BSBINews - BSBI Archive - Botanical Society of the British Isles

70 Notes from the Officers - BSBI Plant Unit
NOTES FROM THE OFFICERS
BSBI Plant Unit
KEVIN WALKER, BSBI Plant Unit, clo 97 Dragon Parade, Harrogate, North Yorkshire
HGl 5DG. 01423 544902 (man-weds) 01904 328805 (thurs & fri), kevinwalker@bsbi.org.uk
Threatened Plants Project
Many thanks to those of you who have been out
surveying TPP species this summer. I am now
starting to receive lots of completed forms, and
going by the number we should be on course to
match last year's total of over 750. I have also
received quite a number of completed forms
for last year's species. These will be included
in the analyses so please carry on surveying
species from previous years if you run out of
time. The more data we receive for a species
the more meaningful the results will be.
Please send completed forms to me at the
address given above. Ideally we would like
forms for 2009 species by the end of September
so we have plenty of time to input the data.
We are just about to start analyses of the 2008
species. Although this is later than we hoped
we should therefore be able to report preliminary
results in the next News.
Next year's species
Many recorders have asked if we can provide
the list of species for next year much earlier so
that fieldwork can be scheduled into the
meeting programmes. So here they are:
Chrysanthemum segetum (Corn Marigold)
Hordeum marinum (Sea Barley)
Juniperus communis (Common Juniper)
(lowland England only)
Melittis melissophyllum (Bastard Balm)
Meum athamanticum (Spignel)
Herminium monorchis (Musk Orchid)
Polystichum lonchitis (Holly-fern)
Sibbaldia procumbens (Sibbaldia)
Sium latifolium (Greater Water-parsnip)
Viola lactea (Pale Dog-violet)
You will notice a northern and western bias in
the selection for 2010. This was intentional as
we felt that there had been so many southeasterners
in the previous two years. We have
also tried to cover more habitats, in particular
uplands as we haven't really covered these
before. Meum is a good example of a northern
species which seems to be genuinely threatened
away from its core areas, but for reasons
that remain unclear. The two montane species
chosen, Sibbaldia and Polystichum were both
classified as 'threatened' in the recent Red List
again for reasons that were not entirely
obvious. Declines might reflect an element of
under-recording but also real threats posed by
over-grazing or even climate change. We
considered a few other options but both species
seemed like indicators of the health of our
montane flora: Sibbaldia because it might be
vulnerable to changes in snow-patch cover and
Polystichum because it seems so palatable to
deer and livestock across a wider geographic
range. Viola lactea is probably under-recorded
but may be genuinely threatened by hybridisation
combined with a loss of maritime heath to
scrub. Melittis on the other hand seems to be
declining due to lack of management of it's
wood edge habitat although, as with Campanula
patula (Spreading Bellflower), this needs
to be investigated through more detailed
survey.
We have always wanted to include an arable
species and after long deliberation Chrysanthemum
was selected. Other strong candidates
included Stachys arvensis (Field Woundwort)
and Anthemis arvensis (Corn Chamomile) but
Corn Marigold was favoured because it is still
so widespread, occurring from Cornwall to
Shetland, its distribution is less likely to be
affected by planting (as opposed to Cornflower
(Centaurea cyanus) or Corncockle
(Agrostemma githago» and there are still sufficient
populations for it to provide an indication
of the state of low intensity farming systems
throughout the UK.
Over the next two years we will be working
with Plantlife on a project to assess the status