You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Notes - Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima, new to Britain 3Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima, new to Britain, on the SeftonCoast, MerseysidePmLIP H. SMITH, 9 Hayward Court, Watchyard Lane, Formby, Liverpool L37 3QPMrCHAEL P. WrLCOX, 32 Shawbridge Street, Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 lLZWhile recording for the new Flora of South Bird's-foot-trefoil). Nearby is a sizeableLancashire (v.c. 59) at Crosby Sand-dunes, population of Apera interrupta (Dense Silky-Merseyside, on 17 th April 2004, we found a bent), a non-native grass that occurs predominpatchof an Artemisia which we did not recog- antly in eastern England. It seems likely thatnise at SJ311.982. Material sent to Eric Clem- this and also the Field Wormwood had theirent was identified as Artemisia campestris origin in the seed mixture used around thesubsp. maritima (Field WOTIllwood), a subsp. pumping station.new to Britain. Subsequent searches located no The nationally rare British taxon, which isfurther individuals and, by July 2005, the largely confined to Breckland, is A. campestrisoriginal patch measured about 200 x 170cm. subsp. campestris. According to Flora Euro-On 6 th Jlme 2005, the patch was observed to be paea, subsp. maritima is distinguished frominfested with the nymphs of cercopid bugs subsp. campestris by having short, fleshy leafproducingmuch 'cuckoo-spit'. However, this lobes which are convex but not keeled, whereasappeared to have little adverse effect and the the latter has keeled leaf-lobes that are notplant was photographed in full flower on 11th fleshy.September 2005 (see inside front cover).Interestingly, A. campestris has been recordedAssociated vascular taxa were identified on twice before as a casual in South Lancashire: on30 th May and 11 th July 2005 and are listed in waste tips at Bradford Park, Leverhulme Park inTable 1.1908 (South Lancashire Flora Project) and asThe surrounding habitat is fixed-dune re- subsp. campestris at Garston Docks in 1934profiled during the construction of a pumping (Savidge et al. 1963).station in 1995/96. Evidently, the dune was References:reseeded at the time as several non-natives are SAVIDGE, lP., HEYWOOD, V.H. & GORDON, V. 1963.prominent in the sward, including Festuca bre- Travis's Flora a/South Lancashire. Liverpool Bovipila(Hard Fescue), Medicago sativa, tanica1 Society, Liverpool.(Lucerne), Melilotus albus (White Melilot) andLotus corniculatus var. sativus (a tall form ofTable 1. Vascular associates of Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima at Crosby sand-dunesAira caryophylleaAira praecoxAmmophila arenariaAnisantha sterilisAnthyllis vulnerariaCerastium fontanumCrepis capillarisElytrigia repensFestuca rubraHolcus lanatusHypochaeris radicataLeymus arenariusLotus corniculatusMedicago sativaMelilotus albusPlantago lanceolataRumex crispusSenecio jacobaeaSenecio squalidusTaraxacum officinale agg.Trifolium dubiumTrifolium pratenseVicia sativa
4 Notes -Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima native? / Sagina maritima roadside halophyte?Could Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima be native?ERlC J. CLEMENT, 54 Anglesey Road, Gosport, Hants. POl2 2EQIn order to protect our fast-diminishing preciouswild habitats it is important that we shouldcarefully consider the possible nativity of asmany plant taxa as possible. Very few folk wantto protect our alien species in their newlyadopted home!One strong candidate appears to me to beArtemisia campestris L. subsp. maritima Arcangeli,yet it is unmentioned in all our recentFloras. Philip Smith tells us (BSBI News 102:6) that it still occurs on the Sefton Coast (v.c.59) as a 'nationally rare' and 'vulnerable' taxonwith a local status of 'rare', but is stigmatised asa 'non-native or introduced native taxon'.Flora Europaea 4: 186 (1976) lists the worlddistribution of this plant as 'Wo coast of Europenorthwards to the Netherlands.' Britain fitscomfortably within this natural distribution.French Floras give the habitat as maritime sandsof the Atlantic coast. In The Netherlands it istreated as both a native (e.g. Gorteria 2: 116,1965) and as an adventive (e.g. Gorteria 6: 49,1972). In Belgium it was recently found by F.Verloove as a small population in maritimedunes at La Panne 'ou elle semble en voie denaturalisation' - see J. Lambinon in Dumortiera85-87: 31 (2005). Clearly, it can have a weedyappearance, but the habitat is invariant.A glance at our hefty New Atlas (2002), p.646, shows up several 'alien' records for Artemisiacampestris around our coasts. How manyof these are of subsp. maritima? I have seenonly one certain specimen, now in Herb. EJC,that apparently remains unpublished (but see p.3 and photos inside front cover): Among fixedsand dunes, near Crosby (Hightown area),S1311.982, V.c. 59, July 2004, coli. M. Wilcox& P.M. Smith. It was collected as A.?abrotanum, but differed in not being aromaticeven when fresh, and it appeared ± woody allthe way up the stems.Our subsp. campestris (Field Wormwood) isan undisputed native, restricted to short sandygrassland in E. Anglia - it does not occur on thedunes. The two subspecies are easily separatedwhen fresh, viz. vegetatively:Leaf-lobes fleshy, convex but not keeledbeneathsubsp. maritimaLeaf-lobes not fleshy, keeled beneathsubsp. campestrisNo intermediate plants appear to be on record inEurope, and hence specific rank might be moreappropriate. The name A. lloydii was providedby G. Rouy, Flore de France, vo!. 8, p. 296(1903) according to www.ipni.org; but, herein,it is described as a 'forme' ofA. campestris, andwas changed to 'proles (race)' in his Conspectusde laflore de France, p. 141 (1927). The firsttreatment as a full species appears to be in IndexKewensis supplement 6, p. 20 (1926) where itwas (accidentally!) listed as a species by A.W.Hill - i.e. the correct author citation (which noone uses?) is A. lloydii (G. Rouy) A.W. Hill. NoEnglish name exists - but Sand-duneWormwood would be an obvious choice.But, under any name, it is worthy of ourefforts to preserve it in its few precarious sites.Sagina maritima another possible roadside halophyteEDWARD PRATT, 7 Bay Close, Swan age, Dorset BHl91REOn May 29 th last I was walking along the northwestside of the A351 south of Stoboroughwhen I noticed a Sagina growing in a narrowfairly bare area just above the kerb. Closeexamination proved it to be S. maritima (SeaPearlwort), and the colony extended for 125m,beyond which the kerb had been discontinued.A constant associate was Plantago coronopus(Buck's-horn Plantain); in one place there wasalso Catapodium maritimum (Sea Fern-grass),but a heavy shower put an end to searches formore ofthe latter.The New Atlas shows that it had begun to befound on roadsides in Scotland and northernEngland. Maybe it is widespread in such localities.They are noisy and risky places to botanise,and impossible on motorways, except formotorway maintenance personnel (Jam makerssince 1963, as one of their vans once said). Forunlike Cochlearia danica (Danish Scurvygrass)and other salt-verge species, the Sagina isdefinitely not recognisable from a moving car.ReferencePRESTON, C.D., PEARMAN, D.A. & DINES T.D. 2002.New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora. OxfordUniversity Press.
Notes - Damage to the Northern Pennines by the use of Motorcycles and Quad-bikes 5Damage to the Northern Pennines by the use of Motorcycles andQuad-bikesLINDA M. ROBINSON, The Cottage, Melmerby, Penrith, Cumbria, CAlO lHNRODERICK W.M. CORNER, Hawthorn Hill, 36, Wordsworth St., Penrith, Cumbria, CAll 7QZF. JEREMY ROBERTS, Eden Croft, 2, Wetheral Pasture, Carlisle, CA48HUIntroductionIn the past few hundred years the Permines havebeen used by farmers for grazing their animalsand managed by landowners for grouse shooting.The farmers and keepers always accessedthis isolated area via footpaths, bridleways andfarm tracks on foot or on horseback up toaround the 1930s and 1940s when motorisedtransport began to be used such as tractors andfour-wheel drive vehicles and more recentlyquad-bikes. For many years there have beenmotorcyclists venturing on to the fells. Indeedone of us can remember seeing groups on thesummit plateau of Cross Fell almost twentyyears ago, causing damage to the shallow peat.Earlier this year a group of motor cyclistscamped overnight on the same summit.The formation of the Permine Way in 1965opened up the area to fell-walkers and as a resultparts of this long distance path between CrossFell and Little Dun Fell, Little Dun Fell andGreat Dun Fell and parts of Knock Fell hadpaving stones laid to stop the quite seriouserosion caused by walkers' feet. Motor cyclistsare keen to pit themselves and their machinesagainst the obstacles presented by the landscapeitself, and so obviously will not keep to thepaved way, which in any case has manystretches in the form of steps intended forwalkers, not wheeled traffic.Erosion of the wettest ground is one of themost damaging features of the bikers activities.Since 2000, damage by motorcycles and quadbikeshas increased dramatically. There are noworganised groups who arrive in cars and vanswith low-loaders in tow and up to twenty scramblebikes on board (see photo below).Low-loaders and vans parked on Melmerby Green.Photo © L. Robinson, 2005.They access the open fell via farm tracks,footpaths, bridleways, the Permine Way,Maiden Way and the A686 Hartside summit.Such off-road enthusiasts come from as faraway as Bolton in Lancashire and Liverpool.When challenged the bikers maintain they havethe right to be there, one group causing damageto a farmer's allotment above Ousby stating that'we have the right to roam'.Under section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988it is an offence to drive a motor vehicle withoutpermission on to common land, moorland orland of any description that does not form partof a road. It is also an offence under that sectionto drive a motor vehicle on a footpath or bridleway.Unfortunately this did not apply to offroadvehicles, and some motorcycles, e.g.scramble motorcycles, are classified as off-roadvehicles so an amendment to section 34 wasincluded in the Countryside and Rights of WayAct 2000 which had the effect of extending tooff-road vehicles the offence under section 34 ofthe 1988 Act. This came into force on 1 February2001.Description of areaThe area covered by this report stretches fromGreen Fell above Ousby, south along thesummits via Cross Fell, Little Dun Fell, GreatDun Fell and Knock Fell veering east to DuftonFell and on towards Meldon Fell.Most ofthis ground is above 600m with CrossFell the highest point at 893m. It consistsmainly of the uplifted bands of Carboniferouslimestone, gritstone and shale, with lines ofvariously enriched springs flowing from justbelow the summits giving rise to extensiveflushed areas down the slopes, many with rareand protected species in their communities.These vulnerable habitats, totally dependent ontheir fragile drainage systems, are without doubtmost at risk of damage by motorcycles.The summits, especially Cross Fell with itsextensive plateau and to a lesser extent, LittleDun Fell, have a drier Racomitrium lanuginosum(Woolly Fringe Moss)/Carex bigelowii(Stiff Sedge) sward on their tops whilst GreenFell, Dufton Fell, Meldon Fell and the BulmanHills (one of the most spectacular examples ofgiant glacial erratics known in the northernPennines) have areas of limestone grassland
6 Notes - Damage to the Northern Pennines by the use of Motorcycles and Quad-bikeswith several rare species. Both these habitatshave numerous motorcycle tracks criss-crossingthem.The blanket bog communities are mainly onthe lower slopes and their very nature tends todiscourage the motor cyclists, exceptions beingareas such as the Trout Beck track from GreatDun Fell down to the Moor House access roadat Trout Beck bridge. This area has had considerabledamage to some eroded peat areas andold mine heaps (see photo below).have the two previously mentioned species inthem, and Saxifraga hypnoides (MossySaxifrage), Sedum villosum (Hairy Stonecrop),Valeriana dioica (Marsh Valerian), Viola palustris(Marsh Violet) and other species (LR 2003).The limestone grassland has the rare Alchemillaglomerulans (a Lady's-mantle), Botrychiumlunaria (Moonwort) and Gentianella amarella(Autumn Gentian) as well as commonerlimestone grassland species.Cross FellThe flat plateau of Cross Fell is well describedby the late Derek Ratcliffe in his book'Lakeland', Chapter 10 'The Pennines'. The'Woolly Fringe Moss heath' he describes asdeclining is now recovering well due to reducedgrazing since foot and mouth disease in 2001but it is well tyre-marked by much motorcycleactivity.Damage down Trout Beck on Moor House NationalNature Reserve. Photo © J. Adamson, 2005Melmerby and Ousby Fell have illegal gravelroads which were built in 2004 without planningpermission by shooting interests, from the newOusby Shooting Lodge to Black Burn Hut, andin 2005 from the Ousby Shooting Lodge downSwarth Beck to the top of the waterfall. Accordingto one source a track formed by motorcycleuse is visible from Black Burn hut to Greg's Huton the Pennine Way thus giving an easilyaccessed circular route into what was once anessentially isolated area and part of the 'MoorHouse and Cross Fell Site of Special ScientificInterest'. Although these roads are gated,scramble bikes can easily by-pass them.Damage to habitatsGreen Fell (above Ousby)All the flushes on the northern and western sideof Green Fell are criss-crossed with motorcycletracks. One flush on the north facing slope hasthe very rare arctic grass Alopecurus borealis(Alpine Foxtail) and Carex vaginata (SheathedSedge) discovered as recently as 2002. In 2002this flush had a deep tyre track obviously causedby a scramble bike skidding, sliding and churningup the mud and vegetation all the way up itscentre - a 'scar' still visible in 2004. Otherflushes on the west side of Green Fell havemany tyre marks through them and onto thelimestone grassland summit. All these flushesTyre marks on Cross Fell plateau. Photo © L. Robinson,2005On the northern flank the flushes again havetaken the brunt of the damage. The extensive'quaking bog' has effectively been partiallydrained by tyre channels running through it.One of these flushes has a large population ofAlpine Foxtail, with hundreds of heads, firstreported in 2002. This flush too has motorcycletracks running through it.'Quaking bog' being partially drained by tyre channels.Photo © L. Robinson, 2005
Notes - Damage to the Northern Pennines by the use of Motorcycles and Quad-bikes 7On the southern slopes of Cross Fell facingLittle Dun Fell deep ruts have been madethrough some fine Sphagnum lawns with peatydebris churned up by the revving wheels andthrown onto the surface giving an unpleasantdamaged appearance to a previously pristinesite.Just below this area more ruts have effectivelyre-directed a small drainage channel fromrunning down the east side of the fells to thewest (see photos below).Deep tyre ruts re-directing water flow. Both photos © L.Robinson, 2005Areas between Cross Fell and Great Dun FellThe motorcycle and quad-bike damage is at itsmost obvious in these areas. FJR notes howdeep tyre ruts have damaged an area of montanemire. There are extensive flushed areas on allsides ofthese summits varying in pH, the morecalcareous flushes on the eastern flanks of thesefells supporting Saxifraga hirculus (MarshSaxifrage), Sedum villosum, Juncus triglumis(Three-flowered Rush), Epilobium alsinifolium(Chickweed Willowherb), Epilobium anagallidifolium(Alpine Willowherb), Alopecurusborealis and many other associated species alldependent on the fragile drainage systemsabove them remaining intact.Another remarkable flush with thousands ofheads of Alopecurus borealis extends from aspring on the north side of Great Dun Fell, justbelow the summit almost to the lowest pointbetween Great Dun Fell and Little Dun Fell.Even more remarkable was the discovery in2005 in the same flush, of four extensivepatches of Carex aquatilis (Water Sedge),covering an area of 860m 2 , not previouslyrecorded in England in a montane locality (FIR2005): previous sites are by rivers or in lakesideswamps. Unfortunately this flush has seen a lotof motorcycle and quad-bike damage. In early2006 a tractor and trailer was driven through themain Carex aquatilis patch causing some deepruts. This use was sanctioned by EnglishNature in connection with the erection of a newfence and gate at Tees Head north of Little DunFell, which is to be part of the 'reheafing' ofsheep to particular ranges. Unfortunately, theboggy nature of the ground at the saddles limitsthe options for routes across the ground forwheeled vehicles. For legitimate uses such asthis, much care needs to be taken in attemptingto find a drier route avoiding the more sensitiveareas.On the south facing slope of Little Dun Fell tothe east of the Pennine Way bikers have runthrough a fine base-rich flush system with therare Arctic-alpine moss Meesia uliginosa.Their tracks are not only destroying the plantsbut radically altering the dynamics ofthe drainageof these flushes.Knock Ore Gill & Green CastleThis area has some of the best Saxifraga hircuIus flushes on the western side of the Pennines.In 2003 and 2004 it was noted that a quad-bikehad been attempting to ride up one of thesesteep flushes. In August 2005 over the bankholiday week-end even more serious damagewas done to this flush by people sliding downon a discarded towel; only time will tell whetherthis will heal or wash out (see photo p. 8).Species present in these flushes includeAlopecurus borealis, Carex vaginata, Catabrosaaquatica (Water Whorl-grass), Juncustriglumis, Saxifraga hypnoides and Sedumvillosum. A small colony of Myosotis alpestris(Alpine forget-me-not) has a few visible motorcycletracks passing nearby (see Cover photo).
8 Notes Damage to the Northern Pennines by the use of Motorcycles and Quad-bikesSaxifraga hirculus flush damaged by persons slidingdown on a toweL Photo © L. RobinsonKnock FeU, Dufton Fell and Meldon FellThere is evidence of motorcycle tracks along thesummit grasslands and limestone grass lands butnot on the same scale as the Dun Fells, CrossFell or Green Fell. Again there are importantflushes along here with Saxifraga hirculus,Alopecurus borealis, Carex vaginata, Trolliuseuropaeus (Globeflower) and Euphrasiascottica (an Eyebright), rare in the high flushes.There are also important limestone grasslandswith Carex capillaris (Hair Sedge) and the veryrare and protected Gentiana verna (SpringGentian) (see Colour Section, Plate 1).Near Knock Coal Shop there is an example ofthe kind of damage any interference to thenatural drainage causes to these importanthabitats: a flush with Alopecurus borealis andSaxifraga hirculus has had a moor grip(drainage channel) dug across it. Immediate~ybelow this point the mineral rich water ISdrained offby the grip, and the flush below thispoint has reverted to acid mire identical to hugeareas nearby. The result has been not simply todestroy part of a site with some very rare plantsbut also to drain away the mineral-rich waterwhich provided the only nutrient inputs intowhat is otherwise impoverished acid heath (FJR2004).Bird lifeNumbers and variety of birds are low along themain routes followed by bikers. However theseinclude a number of important species. TheGolden Plover is a nesting bird of the slopes andplateaux. It is a species of conservation conc~mand has a declining population. Increasmgdisturbance has been implicated in its decline,of which the noise and intrusion of bikers maybe an important part. There is also the obviousrisk of direct damage to nests, young, andnesting habitat. The Dotterel is now almostextinct as a nesting bird along the range and aswith the Golden Plover the same threats frombikers apply. Other species of conservationconcern which nest in areas actually or potentiallydisturbed or damaged ~y motorcycles a~eDunlin, Short-eared Owl, Rmg Ouzel, Merlmand Snipe. Breeding along Trout Beck areCommon Sandpipers, Dippers, Ring Ouzel,Oystercatcher, Pied and Grey Wagtails andTeal. This is another area much affected bymotorcycle intrusion.ConclusionsThis area is almost all under National NatureReserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest orSpecial Area of Conservation designations, andalso in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.Ultimately the County Councils are legallybound to protect these areas. The failure toprevent the illegal Melmerby and Ousby Fellroad from forming a circular route with thePeunine Way has left the area very vulnerable tothis sort of vehicle damage.Perhaps locking of some gates and erection ofnotices at access points stating the illegality ofusing them would help, although a no~ice put upby the Police at the entrance to the pnvate trackto Ousby Shedder was tom down.The Parish Councils along with the Commonersalong the fell bottom are keen to stop thesemotor cyclists after numerous complaints ofdamage. They are actively encouragingmembers of the public to report bikers to thePolice and ask for their calls to be 'logged'.Some members of the public are already photographingand videoing these bikes and attemptingto note number plates.AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank Mr. J. Adamson, Centre ofEcology & Hydrology, Lancaster University for theuse of his photo of damage down Trout Beck on MoorHouse National Nature Reserve.
