Cut-leaved Germander and Ground Pine

Back in January Steve Gale kindly welcomed my new blog with a comment about a number of plants we are lucky to have growing in this area, including Ground Pine (Ajuga chamaepitys, left) and Cut-leaved Germander (Teucrium botrys, below) both of which are nationally rare. Well, yes and no!

He was I am sure, referring to a small piece of chalk grassland just to the south of Banstead Woods called Fame's Rough, a cracking place for both wild flowers and butterflies. It has an interesting history which essentially boils down to the fact that in WWII the field was ploughed to grow crops (unsuccesfully) and for a few years after Cut-leaved Germander (among others) was common having only been previously recorded as an infrequent arable weed in the area. After a few years it disappeared only to reappear en masse when the land owner was persuaded to ploughed a strip of the field.

For the next 30-40 years a new strip was ploughed every five or six years and the cycle repeated, often with both the above and many other ruderals (colonisers of disturbed ground) growing in huge numbers. Obviously the seed of these species is quite long-lived but they have little capacity to compete with other plants.

For the past 10-15 years the ploughing has stopped and the field started to scrub over, a couple of years ago the scrub was cut back and a test was started to see how much soil disturbance was required for the germination of these species to occur. A number of areas were dug/scarified to varying degrees but not ploughed! The results were fairly disappointing with a few plants of both species appearing but no great numbers.

Last year a larger area was lightly rotovated and a on recent visit I failed to find any plants of either species, so it appears it is ploughing or nothing. Hopefully this will be tried soon.

The two plants are interesting as well as rare, Cut-leaved Germander occurs at probably fewer than ten sites in the country and Ground Pine at only 32 sites since 1970. They are fairly closely related members of the Labiatae or Lamiaceae (or whatever), the mint family. but are instantly recognisable as they are members of the only two genera of that family in this country that have very little or no upper lip as the picture of Teucrium botrys below shows. You can read more about Ground Pine in an excellent dossier produced by Plantlife.

The interest on Fame's Rough does not end with these two species, it is a joy to behold from spring through summer with many chalk specialist plants including orchids and is always well worth a visit.

Finally, to get back to Steve's comment, yes, I am sure the plants are still there, if only as seed but; no, you'll be lucky to find them this year. I should point out the photos were taken a couple of years ago.

A knotty find.

Strolling around Park Downs the other evening I noticed a small white flower (above), on the path, just another Purging Flax I thought, but no it was larger than that (probably why I noticed it) although still less than 1cm across. On closer inspection it turned out to be the flower of Sagina nodosa, Knotted Pearlwort. This is a very delicate plant with terminal flowers on stems that bear very small linear leaves clasping the stem that give the "knotted" feel when you run it through your fingers, you might just be able to see it in the picture above. Try getting an in-focus picture of the stem.

If you look in any British flora it will tell you something along the lines (to quote Clapham, Tutin and Warburg, I live in the past) "Frequent in damp sandy and peaty places throughout the British Isles". So what is it doing on dry chalk downland?

In fact in Surrey it seems it does things differently. In Lousley's Flora of Surrey (1976) it is described as very rare, only recorded at three sites in the recent past, two of which were on chalk including Banstead Downs up until about ten years ago. As far as I know it was first recorded on Park Downs in the early 1980s about 100 m from where I found it and had not been seen for about fifteen years. It was thought possibly to have been imported with gravel used to repair the path it grew on.

However I remembered that last year I had photographed a small white flower on another path on Park Downs and promptly forgot all about it. I dug it out and sure enough there it was (below) Knotted Pearlwort, so back to Park Downs and last night I found it again in the same place on a path some 100m from the other two sites. The fact that it is still present across quite a large area perhaps that even if it got here by man's hand it can survive quite happily. Certainly not an obligate calcifuge. Of course strictly a non-native in this context!!!!!!!

Later this week I shall inspect Banstead Downs to see if I can find it there. Watch this space.

Late re-entry - Small Balsam

For a number of non-botanical reasons, I haven't posted for a long time so I have plenty in reserve now I am resuming!!

One surprise this summer came at the weekend when walking in Banstead Woods. In many places there is a good cover of Impatiens parviflora, Small Balsam along path edges. Interestingly it also seems to be one of the earliest plants to be able re-colonise ground after Rhododendrons have been cleared, even so it still takes a couple of years before it can germinate.

It is not a very showy plant only having a small flower, however, close-up (above) it is rather attractive. The base of the petals (and sepals) appear white with red markings with the rest being yellow. The surprise came when I stumbled upon a couple of plants with flowers that completely lacked any yellow (below) being white , the red markings more pronounced! White variants of many species are quite common but I have never seen it in this species, indeed I have rarely seen white variants of any normally yellow-flowered species. Off the top of my head I can only think of Primrose and even that was as a garden variant.

Has anyone else seen a white Balsam?

