blaenmelyn, SO/247.060; acid flush, Coed Waun-Bleiddian, SO/167.045, all three records 1990; Varteg pasture, SO/264.006; marshy grassland, Penllwyn, ST/173.960, both sites 1991, all 5 records SK;

LILIACEAE Lily family These are usually erect, glabrous, herbaceous perennials or small, evergreen shrubs producing rhizomes, corms, bulbs or tuberous roots; the simple, entire leaves may be basal, alternate or whorled, alternatively the leaves may be reduced to scales or be replaced with modified stems acting like leaves; stipules are lacking; the flowers, usually bisexual, may be arranged variously; the perianth of six, usually highly-coloured tepals surrounds 6 stamens, usually an ovary bearing ovules on an axile placentum and a fruit which is a capsule or a berry. NARTHECIUM Bog Asphodel These are creeping plants with upward-curving stems bearing narrow, curving leaves, red-tinged stem leaves and bracts, yellow tepals, anthers more than twice as long as wide shedding pollen 535

Flora of Monmouthshire to form a long, whitish tube with a subterranean ovary in the base; in the spring when the fruit has developed, its stalk lengthens and it with its sheathing leaves to 35 x 5 cm appear above ground. Meadow Saffron grows on damp, clayey soils in grassland and woods. In the vice-county, it is common in the woods and fields of the north and east, though many grasslands where it thrived in the past have lost it to such crops as maize and the associated herbicides used on the land. 35 t (7 t)

marshy area between Carn Stwpa and Highlands, SO/146.149, 1994, PAS; marshy patch, at 400-500 m, Mynydd Varteg, SO/2.0N, 1999, SAR; 65 plants, wet meadow, Pen-deri, SO/1903.0017, 2003, TGE, CT. 30 t (1 t) Plate 119 HEMEROCALLIS Day-lilies These grow from rhizomes and form clumps with rather fleshy, flat, parallel-sided leaves, intermingled with a cymose inflorescence of trumpet-shaped, fused, yellow to orange tepals held towards the horizontal with upturned stamens and style.

! Hemerocallis fulva

FRITILLARIA Fritillary These are bulbous plants with linear-lanceolate leaves, mostly alternate on the stem, usually a single, drooping, cup- to bell-shaped flower at the stem apex; six, coloured tepals surround the ovary, which forms a capsular fruit, and has a single style that divides into 3 linear stigmas, and there are 6 stamens.

Orange Day-lily

This has stems to 1 m tall and leaves to 90 x 25 cm and cymes of 7-10 cm long, dull orange, scentless flowers. It is of garden origin and persists in derelict gardens or appears on waste ground or tips. The one vc 35 record was of a large plant N of building 576, MOD, Caerwent, ST/468.916, 1999, TGE. 1 t

! Fritillaria meleagris

COLCHICUM Meadow Saffron These have corms and produce linear-oblong leaves in spring and summer which then die down; the pink to pale purple flowers appear on their own in autumn; the flower lobes extend downwards to form a long pale tube with the ovary at the bottom below ground level; the long style divides into 3 lobes just above the anthers; the ovary has a short stalk that elongates in the late spring and the green fruit is exposed among the leaves.

Colchicum autumnale

Fritillary

This glabrous, 20-40 cm herb has a few, alternate, linear-lanceolate stem leaves, a pendent flower, usually solitary, with 6 chequered, dusky-purple (white occasionally) tepals forming a bell-shape with 6 tepal points beyond the edge; the capsule is a 3-angled sphere. It grows in winter-flooded meadows. In vc 35 it has become naturalised and spread in 3 gardens. They are: the Wyelands, Mathern, ST/524.917, 1971-93, GV-H, TGE; Ty Mawr Convent, Penallt, SO/505.079, 1987-8, EGW; a garden, Dingestow, SO/4.0 P, 1989, CT, WT. 3 t

Meadow Saffron

LILIUM Lilies These are bulbous plants with mostly linear to elliptic stem leaves; the inflorescence is a terminal raceme with pendent flowers of 6 free, similar tepals that curl backwards in vc 35’s two species.

! Lilium martagon

18 31

Martagon Lily

This herb has a rough, stout stem to over 1 m tall; the elliptic-lanceolate leaves are in whorls of 5-10 on at least the lower half of the stem; the bract-subtended, shortly petiolate, pendent flowers alternate up the stem and consist of reddish-purple, dark-spotted, to 3.5 cm long tepals that curve backwards exposing conspicuous, long-stalked, reddish anthers. They grow in calcareous woodlands. Though they still appear in woods opposite Tintern to Brockweir

This produces vertical, pinky-purple flowers in September, each has 6 tepals joined at the base 536

Flora of Monmouthshire in Gloucestershire, the two vaguely described sites in vc 35 of Tintern, *, 1932, ED; or near Chepstow, *, EV; have not provided any sightings during my tenure as BSBI Recorder since 1972. (2 t)

! Lilium pyrenaicum

Pyrenean Lily

This lily has a green stem to 1 m tall bearing spirally-arranged, narrowly lanceolate, hairyedged leaves and an apical inflorescence with bract-subtended clusters of flowers of usually less than 8 per whorl with orange-yellow tepals, darkly streaked and to 6.5 cm long, which curl backwards and have a sickly smell. Introduced to British gardens from the Pyrenees and naturalised in woods, scrub, hedgerows, field margins and cemeteries. In vc 35 there are 2 patches of 1 m² and 2 m² in Bedwellty Churchyard, SO/166.003, 1999, TGE, GSH, CT, and there is a record dated 1986 on a recording card for SO/2.2W but no details; several patches, under trees at Yew Tree, Penallt, SO/500.092, LHa, SJT. 3 t Plate 114

18 31

Recent records for Lily-of-the-Valley are: woods, Coombe, ST/46.92, 1976, TGE; woodland, W end and foot of fort, Llan-melin Wood, ST/459.926, 1985-7, TGE, UTE; 1999, TGE, CT; both sides of A466 woods near entrance to Livox Quarry, Blackcliff, ST/532.983, 1985, TGE; wood edge, Penperlleni, SO/327.051, 1988, RF; 5 m², wood, just E of Hadnock Quarry entrance, SO/542.152, 1989; 1994, TGE; 2000; 2003, TGE, CT; 100s in Blackcliff Wood, NW and N of quarry and above it, ST/5320.9849, 2002, TGE. 5 t (16)

CONVALLARIA Lily-of-the-Valley These plants spread quickly, once established, by rhizomes; their elliptic leaves arise from the rhizomes or base of the stem; the 6-20, pendent flowers form a terminal raceme; the globose, bellshaped, white, fragrant flowers consist of 5-8 mm long, fused tepals with only their tips forming curled-back lobes; the fruit is a red berry.

Convallaria majalis

POLYGONATUM Solomon’s-seals These are plants with rhizomes with curved stems bearing alternate, ovate, parallel-veined leaves opposed by flowers in 1s or 2s or leaves in whorls of 3-6, intermingled with flowers in clusters of 1-4 per leaf-axil; the pendent, tubular or narrow bellshaped flowers are white with green markings.

Lily-of-the-Valley

This glabrous perennial spreads by rhizomes that give rise to long-stalked, oval-elliptical, parallelveined, simple leaves to 20 x 5 cm, and one-sided racemes of small, drooping, white, fragrant, bell-shaped flowers no more than 8 mm long; the red-fruited berry is not always noticed. It grows in dry, calcareous woods. In vc 35 it has few sites and if the trees are dense few flowers are produced in the shade. Wade (1970) described it as locally common and gave 18 sites for it, which are: near Skenfrith, *, THT; SGC; Lilyrock Wood; near Hadnock Quarry, *; railway bank between Dixton and Hadnock, *; Rockfield; Coleford Road, Monmouth, all SGC; Blackcliff Wood, 1853, TWG; AEW; Wyndcliff Wood, *, JHC; AL; WAS; Tintern Woods, *, SH; 1920 O or PR; near Chepstow; St Arvans, SH; The Barnetts; near Pandy Mill, Itton; Dinham; near Llanvair Discoed; Coppice Mawr, Itton, *, all WAS; Brisca-bach Wood, Itton, 1867, EJL; near St Brides, Netherwent, *, 1942, JCE.

Polygonatum multiflorum

Solomon’s-seal

18 31

537

Flora of Monmouthshire tepals then 4 linear tepals, then 8 long, narrow stamens and finally a single ovary that becomes a globose, black berry.

This glabrous herb has 30-60 cm or more, smooth, arching stems bearing alternate, sessile, oval-elliptical leaves opposed by 2-4, 9-15 mm, pendent, tubular flowers narrower in the middle and green-tinged at each end with downy filaments; its fruit is a blue-black berry. Solomon’s-seal grows in dry, calcareous or sandy woods. In vc 35 it has a scattered distribution mainly in the eastern two-thirds. Wade (1970) stated it was rare and gave 7 sites for it. Some more recent records are: a large colony, not far from houses, Cleddon Shoots, SO/52.04, 1972, TGE; Castle Woods, Chepstow, ST/52.94, 1975, TGE; a large clump, Wet Meadow/Loysey Wood, Trellech, SO/4948.0637, 1981, SJT; 1999, TGE, CT; 2002, TGE; a large colony, side of valley leading to New Hall, St Pierre Great Woods, ST/50.92, 1950-1998, TGE; BH; rough track, E edge of Fedw Wood, S of Banton, ST/514.993, 1990, JDRV; wood bank, Penallt, SO/524.098, 1994, BJG; 16 plants, Caewern Wood, SO/446.089, 1989-1998, SDSB. 23 t

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It grows in damp woods on calcareous soil. Wade (1970) described it as common in the east and frequent in the north, rare elsewhere. Recent records, all in woods, are: Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, 1974; Great Barnett’s Wood, ST/51.94, 1974, both TGE; Orles Wood, SO/485.125, 1980, SJT; Oak Wood, SO/485.125, 1981, SJT; NW edge of St Pierre Great Woods, ST/49.92, 1982, TGE; 1987, MS; Coppice Mawr, ST/495.943, 1985; 1991, TGE; c. 50 plants, near Coed Ithel Furnace, Bargain Wood, SO/528.027, 1985, EGW; less than 20 plants, Cuhere Wood, ST/45.92, 1985, TGE, UTE; Mescoed Mawr, ST/27.89, 1986, GB; Maesyr-uchaf Wood, SO/477.088, 1986, EGW; Penyclawdd, SO/43.08, 1987, DEL; E of Commony-Coed, ST/439.892, 1987; 1997, TGE; small patch, Pwllplythin Wood, SO/52.07; several patches, Graig Wood, SO/53.08, both 1987, EGW; Great Barnets Wood, ST/521.943, 1987, TGE; Nant-y-carw, SO/38.07, 1988, TGE, RF; Llanmelin Wood, MOD Caerwent, ST/4665.9222, 1989, 1991; 46 plants, 2002, TGE; Whitfield Wood, ST/49.96, 1990, TGE; Longditch Wood, ST/382.879, 1990; also, 380.876, 1997, TGE; c. 50 plants, both sides of Rock Wood, ST/421.912-4, 1990; 1997, TGE, UTE; MJ; Livox Wood, ST/54.97, 1990, EGW; 10 plants, Livox Wood, SO/519.111, 1989-92, BJG; both sides of Coombe, ST/4.9L, 1991, CT; Trellech Furnace Wood, SO/48.04, 1994, TGE, UTE; 50-100 plants, High Grove Wood, St Brides, Netherwent, ST/42.89, 1997, TGE; MJ; 10 plants, Alcove Wood, near river meadow, ST/531.948, 1997; 7 plants, Blackcliff Wood, ST/53.98, 1997, TGE; 9 plants

Polygonatum odoratum Angular Solomon’s-seal This is similar to P. multiflorum but is shorter to 30 cm tall with stem angled in cross-section; the 18-22 mm long flowers are not narrower in the middle of the tube and the filaments, though rough, are glabrous. It grows in woods on limestone. Wade (1970) stated it was very rare and gave only 1 site for it: rocky woods on calcareous soils, near Tintern (woods near the Moss Cottage, Wyndcliff, EV), ST/5.9, 1839, AGP; 1853, TWG; AL; WAS. It has been searched for many times since 1960 without success. (1 t) PARIS Herb-paris These plants grow from rhizomes producing an erect stem topped usually by a whorl of 4 leaves, though less commonly up to 8; the inflorescence of a single, long-peduncled flower grows up from a central point between the leaves; there are 8 long, narrow stamens surrounding an ovary which ripens to a dehiscent, black berry above all the other flower parts.

Paris quadrifolia

Herb-paris

This is a 15-40 cm tall, glabrous perennial with a stem apex bearing a whorl of usually 4 broad to 15 x 8 cm, obovate leaves, above which the stem is continued by a flower stalk bearing 4 lanceolate 538

Flora of Monmouthshire and 10 plants in Ty Mawr Great Wood, SO/4377.0972 and 4380.0968 respectively, 1998; 30 plants, Penyclawdd Wood, SO/4440.0803, 1995, EGW; 1998, SDSB; c. 20 plants, Bourne Wood, SO/458.090, 1998, SDSB; c. 1000 plants, N end of Linen Well Wood, ST/4665.9222, 2002, TGE; 300-400 plants, Brier’s Grove, ST/50.95 & 51.95, 2002, TGE; 200-300 plants, W end of Stoneycroft Wood, ST/464.935, 2002, TGE. 32 t Plate 118 and 117

stamens with cream anthers are fused to the tepal tube from the bottom to close to the top. 23

ORNITHOGALUM Star-of-Bethlehem These are plants with bulbs and all leaves basal and linear; the inflorescence is a terminal raceme; each flower has a single bract, free, usually white tepals with a green stripe on the outside, and the stamens, inserted on the receptacle, have flattened filaments.

18 31

! Ornithogalum umbellatum Star-of-Bethlehem

It grows in woods, hedgerows and field margins. Widespread in vc 35, apart from close to the Severn and the higher parts of the west. 339 t

These have 15-30 cm stems and 15-30 cm x 2-5 mm wide leaves with a white, central stripe down the upper surface; the pedicels of lower flowers are longer than the upper ones so that all the 5-20 flowers, 15-25 mm in diameter, are held at roughly at the same level; the bracts are shorter than the pedicels; the six, white tepals have a green stripe down the outside. It is naturalised in grassy places, rough ground and woods. In vc 35 it was first recorded near Monmouth, *, June, 1920, PRi. Other records are: on the floor of limestone Quarry, Castle Burness, Rogiet, ST/461.885, 1971, TGE; badly weakened in 1976 drought, TGE; last seen in 1982, in leaf only; 1-5 plants, E side of zigzag road, Mynyddalltyr-fach, ST/429.929, 2003, DM, det. TGE. 1 t (2 t)

! Hyacinthoides x variabilis a hybrid Bluebell This hispanica x non-scripta hybrid is fertile; the tepals spread moderately to form bell-shaped flowers with outward curved but not reflexed tips; the flowers are spread symmetrically around the upright stem; the filaments are fused from the bottom only to half way up the tepal tube and have blue anthers, except in the rarer, white or pink flowers. So far it is commoner near houses and on marginal and waste ground, where it is the common garden bluebell in Britain and vc 35. 24 t

! Hyacinthoides hispanica Spanish Bluebell This has an erect, stoutish stem to 40 cm with basal leaves to 35 mm wide; it has an erect, symmetrical raceme with flowers widely bellshaped and not recurved at the rim; the outer 3 stamens are fused to the tepals for just over the lower half of the tepal tube and have tepalcoloured anthers. Introduced from the Iberian peninsula to British gardens, though by no means as common as previously thought; the common garden plant seems to be the hybrid H. x variabilis. In vc 35, all bluebells associated with gardens were recorded as hispanica in the past, but only one out of 20 plants examined recently were the hybrid. More work needs to be done to obtain a true picture.

HYACINTHOIDES Bluebells These have 2 bracts per flower; free, blue (occasionally white or pink) tepals, stamens with narrow filaments inserted on or at the base of the tepals.

Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Bluebell

These grow from underground bulbs with all their parallel-sided basal leaves to 20 mm wide; the sweetly fragrant, blue (white or pink) flowers are on one side of the stem which nods to one side; the 14-20 mm long tepals, fused near the top, form a narrow, parallel-sided, bell-shaped tube with the tepal tips reflexed; at least 3 of the 539

Flora of Monmouthshire umbel often mixed with bulbils (in some species the bulbils completely replace flowers), and subtended by a spathe of 1 or more papery bracts at the apex of the stem; the 6 white to greenish, yellow, pink or purple tepals are usually not fused; there are 6 stamens.

MUSCARI Grape-hyacinths The bulbs give rise to long, narrow leaves with an erect stem topped by a cylindrical raceme of blue to bluish-black flowers, the apical ones sterile and the lower ones fertile; the flowers’ apices terminate with tiny white or brownish tepal lobes; the stamens are inserted about half way up the tepal tubes.

! Muscari neglectum

! Allium roseum

Grape-hyacinth

This short plant to 30 cm tall has bright or deep green, linear leaves longer than the flower stem, growing from a bulb with blackish tunics; the wide, urn-shaped flowers are longer than wide, the 3.5-7.5 x 1.5-3.5 mm, fertile, deep violet to blackish-blue ones with white erect lobes have a greyish, waxy ‘bloom’ on the outside; the upper sterile ones are pale blue. Native in East Anglia on dry grassland, hedge banks and field borders it is rarely naturalised elsewhere. In vc 35, there have been 5 records but only a garden escape in Monmouth, SO/507.121, 1992, BJG has been drawn to my attention. 5 t

! Muscari armeniacum Garden Grape-hyacinth

! Allium triquetrum Three-cornered Garlic

This is similar to M. neglectum but has wider leaves with a grey-green upper surface and 3.55.5 mm long, bright blue but paler, fertile flowers. The only site details received of 5 sites is of plants in a disused graveyard, Michaelstone-y-fedw, ST/243.854, 1987, GH. There are no details for the ST/4.9B record. 2 t

! Muscari comosum

Rosy Garlic

This herb has a bulb with a minutely-pitted tunic, stems, round in section, to over 50 cm and 4-12 mm wide, flat leaves; the stem apex has a lobed, single spathe shorter than the pedicels which end in pink flowers with six, 7-12 mm long tepals and shorter stamens; there may be bulbils mixed with the pedicels. Originating in the Mediterranean region, it has been introduced to British gardens, where it can easily become a troublesome weed to be cast out to colonise rough, waste ground, road verges and other marginal habitats and sand dunes. In vc 35 it was first recorded according to Wade (1970) at Llanover, SO/32.08, *, 1951, JF; later it was recorded on a minor roadside, outside Llanover Estate, SO/31.08, 1987, JJ; 2004, TGE, CT. 1 t (1 t)

The very sharply angled stems rising from a bulb may reach 40 cm tall; it has sessile, flat, slightly keeled, linear leaves, a one-sided inflorescence of flowers above a two-valved spathe; the whitelined tepals are longer than the stamens, which have simple filaments. 23

Tassel Hyacinth

This plant varies between 20 and 50 cm tall. Growing from a pinkish-tinged bulb, the 5-20 mm wide, linear leaves taper to the tip; the urnshaped, fertile flowers on up to 15 mm long stalks form a loose raceme; the upper, sterile flowers are blue or violet on blue stalks to over 5 mm long. It is usually introduced into Britain commonly in the form known as ‘Plumosum’ which produces purple, feathery, sterile flowers. In vc 35, the only record was: 1 plant, Dan-y-graig Reserve, ST/23.90, 1992, JFH. 1 t

18 31

ALLIUM Onions These bulbous plants give off strong garlic odours when bruised during growth; leaves vary from linear to tubular to elliptic; the flowers appear as an

This was introduced from the western Mediterranean region to Britain and is now a common weed of the SW in rough, waste and cultivated land, in copses, hedgerows and 540

Flora of Monmouthshire Ramsons grow in damp, shady woods and their margins. In vc 35, records are minimal for the western uplands and the Levels, and frequent on Wentwood, the Wye Valley and on the eastern ridge. 125 t

waysides. There have been scattered introductions on rural and urban verges and woodland path sides in vc 35. Records are: patch on and near grave, inside gate, Bettws Newydd churchyard, SO/370.021, 1995, DTP and spreading, from there SO/362.058, 1997, CT; on dumped soil at foot of wall of old Ministry of Pensions Hospital, Chepstow, ST/527.936, 1998-2006, TGE; a small patch, path side, Hardwick Plantation, ST/459.894, 1998, CT; 2005, TGE; cultivated/disturbed land, Tal-y-fan, SO/45.08, 1999, SDSB et al.; 4 m S side of minor road, Croes Llanfair to Llanfair Kilgeddin, SO/341.076, 2000, TGE. 7 t

Allium paradoxum

Allium oleraceum

Few-flowered Garlic

This has a sharply triangular stem and basal leaves, with an insignificant keel, and with varying widths but seldom as much as 25mm; the flower stalk is usually topped with bulbils with few flowers often only one with 6 plain, white tepals to 12mm long; the stamens are shorter and have simple filaments. This Caucasian plant is naturalised but scattered in woods and grassland in parts of the British Isles. I had not seen it since 1985 on the verge of the A433 SW of Cirencester and did not recognise it immediately in May 2005 when it turned up among grass under a lilac tree in my garden ST/52.93. In 2006 it re-appeared and some herbarium specimens are lodged in NMW. 1 t

18 31

Allium ursinum

It grows in dry, calcareous grassy places. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 4 sites for it: Portskewett, *, WAS, 1944, RL; Dewstow Lane, near Caldicot, WAS; near Mounton, Mrs M; near Crick, 1944, RL. More recent records are: c. 10 plants, hollow, Stowball Common, Portskewett, 1957-81, TGE (filled in and buried by council 1979-81); Highmoor Hill roadside, ST/468.897, 1983, CT; Ridgeway, Newport, ST/2.8Z, 1986, EJS; numerous plants, hedgebank, road into Caerwent from Caldicot, ST/472.902, 1970-1990, CT, TGE (subsequently bulldozed to build a housing estate); less than 20 plants inside hedgerow, Crossway Green, N of Kilpale, ST/467.929, 1985-1990, TGE (field has had many years of Maize crops and the preliminary spraying right into the hedge has probably eliminated the plants); B4245 roadside verge, near M48 and road to Windmill Cottages, Rogiet, ST/455.881, 1993, RDR; less than 40 plants, grassy area between Caldicot Castle and its car park, ST/4865.8843, 2002, TGE, GSH, CT; 100-150 plants, W bank

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Ramsons

This herb has 2-3, 15-70+mm wide, bright green, petioled leaves giving off a garlic odour when bruised; the symmetrical inflorescence has shortly-stalked flowers forming an umbel at the apex of a bluntly-triangular stem; there are no bulbils interspersed with flowers; the six, 7-12 mm long, white tepals are longer than the stamens, which have simple filaments.

