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

Carex panicea L.
Carnation Sedge
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened County Status: Rare (3 sites, 4 tetrads)
Hemingford Grey Meadow SSSI (Arthur’s
Meadow Nature Reserve)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
18
TL291691 2010 (LF)
RAF Molesworth County Wildlife Site TL067773 1996 (TW)
Woodwalton Fen SSSI & SAC TL227837
TL22968458
TL23478522
1996 (TW)
2008 (DB)
2010 (DB)
Scarce in Huntingdonshire due to the historic losses of wet grassland and fen habitats to
arable production. It has probably suffered further more recent declines, relative to the
baseline given in Wells (2003), as alluvial grasslands have been lost to agricultural
improvement.
Carex paniculata L.
Greater Tussock-Sedge
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened County Status: Rare (1 site, 1 tetrad)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Old Weston TL1076 2011 (KR)
This is a species of peaty, medium base-rich swamps and mires where water levels are at
least seasonally high (Jermy et al. 2007). At Old Weston it grows under alder in a damp,
stream-side hollow.
Carex pilulifera L.
Pill Sedge
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened County Status: Rare (2 sites, 2 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Hemingford Grey, river bank TL292707 2009 (LF)
Holme Fen SSSI, Compartment 3 TL198896 2011 (MM)
This species is found throughout Britain but is most frequent in acid, sandy regions in
northern England and is common in the hill country of Wales and Scotland (Jermy et al.
2007). In Huntingdonshire it is rare because of the general absence of freer-draining, acidic
soils. The population at Holme Fen is currently on the increase. It has also been recorded
from Brampton Wood, where it was last recorded in 1974.