Dactylorhizal heaven

Last week we paid a visit to coastal Sussex to a min-flood-plain site that is home to a number of Dactylorhiza species that grow in profusion. For many reasons, I like the Dactylorhiza genus,the various species are usually stately and attractive plants and in Europe you are never far from one species or another, they can be found from the Mediterranean to the Arctic circle and the genus is represented in just about every habitat type. I do however often have problems with identification of many of the species mostly centred around the facts that firstly, Dactylorhiza is an essentially purple-flowered genus and superficially (the level of most of my plant identification), many of the flowers are similar and secondly, in many cases hybridization occurs between species often producing fertile offspring intermediate between the various parents.

At this site, there are three or four species depending on your choice of nomenclature, Common Spotted Orchid D.fuchsii, Southern Marsh Orchid D.praetermissa, and two Early Marsh Orchids D.incarnata (D.incarnata incarnata) and D.pulchella (D.incarnata pulchella).

As far as I am concerned, this number of Dactylorhiza species growing in the same place and such a small area (the entire site is no more than 400m x 100m) is quite unusual so perhaps given the circumstances it is not surprising that all sorts of strange things have happened (a bit like humans).

D.incarnata presents no problem of identification because the flowers are not purple but a wonderful flesh pink. The top picture shows a few flowers with typical markings and although the outer lip is not bent back something that is supposed to be fairly characteristic!

Having nailed this species, the direct comparison of flowers enables the identification of the other Early Marsh with some certainty, D.pulchella and splendid plants they were too up to 60cm high with intensely coloured flowers and dense spikes, real crackers (above right)!

Interestingly, at least I thought so, the two Early Marsh species tended to grow in separate patches as though their requirements were slightly different.

Moving on there were scattered plants of easily identifiable Common Spotteds D.fuchsii, typical colouring and the clearly indented lobe to the lip. But then there were many more plants that at a distance screamed Common Spot but when you looked closely were similar to the one on the left with an atypical lip shape but still with spotted leaves.

In addition, there were occasional plants that appeared to be pretty standard Southern Marsh Orchid (D.pratermissa) such as the one on the right and non-spotted leaves but then there were those with exactly the same flowers but spotted leaves and so it went on. After a while it became clear we were in the middle of a hybrid swarm, not as dangerous as a bee swarm unless you keep on insisting on identifying the individual plants. After a while you begin to doubt whether any of your identifications are correct, so take everything here with a pinch of salt!

Apparently this population has been the subject of a number of academic studies that I have not read (!) and it illustrates the problem of trying to identify individual species within genera that contain species are clearly not yet stabilized or whatever the correct term is.

In this case the simplest thing to do is sit back and enjoy the plants and the spectacle. A sheer joy!!

Old friends revisited

Box Hill, north of Dorking, Surrey, is a large area of mixed chalk turf, scrub and woodland renowned for its varied flora. It was where I was first shown how to identify wild flowers and felt privileged to be shown the rarities of the area. Since then (over 40 years ago!!!) I have visited the area regularly and at this time of year a walk almost anywhere is rather like going out to meet old friends.

We went for a stroll there the other night supposedly looking for Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) at a spot where there are generally plenty but very few this year, we only found a single plant. Now it could be a bit early for the Bee Orchid but I suspect not as at the same site we did find Musk Orchid (Herminium monorchis, right) just starting to flower, this must be two weeks earlier than usual, growing at the site I first saw it.

Across the road and there were a small number of plants of Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna, left), within a few feet of where I first saw this species all those years ago.

We then moved on, not far, to a wooded area by the River Mole, to look for Turk's Cap Lily Lilium martagon at a site where, according to Lousley's Flora of Surrey, it has been known for little more than 50 years. Only one flower open as yet (below) and roughly the same number of plants as were present when I first saw them.

Finally we moved on to another site for the Lily about a mile away where it has been recorded for almost two hundred years , here also it was still in bud but the colony is huge with hundreds of plants spread over quite a large area. It will be a picture within a week or so when the flowers open, especially since there are a good number of white-flowered variants to add a bit of spice.

It is nice to meet old friends.

White Orchid!

Our local Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) are just coming into flower at the moment and at one site, although only a small number of plants are present (1-200), the flowers are remarkably variable both in colour and in patterning. This year there is an addition, a single pure white spike has appeared. It does seem to be completely white with only the pollinia showing any colour at all, so I suppose it could qualify as var.albiflora, but if I did that I would have to come up with about 50 names for all the other colour variants present so I will just stick with "a white one".

This is the first time I have ever seen a white form of Common Spotted in forty years, despite it being supposedly common, so I was quite chuffed to find it locally especially as it is so attractive to look at.

Lemon Iris

At the moment, the local ponds are providing a fine display of Yellow Flag(Iris pseudacorus, left). This is a spectacular plant only spoiled by its very short flowering period. The golden yellow flowers brighten up even the dullest June day.

Even better, in this area we are lucky enough to be able to find the much paler lemon-yellow version (below) that goes under various names including the descriptive I.pseudacorus v.pallidiflava or less obvious v. bastardii. If anything this is even more beautiful than the type species appearing almost ethereal in comparison.

It seems to be a bit of a N.E.Surrey specialty occurring in a number of ponds around here although in Lousley's flora of Surrey it is only reported from a single site in Epsom. So far I have failed to find little details of it growing elsewhere.