Field Garlic

This has rounded to bluntly triangular (in crosssection) stems to over 40 cm; the stem-sheathing, linear leaves are rounded to semi-circular in cross-section; the stem apex has 2 leaf-like, long pointed spathes longer than the inflorescence, which has an umbel of stalked, green-tinged, white or brownish tepals longer than the stamens, which have simple filaments.

541

Flora of Monmouthshire rising to Severn Tunnel Junction (defunct) railway bridge, ST/461.876, 2002, CT. 6 t

! Allium schoenoprasum

the pendent flowers are often in small clusters (rather than solitary). The linear-leaved species have solid stems and white or pale pink flowers whereas the strap-leaved species have hollow stems and white flowers with tepals spotted green or yellow near the apex. The flowers appear in the late winter or spring with the leaves.

Chives

This has sheathing, cylindrical leaves and a stem 10-45 cm tall rising from a narrow bulb; the top of the stem carries a hemispherical to egg-shaped umbel subtended by 2 pinky-brown, short, boatshaped spathes; each erect, bell-shaped flower, on pedicels to 15 mm long, consists of six, c. 10 mm long, lilac to mauve tepals. It grows usually among limestone or serpentine rocks in the wild but is grown as a culinary crop in gardens and from there it may be thrown out on to waste ground. In vc 35, though there are no written details, all records are close to houses or garden boundaries. 6 t

Allium vineale

! Leucojum aestivum

Summer Snowflake

This perennial may form large tufts with the winged stem to 60 cm tall and strap-like leaves; each tepal of the 12-22 mm long, bell-shaped, white flower has a green spot towards the tip; the flowers, on different pedicel lengths, are in clusters of 3-5 or more. It grows in wet meadows and willow scrub on the edges of rivers. It is not native in vc 35 and is usually planted originally. Wade (1970) gave the first record in bog at St. Mellons Golf Course, *, 1966, RW; edge of large shallow pool (marked on old 2½ inch maps as reservoir), golf course, St Mellons, ST/246.826, 1987, GH (probably the same site). Other record is 1 clump in grass, near R. Wye, Wyastone Leys, SO/533.156, 1982, TGE. 1 t (1 t)

Wild Onion

This bulbous plant may be over 80 cm tall with stems sheathed by narrow, cylindrical leaves; the inflorescence is a very dense umbel of numerous bulbils and maybe a few pinkish, reddish or greenish, bell-shaped flowers (less common are umbels of flowers only); the lateral points of the 3 inner filaments are more than twice as long as the anther-bearing middle one; there is a single spathe at the base of the umbel.

GALANTHUS Snowdrops These are different from Leucojum species in that the flowers are solitary and the 3 inner tepals are only half the length of the outer ones. They are tufted, glabrous, bulbous perennials with 2 basal leaves partially enclosed in a whitish sheath; the slender stem terminates in a solitary, pendent, white flower, enclosed, at first, in a hooded, membranous spathe; the outer 3 tepals are large, oval and petal-like, the inner 3 are half as long, notched and green-marked close to the apex. Many Snowdrop species are grown in vc 35 gardens but only G. nivalis has been recorded; some other species may already have escaped.

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! Galanthus nivalis

Snowdrop

This tuft-forming plant is commonly 9-12 cm tall with 2 glaucous, flat, strap-shaped leaves face to face when first appearing in early spring; the spathe is as long as the peduncle; the 12-25 mm long flowers have a green patch near the notch of the shorter petals. Its origin is in doubt but believed by some to have come from E Europe and introduced by the Romans. It has been cultivated in gardens (often as flore pleno) for centuries and it would be surprising

This grows in grassy places, with waste ground and verges featuring strongly. In vc 35 it is essentially lowland and the verge treatment regime makes recording difficult because the plants are too often cut down before their late summer flowering. 86 t LEUCOJUM Snowflakes These are like large snowdrops but have linear or strap-shaped leaves and have six equal tepals and 542

Flora of Monmouthshire if escapes hadn’t occurred and naturalised in the British countryside. In vc 35 it is absent from the western uplands and most of the Levels. Apart from gardens, it has been planted along stream sides, on verges and banks near houses and it persists and spreads from abandoned gardens; there are numerous colonies in the Wye Valley and some large woodland colonies look very natural. Wade (1970) called it a denizen and described it as locally common and gave 28 sites for it.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus subsp. pseudonarcissus

Daffodil This tufted plant, usually 22-30 cm tall, has flat, slightly-keeled, greyish-green leaves 8-12 mm wide and slightly shorter than the stem; the brownish-yellow, papery spathe, slightly longer than the tepal-tube (that part joining the top of the ovary to the bases of the tepals), opens on one side to reveal the 16-22 mm, tepal-tube, the 6 paleyellow tepals and the darker yellow corona; the tepals are the same length as the corona, which has a rim slightly flared and irregularly split.

Galanthus nivalis 23

23 22 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 31

There are far too many sites to give all but large colonies: Piercefield Woods, ST/53.96, 1973-2002, TGE; a large colony, copse, brook side, Twyn-ycregan, SO/363.096, 1973, BMF; many large clumps, R. Monnow bank, under Clapper’s Wood, SO/465.187, 1991, TGE; abundant and largely flore pleno on verges of minor road looping round Craig-y-Dorth, SO/48.08; large patches in grazed meadow, Mitchell Troy Common, SO/493.092; abundant, wood and roadside, N of Catchways Court, SO/528.026, the 3 sites, 1994, TGE, UTE; large groups S and N of Llandogo, SO/52.03 & 53.04, 1996, JDRV. 113 t

It grows in meadows, woods and among rocks. Judging from the New Atlas, vc 35 has some of the best large colonies in Wales. In the last twenty years there has been a regrettable fashion to plant motorway, main and village road verges with large, foreign, trumpet daffodils, and even in the Wye Valley which has large populations of the native daffodil, clumps of large, alien, trumpet daffodils have been mistakenly planted on the verges outside village boundaries. My recorders and I have ignored other daffodils because of the many imports which are difficult to name with any certainty, though the records of Wade (1970) are given below. 88 t Plate 120 site

NARCISSUS Daffodils These bulbous perennials may be solitary or tufted and have narrowly-linear or strap-shaped leaves; the inflorescence may be solitary or a one-sided cluster of flowers; the flower stalk emerges just above the bulb from a leaf sheath; the thin spathe, which enclosed the flower in bud, opens to display 6 tepals fused to form a corona (a cup, if short or a trumpet, if long) tube extending back to the ovary; the fruit is a 3-valved capsule.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus subsp. major Spanish Daffodil Unlike subsp. pseudonarcissus both tepals and corona are a deep, golden yellow, the leaves are larger to 50 x 1.5 cm and the pedicel (hidden by the spathe) below the ovary is longer than 15 mm. Introduced from SW Europe, it is now naturalised over much of Britain. Wade (1970) gave one record: stream bank, Llanrumney, c. 1925, FN. (1 t) 543

Flora of Monmouthshire tips. Wade (1970) described it as a rare alien and gave 2 records: near Wyesham Signal Box, for several years, SGC; Newport, JHC. Two more recent records are: many plants, rubbish tip, Level of Mendalgief, Newport, ST/30.85, 1984, TGE; waste ground, near shunting yards, between Rogiet and Undy, ST/4.8 N, 1997, CT. 1 t (1 t)

! Narcissus poeticus Pheasant’s-eye Daffodil This is usually a medium tall, single or tufted plant with 7-10 mm wide, flat, strap-shaped, greyish-green leaves; the flower stalk is topped with a single flower with 15-30 mm long, white tepals, there is a 1-3 mm, deep yellow corona with an orange-red margin. Introduced from S Europe, it has ornamented British gardens, orchards, drive sides and grassy areas inside and outside properties. Wade (1970) gave it as rare and quoted 6 records: flore pleno form, Govilon, THT; in several places about Usk, JHC; near Chepstow, Ms Bossey; near Shirenewton; St. Arvans; Runston, *, all three, EJL, WAS. (6 t)

RUSCUS Butcher’s-broom These are evergreen shrubs (to less than 1 m tall) with flattish, leaf-like outgrowths (cladodes) of the stem bearing on the lower half of the midrib, 1-2 flowers from the axil of a scale leaf; the tepals are free; the fruit is a berry.

! Ruscus aculeatus

Butcher’s-broom

This shrub has erect, branched stems to under 1 m tall; the branches bear stiff, flattened, lanceolate, leaf-like cladodes, which themselves bear flowers of 6 greenish-white tepals from the axil of a tiny scale-leaf; it has, exceptionally for Liliaceae, 3 stamens only, the fruit is a red berry. There are separate male and female plants.

! Narcissus x medioluteus Primrose-peerless This N. tazetta x N. poeticus hybrid is of medium height, has 7-10 mm wide, flat, greyish-green leaves; the stem is topped by usually 2 fragrant flowers with pedicels and ovaries enclosed by a papery, brown spathe; the 18-22 mm, roundish tepals are white and the shallow, yellow corona is 3-5 mm deep. It is probably of garden origin and the ‘wild’ ones probably indicate derelict, old gardens. Wade (1970) described it as a rare denizen and gave these sites: Newton, *, SGC; near Pentwyn and Gwehelog, JHC; near the Maypole Inn, between Church Road and Rhiwderyn, 1985, WR; near Peny-clawdd, 1885 Report of the Woolhope Club; old orchards and pastures in several places in eastern vc 35, WAS. (less than 5 t)

ASPARAGUS Asparagus These have herbaceous stems with tiny, scarious leaves and axillary stem branches spiralling upwards; the branches bear clusters of 4-10, stiff or flexible ‘needle-leaves’ at close intervals; pedicelled, yellow-green flowers are produced irregularly at sites of clusters of cladodes and the flowers produce red berries.

18 31

It grows in woods, hedgerows and rocky places. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave 2 sites: between Castleton and Michaelstone y Vedw, 1920s, RLS; between Bicca Common and The Coombe, 1904, JSC. More recent records have no details because the plant is listed on the recording card so only tetrad references are available. In ST/1.9 Z and 4.8 U it was reported as planted; ST/4.9 E was followed by a question mark, probably because it was seen in a garden; more detailed records are: Trowbridge Green, ST/236.805, 1986, GH; hedge by old cottage, near Llanvapley Court, SO/367.151, 1996, JDRV; several large plants to E of disused rail bridge, Usk,

Arc. Asparagus officinalis subsp. officinalis Garden Asparagus This has stems to over 1.5 m tall bearing usually, 10-20 mm, green, flexible cladodes on the side branches; the flowers are on 6-10 mm pedicels; the berries contain c. 5-6 seeds. Grown in gardens and farms, the young, fleshy shoots are cut as a vegetable. They appear naturalised on established dunes, on some sandy heaths, derelict railside allotments and on rubbish 544

Flora of Monmouthshire 2002, TGE, GSH, CT; Wonastow Churchyard, SO/485.106, 2003, SJT. 15 t (1 t)

N of Shirenewton, ST/479.947, c. 1970, TGE; GANH; 1981, SJT, but not seen since. (1 t)

IRIDACEAE Iris family These are largely glabrous, herbaceous perennials with various root systems (usually used for nutriment storage); they have few, simple, entire, sessile leaves, frequently with sheathing bases; stipules are lacking; the conspicuous, bisexual, usually actinomorphic flowers are variously arranged; the flowers have 6 tepals usually with bases fused into a tube; there are 3 stamens and usually a 3-celled ovary and a dehiscent capsule.

! Sisyrinchium striatum Pale Yellow-eyed-grass This is commonly on sale at Garden Centres and is very similar to S. bermudiana, but has an unbranched stem, the leaves are 1-2 cm wide and there are lateral as well as terminal cymes of flowers. Introduced to British gardens from S America, it often has a short life on tips, waste ground and marginal sites. In vc 35, there is only one record: 2 plants on an earth mound, N of roundabout, Cleppa Park, Newport, ST/278.847, 1994, GH. 1 t

SISYRINCHIUM Blue-eyed-grasses These have fibrous roots and sometimes short rhizomes, iris-like leaves, a cymose inflorescence with actinomorphic flowers with more or less free and equal, yellowish or blue tepals; the styles are fused to various lengths and have 3 linear ends.

IRIS Irises These usually have rhizomes producing vertical, flat leaves with no difference between the faces or nearly cylindrical or 4-angled leaves; there is a terminal inflorescence with actinomorphic flowers in a cymose arrangement; the outer 3 tepals are usually longer and wider than the inner 3 all their narrow claws are united in a basal tube but the larger tepals widen distally into blades; the filaments are free and arise from the base of the outer tepals; the style has 3 broad, petal-like branches, each ending in 2 lobes.

! Sisyrinchium bermudiana Blue-eyed-grass This has grass-like leaves to 5 mm wide, branched stems to over 40 cm tall, six, 6-10 mm long, blue tepals, which have paler blue reverse sides and filaments which hang down between the tepals; the fine pedicels arch under the weight of the 1-3 flowers, emerging from the spathe at the apex of the branches; each flower has heartshaped tepal lobes with an attenuated tip pointing outwards. This American plant might be native in wet meadows and by stony lakes in western Ireland. In vc 35 there have been two records: scattered along 9 m of the R. Usk bank, Usk, SO/375.003, 1975, BMF; and 50-100 plants in a wet, shallow depression in a field to the E of a wooded valley, Springdale Farm, ST/407.996, 2003, JSW, conf. TGE; 92 clumps spread over an area of 27 x 14m with 1 clump 15m to E, 2005-2006, TGE. This area is not near houses or farm buildings and the plants have become naturalised so well as to look native. 1 t (1 t) Plate 121

! Iris germanica

Bearded Iris

This Iris has thick, spreading rhizomes giving rise to short-branched stems to almost 1 m tall; the erect leaves to 70 cm tall are grey-green, flat with 2 identical faces; the large flowers, to 15 cm across, are a mixture of pale and deep purple with a mass of yellow hairs in the middle of the base of outer tepals; the spathes, which enclose the buds, are green low on the stem and purple higher up. It is of unknown hybrid garden origin. The ‘wild’ plants are found in various sites associated with man’s activities. In vc 35 it was recorded once on the walls of Chepstow Castle, ST/533.942, 1991, JVHS. 1 t

! Sisyrinchium californicum Yellow-eyed-grass

Iris pseudacorus

This differs from S. bermudiana by having unbranched stems, leaves to 6 mm wide and 1218 mm, bright yellow tepals. Introduced to British gardens from the west of N America, it has become naturalised in damp, grassy places near the sea. In vc 35 it has been recorded as 1-3 plants in the lowland marsh at Llwyn y celyn,

Yellow Iris

This rhizomatous perennial has branched stems to 1.5 m, and 1-3 cm wide, flat, stiff and swordlike leaves; the 7-10 cm across, conspicuous flowers have yellow tepals with deeper yellow patch on the outer ones which may also have brownish or purple spots or veins. 545

Flora of Monmouthshire 1904, JSC. Of the 23 records only 2 were marked garden escapes but I suspect the majority of them fall into that category. The only detailed sites are: c. 10 tufts, woodland, Dinham, MOD, Caerwent, ST/46.92, 1985-92, TGE, CT; a large colony, churchyard, The Bryn, SO/330.096, 1987, RF; 1995, JDRV; 3 plants, woodland, Blackcliff, ST/532.984, 1990, TGE; 1 plant only 1998; 12-20 plants in wood under Penygarn, Pontypool Park, SO/288.013, 2002, CT; 1 clump 2006, TGE, CT. 23 t

Iris pseudacorus 23

CROCUS Crocuses This species produces corms which give rise to flattish, linear leaves with a central, white stripe; the actinomorphic, variously-coloured flowers have 6 equal tepals fused into a long, narrow tube that terminates in elliptic lobes; the 3 stamens have free filaments borne near the mouth of the tepal-tube; the pedicels and ovaries are subterranean until the fruit is formed when it is pushed above the ground by elongation of its pedicel later in summer; the style is longer than the tepal tube and divides into 3 stigma branches above the anthers.

18 31

It is a native in wet places including meadows, fens, lakes, rivers, reens and ditches. Drainage of land and a lowered water-table has made it much less common in vc 35 than prior to the 1960s. There are pale yellow and deep yellow forms in the pond behind Caldicot Castle, 2004, TCGR. 194 t Plate 122

Iris foetidissima

Stinking Iris

! Crocus sativus

This has a 15 mm diameter rhizome giving rise to sword-shaped leaves, which lack stiffness and are inclined to flop, and an unbranched flowering stem to 60 cm tall; this is topped by a spathe, sheathing 2-3, mauve flowers with purple veins; the 5 cm long, ovoid fruit’s 3 valves split apart to reveal smooth, roundish, scarlet seeds.

Saffron Crocus

This autumn-flowering species produces flowers with the leaves, strongly striped tepals that bear yellow anthers, 3 red stigma branches (used as flavouring and as the saffron dye in the past, and cultivated for that purpose). This alien was reported from a field, near Rogiet Rectory, ST/458.881, 1903, AB. (1 t)

CROCOSMIA Montbretias These are plants with tunicated corms often produced one above the other and persisting for successive years; rhizomes are also produced; the leaves are sword-like and have sheathing bases; the flowering stem is arched and branched in its upper portion, where the reddish to reddish-orange flowers are borne in a one-sided raceme or panicle; the flowers have curved tepal-tubes, and styles branching into 3 stigmas.

! Crocosmia x crocosmiflora

Montbretia

This C. pottsii x C. aurea hybrid has stems to 60 cm tall, ribbed leaves c. 15 mm wide, tepals 2.54 cm long, with the perianth tube gradually widening to the mouth, and tepal-mounted stamens almost tepal length. This is a horticultural creation from two S African species and was a popular garden plant until bigger

This native Iris grows in woods and hedgerows, usually on calcareous soils, and on banks and cliffs near the sea. Wade (1970) described it as rare and gave 4 sites: near Portskewett; Dinham; near Shirenewton, all WAS; Thicket Wood, near Rogiet, 546

Flora of Monmouthshire and better plants were developed. It has become naturalised in marginal sites particularly in the SW of Britain. In vc 35 it occurs more frequently in the south and west, with more records in the latter. 74 t

ORCHIDACEAE Orchid family Like the rest of the monocots, the orchids have veins running roughly parallel for the length of the leaves; where they are different is in the structure of the flower. The flowers of the colourful, noticeably two-lipped members of the Lamiaceae and Scrophulariaceae are sometimes mistaken for Orchids, though a glance at the leaves should rectify the mistake. As in other monocots, the petals and sepals are so similar it is better to regard them as tepals and together they make up the perianth. In Orchids the perianth parts are not roughly the same size nor the same shape. Orchid flowers are zygomorphic, i.e. they can only be cut into two equal halves in one plane. There are 3 outer tepals (equivalent to sepals) and 3 inner ones (petals); the outer tepals can be the same and the median one different; the inner tepals consist of a similar pair of laterals but the lower central one (the lip or labellum) distinctively different and its shape has given rise to such names as Bee Orchid, Fly Orchid, Lizard Orchid, etc. The lip in most Orchids is the lowest tepal but only because the ovary is twisted through 180º. Exceptions to this rule occurs in Hammarbya paludosa, Bog Orchid, where the ovary has twisted twice as much and Epipogium aphyllum, Ghost Orchid which has no twists. The base of the flower is where the tepals join and is sometimes extended into a spur where nectar is stored, and is joined to the ovary. Rising from the base of the flower is a column bearing the stigmas, above which is the anther. The pollen grains are held together in masses called pollinia with the grains held together by an adhesive, or attached to a sticky pad. Whichever is the case, the pollinia are transferred to the head or tongue of a visiting insect and transported to the stigma of another flower. Pollination is followed by fertilization and microscopic seeds consisting of a few cells result. The seed has so little nutriment present that its success depends on making contact with a soil fungus and obtaining it nutrients from the fungus until its first leaves are produced when it can contribute usefully to the symbiotic relationship (a myccorhiza).

DIOSCOREACEAE Black Bryony family This glabrous perennial climbs by twining stems renewed each year; it accumulates a large tuber quite quickly; the simple, entire, petiolate leaves are alternate; the inconspicuous, dioecious, axillary flowers form a simple or branched racemes; the actinomorphic flower has 6 similar tepals united at the base, 6 stamens (tiny and non-functioning in female flowers), a 2-celled ovary bearing a style which divides into 3 stigmas; the fruit is a berry containing up to 6 seeds.

Tamus communis

Black Bryony

Tamus communis produces twining stems to more than 4 m from a subterranean, large tuber; the shiny, heart-shaped leaves with an acuminate tip have parallel main veins from stalk to apex though a few curve towards the apex but fall short of it; the leaf subtends a raceme of 5 mm diameter, small, yellow-green, recurved, actinomorphic male flowers and 4 mm diameter female flowers with abortive stamens, and tepals erect then recurved at the tips; the fruit is a fleshy, spherical berry. 23

18 31

CEPHALANTHA Helleborines These are perennials, creeping by short rhizomes, producing stems with several, alternate leaves, and white to deep pink, spirally arranged, erect to erecto-patent flowers with tepals roughly the same and which open only fractionally; the lip has an upper part called the hypochile, and a lower part

Black Bryony climbs by twining round stiff plants in woods and hedgerows. In vc 35 it is numerous and widespread, especially in hedges and wood margins, but is uncommon in western uplands. 315 t

547

Flora of Monmouthshire

Figure 48

Cephalanthera longifolia Narrow-leaved Helleborine 548

Flora of Monmouthshire called the epichile, largely hidden by the other tepals; these Orchids lack both spur and scent.

Epipactis palustris

Marsh Helleborine

This has a pubescent, leafy stem to 30 cm long growing from a long, creeping rhizome which produces clumps of stems; the base of the stem is encased in sheaths which produce tapering, lanceolate leaves higher on the stem; the 12-15 mm, stalked flowers subtended by narrow, leaflike bracts, longer than the ovaries, form a spiral raceme; they open to reveal 3 purplish, ovate, acute outer tepals, and 3 white inner tepals with pink-streaked bases; the epichile of the lip is white with crinkled edges and an orange patch towards its base; the older lower flowers are arched downwards.