Notes - Damage to the Northern Pennines I Wet May and Poa trivialis I Pores for thought 9ReferencesCORNER, R.W.M. 2004. Carex vaginata Tausch(Cyperaceae): a sedge new to England. Watsonia25: l27·l30.CORNER, R.W.M., ROBERTS, F.J. & ROBINS ON, L.2006. Sheathed Sedge Carex vaginata: an updateon its status in the Northern Pennines. BSBI News101: 6·8.RATCLIFFE, D.A. 2002. Lakeland: The Wildlife 0/Cumbria. New Naturalist, HarperCollins, London.ROBERTS, F.J. 2002. After Foot and Mouth, CrossFell in bloom. Carlisle Naturalist 10(2): 33-43.ROBERTS, FJ. 2003. Cross Fell update, 2003. CarlisleNaturalist 11(2): 47·52.ROBERTS, F.J. 2004. A further note on the flora of theCross Fell range. Carlisle Naturalist 12(2): 52·56.ROBERTS, F.J. 2005. Further notes on the flora of theCross Fell range. Carlisle Naturalist 13(2): 20·24.ROBERTS, F.J. 2005. Water Sedge Carex aquatilisWahlenb. in a montane mire site. Carlisle Natural·ist 13(2): 15·18.ROBINS ON, L.M. 2003. Observations on Alopecurusborealis at Green Fell in the Northern Pennines,Cumbria, after Foot and Mouth. BSBI News 93:11·12.STOTT, M., CALLION, J., KINLEY, 1., RAVEN, C. &ROBERTS, FJ. 2002. The Breeding Birds a/Cum·bria - A tetrad atlas 1997-2001. Cumbria BirdClub.A wet May and Poa trivialisEDWARD PRATT, 7 Bay Close, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 IREFive Floras in my possession give the maximumheight of Poa trivialis (Rough Meadow·grass)as respectively 60, 60, 90, 90, or 100cm. Thisyear, with May being very wet, several arounda manured climbing rose in our garden reachedwell over 100cm. The tallest reached 169cm... , Yes, I do not do much weeding!Pores for thought: Can you separate Convolvulus and Calystegiavegetatively?JOHN POLAND, 91 Ethelburt Avenue, Southampton, Hants., S016 3DF. jppI97@alumni.soton.ac.ukNon-flowering bindweeds can easily beconfused in the field, particularly when record·ing atypical or poor specimens. Thankfully, thepresence and arrangement of stomata can helpclinch identification. Stomata (singular stoma)are pores on the leaf surface used for respirationduring photosynthesis. The actual opening maybe closed to prevent dehydration but this makesno difference to our field observations.Contrary to popular belief, stomata are indeed afield character - not just a microscopic one -and can normally easily be seen as little whitedots under a hand lens (best x20). It is primarilythe larger sized pair of guard cells that surroundthe pore that we actually see.The majority of our vascular flora is amphistomous(stomata present on both sides of theleaf, although often in unequal proportions) orhypostomous (stomata on the lower (abaxial)side of the leaves only). Epistomous species(those with stomata on the upper (adaxial) sideof the leaves only) are generally rare althoughsome grasses, and aquatic plants with floatingleaves, qualify in this category (totallysubmerged aquatic plants do not developstomata since they would effectively drown).As a general rule, stomata are arranged in paral·lellines in monocots (many exceptions!) and arerandomly scattered in dicots.The presence of stomata below is generallylittle use for identification (except for theirabsence in grasses) and the structure of thecuticle can make them appear obscure or absent.It is thus the presence, or absence, of stomataabove that is the useful character. A classicexample is Carex since there are only 6 speciesin the British flora with stomata on the upperleaf surface (try and find them all - C. curta,C. nigra, C. aquatilis, C. rostrata, C. recta andC. salina).There are many examples where stomataprovide the best vegetative character. Forexample, the leaves of Thymus polytrichus(Wild Thyme) have stomata on the uppersurface, most unlike the remarkably similarleaves of Thymus pulegioides (Large Thyme) inwhich they are absent.Calystegia and Convolvulus provide a perfectexample of how examination of stomata can beutilised in identification. Convolvulus arvensis(Field Bindweed) has stomata scattered all overthe upper surface of each leaf, whilst Calystegiasepium (Hedge Bindweed) and C. silvatica(Large Bindweed) have the stomata confinedabove to just the margins of the larger veins.C. pulchra (Hairy Bindweed) has stomataabsent above (petiole or stem hairs alone are not
10 Notes - Pores for thought: Can you separate Convolvulus and Calystegia vegetatively?diagnostic since they are also present inC. sepium subsp. roseata).The leaves of each species are illustratedbelow. The shape of the typical leaf sinus hasalso been drawn so each species can be reliablyidentified. The size of the stomata has beenexaggerated for easy viewing!The information can be summarised in thefollowing vegetative key:-Stomata scattered all over If surface abovePetiole glabrousLf sinus triangularConvolvulus arvensis-Stomata confined to the margins of the largerveins above (occ ± absent)Petiole with at least some hairsLf sinus triangularCalystegia sepium subsp. roseataPetiole glabrousLf sinus triangular Calystegia sepiumLf sinus square Calystegia silvatica-Stomata absent abovePetiole with at least some hairsLf sinus square Calystegia pulchraIncidentally, Fallopia convolvulus (Black-bindweed)(Polygonaceae) should also get a briefmention, as this can be confused with Convolvulusarvensis (and also has stomata scattered above!).The vemation (see BSBI News: 102 pp. 17-20)provides an excellent clue since the young leavesof Fallopia are revolute, dramatically unlike therolled ( convolute) leaves of Convolvulaceae. Theabsence of white latex (present in Covolvulaceae)and the presence of fused stipules (an ochrea)confirm the i.d.Observers should be aware of the fact that, inmany species, the presence of stomata above canbe extremely variable. Many leaves of Sonchusoleraceus (Smooth Sow-thistle) may have stomatapresent or absent above yet they are usually absentin S. asper (prickly Sow-thistle) and S. arvensis(perennial Sow-thistle). A little backgroundreading hints that exposure to increased light levelsis perhaps the primary cause for such variance, yetI am still to be convinced.Stomata should not be confused with the manytypes of true excretory glands, which can also bevaluable identification characters. Hydathodes,which exude water and minerals, and the saltglands in Limonium (Sea-lavenders) and Tamarix(Tamarisk) are soon identifiable with a littleexperience.As ever, I would welcome any correspondencefrom field botanists and plant anatomists' on thevariability, and usefulness, of stomatal presence(and any explanation).Many thanks to Sue Nicholls of the Institute ofAnalytical Plant Illustration for providing suchindispensable illustrations, and to Eric Clement forhis valued comments. More information on Calystegia,particularly on hybrids can be found inWatsonia23: 161-185 (Brummitt&Chater,2000).Calystegia sepiumCalystegia silvaticaCalystegia pulchraConvolvulus arvensisLeaves of the four taxa keyed out above showing stomata and hairs, del. S. Nicholls © 2006
Notes - The end of an unusual Symphytum / Rumex maritimus returns to Patching Pond 11The end of an unusual Symphytum in S.E. Yorkshire, v.c. 61ERlC CmCKEN, Corner House, Scarborough Road, Drifjield, Y0255EHThe recent article by Clare O'Reilly on Symphyturnofficinale subsp. bohemicum reminded meof my own experience with a strange Symphyturn.In 1968-1970, I, like many others, joinedin Dr Franklyn Perring's survey of Symphytumofficinale and S. xuplandicum. At that time itwas thought that the first mentioned did notoccur north of a line from the River Severn tothe Wash, but I claimed the plant for land atW oodhall Farm near Wressle (SE69.31). Thereis a more detailed account in Chicken (1997).Briefly the main points and dates are as follows.In 1974 a plant was sent to Dr Perring to growon. In 1975 I was fortunate to get a chromosomecount determined by G.E. Marks at theJohn Innes Institute, the result was 2n=48 whichsupported my view. However it was not thenaccepted. In 1990 it appeared in Dr Eva CracklesFlora o/the East Riding o/Yorkshire as S.officinale determined by Perring. Apparently ithad been decided to call the plant this forrecording purposes, but Dr Perring still felt thathybridity was involved. At his request I sentfurther plants for his garden (1999) and Iobtained a further chromosome count, this timefrom Dr J.P. Bailey at Leicester University, andagain 2n=48. The last I heard was that theplants were alive having been cared for by MrsPerring during the drought while he had beenaway for eight weeks.In an old paper (Bucknall 1913) there is ashort reference to S. var. lanceolatum Weinm.and a suggestion that S. officinale, the variety,and S. uliginosum give a series of forms. Sincethe last is in Holland and the Woodhall plantsare thought to have originated with manure fromHolland via Hull, maybe there is a clue here.Knowing I intended to write this, I thought I hadbetter check the site. Sadly the whole O.4km ofplants was replaced by a hawthorn hedge. Whata pity to lose plants that had survived for possiblya century. I found one poor plant with onecorolla, length 11.0mm, that, I guess is the endof the Woodhall story.ReferencesBUCKNALL, C. 1913. A Revision of the Genus SyrnphyturnTourn. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. London. 41 (284): 506-507.CHICKEN, E. 1997. Atlas 2000 and a problem with purpleflowered Comfrey. BSBI News 76: 22-23.CRACKLES, F.E .. 1990. Flora of the East Riding ofYorkshire.Hull Univ. Press and Humberside County Council,p. 116.O'REILLY, C. 2006. What is Symphytum officinalesubsp. bohemicum (Schmidt) Ce1ac. BSBINews 102: 46-48.Rumex maritimus returns to Patching PondDR MrCHAEL HOLLINGS & DR OLWEN M. HOLLINGS, St Cyprien, Ham Manor Close, Angmering,West Sussex BN16 4JDRumex maritimus (Golden Dock) used to occuron the muddy edges at the far north-easterncorner of Patching Pond, West Sussex (v.c. 13).We last saw it there on 30 July 1985, with 2plants in late flower at TQ089.058.In April 2000 we reported Zizania latifolia(Manchurian Wild Rice) as growing abundantlyall around the margins of the pond (Hollings &Hollings, 2000); it had first been noted there byH.K. Airey-Shaw in 1947, but since then itseems not to have been observed. A vast grassthat never flowers in U.K. and has razor-edgedleaves attracts little interest.The fishing at Patching Pond is leased by theWorthing Piscatorial Society, and the Secretarytold us that he remembers the 'giant rush' fromthe early 1960s, when he became Secretary. Itwas not then much of a problem, but in thefollowing years it became a very serious one,growing to 2.5m tall, advancing by aggressiverhizomes, both into the banks and underwater,and preventing access for the anglers. Fromtime to time, mechanical diggers had tried to digout the rhizomes, but the plant had alwaysreturned. In recent years, more strenuous effortshad been used, with large diggers deep-excavatingthe rhizomes, and dumping the dredgingsonto the flat ground just to the west of the pond.Here, the soft muddy deposit settled to analmost level surface, and Zizania resumedgrowth happily, now covering an area of severalhectares with dense foliage - perhaps thebiggest crop outside China. But Rumex maritimushad now apparently vanished from itsformer site.It occurred to us that the diggers must havescooped up, with all that mud and plant material,a lot of the local soil seed-bank, and as seedsof Rumex species are known to survive manyyears in soil, perhaps some could have germi-
12 Notes - Rumex maritimus returns to Patching Pondnated after all this disturbance. We visited thepond on 29 July 2005, but saw no sign of Rumexmaritimus, either at its old site or on the edgesofthe big Zizania dump. Notices warned peopleto keep off the deep, soft mud. Our next visitwas on 26 September, and almost at once wefound a nice plant of R. maritimus in flower andfruit, on the west bank of the pond, just a coupleof metres outside the Zizania area (see insideback cover). This whole area had now dried out,and was firm enough to enter. Zizania plants,now 30-80cm tall, dominated the area, withmany other species in support: assortedChenopodiums, Atriplexes, with Rumex obtusifolius,R. conglomeratus and many other weeds.At first, the R. maritimus plants were notobvious, but once we 'got our eyes in', we sawhundreds. Golden Docks extended over 275mN to S, by 10 to 25m E to W, and sample countsindicated some 390 to 780 Golden Docksoverall (see photo 1 below). They ranged frominconspicuous young plants only c.20cm tall,with golden-green flower spikes (see insideback cover), to more obvious big 'candelabrashaped'individuals with chestnut-brown ripefruiting stems, and up to 60cm tall (see Colourphotos, inside back cover). The wide range ofplant sizes indicated that germination had notbeen synchronous, and had occurred much laterin the season than would normally be expected.By late October, the plants were in late fruit;many had shed nearly all their 'fruits' leavingbare stems that were quite inconspicuous. Butwe never found the Golden Dock again at itsoriginal site, at the NE corner of the pond, andwe saw no plants of Rumex palustris, which alsoused to occur there in the 19708. It will beinteresting to see whether the Golden Dockappears again on the Zizania dredgings, orwhether the 2005 mass germination was just a'one off event.P.S. We revisited this site on 11 July 2006. TheZizania and other plants had formed a rank andnear-impenetrable mass of vegetation, butaround one margin we noted at least 12 plants ofRumex maritimus in flower.ReferenceHOLLINGS, M. & HOLLINGS, O.M. 2000. Zizanialatifolia - fit and flourishing over-abundantly in aWest Sussex pond. BSBI News 85: 39-40.Photo 1. Several Rumex maritimus plants in late fruit on part of the area where dredgings of Zizania latifoliawere dumped and have become established. Patching Pond (v.c. 13), photo © M. Hollings 2005
Notes - Isolepis cernua: do different? / Old and mysterious record of Senecio paludosus 13Isolepis cernua: do different?SIMON HARRAp, 1 Norwich Road, Edgefield, Norfolk, NR24 2RP. harrap@onetel.netIsolepis cernua (Slender Club-rush) has anintriguing distribution in Britain, being confinedto the coastal regions of Ireland, the west coastof Britain from the Outer Hebrides south toCornwall, and then along the south coast toHampshire and the Isle of Wight. It is alsolocally common inland in the New Forest, butwhat is an otherwise perfect 'Oceanic' or'Atlantic' distribution is spoilt by its occurrencein both West and East Norfolk (New Atlas). InNorfolk it was unknown prior to 1914, but hassince been recorded from eight sites: in WestNorfolk from Scarning and Potter's Fens and inEast Norfolk from Holt, Booton Common,Buxton Heath, Beeston Bog, Bryants Heath(Felmingham) and Hevingham (petch & Swann1968); it was noted as still being present atBeeston and Buxton Heath by Beckett, Bull &Stevenson (1999). The record for Holt is notlocalised, but a manuscript book held by thebiology department of Gresham's School, Holt,has a record of the species for 1926 by C.P.Petch (then a pupil at Gresham's) for HoltLowes, an area of heath, secondary scrub andfen that was set aside by the 1807 Enclosure Actas a 'Poors Allotment' and is now an SSSI.Despite fairly intensive recording at HoltLowes, Isolepis cernua was not, to my knowledge,found there again until I came across it inJune 2002. In the preceding period substantialmanagement work had been undertaken by theNorfolk Wildlife Trust and this included thefelling and removal of secondary woodland thathad invaded former areas of open mire vegetation.It was in one such area (at TG089.373)that I found several plants that I suspected to be1. cernua (having seen the species previously atBeeston Bog). Keen to be sure ofthe identification,I examined them critically, and wasconvinced with the exception of one feature.Rather than having two stamens, the plants hadthree (see Colour Section, Plate 1. Fig. 1). In thedescription of the genus Isolepis, Stace (1991)gives the number of stamens as '1-2' and this isrepeated in Stace (2004). Indeed, the other referencesthat I had to hand give the number ofstamens in Isolepis as 1-2 (CTM) or two (Rose1989). Notwithstanding this discrepancy, Iidentified the plants as 1. cernua based on theappearance of the mature nut, which was warmbrown, minutely dotted with minute papillae (alittle darker brown, with prominent ribs in1. setacea) (see Colour Section, Plate 1. Fig 2).My interest in Slender Club-rush aroused, Ihave been looking more closely at the speciesand have found that plants from BeestonCommon also have three stamens per floret (seeColour Section, Plate 1. Fig. 3). I would haveclaimed that this was another case of Norfolk's'do different' approach but plants seen in theNew Forest (Boundway Hill) in 2004 alsoshowed three stamens!I have also noticed that another, albeit lesscritical, identification feature appears to beunreliable. Stace (2004) states that the mainbract is 'at most only slightly longer than inflorescence'and this is also a key character in Rose(1989), the only other easily available referenceto the genus. This character is far from infallible,however, as at least occasionally somespikes on Norfolk plants have a 'stem' (i.e. mainbract) that can extend well beyond the spikelet.(See Colour Section, Plate 1. Fig. 4)References:BECKETT, G., BULL, A. & STEVENSON, R. 1999. AFlora of Norfolk. Privately published.CLAPHAM, A.R., TuTIN, T.G. & MOORE, D.M. 1987.Flora of the British Isles. Third Edition. Cambridge,CUP.PETCH, C.P. & SWANN, E.L. 1968. Flora of Norfolk.Norwich: Jarro1d.ROSE, F. 1989. Colour Identification Guide to theGrasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of the BritishIsles and north-western Europe. London: Viking.STACE, C. 1991. New Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge:CUP.STACE, C.A. 2004. Interactive Flora of the BritishIsles. ET! (DVD-ROM).An old and mysterious record of Senecio paludosus from v.c. 20TREVOR JAMES, Recorder: v.c. 20: Herts., 56 Back Street, Ashwell, Baldock, Herts., SG7 5PEResearchers compiling data on Senecio paludosus(Fen Ragwort) for conservationprogrammes came across a specimen of this rareplant buried in the herbarium of the RoyalBotanic Garden, Edinburgh, claiming to comefrom Hertfordshire. However, it was not untilDr Stuart Warrington of the National Trust drewmy attention to this reference that news of its
14 Notes - An old and mysterious record of Senecio paludosus from v.c. 20existence surfaced. The specimen was reputedto have been collected in 1932 in a gravel pit atWare, Hertfordshire by persons unknown.The unlikely nature of the record necessitatedsome further study. Contact was made withDouglas . McKean at Edinburgh, who hadconfirmed its identity earlier, and he kindlysupplied me with further details. The specimenhad been identified as S. paludosus some time inthe last 30 years by the late A.J.C. Grierson.Further examination of the specimen confirmedthat it had emanated from the herbarium of EnidMcAllister Hall, much of whose herbarium isknown to have been acquired by Edinburgh.She and her brother, Hugh Phillips, were localbotanists of some distinction at one time inHitchin, and a further major part of their jointherbaria was bequeathed to Hitchin Museum inthe 1950s. The label on the specimen has thesame handwriting as many of the plants in thePhillips Herbarium, now in North HertfordshireMuseums Service, so, although its collector isnot named, it is fairly certainly a specimencollected by one of the family locally. Thespecimen label says merely that it was collectedat a gravel pit at Ware, Herts. [TL3l], on lphAugust 1932. However, at the time it wasmisidentified by the person that collected and/ormounted it as Solidago canadensis! Presumablythis was because it has rather narrow, serratedleaves that are not dissimilar to those of theGolden-rod, and because of the lack of anydecent reference material for the latter at the time.There is no doubt about the identity of the plant.It would seem to have been a rather small specimen,not having the large, deeply serrate leavescharacteristic of more vigorous plants. However,its occurrence at Ware would seem to be a mostunlikely one, especially at that time. AlthoughWare now has abundant wet gravel pits with somegood 'fen' vegetation round about, in 1932 theonly gravel pit near the town was on plateaugravels, west of the town, not in the valleys of anyof the local rivers. There is no real evidence of anypermanent wetlands in these pits (although temporaryones may have existed). In addition, the Warearea was, and had been for a century before, wellbotanised by very capable people. The RevdW.H. Coleman had examined the wetlands of theLea Valley near Ware in great detail in the earlier19 th century along with his colleague Revd R.H.Webb, both of whom were local. In the early partof the 20 th century, right through the period whenthis plant was found, both A.v. Graveson and hisson, A.W. Graveson, collected extensively aroundWare, and the latter had in particular spent muchtime at the gravel pits there collecting aliens. Nonehad reported any sign of such a plant. There ishowever an enigmatic reference to the even lesslikely Senecio palustris in the diary of one localbotanist, H.F. Hayllar, some of whose herbariumstill survives, in the Lea Valley not far away atHoddesdon in 1909, although there does notappear to be any specimen to substantiate such aclaim.So, what are we to make of this record? EnidMcAllister Hall and her son were meticulousplants people, if not expert botanists. Their specimensare well labelled. If it was a mistake, it wasevidently unknowing, because they never realisedwhat it was. It might conceivably have come fromanother locality and been mixed in the mounting.On the other hand, it just might have arrived andremained at a temporary wetland in the gravel pitfor a year or two, without others knowing about it.After all, no other good local botanist would havemade a special visit to see a plant of CanadianGolden-rod!We will probably never know. However, it doesrequire us to put a footnote in the forthcoming'Flora of Hertfordshire' that such a specimenexists, and that, just maybe, it was a genuinelywild, if transient escape of a national rarity in V.c.20!Viola reichenbachiana in Plant Crib 1998EDWARD PRATT, 7 Bay Close, Swanage, Dorset BH191REOver recent years I have examined severalpopulations of Viola. reichenbachiana inDorset, and one in South Yorkshire, in whichsome of the plants have spurs ofthe same colouras the rest of the petals. I thought that theymight have been hybrids with V. riviniana (V.xbavarica). This seemed even more likelywhen I counted the seeds, and found that theyaveraged 15 to 16 in a capsule, whereas PlantCrib 1998 gives 11 for V. reichenbachiana and19 for V. riviniana.However pollen staining this year, followingBrenda Harold's most helpful instructions(BSBI News 101: 16-17), showed that allpopulations were fertile and thus, taking otherfeatures into account, are V. reichenbachiana.Reference:RICH, T.C.G. & JERMY, A.C. 1998. Plant Crib 1998.BSBI, London.
Notes - Carex aeutiformisl Grid square nomenclature 15Carex acutiformisEnwARD PRATT, 7 Bay Close, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 IREThe article on pages 344-5 of Plant Crib 1998 sheath. (However in one population perverselyis most helpful, but there is just one point which it is not clearly visible either above or below thedoes not seem to work, at least in this area. I ligule!)find that in Carex acutiformis the aerenchyma Reference:pattern is usually clearly visible just above the RICH, T.C.G. & JERMY, A.C. 1998. Plant Crib 1998.ligule, and from both inside and outside the BSBI, LondonGrid square nomenclatureMARK WILLIAMSON, Department of Biology, University of York, Y010 5DD; mw1@york.ac.ukTREVOR JAMES, clo Biological Records Centre, CEH MonIes Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon,PE28 2LSI; tjj@ceh.ac.ukDAVID PEARMAN,Algiers, Peoek, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA; dpearman4@ao1.comBSBI members pioneered the use of ten kilometreby ten kilometre grid squares for recordingdistributions with the Old Atlas (perring &Walters 1962) where the bulk ofthe field recordswere made between 1954 and 1958. From 1956botanists conducting local surveys began usingtwo kilometre by two kilometre squares. Somehistory of that is in the New Atlas (preston et al.2002, p. 8). In the new Change atlas (Braithwaiteet al. 2006) these squares are called tetrads andeither 10-km squares or hectads. This note isabout the origin and validity of the -ad names.Tetrad has become a generally accepted term buthectad is still controversial.Tetrad is the easier of the two. It seems to havefirst been used by E.S. Edees in Staffordshire inabout 1956 (Preston et al. 2002) though his Florawas published much later (Edees 1972). The firstFlora with the word is by J.G. Dony (1967) andhe also invented the system of labelling the 25tetrads in a 10-km square with capital letters,sometimes called DINTY, around 1960 (pers.comm. to TJJ). Tetrad is a standard English wordmeaning a group of four or the number four(Oxford English Dictionary Onlinehttp//:dictionary. oed.com) and that dictionarygives the meaning here as f. Eeol., first publishedin Hawkes & Readett (1963). However, tetradalso appears in the dictionary entry '-ad, suffix!''forming ... Collective numerals, as ... monad, ...dyad, triad, tetrad, pentad, hebdomad, chiliad,myriad, etc.'The commonest objection to hectad is that it isan unfamiliar neologism while the commonestobjection to not using it is that 10-km square isinaccurate, the proper name should be somethinglike the phrase in our first line, e.g. Williamson(2002) 'hectads (lO-km x 1O-km grid squares)'.The Old Atlas (Perring & Walters 1962) calledthem 1O-kilometer grid squares or lO-kilometresquares while the New Atlas (Preston et al. 2002),after saying (p. 3) 'the 10 x 10 km squares of the(British) Ordnance Survey National Grid', refersto them in the text as lO-km squares but on themaps as 10 km 2 • Neither uses hectad. Hectadwas invented by the late Guy Messenger(Messenger 1987) 'The HECTAD is a lO kmsquare in any system in which the TETRAD is a2km square.' He justifies it by first pointing outthat in TETRAD 'both its syllables are soundlybased on good Greek' and that is indeed so forboth the dictionary entries mentioned above. Hethen argues 'when you multiply a unit by 100 yougive the unit name the prefix Hecto-' and so youdo, or Hect- in front of a vowel, but Hectodoesn'tlead to Hectad. That argument only leadsto hectad if you regard it as Hect- in front of -ad.Hectad is not in the Oxford English Dictionary(yet) but it could be argued that it is covered bythe etc. in the examples of -ad given above. Nodoubt both lO-km sq and hectad will continue incommon use whatever one may feel about themand some of us do have strong feelings.The list above of -ad words from a dictionarygives two other square measures that could be,and sometimes are, used: monad for 1km x lkmand myriad for 100km x 100km (one meaning ofmyriad is lO,OOO). Both seem a bit dubious inview of the other meanings of those words.Messenger (l987) suggested haplad for 1km xlkm but that would be cognate with tetraplad nottetrad; hapl- is single, mon- is one. The otherterms in the list above, for collections of two,three, five, seven and a thousand, are all fornon-square numbers and so cannot be used ingrid square mapping. It would seem that 5km x5km and 50km x 50km units would only havevery obscure Greek -ad terms.
16 Notes - Grid square nomenclature I Reporting on Local ChangeReferences:BRAITHWAITE, M.E., ELLIS, R.W. & PRESTON, C.D.2006. Change in the British Flora 1987-2004.BSBI, London.DoNY, J.G. 1967. Flora of Hertfordshire. HitchinMuseum, Hitchin.EDEES, E.S. 1972. Flora of Staffordshire. David &Charles, Newton Abbot.HAWKEs, J.G. &READETT, R.C. 1963. Collecting thedata: a description of the methods used in the CUfrentrevision of the flora of Warwickshire. In: W ANSTALL, P.J. (ed.) Local Floras. BSBI ConferenceReport Number 7, pp. 37-45. Botanical Society ofthe British Isles, LondonMESSENGER, K.G. 1987. Grid square nomenclature.BSBI News 45: 12-13.PERRING, F. & WALTERS, S.M. 1962. Atlas of theBritish Flora. Thomas Nelson and Sons, London.PRESTON, C.D., PEARMAN, D.A. & DINES, T.D. 2002.New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora. OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford.WILLIAMSON, M. 2002. Alien plants in the BritishIsles. In: PlMENTEL, D. (ed.) Biological Invasions:Economic and Environmental Costs of Alien Plant,Animal, and Microbe Species, pp. 91-112. CRCPress, Boca Raton, Florida.Reporting on Local ChangeJOHN PRESLAND, 175c Ashley Lane, Winsley, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire BA15 2HRThe report on Local ChangeThe recently published account of the LocalChange project (Braithwaite et al. 2006) is nowout. It is an attractive book packed with interestinginformation. It is based on two sets ofdata - the BSBI Monitoring Scheme in 1987-8and the BSBI Local Change survey in 2003-4.The Monitoring Scheme had established abaseline for the occurrence of taxa in a largesample of tetrads countrywide. In the LocalChange project, much the same tetrads weresurveyed again. Clear and colourful distributionmaps are provided for many taxa, showing threecategories of data - gains (tetrads noted in LocalChange but not in Monitoring Scheme); losses(tetrads noted in Monitoring Scheme but not inLocal Change); and refinds (tetrads noted inboth surveys). The three categories combinedshow all the tetrads for a taxon from bothsurveys combined.This article should not be taken as a completereview of the Local Change report. The reportpursues a number of other issues not mentionedhere. Though my main emphasis here lies inproblems with it, I would recommend the reportas a fascinating account of an important projectwhich tells us a great deal about our flora anddiscusses key issues and problems in the processof recording it.Problems with the reportThe original plan for the Local Change projectseemed simple and obvious - the data would becompared with those from the MonitoringScheme data to obtain measures of change forindividual species and for habitats. Thingsturned out not to be so manageable.The recording in Local Change produced asignificantly greater range of records for mosttaxa than did the Monitoring Scheme. Thissuggests that recording in Local Change wasmore comprehensive than that in the MonitoringScheme, so that the two sets of figures were notcomparable and could not validly be used tomeasure change. However, the authors musthave felt, at this stage, that they were committedto producing actual numerical indices of change.Instead of concluding that the results didn'tallow them to do this satisfactorily and concentratingjust on what the raw data could tell themabout change, they set out to derive indices ofchange which they thought would have beenobtained if the recording levels had been thesame in both projects. They did this by applyingmathematical formulae which at first give animpression of scientific accuracy and objectivity.However, the results of mathematical proceduresdepend on what is put in, and this dependson the assumptions ofthose who make the input.As I understand it, the formulae in this casewere based on at least three assumptions, whichare:• To quote - 'there are no real gains forspecies with net losses and no real lossesfor species with net gains'. If 'net' meansthe raw number of tetrads for a taxon and'real' means what they would be if the twosets of records had been comparable, theassumption is difficult to accept. If therewas over-recording in Local Changerelative to the Monitoring Scheme, thensome, possible many, species with smallnet gains could well have suffered reallosses. When confronted with what mayormay not be a different wording of thisassumption elsewhere in the book - 'thetaxa which suffer real losses have no realgains' and 'the taxa which have real gainssuffer no real losses' - I could not evenmake out what it means.
NotesReporting on Local Change17• The pattern of change for taxa whosedistribution appeared not to have changedmuch between the two surveys can be usedas a guide to the 'real' change in distrib~tionof the other taxa. The authors make Itclear, in Appendix 2 and in their conch~sionsand recommendations, that thISassumption may not be true and cannot beverified. Unless I have misunderstoodsomething, therefore, the numericalindices of change presented throughout thebook are representing data which do notexist and which we have no objectivereason for supposing would be obtained inany survey.• The indices of change were expressed asproportions or percentages. A change in,say, 4 tetrads, could translate into apercentage change of some size for a raretaxon but make no significant difference inthe case of a widespread taxon. Theauthors therefore used another formula tochange the raw data for rare taxa to givecomparable measures for these two categories.This appears to be an extension oftheprocess of deriving change indices whichrepresent non-existent data.Using the report's dataOne result of the approaches described abovecould be a devaluation of the importance oftheraw data actually obtained. Fortunately, however,the authors of the report do make use ofthem. They record the tetrad gains and lossesfor individual taxa, and refer to them in theirtaxon summaries. It is also possible to discoverhow many tetrads were recorded for a particulartaxon in Local Change - you just add the' gains'to the 'refmds'. Likewise, for the MonitoringScheme, you add the 'losses' to the 'refinds':There are a number of ways of approachmgthe raw data which allow us to be pleased thatthe level of recording in Local Change was somuch higher than previously, rather than dis~ppointed,as the authors apparently were. WhIleon the surface these approaches appear to beless precise than the numerical indices in thereport, they may be closer to reality. All arecovered in the report despite the authors' reservationsabout validity. They are:• There is a great deal of information on whathas been found and where during a surveyof commendable thoroughness.• The raw losses and gains can be consideredas they stand, bearing in mind that, becauseof improved recording: the losses are morelikely to be real than the gains; the greaterthe size of a gain, the greater are its chancesof being a real one; care should be taken ininterpreting the results for rarer taxa.• The two sets of data combined give a usefulpicture ofthe total recorded range of occurrencefor each taxon from 1997-2003.• While there are deficiencies in the data,these can be viewed positively as raisingquestions which need further investigation.• The data provide a helpful supplement tothose for hectads in the New Atlas (Prestonet al. 2002).• The raw data provide information on somerare and scarce taxa.Suggestions for further analysis .Though it seems unlikely that valid mathematIcalindices of absolute change can be calculatedfrom surveys of this kind, it is possible to calculatethem for change in individual or groups oftaxa relative to other taxa or to the whole bodyof taxa. Indeed, it could be argued that this waswhat the authors ofthe report were really doing.Below is a method which I suggest producesvalid mathematical indices of such changedirectly from the raw data without any adjustmentsand with simple mathematics which doesnot cut off most readers from understandingwhat is happening. I offer it step by step forcomment.1. Take the raw number of tetrads recordedfor each individual taxon in the MonitoringScheme. Call this the Monitoring SchemeTaxon Tetrad Score.2. Add together the individual MonitoringScheme Taxon Tetrad Scores. Call thesummed scores the Monitoring SchemeTaxon Tetrad Scores Total.3. For each individual taxon, express theMonitoring Scheme Taxon Tetrad Score asa percentage of the Monitoring SchemeTetrad Scores Total. Call this the MonitoringScheme Taxon Tetrad ScorePercentage.4. Repeat steps 1-3 with the Local Changeraw scores to obtain a Local ChangeTaxon Tetrad Score for each individualtaxon, a Local Change Taxon TetradScores Total, and, for each individualtaxon, a Local Change Taxon TetradScore Percentage.5. For each individual taxon, subtract theMonitoring Scheme Taxon Tetrad ScorePercentage from the Local Change TaxonTetrad Score Percentage. Call the result theRelative Taxon Percentage Change. Itwill be positive for an increase andnegative for a decrease.
