Some Flora Records of 1960

SOME FLORA RECORDS OF 1960. b y JANET C . N .

WILLIS.

A few more parishes have been recorded this year with a satisfactory 300 to 400 species each, but we still need offers to do as good recording of other parishes. The year has been notable for the number of new species found, some of them aliens.

Fagopyrum tataricum was reported near Brantham by a visitor to our county, Mr. George Mead, of Ardleigh, last August. The following month a party of us saw a stray plant of F. esculentum, the common Buckwheat, by the roadside at Assington.

Trachystemon Orientale, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was found this summer by D. C. H. Hull in a Situation near Woolverstone where he considers the colony was fully naturalised.

Amaranthus buckmani was found at Brantham by a pupil of East Bergholt Modern School and it was sent by Mr. Kerr to Kew for determination, as it did not appear to him to be A. retroflexus.

The same species was found in 1960 by P. R. Peecock in the same neighbourhood on the head-land of a sugar-beet field. He too sent a specimen to Kew. This is new to Suffolk, though A. retroflexus has been recorded fron time to time since 1831 in various places, especially in West Suffolk. <>ee ^ i i o Digitaria sanguinalis (L) Scop. Hairy Finger Grass, was seen

by Mr. Trist growing on the gravel path and flower border at Snape Priory. This has been recorded for Suffolk from 1780, but has not been noted in recent years. Mr. Trist also reports a very handsome plant of Plantago major on a grass riverside marsh at Oakleyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;leaves 17 cm. broad, 22 cm. long, scape exceeding the leaves, peduncle 27.5 cm., inflorescence 28 cm.

Myosurus minimus, Mousetail, was shown to me by D. C. H. Hull at Playford in May, 1960. We have two other records of this in West Suffolk, but it is probable that this, like other tiny plants, has been overlooked elsewhere.

Gymnadenia conopsea, the Fragrant Orchis, was found at Coddenham by Mr. Bendix.

Coeloglossum viride. Mrs. Aldred of Potash Farm, Debenham, writes " I was very excited to find the Frog Orchis here this summer which used to be found in Debenham though not in this meadow, over a hundred years ago according to an old book I have been reading." In view of what Mr. Simpson says in Vol. IX, pt. IV, page 305, this is interesting.

Hypericum elodes, Marsh St. John's Wort. A large colony of this was found by Dr. L e w and Mr. Ransome at Minsmere in 1959.

SOME FLORA RECORDS

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Nymphoides peltatum, Fringed Waterlily. Following my note last year that this had been recorded for Suffolk by the late Edith Rawling in 1933, but that it was denied that it occurred at all in Suffolk, Mr. Rutterford vvrote that it is abundant at Lakenheath, choking the Lode.

Mentha x niliaca. A large colony was found by Mr. Bendix at Grundisburgh in September, 1960, and Dr. Perring says that most of M. rotundifolia in Eastern England are really this. Hind has M. sativa for Grundisburgh and we wonder whether his informant was mistaken, for Mr. Simpson has seen M. x niliaca there many years ago in the same locality.

Vicia lutea. Miss Small found a blue vetch which she thought must be nearly related to V. lutea. We hazarded V. laevigata and Mr. Bendix sent the specimen to Mr. Lousley. This is his reply : " This specimen is a colour form of V. lutea. Those bluish flowers are rather rare in our native populations but more frequent overseas and for this reason I see them mostly in plants collected from docks and other alien places. Vicia laevigata, Smith, was probably also only a form of V. lutea with which it grew in the brook at Weymouth. But it was glabrous and the leaves were swollen so it was not the same as yours."

Allium paradoxum. This was found by Mr. Hull on a grass verge at Fornham All Saints. Mr. Boreham confirms this, saying he has known it in a field nearby for many years, introduced there about 1840.

Allium scorodoprasum. We have one record of this, seedling plants on a shingle bank at Felixstowe Ferry.

Veronica praecox was found on the grass verge of Colchester Road near East Bergholt Lodge by Mr. G./tyead of Ardleigh in August, 1960, and by me at the same spot in October, 1959.

We identified it independently, but since we did not send a specimen to our referees it may be rash to claim it.

Aristolochia clematitis, Birthwort. A specimen was sent by Mrs. Lingwood from Martlesham Rectory where it appears to have been long naturalised. Could it be that some Victorian lady of the Rectory introduced it in order to prescribe for the mothers of the village ?

Petasites fragrans found by the river at Woolverstone and brought to me by Anne Semmence.

Tulipa sylvestris was found by Mrs. Harrison in the Southwood at Culford, and Anemone ranunculoides, in the same wood. Mr. Boreham says they were probably originally planted, but has long since become completely naturalised.

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SOME FLORA RECORDS

Lathyrus aphaca. Dr. Eastwood found a solitary specimen of this last year near his garage at Oulton Broad and thinks it was probably from seed brought in with mud on his car wheel.

Catapodium rigidum, quite common : Mr. Simpson says this is the up-to-date name for Desmazeria rigida, Festuca rigida, Poa rigida or sometimes Sclerochloa rigida. However, I do rejoice to have found this pretty little grass in Ipswich, on my way to post my Sunday letters, under a new alias. Mr. Simpson added that there is another species Catapodium marinum found in almost every maritime parish from Felixstowe to Yarmouth and on sandy heaths and in Breckland and yet no one has recorded it anywhere !

Hypochaeris maculata found by Mr. Bendix at Risby. Mr. Bettridge sent me a specimen from near Sudbury last year. These are our only two records of this for Suffolk.

Phytolacca decandra, American Poke Weed. Mr. R. W. K. Kefford found this stränge plant in his garden at Wickham Market and brought it in for Mr. Simpson to name. It is a native of Virginia, but Bonnier has it as a naturalised casual and cultivated in the South of France. The flowers of this specimen were a pinkish purple in dense Clusters, in shape like an old fashioned poke bonnet. Mr. Mitchell reported last year that Mrs. Lynnch had found this plant on May 26th, 1953, on waste ground at the I.C.I. Factory at Stowmarket.

With apologies in anticipation of reproach if I have omitted other interesting things, but be assured they are all carefully recorded. More, please.

I

AN ECOLOGICAL STUDY OF FRITILLARIA MELEAGRIS L. b y P. J. O .

TTIST.

THE Fritillary or Snake's Head, is now a very localised plant in Suffolk. In pre-war days it was more plentiful and able to flourish in damp pastures which have now been drained and ploughed.

The purpose of this note is to record the plant ecology of the Framsden and Mickfield meadows which are probably the only remaining strongholds of Fritillaria meleagris in Suffolk.