Cephalanthera longifolia Narrow-leaved Helleborine This 25-40 cm tall Orchid has a ridged, leafy stem; the leaves are narrowly ovate to lanceolate and shortly sheathing; the erect, sessile flowers, which open very little, are subtended by bracts slightly shorter than the ovaries; the tepals are white, the lip is recurved, the base of the hypochile has an orange-yellow patch and the base of the epichile has 3-5, orange ridges. It grows in woods on calcareous soils. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave the first vice-county record as Castle Wood, Chepstow, and Wyndcliff, 1773, John Lightfoot. The only extant site Wade gave was between Chepstow and Tintern, JLi; WAS; EV; TGE (probably its Blackcliff site and last county site referred to below). Other past records from the Natural History Museum herbarium are: under beech trees, The Mount, Chepstow, ST/529.939, 1879, WAS; woods Tintern, ST/53.99, 1882, HPR; woods on Wyndcliff, ST/?52.97, 1895, ESM; Castle Woods, Chepstow, ST/53.94, 1898, WAS; 1901, ESM. More recently, it grew in rocky, Carboniferous Limestone woods at Blackcliff, just south of Tintern, ST/532.982, 1975-79, TGE. This site was kept open by people driving their cars into a flattish, quiet spot, having their picnic while their children scampered about thus leaving the Helleborine and the Anacamptis pyramidalis (Pyramidal Orchis) in the partial shade around the perimeter of the opening. In the late 1970s, lorry loads of rocks and soil from bend straightening on the A466 between Blackcliff and Tintern were dumped in the opening and eventually a barrier was erected at the entrance to the site. One plant remained untouched on the N side of the rock pile for several years until an ivy-clad tree fell on it and the species became extinct in the vice-county. (1 t) Figure 48

18 31

It grows in wet places in dunes, fens and marshes, particularly near the coast. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave only one site: near Castelly-bwch, Henllys, *, 1947-49, HR; AEW. More recent records show it to be numerous in 6 sites: 10-20, Henllys Fen, ST/263.926, 1972; 57 plants, 1975, 500 plants, 1977, all TGE; 300+ plants, 1997, MJ; wet heath, Fforest Coal Pit, SO/288.207, 1982, MJP; 7 plants, west-facing boggy slope, SO/2869.2081, 2002, TGE, GSH, CT; 61 in 3 acres, streamside, Upper Cwm Farm, Llanwenarth Valley, SO/253.125, 1983, Meadows Team; 1988, TGE; 100+ plants in willow carr, Uskmouth Power Station, ST/333.840, 1985, SP, TGE; 168 plants counted, 1987, SP, TGE; 1500+ plants, margin of sludge ponds, Alpha Steel, ST/336.847, 1992, MJ conf. TGE; 5000-10000 plants, 1994, MJ, TGE; less than 5000 plants, 2002, TGE; 31 plants, marsh, Underwood/Llanmartin, SSSI, ST/384.895, 1999, c. 10 plants, 2006, TGE. 7 t (1 t) Plate 125

EPIPACTIS Helleborines In growth and general appearance these plants are similar to Cephalanthera with the lip divided into hypochile and epichile. These, however, have stalked flowers and an untwisted ovary and in some of its species have a rostellum (an extra sterile stigma) separating the fertile stigmas from the pollinia. 549

Flora of Monmouthshire site only: woods between Wyndcliff and Tintern, ST/5.9J, 1926, CES; 2 other records of more than twenty years ago for Buckholt Wood and Lower Wyndcliff Wood cannot be confirmed. (1 t)

Epipactis helleborine Broad-leaved Helleborine This is a very variable orchid in height and colour; its stems may be 1 m tall or only one third of that; the base of the stem has sheaths only, higher up the leaves are broadly oval and may number 10, in a spiral; the inflorescence is a dense spike with many flowers spiralling upwards, each subtended by a narrow, leaf-like bract longer than the lowest flower but reducing in length at each flower above; the tepals are large and broad and may be green, pink or red; the hypochile is cup-shaped and the epichile is rather short and blunt-looking if its tip is very recurved; there is a persistent rostellum.

NEOTTIA Bird’s-nest Orchid This saprophytic Orchid lacks chlorophyll and its myccorhiza feeds on decaying leaves, particularly beech; it has a short rhizome and fleshy roots; it has small, scale-like leaves, pale to pinkish-brown flowers on short stalks; it lacks a spur, five of its tepals come together to form a hood, hanging between which is a labellum tipped with 2 spreading, oblong lobes; the rostellum is conspicuous.

Neottia nidus-avis

Bird’s-nest Orchid

In this species, a single, brown stem ascends from a short rhizome and a cluster of fleshy roots (imagination might suggest a nest); the base of the stem has a few, brown sheaths and scale leaves and the pale, pinky-brown flowers are subtended by very narrow, brown bracts; a description of the flower is conveyed in the general description above.

19 23 18 22 31

35 21

It grows in a variety of habitats from dunes to beechwoods to coniferous or mixed woods or grassland margins of woods or hedgerows. Sizable populations may be seen at Five Paths, Wentwood, ST/433.951, CT; limestone quarry, Company’s Wood, Abersychan, 1999, SW It is the third most widespread Orchid in the vice-county and, excepting the dunes, occupies all the above habitats. 81 t (1 t)

18 31

It grows on leaf-litter, particularly under Beech trees, on calcareous substrates. Wade (1970) described it as frequent in the east and rare elsewhere and gave 25 sites. There has been a dramatic decline, as nowhere is it frequent today and the number of sites is halved. Recent records are: Bath Wood, Llanyravon, ST/307.942, 1976, GANH; wood near R. Wye, below Wyndcliff, ST/52.96, 1976; 10-30 flowering spikes, deciduous woods, Blackcliff, ST/53.98, 1964-2005; Barnett Woods, ST/51.94, 1950-2004; a few plants, Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, 1950-1980; all TGE; wood,

Epipactis leptochila Narrow-lipped Helleborine These plants vary between 30 and 60 cm tall and have the 5-10, lanceolate leaves in two distinct rows up the stem, which is pubescent at least above; the pale green flowers soon drop after opening; the tepals are narrow and clearly pointed; the epichile is long and pointed and is red- or pink-tinged. This grows in calcareous woods, river gravels, dunes and soils polluted with heavy metals. Wade (1970) stated it was a very rare native and gave one 550

Flora of Monmouthshire Highmoor Hill, ST/458.893, 1981, SJT; 2 plants, mature deciduous wood, nr Offa’s Dyke path, SO/473.135, 1988, PJ; 3 plants, under beech, Lasgarn Wood, SO/273.036, 1990, SW; 1991, TGE; 1 plant, 2001, RH; woods, E side of Coombe Valley, ST/458.930, 1991, 1995, CT; 2 plants, wood near Livox Quarry, ST/536.979, 1994, AW, EGW, TGE; 3 plants, Upper Fedw wood, E of Devauden, ST/494,985, 1995-96, AW, EGW: 2 plants, Ifton Great Woods, ST/457.893, 1997, CT; TGE, UTE; 1 plant, Hardwick Plantation, ST/456.894, 1997, TGE, UTE; 1 plant, ST/453.983, 2003; 5 plants, 2006 both TGE. 1 plant, St Pierre Great Woods, ST/497.925, 1997, TGE, UTE; 1 plant under Larix kaempferi, near entrance from B4293 to Fryth Wood, ST/515.948, 1997, TGE; 2 flowering plants in verge of B4235/Cockshoot Wood margin, ST/519.943, 1999, MJ; 1 plant S of Hadnock Quarry, SO/541.153, 2000, TGE, CT; 1 plant, Lady Park Wood, SO/544.149, 2000, TGE; 2 plants W end of Cuhere Wood, ST/451.928, 2003, TGE. 12 t

shorter than the pedicels, in a spiral raceme; the yellowish-green lip is narrowly rectangular and divided into rectangular lobes; the rest of the tepals form a loose hood. It is native in woods, hedgerows, fields, dune slacks and occasionally among heather on moors. In vc 35 it is found chiefly in the Wye Valley, the SE and Wentwood. There were 1000s present in the whole of Blackcliff Wood, ST/53.98, 2006, PR. 51 t SPIRANTHES Lady’s-tresses In these orchids, tuberous roots give rise to a stem with a basal rosette of leaves and a twist in its upper part; these rosettes appear and disappear at different times of the year for different plants in the same field; above the leaves the small, fragrant, white flowers form one or more spirals to the apex, which with imagination resemble plaited hair, hence the English name; the flowers are at first held slightly upwards to horizontal then later point downwards; the tepals are roughly the same size though the down-curved labellum may be slightly longer in some species; stems and flowers may be glandular hairy.

LISTERA Twayblades These have a stem terminated by two, opposite, oval leaves and frequently extended beyond the leaves to a narrow, spike-like raceme of small, greenish flowers lacking a spur; the labellum is divided into two lobes.

Listera ovata

Spiranthes spiralis

Autumn Lady’s-tresses

This 10-20+cm stem, emerging at the side of the rosette of small, ovate leaves has the lower half clothed in green, sheathing scale-leaves, the upper part twisted and bearing a spike of up to twenty, c. 10 mm in diameter, white flowers, subtended by narrow bracts longer than the ovaries, and forming a single, spiralling row; the tepals are roughly equal in length but the inner ones are narrower; the lip is recurved and has a crinkly margin.

Common Twayblade

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 31

Listera ovata has erect stems to 60 cm tall, rising from a short rhizome; the stem has a few basal scales and two, opposite, sessile, entire, orbicular-ovate leaves with a pointed tip and 5-7, prominent veins; there are usually more than 10, green flowers, subtended by lanceolate bracts,

18 31

551

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows in basic grassland, generally short, but longer if it is an open sward. Described by Wade (1970) as locally common and for which he gave 27 sites, this species has declined to a third of what it was, mainly due to changes in grass management. Lawns and cemeteries in calcareous districts aid its survival. Recent records are: about 10 plants in barish soil in disused, small quarry in field (since filled in) above Ticken Hill, Mounton, ST/506.933, 1950-75, TGE; c. 1000, Brockwells meadows, Caldicot, ST/465.896, 1950-90, CT; 10 plants, in short turf, on E side of Parkwall hill, St Pierre Park, ST/509.904, 1972, TGE (recent searches have found only bare, sparse grass due to rabbit predation); 15 plants, railway bank and Halt platform, Mount Ballan, ST/489.889, 1973, TGE; 1 plant only, 2003, TGE; lawn, 84 Hereford Road, Monmouth, SO/5.1, 1983, KWM; lawn, Dixton Road, Monmouth, SO/51.13, ?M; lawn, Llantarnam, ST/307.942; ST/308.938, 1930-32, GANH; hillside on glacial drift, Llanfrechfa, ST/311.936, 1930-32, GANH (now built over); 1 plant, quarry edge, Dan y Graig, ST/23.90, 1991, JFH; 3 patches of rosettes, La Cuesta lawn, ST/528.936, 1991, UTE (found when removing weeds with a knife, in what was a floriferous, grazing field before 1950 and mowed ever since); 15 flowering spikes, 2005, TGE (the maximum in a year between 1991 and 2006 is 37 spikes); 10 plants, Woodbine Cottage, SO/523.118, 1992, JPW, CM; 39 flowering spikes, disused shunting yards, E Undy, ST/442.873, 2000, TGE; 125 plants, 2001, TGE; 125 plants, MOD, Caerwent, ST/466.917, 2000, TGE; 11 plants on grassy paths, Chepstow Cemetery, ST/529.927, 2004, ET; 33 flowering spikes on grassy paths and unused grassland, ST/52.92, ST/53.92, 2005 TGE; 400 in two nearly equal patches near the entrance to the cemetery (see photograph), 2006; Hospital lawn, Hereford Road, Monmouth, SO/508.134, 2005, TAJ; 1 plant on the highest coal waste tip above Trethomas at 272m on a flattish grassed top, ST/1779.9005, (the most westerly vc site) 2006, TGE. 10 t (5 t) Plates 123 & 124

Platanthera chlorantha Greater Butterfly-orchid The plant is capable of becoming 50 cm tall but is often shorter; it has 2 large, oval leaves, one only slightly above the other; above these are leaves reduced to sheathing bracts; the greenish-white flowers form a loose to dense spike with the subtending bracts as long as the ovary; the 2 upper petals and the median sepal curve to form a hood over the sexual parts; the 2 outer sepals spread sideways and the narrow, tongue-shaped lip hangs downward; under the hood, the anthers can be seen to have their bases wide apart while their apices are closer together thus creating an inverted V; the spur is 20-28 mm long, the flowers are fragrant. 23

18 31

It grows in woods, hedgerows and in dryish fields, particularly on calcareous soils. It is found chiefly in the eastern third of the vice-county but even here has disappeared from many woods, even quite recently. Wade (1970) said it was locally frequent and gave 26 sites. More recent records are: c. 20 plants in Bishop’s Barnets Wood, ST/517.942, 1939; 12 plants, 1990; 1 plant, 1995, TGE and none since; 1 plant, E edge of Little Wood, ST/484.906, 1970, CT; 5-10 plants, grassland, Dyffryn, Llangwm, ST/43.99, 1970, MSM; 10-20 scattered in grassy field, Common y Coed, Undy, ST/43.88-43.89, 1971, TGE, CT; many plants Hardwick Plantation, ST/45.89, 1979, TGE, CT, the wood complex had its deciduous trees felled in the early 1960s and replanted with conifers and as they have grown up so the orchids have decreased to 1-3 and none in recent years; many plants, Carrow Hill woods, ST/43.89, 1979, TGE, CT; Orles and Sergeant’s Woods, Monmouth, SO/485.125, 1980, SJT; 29 plants, grassy bank, N

PLATANTHERA Butterfly-orchids These usually have 2 sessile, broadly elliptical leaves with incised veins, above which the stem bears much smaller, lanceolate leaves; the inflorescence is a spike of sessile, greenish-tinged white flowers; the upper 3 tepals are incurved to form a hood; the labellum is narrowly tongue shaped and hangs between the 2 spreading tepals. 552

Flora of Monmouthshire of Bettws, ST/284.918, 1980, MSG; 1 plant, 1990, DTP; 71 plants, 1994, TGE; 2 plants only under encroaching Bracken, 1997, TGE; 20-30, scattered plants, Grange Wood, St Bride’s Netherwent, ST/42.88, 1985, TGE, UTE: scattered plants, Coed Graig-ddu Wood, Trostre, SO/353.054, 1986, DTP; 30-40 plants, in species-rich field, Parva Springs, Tintern, SO/527.009, 1988, EGW; 6 plants, Croes Wati Wood, SO/4439.0953, 1988, SDSB; 2 plants, 2002, TGE; 4 plants, Penyclawdd Wood, SO/4439.0800, both 1988, SDSB; less than 10 plants, grassy cemetery, Christchurch, ST/34.89, 1990, RJ; less than 20 plants, Upper Maerdy Farm, SO/406.003, 1991, JPB; JPW, CM; c. 20 plants, St Pierre Great Woods, ST/505.926, 1992, TGE; 7 plants, meadow, N of Shirefield Cottage, ST/466.897, 1992, CT; 23 plants, 2004, TGE; 1 plant, road/wood side, near The Graig, Penyclawdd, 1993, ESR; 21 plants, centre of hay meadow, Pentwyn Farm, SO/524.096, 1994, JDW; 147 flowering spikes, SO/5247.0935, 2002, TGE; 44 plants, steep, west-facing, bracken covered slope, NW of Christchurch, ST/343.896, 1994, TGE, BE; c. 20 plants on slope now planted with Ash, Birch, Rowan & Oak, 1997, TGE; 11 plants, S bank of Offa’s Dyke Path, Hendre Great Wood, SO/464.126, 1997, TGE, UTE; 16 plants in rough grass, N of Gethley Wood, ST/4714.9763, 2001; 30 plants, 2002, 40 plants, 2006, all TGE; 1 plant in Great Barnets Wood, ST/511.941, 1997, TGE, UTE; 2 plants, Yew Tree Wood, SO/44.08, 2002, SDSB, TGE; 97 plants, meadow NW of Four Acres, SO/5189.0589; 168 plants, meadow E of Four Acres, SO/5195.0584, both 2003, TGE, SJT, IED; off Denbridge Road, Cwmavon, SO/271.055, 2003, SW; 1 plant, in Tal-y-coed Wood, SO/4178.1609, 2003, JLe; 1 plant, broad-leaved woods, E of Tal-y-coed Court, SO/422.153, 2005, PC, SC, SJT. 22 t (6 t) Plates 126 & 128

Shirenewton, all WAS; Itton, 1867, EJL; Trellech Bog, *, 1929, RWR; Tymawr, Lydart, *; Penallt Common, 1942-43, both JEB; Slade Wood, 194749, HR; Pen-y-fan, near Whitebrook, *, SGC. The only recent records are from one site, 15 flowering plants, Hardwick Plantation, ST/454.895, 1970; 4 plants in bud, but 3 were eaten by slugs or snails before the buds opened in 2003; 2 plants, 2004; no plants found in 2005; 5 plants (only 1 produced fruits), 2006, all TGE; 2 plants appeared on nearby woodland path at ST/453.894, 1997 (not seen since), TGE, UTE, CT. The remarkable decline is due to changes in grassland management and forestry practices since the 1939-45 War. 1 t (13 t) ANACAMPTIS Pyramidal Orchid These are slender plants to over 50 cm tall with pale green, linear-lanceolate leaves, decreasing in size as they ascend the stem; the inflorescence, at first, is a conical shape but elongates as the buds open; the flowers are small but a bright pink, occasionally white or pale pink; the upper, median tepal and 2 inner tepals form a small hood, the other 2 outer tepals spread horizontally sideways and the lip is distinctly divided into 3 almost equal-sized, spreading, entire lobes; the down-curved spur is very slender and to 14 mm long.

Anacamptis pyramidalis

Pyramidal Orchid

The description above applies to this plant. It grows on grassy meadows and banks, often in scrub, on calcareous soils. Wade (1970) described it as a rare native and gave 8 sites. More recent records show that there are few plants in most places unless there is a restriction in activity on the sites. 23

Platanthera bifolia Lesser Butterfly-orchid It is very similar to P. chlorantha but has a spur 15-20 mm long and the anther lobes are closer together and vertically parallel to each other. It grows in open woods, heaths, moors and on edges of copses. Wade (1970) described it as a locally frequent native and gave the 18 records: Grwyne Valley, AL; Abergavenny district, 1886, JWh; Coed-dias, Grwyne Fawr Valley, CTV, EV; above Llanthony, *, SGC; near Grosmont, 1957, CMS-B; The Dingle, Pontypool, *, THT; Rogiet, SH; 1903, AB; WAS; near Llanmelin; Barnett Woods, *; Mounton, *; near St Arvans;

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553

Flora of Monmouthshire Recent records are: a few scattered plants mainly around the perimeter of Caerwent quarry, ST/473.896, 1968-74, TGE, CT; 1 plant, 1994, JDRV; a few scattered on Brockwells Farm fields, ST/47.89, 1964-74, TGE, CT; 1 plant, banking field, ST/468.896, 1996, CT; a few scattered near Wyndcliff, ST/52.97, 1957-74, TGE; 2 plants, embankment on E side of A40, Dixton, Monmouth, SO/52.15, 1983, JT; 1990, BJG; 232 plants, Alpha Steel Works, Newport, ST/335.846, 1994, MJ, TGE, JPW, DW; 639 plants in wet area, ST/3364.8418, 2002, TGE; 3 plants, railway embankment, Portskewett; ST/493.884, 1994, TGE; 1 plant, hedgerow, field side (spraying associated with Maize crop eliminated it a few years later), S of Bayfield, ST/518.933, 1994, RPH; 8 plants in various sites in MOD, Caerwent, ST/481.918; 486.916; 486.916; 472.909; 1996, staff at the centre; 7 plants at 2 sites, ST/4684.9209 and ST/4761.9185, 2004, TGE, CT; 2 plants in grounds of electric sub-station, S of Newhouse Industrial Estate, ST/537.905, 2000, SJ, TAJ; 1 plant, meadow of Shirefield Cottage, ST/465.897, 2002, TGE; 1 plant in N enclosure (wire netting), W end of Ifton Quarry, ST/458.886, 2002, JLe; 1 plant top of bund, Old Lagoon, Uskmouth, ST/3403.8293, 2002, TGE; 79 plants, Dixton Embankment Reserve, SO/526.150, 2003, TGE; less than 100 plants, S side embankment of A40, Mitchell Troy, 2003, TGE, SJT; less than 150 plants, 2004, SJT, PJ; c. 200 plants, 2005, TGE, CT; 1 plant under Betula pubescens, Salix caprea and S. cinerea, N of Blaenavon Railway Museum, SO/2341.0950, 2004; still present 2005, TGE, CT; c. 150 plants, woodland, NW edge of Penhow Quarry, ST/4213.9148, 2004, ABr; TGE, CT; 1 plant, S side of track to Wentwood Lodge, ST/422.948, 2005, CT; 1 plant Mitchell Troy Common, SO/494.094, 2006, SJT; 1 plant, meadow, Ty Mawr Convent, SO/505.078, 2006, MMG. 16 t Plate 132

Pseudorchis albida

Small White-orchid

The description above applies to this plant; the inflorescence is a dense, cylindrical spike of small, creamy white flowers with very small spurs. It grows in base-rich, short grassland in upland areas. Wade (1970) described it as very rare and gave 2 records: head of the Grwyne Valley, AL; Coed-dias, Grwyne Fawr Valley, c. SO/27.24, CTV, EV, both probably made in the 19th century. (2 t) GYMNADENIA Fragrant Orchid These have a leafy stem with the leaves decreasing in size up the stem; the inflorescence is a dense, cylindrical spike; the upper 3 tepals form a hood, the lateral tepals are spread horizontally; the lip is 3-lobed; the spur is long and slender; the column is short and erect and has a long rostellum; the sticky pads of the pollinia are uncovered; the flowers are highly fragrant.

Gymnadenia conopsea subsp. conopsea Fragrant Orchid These may grow to over 40 cm tall; the base of the stem has a few brown sheaths, above which unspotted, lanceolate leaves reduce in size until they reach the ovary-length bracts that subtend the bright, pink flowers forming a dense, cylindrical spike; each flower has the dorsal tepals curved forward to make a hood, two, 5-6 mm lateral tepals spread horizontally sideways and a lip of 3 downward-pointing, rounded lobes roughly of equal size; there are no raised plates on the base of the lip; the nectar stored in the 1214 mm long, slender spurs only accessible normally to long-tongued insects like butterflies and moths. 23

PSEUDORCHIS Small White-orchid This is a slender orchid to little over 30 cm with a small number of basal, broadly lanceolate leaves above which 2-3, scale-like leaves shade into bracts slightly longer than the subtended ovaries to the apex; the whitish flowers are 2-3 mm diameter; the incurved sepals form a small, close hood; the lip has 3 almost equal, deepish lobes; the spur is 23 mm long.