18 Notes - Reporting on Local Change / The Maps SchemeThe resulting indices would, as far as I can see,be independent of differences in recording level.They could be subjected to further processing asindicated below:• By making the same calculations forselected groups, rather than individual taxa,the Relative Percentage Change could becalculated for the assemblage of speciesfound in a particular habitat, or for anyother grouping.• The Relative Percentage Changes could beconverted to any other scale desired.• The results could be subjected to statisticalprocedures to see how far changes werelikely to be due to chance factors ratherthan be real.Indices of this kind would be valuable inhelping decide, in combination with other data,which taxa or groups of taxa to worry aboutmost.I looked at the possibility of carrying out thesuggested analyses myself, but the data entryrequired would be an impossibly long task forme. The authors of the report, however, couldpresumably do it very quickly from whateverspreadsheet or database they used, since allnecessary information should be enteredalready.ReferencesBRAITHWAITE, M.E., ELLIS, R.W. & PRESTON, C.D.2006. Change in the British flora 1987-2004 (AReport on the BSBI Local Change survey). BotanicalSociety of the British Isles, London.PRESTON, C.D., PEARMAN, D.A. & DINES, T.D. 2002.New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora. OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford.The Maps SchemeQUENTIN GROOM, Louis Pelserssquare 1, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium. qgroom@reticule.co.ukOne ofthe benefits of maintaining an up-ta-datedatabase of biological records is that one canrapidly detect changes in the abundance of ataxon. This is certainly true for the BSBI MapsScheme (known the Atlas Updating Project).The Maps Scheme database holds data in fourdifferent date classes, before 1970; 1970-1986;1987-1999 and 2000 onwards. The data from2000 onwards is far from complete; it has onlyabout 30% of the data compared with 1987-1999. Despite this incompleteness, it is sufficientto detect taxa that are increasing. I used abasic change index to compare the relativechange in the number ofhectads that each taxonwas recorded in. The method I used highlightstaxa whose distribution is small, but is increasingfast. For the results presented here, Icompare distribution in the date classes 1987-1999 and 2000 onwards.The analysis is complicated by changes inrecording practices and changes in the taxonomy.Critical taxa, hybrids and subspecies wereall stripped out of the results, because of theinconsistency of recording. Likewise, whollyplanted taxa were removed and others wereremoved because the numbers of hectads theyhave been recorded in is so small (~10). Somerare natives were removed because there havebeen particular efforts to re-record these. Theremaining top 40 taxa can be seen in table 1.Note that there is some bias in the resultstowards taxa from the south of England,because there is a bias in the submission ofpost-1999 data towards this region. I expect therest of us will catch up.I'll largely let the results speak for themselves.However, I should point out another usefulfunction of the Maps Scheme. It helps validaterecords and highlight errors. For example, itwas surprising that Symphytum asperum cameso high on the list of spreading species.S. xuplandicum is often mistaken forS. asperum, so this apparent increase is nowunder investigation by the Symphytum referee(Clare O'Reilly). The Maps Scheme databasehas help correct numerous other errors insubmitted data.In the future, the Map Scheme database willrequire proper study; meanwhile, it is possible,with a simple analysis, to alert us to changes inBritain's flora. Anyone wanting more details ofthese apparently spreading taxa should first lookon the Maps Scheme website (www.bsbiatlas.org. uk). You are also welcome to contact me fordetails. Please continue to contribute recordsand many thanks to those who have alreadycontributed.
Notes - The Maps Scheme 19Table 1. The top 40 species in the Maps Scheme database with the highest proportional increase in thenumber ofhectads they have been found in. The columns state the number ofhectads each species hasbeen recorded in for each date class. Consider that the geographic coverage for the date class '2000 onwards'is only about 30% ofthat for the previous date classes.TaxonConyza bilbaoanaVerbena bonariensisBidens /erulifoliaPersicaria capitataCardamine corymbosaChenopodium quinoaSenecio inaequidensSymphytum asperumScilla lilio-hyacinthusEryngium planumPolypogon viridisYucca recurvifoliaConyza bonariensisBerberis julianaePolygonum maritimumEchium pininanaCortaderia richardiiPoa injirmaCordyline australisHydrocotyle ranunculoidesPhysalis peruvianaEuphoria oblongataSymphytum bulbosumSmyrnium per/oliatumConyza sumatrensisCyperus eragrostisChionodoxa luciliaeSagittaria latifoliaAmbrosia artemisiifoliaCrassula tillaeaAllium subhirsutumIris orientalisLonicera pileataEchinochloa crus-galliPontederia cordataSonchus palustrisGeranium purpureumSisyrinchium striatumCortaderia selloanaPhacelia tanacetifolia1970-1986o4oooo34161735238o47o10o1551154253221512812613201987-19997104152414271310968141113112525683951271812171916615179096313561235353457561931752000 on43391541602443191311801612141125236134442315101314549111262662123401522221353410997
20 Notes - A Time For ReflectionA Time For ReflectionCHRISTOPHER J. LOWE, 25 North End, Hutton, Rudby, Yarm, TS15 ODGTwo articles in BSBl News 101: ('When is theBest Time to Find Plants?' and' Grassland PlantPhenologies') generated a series ofloosely-connectedideas, based on several years' experienceas a botanical surveyor, both in and out of theoptimum period. Much of this account isderived from, and directed towards, detailed('Phase II' -type) investigations. Some of itstates the obvious - my apologies to experiencedfield-workers for this - but is recorded toestablish a sort of continuum of thought.1. Surveying later than the optimum monthshas some advantages over early-season efforts.The flowering-parts of many species persistrecognizably well into late autumn or evenwinter and beyond. For example, neutral grasslandin Weardale, briefly reconnoitred on 20 thApril 2006, showed copious quantities of lastyear's crested dog's tail (Cynosurus cristatus),in the form of dead-heads. Recording thespecies' presence in the sward was certainlyfeasible, though whether abundances can besafely judged is another matter; and if otherspecies, probably equally prominent in thesward in due course, were not comparablyvisible, a skewed record would result.Forbs likewise retain some above-groundfeatures for weeks or longer, but there is inevitablya blank period between the wholesaledecay of old material and the emergence ofidentifiable young growth. Surveys done duringthis 'inter-regnum' are bound to be deficient,perhaps seriously. Thus the date attached tosurvey-data, whether a full report or a specieslist,is almost as important, maybe as important,as the data themselves, particularly wherecomparisons with other records, or conclusionsabout site-value, are concerned.Though it is, indeed, stating the obvious thatsurvey-results vary according to season, acodicil concerning deciduous woodland isappropriate. Various features in this type ofhabitat are at least as evident in winter as insummer, when '(not) seeing the trees for theleaves' is often a problem. General outline, size(shrub v. canopy-forming mature tree), barkcharacter,and the arrangement of buds(alternate v. opposite) are all more easily distinguishedwhen woodland is without its foliage.Berries or fruits often persist into winter, andleaves are still copiously present at ground-level,as a confirmation ofthe species present. Thisextra visibility in winter facilitates not just theidentification of individual trees, but an accurateassessment of abundance. A 'topping-up' visitto record ground flora can be done a few monthslater.2. Timing of surveys affects the precise list ofspecies recorded: this has already been alludedto above, and is comprehensively dealt with inQuentin Groom's article. Spring field-work ingrassland finds meadow foxtail (Alopecuruspratensis), for example, often in considerablequantity, but not (unless one is skilled at, andspends time over, discrimination of very youngvegetative growth) the later-appearing commonbent (Agrostis capillaris) or timothy (Phleumpratense subsp.pratense).The latter is very seldom mentioned as aprominent component in neutral grasslands('MG'-types) in the National VegetationCommunity, but my experience is that timothyis often a common and well distributed memberof swards later in the season. Admittedly it is afairly catholic grass, not particularly indicativeof semi-naturalness or specific environmentalconditions such as damp soil, and so its occurrenceis not, perhaps, hugely significant in NVCdeterminations.However, its relatively poor showing inalmost all NVC categories ('MG6c' and'MG7b' are the exceptions) has struck me morethan once during grassland surveys. Possibly ifsampling for neutral grasslands in the NVCproject was done early in the season (perhaps toallow surveyors to move to, and concentrate on,other habitats, especially upland areas), Phleumbecame accidentally under-represented.3. The concept of extrapolating from fieldworkdone at less-than-optimum seasons is animportant one, as Quentin Groom comments,and the following experience may (?) berelevant. A programme of River-CorridorSurveys entailed two visits, (relatively) earlyand late, to assess the floristics (and other conditionssuch as flow) more fully during the entiresummer. Species-lists for individual sections(500 metres) of the drainage-courses amountedto between 25 and 75 on the first session offield-work. Figures are reported from memory,but are not likely to be seriously in error.I assumed that the later trips would enable the'poor' sections to catch up, and that the eventualtotals would be more narrowly distributed aboutthe mean. Not so: the original 'sixty-plus
Notes - Time For Reflection I DNA Analysis - Some Queries I Hillier Herbarium 21species' sites accrued additions quickly andsmoothly on the second examination, like aconfident batsmen nearing his century. Many ofthese rich stretches did in fact exceed 100species in the end, without my exercising aparticular search- effort.In contrast, the lengths with fewer than 50species on the frrst visit tended to stay that way.This might have been predictable if they hadconsisted of, say, 500 metres of dense andmonocultural growth such as reed, Phragmitescommunis, but in only one case, so far as Irecall, did this condition occur, and then overonly part of the length. And it should be bornein mind that the surveys covered both banks and25 metres of 'Corridor' away from the river, soscope for diversity was not by any means limited.It may again seem to be stating the obvious,but at the time the discovery took me bysurprise; and the experience has been re-enacted,occasionally, since then. Repeat visits todiverse communities that had already shown animpressive species-list during previous surveysoften produced at least one or two additions.This happened even when the second look wasa casual encounter rather than 'official' andthorough field-work.DNA Analysis - Some QueriesALAN SHOWLER, 12 Wedgwood Drive, Hughenden Valley, High Wycombe, Bucks., HP 14 4PAI read (BSBI News 102: 69) that it has beendecided in the revision of Francis Rose's TheWihijlower Key to retain the old names for theorchids, rather than replace them with the new,DNA-derived names. I am sure this is best butequally sure that others will disagree! However,when the inter-relationship of only a relativelysmall number of our native plants has beeninvestigated by these techniques it would seemto me to be wise to wait a bit, otherwise wewould have a book in which some ofthe speciesare classified by their DNA and the remainderby structural features.As an organic chemist, inclining to biochemistry,I have some idea of the background tothese new techniques but it seems probable thatthe majority of our members will have little ideaof how these analyses are carried out (whichprobably does not matter), nor, and now Iinclude myself, how decisions are reached whenlooking at the results. My questions then - whatdecisions have to be made and how certain arewe of what is decided?All is based on the examination of a series ofbands, which can be converted to a series ofpeaks of varying intensities. But we are lookingat similarities and differences, so how differentis different? If two specimens are examined,what determines whether they are differentspecies, just subspecies or a single species ofdifferent races or origins? There must beborderline cases; if so do all the experts agree?I would welcome an article to tell us no morethan briefly how the analyses are carried out, butin more detail how decisions are reached.The Hillier Herbarium at Ampfield (Hampshire)ERlC J. CLEMENT, 54 Anglesey Road, Gosport, Hants. P012 2EQThe Sir Harold Hillier Gardens Herbarium is amajor new herbarium, with the acronym HILL,that was created in June 1995. With over 5000sheets it now features on the world wide web -see Index Herbariorum at The New YorkBotanic Garden site, NYBG.org. It representsthe work of a number of dedicated volunteers,including several BSBI members - a lot ofloving care has created some very beautiful (andscientifically valuable) pressed specimens. Itmostly features cultivated woody plants. but therich native and alien flora of the Gardens hasalso been sampled, and not only for vascularplants - Linda Barker (BSBI) et al. have addedin the bryophytes and lichens. David AlIen hasexpertly sampled the interesting Rubus flomla.The collection includes the official herbariumof the International Oak Society (IOS), hencethe 1750 sheets of Quercus (600 taxa). Thisexpresses the major interest of AlIen Coombes,Botanist, the BSBI referee for this genus.Dorothy Holley (lOS) has vigorously workedon the project since its inauguration and haspersuaded many souls (EJC included!) to helpout over the years.Many specimens have been collected outsideBritain, so it is an excellent venue to learnherbarium botany - some 212 families and 620genera of vascular plants are represented, allfiled in the standard, Bmmmitt order of Vascularplantfamilies andgenera(RBG,Kew, 1992).
22 Notes - Hillier Herbarium / John Dalton, a colour-blind botanist, & English Lakeland botanistsMore details about the herbarium can befound in The Plantsman n.s. 4(4): 197 (Dec.2005) and at www.hillier.hants.gov.uk.Thissame web site also has the extraordinary abilityto pinpoint the exact location of all living plantsthat are established in the gardens. (A similarfacility also exists at the RHS Garden, Wisley,Surrey: go for the terminal, called Holly, locatedin the Garden Library). Invaluable, if you wishto check the ID of some mystery plant that youhave found!Some of the joys of the Hillier Gardens wererecently described by Jeremy Spen in Pentachondra36: 21-22 (May 2006), with, of course,a strong Australasian emphasis. Surprisingly,no official Hillier Guide exists.John Dalton (1766-1844), a self-confessed colour-blind botanist,and a circle of English Lakeland botanistsCHARLES NELSON, Tippitiwichet Cottage, Hall Road, Outwell, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE14 8PERenowned for his 'Atomic Theory', theCumberland-born scientist John Dalton FRS issadly neglected in botanical circles. Indeed hisinterest in plants is rarely mentioned anywhere(see, for example, his entry in Oxford dictionaryof national biography (Greenaway 2004»; asnoted by Simms (1969) no 'appreciation of JohnDalton as a botanist' was published among the'many eulogies' that marked the bicentenary ofhis birth. Yet, plants had a crucial role inDalton's 'extraordinary feat of detecting'(Greenaway 2004) that he himself was colourblind,and he knew the plants of the LakeDistrict well enough to make two herbariumcollections, the largest of 864 species containingonly 37 that were incorrectly identified(Adamson & Crabtree 1920; Simms 1969).Dalton was indeed a member of a close circle ofindividuals interested in the Lakeland flora at aperiod, the late eighteenth century, dismissed byHalliday (1986) as part of a botanically sterilecentury in which 'the light which [WilliamNicholson], [Thomas] Lawson and [John] Rayhad kindled appears to have flickered if notactually died ...'.Dalton was born on 6 September 1766 atEaglesfield near Cockermouth, and was for awhile educated at the Quaker (Friends') schoolat Pardshaw Hall, a few miles fromCockermouth. However at the age of 10 he hadto leave this to earn a living and so he is said tohave 'entered the service of Elihu Robinson(1734-1809), (Greenaway 2004) - an alternativeversion (Davis 2004) is that Dalton'regularly visited Robinson for lessons'. Robinsoncertainly encouraged Dalton, who, aged 12,set up his own school which failed after a coupleof years, and for a time he worked as a farmlabourer. When he was 15, Dalton moved toKendal to join his brother Jonathan and becamean assistant in the Friends' school there, thenrun by George Bewley.John Dalton learned his botany from thenaturalist John Gough (1757-1825), a native ofKendal and also a Quaker. Gough's story isextraordinary. At the age of 3 he contractedsmallpox and became blind. Yet while a pupilat the Friends' school in Kendal, underBewley's tutelage, Gough 'formed a botanicalclub with his schoolmates' who would read tohim the descriptions from John Wilson's Synopsisof British plants (1744)1, while Goughwould, very minutely with his hands, examinethe plant being described (Gross 2004).Dalton and Gough were closely associatedbetween 1782 and 1790. Dalton assisted Goughby reading and writing for him, while Goughtaught Dalton Greek, Latin and French (Gross2004). They must also have had conversationsabout plants. Another topic of mutual interestwas meteorology; Gough encouraged Dalton tokeep meteorological observations in a diary, andDalton was to do so until 'the last day of hislife'(Greenaway 2004). Elihu Robinson hadalso encouraged Dalton's interest in meteorology.A fourth person in this circle was PeterCrosthwaite - Dalton supplied him with ahome-made barometer and thermometer.Crosthwaite had a private museum in Keswick(Simms 1969), and Dalton is known to haveprepared a herbarium for Crosthwaite, as acollection of dried plants was 'a very properobject' for such a museum. This comprised atleast one 'book of two quires for half-a-guinea... with an index both to the Linnean and Englishnames' (quoted in Simms 1969). Daltoncommented: 'I am not so confident in my abilitiesas to maintain that I have given no plant awrong name, but I believe the skillful botanistwill find very few, if any miscalled.' It is highlyprobable that the 2-volume 2 hortus siccus nowin the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, whichwas sent to Professor John Hutton Balfour inOctober 1870 and which had come from 'a sale
Notes - John Dalton, a colour-blind botanist, & English Lakeland botanists 23of a local Museum' in Keswick, isCrosthwaite's one (see Wood 1970). The titlepageof the first volume is inscribed 'HortusSiccus: seu Plantarum diversarum in AgrisKendal vicinis sponte nascentium Specimina.Opere et Studio Joannis Dalton collecta', and isdated l79l. The second is dated 1793, while thetitle reads: 'Hortus siccus: seu Plantarum diversarumin locis Kendal vicinis sponte nascentiumSpecimine. Vol. 2. Opere & Studio JoannisDalton collecta'. According to Wood (1970)there are 112 species in the first volume and 53in the second, but none was localized, except for'in Agris Kendal' or 'in locis Kendal' on therespective title-pages. Other plants were addedto the second volume after Dalton hadcompleted it, presumably by Crosthwaite,including ,... 6 Plants ... found by P.Crosthwaite 3 , on the top of He Iv ell in, & were allhe could meet with on a careful search', and' ...17 Rare Plants .. , collected, & Presented by theReyd. Mr. Harryman 4 (F. L. S.) of Egleston,County of Durham ...' (Wood 1970).Dalton also kept a herbarium collection for hisown use. Eleven volumes containing specimens('several species to a page, each ... accompaniedby a note of locality, ... many of the specimens... small and incomplete') which were in thepossession of the Manchester Literary andPhilosophical Society were catalogued byAdamson and Crabtree (1920). Most unfortunately,these were subsequently destroyed byenemy action during the Second World War.They evidently differed from the Edinburgh setwhich is arranged in order of flowering. TheManchester herbarium, dated 1790, wasarranged according to the Linnaean System,'secundum Classes et Ordines disposita' (seeWood 1970). There are also specimenscollected by Dalton in LIV (J. Edmondson,pers. comm.).1790 is the date given by Dalton himself, in aremarkable paper he read to the ManchesterLiterary and Philosophical Society on 31October 1794, as the year in which hecommenced 'the occasional study of botany ...'- oddly, it was also the year, according to Gross(2004), that saw the end of his association withthe blind John Gough.Dalton moved to Manchester in 1793 'at thesuggestion of several leading Manchestercitizens and of Gough' (Greenaway 2004), tobecome a tutor in mathematics and naturalphilosophy at New College, Manchester, aninstitution that had been established by dissenters.He kept in touch with his friends in theLake District and in a letter to Elihu Robinson,whom he addressed as 'Dear Cousin', dated (inQuaker style) '2d moo 20th 1794', John gave thefirst indications of 'a very curious investigation':... I discovered last summer with certainty,that colours appear different to me to whatthey do to others: The flowers of most of theCranesbills appear to me in the day, almostexactly sky blue, whilst others call them deeppink; but happening once to look at one in thenight by candle light 1 found it of a colour asdifferent as possible from day light; itseemed then very near yellow, but with atincture of red; whilst no body else said itdiffered from the daylight appearance, mybrother excepted, who seems to see as I do.[Dalton 1794]What might have happened in the summer of1793 to lead Dalton to such a discovery? Mostprobably it was the move to Manchester, 'atown which ... surprised him, when he got toknow it, as being made mostly of brick'(Greenaway 2004). Manchester was not hometerritory, a place where he and any eccentricitieshe possessed were so well known that they werelikely to be indulged or just ignored. Undoubtedlyhe soon met others interested in scientificmatters, if not in plants. In the past, during hisdialogues about botany with John Gough,shape, form and texture (and perhaps smell andtaste) were the only characters that would haveany meaning; Gough, being blind, would havehad no apprehension of colours. This was atruly bizarre coupling: the blind Gough tutoringthe colour-blind. Jonathan, his brother, whenthey discussed plants, saw what John saw, andso they would have agreed about colours. Otherpeople had thought Dalton was joking when hedisputed whether a flower was red or blue: 'Ihave often seriously asked a person whether aflower was blue or pink, but was generallyconsidered to be in jest' (Dalton 1798). But,John Dalton was now in Manchester wherepeople with like interests were neither totallyblind nor afflicted by deficient vision, nor didthey think he was joking; where, ifhe remarkedthat a garden pink (Dianthus cultivar) had a blueflower, he surely provoked his interlocutor toexclaim that it was in fact red (Dalton 1798).Dalton had been elected a member ofManchester's Literary and PhilosophicalSociety on 3 October 1794, and four weeks laterdelivered his historic lecture entitled'Extraordinary facts relating to the vision ofcolours: with observations'. Having completedhis investigations, he happily admitted that hehad grown up thinking that there was 'a perplex-
24 Notes - John Dalton, a colour-blind botanist, & English Lakeland botanistsity in [the] nomenclature' of colours, not thatthere was 'any peculiarity in my vision' (Dalton1798).1 was always of the opinion, though 1 mightnot often mention it, that several colourswere injudiciously named. The term pink, inreference to the flower of that name [Le.Dianthus], seemed proper enough; but whenthe term red was substituted for pink, 1thought it highly improper; it should havebeen blue, in my apprehension, as pink andblue appear to me very nearly allied; whilstpink and red have scarcely any relation.He had had some inkling that his 'vision was notlike that of other persons' when still living inKendal (ifthe date he gave is correct):. . .... 1 was never convinced of a pecuilanty IIImy vision, till 1 accidentally observed thecolour of the flower of the Geranium zonale[Pelargonium zonale: see Hunt et alii 1995]by candle-light, in the Autumn of 1792. Theflower was pink, but it appeared to me almostan exact sky-blue by day; in candle-light,however, it was astonishingly changed, nothaving then any blue in it, but being what 1called red, a colour which forms a strikingcontrast to blue.Dalton gave several other botanical examples:'Besides the pinks, roses, &c ofthe gardens, thefollowing British flora appear to me blue:namely, Statice Armeria [= Armeria maritima],Trifolium pratense, Lychnis Flos-cuculi,Lychnis dioica [= Silene dioica], and many ofthe Gerania [sic]': - thrift, red clover, raggedrobin,red campion and the cranesbills. Discussinggreen Dalton told the audience at theManchester Literary and Philosophical Societythat 'I take my standard idea from grass. Thisappears to me very little different from red. ~heface ofa laurel-leaf (Prunus Lauro-cerasus) IS agood match to a stick of red sealing-wax; andthe back of the leaf answers to the lighter red ofwafers.'John Dalton had detected in himself, and thendescribed in a most elegant and straightforwardmanner, congenital colour vision deficiency(colour-blindness, sometimes also termedDaltonism). This is one of the most commoninherited human disorders affecting approximately8 out of every 100 males and 4 out ofevery 1,000 females. There are colour-blindindividuals in every walk of life: taking thoseaverage figures, it may be assumed that there arearound 170 BSBI members afflicted by colourvision deficiency - perhaps there..are fewer thanthat, because inability to distinguish coloursmay deter individuals with the disorder fromjoining. 1 recall wryly that 1 was almost refusedentry to Australia in 1971, to undertake mypostgraduate research, because at my compulsorymedical examination the doctor discoveredthat 1 am slightly red-green colour-blind.Notes1. John Wilson (1696-1751) was also a nativeof the Kendal area, and his book, published inNewcastle upon Tyne, prefaced by a dictionaryof botanical terms, 'show[ed] considerableoriginal observation and thought' (Henrey1975). It was 'the first account of British plantswritten in English' (Boulger & McConnell2004). He was not mentioned by Halliday(1986).2. Kent & AlIen (1984) noted only one volume.3. Peter Crosthwaite is not listed by Hedge &Lamond (1970), Kent & AlIen (1984), orDesmond & Ellwood (1994).4. RevdlohnHarrimanFLS (1760-1831) wasanother native of Cumberland. An II-volumeherbarium of Harriman's is in LlV (Kent &AlIen 1984). He is not listed by Hedge &Lamond (1970). Harriman is wrongly credited(e. g. Desmond & Ellwood 1994) with thediscovery of Gentiana verna in County Durham(in 'Teesdale Forest [sic]') during 1~97; thespecies was in fact found by John Bl11~s, ~nunlettered lead miner, and he was so credIted IIISowerby & Smith (1798). A specimen ofSpring gentian from 'near Egleston', fromHarriman is in Crosthwaite's hortus siccus (seeWood 1970), and one labelled 'Teesdale Forest'is in the Smith's herbarium (LlNN: Savage no.0476.28.2). (For information on Harriman andBinks 1 am grateful to the Revd G.G. Graham,Dr J. Edmonson and Prof. M. Seaward.)AcknowledgementsMy thanks are due to the Revd G. G. Graham, Dr JohnEdmondson, Dr Leander Wolstenholme, Mrs JenniferWoods, Professor Mark Seaward and Dr Tony Spalding.ReferencesThere is a wealth of publications about J olm Dalton' swork on colour-blindness, including the symposiumvolmne edited by Dickinson, Murray & Carden(1997) cited below.ADAMSON, R.S. & CRABTREE, A.McK. 1920. Theherbarium of Jolm Dalton. Memoirs of the ManchesterLiterary & Philosophical Society 63: 1-46[not seen].BOULGER, 0.8. & MCCONNELL, A. 2004. Wilson,Jolm (1702-1751), botanist. Oxford dictionary ofnational biography [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29664, accessed 19 May 2006]
Notes - John Dalton, colour-blind botanist, & English Lakeland botanists I Botany in Literature - 42 25DALTON, J. 1794. Dalton -letter [to Elihu Robinson],in DICKINSON, C., MURRAY, I. & CARDEN, D.(editors). 1997: pp 3-6.DALTON, J. 1798. Extraordinary facts relating to thevision of colours: with observations. Memoirs of theLiterary and Philosophical Society of Manchester 5(1): 28--45. (Reprinted in DICKINSON, C., MURRA Y,I. & CARDEN, D. (editors). 1997: pp 7-14.)DAVIS, P. 2004. Robinson, Elihu (1734-1809), meteorologistand horticulturist. Oxford dictionary ofnational biography [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/artic1e/53552, accessed 16 April 2006].DESMOND, R. & ELLWOOD, C. 1994. Dictionary ofBritish and Irish botanists and horticulturists. Revisededition. London: Tay10r & Francis & TheNatural History Museum.DICKINSON, C., MURRAY, 1. & CARDEN, D. (editors).1997. John Dalton's colour vision legacy: selectedproceedings of an international coriference. London:Tay10r & Francis.GREENAWAY, F. 2004. Daiton, John (1766--1844),chemist and natural philosopher. Oxford dictionaryof national biography [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/artic1eI7063, accessed 16 April 2006].GROSS, J. 2004. Gough, John (1757-1825), naturaland experimental philosopher. Oxford dictionary ofnational biography [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/artic1el11139, accessed 16 April 2006].HALLIDAY, G. 1986. The discovery of the Lakelandflora. Scottish naturalist 98 th year: 147-156.HEDGE, I.C. & LAMOND, J.M. (editors). 1970. Indexof collectors in the Edinburgh herbarium. Edinburgh:HMSO.HENREY, B. 1975. British botanical and horticulturalliterature before 1800 ... II The eighteenth centuryhistory. London: Oxford University Press.HUNT, D.M., DULAI, K.S., BOWMAKER, J.K. & MOLLON, J.D. 1995. The chemistry of John Daiton'scolor blindness. Science 267: 984-988.KENT, D.H. & ALLEN, D.E. 1984. British and Irishherbaria. London: BSBI.SIMMS, C. 1969. Note on the herbaria of John andJames Dalton. Journal of the Society for the Bibliographyof Natural History 5 (2): 117-120.SOWERBY, J. & SMITH, J.E. 1798. Gentiana verna.English botany 7: tab. 493.WOOD, D. 1970. A herbarium by John Da1ton of theRoyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Journal of theSociety for the Bibliography of Natural History 5(4): 270-271.Botany in Literature - 42Wyndham's The Day o/the Triffids - Carnivorous Plants - Polysyllabic LatinMARGOT E. SOUCHIER, 26A Dryden Avenue, LONDON, W71ESJohn Wyndham (Harris, John Wyndham ParkesLucas Benyon; 1903-1969) was born inKnowles in the West Midlands of CentralEngland. The son of a barrister, he tried avariety of jobs (farming, law, commercial art,advertising, and, during W orId War n, the civilservice and the army), before resuming writing,having previously written detective stories. Hisfirst quasi-science fiction novel, The Day o/theTriffids (1951) deals with concerns over theCold War, fear of biological experimentation(apt today with reference to the genetic modificationof plants), and man-made apocalypse,and also, as with his other works (The KrakenAwakes (1953), The Chrysalids (1955), TheSeeds of Time (1956), The Midwich Cuckoos(1957), The Outward Urge (with 'LucasParkes') (1959), The Trouble with Lichen(1960), Consider Her Ways and Others (1961),and Chocky (1968», the preservation of Englishdecency in hostile conditions. His writingprovides a bridge between traditional Britishscience fiction and the more varied sciencefiction which has since replaced it. Thus,although one gets a reasonably good idea ofwhat 'them horrid triffid things' look like,Wyndham's concerns in The Day o/the Triffidsare somewhat less than botanical. If anything,they are, as the passage (from page 31) beyondindicates, slightly anti-botanical (for example,he fights shy of giving his 'modified sunflower'a botanical name), but, even so, the descriptionof a triffid, as a composite carnivorous plant,owes its genesis to various sources, onecertainly being H.G. Wells (see next BSBINews), the others possibly being ProfessorEmeritus Francis Ernest Lloyd's 1942 (2 nd edn1976) classic study The Carnivorous Plants(viz. Byblis, Roridula (Byblidaceae), Cephalotus(Cephalotaceae), Drosera, Drosophyllum,Dionaea (Droseraceae), Genlisea, Pinguicula,Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae), Darlingtonia,Heliamphora, Sarracenia (Sarraceniaceae),Nepenthes (Nepenthaceaea), as referred to in thenotes below) and Chase S. Osbom's Madagascar,Land 0/ the Man-eating Tree [1924] (ap.Lloyd, 1976).Consider the following would-be descriptiobotanica compiled from Wyndham's scatteredportrayals, complete with posited Latin name:Triffidus calamitosus Wynd. 1951, Day Trif.:tit. et passim, (Triffidaceae). Subfrutex[Subshrub] Carnivorous perennial, 4 ft [1.219m] in height to average of just over 7 ft [2.134m]; seldom over 8 ft [2.438 m] in Europe, but upto 10 ft [3.048 m] in tropics. Woody bole! at
26Notes - Botany in Literature - 42base of stem. Radices [Roots] Rootlet hairsproject from this shaggy bole which is almostspherical 'except for three bluntly taperedprojections'2 extending from lower part which,although appearing to be roots on the one hand,also act as legs on the other, lifting the body'about a foot [30.5mm] clear of the ground.'Caulis [Stem] Straight and springs from thewoody bole. Widens into a funneP at the top,forming a conical CUp4 which contains the sting,a couple of inches below where this emergesbeing a 'sticky mess'5 in the base of the cup,where can be seen 'struggling flies and othersmall insects.'6 The stem whips 'violently backand forth at each step' being 'faintly reminiscentof young elephants at play.' Capreolus urens[Stinging tendriTF A tightly-wrapped whorlcomparable to the 'new, close-rolled frond of afern'8 4 to 5 to 10 ft [1.219-1.524-3.048 m] long.Contains sacs which release poison. 9 Thetendril does not have enough muscular power totear firm flesh, but can pull shreds from decomposingbodies via adhesive padslO to the cup onits stem. While it eats dead stock at a certainstage of putrescence, the sting is ineffectiveagainst the woolly backs of sheep. The tendrilis generally aimed at the face, especially theeyes' in humans, the poison causing blindness.Folia [Leaves] Leathery,l1 in short sprays.Fructa [Fruit] A single dark green pOd 12 justbelow the cup 'glittering and distended' and'about half as big again as a large apple.' Burstswith a pop which is audible 20 yards [18.29 m]away. Semina [Seeds]13 White and 'gossamerslung'so they look 'like steam' on dispersalthrough the air. Largely infertile. Fertile seedscarefully sorted and stored originally in Russia.Anomalce [Anomalies] (i) The three littleleafless sticks at the base of the stem are possibly'something to do with the reproductivesystem - that system which tends to be a sort ofbotanical glory-hole for all parts of doubtfulpurpose until they can be sorted out and morespecifically assigned later on. ' Thus their'rattling a rapid tattoo against the main stem'was deemed to be 'some strange form oftriffidianamatory experience' but, in actual fact this'pattering and clattering' is how this 'pretty oddlot of cabbages' talk to one another. (ii) Theability of two of the three blunt 'legs' to slideforward so that the plant lurches as the rear thirddraws almost level with them, then the two infront slide forward again. It is as if the plant'picked up its roots and walked' albeit 'like aman on crutches'; even so it covers the groundat an average wallcing pace. (iii) The plant'slearning ability. It can 'hear' and is attracted bynoise, such as a human moving or talking,which it then moves towards. (iv) The apparentabsence of flowers. [Etymology: Triffidus,from Lat. trifldus, three-forked; cfilfimltOsus,Lat. foreboding evil]. The description of atriffid being now more or less complete,herewith the abovementioned passage:Now that walking plants were establishedfacts the press lost its former tepidity, andbathed them in publicity. So a name had tobe found for them. Already there were botanistswallowing after their custom in polysyllabicdog-Latin 14 and Greek to producevariants on ambulans and pseudopodia, butwhat the newspapers and public wanted wassomething easy on the tongue and not tooheavy on the headlines for general use. Ifyou could see the papers of that time youwould find them referring to:TricotsTricuspsTrigenatesTrigonsTrilogsTridentatesTrinitsTripedalsTripedsTriquetsTripodsTrippetsand a number of other mysterious things noteven beginning with 'tri'l5 - though almostall centred on the feature of that active, threeprongedroot.NOTES(1) woody bole: Roridula spp. are subshrubs.Root hairs are found in Pinguicula, butterwort,and Drosera.(2) three bluntly tapered projections: Therhizome in Byblis is sometimes a triarch (Lang,ap. Lloyd, 1976). Cephalotusfollicularis has aforking rootstock in older plants, a tap-root inprimary ones.(3)funnel: Nepenthes inermis andN dubia bothhave an open funnel. In Genlisea the cellentrances are funnel shaped.(4) conical cup: Sarracenia minor at its earlieststage of development has a leaf only 0.1 mm inheight in the form of a low cone.(5) 'sticky mess': Passive traps are found in thepitcher plants (Heliamphora, Sarracenia,Darlingtonia, Cephalotus, Nepenthes). Particularlymucilaginous and viscid are those ofSarracenia. In Nepenthes the presence ofzymogen puts plant digestion in line with that ofanimals. Drosophyllum produces formic acid(as found in ants and nettles).