The origin of this plant around here is something of a mystery. There is a pale variety that has been in cultivation since being introduced from the USA early in the 19th century but equally it was reported in the wild (not in Surrey) in the early 18th century by no less an authority than John Ray. It has also been recorded in Middlesex in the more recent past.

I would be interested to know if anyone out there has seen this plant elsewhere.

Bluebells in Banstead

A very belated post but the Banstead Botany Blog could not let spring go by without mention of the Bluebells in Banstead Woods. Bluebell woods are quintessentially British, the plant itself (Endymion non-scriptus) is native to a small part of maritime Europe but only in the British Isles does it reach such levels of monoculture that is typical of our springtime landscape. In the east it is very much a woodland plant but in the far west it often grows in more open situations.

Banstead Woods is well known for its annual display and this year was particularly good. However this may not have continued to be so because until recently the display was under threat. The reason was Rhododendron ponticum that up until about 15 years ago was taking over the understorey of the Woods with about a quarter of the total area covered. However a concerted programme of annual “Rhododendron Bashing” organised by Reigate and Banstead Council (who own the Woods) and a local conservation group (the DCMP) has had a dramatic effect. Not only is the woodland floor now more open and hence views extend further but slowly the Bluebells are recolonising the cleared areas to increase the expanse of blue. The display and scent early on a spring morning is rather special.

A few years back someone suggested to me that the Bluebell display in this country owes its existence to the extinction of Wild Boar (that are partial to bluebells) in medieval times and that their reintroduction would lead to the disappearance of Bluebell woods. I don’t know if that is true, luckily as far as I am aware there are no wild boar around here!

Being me I had to include a close up of a flower, not just blue but also white! It seems to me that white variants suffer a distinct competitive disadvantage, they do not seem to clump up very often remaining as single spikes and certainly do not appear in the same place each year.

A bit of horticulture

When I started this blog I did not intend to write about garden plants but hey, a morning in the garden in the beautiful sunshine made me change my mind. Two quite different plants did it for quite different reasons.

The first is I think Symphytum grandiflorum (above and right), I am not absolutely sure, and is valuable for a number of reasons. It grows to about 25cm and is great ground cover for a sunny position even suppressing the dreaded Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria) which in my experience makes it unique. Equally of course that means it is invasive but in a very civilized way and can easily be pulled up in large patches as it is very shallow-rooted. It's greatest value is however for insects, it appears to produce plenty of nectar and/or pollen and is always covered with six-legged beasts especially bees. Even better, it starts flowering in February and thus provides an important food source for early emerging insect species and it is still going strong and will probably not finish flowering for another few weeks. Some might dismiss it as just another Comfrey but although it is not an elegant plant I think it is a valuable addition to the garden.

The second plant is for unashamedly decorative interest, Ribes speciosum, the Fuchsia-flowered Currant or Californian Currant. The first plant I ever saw of this was trained espalier-style, 5m up a south-facing wall to show off its flowers that hang down below the branches to full effect and it was quite spectacular. My own plant is more or less free-standing and is about 3m high. The flowers open virtually together and the contrast between the bright red flowers and the vibrant green of the newly-emerged leaves is something to behold. Individually, the flowers are not large (about 3cm inclusing the exserted stamens) but en masse they have quite an impact. Apparently, it is only just hardy but has survived in my north-facing garden for years. It is difficult (for me impossible) to root from cuttings unlike most Ribes species and that may explain why I have not seen it too often either in gardens or for sale. The final merit of this plant is that in the summer it produces small red- bristled gooseberries, that until this moment I have never thought of tasting, I shall try this year. I think if I was restricted to having a single shrub in the garden it would be this.

Two posts in 2 days!!!! I might get the hang of this blog thing eventually

Early Spider Orchid

Not been out much locally recently but a trip (or perhaps as so many people do it, a pilgrimage!) to Dorset in the past few days gave the opportunity for a walk along the Purbeck cliffs to see Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes) and thus start to catch up with the Greeks. This species is at the northern limit of its European distribution and is confined to the warm chalk and limestone of southern England in Kent, Sussex and Dorset. Most populations are found very close to the sea although one of the largest colonies at Woodingdean in Sussex is about two miles inland. Generally it is a plant of very short turf having very little capacity to compete with strong-growing grasses.

In Dorset it is typically a plant of the cliff edge and quarries that abound in the area as the rather cheesy picture on the left illustrates. This year we did find large numbers growing in rough pasture a bit farther back (10metres) from the cliffs that had been winter-grazed. Plants are often quite small the second picture shows an extreme example, the daisy flower is of Bellis perennis about 7cm high.

In recent years O.sphegodes has shown an amazing propensity to colonise suitable fresh habitat at Samphire Hoe, near Dover (see Kingsdowner blog and picture to the left). The Hoe was created from spoil from the Channel Tunnel diggings and in the intervening 12 years since it was completed the number of O.sphegodes plants have increased from less than 100 to over 10,000 making it one of the largest colonies in the country. In Dorset I suspect that if there was more suitably timed grazing there would be many more plants.

One thing is certain however that this species is one of the gems of the British flora especially flowering so early in the year.