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554

Flora of Monmouthshire It grows on dry, calcareous grasslands or fens or marshes. Wade (1970) described it as a rather rare native and gave these 13 sites: Abergavenny district, 1886, JWh; Grwyne Fawr Valley, AL; Honddu Valley, PT; 1946, NS; north of Abergavenny, SH; Hill Farm, Trostrey, JHC; Trostra Farm, S of Pontypool, *, THT; near Coedy-paen, RWR near Castell-y-bwch, Henllys, *; Newchurch, *, near the Goitre, Chepstow, WAS; near Chepstow, SH; BMF; Little Llanthomas, *, 1937, MPa; Trellech Bog. Recent records are: 14 flowering spikes in the Pandy Mawr fen, Henllys, ST/263.926, 1973, TGE 1975, MJ; 14 plants, 1997, 0 plants 2006, both TGE; 2 plants on motorway bank, Mitchell Troy, SO/494.107, 1990 (no re-appearance since), HVC; 14 plants, SSSI marsh close to M4, Underwood to Llanmartin, ST/384.895, 1999, 10 plants, 2006, TGE. Overall a large decline, probably due to changes in agricultural practices. 3 t Plate 131

probably the cause of this dramatic decline to extinction. (15 t)

DACTYLORHIZA Marsh-orchids This is the Orchid genus that causes most problems in Britain with identification. These have many leaves, which may be spotted or unspotted, reducing in size up the stem; the flower bracts are often leaf-like and protrude among the flowers; the inflorescence may be a dense or a loose spike often rising to a pointed apex; the median outer tepal sometimes forms a hood with the two upper, inner tepals, while the third forms a broad lip, which may be unlobed or 3-lobed and frequently adorned with dots or lines. The lips are often diagnostic and illustrations of these in Stace (1997), page 977 are helpful.

Dactylorhiza fuchsii Common Spotted-orchid This species seldom has stems to 50 cm tall or its largest leaves beyond 4 cm wide; the leaves have a flat apex and usually have dark, transversely elongated spots; the labellum is divided to about half way into 3 lobes, the central one longest; the background colour of the flower is pink or white.

COELOGLOSSUM Frog Orchid This has a stem clothed with a few, long, elliptic leaves reducing in size up the stem; the flowers have the 5 upper tepals incurved to form a hood and a sixth forming a 3-lobed lip, though the central one is very short; the spur is very short.

Coeloglossum viride

Frog Orchid 23

This orchid is usually less than 35 cm tall with a few, oval leaves with even the lowest less than 5 cm long; the narrow, lanceolate bracts are longer than the inconspicuous, tinged-brown, green flowers; the upper 5 tepals form a tight hood; the lip has a central lobe much shorter than the outer two; the 2 cm long spur is rounded. It grows in unimproved grassland, damp woods and scrub and on mountain ledges, all where the substrate is usually calcareous. Wade (1970) described it as a rare native and gave these 15 sites: near Cwmyoy, SO/29.23, 1884, DW; Grwyne Valley, AL; near viaduct, Monmouth, SGC; Tintern, anon; near Tintern, 1853, TWG; Usk road, near Chepstow, SH; Barnett woods, *; near Chepstow; Shirenewton, *; Dinham; The Mount, Chepstow, all WAS; Hangman’s Wood, Shirenewton, 1867, EJL; Cwmcarvan, *, 1937, MPa; Graig Wood, Pen-y-clawdd, *, 1935, KLD; St Brides Wentloog Rd, between Ebbw Bridge and Pheasant Bridge, SH. Changes of farming and forestry practices since the 1939-45 War are

18 31

It grows in damp woods or their margins, grassy road verges, banks, meadows, marshes and fens, preferably with a basic substrate. It is the commonest of vc 35’s orchids, especially in the Wye Valley. Improvement of meadows has caused significant decline. 148 t Plate 130 site

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Flora of Monmouthshire

Dactylorhiza x hallii a hybrid Marsh-orchid

Dactylorhiza x grandis, a hybrid Marsh-orchid

This D. maculata x D. praetermissa hybrid is intermediate between but usually larger than its parents. Its leaves are long, erect and fairly narrow; the pale-purple flowers have a broad lip marked with lines and dots, and its narrow side lobes are rounded and crenulate; the spur is long and straight; the pollen is round and full. In vc 35 it occurred in three sites: in wet ditches, by wet heath, Cwm Celyn, SO/207.087, 1987, TGE, RF, JWo; a single plant, Marsh, Steppes Farm, SO/422.018, 1997, TGE; 1 plant, marsh, adjacent to M4, Underwood/Llanmartin, ST/385.895, 1999, TGE. 3 t

This D. fuchsii x D. praetermissa hybrid usually displays hybrid vigour standing out as larger than either of its parents; the stem has a small cavity; its leaves are usually spotted with transversely elongated blobs, the flower spike is dense with longer and narrower bracts than in D. praetermissa; the pollen is undeveloped otherwise it is intermediate in characteristics. It is usually present where both parents occur together. In the vice-county sites are: roughly vegetated marshland, Alpha Steelworks, ST/337.846, 1994, TGE, MJ; several plants in Mounton Brook valley, Llwyn-y celyn, ST/4.9S, 1996, TGE; 10 plants grew in a marsh, near B4248, and Gan-yr-erw School, SO/241.096, 1997, TGE, CT; 4 plants, narrow, winter-flooded strip of land between R. Ebbw and A467, Pontymister, ST/2394.9001, 2001, MBl, TGE. 4 t

Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. incarnata Early Marsh-orchid This orchid is usually less than 40 cm tall with the largest leaves up to 2 cm wide, unspotted or rarely with a few, small spots on the upper side only; the perianth base-colour is pink; the lobing of the labellum is not distinct and the sides are soon strongly deflexed, the markings on it are usually clear purple loops; the horizontal or slightly down-pointing spur is half as long as the ovary.

Dactylorhiza maculata subsp. ericetorum Heath Spotted-orchid This is similar to D. fuchsii but usually has its largest leaves to 2 cm wide with dark spots rounded, the narrower leaves have more acute apices and may be hooded; the central lobe of the labellum may be as long, but is usually shorter than the outside lobes and the division into lobes extends to much less than half way to the base.

21 23 20 22 19 21 18 20 31 19

It grows in base-rich or neutral substrates in wet meadows, fens and marshes. Wade (1970) described it as a rare native and gave one site: a boggy field near Pontyspig, SO/28.20. More recent records are: 3-7 plants boggy area with encroaching trees, enclosed on 3 sides by wooded bog (probably Wade’s site) Pontyspig, SO/287.208, 1987-2000, TGE, CT; c. 10 plants, marshy meadow, adjacent to the M4, Underwood to Llanmartin, ST/385.895, 1987-2004, TGE; CT; 20+ plants, marsh, Steppes Farm, SO/429.019,

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Heath Spotted-orchid grows in the wetter parts of the habitat that the two Spotted-orchids share, often on peat in bogs, marshes and ditches. In vc 35 it is more frequent in the wetter west. 72 t Plate 134

556

Flora of Monmouthshire 1987, TGE; less than 30 plants, 1997; 0 plants, 2006, both TGE, CT. 3 t Plate 135

ORCHIS Orchids Many orchids have tubers, but the name Orchis (testicle in Greek) refers specifically to them; they are frequently in pairs and are shaped like testicles, and are a characteristic of this group. These have stems with a basal rosette of leaves and a few reduced, ensheathing leaves higher up, the inflorescence may have one or more flowering spikes bearing few or many flowers; apart from the labellum, the tepals are alike, though the ones forming the hood or helmet are often distinctly shaped and coloured; the lip sometimes has lobes near the base that resemble arms (with a little imagination), and two, long, narrow lobes at the end which resemble legs and the shorter median lobe resembles the tail or the penis. It requires no great stretch of the imagination to see why we have Monkey, Man, Naked Man, and Lady Orchids.

Dactylorhiza x wintoni hybrid Marsh-orchid This D. incarnata x D. praetermissa hybrid is somewhat like D. praetermissa but has paler green leaves, which have hooded tips; the incurved bracts are long; the smaller flowers are a pale purple; the lip looks narrower because the sides are reflexed like D. incarnata; the spur is curved; the ovaries are not developed. It grew among numbers of both parents, in a baserich marsh at Steppes Farm, SO/422.018, 1997, TGE, CT. 1 t

Dactylorhiza praetermissa Southern Marsh-orchid

Orchis mascula

This may be over 50 cm tall with over 5 unmarked (rarely ring markings occur), light green leaves widest below their middle to 2.5 cm wide; its inflorescence is an elongated cone of pale red to deep purple flowers, the median, upper tepal and two lateral, inner tepals form a hood, the two lateral, outer tepals are vertical with the upper-third curved outwards so that they look like raised birds’ wings; the lip to over 12 mm long has 3 shallow lobes with markings of dark dots in the central area only; the sides do not fold backwards; the straight spur is much shorter than the ovary. 23

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Early-purple Orchid

This Orchis has an erect stem to 50 cm, though often less, with several basal, broadly lanceolate leaves, usually liberally purple-spotted; some sheathing leaves occur up the stem; the upper part bears the inflorescence with lanceolate bracts subtending bright purple flowers; the upper outer tepal and two inner ones form the hood, the two lateral, outer tepals spread upwards and the lowest inner one makes up the lip, which has an uneven margin and a white, central region dotted purple; the tubular spur is curved upwards and equals the ovary in length.

It grows in deciduous woods, meadows and other grassy places, particularly favouring clayey soils. In vc 35, there are few records from the western uplands or the Levels; it is reasonably common elsewhere. Some of the better sites are: 300-400

This grows in such wet habitats as fens, marshes, bogs, meadows, pond margins and ash pits. In vc 35 it is slightly more frequent in the wetter west and on the Levels. 40 t Plate 133 557

Flora of Monmouthshire plants in Craig-y-perthi Wood, W of Bishton, ST/385.879, 1997-2003, TGE, (1997, UTE); c. 300 plants, grassy edge to wood, old Army Cadet Camp, Underwood, ST/382.894, 2006, TGE, CT, (c. 100 plants in adjacent wood); more than 100 plants in the following: Cuhere Wood, ST/45.92, 1986-2003, TGE, (UTE until 1996); Brier’s Grove, ST/50.95, TGE; Telltale Wood, near stream, SO/4688.1233, 2003, TGE, CT; deciduous Ffosydd-orles Wood, SO/4897.0698, SJT, TGE, 2003; Coed Chambers (Prescoed Camp), SO/342.000, 2003, RJ 93 t

Orchis morio

avoid bulldozers); 200 plants, unimproved meadows, Pentwyn, SO/523.093, 1987, SK; 1991, TGE; meadow, W of Bigsnap Wood, SO/533.053, 1989-91, JFH; c. 5 plants and 1 plant, hay meadow, MOD, Caerwent, ST/465.915 & 485.915, 1988-92; field, Bishton, ST/38.87, 1990; 1-2 plants lawn (mown original field), Chepstow, ST/52.93, 199193, both, TGE, UTE; Tintern, SO/53.09, 1988, EGW; 20+ plants, old meadow between Manorside and Parson’s Allotment, SO/524.058, 1989, EGW; roadside meadow, MOD, Caerwent, ST/466.918, 1996, CT; 10 plants, meadow, Lower Nex, ST/478.982, 1991, CT, GT, JPW, CM; 9 plants, meadow, ST/465.918, 2002, TGE; S of New House, Peckett Stone, SO/501.069, 1993, JFH, JDW; 1000s, New Grove Meadows, 2004, TGE; 15 plants, Kymin, SO/52.12, 1995, BJG; SSSI meadow, Cobblers Plain, SO/475.013, 1995, CM; 100+ plants, unimproved meadow, near B4293, Fernlea, SO/475.015, 2002, TGE; 100+ plants, small paddock, Shirefield Cottage, ST/46.89, 2004, TGE. 18 t Plates 136 & 137

Green-winged Orchid

This is a shortish Orchid to 30 cm or less; its broad, unspotted, oval-lanceolate leaves form a basal rosette; the stem is largely hidden by sheathing leaves to the inflorescence; veined, lanceolate bracts subtend the flowers which have a hood made up of 5 tepals, the outer ones prominently veined green (the colour often obscured by other pigments, but obvious in the rarer white flowers); the spur is horizontal to slightly upturned; the lip is broad with 3 lobes unevenly margined and with a central, whitish region dotted purple.

OPHRYS Bee Orchids These are remarkable in that the shape of the flower seems to mimic insects, even producing scents that mimic the pheromones produced by the female insects to attract males to the flower and effect its pollination. Though the flower can selfpollinate, the insect can bring new genetic material to increase the gene bank. These plants usually have a basal group of leaves above which may be a small number of sheathing leaves leading to the inflorescence of a short or long lax spike or occasionally a single flower; the two, outer lateral tepals spread like birds’ wings; the median, upper one often curves over the column to form the roof of the hood with 2 lateral, inner tepals forming the sides, often these are narrow enough to resemble an insect’s antennae with a coating of hairs to enhance them further; the labellum, also with a dense coat of tiny hairs, varies in shape and size to create a remarkable resemblance to the bodies of bees, flies, spiders, etc.

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Orchis morio grows in calcareous to slightly acid meadows, established dunes and open woodland. Wade (1970) described it as a frequent native in all districts, which no longer represents the current situation - it is now largely confined to the eastern quarter of the vice-county. More recent records are: calcareous meadow, Brockwells, ST/47.89, 196081, CT; TGE; 1991, CM, JPW, GB, TB; 1-10 plants, surrounds of Caerwent Quarry, ST/47.89, 1973, TGE, CT; field, Narth, SO/525.066, 1987, EGW (plants translocated into field in SO/5.0F to

Ophrys insectifera

Fly Orchid

These are slender plants that usually grow to 30 cm or only half that; the lanceolate leaves ascend the stem reducing to little more than sheathing scales below the inflorescence; the flowers are subtended by green bracts as long as the flowers; the 6-8 mm, green, concave sepals are spread; the 2 lateral petals are reduced to 6-8 558

Flora of Monmouthshire mm long, very dark, violet ‘antennae’ at the head of the lip, which has 3 lobes with the central one much longer than the laterals with the dense hairs creating a narrow, velvety, dark brown ‘body’ with a bluish or violet speculum at its base (colour variants are not uncommon); the combined result is a mock winged insect. It grows in deciduous woods on calcareous soils. Wade (1970) described it as a rare native and gave 6 sites: Lilyrock Wood; Lady Park Wood, SO/54.14, both SGC; Chepstow, *, 1773, JLi; WAS; Wyndcliff, WAS; SH; The Park, Shirenewton, ST/48.93, EJL; Comon-y-coed, Undy, ST/43.88, DWH. There have been no post 1939-45 War records, and it is extinct. (6 t)

Ophrys apifera

gave 3 sites in the north, 1 in the west, 11 in the east and 1 near the mouth of the R. Usk, Newport. If a line was drawn from the SW corner of vc 35 to its NE almost all current plants would lie to the south of the line. Recent records are: several plants, in small quarry, in field, Trap Hill, Mounton, ST/506.933, 1972; 5 plants on quarry floor and 7 in grassy surroundings, 1976 (the shallow quarry was in later years in-filled and the grassland ‘improved’), TGE; 1-10 plants, woodland path side, NE of Red House, SO/366.103, 1973, BMF; up to 15 plants on railway embankments, N of bridge, Portskewett, ST/493.881, 1972-87, TGE; CT; 1-5, short turf, around Caerwent Quarry, ST/472.895, 1972-87, TGE, CT; 10-20 flowering spikes, playing fields of St Kingsmark School, ST/527.944, 1972, school pupils, TGE (Leisure Centre and swimming pool built over site); 50+ plants in meadow (later SSSI) (later sprayed systematically by one of the graziers with evilsmelling fertilizer suspected to be waste from brewing process - no orchids seen since), MOD, Caerwent, ST/490.914, 1976-77, TGE, CT, staff at Base; c. 10 plants, waste ground, Newport Docks, ST/315.848, 1975; almost 700 plants, on disturbed ground, N of Timber Merchant Warehouse, ST/313.851, 1991; 300+ plants, 1993, all TGE; 5 different sites with 1-2 plants, 1997, MJ; 600+ plants, meadow S of Blackbird Road, Caldicot, ST/487.876, 1977, TGE, CT; down to 14 plants, 1994 due to spread of Hawthorn Bushes, JDRV; 40 plants, A40 roadside bank, Dixton, SO/528.150, 1981-90, JT, SJT; many plants, 1992, BJG; near R. Usk, Usk, SO/376.005, 1981, SJT; less than 10 plants, roadside bank/bus stop nearly opposite road to Black Rock, ST/506.885, 1985, TGE; c. 10 plants, grassy cliff top, E end of Sudbrook, ST/5089.8781, 1986; 7 plants, 2004, both TGE; E of Raglan, SO/424.079, 1988, DEL; waste ground, side of lane, just N of A40, S of Dingestow Court, SO/452.091, 1988, SAJPB; c. 50 spikes, forestry track, The Oaks, SO/517.012; c. 50 plants, Tintern Parva, SO/521.008, both 1988, EGW; 1 plant, Hadnock Quarry, SO/541.153, 1989-92, BJG; 1 plant, 2003, TGE; 1-10 plants MOD, Caerwent, ST/47.91, 1991, TGE; CM, JPW; 145 leaf rosettes, B4293 roadside bank, Sandyway, ST/512.948, 1993, TGE; 15 flowering spikes, where part of a Severn Tunnel spoil-heap had been removed, Caldicot Pill, ST/495.876, 1982; 1994, both TGE; 109 spikes on railway ballast, disused shunting yards, E of Undy, ST/44.87, 1997, TGE, UTE; 522 spikes, Alpha Steel, Newport, ST/338.842, 1997;

Bee Orchid

This orchid seldom reaches 50 cm in height; its few, lanceolate leaves are grouped at the base of the stem, with some smaller ones sheathing the stem above; the 2-9 flowers are arranged in a lax spike, with ovate, bright pink sepals (less often white) possessing a green midrib; linear, green or pink petals up to half the length of the sepals; a 3-lobed lip, the lateral lobes short and bent back, the longer central lobe ends in a triangular, pointed appendage bent back underneath to leave the lip roundish-ended; the lip has a velvety-brown coating of short hairs and a bib-shaped speculum, which is violet or rusty-brown bordered yellow, it is, however, very variable in shape and colour. 23

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It is a frequenter of rather impoverished thin turf over chalk or limestone, often in and around quarries, on sea cliffs and dunes; in tall grass it is usually much taller than normal. Wade (1970) described it as a rare to locally frequent native. He 559

Flora of Monmouthshire 196 spikes, 1998, both MJ; 6 spikes on lawn, Widdicombe (JBN), Langstone, ST/376.899, 1998, CT; Ridgeway, ST/295.885, 1993, RJ; 100+ plants, Electric sub-station, S of Newhouse Industrial Estate, ST/537.904, 2000, SJ, TAJ; 120+ plants, NW of New Inn, ST/295.998; 5+ plants, W of New Inn, ST/294.994; 5+ plants, near Pont-y-felin, ST/298.985; 2 plants, E of Two Locks, Cwmbran, ST/299.945, all 2000, SW; 5-10 plants on field bank, just N of A48, Castleton, ST/249.837, 2000, HVC; 15 plants, on narrow strip between A467 and R. Ebbw, ST/2405.8995, 2000-2001, MBl, TGE; 5 plants, road verge, Five Lanes, ST/446.909; 26 flowering spikes, near Wentwood Forestry, new office, ST/426.942, both 2000, JLe; 36 plants, on grass, near car wash and A4042, just S of roundabout to Pontypool, at New Inn, ST/2948.9978; 2001, TGE; 35 plants, 2002, TGE; 11 plants, N side bund, Old Lagoon, Uskmouth, ST/3428.8297, 2002, SJT; 2 rabbit proof, wire mesh large squares, 20 plants in N square 10 in S square, 2001; 335 plants in N square and 148 in S square, 2002, TGE; 1 plant in flower, E bank of ditch, N of M48 Wye Bridge, ST/5443.9155, 2004, TGE; 100+ plants, roundabout, near McDonalds, Pontypool, ST/295.999, 2004; several plants, New Inn Waste Transfer Station, ST/297.998, 2004; 50+ plants, near Council Depot, New Inn, Pontypool, ST/298.999, 2005, all 3 SW; 41 leafy rosettes on wide grassy verge opposite entrance to Unit 301, Springvale Industrial Estate, Cwmbran, ST/284.960, 2006, AW, EGW. 42 t Plate 138

Ophrys apifera var. trollii

‘Wasp Orchid’

This orchid has a pointed lip and a mottled or barred mixture of brown and yellow colours replacing the normal pattern. It grew at S end of Kemeys Graig, Wentwood, ST/374.909, 1985, REH. (1 t) Plate 139

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Flora of Monmouthshire

EXTINCTIONS The following plants are extinct in vc 35, Monmouthshire. Full details of the last records are given in the hope they can be rediscovered. Antennaria dioica, Mountain Everlasting. 1868, hill, Abersychan, SO/2.0M/S; turf, Blorenge, SO/20.12; 1909, hill, Twm Barlwm, ST/24.92L. Anthriscus caucalis, Bur Chervil, 1920, Wye bank, Bigsweir, SO/53.05; Black Rock, Portskewett, ST/51.88. WAS. Baldellia ranunculoides, Lesser Water-plantain, Cleddon Bog, SO/5.0B/C, AL; 1909 wet area, Llanthony, SO/2.2Y; SH; 1920, Magor, ST/4.8 I, WAS; near Rumney, ST/2.7E/J. AEW; 1951, Llandenny, SO/4.0B/C, SGC. Bromus lepidus, Slender Soft-brome, 1944, near Rumney, ST/2.7E/J; Hadnock, SO/5.1H; W. of, Abergavenny, SO/2.1; Pant Glas Fm, Bedwas, ST/1.8, RL; Llangua, SO/39.25X; King's Wood, Wonastow, SO/4.1V/Q; The Firs, near Monmouth, SO/4.1/5.1; Warfields, near Monmouth, SO/52.13, SGC; near Coed Meredith, Henllys, ST/2.9; By Thicket Wood, Rogiet, ST/44.881972, AEW; verge, Portskewett, ST/493.882; 1974-85, verge, A466, Wyndcliff, ST/53.97, TGE. Cardamine amara, Large Bittercress. 1920, Wentwood Mill, ST/39.92? 1956, Blackrock, ST/5.8E. Carex curta, White Sedge, 1890, boggy ground, near Trellech, SO/5.0C? Catbrook, near Tintern, SO/5.0F? WAS; 1940, Redding's Inclosure, SO/5.1G/L; 1985, wet field, Kit's Wood; Catbrook, SO/512.017 EGW. Carex divisa, Divided Sedge. 1973-1983, marsh, now in-filled, Newport Docks, ST/312.852. TGE Carex montana, Soft-leaved Sedge. 1961, short turf, Wyndcliff, ST/524.972; 1990, path side, Blackcliff, ST/535.982. TGE Cephalanthera longifolia, Narrow-leaved Helleborine. 1879, The Mount, Chepstow, ST/529.939; 1882, woods, Tintern, ST/53.99; 1895, woods, Wyndcliff, ST/52.97 I; 29/30. May. 1898, Castle Woods, Chepstow, ST/53.94H; 5. 6. 1901, precipitous woods, Chepstow, ST/53.94H; 1975-79, rocky woods, Blackcliff, ST/532.982 TGE; Cochlearia officinalis, Common Scurvygrass. 16. 4. 1973, soil heap, Newport Docks, ST/310.854; 1989, layby, Mitchel Troy, SO/48.10V. Coeloglossum viride, Frog Orchid. 1867, Hangman's Wood, Shirenewton, ST/4.9, EJL 1884, near Cwmyoy, SO/29.23; DrW, Grwyne Valley, SO/2.2, AL; 1853, TWG; 1886, Tintern, SO/5.0F, HPR; 1909, Usk Road near Chepstow; ST Brides Wentloog Rd., Between Ebbw Bridge and Pheasant Bridge SH; Barnett Woods, ST/51.93; 1909, near Chepstow, ST/5.9; 1909, Shirenewton, ST/4.9R/W ; 1909, Dinham, ST/4.9R/W/Q; The Mount, Chepstow, ST/5.9G/H WAS; AEW; 1937, Cwmcarvan, SO/47.07/48.07? 1936-52?MP; AEW; Pen-y-Clawdd, SO/4.0N/P? SGC, near viaduct, Monmouth, SO/5.1A/B. Cuscuta epithymum, Dodder. 1942, Minnetts Lane, near Rogiet, ST/4.8. Cynoglossum officinale, Hound's-tongue.,; 1868, Usk, SO/3.0Q/V?; AEW, near Cilfeigan Park, SO/3.0K; WAS, Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I; WAS, shingle bank, W. of, Mathern Oaze, ST/52.89; The Leys, Monmouth, SO/53.15 SGC. Daphne mezereum, Mezereon, C. 1917, The Barnets, Chepstow, ST/5.9C; 1961, woodland, Minnetts Complex, ST/45.89P, CT. Eleocharis uniglumis, Slender Spike-rush. AEW, wet peaty ground, Machen, ST/2.8 E. Epipactis leptochila, Narrow-lipped Helleborine. 1926, woods, Wyndcliff-Tintern, ST/5.9 I/J?. Erophila majuscula, Hairy Whitlowgrass. WAS, bank, near Tintern, SO/5.0 F?. Filipendula vulgaris, Dropwort.; 1868, near Chepstow, ST/5.9 G/H? JHC; 1909, near Monmouth, SO/5.1 SH; 1942, Minnett's Lane, Rogiet, ST/4.8 P JCE; 1992, churchyard, Penallt, SO/522.108. Fumaria purpurea, Purple Ramping-fumitory; 1934, Kymin Hill weed, Monmouth, SO/50.12, SGC; 1918, railway station, Tintern, SO/52.00; 1924, R. Usk banks, Usk, SO/37.00; 1984, St Kinsmark School, Chepstow, ST/528.945; 1985, waste ground, Caldicot, ST/497.878.