Notes - Botany in Literature - 42 / Invasions of angiosperm tissues by filamentous algae 27(6) flies and other small insects: Flies arepresent in Drosophyllum lusitanicum, namedthe 'fly-catcher' by Oporto villagers, who hangthe plant up in their homes for this purpose;ants, wasps, bees, butterflies and moths(Sarracenia, Darlingtonia); protozoa,myxophyceae, desmids, diatoms, Rotatoria,oligochaetes, crustaceae, Diptera larvae, eventadpoles, are found in Nepenthes spp.(7) [Stinging tendril]: Nepenthes spp. have bothfunctional and non-functional tendrils, Droseraand Roridula have tentacles. In Drosera thetentacle heads are glands. The violent whippingback and forth of the stem of a triffid when itssting is extended suggests the plant is topheavy.In Heliamphora a drain-slit counteractsthis.(8) new, close-rolledfrond of afern: True circinationis found in Drosera, outward circinationin Byblis linifolia (c.f. Diels, 1930 (ap. Lloyd)where the leaves are merely spirally inrolled atthe tip), reverse circination in Drosophyllumlusitanicum.(9) poison: Drosera has pear[sac]-shapedmucilage. The formic acid (Drosophyllum)released by ants and stinging neetles is painful.(10) adhesive pads: An adhesive disc is found insome orchids and in the noose of some carnivorousfungi. Some fungi have sticky discs.(11) [Leaves], Leathery: Cephalotusfollicularishas coriaceous leaves. Presumably a triffid'sleaves are cauline, rather than in the form of abasal rosette.(12) pod: Not a feature of carnivorous plants.Wyndham appears to be describing a giant peapod (i.e. legume) or somesuch.(13) [Seeds]: Numerous in Utricularia dunstani,but the testa of Utricularia seeds is generallyreddish or brown. Wynham's seeds, floating asthey do, suggest the pappus of dandelion seedsrather than any seeds produced by carnivorousplants.(14) polysyllabic dog-Latin: Wyndham has gothis wires crossed for, according to R.A. Knox,writing in 1923 (quoted in Steam, 1983: 16-17),'dog-Latin' is Ecclesiastical Latin (not BotanicalLatin) and was used in comparison with theterm 'lion-Latin' which referred to the Latin ofCicero. [With reference to Souchier, BSBINews 101: 32, the citing of the existence of LateLatin in the 3 rd century RC. was a printer's errorand of course should have read 3 rd centuryA.D.]. However, the comment is meant to bescathing, as is the reference to polysyllabic (asthus would any encounter with a name such asPolypodium polypodioiaes be.(15) 'tri': ' ... common usage modified the originallong first 'i' [i.e. as in English like] andcustom quickly wrote in a second 'f, to leave nodoubt about it ... [thus] emerged a handy labelfor an oddity - ... destined one day to be associatedwith pain, fear, and misery - TRIFFID .... '.(Wyndham, p. 31).ReferencesLLOYD, F.E. 1976. The Carnivorous Plants. DoverPublications, Inc., New York [1st ed. 1942, ChronicaBotanica Company, as Vo!. IX of "A New Seriesof Plant Science Books"]'STEARN, W.T. 1983. Botanical Latin. (3rd. ed. rev.).David & Charles, Newton Abbot.WYNDHAM, J. 2000. The Day o/the Triffids. PenguinBooks, London [1st ed. Michae1 Joseph, 1951].Invasions of living and growing angiosperm tissues by filamentousalgaeJACK OLIVER, High View, Rhyls Lane, Lockeridge, Nr Marlborough, Wilts. SN8 4EDAll six colour microphotos (Colour Section,Plate 4) were taken of tissues inside Lemna(Duckweed) roots. Nos CD, @, ~ (+insert) and® were from actively elongating O.5-2cm roots,whereas those of@ and @ were 5-6cm long andpre-senescent. The host plants of CD and @ wereL. minuta, and of @-® were L. minor. All theinfiltrating algal filaments are, I think, from theEntocladia genus, perhaps 2 species, but someof E. endophytica. I also have much inferiormicrophotos of the same filamentous alga(e)invading the roots of L. trisulca and Elodeanuttallii (Nuttall's Waterweed), and have seeninvasion of the underwater stem of the latterspecies.CD The green filaments are starting to formplaques inside the attached Lemna minuta rootcap. This picture is very similar to colourmicrophoto @ in Oliver (2004), from the RiverKennet; but this microphoto is from a differentL. minuta population from a rain-barrel a mileaway, 2 years later. This is one of the rather fewexamples of consistency, as one usually seessomething different through the microscope
28 Notes - Invasions of angiosperm tissues by filamentous algaewhen examining green roots. This duckweedpopulation had been fozen into the ice a fewweeks earlier. Here and in the ensuing microphotos,the average filament width was 9-11j.l.@ Here the Entocladia is penetrating the rootcortex No coverslip pressure was applied, soone filament only is in focus because of theconvexity of the cylindrical root. The protoplasmic'bristle' indicates E. endophytica.
Notes - Invasions of angiosperm tissues by filamentous algae / Aliens - Urtica membranacea 29including coffee, tea and other Camellias(A.S.C.C. 2003; Canter-Lund 1996; Gorsuch2004; Lopez-Bautista et al. 2002). There is alsoindirect evidence, from DNA and other analyses,of Chlorophyte algae with the roots of rice(Oryza) grown in flooded soil pots (Ikenaga etal. 2004).My initial studies of aquatic angiosperm roots(Oliver 2004, 2005a, b & c) have been cloudedto some extent by failure to identify many oftherather featureless extracellular 0.5-10J! greenbodies. Some microphoto interpretations mayhave been wrong. The candidates includedextruded or autolysed angiosperm chloroplasts,extruded grana, and endophytes. In particular,the green 'dimpled discs', (diam. 2.5 J!) wouldseem to be extruded or parietal angiosperm rootchloroplasts. The extracellular green bodies justvisible in microphoto @ in this study were 0.5-2J! in diameter. However some of the greatvariety of undoubted unicellular algae which areoften to be found within the root caps of Lemnaand Azolla can occasionally penetrate the rootcortex tissues of these two genera, and also ofElodea and Callitriche (Oliver 2006). To date,Entocladia is the only identified algal rootendophyte of aquatic angiosperms that I havefound on more than four separate occasions, asin this study.Acknowledgements - my thanks again to Dr HansSluiman of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh,and to Joan & Brian Davis for help with the colourmicrophotos.ReferencesALLABY, M. 1998. Oxford dictionary of plant sciences.Oxford University Press, Oxford.ASCC (American Samoa Community College). 2003.Plant parasitic algae. Pests & diseases of AmericanSamoa No. 5BIOIMAGES. 2004. The virtual field guide (UK).Chlorochytrium lemnae. www.bioimages.org.ukCANTER-LuND, H. & LUND, lW.G. 1996. FreshwaterAlgae. Biopress Ltd. Bristol.CLEMENT, E.J. 2003. What is Gunnera manicataandwhence? BSB] News 93 52-55.FOGG, G.E. 1975. The growth of plants. PenguinBooks.GORSUCH, C.S. 2004. Algal leaf spot. Clemson Universityforestry images. www.forestry images.orgGRAHAM, L.E. & WILCOX, L.W. 2000. Algae. Prentice-Hall,Inc. NJ.IKENAGA, M. et al. 2004. Community structure ofeukaryotes in rice roots estimated by PCR-DGGEpattern and sequence analyses. Soil Science andPlant Nutrition 50(4) Aug.: 583-589.JOHN, D.M., WHITTON, B.A. & BROOK, AJ. 1993.The freshwater algal flora of the British Isles. CambridgeUniversity Press. Cambridge.LEE, R.E. 1999. Phycology. Cambridge UniversityPress, Cambridge.LOPEZ-BAUTISTA, lM. et al. 2002. The Trentepohlialesrevisted. Constancea 83 1-23.NATHANIELSZ, C.P. & STAFF, l.A. 1975. A mode ofentry of Blue-Green Algae into the apogeotropicroots of Macrozamia communis (Cycad). AmericanJournal of Botany 62(3): 232-235.OUVER, J.E. 2004. Lemna minuta VI Diverse algalendophytes within root tissues. BSB] News 97: 34,35.OUVER, J.E. 2005a. Lemna trisulca. Apparent progressionof algal endophytes into the root centres.BSB] News 98 34.OUVER, lE. 2005b. Algal endophytes within leaf androot tissues of Water Fern (Azollajiliculoides) BSB!News 99 31-32.OUVER, lE. 2005c. Algal endophytes within vascularplant root tissues. BSB] News 10036-38.OUVER, J.E. 2006. Chloroplasts & algae within vascularaquatic plant roots. BSB] News 102 36-38.ROSE, D. 2005. Orange trees. Tree damage alert no.20. Tree Health Division, Forest Research. TheTree Advice Trust.SOUTH, G.R. & WHlTTICK, A. 1987. Phycology.Blackwell Scientific Publications.TREMOUILLAUX-GUlLLER, J. et al. 2002. Discovery ofan endophytic alga in Ginkgo biloba. AmericanJournal of Botany 89: 727-733.VAN DEN HOEK, C., MANN, D.G. & JAHNS, H.M.1995. Algae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.ALIENSUrtica membranacea, an annual nettle, in Warwick: a first Britishrecord?ANN BOUCHER, Blakesware, 7 Whinlatter Drive, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 7HEJAMBS PARTRIDGE, 85 Willes Road, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV311BSIn April 2006, A.B., visiting Warwick for herGolden wedding anniversary, discovered morethan a hundred plants of Urtica membranaceaPoiret in a yard in the town centre. These weregrowing between the pavement and rear walls ofcommercial buildings (flower shop, restaurant,antique shops, herbalist) and were alreadyseeding, having over-wintered (see back cover).Their extensive distribution into neighbouringentrances suggested that they had been estab-
30 Aliens - Urtica membranacea in Warwick / Primula helodoxa at Studland, Dorsetlished for several years. Eric Clementconfirmed the identity and thought it likely thatthis was a first British record.This annual nettle has a Mediterranean andWestern European distribution, extending toNorthern France (lR. Edmondson, FloraEuropaea (2 nd Edn.) 1, 80). It could bemistaken for the Small Nettle, Urtica urens,which also is annual and monoecious, withmany female inflorescences and fewer maleones. However, U membranacea has unilateralmale racemes which lack flowers on theirunder-surfaces, which are expanded andmembranous. These terminal racemes arepurple-tinged when immature, contrasting withthe pale green leaves, a character lost in driedmaterial (see back cover).Unlike both of the common British nettleswhich have four small linear stipules on thestem near the petiole junctions, this alien nettlehas apparently two ovate stipules, formed by thefusion of adjoining pairs of stipules ('connate').The photographs (see back cover) by John andVal Roberts clearly show these easily overlookeddistinctions.Eric Clement suggested that this nettle'sarrival and persistence may be a further instanceof the effects of climate change; Britain may beacquiring a more Mediterranean element to itsflora. Warwick, a Midland town, has experiencedrecent winter temperatures of -10°C, butthe location of the plants, in a town centresurrounded by buildings, would have protectedthem. They have also survived at least oneattempt at eradication by the town's weed-killer,protected by wheelie-bins and parked motorbikes!Thanks to Eric Clement for his prompt andencyclopedic help, and also to John and ValRoberts for the photographs.Primula helodoxa at Studland, Dorset (v.c. 9)EnwARD PRATT, 7 Bay Close, Swanage, Dorset. BH191RESteve O'Connell, the National Trust wardenwho discovered Scorzonera humilis (Viper'sgrass)on Corfe Common a few years ago, foundPrimula helodoxa Balf. f. making a splendiddisplay by a small stream lOOm from the sea atthe south end of Knoll Beach car park(SZ034.832) in May 2006 (see Colour Section,Plate 2). Eric Clement (EJC), who kindly determinedit, says it is the first escape of this speciesinto the wild known to him in Britain. Therewere fifty-eight flowering stems, and other nonfloweringplants. The species is grown in agarden upstream, in which they propagate freelyby seed.The stems are 60 to 110cm tall, and mealybelow the whorls of flowers. They arise from arosette of broadly lanceolate obtuse leaves up to40cm long, widest above their middle, irregularlyserrate, and which taper gradually intotheir base. They have sparse very short hairs onthe upperside and are shortly pubescent underneath.The cowslip-coloured flowers are in upto 8 whorls on the stem, with from 10 to 22flowers in a whorl. The lowest whorls comesinto flower first and so on upwards, so theflowering season of a colony is over twomonths. Their corollas tubes are 16mm long,and their lobes are 25 to 27mm in diameter. Thecalyces are mealy and 6mm long, includingacute lobes of 2mm. The pedicels elongate infruit and are 6 to 19mm. The bracts are linearand 6 to 16mm long.EJC has kindly told me that P. helodoxa is anative of Yunnan (S.W. China) and is part of acomplexity of taxa that extend from India toIndonesia. Some recent literature, e.g. TheEuropean Garden Flora, Vol. 5, p. 527 (1997),takes a very broad view and lumps all the taxainto P. prolifera Wallich.EJC adds that the epithet helodoxa is presumablyderived from the Greek - helos, marsh, anddoxa, glory - a very appropriate description. Nosatisfactory English name appears to exist. Ihave heard Campanula Primula used, but it hasbeen also used for a group of similar species.Candelabra Primula has been used, but is alsoused for a similar species. Bearing in mind thatStace (1997) uses Japanese Cowslip for asimilar whorled species, I suggest YunnanCowslip.ReferencesRICHARDS, A.J. & RICHARDSON, J.E. 1997. PrimulaLinnaeus, in CULLEN, J. et al. (eds.). The EuropeanGarden Flora 5: 511-535. Cambridge UniversityPress.STACE, C.A. 1997. New Flora of the British Isles.Cambridge University Press.
Colour Section1Fig. 2. Ripe nuts of Isolepis setacea (left, E.Norfolk, June 2002( and I. cernua (right, HoltLowes, E. Norfolk, June 2002)Fig. 1. Spikelet of Isolepis cernua showing threestamens projecting from a single glume(Holt Lowes, E. Norfolk, June 2002)Fig. 3. Semi-ripe fruits of Isolepis cernuashowing three filaments (i.e. stamens) and threestigmas (Beeston Common, E. Norfolk, August2006)Fig. 4. Isolepis cernua showing long bracts(Bees ton, E. Norfolk, June 2006).All Isolepis photos (see p. 13) S. Harrap © 2006Gentiana verna (Spring Gentian) on limestonegrassland, Northern Pennines (see p. 8).Photo L. Robinson © 2005
2 Colour SectionAll photos Primula helodoxa established along small stream at Studland, Dorset (v.c. 9) E. Pratt © 2006(see p. 30)
Colour Section3Jonopsidium acaule Peninsula de Tr6ia, (see p. 43)Polygonum maritimum Peninsula de Tr6ia,(see p. 43)Dianthus broteri Peninsula de Tr6ia,(see p. 43)All photos Western Portugal, T. Farina © 2006Tulipa sylvestris subsp. australis (1) &Narcissus bulbocodium subsp. obesus (r),Quinta da Serra, (see p. 44)
4Colour Section1. Entocladia forming filaments & plaques insideLemna minuta root cap2. Entocladia endophytica invading rootcortex of Lemna minuta3. Peristelar Entocladia networks withinLemna minor rootlet4. Infiltration of Entocladia along stelarmargin (Lemna minor)5. Entocladia endophytica; peristelar infiltration.Arrow & inset show protoplasmic 'bristle'. (Lemnaminor rootlet)6. Iodine positive Entocladia filamentsindicating starch deposits (Lemna minorrootlet).Invasions of Lemna roots by Entocladia. Photos lE. Oliver © 2006
Aliens - Invasive Aliens? Himalayan Balsam (alas, now Indian Balsam) 31Invasive Aliens? Himalayan Balsam (alas, now Indian Balsam)DAVID PEARMAN, Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA; Tel: 01872 863388;dpearman4@aol.comMembers might recall my by now probablyboring and predictable views on the fuss createdby the conservation guardians on non-existentthreats, including one recent mailing by a wellknownplant conservation charity with a luridrepresentation of this species and JapaneseKnotweed coming to bite innocent bystanders!I have written before that whilst HimalayanBalsam was often cited as a threat, I had notseen any evidence, other than its visibledominance.Two papers have been published this year, onewhilst saying it might reduce native richness,many of the species affected are widespreadruderals, and if it was removed, its place wasoften filled by other aliens or nitrophiles! Theother effectively said there is no evidence at allto support the thug status.The first is Hulme, E H & Bremner, E T 2006.Assessing the impact of Impatiens glanduliferaon riparian habitats: partitioning diversitycomponents following species removal. Journalof Applied Ecology 43: 43-50.Their summary:1. Attempts to quantify the impact of nonnativeplants on the vegetation of invadedhabitats have often been criticized because ofthe frequent use of observational assessments(invaded/uninvaded comparisons) focused onlocal- rather than community-level effects. Thisstudy highlights how removal experimentscombined with partitioning of diversity componentsacross spatial scales can provide keyinsights into invasive species' impacts.2. Impatiens glandulifera (Balsaminaceae) isa widespread invasive riparian weed, yet fewquantitative assessments of its impact on naturalvegetation exist. Thus replicated experimentswere used to compare the impact of Impatiensremoval on (1, ~, 'Y components of speciesrichness, diversity and evenness in open riparianhabitats in north-east England.3. Plant community response to Impatiensremoval was rapid, with a significant increase inseedling recruitment resulting in an averageincrease of four species m- 2 • The impact ofImpatiens invasion was most marked for lightdemandingspecies. Eight non-native species (inaddition to Impatiens) occurred in the communityand these responded proportionally more toImpatiens removal than native species. As aresult the proportion of non-native species inremoval plots was higher than in invaded plots.4. The increase in (1 richness and diversityfollowing Impatiens removal was matched by asimilar increase in the 'Y components. Thus theeffect of Impatiens was significant at both thelocal plot scale and at the scale of the ripariancommunity, although the former effect wasmore marked. Species accumulation curvessuggested that extensive Impatiens stands mayreduce species richness by as much as 25%.5. Synthesis and applications. Removal experimentsappear particularly well suited to assessthe impacts of herbaceous non-native plants onruderal communities. By partitioning diversitycomponents, impacts were consistently assessedat local and community scales and, whencombined with analysis of species accumulationcurves, provided a comprehensive assessmentof impact on the plant community. Theapproach adopted in this study highlights thatalthough Impatiens reduces native speciesdiversity in open and frequently disturbed riparianvegetation, many of the species negativelyinfluenced by Impatiens are widespread ruderalspecies. Furthermore, management may lead toa compensatory increase in the abundance ofother non-native species and thus fail to achievedesired conservation goals.The second appears in October. HEIDA, M &PYSEK, P. 2006. What is the impact of Impatiensglandulifera on species diversity of invadedriparian vegetation? Biological Conservation132(2): 143-152.Their abstract:The effect of invasion by Impatiens glandulifera(Balsaminaceae) on the community characteristicsand species composition of invadedriparian communities was studied at six rivers inthe Czech Republic. Two approaches wereused: space for time substitution approach, i.e.,comparing invaded and uninvaded sites underthe same habitat conditions, and removal of theinvader from experimental plots. Differences inthe number of species, Shannon diversity indexH' and evennes J were compared betweeninvaded and uninvaded plots. Uninvaded plotsof the comparative study harboured by 0.23more species per 16 m 2 , and had higher value ofH' and J, calculated with species covers asimportance values; however only the difference
32 Aliens - Invasive Aliens? Himalayan Balsam / Notes on the Isles of Scilly florain Jwas marginally significant (p = 0.04). Othereffects were not significant, indicating that once1. glandulifera is removed, communities recoverwithout any consequences for species diversity.Multivariate analysis did not reveal any effect ofinvasion on the species composition in terms ofspecies presence but their cover hierarchieschanged after the invasion, as 1. glanduliferabecame dominant at the expense of tall nativenitrophilous dominants. It is concluded that1. glandulifera exerts negligible effect on thecharacteristics of invaded riparian communities,hence it does not represent threat to the plantdiversity of invaded areas. This makes it verydifferent from other Central European invasivealiens of a similar performance.Notes on the Isles of Scilly floraERIC J. CLEMENT, 54 Anglesey Road, Gosport, Hants. POl2 2EQThe sad demise of the annual BSBI Abstracts(1971-2001) means that no longer can membersquickly look up the latest publications for eachv.c. Probably everyone will find RosemaryParslow's two valuable contributions on theIsles of Scilly in Botanical links in the AtlanticArc (BSBI Conference Report No. 24, 2006);but, how many would locate Phil Budd's Shortstay on the Isles of Scilly, pp. 11-15 in thesplendid publication, Southampton NaturalHistory Society Annual Report 2002? Thisaccount gives the current status of many alienplants, plus interesting notes on other aspects ofthe natural history ofthis remarkable area.In Wild Flower Magazine 462: 23-26 (2005)we find two articles on 'Come & Find' meetingsheld 19-26 May and 9-15 June 2004. There isa lot of interest herein, e.g. Senecio glastifolius(Woad-leaved Ragwort) 'widely naturalised inthe Upper Terrace garden on Tresco. Our invaluableVCCC (BSBI, 2003) suggests (p.xvi) thatthere are 'no extant records in the British Isles.'Maybe this is not 'in the wild', but I feel someseedlings must cross the garden wall (or perchon it!).More surprisingly, Pelargonium tomentosumis also listed in VCCC as excluded (p.xv). JohnPalmer records it as 'Naturalised, in woods,Tresco' in May 1971 (Herb EJC). The late A.Underhill sent me the lemon-scented foliage (asindet.) - from this? same area (SV893.144) on4 Oct. 1996 - there was also a mass of it (inflower) at SV892.143, when he did correctlyname it on 26 June 1992. Who will draw it forus? - meanwhile we must consult Herter, Florailustrada del Uruguay 2: 467 (1954) for a linedrawing of this S. African plant! A.A. Butcherand many others would also challenge theexclusion (on p. xv) of Leptospermum scopariumand L. lanigerum. AAB talks of five plantsof the former at Abbey Hill, SV8930.1440, on11 Oct. 2000 (Herb. EJC).Three species are grossly misspelt in theMagazine on p. 25 (loc. cit.) - clearly Clement& Foster's (invaluable!) Alien Plants of theBritish Isles (1994) was not consulted! -correctly, they intended to record Urospermumdalechampii (a composite) and Geraniumcanariense Reuter (this is not a hybrid as theyindicate, but it has, most regrettably, been veryrecently renamed as G. reuteri). Dr ChrisPogson solved the third one for me: 'Limoniumsativum' should be L. sinuatum - an odd error!Finally, the continued existence of an unusualcomposite 'long naturalised' at NewmansBattery at the Garrison (St Mary's) isconfirmed. It is listed in French et al., Flora ofCornwall (1999) as Ozothamnus antennaria(from Tasmania) - a plant apparently not grownon Tresco, etc., - it is clearly not this species -a dense, evergreen shrub with leathery leaves,glossy-green above is how the Hillier Manual ofTrees and Shrubs (2002) describes it. Thistaxon has never 'escaped' in Britain - it is veryrare in cultivation and is totally unknown to me!(I need reference herbarium material).The correct ID was published in BSBI News78: 58 (Apr. 1998) - but (nursery) men don'tlike the appellation Plecostachys serpyllifoliaand normally sell it as Helichrysum microphyllumHort. (or H. microphylla!) - e.g. Elm HouseNursery (Wisbech, Cambs.); their catalogueaccurately describes it as 'Small silver leaves.Lovely loose, trailing habit' - it much resemblesa small-leaved H. petiolare. True H. microphyllumis also occasionally grown - it comes fromthe Mediterranean area, and is a much moreerect plant, very close to H. italicum (Curryplant).Plecostachys (created only in 1981) is a tinygenus, with only two species, both from S.Africa - see Opera botanica 104: 140- (1991)for a monograph. The generic description isconveniently available in Bremer's Asteraceae(Timber Press, 1994), p. 362, but to me it seemsdoubtfully accurate on some flower details. Itreads 'central florets purple' (pink, I wouldjudge!) and 'outer florets often yellow, female,
Aliens - Notes on Isles of Scilly flora / Jug/ans nigra on River Thames towpath / Tasmanian Hitchikers 33outnumbering the central florets' (these femalesmust be very few and tiny on my voucher specimen,Herb. EJC, as my one (bad) eye seesnone!). Help!Help, too, please on references to any otherrecent publications on this real Mecca for alienplants. What recent articles have I missed?Does the 'www' really help? Bring backAbstracts! - a version, maybe much reduced insize, really is necessary to invigorate BritishBotany.Juglans nigra established on the River Thames towpath (Surrey)ERIC J. CLEMENT, 54 Anglesey Road, Gosport, Hants. PO 12 2EQIt is surprising how very few species haveescaped from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew(Surrey, v.c. 17) onto the adjacent RiverThames towpath, especially since its botanicalorigins date back to 1759. Some species haveprobably come (and gone) unrecorded.One exceptionally interesting species, apparentlynew to Britain as a self-seeding colony, isJuglans nigra L. (Black Walnut), a native ofeastern and central United States. It was firstrecorded at Kew by Ken Page, a great woodyplantenthusiast, whilst botanising with Mrs E.Norman in Sept. 1994, but was never formallypublished. He tells me that there were fiveself-sown saplings at TQI77.763, with theparent tree nearby in the Gardens, but separatedby a very deep ha-ha. Presumably the vector,squirrels, have made use of a canopy-bridgehigh above the site, and they have buried theirwinter-food reserve (nuts), and then failed torefind them.The colony has been rediscovered (!) severaltimes since this date, once in 2004 by Dr T.A.Cope, B. Phillips and EJC. On this occasion wealso explored (with permission) the private wildgrounds around the parent tree - there weremore saplings here. It was again seen on thejoint BSBI & LHNS field meeting on 14 May2006, when nine plants of very varied age werecounted, one of which was flowering freely.Nearby, a solitary, small 1. regia (Walnut) wasalso seen, differing markedly in its leafletcharacteristics:Lflets mostly 7-9, with almost entire margins1. regiaLflets mostly 11-23, with serrate margins1. nigraA convenient description appears in FloraEuropaea 1, ed. 2 :67 (1993), where it is notclaimed as naturalised anywhere, but the situationis changing. E.g. see Preslia 74(2): 184(2002) for several recent records in Czechoslovakiawith a comment 'intensively escapingfrom cultivation in places, e.g. Ranspurk naturereserve.'Self-sowing of 1. nigra may be overlookedelsewhere in Britain: I have heard of two otherrecords that await confirmation. Alex Locktonreports that there is only one other record on theBSBI database - from Wivenhoe, TM03.22, N.Essex (v.c. 19). Although featured in manybooks, this large tree is not often encountered incultivation, and is rarely met with planted inwild places.Tasmanian HitchikersIAN MORGAN, Y Berllan, 19 Tyrwaun, Pwll, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire SA15 4AYIn early June 2005, I treated myself to a 6ft treefern Dicksonia antarctica, bought from a wellknownDIY store. I watered it daily, makingsure that the trunk was well watered, as well asthe large pot in which it was supplied. After afew weeks, I noticed what appeared to be youngAcacia seedlings growing on the trunk; theremust have been over a dozen or so. I thenremembered that another smaller Dicksonia thatI had bought two years previously also had anAcacia growing in the pot with which it wassupplied. This latter Acacia was quite wellgrown (and had survived a couple of wintersout-of-doors) and was big enough to supply aspecimen to be sent off for determination. I hadhitherto assumed, without really thinking aboutit, that this larger Acacia had originated as seedaccidentally sown in the pot at the nursery orsupplier from which it had come, but thefrequent Acacia seedlings on the more recenttree fern purchase made me realise that theseplants had originated from seed at their countryof origin, which according to the import licencetags, was Tasmania, Australia.Dr George Hutchinson of the NationalMuseum and Gallery at Cardiff kindly promptlydetermined the Acacia as Acacia cf. vernicijluaA. Cunn.
