Huntingdonshire - Botanical Society of the British Isles

There is a historic record for Holme Fen, but the superficially similar Myosoton aquaticum is
abundant there so future determinations need to be made with care.
Stellaria pallida (Dumort.) Piré
Lesser Chickweed
National Status: Not scarce, not threatened
County Status: Rare (2 sites, 2 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Paxton Pits TL19916255 2009 (DB)
Portholme, sluice over the Alconbury Brook TL23717129 2009 (DB)
This diminutive, annual species can be found in short turf or on sparsely vegetated ground,
particularly in association with mineral rich soils. There is a suggestion of an affinity with
populations of Cerastium semidecandrum, so it should be searched for wherever this species
occurs. The population at Portholme may have been introduced with gravel.
Stellaria palustris Retz.
Marsh Stitchwort
National Status: Vulnerable, BAP
County Status: Rare (5 sites, 6 tetrads)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Hemingford Meadow TL308712 2009 (BS)
Holme Fen, Jackson’s Covert TL2188 2006 (MM)
Needingworth, Overcote Fen TL357714 1995 (BE & JT)
St Neots Common SSSI TL186615 2001 (KW)
Woodwalton Fen SSSI & SAC
TL23368513
TL228839
2008 (DB)
2007 (DB)
In Huntingdonshire, this species has only ever been known from a very limited number of
wetland sites. Woodwalton Fen is perhaps the only site where it can be found in any great
abundance, and both the glaucous and green foliage variants occur here.
Symphytum officinale L. ssp. bohemicum (F.W. Schmidt) Čelak.
Common Comfrey
National Status: Nationally Rare
County Status: Rare (1 site, 1 tetrad)
Site Grid Reference Last Record
Woodwalton Fen SSSI & SAC TL23418450 2009 (DB)
This rare fenland subspecies is only known in Britain from Cambridgeshire and
Huntingdonshire. It is widespread through Woodwalton Fen and may occur at Holme Fen
also.
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