561

Flora of Monmouthshire Galeopsis angustifolia, Red Hempnettle. 1909, Forge Lane, Duffryn, ST/2.8 W/X ?; St. Woolos, ST/3.8 D; ?, Galeopsis speciosa, Large-flowered Hempnettle. 1935, stubble edge, Llanfrechfa, ST/312.937. Galium tricornutum, Corn Cleavers. SGC, Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/5.1; WAS, near Llanmellin, ST/4.9 L/R?. Gastridium ventricosum, Nit-grass. 1868, Newport Docks, ST/3.8 C/H?. 1873, Chepstow, ST/5.9 G/H? Gentianella campestris, Field Gentian. 1879-85, Cwm Bychel, near Llanthony, SO/28.27 Y EG; Catbrook*, SO/5.0 A/B? AL; SGC, 1909, Rail Junction, Rogiet, ST/4.8 Y; 1909, Portskewett, ST/4.8Z/5.8E? SH; 1920, near Broadstone, Tintern-Trellech, SO/5.0 B WAS. Geranium sanguineum, Bloody Crane's-bill.; 1773, Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I; JL to AEW: 1773, near Chepstow Castle, ST/5.9 H; JL; 1909, Wye Valley, near Monmouth, SH; 1920, Piercefield Woods, ST/5.9 H, WAS;, SO/5.1. 1988, limestone rubble, Dixton Rd. Res, SO/527.149. Geranium sylvaticum, Wood Crane's-bill. –1904, Honddu Valley, N. Llanthony, SO/2.2 Y/Z? 1904-1920, Grwyne Valley, AL-WR. Glaucium flavum, Yellow Horned-poppy; 1812, Black Rock, ST/5.8, JEB; 1868, By R. Usk, Newport, ST/3.8, JHC; 1909, Chepstow, ST/5.9, SH; 1920, near Mathern Pill, ST/5.8, WAS; 1958, shingle & sand, Sudbrook, ST/50.87. Gnaphalium sylvaticum, Heath Cudweed; 1868, Estavarney to Goetre, SO/3.0, JHC; 1904, Cwm Bwchel, Llanthony, SO/28.27 Y; Beacon Hill, Trellech, SO/51.05 C; AL; 1909, Foxwood, ?ST/25.88; Wentwood, ST/425.943; Wentwood, ST/4.9 ?H;SH, 1909; 1920 WAS; 1909, Bulmore, ST/3.9 K/Q?; WAS, The Barnetts Fm, near Chepstow, ST/51.93 ?B; WAS, Barbadoes Hill, Tintern, SO/52.00 F; WAS, near Trellech Bog, SO/5.0 B/C?; WAS, Devauden, ST/4.9 ?Z; WAS, near Pandy Mill, Itton, ST/49.94 X; WAS, Chepstow Park Wood, ST/4.9 Y/Z?; WAS, Ifton, ?ST/46.88;WAS, near Caer Licyn, Kemey's Inferior, ST/3.9 V/W? SGC, Kymin Hill*, Monmouth, SO/5.1 Z; Half-way House Wood, Monmouth*, SO/5.1; Beaulieu Fm, Monmouth, SO/52.12; Redding's Inclosure, SO/5.1 ?G; New Hill, Grosmont*, SO/41.22; Hadnock Wood*, SO/5.1 H; Lady Park Wood, SO/54.14 M; SGC, Pritchard's Hill; SGC; 1974, ORS bank, Wentwood; 1975, Woodland path, N. of Gray Hill, ST/435.942; 1976, woodland path side, Wentwood, ST/413.937; 1979, woodland path side, High Meadow Woods, SO/546.127, TGE; 1981-82, woodland pathside, Little Oaks, ST/413.935; 1982, Five Paths, Wentwood, ST/433.947, CT. Hippocrepis comosa, Horseshoe Vetch. 1868, Chepstow, ST/5.9 G/H?, JHC; 1909, near Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I, SH. Honckenya peploides, Sea Sandwort. 1868, Gravel/sand, R. Severn margin, JHC; 1909, St Bride's, Wentlooge, ST/2.8V/3.8A/B; 1909, Peterstone, Wentlooge, ST/2.7U/2.8Q?, SH. Illecebrum verticillatum, Coral-necklace. 1980-1983, ash/railway ballast, Newport Docks, ST/311.860, TGE Lamium hybridum, Cut-leaved Dead-nettle. 1837, near Pontnewydd? SO/29.96 Y, CC. Leonurus cardiaca, Motherwort. 1773, Christchurch, ST/34.89 P; JL; 1886, Abergavenny Dist, ST/2.1/3.1? JW; 1920, Tintern, SO/5.0 F, WAS; 1922-3, near Gelligroes Mill, ST/1.9 B, AM; 1935-7, Lower Machen, ST/2.8 ?J, EPP; WAS; 1937, Pen-y-clawdd, SO/45.07 N, MPa. Lepidium campestre, Field Pepperwort, 1837, Pontnewydd, ST/2.9 Y; 1891, near Raglan, SO/4.0 D/E? 1909, Abergavenny; Llanthony; Wye Valley; Liswerry; Newport Docks; SH Shorncliff Woods, SE Mon; Mounton, ST/5.9 B; Dinham, ST/4.9 Q/R?; near Tintern, SO/5.0 F, WAS; ; 1951, Hadnock, SO/5.1 H, SGC; 1997 B4293 roadside, Sandyway, ST/512.947 1971, Limestone Woods, Wyndcliff, ST/532.979; 1985, Disturbed ground, Newport Docks, ST/30.85; 1988, N. Rhymney, SO/10.08; 1989, waste ground, Rogerstone bus terminus ST/27.87; 1990, near flat gravestone, Gwrhay, ST/184.996; 1995, meadow N. of, Shirefield Cottage, ST/46.89 C, TGE. Lilium martagon, Martagon Lily. 1920, woods, near Tintern, ST/5.9 J,1920; 1932, ED; 1942? woods, near Chepstow, ST/5.9 H, EV Lithospermum arvense, Field Gromwell. 1868, Cefnila, Usk, SO/36.00; JHC; Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/5.1 G, SGC; 1953, Newport Docks, ST/3.8 C/H?. JMa. Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum, Purple Gromwell. 1944, wood & margins, Carrow Hill, ST/43.89. Luzula luzuloides, White Wood-rush. 1922, Wyndcliff-Tintern, ST/5.9. Myriophyllum verticillatum, Whorled Water-milfoil. 1985, reen, W. Magor, ST/413.866, PRG.

562

Flora of Monmouthshire Onobrychis viciifolia, Sainfoin, 1868, near Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I; Newchurch E, ST/4.9 N; JHC; 1902, Pontypool*, SO/2.0 V; THT; 1920, Portskewett*, ST/4.8Z/5.8E? WAS; 1942, near Minnett's Lane, Rogiet, ST/4.8 P, JCE; 1973, roadside nr quarry, Five Lanes, ST/444.911; 1973, roadside Crick to Shirenewton, ST/490.926. TGE. Ophrys insectifera, Fly Orchid; 1773, steep banks, near Chepstow Castle, ST/53.94; 1867, JL; 1920 WAS; 1867, The Park, Shirenewton, ST/48.93, EJL; Common-y-coed, Undy, ST/43.89, DWH; WAS, woods, above R. Wye, ?ST/5.9; Lilyrock Wood; Lady Park Wood, SO/54.14, SGC Ornithogalum umbellatum, Star-of-Bethlehem. 1982, Castle Burness, Quarry, Rogiet, ST/461.885. Orobanche purpurea, Yarrow Broomrape. 1850,FJAH & 1912, Barn Lane, Mathern, ST/5.9, GCF; Langham’s Farm, Chepstow, 1920. Orobanche rapum-genistae, Great Broomrape, 1868; Bettws Newydd, SO/3.0 S/T? JHC; 1939, near Chepstow, ST/5.9, BW; 1951, Buckholt Wood, SO/5.1 C/D, SGC; 1979, A499 embankment, Coed-yfedw, SO/445.086; 11 dry spikes on 2 Broom bushes doubtfully of 2004, above R. Usk, Brynglas, ST/31307.90348, CT, TGE. Orthilia secunda, Serrated Wintergreen, near Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I AL. Osmunda regalis, Royal Fern, Mynydd Maen, above Cwmbran, ST/2.9 N/T? THT; near Pont-yspig, SO/2.2 V; Grwyne Valley, SO/2.2, AL;1920, Near Shirenewton, ST/4.9 R/W? WAS. Polygonatum odoratum, Angular Solomon's-seal, 1920, woods, Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I, WAS. Prunella laciniata, Cut-leaved Selfheal. 1971, field, Common-y-Coed, ST/435.889, TGE, CT. Prunus cerasus, Dwarf Cherry, 1868, woods, about Usk, SO/3.0?Q; 1909, near The Coldra, Christchurch, ST/3.8 P; 1951 near Tintern, SO/5.0 F; The Barnetts, near Chepstow, ST/5.9 B/C? Barbadoes Hill, SO/52.00 F; Penterry, ST/5.9 E/J? The Minnett's Wood, ST/4.8 U; WAS, woods, below Kilpale, ST/4.9 Q; Hadnock Wood, SO/5.1 H; Garth Wood, SO/52.13 G; SGC. Pseudorchis albida, Small-white Orchid. AL, N. end of Grwyne Valley, SO/25.28;, Coed-dias, Grwyne Valley, SO/275.244, CT & E. Vachell. Rhynchospora alba, White Beak-sedge. HSR, Cleddon Bog, Trellech SO/50 B/C?, HSR. Rosa obtusifolia, Round-leaved Dog-rose. AL, near Llangattock, SO/3.1/3.2?; Llanvihangel-Crucorney, SO/3.2 A/F?, AL; 1920, Pont-y-saison, ? SO/5.0; Llanvair Discoed, ST/4.9 L; near Innage Fm, Mathern, ST/5.9 F; Barnett's Fm, Mounton, ST/51.93 B; Pen-y-cae-mawr, to Usk, ST/40.95 C, WAS. Rubus saxatilis, Stone Bramble, 1868, about Chepstow, ST/5.9 G/H?, JHC; 1942, Wyndcliff, ST/5.9 I, JCE; 1920, woods, Tintern-Wyndcliff, ST/5.9JSO/5.0F?. Ruppia maritima, Beaked Tasselweed. 1900-10, reens, S. of Undy, ST/43.84? /ST/43.85? /ST/43.86? Salvia verbenaca, Wild Clary. 1868, R. Usk banks, Newport, ST/3.8; 1868, Chepstow, ST/5.9 G/H?, JHC; 1920, Chepstow to, St Arvans, ST/5.9 H; 1972-5, Castle Burness, Rogiet, ST/460.883. Scandix pecten-veneris, Shepherd's-needle, 1868 ‘abundant in cornfields’, J. H. Clark in his Flora; 1909,; Machen, ST/2.8 E; Portskewett, ST/4.8Z/5.8E?; Dyffryn, ST/29.85, SH; 1920, Mounton, ST/5.9 B, WAS; 1942, Windmill Lane, Rogiet, ST/45.88 P;, 1929, Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/52.12 G, SGC. Scrophularia umbrosa, Green Figwort. 1904, R. Wye bank, Bigsweir, SO/5.0 H, AL. Silene gallica, Small-flowered Catchfly, 1868, Monkswood, SO/34.02 L, JHC; 1886, Abergavenny, SO/2.1/3.1? JW; 1909, Wye Valley, Monmouth, SO/5.1 A/B? SH; 1920, garden weed, Usk Priory, SO/3.0 Q, RWR; 1920, Kilgwrrwg, ST/4.9 ?U, WAS; 1942, Highmoor Hill, ST/4.8 P/U?; JCE; 194142, near Pandy Station, SO/33.22 G, JR; 1951, Kymin Hill, Monmouth, SO/5.1 G; ?; 1920; Upper Redbrook, ST/5.1 F, SGC; 1985, on dumped soil, W. of Whitfield Wood, ST/493.961; 1988, S. George St Bridge, Newport, ST/320.878, TGE. Silene noctiflora, Night-flowering Catchfly, 1974-91, La Cuesta garden weed, Chepstow, ST/52.93. Silene uniflora, Sea Campion. 1868, about Newport, ST/3.8B/G/H? 1909, Town Dock, Newport, ST/3.8 I. Silybum marianum, Milk Thistle. 1868, Newport, ST/3.8, JHC; 1886, Abergavenny, SO/2.1/3.1? JW; 1920, garden weed, Chepstow, ST/5.9, WAS; 1951, Chippenham, Monmouth, SO/50.12 B; 1986, built up river bank, Risca, ST/2.9 F; 1989, B4598 grass verge, Coed-y-fedw, SO/444.087, TG & UTE; SGC WAS, 1989. Osbaston, SO/50.14? DTP Spartina X townsendii, Townsend's Cord-grass. 1975, saltmarsh, Blackrock, ST/51.88; 1978, saltmarsh, Sudbrook, ST/50.87; 1978, saltmarsh, R. Ebbw, Newport, ST/31.84; 1984, saltmarsh, Goldcliff, ST/35.82. 563

Flora of Monmouthshire Trifolium incarnatum, Crimson Clover. 1920, meadow nr. Llanvair Discoed, ST/4.9 L, WAS; 1942, Rogiet, ST/4.8 N/T? JCE; 2003 on allotment, Machen, ST/209.892, MP. Trifolium resupinatum, Reversed Clover. 1920, Llanvaches to Wentwood, ST/4.9 G, WAS; 1974-83; marsh, Newport docks, ST/314.848, TGE. Trollius europaeus, Globeflower, 1830-7, Near Pontnewydd, ST/2.9 Y; 1868, Varteg, SO/2.0 S, CC; 1886, JHC; 1899, Risca, ST/2.9 F; 1916,CTV; Grwyne Fawr Valley, SO/2.2; 1924-27; 1916, MrsP; R. Rhymney bank, Michaelstone y Vedw, ST/2.8 G, RLS. Utricularia australis, Bladderwort, 1909, Wye Valley ditches, Chepstow, ST/5.9, SH; 1904, reens, between Lower End, Magor and Llandevenny, ST/4.8 D, JSC; 1945-59, reens, Magor to Whitson, ST/37.85, TGE. Valerianella carinata, Keeled-fruited Cornsalad. 1886, JW; 1904, Tintern, Chepstow, AL; 1920, Mounton, WAS; !951-2, Llanover, JF; 1978, rubbish tip, Newport, ST/30.85 C; 1991, Myrtle Cottage path, Llandogo, SO/523.043, JFH. Valerianella dentata, Narrow-fruited Cornsalad; 1873, near Tintern, SO/5.0 A, BMW; 1920, Mounton, ST/51.93 B; Llanvair Discoed, ST/4.9 L; Llanmellin, ST/4.9 L/Q/R? near St Lawrence House, Chepstow, ST/5.9 G, WAS; Tregare, SO/4.1 A; Duffield's Fm, Upper Redbrook, SO/531.011F, SGC. Valerianella rimosa, Broad-fruited Cornsalad. 1850, barren fields, near Raglan, ? ST/4.0 D/E, JW. Viola canina, Heath Dog-violet. 1920, damp wood, near Tintern, ? SO/5.0 F, WAS. Viola lactea, Pale Dog-violet. 1942, by Minnett's Lane, Rogiet, ST/46.88, JCE. Viola lutea, Mountain Pansy. 1868, Blaenavon, SO/2.0 P/U? JHC; 1904, River Valleys, Black Mts, SO/2.2, AL; 1881, Hatterall Hill, DBu; 1987, Crucorney Fawr, SO/30.25, bridge embankment, Llanvihangel Crucorney, SO/321.209, SJR.

564

Flora of Monmouthshire

USEFUL LITERATURE Bibliographies for Monmouth; vc 35 are available on the BSBI website (www.BSBI.org.uk) which can be consulted for references up to 1959 in N. D. Simpson Bibliographic index to the British flora, and after 1959 from the BSBI database: Previous floras of Monmouthshire: The flora of Monmouthshire, J. H. Clark [c. 1868]. The flora of Monmouthshire, S. Hamilton 1909, pp. 81. The flora of Chepstow, W. A. Shoolbred 1920; [includes part of Gloucestershire], pp. 140. The Flora of Monmouthshire, Wade, A.E., 1970, pp.236 + map + photographs. British Floras influential in author’s life: Handbook of British Flora, Bentham and Hooker, 1930-47. Illustrations of the British Flora, Fitch & Smith 1924-49. Further Illustrations of British Plants, Butcher & Strudwick, reprinted 1944 &1946. Flora of the British Isles, Clapham, Tutin & Warburg. A New Illustrated British Flora, Vol. 1 & 2, Roger W. Butcher, 1961. A concise British Flora in Colour, W. Keble Martin, 1965. A Wild Flower Key, Francis Rose. Includes N European species. New Flora of the British Isles, 2nd Edition, Clive Stace, 1997. Field Flora of the British Isles, Clive Stace, 1999. A pocket version of above. Useful plant identification books: BSBI Handbooks contain keys, line drawings and descriptions. 1 Sedges of the British Isles, AC Jermy, AO Chater, RW David. 2 Umbellifers of the British Isles, TG Tutin. 3 Docks & Knotweeds of the British Isles, JE Lousley & DH Kent. 4 Willows & Poplars of the British Isles, RD Meikle. 5 Charophytes of Great Britain & Ireland JA Moore. 6 Crucifers of Great Britain & Ireland, TCG Rich. 7 Roses of Great Britain & Ireland, GG Graham & AL Primavesi. 8 Pondweeds of Great Britain & Ireland, CD Preston. 9 Dandelions of Great Britain & Ireland, AA Dudman & AJ Richards. Plant Crib, TCG Rich & AC Jermy, 1998, Useful for difficult plants. A Guide to some Difficult Plants, Wild Flower Society, 1990. Welsh Ferns, G Hutchinson & BA Thomas, 1996. The Illustrated Field Guide to Ferns & Allied Plants of the B.I. Jermy & Camus. Brambles of the British Isles, ES Edees & A Newton, 1988. Atlas of British & Irish Brambles, A Newton & RD Randall. Distribution Atlases: Flowering Plants of Wales, RG Ellis, 1983. New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora, CD Preston, DA Pearman & TD Dines, 2002. Local Information: The Unfortunate Valentine Morris, Ivor Waters, 1964.