34 Aliens - Tasmanian Hitchikers / Veronicafiliformis decline or rise / Bassia scopariaI also checked the trunk to see if any importedbryophytes were present, as a bryoflora ofCarmarthenshire was then in the later stages ofpreparation. I did not see any bryophytes thatseemed to be of interest, but I did notice somefern gametophytes near the base of the trunk.These I potted up and grew on in a pot coveredby a plastic bag to retain moisture. Subsequently,small sporophytes appeared, and theglaucous-coloured fronds suggested somethingunusual. These were over-wintered in anunheated shed, which was probably prudent asearly 2006 turned out to be colder than normalfor this part of coastal South Wales (Llanelli).Recently (June 2006), as I had three plantswith several fronds of c.6 inches in length, andnoticing that 'hare's-foot'-type rhizomes weredeveloping, I arranged for one plant to be deliveredto George Hutchinson again. With hisusual efficiency, he showed the plant to CliveJermy, who was visiting the museum. It wasdetermined as Histiopteris incisa (Bat's-wingFern), a relative of bracken, found in SE Asia,as well as South Africa and South America.George's subsequent checking of 'The PlantFinder' revealed only one current supplier forthis fem. Interestingly, one book on pteridophytessaid that it was occasionally imported ontrunks of Dicksonia (though it did not saywhether this was the gametophyte or adult fern).It would be interesting to see whether theHistiopteris can overwinter (as the Acaciaverniciflua was able to do, for two winters atleast). Certainly, tree ferns (as well as otherrather tender plants) can be left outside in mycoastal garden.I was pleased that I obtained not just the treefern when I purchased the Dicksonia, but twoothers as well!Thanks to George Hutchinson and CliveJermy for the determinations.Veronica filiformis (Slender Speedwell) decline or rise?ROGER M. HENSON, 9 Harlow Manor Park, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 OEGhenson-a.r.@zetnet.co ukIn the January 2006 edition of BSBI News (101: noticed the decline, small quantities of Veronica46) a note of mine was published on 'The rise filiformis can still be found but growing muchand fall of Veronica filiformis (Slender Speed- less vigorously and remaining hidden in thewell)' in Harrogate. This raised some interest grass. So the increase is presumably because itand I receive communications from four continues to spread to new areas but where itmembers noting similar behaviour in Aberyst- was once prolific and has declined small quantiwyth,Cardiff, Ely and the London borough of ties remain and can be found if searchingHavering. However in the recently published seriously so it is still recorded as being present'Change in the British Flora 1987-2004' it in the lkm square. Ideally, I suppose, we shouldshows that Veronica filiformis is still slightly all be recording abundance as well as presenceincreasing with a 'Change Factor' of +4.for each kilometre square.In new areas Veronicafiliformis grows vigor- Reference:ously and faster than the mown grass among BRAITHWAITE, M.E., ELLIS, R.W. & PRESTON, C.D.which it grows so the Veronicafiliformisrapidly 2006. Change in the British Flora 1987-2004over tops the grass and in May a 'blue haze' is BSBI, London.seen above the grass. In Harrogate where IBassia scoparia (Summer-cypress) and its viatical statusGEOFFREY KITCHENER, Crown Villa, Oiford Lane, Halstead, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 7EACorrespondents have drawn attention to thespread of this species on roadsides in S.England, especially Somerset and Hampshire(Leach & McDonnell, BSBI News 101: 35-37;Rand, BSBI News 102: 44-46; Cook, BSBI News102: 46). It is, however, more widespread thanthese observations would indicate.Martin Rand notes its movement northwardsalong the M3 to Winchester, and raises thepossibility that it may have progressed further.I can ratify this, since traffic delays on the M3between Basingstoke and Camberley in 2005gave me ample opportunity to becomeacquainted with its appearance along the centrereservation. With that in mind, and also theknowledge that Rodney Burton had seen plantson the M20 centre reservation near Maidstone in2004, I carried out some sample surveys ofKentish main roads in OctoberlNovember 2005.
Aliens - Bassia scoparia and its viatica1 status / Senecio inaequidens, the numbers 35The results (Kitchener, 2006) indicated thatBassia scoparia has already crept up on usunawares, as it were, and has a significantpresence on Kentish roads. It may now befound along the A2 from Dartford Heath tobeyond Gravesend (15km), in at least 8 lkmsquares. In most cases these are single plants orsmall groups, but there is a large population bythe sliproad to the Bluewater shopping centre,lining the road continuously. It is also presenton the M20 near Maidstone, at the Leybourne,Ay1eford, Sandling and Detling junctions.From the Sand1ing junction it runs northwardsalong the A229 to Blue Bell Hill. From theDetling junction, where there is a population ofseveral hundred plants, it runs north-east alongthe A249 to Detling Hill and then appears 9kmfurther on, at the junction of the A249 with theM2. There are now 19 lkm squares withinwhich roadside Bassia scoparia has beenrecorded in 2004/05, in v.cc. 15 and 16.While it is possible to survey by car at speed,with the precaution of disregarding abundantbushy Atriplex littoralis (which I recorded ascommon on the A2 as far back as 1982), thisinvestigation was carried out on foot. Undoubted1ythis enabled identification of occasionalplants which would not have been conspicuousenough otherwise. On the other hand, survey onfoot will have under-recorded as regards thoseareas that could only be accessed with binoculars- motorways and the A2 centre reservation.The plant's colonization abilities reflect studiesby Stepphun & Wall (1993) which show germinationas occurring in severely saline conditions,particularly when well watered. Thehighway habitats provide both that salinity,which otherwise limits competition, and water,through vehicle spray and highway drainage.As regards the tumb1eweed characteristic ofBassia, it is sometimes described as beinguprooted by wind, but the dead plants willreadily snap off at ground level, leaving the baseand roots behind, as can by verified by walkingthrough a group of them.ReferencesKITCHENER, G.D. 2006. Bassia scoparia (L.) Voss.Bulletin of the Kent Field Club 51: 81-84.STEPPHUN, H. & WALL, K. 1993. Kochia scopariaemergence from saline soil under various waterregimes. J. Range Manage. (Nov. 1993) 46533-53.Senecio inaequidens, the numbersQUENTIN GROOM, Louis Pelserssquare 1, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium. qgroom@reticu1e.co.ukI wrote in the previous BSBI News (Apri12006) Since 2000, S. inaequidens has been found atabout the spread of Senecio inaequidens 60 sites, mainly in the south of England. This(Narrow-leaved Ragwort) across Europe. I compares to 35 sites between 1987 and 1999gave little proof for a UK invasion, but now I and 15 sites before 1987. Despite the ratherhave gathered some evidence to back up my rough estimates of population sizes given byassertion. Having written to the recorders in the recorders, I have made guesses at the numbersvice-counties where S. inaequidens has been of plants in Britain. The current population is,recorded, I have made estimates of the numbers at very least, 300 plants, but more likely aboutof sites and plants in the UK.1500 plants. If there are still unfound sites, thenSingle plants crop up by roadsides and in these would add to the numbers.pavement cracks, these plants often disappear The turn of the millennium has shown aafter a year or two. However, in several places marked change in fortunes for Britishlarge popu1ations have established, particularly S. inaequidens. Overall, its numbers are stillon demolition sites. These established popu1a- small, but the rate of population growth istions are often in port towns such as Plymouth, impressive. S. inaequidens is not the mostSouthampton and Felixstowe. By far the largest odious of alien species, but it can be a weed ofnumbers of sites are in eastern London, particu- agriculture and will invade some naturallady in the vice-counties of West Kent (v.c. 16) habitats. If we want to stop its spread, it mightand South Essex (v.c. 18). From this distribution still be possible. However, it seems likely thatof sites, I suspect that multiple introductions another Senecio is coming to a town near you.have occurred, probably hitchhiking on vehicles Many thanks to all those people whocrossing the channel.responded to my request for information.
36 Aliens - Senecio inaequidens I Notices - Science and Research Grants I Excursion to AndaluciaA possible hybrid of Senecio inaequidens in S.W. Yorkshire (v.c. 63)ERIC CHICKEN, Corner House, Scarborough Road, Driffield, Y0255EHNOTICES BSBIThe recent article about the spread of Senecioinaequidens by Quentin Groom prompts thisnote. I first became aware of this Ragwort inJuly 1991 when it was sent to me for identificationfrom the Bradford area by Mr D.N. Lightowler.There was some confusion at that timeabout the correct name and I collected a specimenand sent it to Mr C. Jeffrey at the Herbarium,RBG Kew , and he confirmed it andprovided other information.On 7 July 2004, I was on a bus trip party (notbotanical) to the West Riding which included avisit to an old mill at Elland (SEl1.22), nowused for selling reclaimed or salvaged goods. Inthe yard of the building there was much S.squalidus and a single plant of a Senecio that Itook to be a hybrid between this and S. inaequidens.It was at least 90% sterile and had leaveswhich I show herewith (fig. 1).Unfortunately I had no means of taking areasonable specimen, not even a pocket diary.It was only much later that I realised I could notfind a reference to any such hybrid. This year Iinformed the v.c. Recorders, Mr Wilmore forv.c. 63 and Mrs Abbott for v.c. 64, so that otherscould be on the lookol\t for the hybrid. Thereare many reasons for sterility, but it is difficultto account for the leaf shape. Clearly onecannot claim a new taxon without a specimen,so perhaps I have missed a good opportunity.ReferenceGROOM, Q. 2006. The invasion of Senecio inaequidens(Narrow-leaved Ragwort). BSBI News 102:48. (Photo inside front cover).BSBI Science and Research Grants Awarded 2006DR PETE HOLLINGSWORTH, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LRIn the 2006 grants round, a total of 16 grantapplications were received of which eight wereselected for funding by the Science andResearch Committee assessment panel, at a totalcost of £50 11. The grants funded were:Pamela Biss: Causes and consequences of geneticvariation in Anthoxanthum odoratumat Park GrassRichard Ennos: Mating system analysis in hybridisingspecies of GeumPaul Green: Distribution of xFestulpia hubbardiiin IrelandJohn Hopkins: Keen of Hamar Botanical Expedition2006 - Rare plant and vegetationmonitoringDeborah Kohn: Is the British bluebell, Hyacinthoidesnon-scripta threatened by Spanishand hybrid bluebells?John Poland: A vegetative key to the BritishFloraMaria Scholten: Taxonomy and occurrence ofAvena strigosa Schreb. on the Scottish IslandsChristopher Thorogood: Speciation inOrobanche via host specificity and inbreedingThe closing date for the next round of applicationsis 6 th February 2007, and BSBI membersare encouraged to consider submitting grantproposals. Further details of the scheme and anapplication form are available from the BSBIweb-pages:http://www.bsbi.org.uklhtmVgrants.html. Formembers without access to the web, details ofthe scheme can be found in the BSBJ Year Bookor BSBI News (101: 73-74), and applicationforms can be obtained from Pete Hollingsworth,Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, InverleithRow, Edinburgh, EH3 5LRExcursion to the Sierra de Grazalema, Andalucia - April 2007TERESA FARINO, Apartado de Correos 59, 39570 Pates, Cantabria, Spain; tel.: 0034942735154;teresa@iberianwildlife.comA one-week field trip to southwest Spain isproposed for 2007, from Friday 20 April to Friday27 April, to explore the highly scenic limestonemountains and Mediterranean forests of theGrazalema Natural Park (also the first BiosphereReserve to be declared in Spain, in 1977).
Notices - Excursion to Andalucia / Botanical Research Fund / Plant Biographies 37The flora of Grazalema is superb, especially inspring. Of the 1400 taxa recorded, about 10%are Afro-Iberian endemics, (for example,Biscutellafrutescens, Viola demetria, Saxifragaglobulifera, Anthericum baeticum andOrnithogalum reverchonii), many more arerestricted to southern Iberia (such as Paeoniabroteri, Echium albicans and Centaureaclementei), and a dozen or so are unique to theimmediate area, including Saxifraga bourgeana,S. haenseleri, Omphalodes commutata andLinaria platycalyx. Many species of orchid canbe found here at this time of year, as well asNarcissus assoanus subsp. praelongus, Scillaperuviana and Iris xiphium. A longer trek willenable us to visit the relict Abies pinsapo(Spanish Fir) forests, of which only 1200haremain in Spain. Notable vertebrates includeSpanish Ibex, one of the largest concentrationsof Griffon Vultures in Spain, Bonelli's Eagle,Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, WoodchatShrike, Bee-eater, Spanish Psammodromus andStripeless Tree Frog, all of which are usuallyseen during our spring trips to this area. Weshall also visit the Lagunas de Espera, forWhite-headed Duck, Red-crested Pochard,Purple Gallinule and Crested Coot, plus a fineselection of arable weeds.We will be staying in the family-run Casa deLas Piedras in the whitewashed mountainvillage of Grazalema itself, with all facilities ensuite. The cost will be £700 per person, plus asingle-room supplement of £95, to cover halfboardaccommodation, picnic lunches, transportby hired minibus throughout, all entry fees andthe services of the leaders (principal leaderTeresa Farino), but excluding flights and travelinsurance (obligatory). Participants must be fitfor mountain walking.An early indication of your interest is necessaryin order to secure the appropriate accommodation,preferably before October 2006.For further details, please contact Teresa at theabove address.NOTICES (OTHER)The Botanical Research FundDR MARK CARINE, Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, LondonSW75BD. m.carine@nhm.ac.ukThe Botanical Research Fund is a small trustfund which makes modest grants to individualsto support botanical investigations of all typesand, more generally, to assist their advancementin the botanical field. Grants are available toamateurs, professionals and students of Britishand Irish nationality. Where appropriate, grantsmay be awarded to applicants in successiveyears to a maximum of three.The next deadline for applications is January31st, 2007.Further details may be obtained from MarkCarine at the address above marked 'BotanicalResearch Fund'.Plant BiographiesSUE ELAND, Apple Tree Cottage, Chapel Lane, Penselwood, Wincanton, Somerset, BA9 8LYPlant Biographies, an ongoing project, is nowavailable on the internet at www.plantlives.comfor a modest annual SUbscription. It offersdescriptions of the history and usage of over3000 species of plants from all over the worldtogether with other information such as botanicalsynonyms, common names in manylanguages, and meanings of plant names.A reduced subscription to Plant Biographieson the web of £10 (normally £15) is offered toMembers for the first year (reverting to thestandard individual subscription for the websitethereafter) provided the subscription is takenout before 1 st April 2007.BSBI Members wishing to take advantage ofthis should:1 register ONLY on the website, preceding theirusername with the letters BSBI and;2 at the same time send a cheque for £1 0 to SueEland at her address above, together withadvice of the username chosen (upon receiptof which full access to the website will bearranged immediately);3 then at the end of the year's subscriptionrenew it by re-Registering (without use of theprefix BSBI) and subscribing in the 'normal'way as explained on the website.
38Notices (Other) - Mary Briggs Fund[Editors note: The site is well worth a visit andyou can view, for free, a sample database to geta flavour of what it is about. BUT BEWARE,you may, like me (RGE), become hooked, andspend more time than you ought to surfing thismost interesting and exciting site.]Mary Briggs FundHENRI BROCKLEBANK, Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, Woods Mill, Henfield, West Sussex,BN59SDMary Briggs, known to most BSBI members, isthe author of several publications about thebotany of Sussex. The majority of these havebeen specifically targeted at Botanists, but herlatest publication Sussex Wild Flowers wasaimed at the non-botanical community.Mary decided that she would like to see theproceeds of the book (over £10,000) reallycontribute to Sussex Wild Flowers. Therefore£8,000 has gone towards the printing costs ofthe forthcoming New Flora of Sussex. Theremaining funds have gone to a 'slush fund'held by the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centrethat will contribute towards the costs of publicationof books and papers on Sussex Bioidversity.This was done on the understanding that notall species groups have the level of support andinterest as Wild Flowers.After some convincing Mary relented and hasallowed this fund to be called the Mary BriggsFund. It is named after Mary in recognition ofthe unparalleled contribution that she has madeto Sussex Botany over the past 50 years! Wehope that the fund will help enthuse manypeople in Sussex Biodiversity as more papersand publications on a range of subjects becomeavailable.Photo Simon Colme © 2003With a vibrant collaboration between Mary,local plant photographers, Sussex Wildlife Trustand the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre,Mary wrote the text for what was to be a sell-outpublication. 3,000 copies of what is describedby David Bellamy in the foreword as 'a superblittle book' were sold locally through a distributorand local contacts. Good fortune really didshine on this book as the printers, Gemini Press,based in Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex hadkindly printed the whole print-run for the cost ofthe paper alone. As everyone involved hadcontributed their time, enthusiasm and expertisefor free, all the proceeds of the book would beavailable.Mary Briggs. Photo © Arthur HoIIman
Notices (Other) - Islands of Hope I Go Native! 39Islands of HopeYOLANDE HESLOP-HARRIsoN, Old Post, Hatfield, Nr Leominster, Herefordshire, HR6 OSFTelevision naturalist and environmentalcampaigner, Professor David Bellamy, OBE, wasthe keynote speaker and gave a brilliant openingaddress at the national conference held in Ludloworganised by Caring for God's Acre (CFGA) toan enthusiastic audience. The title of this note ishow he described many of our churchyards,which have become refuges for much of ourvanishing native flora and fauna.This was the start of an action-packed two daysfor some 100 delegates and interested parties whocame to hear how churchyards, apart from beinghavens for the conservation of wildlife, offer atremendous potentiality for learning about manyother aspects of the earth's history.The delegates and many well-known leadingexperts came from all over England and Wales,and a full report of the conference will bepublished later. Sue Cooper, managementOfficer ofCFGA and her band of willing contributorsand helpers are to be congratulated on howwell the conference was organised. During anevening dinner, Francesca Greenoak, well knownauthor of the book God's Acre, spoke to an appreciativeaudience. The Revd Nick Read, Chairmanof the Trustees of CFGA, was a masterfulco-ordinator.As Sue says: 'The churchyard represents amulti-faceted resource to the community as awhole' embracing archaeology, our own historyand culture, genealogy, as well as bio-diversity.One morning was devoted to a series oftutorialsand workshops, at which speakers gave talksbased on their own expertise, answered questionsand led discussions. These ranged from details ofthe plant life (including wild flowers, grasses,trees - notably ancient yews - lichens, mossesand fungi), associated animals, and the non-living.Professor Eric Robinson, President of theGeologists' Association, was keen to show thatthe whole gamut of native wildlife to be found inchurchyards was based on what lay beneath andin or on its turf and soil layers. Other speakersdetailed the relationships between the characterofthe stonework (friability, and effects ofweathering,pH) and aspect (degree of shading, northand south facing) and the associated lichens.Exhibits and conducted tours of some churchyardsin the vicinity were included in the agenda- all again highlighting the diversity of what isinvolved in 'cherishing churchyards', the themeof the conference.Aspects of the rules and regulations governingchurchyards and burial grounds in relation to lawformed an important tutorial, and the fmal afternoonwas devoted to a symposium arising fromeach workshop, and a general discussion on aproposal to initiate a national network on churchyardcare.The challenges that exist for churchyardmanagement to strike a balance between humanand wildlife interests are immense. They involvethe whole community - local people, specialistsof various sorts, those seeking records of theirancestry, passers-by. Perhaps churchyards arevisited by a greater diversity of people than anyother public space.The Revd Nigel Cooper (Chaplain to theCambridge Campus and Advisor on churchyardconservation in Ely), spoke of the mission ofchurchyards - 'a theology of conservation'.Some aspects of churchyard management liedeep and, indeed, become a mission for many -or even a passion!Go Native!Awards across Britainfor wildflower meadows, grassland, woods, reedbeds and heathlandWENDY TOBITT, Flora locale, Denford Manor, Hungerford, Berks. RG17 OUNSix exciting, innovative and ecologicallydiverseprojects from Cornwall to Newcastleare the winners of the national Flora localeGo Native! Planting for Biodiversity Awards.The national Go Native! Planting for BiodiversityAwards run by Flora locale and theInstitute of Ecology and EnvironmentalManagement (IEEM) were announced on 16May. Flora locale is the charity that promotesthe wise use and supply of native flora. Theawards were made to projects that promotedgood practice in habitat creation and restoration,and used source-identified plantingstock of appropriate origin for conservationplanting and restoration projects in thecountryside and urban areas. Details of thewinners and all the finalist projects are onwww.floralocale.org
40 Requests - Europe's trees: natives, exotics and climate change / Senecio viscosusREQUESTSEurope's trees: natives, exotics and climate changeREBECCA LEDGER, Department of Biology, Area 18, The University of York, Heslington, York,YOI05YWAs climate changes, conditions at any given sitemight become either more or less suitable forthe species found there. Mobile organisms mayrespond to such changes through migration. Theresponses of tree species might be observed aschanges in growth rate, or regeneration patterns.Many important questions arise. For example,is there evidence that tree species in Europe areresponding to the effects of climate change?How do such responses differ between exoticand native species, or species from differentvegetation zones?I hope to address such questions by investigatingpatterns of tree regeneration. As part of myPhD research, I am conducting a survey on theregeneration success of both native and exotictree species across Europe. Focal species havebeen chosen to represent the broad vegetationzones currently found in Europe. The aim is tocollect simple information about regeneration ofthese species from a large number oflocations.I would like to invite BSBI members to participateby providing data from British locations.These locations can be any convenient site, e.g.park, garden, local woodland. I will providesurvey forms; the recorder fills in the forms todescribe the regeneration success of thosespecies that are relevant to their particular site.Eventually I hope to produce a database thatwill be of use to other researchers in the field,and that will complement existing distributionmaps and atlases. .How to get the survey forms:• Email me:rjI501@york.ac.uk• Download the forms. Go to: http://wwwusers.york.ac.uk/~rjI501(4 documents areneeded; these are titled 'Cover letter''Instructions' 'Site details' and 'Tree RegenerationSurvey Sheets').• Contact me by post: Department of Biology,Area 18, The University of York, Heslington,York, YO 10 5YW.Deadline for returns: ideally by January 2007;July 2007 at the latest.Senecio viscosusMICHAEL WILCOX, 32 Shawbridge St, Clitheroe, BB7 lLZ, Lanes, UKIn order to carry out a study in relation toSenecio viscosus (Sticky Groundsel), the seeds(achenes) are required. However, achenes aresought from three areas/localities.Initially, collection will be of generalS. viscosus from any popUlation: 1-2 seed headsper plant, each separately labelled, though it canbe 1-5 plants from a population and these wouldbe from UK, (England, Wales, Scotland,Ireland).Secondly, in a paper by Akeroyd et al., (1978)dwarf variants from shingle were studied. Thegrid references are repeated here and it is hopedthat anyone living close to or visiting the area(or from shingle anywhere else) could collectfrom any of these populations. The areas are;Suffolk, between Thorpeness and Aldeburgh,TM468.580; Suffolk, TM366.424; Sussex,Pagham Harbour, SZ875.954; and Surrey,Esher Station TQ147.658.The third area is the most difficult. Achenesare sought from Europe. If anyone is going toEurope, lives there, or has any contacts there, Iwould be grateful for any material throughoutthe range. Collecting is simple, I use a 'l4 pieceof A4 for each collection folded into the style ofa little envelope and then the mature head withachenes is twirled into the envelope thusseparating the seeds with their pappus from thereceptacle, the packet is labelled appropriately.The project depends on getting material fromEurope so any suggestions are welcome.Postage refunded if required. Contact the authorif you need any further information.ReferenceAKEROYD, J.R., WARWICK, S.I. & BRIGGs, D. 1978.Variations in four populations of Senecio viscosusL. as revealed by a cultivation experiment. NewPhytologist 81: 391-400.
