Huntingdonshire - Botanical Society of the British Isles

eported since the 1980’s (Wells, 2003). A search by DB at this location in 2009 failed to find
this species.
Orobanche minor Sm. ssp. minor
Common Broomrape
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened
County Status: Scarce (4 sites, 4 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Brington, B660 TL084751 1997 (TW)
Fenstanton gravel pit TL301684 2006 (JM)
Kimbolton Airfield TL108698 2006 (BD)
Paxton Pits TL195630 2005 (RE)
This species is scarce and uncertain in occurrence, although Paxton Pits seems to be a
reasonably reliable site, it having been known there since the 1970s.
Osmunda regalis L.
Royal Fern
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened
County Status: Rare (1 site, 1 tetrad)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Holme Fen SSSI TL19_89_ 2009 (DB)
Only one plant of this species, first discovered in 2007, is known for the County. The plant
grows on the edge of a wet peaty ditch on the edge of birch woodland. While the precise
location of this plant can be provided on a need-to-know basis, it has been decided that given
the potentially precarious status of this one plant and its proximity to a well-used public
footpath, the provision of a precise grid reference might be ill advised.
Papaver argemone L.
Prickly Poppy
National Status: Vulnerable
County Status: Rare (2 sites, 2 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Hemingford Grey, Marsh Lane Pits TL2968 2008 (LF)
Lady’s Wood, near TL240825 1998 (PB)
Formerly a frequent species throughout England, particularly in the south and east, it has
since become increasingly restricted to chalky and sandy soils in southeast England (Wilson
& King, 2003). In Huntingdonshire it is as much a plant of gravel pits and other waste places
as it is a plant of arable fields.
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