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

Utricularia vulgaris L.
Greater Bladderwort
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened County Status: Rare (1 site, 1 tetrad)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Darlows Farm (Great Fen Project) TL226858 2011 (PS)
Woodwalton Fen SSSI & SAC TL231843 2010 (DB)
This is probably also the identity of the luxuriant populations present in the dykes of Darlows
Farm (Great Fen Project), but I am yet to see flowering material.
Valeriana officinalis L. ssp. collina (Wallr.) Nyman
Common Valerian
National Status: Data Deficient County Status: Scarce (5 sites, 5 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Brampton Wood SSSI TL18167007 2010 (DB)
Great Stukeley Railway Cutting SSSI TL2374 2010 (TC)
Monks Wood SSSI TL20218012 2009 (DB)
Woodwalton, railway at Green Lane Bridge TL21058135 2011 (DB)
Woodwalton Fen SSSI & SAC TL23478522 2010 (DB)
Ssp. collina is long established and very distinctive but was largely forgotten when the
recording of infraspecific taxa fell out of fashion. It is very poorly known but the publication of
descriptions in Stace (2010) and Sell & Murrell (2006) should hopefully start to rectify this and
it is worth recognising that many continental botanists consider it to be a good species. Wells
(2003) did not segregate the subspecies but identifies that the species occurs on woodland
rides as well as in wetlands. Our woodland plants are undoubtedly attributable to ssp. collina,
which is typical of boulder clay woodlands and calcareous grassland. While good data is
lacking, having surveyed this subspecies rigorously for the last three years, I consider that in
Huntingdonshire it will have a distribution comparable to Dipsacus pilosus and is probably at
least as scarce if not more so. Unlike that species it appears to be intolerant of shade and has
probably declined extensively as a result of poor woodland management. I could only find it
on one ride in Monks Wood where it was locally abundant for no more than 20m. Woodland
and grassland managers need to have their attention drawn to this subspecies as the
distribution maps for the species do not adequately reflect the more restricted distribution of
the subspecies (although they are probably representative of the distribution of our other
subspecies, ssp. sambucifolia).
Valerianella carinata Lois.
Keel-fruited Cornsalad
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened County Status: Rare (3 sites, 3 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Conington, roadside bank TL194869 2005 (WM)
Huntingdon TL234718 2005 (KW)
Peterborough, Woodbine Street (CP) TL190975 2010 (NC)
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