Requests - Documenting Herbarium Specimens from Home / Report of overseas field meeting 41Documenting Herbarium Specimens from Home - Can You Help?LEANDER WOLSTENHOLME & TOM HUMPHREY, The Manchester Museum, Oiford Road, ManchesterM139PLThe UK has the world's largest and oldestcollections of herbarium specimens held in trustby museums and universities. As a record ofplant biodiversity this resource is unparalleledand could be vital for future studies oftaxonomy, ecology, conservation and geneticbiodiversity.Documenting large herbarium collections isan extremely labour-intensive task and mostmuseum collections are woefully under-funded.Consequently, most of the specimens areundocumented and unavailable becauseadequate resources and time to properly recordthe collections have never been available. Thisis a terrible waste.The Botanical Collection Managers Group(who represent herbaria for UK and Ireland) areexperimenting with an idea to try and getherbarium collections documented by invitingpeople at home to use their own computers toenter the data from labels on digital images ofspecimens posted onto a website.With the support and expertise of 'virtualvolunteers' we think can realistically documentthe entire herbarium collections of even majorinstitutions. For example, if 100 people agree todocument 10 specimens per week. That worksout at 1000 per week, 52,000 per year!To see if the scheme will actually work, wehave launched a pilot project. We have approximately1800 images of British and Irish hybridsfrom the herbarium at The Manchester Museumon a website and we would be very grateful if asmany people as possible would have a go atdocumenting specimens on-line.This project is open to everyone. You do notneed any particular botanical knowledge orexperience to take part.The website address is www.herbariaunited.org/atHome/. Have a go and good luck!REPORT OF OVERSEAS FIELD MEETING - 2006Western Portugal, 19 th to 26 th MarchTERESA F ARINO and various members of the groupFourteen members escaped the British winterand flew to Lisbon for a week to explorewestern Portugal. Although the weather let usdown on occasion, we explored a series of interestinghabitats, from limestone rock-gardens toAtlantic sand-dunes, and from salt-marsh toCork Oak montados, encountering a wide rangeof southern European spring flowers in theprocess.19 March - Samouco and Sapal das HortasThe group was met by Teresa Farino and JohnMuddeman at Lisbon airport and was quicklytransported over the impressive Vasco da Gamasuspension bridge (built for Expo '98) acrossthe River Tejo, to arrive (albeit via a rathertortuous route) at the Samouco beach on thesouth side ofthe estuary. Whilst enjoying a latelunch, we were able to observe Greater Flamingo,Cattle Egret, Dunlin, Ringed Plover andSandwich Tern, after which we wanderedslowly along the shoreline in search of colonisingpsammophiles.We were able to recognise British speciessuch as Cakile maritima (Sea Rocket), Lupinusangustifolius (Narrow-leaved Lupin), Echiumplantagineum (Purple Viper's-bugloss,extremely rare in the UK) and Anisanthadiandra (Great Brome), growing together withquite a few not found in Britain: Malcolmialittorea (Sand Stock), Emex spinosa (Emex), thebeautiful, deep-blue Iberian endemic Anchusacalcarea, a large-flowered yellow toadflaxLinaria spartea, Arctotheca calendula (plainTreasureflower, a yellow composite native toSouth Africa), and the distinctive grass Cutandiamaritima.We then drove a few kilometres to the east,through the town of A1cochete, to the saltmarshand wet pastures behind the shore at Sapal dasHortas. The distinctive crowns of Pinus pinea(Stone or Umbrella Pine) topped a nearby ridge,while the marshy areas were home to Atriplexhalimus (Shrubby Orache), a fine-leaved sealavenderLimonium ferulaceum, the wormwoodArtemisia caerulescens and Triglochin bulbosa(Bulbous Arrow-grass). Sandy areas nearbysupported Crassula tillaea (Mossy Stonecrop),Lathyrus ochrus (Winged Vetchling), Cotulacoronopifolia (Buttonweed: another SouthAfrican invader), Gynandriris sisyrinchium
42Report of overseas field meeting - Western Portugal(Barbary Nut) and the first of many drifts ofLeucojum trichophyllum (Three-leavedSnowflake), as well as a couple of species whichare rather scarce in the UK: Hypochaeris glabra(Smooth Cat's-ear) and Poa injirma (EarlyMeadow-grass). Trying to photograph theplants meant instantly wet knees: a fairlycommon event during the week!The final stop before driving to our hotel onCabo Espichel was by the main road overlookingsome abandoned salinas. Here we scannedfor the Glossy Ibis which are often to be seenhere, but found only vociferous Black-wingedStilts, with a solitary Black-winged Kite hoveringover the adjacent fields.20 March - Altiplano de Az6iaHaving arrived under the cloak of darlmess theprevious evening, we awoke to find that thehotel was situated on the crest of a bleak,windswept promontory. The good news wasthat the bedrock was limestone and setting offon foot, walking south towards the coast, wesoon came upon what would prove to be the firstof a whole plethora of orchid species. Barliarobertiana (Giant Orchid) lived up to its Englishname with respect to stature, but even at thisearly stage of the season was beginning to goover. As we traversed the limestone pavementmore orchids were observed. Aceras anthropophorum(Man Orchid), a few Ophrys speculum(Mirror Ophrys) and the muted hues of thediminutive Ophrys bombyliflora (Bumble-beeOphrys) were scattered here and there amidstsheets of bright pink Orchis italica (Naked ManOrchid), but most notable were the severalplants of Ophrys fusca subsp. dyris, which is notmentioned as occurring in the area in the localflora.It is always a great privilege to discoverspecies that are rare in Britain growing in profusionin another country. Ophioglossum lusitanicum(Least Adder's-tongue) was, however, notone such species, since only one small colonywas found, butPoa bulbosa (Bulbous Meadowgrass)did occur in quantity. More orchids alsomade an appearance here, including Ophrysscolopax (Woodcock Ophrys) and Orchis papilionacea(Pink Butterfly Orchid), along with afew Narcissus bulbocodium subsp. obesus(Hoop-petticoat Daffodils), a one-leaved squillScilla monophyllos and the Star-of-BethlehemOrnithogalum orthophyllum. And all this to abackground of bird-song supplied courtesy ofDartford and Sardinian Warblers and CornBuntings.As we descended towards the sea, we weresoon chest-high in dense maquis, fortunatelywell served by narrow pathways, where thevivid yellow colour of the Portuguese endemicgorse Ulex densus gave us the impression that itwas the height of summer. A pause for lunchwas punctuated by several trips by variousmembers of the party to a small limestoneoutcrop just above us, where we locatedabundant Cheilanthes acrostica and Priscillafound Cosentinia vellea (Scaly Cheilanthes).At last we reached the edge of the coastalcliffs, where our target species - duly located -was Euphorbia pedroi, endemic to the Espichelpromontory, and unusual for the Europeanmainland in that it is a tree-spurge. In thelimestone outcrops in the same area we foundCerinthe gymnandra, the Afro-Iberian endemicshrub Withania jrutescens, Ornithogalumconcinnum, Dipcadi serotinum (Dipcadi),Muscari neglectum (Grape-hyacinth) and driftsof the delightful Tulipa sylvestris subsp. australis(Wild Tulip).Heading back towards the hotel there were yetstill more orchid species to be found. Orchisconica (Conical Orchid) was in short supply,but Ophrys tenthredinifera (Sawfly Ophrys), O.lutea (Yellow Ophrys) and 0. fosca subsp.bilunulata (Dull Ophrys) were all fairlycommonplace. We also came across a fewArisarum vulgare subsp. simorrhinum (Friar'scowl)still in flower.Late afternoon found the party drivingwestwards towards Cabo Espichel. The firststop was Lagosteiros Bay, where 150 millionyears ago a herd of dinosaurs left their footprints on the beach, now preserved in theuplifted and tilted Jurassic limestone. We thenvisited the sanctuary of Nos sa Senhora do Cabo(Our Lady of the Cape), on the very tip of thepromontory where, despite the approachingsunset, a few of us attempted to photograph thealmost-black flowers of Nonea vesicaria,growing here with Muscari comosum (TasselHyacinth).21 March - Peninsula de Tr6iaThe Sado Estuary is cut off from the open sea bythe long sand spit of the Tr6ia Peninsula, developedonly at the northern tip. A transect acrossthe sandspit takes one from the open sea,through primary dunes, stabilised and fossildunes through to the brackish areas adjacent tothe enclosed estuary. Its fame is such that it wasbeing visited by two parties of British botanistson the same day, as we coincided with a groupof Cambridge undergraduates led by OliverRackham!We took the car ferry from the old town ofSembal across to Tr6ia and no sooner had we
Report of overseas field meeting - Western Portugal43parked in the botanical reserve in the centre ofthe spit than we were examining considerablenumbers of an as yet unidentified (by us) bushcricket on the Santolina impressa (a Portugueseendemic). Another botanical treasure observedby the roadside was the small but delightfulJonopsidium acaule - dense pincushions of apale pink crucifer with spoon-shaped yellow·green leaves - which is unique to the coast ofsouthern Portugal as a wild plant, althoughwidely cultivated in Europe (Colour SectionPlate 3).Our overall impression of the flora of thedunes was of abundant pink, yellow and blue,set against a background of grey green shrubsand an occasional stunted Pinus pinea. Thepink was predominantly Silene littorea and tallspikes of Antirrhinum majus subsp linkianum,and the yellow pertained to Senecio gallicus andtwo shrubby species of Halimium - H calycinumand H halimifolium - while the scene wasfurther enlivened by the deep blues of the attractiveAnagallis monelli (Shrnbby Pimpernel),Anchusa undulata (Undulate Anchusa) andLithodora diffusa subsp. lusitanica (ScramblingGromwell). Several Thekla larks were singingover the low scrub, butterflies seen includedSwallowtail, Cleopatra and Small Copper, andwe also encountered many individuals of thebeautifully marked, day-flying noctuid mothknown as Cerocala scapulosa.The many species of shrubs included Juniperusoxycedrus (Phoenician Juniper), Cistussalviifolius (Sage-leaved Cistus), Ulex australissubsp. welwitschianus, Lavandula stoechassubsp. luisieri and Armeria pungens (SpinyThrift), as well as the unusual Corema album(Empetraceae), which is confined to the coastsof western Iberia and North Africa. Growing inthe protection of these shrubs were some earlyflowers of Fritillaria lusitanica, and we alsofound Cytinus hypocistis here: a member of theRafflesiaceae, parasitic on the roots of Cistusspecies.Nearer the sea, the results of convergentevolution made us look closely at the prostrate,grey-leaved and yellow flowered legumes sothat we could distinguish between Medicagomarina (Sea Medick) and Lotus creticus(Southern Birdsfoot-trefoil). Also adapted tothis unstable habitat were Honckenya peploides(Sea Sandwort), Polygonum maritimum (SeaKnotgrass - extremely rare in the UK) (ColourSection Plate 3), Eryngium maritimum (Seaholly),the fleshy leaved Thymus carnosus (anIberian endemic thyme), Crucianella maritima(Coastal Crucianella), the British rarityOtanthus maritimus (Cottonweed), Pancratiummaritimum (Sea Daffodil), the distinctiveCyperus capitatus and carpets of Corynephoruscanescens (Grey Hair-grass). Our lunch stopoverlooking the estuary to the east enabled us toobserve the extra large flowers of Dianthusbroteri (Colour Section Plate 3) and to findSesamoides spathulifolia: a handsome, brownflowered relative of Reseda.The Tr6ia sand spit has long been settled byman but the extensive Roman ruins of Cet6brigawere 'closed for restoration', as they have beenfor the last four years! Nearby, and close to thetidal inlet of Caldeira de Tr6ia, the fossil duneswere clothed with Pinus pinea, with an understoreyof shrubs that included Stauracanthusgenistoides, Retama monosperma (WhiteBroom) and Osyris lanceolata. Down amongthe low brackish vegetation, some of us weredelighted to find the emerging spikes ofCistanche phelypaea subsp phelypaea(Cistanche), while others were rewarded with asuperb Striped Hawk-moth: both fitting endingsto a very enjoyable day.22 March - Moinho de Baixo and Quinta daSerraWhile Malcolm went to Lisbon in search of areplacement camera body, the rest of usexplored the Atlantic dune system north ofMoinho de Baixo. The vegetation was superficiallysimilar to that of previously visitedcoastal sands, with abundant Malcolmia littorea,Silene littorea, Lotus creticus andMedicago marina, but the greater westerlyexposure also suited familiar species such asCalystegia soldanella (Sea Bindweed) andAmmophila arenaria (Marram). Also prominentwere Armeria pungens, Anchusa undulata(its sinuate leaves clearly distinguishing it fromA. calcarea), Thymus carnosus, Helichrysumitalicum subsp. serotinum, and Artemisiacampestris subsp. maritima (Sea Wormwood).We also found good quantities of Polycarponalsinifolium, while the striking yellow Linariawith glaucous leaves and brownish-purplestripes on the spur was subsequently identifiedas L. lamarcldi.Reedbeds in a low-lying area signalled anabrupt change in the flora, with Hypericumundulatum (Wavy St John's-wort), Hydrocotylevulgaris (Marsh Pennywort), Carex riparia(Greater Pond-sedge) and Cladium mariscus(Great Fen-sedge) complementing the Phragmitesaustralis, with young fiddleheads ofThelypteris palustris (Marsh Fern) confirmingthe presence of a permanent sub-surface drainagesystem. A further visit next morning
44Report of overseas field meeting - Western Portugalconfirmed that an Equisetum, much battered bythe winter, was indeed E. ramosissimum(Branched Horsetail).The dunes here, long since stabilised byshelter-belts of Pinus pinea and P. pinaster(Maritime Pine), are now succumbing toinvasions of Carpobrotus edulis and Acacialongifolia, which elsewhere in Portugal havebecome a serious threat to coastal vegetation.Here these pinewoods were populated byMuscari comosum, Ornithopus sativus(Serradella), 0. compressus (Yellow Serradella)and glowing sheets of the Afro-Iberian endemicsScilla monophyllos and Leucojum trichophyllum,plus a polypody that -like all the otherplants seen - was later confirmed as Polypodiumcambricum (Southern Polypody).Lunch was taken by the Lagoa de Albufeira: abrackish lagoon separated from the sea by anarrow sand-bar. We then celebratedMalcolm's return (mission accomplished andcamera operational again) with a conducted tourof Portugal's oldest winery - Jose Maria daFonseca - whose attractive courtyard gardens inSesimbra hosted native Adiantum capillusveneris(Maidenhair Fern), as well as theplanted alien Nephrolepis exaltata (BostonFern).The final site of the day was Quinta da Serra,a more acidic area on the landward side of theSerra da Amibida. Under a canopy of Quercusfaginea subsp. broteri (the endemic subspeciesof Lusitanian oak) and Erica arborea (TreeHeath), the poorly-draining soil favoured Selaginelladentata (Mediterranean Selaginella),Asplenium onopteris (Irish Spleenwort) (butnot, it seems, A. adiantum-nigrum (BlackSpleenwort), as we first thought), a plant ofAnogramma leptophylla (Jersey Fern) fully18cm tall, Juncus capitatus (Dwarf Rush),Schoenus nigricans (Black Bog-rush), Carexpanicea (Carnation Sedge) and other plants ofwet places, including the sprawling Hypericumtomentosum.On drier banks we found Briza minor (LesserQuaking-grass) and a small but delightfulcolony of Simethis planifolia (Kerry Lily).Good quantities of Aristolochia paucinervis putTeresa on the qui vive for the Spanish Festoonbutterfly, whose larval food plant is birthwort,and sure enough a pristine, just-emerged specimenwas found and duly photographed before ittook its first flight. A small stand of Orchispapilionacea was just coming into flower, whileon sandstone outcrops Narcissus bulbocodiumsubsp. obesus, Tulipa sylvestris subsp. australisand a few plants of Scilla verna (Spring Squill)were at their best (Colour Section, Plate 3). Wealso found a couple of rather tired Romuleabulbocodium, Lynne collected leaves ofHyacinthoides hispanica (Spanish Bluebell) forDNA analysis at Kew and we walked back tothe vehicles in the shade of Fraxinus angustifolia(Narrow-leaved Ash) and Viburnum tin us(Laurustinus) .23 March - PinheiroOur visit to the area near Pinheiro was thefurthest east we were to explore during our stayin Portugal, taking us into the Quercus suber(Cork Oak) montados (wood-pasture) borderingthe 5,OOO-hectare privately owned estate ofHerdade do Pinheiro. Once they are at least 25years old, Quercus suber trees are stripped ofthe outer bark in early summer every 9 years,the cork still being used not only in the wineindustry but in countless other ways rangingfrom footwear to tiles. As the oaks in a montadoare not all of the same age, the thickness of thecork varies and therefore not all are harvested inthe same year. Hence we noticed that each treehad a number painted on the trunk to indicatethe year of the last 'strip'.Here, the large, old evergreen trees formed acanopy over a light understorey consisting ofCistus salviifolius and C. psilosepalus withHalimium lasianthum and Phillyrea latifolia;after a little diligent searching, we also foundthe vividly purple spikes of Limodorum abortivum(Violet Limodore). In the glades betweenthe trees were scattered the bright blue Scillamonophyllos and the golden Anemone palmata(Palmate Anemone). Close by was a good standof tall Pinus pinea, with large, heavy conescontaining the edible pine kernels, and next tothem an area of lower scrub where we had ourfirst sighting ofIberian Azure-winged Magpies(Cyanopica cooki) swooping between thebushes.Adjacent to the oaks and pines was a seasonallywet area with many small pools in thedepressions where we recorded some familiarplants such as Isolepis setacea (Bristle Clubrush),Ranunculus sceleratus (Celery-leavedButtercup) and Lycopus europaeus(Gypsywort), as well as Lythrum hyssopifolia(Grass-poly; extremely rare in the UK), withJuncus ejJusus (Soft-rush) and Typha domingensisat the edges of the pools. Huge tussocksof Carex paniculata (Greater Tussock-sedge)with even larger stands of Arundo donax (GiantReed) formed a backdrop to the area, which wasalso rich in bird life. A Marsh Harrier huntedabove us as we listened to the calls ofthe IberianChiffchaff, Siskin, Bullfinch and Chaffinch. A
Report of overseas field meeting - Western Portugal45glistening Iberian Water Frog was spotted at theedge of a pool bordered by a bright green swardof Vulpia bromoides (Squirreltail Fescue).As we ate our lunch under the tree canopy thefirst raindrops began to fall, which curtailed ourexploration ofthis fascinating area, so we madeour way back westwards, driving past rice-fieldsand spotting the White Storks' nests perchedhigh on chimneys and pylons. We wereconsoled by a visit to the Information Centre forthe Amibida Natural Park (run by the Institutoda Conservayao da Natureza) in Sembal, wherewe found excellent books, information andpost-cards.The cloud cover was now very dense so that abrief stop in thick fog on the ridge-top of theSerra da Amibida - an area severely burnt in2005, and this year teeming with vigorousclumps of Arabis sadina, endemic to this part ofPortugal - could only whet our appetite foranother, drier visit. We then repaired to theworkshop of a small tile producer near Sesimbrato have tea and to learn a little more about theazulejos. These tiles decorate the fayade ofmany of the older buildings in Portugal and areoften used in the interiors as wall panelling. Inthis workshop the traditional designs were stillbeing used and we were given a demonstrationby one ofthe family to show us their glazing andpainting techniques.24 March - Bottle-nosed Dolphins andPortinhoFriday morning saw the group back in Sembal,where we were given an illustrated talk aboutthe population of Bottle-nosed Dolphins(Tursiops truncatus) that inhabits the SadoEstuary. This population comprises about 25individuals who enjoy such a good diet from theplentiful fish stocks of the estuary that theygrow to an unusually large size: over 4m inlength. All of the individuals in the estuary areknown to the staff of Vertigem Azul from theunique configuration of their dorsal fins.At the completion of the talk, we were led byour captain Pedro and his little dog, not to asedate cruiser, but to a high-powered rigidinflatable boat (RIB), equipped with twoenormous outboard engines. After being issuedwith lifejackets, we were arranged precariouslyalong the sides of the RIB, where we hung ontenaciously as the engines roared into life, to bepowered through the waves back from themouth of the estuary to the sheltered waterstowards its rear. Despite our trepidation at thisform of transport, we were amused by the anticsofthe dog, which ran fearlessly from one end ofthe RIB to the other, often behind our backs,apparently defying gravity in its ability toremain on board!Once the engines had been throttled back andwe began to drift, it was not long before the firstdolphin was spotted as a distant fin archedacross the waves. Gradually they worked theirway closer to us. We could see they werehunting and corralling their prey into tighterconcentrations before feeding from the densemass of fish. Indeed as they came ever closer itwas possible to see in advance where a dolphinwould surface by the fish which leaped into theair in their attempts to avoid their pursuers. Inthis way we were lucky to get close views ofdolphins leaping, often in pairs, just by the boat.Our captain repositioned the boat several timesin order to avoid stressing individual groups ofdolphins, and each time we moved to a slightlydifferent location the dolphins came towards usand so, as far as we could tell, our activitieswere not inconveniencing them.After an exhilarating return journey, whichwas punctuated by some slower passages inwhich we explored the landward side of theTr6ia spit, we re-boarded the minibuses and setoff for the Serra da Arnibida, where we stoppedfor lunch at a lay-by with magnificent viewsback across the mouth of the Sado estuary. Thisarea, just above a massive, sprawling, quarrycomplex, was botanically rewarding andcontained enormous numbers of Tulipa sylvestrissubsp. australis, plus Aspleniumtrichomanes subsp. quadrivalens (MaidenhairSpleenwort), Astragalus boeticus, the Iberianendemic Genista tournefortii, Ferula communis(Giant Fennel), Gennaria diphylla (Two-leavedGennaria) and Cephalanthera longifolia(Sword-leaved Helleborine).On our way to the Portinho road, down whichwe were to walk, we made a brief stop at one ofthe high points of the Serra and here we foundour first Neotinea maculata (Dense-floweredOrchid) and Orchis mascula (Early PurpleOrchid) of the trip. Our walk down the lane tothe picturesque seaside fishing port ofPortinhobecame a masterclass in the identification of theevergreen trees and shrubs of the maquis whichwere so conveniently juxtaposed along thisshort stretch of road. Among the herbs seenhere were Lathyrus clymenum, L. sphaericus,Scorpiurus sulcatus, Vicia lutea (Yellowvetch),Echium creticum, Stachys ocymastrum,Orobanche amethystea, Phagnalon saxatile andGladiolus illyricus (Wild Gladiolus).25 March - Serra de LouroOur last day began as usual with low cloud andattempting to mizzle, but by midday it was
46 Report of overseas field meeting - Western Portugal/Book Notessunny and sultry. Just right for lunch, exceptthat the botanical interest of our route meant thatwe took SYZ hours for a 6km walk so we did notactually eat it until 4 pm! The walk was alongthe limestone ridge of the Serra de Louro,topped by a series of windmills with canvassails used in late summer to grind grain.The flora was rich and similar to that of theSerra da Arnibida, but notable species not seenbefore (or not in any quantity) included Alyssumsimplex, Trifolium stellatum (Starry Clover),dark-blue and yellow Convolvulus tricolor(Dwarf Convolvulus), Cynoglossum clandestinumand C. creticum (Blue Hound's-tongue),the former bearing flowers which never open,Bellardia trixago (Bellardia) in bud, Galiummurale, a distinctive little composite lateridentified by Sarah as Hyoseris scabra, Arumitalicum (Italian Lords-and-ladies), a fine patchof Asphodelus fistulosus (Hollow-stemmedAsphodel) and Allium neapolitanum and A.triquetrum (Neapolitan and Three-corneredGarlics, respectively).In the Quercus faginea woods below theridge-top, Mark located several Paeonia broteri(Western Peony), but unfortunately in budrather than flower, and on the limestone slabs ofthe ridge was a mass of Saxifraga granulata(Meadow Saxifrage), here growing in rockcrevices rather than in grassy meadows whereone usually fmds it in Britain. A wealth oforchids included Aceras anthropophorum,Orchis italica and o. conica, scattered amidstOphrys bombyliflora, 0. fusca ssp. bilunulataand 0. lutea. Halfway along the walk there wasa grassy slope with SO or so spikes of Ophryssphegodes (Early Spider Orchid), which someauthorities consider to belong to the subspecies(or even full species) incubacea.One of the most interesting finds of the daywas not actually discovered until several weekslater: close to the populations of Ophrys speculumwhich we discovered early on in the walk,several of us photographed some reddish wasps,which were later identified by one ofMalcolm'scolleagues as Dasyscolia ciliata - the pollinatorofthe said Ophrys! The sun brought out at leastten species of butterfly including Swallowtail,Spanish Festoon, Green-striped White, CloudedYellow, Cleopatra and Painted Lady. We hadexcellent views of Short-toed Eagle and a partyof Hawfinches, as well as spotting a moredistant Bonelli's Eagle, but a Western ThreetoedSkink curled up by the path did not waitquite long enough to have its picture taken.In the late afternoon we visited Sesimbracastle, dating from the 13 th and 14th centuries, ofwhich the most impressive feature is the encirclingwall. Sadly almost all the ground withinhad been treated with herbicide, but the adjacenthill still had a good covering of scrub. Roundthe castle flew three Alpine Swifts, while at thefoot of the mound there was an elusive Firecrestsinging. Almost the last plant of the trip was animpressive stand of woundwort, later identifiedby Sarah at Reading as Stachys germanicasubsp. lusitanica.On returning to our hotel most of the groupwent out again almost immediately to search forbats by the Lagoa de Albufeira, using Ross andLynn's bat detectors. As well as tracking downCommon and Kuhl's Pipistrelles and Serotine,we saw Purple and Night Herons flying acrossthe reedbed, and heard Purple Gallinule.After a week's botanising, the broomrapegrowing in the lawn in front of our hotel hadstill not come into flower, so remained unidentified,but the Ophrys lutea beside it were at theirbest...BOOK NOTESDAVID PEARMAN, Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA; Tel: 01872 863388;dpearman4@aol.comCounty Antrim, Scarce, Rare and Extinct VascularPlant Register. Beesley, S.Pp. 248. Ulster Museum, 2006. A4, spiralboundpbk.Available free of charge from CEDaR, UlsterMuseum, Botanic Gardens, BelfastBT9 SAB. Phone: 028 9038 31S3. A pdfversion will be going onto their Flora website(www.ulstermuseum.org.uk) in thenear future for download, together with theprevious Co Down Register.The Flowering plants and Ferns of Denbighshire.Green, Jean A.Pp. 88. The author, 2006. Pbk, £7.S0.The first checklist (let alone a Flora) for thevice-county - the only previous accountbeing a list of some notable plants by A.A.Dallman in 1911 & 1913.Check List of Guernsey Plants. Ozanne, B.J.Pp. S2. Guernsey Biological Records Centre,200S. Pbk, £S.OO.Available from La Societe Guernsiaise,Candie Gardens, St Peter Port, Guernsey,
Book Notes47GY1 lUG, for £5 incl. p&p. Although asupplement to the 1975 Flora was publishedin 1987, this is the first completelisting since 1970, and it covers, as theFlora, Alderney, Sark and Herm as well asGuernsey.Change in the British flora 1987-2004.Braithwaite, M.E., Ellis, R.W. & Preston,C.D.Pp. 382. BSBI, 2006. Pbk, £12.00.The Wild Flower Key. How to identify wildflowers, trees and shrubs in Britain andIreland. Rose, F., revised by O'Reilly, C.2 nd and expanded edition.Pp. 576. Wame, 2006. pbk, in plastic cover,£17.50.Flora of Great Britain and Ireland - Vol 4Campanulaceae - Asteraceae. Sell, P &Murrell, G.Pp. 624. CUP, 2006. Hbk, £120.Botanical Links in the Atlantic Arc. Proceedingsof an Anglo-Hiberno-French meeting arrangedby the BSBI 8 th _12th May 2003,Camborne, Cornwall. Leach, S.J., Page,C.N., Peytoureau, Y. & Sanford, M.N.(eds).Pp. 336, colour photo section, b&w photos,maps, figs. BSBI, 2006. Conference ReportNo 24, dedicated to the memory ofDrF.H. Perring. Hbk, £23.00.Flora of North America Volume 19, 20 & 21.Asteraceae. Flora of North America EditorialCommittee.Pps 608, 688 & 672. OUP, 2006. Hbk, £60each volume.British Field Crops: A Pocket Guide to theIdentification, History and Uses of Traditionaland Novel Arable Crops in GreatBritain. Francis, Dr S.Pp. 80, A5 format, square-backed. SallyFrancis, 2006. £6.95. ISBN 0-9550466-1-0.Line drawings by the author, and covers 50species representing 90 crops.A Passion for Trees; The Legacy of John Evelyn.Campell-Culver, M.Pp. 282, many photos. Eden Project Books,2006. Hbk, £25.The heart of the book is coverage of the 30odd trees covered by Evelyn in his 1664work Sylva, interspersed with interestinghistorical and environmental background.Introductory chapters on the man and histimes, together with notes on his legacy -both in terms of planting and in conservation- make up a fascinating production.The following details and comments have beensupplied by Sue Atkins, from SummerfieldBooks.Gower. New Naturalist Series No 99. Mullard,J.Pp. 445, map, colour photos. HarperCollins,2006. Pbk, £25, Hbk, £45.The Golden Age of Quaker Botanists. Nichols,A.Pp71, colour illustrations including somefull-page plates by Audrey Jennett andAnne Dent. Quaker Tapestry, Kenda12006.A4 Pbk, £13.Quaker's-eye view of Early Botanists andIllustrators, Quaker Plantsmen and Collectors,In the New World, Gardeners andNurserymen, and After the Golden Age,with paintings of some associated plants.National Vegetation Classification - Users'Handbook. Rodwell, J S.Pp. 68, colour photo section, maps, figs.JNCC, 2006. A4 pbk, £13.50.Provides a general introduction to theNVC; details the methodology for samplingand describing vegetation in the field,explains how such information can be usedto identify plant communities and outlinesthe character ofthe classification itself andthe accounts of vegetation types it contains.The Mosses and Liverworts of Brecknock.Woods,R.G.Pp134, b&w and colour photos, drawings,maps, distribution maps. Privately published,2006. A4 pbk, £8.50.The first study to cover the bryophytes ofthe area ofWatsonian vice-county 42, Brecknock(now mostly Powys). The studydescribes what is known of the distributionofBrecknock's 388 mosses, 151liverwortsand 1 hornwort. Introduction, followed bythe species accounts with distributionmaps; interspersed with drawings, and inspiringphotos of habitats. .Shetland Lichens. Dalby, Kery & Clalfe.Pp. 120, colour and b&w illustrations, map.Shetland Amenity Trust, 2005. Hpk, £15.Water Meadows. Everard, M. (ed).Pp. 289, b&w and a few colour photos,maps. Forrest Text, 2005. Pbk, £25.Charts the rise, fuuction and decline of thisdistinct habitat, exploring aspects of naturaland cultural conservation, with case studiesand thoughts about the future prospects forwater meadows.River Plants. Haslam, S M.Pp. 438, b&w photos, drawings, figs, maps.Forrest Text, 2 nd rev edn, 2006. Pbk. £25.
