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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 25
Abnormal Flowers of Round-Ieaved Fluellen On 25th October 1988, whilst being shown round an extension of the seed-growing area at Suffolk Herbs of Little Cornard, I was interested to see Round-Ieaved Fluellen, Kickxia spuria (L.) Dum., as a common weed among the rows of other plants, one plant of which looked decidedly odd. Closer examination showed it to have about half the flowers normal, towards the ends of the branches, while those further down the branches were all peloric, with the same type of 'inside out' flowers seen rarely on Common Toadflax, Linaria vulgaris Mill., another member of the Scropulariaceae. It would be worth examining other populations of K. spuria to see if this unusual form is widespread. Alec Bull A Bramble New to West Suffolk In July 1988 while stopped for a family picnic at the Forestry Commission picnic site at North Stow (TL 824753) I strolled along the forest margin looking at the Brambles. Some years ago I had found Rubus radula Weihe ex Boenn, R. dasyphyllus (Rogers) E. S. Marshall and R. vestitus Weihe & Nees there. On this occasion I discovered several bushes in one small area which were obviously R. hylocharis W. C. R. Wats. This is the second record for Suffolk and the first in West Suffolk (v.c. 26). As the bushes were grouped together within an area of 5 - 6 yds. across I suggest that this species is a fairly new arrival at the site, especially as I did not notice this distinctive species on my previous visit. The most likely explanation is that the seed was bird sown, during the autumn Thrush migration southwards by birds which had fed in east Norfolk where R. hylocharis is quite widespread. Alec Bull A Meal for a Thrush On the morning of 20th June 1988 I noticed a sudden commotion in a group of three Mullein (Verbascum spp.) plants in our garden. It was a Thrush. It had just discovered that the dozens of Mullein Moth caterpillars (Cucullia verbasci L.) were ripe for picking. For the next two hours or so it hopped or flew from leaf to leaf, pausing only for brief rests on the garden fence. Not a single caterpillar survived! Mullein Moth caterpillars are very colourful (white with a greenish tinge, banded with yellow, and with black dots on the back and sides) and they are found quite exposed on Mullein plants. It seems likely therefore that they are distasteful to most predators, but clearly the Thrush did not find them so. The caterpillars also fed on a species of Figwort (Scrophularia scopolii Hoppe ex. Pers.), which I grew from seed collected in the central Appennines in 1978, but they prefer Mulleins, of which we have a large number of species and hybrids. E. M. Hyde
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 25