Rare Plant Register for Huntingdonshire - Botanical Society of the ...

Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull
Heather
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened County Status: Rare (2 sites, 3 tetrads)
Holme Fen SSSI:
Compartment 3
Compartment 23
Woodwalton Fen SSSI & SAC:
Compartment 77
Compartment 83
Site Grid Reference Last Record
14
TL1989
TL2089
TL229837 (centroid)
TL229833
2009 (SL)
2006/07(MM)
2008 (MM)
2010 (DB)
This species is restricted in Huntingdonshire to the more acidic fen peats that occur at the
above sites. It was formerly abundant at both sites, but is now rare (Wells, 2003). It was not
seen at Woodwalton Fen after 1990 until birch clearance works in 2004 resulted in the
appearance of several seedlings (Massey, 2006). It is now locally frequent in Compartment
83.
Calystegia sepium (L.) R. Br. ssp. roseata Brummitt
Hedge Bindweed
National Status: Nationally Scarce, not
threatened
Holme Fen SSSI:
Compartments 3 and 6
Jackson’s Covert
County Status: Rare (1 site, 2 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
TL197895
TL220881
2009 (DB)
2008 (DB)
This attractive subspecies was first recorded for the County in 2007. It is locally abundant at
Holme Fen in areas of tall herbaceous vegetation. How it evaded recognition for so long,
when it occurs in such abundance along one of the main rides and within a few metres of the
car parking area, is a mystery. Less typical plants at Woodwalton Fen are currently the focus
of further investigation and may be introgressed with ssp. sepium.
Campanula rotundifolia L. ssp. rotundifolia
Harebell
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened County Status: Rare (2 sites, 2 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Godmanchester Eastside Common SSSI TL269741 2006 (GW)
Nene Valley Railway, nr Wansford Tunnel TL081974 2007 (JM)
Always a very rare species with two disjunct centres of distribution, one on the limestone in
the northwest corner of the county and the other on dry alluvial grassland in the floodplain of
the River Great Ouse.