48Book NotesThe most comprehensive account of aquaticplants in relation to their environment,and to the components of that ecosystem,now brought up to date, especially withregard to the effect on river plants of floodcontrol, dredging and pollution.Plant Identification - Creating User-FriendlyField Guides for Biodiversity Management.Lawrence, A & Hawthorne, W.Pp. 268, colour photo section, b&w photos,tables, boxes showing key facts and casestudies. Earthscan, 2006. Pbk, £35.Written 'in the belief that tools which enablemore people to understand biodiversitycan not only aid protection efforts but alsocontribute to rural livelihoods, Plant Identificationprovides potential authors of fieldguides with practical advice about all thepractical aspects of producing field guidesto wild plants anywhere in the world'.The John Tradescants, Gardeners to the Roseand Lily Queen. Leith-Ross, P.Pp. 341, b&w illustrations. Peter Owen,revised ed., 2006. Pbk, £14.50.First published 1984. The story of the JohnTradescants, father (1570-1638) and son(1608-1662), the gardens they created andthe plants they introduced.Flowers of Iona. Millar, lM.Pp47, map, original watercolours by theauthor. New Iona Press, 3 rd ed., 2006. Pbk,£4.95. The list of flowering plants isbrought up to 335; also includes rushes,sedges, grasses and ferns. Typical habitatsare described. Includes common, botanicaland Gaelic names.The Biology of Peatlands. Rydin, H, & Jeglum.1Pp. 343, b&w photos, figs. OUP, 2006.Pbk, £27.50.Biology of Habitats Series. An overview ofpeatland ecosystems, giving internationalcoverage, but with the focus on boreal andnorth temperate peatlands. Includes a chapteron the moss genus Sphagnum, and concludeswith a consideration of peatlandmanagement, conservation and restoration.The Liverworts, Mosses and Ferns of Europe.Frey, W, et al: English edition revised &edited by Blockeel, T L.Pp. 512, detailed drawings, keys. HarleyBooks, 2006. Hbk, £45.Revised and updated English version ofDie Moos- und Farnpjlanzen Europas (6thedition 1995), taking the form of an extendedkey to just under 2,000 European speciesto be found within a large and variedgeographical area extending from Icelandin the west to the Ural Mountains in the eastand including the northern MacronesianIslands. The fern section has been furtherextended to include Georgia and the Caucasus,Turkey, Cyprus and the Cape VerdeIslands.A Guide to Some Difficult Plants. IllustratedArticlesfrom the Wild Flower Society Magazine1973-1988.Pp. 131, b&w illustrations. Wild FlowerSociety. Re-issued for the WFS by SummerfieldBooks, 2006. Pbk, £6.99.A reprint of this useful guide, first publishedin 1990. Topics covered are: BirdSeed Aliens, Willows, Dandelions andtheir Allies, Rushes & W oodrushes, StJohn's-worts, Wild Heathers, and IdentifyingYellow Crucifers.Members may have seen, in the April News (p.72, under Obituary notes), the offer of a memoirfrom the brother of Richard Palmer, of Oxford.This was available free of charge, and I found itvery interesting, full of humility and well worthreading.Also in that issue, (P72) was the offer for No8 of Wiltshire Botany. This was, as trailered, amajor issue, being in effect a supplement to the1993 Flora, and well worth getting if you havenot already done so.One ofthe exciting events ofan action-packed2006 has been the issue of the First editionOrdnance Survey maps in a new format byCassini Maps (formerly Timeline Maps). Aversion of these has long been available in areproduction by David & Charles, but this latestre-issue is altogether superior! The maps havebeen expanded to the scale of 1 :50000, andexactly match the current OS Landranger series,and have also had National Grid lines superimposed.This makes them miles easier to use.All OS agents have them at £6.49, the same asthe current maps, and to date those for the southernhalf of England have been issued, with therest promised. In fact their website(www.cassinimaps.com) (2/8/06) says those forSW & SE England are out, with the Midlandsand East Anglia due by the end of July, and therest of England and Wales by October, though Iam not sure why it is not updated. I cannotexplain why but my hunch would be to buythem straight away.Nature in Cambridgeshire No. 48 (2006)(with obituary of Ma x Walters) .This issue carries an eight-page obItuary ofMax by Pet~r Grubb, a colour photo of him inJune 2000 on the cover, and another inside, in
Book Notes - A Supplement to a Flora ofTiree, Gunna and Call / Don't blame me. I never said it 49black and white, of the 39-year-old Max atWicken Fen. Cheques should be made out toNature in Cambridgeshire.The address for people to send payments(cheque or £5 note) and/or donations: Mrs JaneBulleid, 3 Mandeville, Burwell, Cambs CB5OAG.Also in April News was the flyer for theEleanor Vachell diaries. My copy has arrivedand it is even better than I was expecting - anabsorbing social history of British and Irishbotanists and botany in the 1920s and 1930s,with a wealth of detail from someone who wasat the heart ofthe BEC and the WFS at that time.It reminded me of a note I wrote last year butnever finished, and which I now give below.Habitats of Rare FlowersI have in my possession an alphabetical list ofsites compiled by Mrs Gertrude Foggitt, for thebenefit of a Barbara Kitson (and then to a MrsM.B. Sayers, of Blandford Dorset, and finally toRelen Brotherton ofPoole (a WFS member formany years, founder of the Dorset WildlifeTrust and much else). I imagine it was compiledin the 1930s.Gertrude Foggitt was the discover of Carexmicroglochin (with Lady Davy) in 1923, a greatpillar of the WFS and the BSBI (or B.B.C. as itthen was) and was made an honorary memberjust before she died in 1949. There is a verywarm obituary in the BSBI Year Book for 1951.The sites described are a curious mixture ofthe very rarest and others that one would not beparticularly fussed about, with often brilliantdescriptions of how to find them.Thus Fumaria martinii - Gilly Tresamble (W.Cornwall). When you reach the 5 cross roads,(coming in from the road marked Stithians) takethe road to the right of one which leads downhill& is marked Perran Station & Truro. You willvery shortly come to a garden and potato patchon the left.Braemore Connnon (S. Rants). Going fromFordingbridge towards Salisbury there is a littleturning on the left (close to the turning on theright to Braemore Station). It goes to the edge ofthe connnon. There turn first left and 50 yardsup that road you will see a partially dried uppond on the right with willows. The Cyperusfuscus is just in the pond and the Limosella onthe far side of the pond in the dried mud, alsoMentha pulegium.I suppose nowadays one would give a gridreference, but I find a word picture far better!I have a hunch these were widely circulated,but our Wild flower Society members willprobably know much better, and I would like tohear from them. Dave Green, the former v.c.Recorder for North Wilts for many years, hadacquired many of the papers from the illustriousBarbara Welch, one of his Wilts predecessors.There is a much expanded version there(together with scores of letters too and from theBHUs (Botanical high-ups, as my daughter usedto call them!) ofthe day.A Supplement to a Flora of Tiree, Gunna and ColiD.A. Pearman & C.D. PrestonThe cover notes 'The publication of A Flora ofTiree, Gunna and Coli in March 2000 encouraged,as so often, further work. We are verypleased to be able to publish details of over 20species new to the islands. The new recordsinclude both early- and late-flowering speciesthat we suspected were under-recorded in the2000 work, and also our work in ColI on thewoody species, in search of which we havespent the last five years exploring the ravinesand finding an unexpectedly rich relict flora.'This 24 page booklet has just been publishedand is available from Mrs A.V. Pearman,Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA for£ 2.50 incl. p&p.Don't blame me. I never said itToNY PRIMAVESI, St Marie's, Oak Street, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV22 SELI wish to disclaim responsibility for the key tothe Genus Rosa as it appears in the new revisededition of The Wild Flower Key by FrancisRose, recently published.I would have thought that the author shouldhave been consulted to approve any alteration tohis copy. This, however, was not done in mycase. Extensive alterations were made from mywording, of some of which I would certainly nothave approved, as they were either completelyincorrect or misleading. The crowning indignityfor me is that my name appears at the headof the key implying that it represents my fullauthority and approval.
50 Book Notes - Don't blame me. I never said it / Obituary NotesThe worst blunder is the statement that somerose stems are 'winding'. This is plainlymisleading and incorrect as applied to rosestems. The word I used was 'flexuous'. Theresinous scent of the downy roses is describedas 'unpleasant', which it is not. The hips aresometimes inconsistently referred to as 'fruits'.They are, of course, the concave fleshy receptaclecontaining the achenes which are the fruits,each of which presumably has its own short fruitstalk. There are other minor changes which Iwould prefer had not been made.Following the key, there are descriptions andillustrations of five rose species. These areinadequate and in part inaccurate. I had no partin their authorship and as they appear under myname I shall be ashamed to think that they willbe attributed to me.I have not read the rest of the book, so I canmake no criticism of the rest of its contents. Itseems to me that Stace's Flora, The Plant Criband the BSBI Handbooks admirably fulfil allneeds.OBITUARY NOTESMARy BRIGGS, Hon. Obituaries Editor, 9 Arun Prospect, Pulborough, West Sussex, RG20 lALVery many members will have been saddened tohear of the death of Francis Rose. Francis hasbeen an outstanding field botanist, ecologist andconservationist through a long BSBI membership- since 1944. His remarkable eye for all vegetationespecially included the lower plants. Therewill be an Obituary in Watsonia.Professor Emeritus A.J. Willis of SheffieldUniversity was known to many members as theGeneral Editor of the Biological Flora speciesaccounts published by the Ecological Society inthe Journal of Ecology and as individualseparates. A BSBI member since 1960, Arthurwas until 1967 at the University of Bristol, butunti11993 he still shared the v.c. 34 W. Gloucs.recordership with Sonia Holland. As theRecorder for the Bristol area of the vice-countyfor almost 40 years he reported on the flora of theAvon Gorge for Nature in Avon. Richard Blandwrote in the Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists(2003) 63: 10-11 that 'it would be impossibleto guess from this annual report that [Prof. Willis]was no longer resident in the region, because ofhis deep knowledge of the Bristol area andknowledge of the work of the BSBI.'His publications on his own special interestsincluded the phenology of plant development,and the long history of particular rare plants atspecific locations. I am grateful to Mark & ClareKitchen for sending notes on the v.c. 34 W.Gloucs. recordership.We are also sorry to report the deaths of someBSBI members well known as local botanists:Bernard John Whiteway of Redruth,Cornwall. Rose Murphy writes 'he played anactive part in plant recording in Cornwall, bothfor the New Atlas and for the Arable Plant recordingfor many years.'From Norfolk, Ron Payne sends note of MrsHeather Williamson, and Gillian Beckett writesin Transactions of Norfolk and Norwich NaturalHistory Society: 'a keen and knowledgeablebotanist ... with an amazing eye for detail andtotally reliable. Heather was part of the NorfolkRecording team since 1988' and was also 'a firstrate shot and expert flower arranger.'Mr I. Penberthy sends a note about Dr KatherineBenson-Evans (whose death was reported inBSBI News 101) who achieved success inresearch on plant growth hormones, and onindicator algae in river pollution. Although notactive in BSBI we valued her support in membershipfor over 50 years.From Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, Betty Goddardhad a keen interest in plants and wildlife, throughher County Wildlife Trust and local NaturalHistory Society as well as BSBI. ProfessionallyBetty was deputy head teacher of West cliff HighSchool for Girls, and a musician. After retirementshe was an enthusiastic botanical travelleraround the world. Betty also painted wildlifegreetings cards of which she sold more than onehundred and forty thousand cards for charities.Edith Hesselgreaves died in June 2006 aged96. I am grateful to her daughter Janet Welsh(also a BSBI member) who has sent the followingnote: 'Edith was a member ofBSBI from 1973until 2004. She was brought up on a farm inLancashire and always loved the outdoor life; shehad an interest in botany from childhood.When recording started for the Flora of Leicestershireduring the 1970s this gave her the perfectoutlet for her energy and enthusiasm. Her tetradsurveys were very thorough and she persistedwith every casual or alien, corresponding withmany of the vascular plant specialists. She knewher patch well and Groby tetrads were some ofthe richest in the county. She developed a specialinterest in willows, willowherbs and brambleswhich can be seen in the entries! She is rememberedas a major contributor. Her husband Jackhelped by driving her to sites but many of her
Obituary Notes / Recorders and Recording51excursions were by bicycle or, later, moped. Thiswas only given up when she turned 80 and she leda number of local field meetings. During thewinter months she mounted specimens for theLeicester Museum collection and donated manyof her own. Latterly, failing eyesight was asevere blow but she still enjoyed walking andwas always willing to share her expertise andlocal knowledge with others. 'We also report with regret the deaths of thefollowing members reported since April 2006(year of joining in parentheses): Miss P. Allan ofBordon, Hants. (1990); Mr L. Eccleston ofClitheroe, Lancs. (1994); Dr R.N. Lester ofEdgbaston, Birmingham (1960); Dr F.J. TaylorMSc, of Warkworth, New Zealand (1954) andMr MJ. Trotman of Wotton-under-Edge, Glos.(1983).All the above will be sadly missed.Memorial to Derek RatcliffeEnglish Nature Magazine, July 2006, reports amemorial stone to Derek and a carved bench,unveiled by his widow Jeanette at E.N. 's FinglandriggNational Nature Reserve at Kirkbamptonnear Carlisle. Derek was described as 'one of the20 th Century's most outstanding and influentialnature conservationists' and Findlandrigg as 'oneofDr Ratcliffe's favourite spots.'An obituary was published in Watsonia 26:101-102 (2006), by Lynne FalTell.RECORDERS AND RECORDINGPanel of Referees and SpecialistsMARy CLARE SHEAHAN, 61 Westmoreland Road, Barnes, London SW13 9RZThere are two changes of email addresses: PaulGreen's is now paulnewross@eircom.net (waspaul@combegate.wanadoo.co), and MikePorter's (Calamagrostis and Carex) is nowmike@carex.wanadoo.co.uk (was catchal1@mikesporter.co.uk).Many members have said how useful it wouldbe to have a beginner's referee who would beprepared to have a look at any plant whichpuzzled them, especially if they had no ideawhere to start looking. I am glad to say that wehave now had an offer from three experts toprovide this service - please see the followingmessage from Quentin Groom, Clare O'Reilly& John O'Reilly:Beginner's RefereesBeginner botanists often want help with commonspecies. They don't want to bother nationalexperts with something ordinary, but hard toidentifY. They may not even know which familya specimen belongs to and so can't use the CUlTentBSBI referee system. From January 2007, theEducation Committee is trying out a Beginner'sReferee system. It is hoped that this service willhelp improve the identification skills and confidenceof our novice membership.The intention is that the beginner's referees willprovide a rapid identification resource forrelatively widespread species. Anything submittedthat requires specialist identification will bepassed on to the relevant expert referee. Peoplecan, of course, still submit specimens directly tothe expert referees. We don't know yet howmuch demand there will be for such a service, butthe work initially will be spread out betweenthree referees: John & Clare O'Reilly will handlepostal submissions and Quentin Groom willrespond to emails and photographic enquiries.Submissions should be of plants foundgrowing in the wild in the British Isles andcomprise fresh or pressed specimens and/orphotographs. Full instructions will be providedin the 2007 BSBI Year Book.QUENTIN GROOM, Louis Pelserssquare 1, Tervuren,Belgium. qgroom@reticule.co.ukCLARE & JOHN O'REILLY, 78 Woodside, BarnardCastle, County Durham DL12 8APPanel of Vice-county recordersDAVID PEARMAN, Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA; Tel: 01872 863388;dpearman4@aol.comRecent changes since Year Book 2006Changes of AddressV.c. 66. Co Durham. Dr G.F.Hardy to 29Archibald St., Gosforth, NE3 lEB.V.c. 71. Man. Ms L. Moore to 2, Lake Lane,Peel, Isle of Man, IM5 lAU.V.c. 100. Clyde Isles. Mr A.C. Hannah to Glenmore,Rothsay, Isle of Bute, PA20 OQU.
52 Botanical Illustrator / Profiles of New Honorary Members - Peter FryBotanical IllustratorROSALIND BUCKNALL, 160 West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex, P018 OQYAs a botanical illustrator, I would be delightedto'assist any member in need of help with botanicalillustrations, both line drawings and colourpaintings.I have gained the Post-Experience Certificatein Biological Recording and Species Identificationwith the Field Studies Council and TheUniversity of Birmingham, and have joinedlocal recorders in the field to further my botanicalknowledge. I also enjoy working anddrawing with a microscope.[As Rosalind sent some examples of her work,I am happy to vouch for their general excellenceand hope members will contact her direct. RGE]PROFILES OF NEW HONORARY MEMBERS2005Having learnt some chemistry and a little biology,Peter Fry was appointed as Assistant Masterat an Essex Grammar School for Boys. When thehead of science retired he inherited the schoolgarden club which had evolved from the WorldWar 11 'dig for victory' campaign. The club waspopular with pupils as after the Friday share-outthe boys took home produce which they sold totheir mother at mutually advantageous prices.Gardening, and successfully showing vegetablesat Royal Horticultural Society AutumnShows at Westminster, triggered an interest inplant communities in general. Inevitably thislead to teaching ecology following the Tansleymethods. Assorted young men and ladies (froman associated girls school) joined in exploringEssex saltmarsh, grassland, woodland, and pondsas well as travelling into Cambridgeshire toexperience Wicken Fen where a recently retiredarmy colonel, of blunt expression, was warden.Eight years later Peter was seconded to theNuffield Foundation to be the materials co-ordinatorof the A-Level Biology Project. Thisperiod passed in writing teaching material, organisingnational conferences and attending augustgatherings, but provided little opportunity forfieldwork. Though, as a 'spin off, he came intocontact with the garden pea line used by Mendeland brought into England by Bateson at the startof the 20 th Century. These Peter still grows, over30 years on, and he remains fascinated by the F2crosses which produce interesting ratios. Classicalgenetics can still be interesting even thoughbiochemistry is the flavour of the month.In the late 1960s he started to work withstudents at a training college, was persuaded to bechairman of the biological board of studies at theCambridge Institute for a happy period, and as aPeter FryGWYNN ELLIS, May 2005result of the James Report was brought intocontact with undergraduate and progressivelypost-graduate students academically as well asdeveloping teachers.Having acquired the status of RecognisedTeacher of the University of London, Peter waselected Fellow of the Institute of Biology. Retiringin 1990 he discovered that BSBI was seekingan Honorary Assistant Secretary at the officialaddress at the Natural History Museum, SouthKensington and he volunteered. The Societyreceives a continuous stream of correspondencefrom people seeking information about plants,places where plants are studied and places wherepeople work with plants. Amongst the membershipthere is a wide range of interests and knowledge,so, even if there is not an instantaneousobvious response to a letter, some source ofcontact can be established for writers. Anyresponse to a non-member always includes aprospectus. The general co-ordination task isfrequently interesting, even demanding and Peterkeeps a basic system running and runningsuperbly well.I got to know Peter during my brief stint asHon. General Secretary and was amazed at theamount of work he undertook at South Kensingtonand I was also extremely grateful, as the morehe did, the less I had to. BSBI is exceedinglyfortunate to have someone with Peter's enthusiasmand knowledge able and willing to [and hereI quote] 'continue the effort as long as the Societywishes, and arthritis permits me to climb thestairs to the British Herbarium at South Kensington.I am grateful to the Society for granting methe privilege of nominating Peter Fry as HonoraryMember.