565

Flora of Monmouthshire

INDEX Abies 63 Abraham-Isaac-Jacob 317 Abutilon 138 Acanthus 365 Acer 274 Achillea 423 Aconitum 74 Acorus 447 Adder’s-tongue 52 Adonis 82 Adoxa 377 Adria Bellflower 367 Aegopodium 288 Aesculus 273 Aethusa 292 Agrimonia 209 Agrimony 209 Agrostemma 117 Agrostis 508 Aira 505 Ajuga 327 Alchemilla 211 Alder 96 Alder Buckthorn 270 Alexanders 287 Alisma 438 Alkanet 316 Alliaria 155 Allium 540 Almond Willow 149 Alnus 96 Alopecurus 512 Alsike Clover 245 Alternate Water-milfoil 253 Alternate-leaved Goldensaxifrage 195 Althaea 137 Amaranthus 103 Ambrosia 431 American Speedwell 354 American Willowherb 258 American Winter-cress 158, 159 Ammi 298 Ammophila 511 Amphibious Bistort 121 Anacamptis 553 Anagallis 187 Anaphalis 415 Anchusa 315 Anemone 75

Anemones Angel’s-trumpets Angelica Angelica Angular Solomon’s-seal Anisantha Annual Beard-grass Annual Knawel Annual Meadow-grass Annual Mercury Annual Pearlwort Annual Sea-blite Annual Wall-rocket Annual Yellow-woundwort Antennaria Anthemis Anthoxanthum Anthriscus Anthyllis Antirrhinum Aphanes Apium Aponogeton Apple Apple-mint Apple-of-Peru Aquilegia Arabidopsis Arabis Araucaria Arbutus Arctium Arenaria Argentine Fleabane Armeria Armoracia Aromatic Wintergreens Arrhenatherum Arrow Bamboo Arrowgrasses Arrowhead Artemisia Arum Ash Asparagus Asparagus Aspen Asperula Asplenium Aster 566

75 309 298 298 538 519 512 114 494 265 113 103 173 322 415 424 506 285 232 348 212 295 441 223 335 304 82 155 164 71 180 383 106 420 130 161 180 502 482 441 437 422 448 341 544 544 146 370 56 419

Astragalus 230 Athyrium 58 Atlantic Ivy 284 Atlas Cedar 67 Atriplex glabriuscula 100 Atropa 305 Aucuba 262 Austrian Pine 67 Autumn Gentian 303 Autumn Hawkbit 392 Autumn Lady’s-tresses 551 Avena 503 Avens 209 Awned Canary-grass 507 Azolla 63 Babington’ s Orache 100 Baldellia 438 Ballota 322 Balm 329 Balm-leaved Figwort 345 Balsams 282 Bamboos 482 Barbarea 156 Barberries 83 Barberry 83 Barleys 523 Barren Brome 520 Barren Strawberry 207 Bartsias 360 Basil Thyme 330 Bassia 100 Bastard Cabbage 176, 177 Bay 72 Bay Willow 148 Beaked Hawk’s-beard 410 Beak-sedges 463 Bear’s-breeches 365 Bearded Couch 522 Bearded Iris 545 Beard-grasses 511 Bedstraws 371 Bee Orchid 559 Beech 92 Beech Fern 55 Beet 101 Beggarticks 435 Bellis 421 Bents 508 Berberis 83 Bermuda-grass 527

Flora of Monmouthshire Bermuda-grasses Berteroa Berula Beta Betony Betula Bhutan Pine Bidens Bifid Hemp-nettle Bilberry Billard’s Bridewort Bindweeds Birches Bird Cherry Bird’s-foot Bird’s-foot Clover Bird’s-foot-trefoils Bird’s-nest Orchid Biting Stonecrop Bitter-cresses Bittersweet Bitter-vetch Black Bent Black Bryony Black Currant Black Horehound Black Medick Black Mustard Black Nightshade Black Poplar Black Spleenwort Blackberry Black-bindweed Black-eyed Susan Black-grass Blackstonia Blackthorn Bladder Campion Bladder Ketmia Bladder-ferns Bladder-sedge Bladder-senna Bladderwort Blechnum Blinks Blood-drop-emlets Bloody Crane’s-bill Blue anemone Blue Eryngo Blue Fleabane Blue Globe-thistle Blue Water-speedwell Blue Woodruff

527 166 289 101 320 95 68 434 325 182 196 309 95 222 234 244 233 550 192 161 308 239 508 547 189 322 243 175 306 146 56 198 125 433 513 302 220 117 138 59 470 230 366 63 105 347 278 75 285 420 383 353 371

Bluebell 539 Blue-eyed-grass 545 Blue-sow-thistles 396 Blunt-flowered Rush 453 Blunt-fruited Water-starwort 338 Blunt-leaved Pondweed 444 Bog Asphodel 535 Bog Pimpernel 186, 187 Bog Pondweed 442 Bog Stitchwort 111 Bogbean 311 Bolboschoenus 460 Borage 316 Borago 316 Boston-ivy 271 Botrychium 52 Bottle Sedge 469 Box 264 Brachypodium 521 Bracken 54 Brackish Water-crowfoot 80 Bramble 197 Branched Bur-reed 533 Branched Horsetail 49 Brassica 174 Bread Wheat 526 Bridewort 196 Bristle Club-rush 462 Bristle-grasses 530 Bristly Hawk’s-beard 410 Bristly Oxtongue 393 Brittle Bladder-fern 60 Briza 494 Broad Bean 239 Broad Buckler-fern 62 Broad-fruited Cornsalad 378 Broad-leaved Bamboo 482 Broad-leaved Cockspurthorn 229 Broad-leaved Cottongrass 458 Broad-leaved Dock 129 Broad-leaved Everlasting-pea 240 Broad-leaved Helleborine 550 Broad-leaved Meadow-grass 497 Broad-leaved Osier 151 Broad-leaved Pondweed 442 Broad-leaved Spurge 265 Broad-leaved Willowherb 257 Brome 516 Bromopsis 517 Bromus 516 Brooklime 353 Brookweed 188 Broom 249 567

Broomrapes Brown Bent Brown Sedge Bryonia Buck’s-horn Plantain Buckler-ferns Buckthorn Buckwheat Buddleja Buffalo-bur Bugle Bugloss Bulbous Buttercup Bulbous False Oat-grass Bulbous Foxtail Bulbous Rush Bullace Bullwort Bulrush Bupleurum Burdocks Bur-marigolds Burnet Rose Burnets Burnet-saxifrage Bur-reeds Bush Vetch Bushy Mint Butcher’s-broom Butomus Butterbur Buttercups Butterfly-bush Butterfly-orchids Butterworts Buxus Cabbage Cabbage Thistle Calamagrostis Calamints Calendula California Brome Californian Poppy Callitriche Calluna Caltha Calystegia Calystegia sepium forma schizocarpa Camelina Campanula Canadian Fleabane Canadian Goldenrod

363 509 466 144 339 60 269 123 341 307 327 315 76 503 513 454 221 298 534 293 383 434 214 210 288 533 237 334 544 436 430 76 341 552 365 264 174 387 509 329 431 521 86 337 180 73 309 309 168 366 420 418

Flora of Monmouthshire Canadian Waterweed 440 Canary-grass 507 Candytufts 169 Cannabis 89 Canterbury Bells 367 Cape Pondweed 441 Caper Spurge 266 Cappadocian Maple 274 Capsella 168 Caraway 298 Cardamine 161 Carduus 384 Carex acuta 480 Carex acutiformis 468 Carex arenaria 466 Carex binervis 473 Carex caryophyllea 478 Carex curta 468 Carex digitata 478 Carex distans 473 Carex disticha 466 Carex divisa 466 Carex divulsa 465 Carex echinata 467 Carex elata 481 Carex elongata 467 Carex extensa 475 Carex flacca 471 Carex hirta 468 Carex hostiana 475 Carex laevigata 473 Carex montana 479 Carex muricata subsp. lamprocarpa 465 Carex nigra 480 Carex otrubae 464 Carex ovalis 467 Carex pallescens 477 Carex panicea 471 Carex paniculata 464 Carex pendula 470 Carex pilulifera 480 Carex pseudocyperus 469 Carex pulicaris 481 Carex remota 467 Carex riparia 469 Carex rostrata 469 Carex spicata 465 Carex strigosa 471, 472 Carex sylvatica 470, 472 Carex vesicaria 470 Carex viridula 477 Carex x boenninghausiana 464

Carex x fulva 475 Carex x involuta 470 Carlina 383 Carline Thistle 383 Carnation Sedge 471 Carpinus 96 Carrot 284, 301 Carthamus 390 Carum 298 Castanea 93 Cat’s-ear 391 Cat’s-tails 515 Catabrosa 497 Catapodium 498 Catchflies 116 Cat-mint 328 Caucasian Crane’s-bill 279 Caucasian-stonecrop 191 Cedar of Lebanon 67 Cedars 67 Cedrus 67 Celandine Saxifrage 193, 194 Celery-leaved Buttercup 78 Centaurea 389 Centauries 302 Centaurium 302 Centranthus 379 Cephalanthera 547 Cerastium 111 Ceratocapnos 87 Ceratochloa 521 Ceratophyllum 72 Ceterach 58 Chaenorhinum 348 Chaerophyllum 285 Chamaecyparis 70 Chamaemelum 424 Chamerion 252 Chamomile 424 Changing Forget-me-not 319 Charlock 175 Chelidonium 86 Chenopodium 97 Cherries 220 Cherry Laurel 222 Cherry Plum 220 Chervils 285 Chicory 391 Chives 542 Christmas Rose 74 Chrysanthemum 424 Chrysosplenium 195 Cicerbita 396 568

Cichorium Cinquefoils Circaea Cirsium Citrullus Claries Clarkia Clarkias Claytonia Cleavers Clematis Climbing Corydalis Clinopodium Clove Pink Clovers Clubmosses Club-rushes Clustered Dock Coastal Redwood Cochlearia Cock’s-foot Cockspur Coeloglossum Coincya Colchicum Colt’s-foot Columbine Colutea Comfreys Common Amaranth Common Bent Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil Common Bistort Common Blue-sow-thistle Common Broomrape Common Butterwort Common Calamint Common Centaury Common Chickweed Common Club-rush Common Comfrey Common Cord-grass Common Cornsalad Common Cottongrass Common Couch Common Cow-wheat Common Cudweed Common Dog-violet Common Duckweed Common Evening-primrose Common Eyebright Common Field-speedwell Common Figwort

391 205 261 385 144 336 261 261 104 373 75 87 329 120 244 47 461 127 69 167 497 529 555 176 536 430 82 230 314 103 508 233 121 396 364 365 329 302 109 462 314 528 378 458 522 357 414 141 449 260 357 355 345

Flora of Monmouthshire Common Fleabane 417 Common Fumitory 88 Common Glasswort 102 Common Gromwell 312 Common Hemp-nettle 325 Common Ivy 283 Common Juniper 71 Common Knapweed 390 Common Mallow 136 Common Marsh-bedstraw 371 Common Meadow-rue 82 Common Michaelmas-daisy 419 Common Milkwort 272 Common Millet 528 Common Mouse-ear 111 Common Nettle 90 Common Orache 101 Common Poppy 84 Common Ragwort 427 Common Ramping-fumitory 88 Common Reed 527 Common Restharrow 241 Common Rock-rose 140 Common Saltmarsh-grass 493 Common Scurvygrass 168 Common Sea-lavender 130 Common Sedge 480 Common Sorrel 126 Common Spike-rush 460 Common Spotted-orchid 555 Common Stork’s-bill 282 Common Toadflax 350 Common Twayblade 551 Common Valerian 379 Common Vetch 238 Common Water-crowfoot 80 Common Water-starwort 337 Common Whitebeam 225 Common Whitlowgrass 167 Common Wintergreen 182 Compact Brome 520 Compact Rush 455 Coneflowers 433 Confused Bridewort 196 Conifers 63 Conium 293 Conopodium 288 Consolida 75 Convallaria 537 Convolvulus 309 Conyza 420 Conyzigeron 420 Coppery Monkeyflower 347

Coral-necklace Coralroot Cord-grasses Coriander Coriandrum Corky-fruited Water-dropwort

Corn Buttercup Corn Cleavers Corn Marigold Corn Mint Corn Parsley Corn Spurrey Corncockle Cornflower Cornish Moneywort Cornsalads Cornus Coronopus Corydalises Corylus Cosmos Cotoneaster Cotoneasters Cotton Thistle Cottongrasses Couches Cow Parsley Cowberry Cowherb Cowslip Cow-wheats Crab Apple Crack-willow Cranberry Crane’s-bills Crassula Crataegus Creeping Bent Creeping Buttercup Creeping Cinquefoil Creeping Comfrey Creeping Forget-me-not Creeping Soft-grass Creeping Thistle Creeping Willow Creeping Yellow-cress Creeping-jenny Crepis Crested Dog’s-tail Crested Hair-grass Crimson Clover Crithmum Crocosmia 569

115 164 528 287 287 290 77 373 424 332 296 115 117 390 356 378 262 172 87 97 435 227 227 388 458 522 286 182 120 184 357 223 148 182 277 189 229 508 76 207 315 318 505 387 153 160 185 409 492 504 247 289 546

Crocus Crocuses Cross-leaved Heath Crosswort Crowberry Crown Daisies Crown Vetch Cruciata Cryptomeria Cuckooflower Cucumbers Cucumis Cucurbita Cudweeds Curled Dock Curled Pondweed Curly Pondweed Curly Waterweed Cuscuta Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill Cut-leaved Dead-nettle Cut-leaved Selfheal Cyclamen Cymbalaria Cynodon Cynoglossom Cynosurus Cyperus Cyperus Sedge Cypress Spurge Cypresses Cystopteris Cytisus Dactylis Dactylorhiza Daffodil Daisy Daisy-bushes Dame’s-violet Damson Dandelions Danish Scurvygrass Danthonia Daphne Dark Mullein Darnel Darwin’s Barberry Datura Daucus Day-lilies Deadly Nightshade Dead-nettles Deergrass

546 546 181 374 179 424 234 374 70 162 144 144 145 414 127 444 440 440 310 279 324 328 184 349 527 320 492 463 469 269 70 59 249 497 555 543 421 420 156 221 396 168 526 255 344 491 83 308 301 536 305 323 459

Flora of Monmouthshire Dense-flowered Mullein Deodar Deptford Pink Des Etangs’ St John’s-wort Deschampsia Descurainia Devil’s-bit Scabious Dianthus Diels’ Cotoneaster Digitalis Digitaria Diplotaxis Dipsacus Distant Sedge Dittander Divided Sedge Docks Dodder Dog’s Mercury Dog’s-tails Dog-rose Dogwood Doronicum Dotted Loosestrife Douglas Fir Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill Downy Birch Downy Oat-grass Dracunculus Dragon Arum Drooping Brome Dropwort Drosera Druce’s Crane’s-bill Dryopteris Duchesnea Duchesnea Duckweeds Duke-of-Argyll’s Teaplant Dusky Crane’s-bill Dutch Elm Dwarf Cherry Dwarf Eelgrass Dwarf Elder Dwarf Mallow Dwarf Spurge Dwarf Thistle Dyer’s Greenweed Eared Willow Early Dog-violet Early Forget-me-not Early Goldenrod Early Hair-grass

343 67 120 132 504 154 381 120 228 351 532 173 380 473 172 466 125 310 265 492 215 262 429 185 64 280 95 502 448 448 520 196 138 277 60 208 208 449 305 281 89 222 447 375 136 268 387 250 153 141 319 418 506

Early Marsh-orchid Early-purple Orchid Eastern Rocket Echinochloa Echinops Echium Eelgrass Egeria Eichornia Elder Elecampane Eleocharis Eleogiton Elodea Elongated Sedge Elymus Elytrigia Empetrum Enchanter’s-nightshade English Elm English Scurvygrass English Stonecrop English Whitebeam Epilobium Epipactis Equal-leaved Knotgrass Equisetum Erica Erigeron Erinus Eriophorum Erodium Erophila Eryngium Erysimum Eschsholzia Euonymus Eupatorium Euphorbia Euphrasia European Larch European Silver-fir European Violet-willow Evening Primroses Evergreen Oak Eyebrights Fagopyrum Fagus Fairy Flax Fairy Foxglove Fallopia False Apple-mint False Brome 570

556 557 154 529 383 313 446 439 535 374 417 459 462 440 467 522 522 179 261 89 167 192 225 256 549 124 49 181 419 351 458 281 167 285 155 86 263 436 265 357 66 64 150 260 93 357 123 92 272 351 124 335 521

False Fox-sedge 464 False Grass-poly 253 False Oat-grass 502 False Oxlip 184 False Virginia-creeper 271 False-acacia 230 Fan-leaved Water-crowfoot 82 Fat Duckweed 449 Fat-hen 99 Fen Bedstraw 371 Fennel 292 Fennel Pondweed 445 Fenugreek 243 Fern-grass 498 Fescues 484 Festuca 484 Feverfew 421 Few-flowered Garlic 541 Few-flowered Spike-rush 460 Ficus 90 Fiddle Dock 128 Field Bindweed 309 Field Forget-me-not 318 Field Garlic 541 Field Gentian 303 Field Gromwell 313 Field Horsetail 49 Field Madder 370 Field Maple 274 Field Pansy 143 Field Penny-cress 169, 170 Field Pepperwort 171 Field Scabious 381 Field Wood-rush 457 Field Woundwort 322 Field-rose 213 Fig 90 Fig-leaved Goosefoot 99 Figworts 345 Filago 414 Filipendula 196 Filmy Ferns 53 Fine-leaved Sandwort 107 Fine-leaved Sheep’s Fescue 488 Fine-leaved Water-dropwort 291 Fingered Sedge 478 Finger-grasses 532 Fir Clubmoss 47 Firs 63 Flattened Meadow-grass 496 Flax Dodder 310 Flaxes 271 Flea Sedge 481

Flora of Monmouthshire Fleabanes Flixweed Floating Club-rush Floating Pennywort Floating Sweet-grass Flowering Currant Flowering Rush Fluellens Fly Orchid Fodder Burnet Fodder Vetch Foeniculum Fool’s Parsley Fool’s-water-cress Forget-me-nots Forked Catchfly Forsythia Forsythia Forsythias Fox-and-cubs Foxglove Foxtail Barley Foxtail Bristle-grass Foxtails Fragaria Fragrant Agrimony Fragrant Orchid Frangula Fraxinus French Crane’s-bill French Figwort French Sorrel Fringecups Fringed Water-lily Fritillaria Fritillary Frog Orchid Frogbit Fuller’s Teasel Fumaria Fumitories Galanthus Galega Galeopsis Galingale Galinsoga Galium Gallant-soldier Garden Anchusa Garden Arabis Garden Asparagus Garden Candytuft Garden Cress

416 154 462 284 499 189 436 349 558 211 236 292 292 296 317 119 341 341 341 411 351 525 532 512 208 210 554 270 341 277 345 126 195 311 536 536 555 439 380 87 87 542 230 325 463 434 371 434 316 163 544 169 171

Garden Grape-hyacinth Garden Lobelia Garden Orache Garden Pansy Garden Parsley Garden Pea Garden Privet Garden Speedwell Garden Strawberry Garden Tree-mallow Garden-yellow Archangel Garlic Mustard Gastridium Gaultheria Genista Gentianella Gentians Geranium Germander Speedwell Germanders Geum Giant Bellflower Giant Butterbur Giant Fescue Giant Fir Giant Hogweed Giant Knotweed Glabrous Whitlowgrass Glandular Globe-thistle Glassworts Glaucium Glaucous Dog-rose Glaucous Sedge Glaux Glechoma Globeflower Globe-thistles Glyceria Gnaphalium Goat Willow Goat’s-beard Goat’s-rue Godetia Golden Dock Golden Dog’s-tail Goldenrod Golden-saxifrages Goldilocks Buttercup Gold-of-pleasure Good-King-Henry Gooseberries Gooseberry Goosefoots 571

540 370 100 143 296 241 342 356 208 137 323 155 511 180 250 303 303 277 352 327 209 367 431 485 64 300 125 167 383 102 86 217 471 187 322 73 382 499 416 151 393 230 261 129 492 418 195 77 168 97 188 188 97

Gorse Grape-hyacinth Grape-vine Grass Vetchling Grass-leaved Orache Grass-poly Great Brome Great Burnet Great Horsetail Great Lettuce Great Millet Great Mullein Great Willowherb Great Wood-rush Greater Bird’s-foot-trefoil Greater Broomrape Greater Burdock Greater Bur-parsley Greater Butterfly-orchid Greater Celandine Greater Chickweed Greater Cuckooflower Greater Duckweed Greater Knapweed Greater Periwinkle Greater Plantain Greater Pond-sedge Greater Quaking–grass Greater Sea-spurrey Greater Spearwort Greater Stitchwort Greater Tussock-sedge Greater Yellow-rattle Greek Dock Green Alkanet Green Amaranth Green Bristle-grass Green Buckwheat Green Field-speedwell Green Figwort Green Hellebore Green Spleenwort Greengage Green-ribbed Sedge Greenweeds Green-winged Orchid Grey Alder Grey Club-rush Grey Field-speedwell Grey Poplar Grey Sedge Grey Willow Grey-leaved Whitebeam

251 540 270 241 101 255 519 210 51 395 533 343 256 456 233 363 383 301 552 86 110 161 449 389 304 339 469 494 115 78 110 464 360 127 316 104 530 123 354 345 74 58 221 473 250 558 96 462 355 145 465 152 226

Flora of Monmouthshire Groenlandia 445 Gromwells 312 Ground-elder 288 Ground-ivy 328 Groundsel 428 Guelder-rose 375 Guizotia 433 Gymnadenia 554 Gymnocarpium 59 Gypsywort 332 Hair-grasses 504 Hairlike Pondweed 444 Hairy Bindweed 310 Hairy Bittercress 162 Hairy Buttercup 77 Hairy Finger-grass 532 Hairy Rock-cress 164, 165 Hairy Sedge 468 Hairy St John’s-wort 133 Hairy Tare 237 Hairy Violet 141 Hairy Whitlowgrass 167 Hairy Wood-rush 456 Hairy-brome 517 Hairy-fruited Broom 249 Hard Rush 455 Hard Shield-fern 60 Hard-fern 63 Hard-grass 498 Hare’s-ear 293 Hare’s-foot Clover 247 Hare’s-tail 511 Hare’s-tail Cottongrass 458 Harebell 368 Harsh Downy-rose 217 Hart’s-tongue 56 Hautbois Strawberry 208 Hawk’s-beards 409 Hawkbits 392 Hawkweed Oxtongue 393 Hawkweeds 411 Hawthorn 229 Hawthorns 229 Hazel 97 Heath Bedstraw 373 Heath Cudweed 416 Heath Dog-violet 142 Heath Groundsel 429 Heath Milkwort 273 Heath Rush 451 Heath Speedwell 352 Heath Spotted-orchid 556 Heath Wood-rush 457

Heather Heath-grass Heaths Hedera Hedge Barberry Hedge Bedstraw Hedge Bindweed Hedge Mustard Hedge Woundwort Hedge-parsleys Hedgerow Crane’s-bill Helianthemum Helianthus Helictotrichon Hellebores Helleborines Helleborus Hemerocallis Hemlock Hemlock Spruces Hemlock Water-dropwort Hemp Hemp Agrimony Hemp-nettles Henbane Hen-bit Dead-nettle Heracleum Herb-paris Herb-robert Hesperis Hibiscus Hieracium acuminatum Hieracium anglorum Hieracium argillaceum Hieracium aterrimum Hieracium aviicola Hieracium calcaricola Hieracium consociatum Hieracium daedalolepioides Hieracium diaphanoides Hieracium diaphanum Hieracium dowardense Hieracium eboracense Hieracium elevatum Hieracium erubescens Hieracium exotericum