Profiles of New Honorary Members - Vera Gordon / Michael Braithwaite 53Greetings to Vera Gordon on being elected anHonorary Member ofthe BSBI. At BSBI AGM,Ferryside, Wales, 14 May 2005I joined the BSBI in 1963. A few years later Ihad the temerity to lead a field meeting at DdolUchaf in Flintshire - an area rich in Dactylorchids.I was out of my depth, but a slightlybuilt lady with a Liverpool accent soon came tomy rescue! That was my first meeting withVera Gordon.Later, in 1972, I began work on the Flora ofFlintshire. A number of helpers agreed to takeon various tetrads - and Vera 'adopted' abucketful. Her work was thorough and meticulousand I soon realised that she had opted forthe 'best' tetrads! She also provided constanthelp in identifying and naming difficult plants,and as many of you will know, being out withher in the field is an education. Later, when Iwould visit her at her home in Liverpool witharmfuls of 'unknown' specimens from mywanderings on the Continent, she would notonly name nearly all of them but actually thankme for letting her see them! One of the besttributes to her was paid by a colleague of minewhile we were checking some hundreds of pastrecords for the Rare Plant Register for FUntshire- 'If it's Vera's record, then that's what itis! 'Vera joined the BSBI in 1950 (there are veryfew earlier members) and over the years she hasMichael Braithwaite was born and brought up atCorbridge, Northumberland. He qualified as anaccountant and in 1969 moved to Hawick,Roxburghshire to join a firm of accountants there.His boyhood interest in botany was rekindled andafter meeting George Swan in 1973, joined theBSBI. His interest was further stimulated by hiscontact with John Raven whose enthusiasm hefound inspirational. At about the same time hemet Arthur Smith of Selkirk, a fme all roundnaturalist, and through him became involved inthe local branch of the Scottish Wildlife Trust(SWT) becoming secretary and then chairman forover 25 years. When Albert Long stood down asVera GordonGORONWY WYNNE, May 20052006Michael BraithwaiteROD CORNER, April 2006been an able and enthusiastic member. She hasbeen a leading light in the Liverpool BotanicalSociety, for which she served as Secretary formany years, and she was also Secretary of theSouth Lancashire Flora Committee. In 1963these interests led to the publication of Travis 'sFlora of South Lancashire with Vera Gordon asco-author. Her contributions to Watsoniainclude a perceptive review of The Hamlynphotographic guide to the wild flowers ofBritain and northern Europe and an appreciativeobituary to the late Horace Green, a previoussecretary of the Liverpool BotanicalSociety, and discoverer of Senecio cambrensisin Flintshire - a plant new to science at the time.Vera Gordon does not confine her interests tobotany. After a long day's work at the office shewould enjoy nothing more than a vigoroussession of Scottish country dancing. I never sawher in action but I can't imagine Vera puttinganything less than 100% into her dancing as well.We are honouring a lady, small of stature butwith a big personality, an outstanding fieldbotanist, a valued member of our Society and akind colleague and friend. I haven't seen Verafor some time, but I was delighted to hearrecently that she is still active and enthusiastic.I know that you will join me in sending her ourcongratulations and good wishes.vice-county recorder for Berwickshire (v.c. 81) in1979, he took over the recorder-ship.I first communicated with Michael in 1974when he sent me some interesting records fromvarious habitats around Hawick. He and othermembers of the local branch of the SWT carriedout a botanical survey of the Eildon Hills, theresults of which was later published in bookletform. However his botanical and organisationalskills really became apparent when he published'A Railway Flora of Teviotdale'. This wasbasically a solo survey based on tetrads of atwenty mile stretch of the old Waverley line tothe north and south of Ha wick during 1975. The
54 Profiles of New Honorary Members - Michael Braithwaite / David J. McCoshfollowing year he surveyed part of the Ale Waterin Roxburghshire.After becoming recorder for Berwickshire heconcentrated on the botany of that vice-county.He joined the Berwickshire Naturalists Club, theoldest field Club in Britain, founded in 1831 and in1990 with the support ofthe Club published 'TheBotanist in Berwickshire.' This was an annotatedchecklist with the vascular plant section beingcompiled by Michael and the bryophyte sectionby David Long, a professional and muchrespected bryologist and the son of the late AlbertLong. It gives a succinct account of the past andpresent flora of Berwickshire. Both he and DavidLong were elected honorary members of the Cluband in 2005 Michael became its president andnow acts as treasurer. He regularly contributesplant records to the club journal and recentlywrote a comparative acconnt of the flora ofBerwick-upon-Tweed based on work done byJohn V. Thompson 200 years previously. In 2004Michael published his Berwickshire Rare PlantRegister, marking the occasion with an infonnalevening with his botanical friends, as well ascelebrating 25 years as a vice-county recorder.In 1995 he was elected onto the council of theBSBI and served on the records committee and in1997 was elected treasurer, the post he presentlyholds. Michael has served the society in manyother ways. He was the Scottish Border areaco-ordinator for the Monitoring Scheme of 1985-87, the co-ordinator for field work in S.E.Scotland and Northumberland and Durham forAtlas 2000 and has taken a major role in therecent Local Change Survey being one of theteam responsible for fonnulating the survey andthe analysis of its results and a co-author of'Change in the British Flora 1987-2004.' Sinceretiring he is able to devote even more time tobotany and the society and is ably supported byhis wife Paddy, a botanist in her own right.Michael is a real enthusiast with a passion forplants and a fme eye for detail who records datameticulously. He has the accountant's gift withfigures so that graphs and tables usually alwaysaccompany the results of his surveys. His exhibitsat the annual Scottish meetings are painstakinglyprepared, cover a wide variety of subjectsand are often thought provoking. He has taken aspecial interest in difficult plants such as fumitories,is referee for Trichophorum (Deergrass) andhas taken particular interest in the early colonisationand distribution of halophytes along Borderroads. In 1978, he was instrumental in thediscovery with George Swan of the first definitiverecord of Alchemilla micans (A. gracilis) aLady's-mantle, in Britain. His recent discoveryof Hierochloe odorata (Holy Grass) new toEngland on the family estate on the North Tynegave him great pleasure. Making plant recordsfrom horseback is another of his accomplishments.I was delighted to be asked to contribute aprofile of a fellow Border botanist whose honorarymembership of the society is so well deserved.David McCosh is one of a now-select group ofbotanists who contributed to the first Atlas andremain active. He joined the society in 1958and it cannot have been too long before he wasappointed vice-county recorder for Peeblesshire,an office he still holds. When I movednorth of the border and became active with theScottish Wildlife Trust I soon found occasion tocontact David and was intrigued to find amember of a family who my grandmother usedto speak of as having a retreat in the Border hillsnot far from where she had been brought up.When I in my turn was appointed a VCR itwas David, as secretary to Records Committee,who wrote to me and advised me that the postwas mainly curatorial. This understatement istypical not only of David but of the BSBI tradition.It has taken me a long time to begin toappreciate how David has quietly and unhurriedlycontributed so much to our society andDavid J. McCoshMICHAEL BRAITHWAITE, May 2006related projects. As well as his thirty years asRecords Committee secretary, David wasrecently a vice-president of the society andearlier was one of the four people responsiblefor the day to day running of the MonitoringScheme. He was an editor of the very longrunningVice-county census catalogue projectand perhaps above all a confidant of Peter Sellon the Hieracia for his now recently-completedvolume 4 of Sell and Murrell.Peeblesshire has a modest flora by somestandards and for many years David concentratedon the hills, leaving the lower ground tothe late Charles Morrison. Although these hillsdo have their delights, the relative paucity ofspecies may have led David to a study of thehawkweeds and it is these that he has persistedwith, and travelled far in search of, to the advantageof his fellow recorders. Many county listsand floras acknowledge his help as does Stace's
Profiles of New Honorary Members - David J. McCosh I Tim Rich I Notes from the Officers 55Flora and I have received an invaluable printouton the occasions when I have compiled aBerwickshire check-list. It is commonlythought that David has yet to publish a flora orcheck-list of his own vice-county. Neverthelessmy shelves contain a neatly-bound lOO-pagevolume which the late Arthur Smith of Selkirkgave me shortly before he died, 'List of Flora inVC 78. DJMcC lO/80'. Now that David hasretired from his committees a more polishedversion is confidently awaited.David epitomises the quiet dedication tobotany that is the hallmark ofBSBI and it is mygreat pleasure to propose him as an honorarymember of our Society.There is so much to say about this man whoseenergy and output is known, I'm sure, to all ofyou.Tim was born in Sussex, and went to MidhurstGrammar School where his interest in botanybegan. He read Ecology at Lancaster and did aPhD in Leicester, and then was appointed to runthe BSBI Monitoring Scheme in 1987-1988, bywhich time we already knew him as an expertand enthusiast in the weedy and often scornedgroup of Crucifers. His organisation of theMonitoring Scheme was almost the stuff oflegend - endless enthusiasm, really interestingnotes in News (I still cannot look at a Zosterawithout thinking of his New Year's escapade)and a Herculean effort to put it all together. Asan extra, despite all this work, he managed toput together the first Plant Crib in 1988, whichalthough it built on earlier work, has been ourbest-selling publication for almost 20 years, andnow, thanks again to his ideas, is on the Webtoo. I know the delays and fuss over publicationof the Monitoring scheme caused him deepdistress, and though I cannot erase this, I dohope that what has happened subsequently hasdulled this.For the Monitoring Scheme was followed bythe Crucifer Handbook in 1991, a mass ofTim RichDAVID PEARMAN, May 2006NOTES FROM THE OFFICERSstimulating Plantlife 'Back from the Brink'reports in the 1990s (fascinating reading - Ihave about 20 and wish I had more), a reallypioneering local Flora, Ashdown Forest, in1996, where all his recording ideas from theMonitoring Scheme and subsequently were putinto practice, and a mass of papers in Watsoniaand other journals.In 1997 he moved to Cardiff, to run the We1shNational Herbarium (Vascular Plants), at theNational Museum of Wales, but this has notdiminished the quality and quantity of papersand research - all of which one really wants toread! Well, perhaps the account of the latestWelsh endemic Hieracium is only for enthusiasts,but there is still the fun of the chase, and weall look forward to the promised work onSorbus. He has kept up too with botanists on theContinent - something many of us are not verygood at - and has used those contacts to shedbetter light on our British distribution enigmas.I'm not saying I always agree with his interpretations,but his view is challenging! I think oneof the main plusses has been his ability toinvolve others in his projects, and then share thepublication with them, when in reality the drive,and writing has mainly been his.From the Hon. General Secretary - David PearmanAlgiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA; Tel: 01872863388; DPearman4@ao1.comDirector of development.Despite my promise of speedy action in theApril News, it has taken longer than anticipated,without the help of an employee, to assemblethe information and thoughts we need toprogress. Nonetheless Executive's views are asset out in April, and details will be on our website -let's say by October!Society for the exploration of the GermanfloraIn October 2005, botanists from all overGermany gathered at the Lower Saxonian townof Vechta to lay the foundation for the'Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der FloraDeutschlands' (Society for the exploration ofthe German flora).
56 Notes from the Officers - Hon. General Secretary I Scottish OfficerThe main goals of the new society are tointensifY the scientific investigation of theGerman flora and to bring together the activitiesof professional and non-professional botanists.The activities will be focussed on autecology,chorology, caryology, nomenclature, and taxonomyof vascular plants. The society aims toencourage botanists to contribute to and to usethe collections of scientific herbaria.Annual meetings will be held during oneweekend in autumn. A lecture program and anexhibition of herbarium specimens will accompanythis event.The next annual general meeting will behosted by the Universitat Stuttgart-Hohenheimand is scheduled for the 4th to the 5 th ofNovember2006.The society offers its members field-trips.These will cover botanically interesting parts ofGermany as well as adjacent countries and willbe guided by local experts. The first field-tripexplored the Chiemgauer and BerchtesgadenerAlpen in Bavaria (24th to 25 th of June 2006).The society's periodical is named Kochiahonouring the important 19 th century Germanbotanist Wilhelm Daniel Joseph Koch. Mainlanguage of publication is German. In autumn2006, the first volume will be published. At.www.flora-deutschlands.de. information isavailable on the society's activities in theGerman language. Here, addresses of specialistsfor certain taxa, a covering of current literature,information on working groups can befound as well as links to herbaria, online florasand other information relevant for someoneinterested in the flora of Central Europe.Membership is open to everybody interestedin the flora of Germany (annual membershipfee:25 €).For further information you may contact theaddresses available at the web-site.Postal and oral inquiries should be addressedto Thomas Gregor (Siebertshof 22, 36110Schlitz, Germany; phone: ++49-6642-5349;email: thomas.gregor@uni-vechta.de).Bluebell bulbs for saleMy apologies to Janette Fryer for omitting thislast time. She pointed out an advert in the NFUCountryside magazine from a company calledEurobulbs, who, asking whether readers hadbulbs growing wild in their woodlands, offeredto thin them out (in order for the bulbs to looktheir best) and promising them between £500and £30,000 for doing nothing! Probably withinthe law and possibly harmless in itself, but ..... .From the Scottish Officer - Jim MclntoshBSBI Scottish Officer, cia Royal Botanic Garden, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR;Tel: 0131 2482894; j.mcintosh@rbge.ac.ukComputerisationComputerising Vice-county Recorders' recordsvastly increases their usefulness. It is often animportant first step in major projects such aschecklists, Rare Plant Registers and floras, andit allows VCRs to map and analyze their recordsand respond to queries more easily. The datacontributes to the Atlas Updating Project andyou can already see the newly computerisedfrom the first Computerisation project on theBSBI Maps Scheme webpages. It shouldbenefit conservation too - as the records will beavailable to SNH, and other conservationists,and used to help in their day to day work.It has therefore been immensely satisfying tosuccessfully complete the first BSBI Scottishproject to computerise just over 100,000 recordsheld by VCRs for West Lothian, Mid- and NorthEbudes and Roxburghshire. The BSBI is verygrateful to SNH for the £15,000 funding for theproject, and for the painstaking diligence of thecontractors and Vice-county Recorders alike.Enthused by the success of the first project, Ihave devised two further projects - one tocomputerise 135,000 Scottish VCR paperrecords over the next 8 months with a fundingbid to the Esmee Fairbaim Foundation. I amcurrently waiting to hear whether it has beensuccessful. I am also currently preparing afurther bid for funding for an even moreambitious project to help computerise half amillion Scottish BSBI records over a 3 yearperiod, following on from that.Site Condition MonitoringOver the past two years, BSBI volunteerscompleted a total of27 Site Condition Monitoring(SCM) reports for SNH, and this year wehave worked on a further five sites. The projectaims to monitor the condition of SSSls designatedto protect vascular plants, by trying torefind populations of nationally rare or scarce'target' species and reporting on their preciselocation and size, and whether there is evidenceof regeneration or damage. The overall aim is
Notes from the Officers - Scottish Officer I Coordinator's Corner 57to improve those sites which are found to be inpoor condition.The project has been challenging and interestingto the 60, or sO, BSBI volunteers involved.However, given our significant contribution tothis project, it is good to be able to report anadditional benefit to the BSBI. Earlier thissummer copies of all 27 reports and recordscollected from all of SNH' s SCM work, on 150sites in total, were handed back to ScottishVCRs and the BSBI. The data is detailed andhigh quality and will make an important contributionto VCRs' records. I understand that fullcopies of all SCM reports will be available onthe SNH website shortly.Scottish Vice-county Recorder WorkshopScottish Vice-county Recorders participated ina very enjoyable residential Workshop held atthe Field Studies Centre, Kindrogan in April.There were talks on the Hybrids Project, byAlan Forest, Contributing Watsonia Records byMike Porter, Pressing Specimens by HeatherMcHaffie as well as various talks by me. Therewere workshop sessions on VC RecordingAreas, on Support for VCRs and on MapMate.We also included a debriefing sessions for thoseinvolved in Site Condition Monitoring and theComputerisation Project. But as always the bestpart of the weekend was socialising over dinnerand in the bar afterwards. I would like to thankall those who came and contributed to make theevent so successful.Brief reports from the various speakers werecompiled and illustrated to produce a WorkshopReport which was sent to all Scottish VCRs.There are a few spare copies, and if you wouldlike one, please let me know.Coordinator's CornerALEX LOCKTON, 66 North Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SYl 2JL; coordinator@bsbLorg.ukThe BSBI LibraryIn recent years we have been building up aB SBIlibrary, which is housed for us in the Universityof Birmingham's premises in Shrewsbury. Weare delighted and grateful to have receiveddonations of many books and journals from theestates of the late John Lavender and AliceLambert, and from many individuals such asRichard Pankhurst, Jean Green and KarlCrowther.We are always pleased to receive moredonations, if anyone has books they don't needor want to pass on to a good home. We keep afew duplicates for teaching purposes, but excessnumbers are passed on to the Field StudiesCouncil. Rare and valuable books are keptsecurely, and we can promise to keep them as apermanent asset to the society. The library isaccessible to BSBI members by arrangement,and is available for committees to meet in forfree. For further information, contact SarahWhild at the University of Birmingham, TheGateway Arts & Education Centre, ChesterStreet, Shrewsbury, SYl INB,s.j.whild@bham.ac.uk.More about AxiophytesI have received lots of interesting correspondenceabout axiophytes [important plants - anindicator of good habitats, see BSBI News 99:5]. David Pearman tells me that Dorset WildlifeTrust has been using lists of "notables" fordesignating Wildlife Sites for about fifteenyears, and they find it very useful in defendingtheir selection in public enquiries. Many otherWildlife Trusts also include some sort ofelement of indicator, or 'typical,' species intheir selection process; but apparently thecountry agencies have never gone so far as todraw up truly scientific criteria for SSSls.Perhaps they haven't felt the need, as they havethe law on their side, but one has to wonder ifthere wouldn't actually be a benefit in beingable to state, scientifically, why a site is 'good'?Axiophytes seem to represent a potentialsolution to the 'importantness' problem that hasplagued conservation for decades. There hasbeen so much confusion about what we shouldbase conservation decisions on: rare species,threatened species or indicator species. Lots ofcomplicated formulae have been drawn up inthe past. With axiophytes, we can move beyondthat situation into one of much greater clarity.The following three terms need to be defined asseparate concepts, and if you do that it is apparentthat much of the time we mix them up andsaddle ourselves with a confused and inconsistentidea of what makes a site valuable.1 Rare species are ones that are uncommon,either in absolute terms or relative terms (i.e.within a particular geographic area). They areof conservation importance mainly from thepoint of view of protecting genetic resourcesbecause, being rare, they have little effect onvegetation.2 Threatened species are ones that are indecline, which is interesting but of little
58Coordinator's Cornerconservation significance in itself. Mathematically,it can be shown that about 50% of allspecies will probably be in decline at anyonetime within any particular geographical area,so decline itself is simply a phenomenon to beobserved rather than necessarily a problem tobe acted upon. However, it is well worthmonitoring the increases and declines ofspecies because this reflects how the countrysideis changing and how sites are beingmanaged.3 Axiophytes. These are species that are desirable,from a conservation point of view. Theyare plants that we generally want more of,usually because they represent habitats andenvironmental conditions that are consideredto be beneficial for nature conservation. Theyare usually widespread enough to be a majorconstituent of vegetation, and are probablyimportant food plants, so they are oftenneither rare nor necessarily threatened, butthey are the ones that matter the most.Some exciting work is being done on axiophytesin Lincolnshire and Shropshire. MargaretHaggerty, who manages the Lincs. RecordsCentre, has drawn up a list of indicators ofvarious conservation-worthy habitats in thecounty and shown that all sites can be rankedaccording to the number ofaxiophytes theycontain. Over a certain number and you have aSSSI. A lower number would be indicative of aWildlife Site, and below that you may still havea site of interest, but one with a lower conservationstatus. She found that the system prettymuch corroborates the experience-baseddecisions by which these sites have been designatedin the past (unlike the Red Data lists) buthas the advantage of putting it on an empiricalbasis. This could be enormously valuable inallowing SSSI designations to be defended, andalso in monitoring the efficacy of conservationmanagement. Astonishingly, it seems that thesimpler the list the more effectively it works:abundance weightings, dividing them up byhabitat, and other complexities do not seem tooffer much benefit.In Shropshire Dan Wrench and the BiodiversityPartnership have eschewed the traditionalhalf a dozen BAP species in favour of anaxiophytic approach involving some 400species of vascular plants and bryophytes. Incollaboration with the County Council and theForestry Commission, they have producedcoincidence maps ofaxiophytes in order toidentify areas that should be protected fromafforestation or development, and they use themaps to alert surveyors to the features of interestin an area. They have over 40,000 recentrecords at Hem resolution or finer, and canassign a value to any grid square on the map,thereby giving early warning of areas that needto be protected. Because the difficult ecology'science part' is hidden in the early stages oftheprocess, all they have to do is give a straightforwardnumber to the people who make thedecisions: 'that square is a 40-pointer, leave italone', or 'this square only scores 2, so you cando what you like there.' It is a fantastically clearsystem. The best thing is that it can be arguedwith: if you don't agree with what the BAPpeople say, then do your own survey and seewhat you find. By giving us a number, theyhave turned was was previously guesswork intogood, hard, science, and that surely givesconservation a much more credible foundation.There is a lot of work to be done yet onaxiophytes, but these results are encouraging. Itseems that about 20% of the species in eachcounty could be classified as axiophytes,amounting to about 200-400 taxa. In Shropshireabout 60% of the Hem squares contain at leastone axiophyte, and the 5% best sites are classifiedas SSSls. These scores, of course, arechosen by us, but they match what the governmentseems to want to designate as protectedhabitat. In future we may want to protect alarger proportion of the countryside, in whichcase we can simply adjust threshold levels.What we need now is for each county to drawup a list of proposed axiophytes and, in collaborationbetween us all, to standardise the rules sothat they are roughly the same everywhere. Itwould be really interesting then to check out allthe SSSls in Britain against these lists and see ifthey really are well chosen. I can think of somesites that hardly contain any axiophytes at all,and one has to wonder whether they reallywarrant such a level of protection. Whereas themajority probably have at least 15 such species,and some surely have many more than this.What we don't yet know is whether size anddiversity has much of an impact. It stands toreason that a large site with many differenthabitats would score much higher than a smallersite with only one vegetation type; but is thatnecessarily a bad thing? If anyone is looking fora thesis to write, here is a great opportunity to dosome really worthwhile research. I shall postmore information on the web site(www.bsbi.org.uk) and expand on the role ofcounty recorders in the next issue of BSBIRecorder. Please get in touch if you wantto help.
Good homes needed for journals/ Stop Press / Deadline for News 104 59Good homes needed for various BSBI journalsFree to anyone able to collect or pay postage:BSBI News with occasional indexes aspublished Nos 9 - 85 (1975 - 2000).STOP PRESSWatsonia vols 19 - 25 (1992 - 2005) withannual indexes.JOHN SOUTHEY, 2 Old Butterleigh Road,Silverton, Exeter EX5 4JE Tel. 01392860437Irish Wild Plants: Myths, Legends and Folklore by NIALL MACCOITIRwith original watercolours by GRANIA LANGRISHEMost of us are never far away from green and growingthings and indeed our lives would feel much poorerwithout them. The wild plants of Ireland have beenbound up in our culture from the earliest times appearingin the ancient Irish brehon laws and nature poetryas well as myths and legends and much folklore.According to that folklore a person who carries a fourleavedshamrock will be lucky in gambling, while a girlwho puts nine ivy-leaves under her pillow will dreamof her future husband. Herbal medicine was also importantin ancient Ireland. There were 365 parts to thebody, and a different plant existed to cure the aihnentsof each part.Plants are described in seasonal order, a freshperspective which brings us back to the viewpoint ofConservation on the Grand Scaleour ancestors. After the history of herbs in Ireland andtraditional herbal medicine, different aspects of plantfolklore are examined. Included are their roles inmagical protection, their use in charms and spells(especially for love!), plants as emblems in children'sgames, in Irish place names and folldore cures.This beautifully illustrated hardback book ispublished by The Collins Press in and will cost €25.001£18.99.For further details contact: GILLIAN HENNESSY, TheCollins Press, West Link Park, Doughcloyne, Wilton,Cork, Ireland; Tel: 00353 (0)21-4347717 Fax: 00353(0)21-4347720; gillian@ collinspress.ie; Website:www.collinspress.ie13 th October to 17th November 2006, Birkbeck, London UniversitySix free public lectures of the Ecology and ConservationStudies Society I Birkbeck on consecutive Fridayevenings, about opportunities and problems ofmanagingmajor tracts of the countryside.Full details from http://www.bbk.ac.uklce/environmentlecssociety/index.shtmlGet involved in National Conifer Week, 1-8 October 2006the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) andHorticultural Development Council (HDC), thecampaign is designed to capture the public's imagina-tion, drive increased awareness of conifers and boostsales of the plants.A web site (www.conifers.org.uk) has been created,with tips and inspiration for how people can useconifers in their own gardens, photographs and plant-ing plans.Conifers have something truly special to bring toevery garden whether it's a small balcony with roomfor a tub, or acres of grounds with enough space foran arboretum. During National Conifer Week, fromI to 8 October 2006, the beauty and versatility ofthese 'plants for all seasons' will be celebrated, andgardeners will be encouraged to discover whatconifers have to offer. Organised by the Associationof British Conifer Growers (ABCG), and funded byCONTRIBUTIONS INTENDED FORBSBI NEWS 104should reach the Receiviug Editor beforeNovember 15 th=====~The Receiving Editor Dr Leander Wolstenholme can be contacted by phone on 0161 275 2671 or email:Leander.W olstenholme@Manchester.ac.ukThe General Editor Gwynn Ellis can be contacted by phone or fax on 029-2049-6042 or email: rgellis@ntlworld.comAll text and illustrations appearing in BSBI News and its Supplements are copyright and no reproduction in any formmay be made without written permission from the General Editor.Offers and special terms apply only to members ofthe Society and copies are not available on an exchange basis.BSBI News (ISSN 0309-930X) is published by the Botanical Society of the British Isles.Enquiries concerning the Society's activities and membership should be addressed to: The Hon. General Secretary, c/o Dept. ofBotany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD. Tel: 0207 942 5002.Camera ready copy produced by Gwynn Ellis and printed by J. & P. Davison, 3 James Place, Treforest, Pontypridd,Mid Glamorgan CF37 ISQ (Tel. 01443-400585; email: davison-litho@ukf.net)
ADMINISTRATION and IMPORTANT ADDRESSESPRESIDENTDr Richard GornallBiology Dept., University of Leicester, Leicester, LEl 7RHTel. 0116-252-3394; rjg@leicester.ac.ukHON. GENERAL SECRETARY (General Enquiries)Mr David PearmanAlgiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RATel.: 01872 863388; DPearrnan4@aol.comHON. TREASURER (All financial matters except Subscriptions) Mr Michael Braithwaite19 Buccleuch Street, Hawick, Roxburghshire, TD9 OHLTel. 01450-372267. Fax 01450-373591MEMBERSIDP SECRETARY (Payment of Subs and changes of address) Mr Gwynn Ellis41 Marlborough Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF23 5BU(Please quote membership number on all correspondence; see address label on post,or Members List in Year Book 2005 or 2006)Tel. 02920 496042; rgellis@ntlworld.comHON. FIELD SECRETARY (Enquiries on Field Meetings)Mrs Jane Croft12 Spaldwick Road, Stow Longa, Huntingdon, Cambs., PE28 OTL.. Tel.: 01480 860561; jane@stowlonga.fsnet.co.ukHON. ASSISTANT SECRETARY (General enquiries)Mr Peter FryC/O Dept. of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW75BDAnswerphone only: 0207 942 5002BSBI PROJECT MANAGER &VICE-COUNTY RECORDERS(Comments and/or changes of address)PANEL OF REFEREES & SPECIALISTS(Comments and/or changes of address)Mr David PearmanAlgiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RATel.: 01872 863388; DPearman4@aol.comDr Mary Clare Sheahan61 Westmoreland Road, Barnes, London, SW13 9RZTel.: 020 8748 4365; m.sheahan@rbgkew.org.ukWATSONIA RECEIVING EDITORMr Martin Sanfordc/o SBRC, Ipswich Museum, High Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IPl 3QHTel.: 01473433547; fax: 01473 433558; sbrc@globalnet.co.ukBSBI NEWS RECEIVING EDITORDr Leander WolstenholmeThe Herbarium, The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M12 9PLTeL: 0161 275 2671; Leander.Wolstenholme@Manchester.ac.ukBSBI NEWS GENERAL EDITORBSBI COORDINATORBSBI VOLUNTEERS OFFICERBSBI SCOTTISH OFFICERRESEARCH FUND APPLICATIONSBSBI PUBLICATIONSBSBI WEB SITE ADDRESSMr Gwynn Ellis41 Marlborough Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF23 5BUTel. & Fax 029-2049-6042; rgellis@ntlworld.comMr Alex Lockton66 North Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SYl 2JLTel. & Fax: 01743 343789; Mobile: 0585 700368; coordinator@bsbi.org.ukMr Bob Ellis11 Havelock Road, Norwich, NR2 3HQTel.: 01603 662260; bob@elymus.demon.co.ukMr Jim McIntoshc/o Royal Botanic Garden, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LRTel. 0131 2482894 (w); 0141 5527322 (h); j.mcintosh@rbge.ac.ukDr Pete HollingsworthRoyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, EH3 5LRp.hollingsworth@rbge.ac.uk.Mr & Mrs Jon Atkinsc/o Summerfield Books, Main Street, Brough, Cumbria, CA17 4AXTel.: 017683 41577; Fax: 017683 41687; bsbipubs@beeb.netRegistered Charity Number: 212560www.bsbi.org.uk
Rumex maritimus in late flower & fruit on west bankYoung plant of Rumex maritimus in flower onZizania dredgingsRumex maritimus close up of fruiting headRumex maritimus in late flower & fruit on westbank, showing 'candelabra' habitAll photos Patching Pond, v.c. 13 (see pp. 11-12), M. Hollings © 2005
Photo 1: Urtica membranacea growing in pavement edge. All 5 photos see pp. 29-30,J. & V. Roberts © 2006Photo 2: View of immature purple-tinged maleracemes of U. membranaceaPhoto 3: Unilateral 'membranous' males racemes. at anthesis of U. membranaceaPhoto 4: Two ovate connate paired stipules atnode of U. membranacea, and female racemesPhoto 5: Four linear stipules at node of CommonNettle, U. dioica
Change language