Hieracium glevense Hieracium grandidens Hieracium leyanum Hieracium nemophilum Hieracium pachyphylloides Hieracium pellucidum Hieracium sabaudum 572

180 526 181 283 83 372 309 154 321 300 279 140 433 502 73 549 73 536 293 65 291 89 436 325 305 324 299 538 281 156 138 411 411 411 412 412 412 412 412 412 412 412 412 412 412 412 413 413 413 413 413 413 413

Hieracium salticola Hieracium scabrisetum Hieracium scanicum Hieracium spilophaeum Hieracium stenstroemii Hieracium subaequialtum Hieracium subamplifolium Hieracium sublepistoides Hieracium submutabile Hieracium sylvularum Hieracium umbellatum Hieracium vagum Hieracium virgultorum Hieracium vulgatum Himalayan Cotoneaster Himalayan Honeysuckle Himalayan Knotweed Hippocrepis Hippophae Hippuris Hirschfeldia Hoary Alison Hoary Cinquefoil Hoary Cress Hoary Mullein Hoary Mustard Hoary Plantain Hoary Ragwort Hoary Willowherb Hogweed Holcus Holly Holme Willow Honckenya Honesty Honeysuckle Hop Hop Trefoil Hordelymus Hordeum Hornbeam Horned Pondweed Horned-poppies Hornworts Horse-chestnut Horse-radish Horseshoe Vetch Horsetails Hound’s-tongue House-leek Humulus Hungarian Brome Hungarian Vetch

413 413 413 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 228 376 121 234 252 337 176 166 206 172 344 176 340 427 256 299 505 264 151 107 166 377 90 245 523 523 96 446 86 72 273 161 234 48 320 190 90 519 237

Flora of Monmouthshire Huperzia 47 Hyacinthoides 539 Hybrid Avens 209 Hybrid Balsam-poplar 148 Hybrid Bedstraw 373 Hybrid Birch 95 Hybrid Black-poplar 147 Hybrid Bluebell 539 Hybrid Campion 118 Hybrid Cinquefoil 206, 207 Hybrid Crack-willow 148 Hybrid Deergrass 459 Hybrid Dock 127 Hybrid Dog-rose 216 Hybrid Dog-violet 142 Hybrid Downy-rose 218 Hybrid Eyebright 358, 359 Hybrid Forget-me-not 318 Hybrid Goat Willow 152 Hybrid Hawthorn 229 Hybrid Japanese Knotweed 125 Hybrid Larch 66 Hybrid Marsh-orchid 556 Hybrid Monk’s-hood 75 Hybrid Monkeyflower 347 Hybrid Oak 94 Hybrid Persicaria 123 Hybrid Ragwort 427 Hybrid Rose 213 Hybrid Rowan 224 Hybrid Rush 454, 455 Hybrid Rye-grass 491 Hybrid Sedge 464 Hybrid Sweet-grass 500 Hybrid Toadflax 351 Hybrid Violet 141 Hybrid Water-cress 160 Hybrid Willow 150 Hybrid Woundwort 321 Hydrocharis 439 Hydrocotyle 284 Hymenophyllum 53 Hyocyamus 305 Hypericum 131 Hypochaeris 391 Hyssop 330 Hyssopus 330 Iberian Toadflax 348 Iberis 169 Ilex 264 Illecebrum 115 Impatiens 282 Imperforate St John’s-wort 132

Indehiscent Pigweed Indian Balsam Indian Pokeweed Intermediate Polypody Intermediate Water-starwort Inula Iris Irises Isolepis Italian Alder Italian Catchfly Italian Lords-and-Ladies Italian Rye-grass Ivy Ivy Broomrape Ivy-leaved Bellflower Ivy-leaved Crowfoot Ivy-leaved Duckweed Ivy-leaved Speedwell Ivy-leaved Toadflax Jacob’s-ladder Japanese Knotweed Japanese Larch Japanese Millet Japanese Red-cedar Japanese Rose Jasione Johnson-grass Jointed Rush Juglans Juncus Junipers Juniperus Kattegat Orache Keeled-fruited Cornsalad Kerria Kerria Kickxia Kidney Vetch Killarney Fern Knapweeds Knautia Knawels Knotgrass Knotroot Bristle-grass Knotted Clover Knotted Hedge-parsley Knotted Pearlwort Knotweeds Koeleria Koelreuteria Laburnum Laburnum 573

104 283 97 54 338 416 545 545 462 96 117 448 490 283 364 369 79 450 356 349 312 124 66 529 70 214 369 532 453 92 451 71 71 100 378 197 197 349 232 53 389 381 114 123 530 247 301 113 121 504 273 249 249

Lactuca 395 Lady’s Bedstraw 372 Lady’s-mantle 211, 212 Lady’s-tresses 551 Lady-fern 58 Lagarosiphon 440 Lagurus 511 Lamarckia 492 Lamb’s-ear 321 Lamiastrum 323 Lamium 323 Lapsana 391 Larches 66 Large Bindweed 310 Large Thyme 331 Large-flowered Eveningprimrose 260 Large-flowered Hemp-nettle 325 Large-flowered Pink-sorrel 276 Large-flowered Waterweed 439 Large-headed Brome 517 Large-leaved Lime 135 Larix 66 Larkspur 75 Late Michaelmas-daisies 419 Lathraea 362 Lathyrus 239 Laurus 72 Laurustinus 376 Lavatera 137 Lawson’s Cypress 70 Lax Viper’s-bugloss 314 Leafy Rush 452 Least Duckweed 450 Least Pepperwort 171 Least Yellow-sorrel 276 Lemna 449 Lemon-scented Fern 56 Lenten-rose 74 Leontodon 392 Leonurus 322 Leopard’s-bane 429 Lepidium 169 Lesser Bulrush 534 Lesser Burdock 384 Lesser Butterfly-orchid 553 Lesser Celandine 79 Lesser Centaury 302 Lesser Chickweed 110 Lesser Hairy-brome 517 Lesser Hawkbit 392 Lesser Marshwort 296 Lesser Meadow-rue 83

Flora of Monmouthshire Lesser Periwinkle Lesser Pond-sedge Lesser Pondweed Lesser Quaking-grass Lesser Sea-spurrey Lesser Skullcap Lesser Soft-brome Lesser Spearwort Lesser Star-thistle Lesser Stitchwort Lesser Swine-cress Lesser Trefoil Lesser Water-parsnip Lesser Water-plantain Lettuces Leucanthemum Leucojum Levisticum Leycesteria Ligustrum Lilac Lilies Lilium Lily-of-the-Valley Lime Limestone Bedstraw Limestone Fern Limonium Linaria Linum Listera Lithospermum Little Mouse-ear Little-robin Littorella Lobelia Lobelias Lobularia Lodgepole Pine Lolium London Plane London Pride London Rocket Long-bracted Sedge Long-headed Poppy Long-spiked Glasswort Long-stalked Crane’s-bill Long-stalked Orache Lonicera Loosestrife Loosestrifes Lords-and-Ladies Lotus

304 468 443 494 116 326 516 78 390 110 173 246 289 438 395 425 542 299 376 342 341 536 536 537 135 373 59 130 350 271 551 312 112 281 340 370 370 166 68 490 88 194 154 475 85 103 278 101 376 253 253 448 233

Lousewort 362 Lovage 299 Love-lies-bleeding 104 Lucerne 243 Lucombe Oak 93 Lunaria 166 Lungwort 314 Lupins 248 Lupinus 248 Luzula 456 Lychnis 116 Lycium 305 Lycopersicon 306 Lycopodium 47 Lycopus 332 Lysichiton 448 Lysimachia 184 Lythrum 253 Macedonian Pine 68 Madder 374 Mahonia 84 Maidenhair Spleenwort 57 Maize 533 Male-fern 61 Mallows 136 Maltese-cross 117 Malus 223 Malva 136 Many-seeded Goosefoot 98 Many-stalked Spike-rush 460 Maple-leaved Goosefoot 99 Mare’s-tail 337 Marigolds 431, 436 Marram 511 Marrow 145 Marrubium 326 Marsh Arrowgrass 441 Marsh Cinquefoil 205 Marsh Cudweed 416 Marsh Dock 129 Marsh Fern 55 Marsh Foxtail 512 Marsh Hawk’s-beard 409 Marsh Helleborine 549 Marsh Horsetail 51 Marsh Lousewort 361 Marsh Pennywort 284 Marsh Ragwort 427 Marsh Speedwell 353 Marsh St John’s-wort 134 Marsh Thistle 387 Marsh Valerian 379 Marsh Violet 142 574

Marsh Willowherb Marsh Woundwort Marsh Yellow-cress Marsh-mallow Marsh-mallows Marsh-marigold Marsh-orchids Marshworts Martagon Lily Mat Grass Matricaria Mayweeds Meadow Barley Meadow Brome Meadow Buttercup Meadow Clary Meadow Crane’s-bill Meadow Fescue Meadow Foxtail Meadow Oat-grass Meadow Saffron Meadow Saxifrage Meadow Thistle Meadow Vetchling Meadow-grasses Meadow-rues Meadowsweet Meconopsis Medicago Medick Clover Mediterranean Rye-grass

259 321 160 137 137 73 555 295 536 482 425 425 525 516 76 336 278 484 512 502 536 194 386 239 494 82 196 86 243 311 490 Medium-flowered Winter-cress 159 Melampyrum 357 Melica 500 Melicks 500 Melilots 242 Melilotus 242 Melissa 329 Melon 144 Mentha 332 Menyanthes 311 Mercurialis 265 Mercuries 265 Mexican Aster 435 Mezereon 255 Michaelmas-daisies 419 Midland Hawthorn 229 Mignonettes 179 Milium 484 Milk Thistle 388 Milk-vetches 230 Millets 528 Mimulus 346

Flora of Monmouthshire Mind-your-own-business Mints Minuartia Misopates Mistletoe Moehringia trinervia Molinia Monk’s-hood Monkeyflower Monkey-puzzle Monotropa Montbretia Montbretias Monterey Pine Montia Moonwort Moschatel Mossy Saxifrage Moth Mullein Motherwort Mountain Currant Mountain Everlasting Mountain Melick Mountain Pansy Mouse-ear-hawkweeds Mouse-ears Mugwort Mulleins Muscari Musk Musk Stork’s-bill Musk Thistle Musk-mallow Mustards Mycelis Myosotis Myosoton Myriophyllum Myrrhis Narcissus Nardus Narrow Buckler-fern Narrow-fruited Cornsalad Narrow-fruited Water-cress Narrow-leaved Bird’sfoot-trefoil Narrow-leaved Bitter-cress Narrow-leaved Eelgrass

91 332 107 349 263 106 526 74 346 71 183 546 546 68 105 52 377 194 343 322 189 415 500 143 410 111 422 343 540 346 282 385 136 175 396 317 113 252 286 543 482 62 378 160

233 162 447 Narrow-leaved Everlasting-pea 240 Narrow-leaved Helleborine 549 Narrow-leaved Meadow-grass 496 Narrow-leaved Pepperwort 172 Narrow-leaved Water-plantain 438

Narrow-lipped Helleborine 549 Narthecium 535 Navelwort 190 Neottia 550 Nepeta 327 Nettle-leaved Bellflower 368 Nettle-leaved Goosefoot 99 Nettle-leaved Mullein 344 Nettles 90 New Zealand Bitter-cress 163, 164 New Zealand Holly 421 New Zealand Pigmyweed 189 New Zealand Willowherb 259 Nicandra 304 Niger 433 Nightshades 306 Nipplewort 391 Nit-grass 511 Noble Fir 64 Nodding Bur-marigold 434 Norfolk Everlasting-pea 240 Norway Maple 274 Norway Spruce 65 Nothofagus 92 Nottingham Catchfly 117 Nuphar 72 Nuttall’s Waterweed 440 Nymphaea 72 Nymphoides 311 Oak Fern 59 Oak-leaved Goosefoot 98 Oaks 93 Oat 503 Oat-grasses 502 Odontites 360 Oemleria 223 Oenanthe 290 Oenothera 260 Oil-seed Rape 174 Olearia 420 Onions 540 Onobrychis 232 Ononis 241 Onopordum 388 Ophioglossum 52 Ophrys 558 Opium Poppy 84 Opposite-leaved Goldensaxifrage 195 Opposite-leaved Pondweed 445 Oraches 100 Orange Balsam 282 Orange Day-lily 536 575

Orange Foxtail Orange Mullein Orchid Family Orchids Orchis Oregon-grape Oreopteris Oriental Poppy Oriental Woodruff Origanum Ornithogalum Ornithopus Orobanche Orpine Orthilia Oryzopsis Osier Osoberry Oval Sedge Oxalis Oxeye Daisy Oxford Ragwort Oxtongues P. x mantoniae Pale Dog-violet Pale Flax Pale Galingale Pale Persicaria Pale Sedge Pale St John’s-wort Pale Toadflax Pale Willowherb Pale Yellow-eyed-grass Panicum Papaver Parapholis Parentucellia Parietaria Paris Parrot’s-feather Parsley Water-dropwort Parsley-piert Parsleys Parsnips Parthenocissus Pasta Wheat Pastinaca Peach-leaved Bellflower Pearlworts Pearly Everlasting Pears Peas Pedicularis

513 343 547 557 557 84 56 84 371 330 539 234 363 191 183 482 150 223 467 275 425 428 393 54 142 271 463 122 477 134 351 258 545 528 84 498 360 91 538 252 290 212 296 299 270 526 299 367 113 415 223 239 361

Flora of Monmouthshire Pedunculate Oak Pedunculate Water-starwort Pellitory-of-the-wall Pencilled Crane’s-bill Pendulous Sedge Penny-cresses Pennyroyal Pennyworts Pentaglottis Peppermint Pepper-saxifrage Pepperworts Perennial Cornflower Perennial Flax Perennial Rye-grass Perennial Sow-thistle Perennial Sunflower Perennial Wall-rocket Perfoliate Honeysuckle Perfoliate Pondweed Perforate St John’s-wort Periwinkles Persicaria Petasites Petrorhagia Petroselinum Petty Spurge Petty Whin Phacelia Phacelia Phalaris Pheasant’s-eye Pheasant’s-eye Daffodil Phegopteris Phleum Phragmites Phyllitis Phytolacca Picea Picea abies Pick-a-back-plant Picris Pignut Pill Sedge Pilosella Pimpernels Pimpinella Pineappleweed Pines Pinguicula Pink Purslane Pink Shepherd’s-purse Pink Water-speedwell

94 338 91 277 470 169 336 284 316 334 293 169 389 272 490 394 433 173 377 443 131 304 121 430 120 296 268 250 312 312 507 82 544 55 515 527 56 97 65 65 195 393 288 480 410 187 288 426 67 365 104 169 354

Pinks Pink-sorrel Pinus Pisum Planes Plantago Platanthera Platanus Plicate Sweet-grass Ploughman’s Spikenard Plymouth Thistle Poa Pokeweeds Polemonium Polygala Polygonatum Polygonum Polypodium Polypody Polypogon Polystichum Pondweeds Poplars Populus Portugal Laurel Pot Marigold Pot Marjoram Potamogeton Potato Potentilla Prickly Lettuce Prickly Poppy Prickly Sedge Prickly Sow-thistle Pride-of-India Primrose Primrose-peerles s Primroses Primula Privets Procumbent Pearlwort Procumbent Yellow-sorrel Proliferous Pink Prunella Prunus Pseudofumaria Pseudorchis Pseudosasa Pseudotsuga Psoralea Pteridium Puccinellia Pulicaria 576

120 276 67 241 88 339 552 88 500 417 384 494 97 312 272 537 123 53 53 511 60 442 145 145 222 431 331 442 308 205 395 85 465 395 273 183 544 183 183 342 113 275 120 328 220 87 554 482 64 230 54 493 417

Pulmonaria Purple Crane’s-bill Purple Glasswort Purple Gromwell Purple Moor-grass Purple Ramping-fumitory Purple Toadflax Purple Toothwort Purple Willow Purple-loosestrife Purslanes Pyramidal Orchid Pyrenean Lily Pyrola Pyrus Quaking-grass Quercus Radishes Ragged-robin Ragweed Ragworts Ramsons Ranunculus Raphanus Rapistrum Raspberry Rat’s-tail Fescue Rauli Rayed Groundsel Red Bartsia Red Campion Red Clover Red Currant Red Dead-nettle Red Fescue Red Goosefoot Red Hemp-nettle Red Horse-chestnut Red Nightshade Red Oak Red Star-thistle Red Valerian Red-cedars Red-leaved Rose Redshank Reed Canary-grass Reed Sweet-grass Reflexed Saltmarsh-grass Reflexed Stonecrop Remote Sedge Rescue Brome Reseda Restharrows

314 279 102 312 526 88 351 363 150 253 104 553 537 182 223 494 93 178 116 431 426 541 76 178 176 197 491 93 428 360 118 246 188 324 487 98 325 273 308 94 390 379 70 214 122 507 499 493 191 467 521 179 241

Flora of Monmouthshire Reversed Clover 245 Rhamnus 265 Rhinanthus 360 Rhododendron 180 Rhododendron 180 Rhus typhina 275 Rhynchospora 463 Ribbed Melilot 242 Ribes 188 Ribwort Plantain 340 Rigid Hornwort 72 River Water-crowfoot 81 Robinia 230 Roble 92 Rock Samphire 289 Rock Soapwort 119 Rock Stonecrop 191 Rock Whitebeam 227 Rock-cresses 164 Rockets 154 Rock-roses 140 Rootless Duckweed 450 Rorippa 159 Rosa 213 Rose Campion 116 Rosebay Willowherb 259 Rose-of-heaven 119 Rose-of-Sharon 131 Roses 213 Rosy Garlic 540 Rough Bent 509 Rough Bristle-grass 530 Rough Chervil 285 Rough Clover 247 Rough Dog’s-tail 492 Rough Hawk’s-beard 409 Rough Hawkbit 392 Rough Meadow-grass 495 Round-fruited Rush 452 Round-headed Club-rush 461 Round-leaved Crane’s-bill 277 Round-leaved Crowfoot 80 Round-leaved Dog-rose 217 Round-leaved Fluellen 350 Round-leaved Sundew 140 Round-leaved Whitebeam 226 Rowan 224 Rubia 374 Rubus ‘Beacon Hill serpens’ 199 Rubus “macrophylloides” 201 Rubus acclivitatum 198 Rubus acutifrons 198 Rubus albionis 198

Rubus amplificatus Rubus angusticuspis Rubus ariconiensis Rubus aristisepalus Rubus armeniacus Rubus armipotens Rubus arrheniiformis Rubus bertramii Rubus biloensis Rubus bloxamii Rubus boraeanus Rubus botryeros Rubus caesius Rubus caesius hybrid Rubus cardiophyllus Rubus cavatifolius Rubus conjungens Rubus dasycoccus Rubus dasyphyllus Rubus dentatifolius Rubus echinatoides Rubus echinatus Rubus euanthinus Rubus euryanthemus Rubus flexuosus Rubus fruticosus agg. Rubus fuscicaulis Rubus glareosus Rubus halsteadensis Rubus hibernicus Rubus hirsutissimus Rubus idaeus Raspberry Rubus imbricatus Rubus insectifolius Rubus iscanus Rubus leyanus Rubus lindebergii Rubus lindleianus Rubus longithyrsiger Rubus longus Rubus melanocladus Rubus micans Rubus moylei Rubus nemoralis Rubus nemorosus Rubus nessensis Rubus pallidisetus Rubus phoenicolasius Rubus pictorum Rubus platyacanthus Rubus polyanthemus Rubus prolongatus Rubus pruinosus 577

198 198 198 198 198 199 199 199 199 199 199 199 199 199 199 199 199 199 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 198 200 200 200 200 200 197 200 200 200 201 201 201 201 201 201 201 201 201 201 201 201 198 201 201 202 202 202

Rubus purchasianus Rubus pyramidalis Rubus radulicaulis Rubus riddelsdellii Rubus rossensis Rubus rubritinctus Rubus rudis Rubus rufescens Rubus saxatilis Rubus scaber Rubus scabripes Rubus sciocharis Rubus scissus Rubus sprengelii Rubus surrejanus Rubus trelleckensis Rubus tricolor Rubus troiensis Rubus tuberculatus Rubus ulmifolius Rubus ulmifolius hybrid Rubus vagensis Rubus vestitus Rubus vestitus hybrid Rubus vigorosus Rubus winteri Rudbeckia Rue-leaved Saxifrage Rumex Ruppia Ruscus Rushes Russell Lupin Russian Comfrey Russian-vine Rustyback Rye Brome Rye-grasses Sachalin Willow Safflower Saffron Crocus Sagina Sagittaria Sainfoin Salad Burnet Salicornia Salix Salsify Saltmarsh Rush Saltmarsh-grasses Salvia Sambucus Samolus

202 202 202 202 202 202 202 202 197 203 203 203 203 203 203 203 203 203 203 204 204 204 204 204 204 205 433 194 125 445 544 451 249 315 125 58 517 490 150 390 546 113 437 232 211 102 148 394 452 493 336 374 188

Flora of Monmouthshire Sand Sedge Sand Spurrey Sandworts Sanguisorba Sanicle Sanicula Saponaria Sasa Saw-wort Saxifraga Saxifrages Scabiosa Scabiouses Scaly Male-fern Scandix Scarlet Pimpernel Scented Mayweed Scentless Mayweed Schoenoplectus Scirpoides Scirpus Scleranthus Scots Pine Scottish Monkeyflower Scrophularia Scurfy Pea Scurvygrasses Scutellaria Sea Arrowgrass Sea Aster Sea Barley Sea Beet Sea Campion Sea Clover Sea Club-rush Sea Couch Sea Fern-grass Sea Mayweed Sea Mouse-ear Sea Pearlwort Sea Plantain Sea Radish Sea Rush Sea Sandwort Sea Spleenwort Sea Stork’s-bill Sea Wormwood Sea-blites Sea-buckthorn Sea-hollies Sea-lavenders Sea-milkwort Sea-spurries

466 116 106 210 284 284 119 482 388 194 194 382 382 61 286 187 425 426 461 461 461 114 67 347 345 230 167 326 441 419 525 101 118 248 460 522 498 426 112 114 339 178 454 107 57 281 422 103 252 285 130 187 115

Securigea Sedges Sedum Selfheal Sempervivum Senecio Sequoia Sequoiadendron Serbian Spruce Seriphidium Serrated Wintergreen Serratula Sessile Oak Setaria Shaggy-soldier Shallon Sharp-flowered Rush Sharp-leaved Fluellen Sharp-stipuled Willow Sharp-toothed Mint Shasta Daisy Sheep’s Fescue Sheep’s Sorrel Sheep’s-bit Shepherd’s-needle Shepherd’s-purse Sherard’s Downy-rose Sherardia Shield-ferns Shining Crane’s-bill Shining Pondweed Shoreweed Short-fruited Willowherb Short-styled Field-rose Shrubby Cinquefoil Sibthorpia Sickle Medick Sickle-fruited Fenugreek Silaum Silene Silky-leaved Osier Silver Birch Silver Hair-grass Silver Maple Silver Ragwort Silybum Sinapis Sison Sisymbrium Sisyrinchium Sitka Spruce Skullcap Skunk-cabbage 578

234 463 191 328 190 426 69 69 65 422 183 388 94 530 434 180 454 349 149 335 425 488 125 369 286 168 218 370 60 280 443 340 258 214 205 356 244 243 293 117 151 95 506 275 427 388 175 297 154 545 65 326 448

Slender Borage Slender Hare’s-ear Slender Mugwort Slender Parsley-piert Slender Rush Slender Soft-brome Slender Speedwell Slender St John’s-wort Slender Thistle Slender Trefoil Slender Tufted-sedge Small Balsam Small Cudweed Small Melilot Small Nettle Small Pondweed Small Scabious Small Sweet-grass Small Teasel Small Toadflax Small White-orchid Smaller Cat’s-tail Small-flowered Buttercup Small-flowered Catchfly Small-flowered Crane’s-bill Small-flowered Eveningprimrose Small-flowered Sweet-briar Small-leaved Lime Small-reeds Smilo-grass Smith’s Pepperwort Smooth Brome Smooth Finger-grass Smooth Hawk’s-beard Smooth Meadow-grass Smooth Sow-thistle Smooth Tare Smooth-stalked Sedge Smyrnium Snapdragon Sneezewort Snowberries Snowberry Snowdrop Snowflakes Snow-in-summer Soapwort Soft Downy-rose Soft Hornwort Soft Rush Soft Shield-fern Soft-brome

317 293 423 213 451 517 355 133 384 246 480 283 415 243 91 444 382 499 380 349 554 515 77 119 280 260 219 135 509 482 171 516 532 410 496 394 237 473 287 349 423 376 376 542 542 111 119 218 73 455 60 516

Flora of Monmouthshire Soft-grasses Soft-leaved Sedge Solanum Soleirolia Solidago Solomon’s-seal Sonchus Sorbus Sorghum Southern Beeches Southern Marigold Southern Marsh-orchid Southern Polypody Southern Wood-rush Southern Yarrow Sowbread Sowbreads Sow-thistles Spanish Bluebell Spanish Broom Spanish Daffodil Spanish Fir Spanish Gorse Sparganium Spartina Spartium Spear Mint Spear Thistle Spear-leaved Orache Spear-leaved Willowherb Speedwells Spergula Spergularia Spiked Sedge Spiked Water-milfoil Spindle Spindles Spiny Restharrow Spiraea Spiranthes Spirodela Spleenworts Spotted Dead-nettle Spotted Laurel Spotted Medick Spreading Bellflower Spreading Hedge-parsley Spreading Meadow-grass Spring-sedge Spruces Spurge Laurel Spurges Spurreys

499 480 306 91 418 537 394 224 532 92 436 557 54 456 423 184 184 394 539 250 543 64 251 533 528 250 335 386 100 257 352 115 115 465 253 263 263 241 196 551 449 56 324 262 244 366 300 496 478 65 256 265 115

Square-stalked St John’s-wort

Square-stalked Willowherb Squirrel-tail Fescue St John’s-wort Stachys Stag’s-horn Clubmoss Stag’s-horn Sumach Star Sedge Star-of-Bethlehem Steeple Bush Stellaria Stern’s Cotoneaster Sticky Groundsel Sticky Mouse-ear Stiff Saltmarsh-grass Stinking Chamomile Stinking Goosefoot Stinking Hellebore Stinking Iris Stinking Tutsan Stitchworts Stone bramble Stone Parsley Stone Pine Stonecrops Stork’s-bills Stratiotes Strawberries Strawberry Clover Strawberry-tree Stream Water-crowfoot Striped Goosefoot Suaeda Subterranean Clover Succisa Sulphur Cinquefoil Summer Snowflake Summer-cypress Sun Spurge Sunflower Sunflowers Swamp Cypress Swamp Meadow-grass Swedish Whitebeam Sweet Alison Sweet Chestnut Sweet Cicely Sweet Pea Sweet Vernal-grass Sweet Violet Sweet-briar Sweet-flag Sweet-grasses 579

132 257 491 130 320 47 275 467 539 196 107 228 429 112 493 424 99 74 546 131 107 197 297 68 191 281 439 208 245 180 81 100 103 248 381 206 542 100 266 433 433 69 497 225 166 93 286 240 506 140 219 448 498

Sweet-William Swine-cress Sycamore Symphoricarpos Symphytum Syringia Tagetes Tall Fescue Tall Melilot Tall Mint Tall Ramping-f umitory Tall Rocket Tamus Tanacetum Tansy Taraxacum "non-severum" Taraxacum aberrans Taraxacum acroglossum Taraxacum acutifidum Taraxacum acutifrons Taraxacum aequilobum Taraxacum aequisectum Taraxacum akteum Taraxacum alatum Taraxacum amplum Taraxacum anceps Taraxacum ancistrolobum Taraxacum angulare

120 172 274 376 314 341 436 484 242 333 87 154 547 421 421 406 401 401 401 401 401 401 397 402 402 402 402 402 Taraxacum angustisquameum 402 Taraxacum argutum 397 Taraxacum atactum 397 Taraxacum atonolobum 402 Taraxacum aurosulum 402 Taraxacum boekmanii 400 Taraxacum brachyglossum 397 Taraxacum bracteatum 398 Taraxacum breconense 398 Taraxacum britannicum 398 Taraxacum cambricum 398 Taraxacum celticum 398 Taraxacum chloroticum 402 Taraxacum chrysophaenum 402 Taraxacum coartatum 402 Taraxacum cophocentrum 402 Taraxacum cordatum 402 Taraxacum corynodes 403 Taraxacum croceiflorum 403 Taraxacum curtifrons 403 Taraxacum cyanolepis 403 Taraxacum dahlstedtii 403 Taraxacum deglii 397 Taraxacum densilobum 403 Taraxacum diastematicum 403

Flora of Monmouthshire Taraxacum dilaceratum 403 Taraxacum dilatatum 403 Taraxacum duplidentifrons 398 Taraxacum edmondsonianum 403 Taraxacum ekmani 403 Taraxacum euryphyllum 399 Taraxacum exacutum 404 Taraxacum excellens 398 Taraxacum expallidiforme 404 Taraxacum exsertiforme 404 Taraxacum faeroense 397 Taraxacum fagerstroemii 404 Taraxacum fasciatum 404 Taraxacum fulgidum 398 Taraxacum fulvicarpum 398 Taraxacum fulviforme 397 Taraxacum gelertii 398 Taraxacum glauciniformee 397 Taraxacum haematicum 398 Taraxacum hamatiforme 400 Taraxacum hamatulum 400 Taraxacum hamatum 400 Taraxacum hamiferum 400 Taraxacum hemicyclum 404 Taraxacum hesperium 398 Taraxacum horridifrons 404 Taraxacum huelphersianum 404 Taraxacum incisum 404 Taraxacum inopinatum 397 Taraxacum insigne 404 Taraxacum interveniens 404 Taraxacum intumescens 404 Taraxacum kernianum 400 Taraxacum lacerifolium 404 Taraxacum lacistophyllum 397 Taraxacum laeticolor 404 Taraxacum lamprophyllum 400 Taraxacum lancastriense 398 Taraxacum lancidens 401 Taraxacum landmarkii 399 Taraxacum latens 405 Taraxacum laticordatum 405 Taraxacum latisectum 405 Taraxacum latissimum 405 Taraxacum leucopodium 405 Taraxacum lingulatum 405 Taraxacum lucidum 405 Taraxacum lunare 405 Taraxacum macrolobum 405 Taraxacum maculatum 406 Taraxacum maculosum 399 Taraxacum marklundii 401 Taraxacum melanthoides 406

406 406 406 406 399 406 406 406 406 397 406 406 406 406 407 407 407 407 407 407 407 399 Taraxacum procerisquameum 407 Taraxacum proximum 397 Taraxacum pseudohamatum 401 Taraxacum pseudoretroflexum 408 Taraxacum pulchrifolium 408 Taraxacum quadrans 401 Taraxacum rhamphodes 408 Taraxacum richardsianum 399 Taraxacum sahlinianum 401 Taraxacum sellandii 408 Taraxacum sinuatum 408 Taraxacum spiculatum 401 Taraxacum stenacrum 408 Taraxacum stereodes 408 Taraxacum subbracteatum 399 Taraxacum subcyanolepis 408 Taraxacum subexpallidum 408 Taraxacum subhamatum 401 Taraxacum sublaeticolor 408 Taraxacum sublongisquameum 408 Taraxacum subpraticola 408 Taraxacum tenebricans 408 Taraxacum trilobatum 408 Taraxacum tumentilobum 408 Taraxacum undulatiflorum 409 Taraxacum undulatum 409 Taraxacum unguilobum 399 Taraxacum vastisectum 409 Taraxacum xanthostigma 409 Tassel Hyacinth 540 Tasselweed 445

Taraxacum multicolorans Taraxacum necessarium Taraxacum nigridentatum Taraxacum nitidum Taraxacum nordstedtii Taraxacum oblongatum Taraxacum obtusifrons Taraxacum ochrochlorum Taraxacum opertum Taraxacum oxoniense Taraxacum pachymerum Taraxacum pallescens Taraxacum pallidipes Taraxacum pannucium Taraxacum pannulatiforme Taraxacum pannulatum Taraxacum pectinatiforme Taraxacum piceatum Taraxacum planum Taraxacum polyodon Taraxacum porrigens Taraxacum porteri

580

Tasteless Water-pepper Tawny Sedge Taxodium Taxus Teaplants Teasels Tellima Ternate-leaved Cinquefoil Teucrium Thale Cress Thalictrum Thelypteris Thin-spiked Wood-sedge Thistles Thlaspi Thorn-apple

123 475 69 71 305 380 195 206 327 155 82 55 471 384 169 308 Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot 80 Three-cornered Garlic 540 Three-nerved Sandwort 106 Thrift 130 Thuja 70 Thyme 331 Thyme-leaved Cotoneaster 228 Thyme-leaved Sandwort 106 Thyme-leaved Speedwell 352 Thymus 331 Tilia 135 Timothy 515 Toad Rush 453 Toadflaxes 350 Tolmiea 195 Tomato 306 Toothed Medick 244 Toothwort 362 Tor-grass 521 Torilis 300 Tormentil 206 Tower Cress 164 Townsend’s Cord-grass 528 Trachystemon 317 Tragopogon 393 Trailing Bellflower 367 Trailing St John’s-wort 133 Trailing Tormentil 206 Traveller’s-joy 75 Treacle-mustard 155 Tree Cotoneaster 227 Tree Lupin 249 Tree Mallow 137 Trichomanes 53 Trichophorum 458 nothosp. foersteri 459 Trifid Bur-marigold 435

Flora of Monmouthshire Trifolium 244 Triglochin 441 Trigonella 243 Triple-hybrid Monkeyflower 347 Tripleurospermum 426 Trisetum 503 Triticum 526 Trollius 73 Tropical Finger-grass 532 Tsuga 65 Tsuga heterophylla 65 Tuberous Comfrey 315 Tubular Water-dropwort 290 Tufted Forget-me-not 318 Tufted Hair-grass 504 Tufted Sedge 481 Tufted Vetch 235 Tunbridge Filmy-fern 53 Turgenia 301 Turkey Oak 93 Tussilago 430 Tutsan 131 Twayblades 551 Twiggy Mullein 343 Two-flowered Everlasting-pea 239 Two-rowed Barley 523 Typha 534 Ulex 251 Ulmus 89 Umbilicus 190 Unbranched Bur-reed 534 Upland Enchanter’s-nightshade 261 Upright Brome 519 Upright Goosefoot 99 Upright Hedge-parsley 300 Upright Spurge 265, 267 Upright Yellow-sorrel 276 Urtica 90 Utricularia 365 Vaccaria 120 Vaccinium 182 Valeriana 379 Valerianella 378 Valerians 379 Various-leaved Fescue 485 Various-leaved Water-starwort 337 Velvet Bent 509 Velvetleaf 138 Verbascum 343 Verbena 320 Vernal-grasses 506 Veronica 331 Vervain 320

Vetches 235 Viburnum 375 Viburnums 375 Vicia 235 Vinca 304 Viola 140 Viper’s-bugloss 313 Virginia-creeper 270 Viscum 263 Vitis 270 Vulpia 491 Wahlenbergia 186, 369 Wall Barley 523 Wall Cotoneaster 228 Wall Lettuce 396 Wall Speedwell 354 Wallflower 155 Wallflower Cabbage 176 Wall-rockets 173 Wall-rue 57 Walnut 92 Wasp Orchid 560 Water Avens 209 Water Bent 512 Water Chickweed 113 Water Dock 126 Water Fern 63 Water Figwort 345 Water Forget-me-not 317 Water Horsetail 49 Water Hyacinth 535 Water Melon 144 Water Mint 334 Water-cress 159 Water-dropworts 290 Water-milfoils 252 Water-pepper 122 Water-plantain 438 Water-purslane 255 Water-soldier 439 Water-Starworts 337 Waterweeds 440 Wavy Bitter-cress 162 Wavy Hair-grass 505 Wayfaring-tree 375 Weasel’s-snout 349 Weasel-snouts 349 Weeping Willow 149 Weld 179 Wellingtonia 69 Welsh Poppy 86 Welsh Wood Stitchwort 109 Welted Thistle 385 581

Western Balsam-poplar Western Gorse Western Hemlock-spruce Western Red-cedar Wheats White Beak-rush White Bryony White Campion White Clover White Dead-nettle White Horehound White Melilot White Mignonette White Millet White Mullein White Mustard White Pigweed White Poplar White Sedge White Stonecrop White Water-lily White Willow Whitebeams Whitlowgrasses Whorled Caraway Whorled Clary Whorled Mint Whorled Water-milfoil Whorl-grass Wild Angelica Wild Basil Wild Carrot Wild Celery Wild Cherry Wild Clary Wild Liquorice Wild Marjoram Wild Mignonette Wild Oat Wild Onion Wild Pansy Wild Parsnip Wild Pear Wild Plum Wild Privet Wild Radish Wild Service-tree Wild Strawberry Wild Teasel Wild Thyme Wild Turnip Willowherbs Willows

147 252 65 70 526 463 144 118 244 323 326 242 179 530 344 175 104 145 468 192 72 148 224 167 298 336 333 252 497 298 330 301 295 221 336 230 330 179 503 542 143 299 223 221 342 178 227 208 380 331 174 256 148

Flora of Monmouthshire Wilson’s Honeysuckle Winter Heliotrope Winter Wild-oat Winter-cress Winter-cresses Witch-grass Wolffia Wood Anemone Wood Avens Wood Barley Wood Bitter-vetch Wood Burdock Wood Club-rush Wood Crane’s-bill Wood Dock Wood Fescue Wood Forget-me-not Wood Horsetail Wood Meadow-grass Wood Melick Wood Millet Wood Sage Wood Sedge Wood Small-reed Wood Speedwell Wood Spurge Wood Stitchwort Wood Vetch Woodruff Wood-rushes Wood-sorrel Woody bamboos Woolly Thistle Wormwood Woundworts Wych Elm Wye Whitebeam x Festulolium x Festulpia Yarrow Yarrow Broomrape Yarrows Yellow Anemone Yellow Archangel Yellow Bartsia Yellow Bird’s-nest Yellow Bristle-grass Yellow Chamomile Yellow Corydalis Yellow Glasswort Yellow Horned-poppy Yellow Iris Yellow Loosestrife

376 431 503 156, 157 156 528 450 75 209 523 235 384 461 278 128 485 318 49 497 500 484 327 470 509 353 269 107 236 371 456 276 482 385 422 320 89 225 488 490 423 363 423 75 323 360 183 530 424 87 102 86 545 185

Yellow Oat-grass 503 Yellow Pimpernel 184 Yellow Sage 327 Yellow Water-lily 72 Yellow-eyed-grass 545 Yellow-flowered Strawberry 208 Yellow-rattle 361 Yellow-sedge 477 Yellow-vetch 238 Yellow-wort 302 Yew 71 Yorkshire-fog 505 Zannichellia 446 Zea 533 Zigzag Clover 246 Zostera 446

582

Flora of Monmouthshire Addenda and Corrigenda ADDENDA

Page 336 Col 1 after Mentha pulegium

Add to list of recorders pp. 43-45:

Mentha requienii

AR = A. Rowland. BK = Bill Keane. CSL =C. S. Lindley. DMT = D. M. Thomas. ET = Elizabeth Thompson. FP = F. Palmer. HJR= H. J. Riddelsdell 1908-24. IKF = Dr I.K. Ferguson. JMi = Joan Miller. LW = Lindi Wilkinson. MFW = M. F. Watson. MW = Mike Wilcox.

Page 46, end of paragraph 3 add ‘Open dots on maps indicate records are pre-1987; solid dots are post-1986 records’.

Page 336, Col. 1, before Mentha pulegium add

Mentha suaveolens

Round-leaved Mint

This is a very, sweet-smelling, upright and pubescent plant, usually less than a metre tall. The largish, roundish to broadly oblong, rugose leaves are greyishgreen beneath. The leaf edges are narrowly curled under, so making the pointed, marginal teeth less obvious. Flowering starts late summer with a long, narrow, terminal, spike-like inflorescence immediately followed by two, opposite, similar ones on peduncles arising from the axils of the top, leaf-like bracts. More pairs arise on longer leafy peduncles from axils of other, larger, leaf-like bracts lower on the stem. The just over 2 mm wide, whitish flowers sit in a tubular calyx with each lobe terminating in a long finely-pointed, outward-curving tooth. The stamens and styles protrude noticeably beyond the petals. 23

18 31

Corsican Mint

A diminutive, prostrate mint with tiny leaves and up to five flowers per node. Recorded in forecourt of St Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, Usk, 1963 and for many years after, DTP. 1t.

It grows in damp sites. In vc35 it is common in riverside meadows particularly by the Wye. 47 t (1 t).

9 February 2008

Flora of Monmouthshire Addenda and Corrigenda

Corrigenda - significant ones are underlined page 9, line 23, drop final ‘s’ from ‘theses’. page 43, AL, for ‘Augustus’ read ‘Augustin’ page 114, Col. 1, Last word for ‘Lias’ read ‘Trias’. page 137, Col. 1, Last line for ‘Lias’ read ‘Trias’. page 137, Col. 2, line 5, for ‘ShP’ read ‘SP’. page 167, Col. 2, heading Glabrous Whitlowgrass should not be in italics. page 178, Col. 1, End of line 1 omit ‘and the’. page 206, Col 1, line 11: read ST for SO. page 227, Sorbus rupicola for ‘Plate 36’ read ‘Plate 35’. page 235, Col. 2, penultimate line for ‘St Saunans’ read ‘St Sannans’. page 245, Col. 2, in Trifolium campestre for ‘globosa’ read ‘globose’ page 246, Col. 1, Trifolium dubium line 4 omit ‘of’. page 247, Col. 2, line 8, insert before 5 t ‘A small cluster of plants on the edge of a small gulley low on a sparsely vegetated , old coal waste tip, Phillip’s Town, SO/147.033, 2006, JND. A week later with TGE a survey of the whole tip revealed 1000+ plants of this scarce vice-county plant; a remarkable site. Change 5 t to 6 t. page 253, Col. 2, should start with ‘pond in’. page 278, Col. 1, lines 7-8 read ‘Gwent’ for ‘vc35’. page 286, Col. 2, 8th line from bottom begin with ‘on’. page 290, Col. 2, line 12 read ‘have’ for ‘has’. page 303, Col. 1, in Gentianella last line omit ‘on’. page 305, Col. 2, line 20, add full stop after ‘Miss W’. page 317, Col. 1, Slender Borage line 4, read ‘That’ for ‘the’. page 324, Col. 2, 9th line from bottom omit ‘has’. page 330, Col. 1, line 8 read ‘JDRV’ for ‘JRDV’. Col. 2, 12 lines from the bottom read ‘corymbose’ for ‘corymbosa’. page 348, Col. 2, line 13, omit superfluous ‘ on’. page 363, Col. 1, line 12, read ‘patches’ for parches’. Col. 2, 8th line up semi-colon after JHC. page 369, Col. 2, line 26 read ‘SK’ for ‘SgK’. page 373, Col. 2, line 6, omit superfluous ‘a’. page 411, Col. 2, in Hieracium acuminatum line 4 end, read ‘there’ for ‘the’. page 431, Col. 1, Petasites fragrans distribution map is misplaced in Ambrosia artemisiifolia in Col. 2. page 439 Col. 2 Stratiotes aloides last line after TGE add ’20-50 plants in Monmouthshire-Brecon Canal, Rogerstone, ST/2690.8919, 2006, KEH, TGE, CT’. Change 2 t to 3 t. page 446, Col. 1, 5 lines from bottom for ‘1982-82’ read ‘1982-83’. page 473, Col. 1, 2nd word for ‘flacca’ read ‘panicea’. page 482, Col. 2, line 11, Photo not used. page 487, Col. 1, line 13, insert ‘mm’ after 6.5. page 493, Col. 1, line 10 read ‘lack rhizomes & sometimes stolons’ for ‘lack both rhizomes & stolons. page 497, Col. 1, last line read ‘NSa’ for ‘NS’. page 498, Col. 1, Catapodium last line delete ‘(see diagram above)’ page 508,Col. 1, 4th line from bottom read ‘which’ after ‘tillers’.

page 509, Col. 2, 4th line from bottom of Agrostis scabra omit superfluous ‘Imported’. page 526, Col. 2, for last paragraph heading read Molinia caerulea subsp. caerulea. page 530, Col. 2, line 10 omit ‘Dingestow Court’. page 532, Col.1, line 11, replace ‘vc 35’ with ‘Gwent’. page 547, Col. 1, line 11 omit ‘s’ from ‘racemes’. page 554, Col. 2, line 11 add before (2 t) ‘A specimen in NMW collected at Coed-dias was dated 16 June 1912’. page 580, after Toadflaxes add ‘348-’ before ‘350’. page 581, Col. 1, 1 line from bottom change ‘331’ to ‘352’. Plate 8, for ‘n’ read ‘in’. Plate 61, for ‘Geen’ read ‘Green’.

9 February 2008