Shropshire - Botanical Society of the British Isles

found it in a chicken run at Tickwood (SJ6402)in 1929. It is sometimes assumed that it onlyoccurs now when introduced with a wildflower mix, but it does also come up fromburied seed. Rob Stokes found some suchplants in Donnington (SJ7014) in 1994, butother recent sightings for the Monkmoorbypass (SJ5011, John Martin, 1990) andSnailbeach (SJ3701, Sarah Whild, 1996) aremore likely to have been of plants introducedby local authorities.(SJ3326) in 2003. Following the re-opening ofthe Montgomery Canal in 2003, however, it isuncertain how many of these populationssurvive.Other canals in which it has been found are theShrewsbury Canal (SJ5114, Whild & Lockton,1995) and a derelict stretch of canal inGranville Country Park (SJ7112, Stokes,1997).Alisma lanceolatumAlisma lanceolatum With.Narrow-leaved water-plantainNative. Scarce.Edward Williams first recorded this species inabout 1800, at Sundorne Pool (SJ5215). It wasnot recorded again in the county until 1895,when William Hunt Painter found it in theCoalport Canal at Madeley (SJ6903). It wasstill there in 1975 when Frank Perring refoundit at Blists Hill (SJ6902), and it was later seenthere by Bill Thompson (1982), John Box(1986), and Lockton & Whild (1995). It hassince disappeared because the canal was notwell maintained, but it could conceivably comeback from the seed bank.Apart from Williams’s, there are just two otherrecords of this plant in habitats other thancanals. A specimen from Walcot Pool(SO3485) was used as the basis of anillustration by Florence Strudwick in 1930; andin 1995 it was collected from the banks of theRiver Roden at Spenford Bridge (SJ4729,Lockton). These raise the possibility that itcould be more widespread, but that isunproven.The best-known site for it is the MontgomeryCanal. It was first recorded there by John Alderat Aston Locks (SJ3225 & SJ3326) in 1985,and has since been seen there by Lockton,Lansdown & Whild (1995–1997) and Newbold(2001). Richard Lansdown also found it in1997 at Berghill Farm (SJ3629), CrickheathBridge (SJ2823), Heath Houses (SJ3427),Keeper’s Bridge (SJ3528), Llanymynech(SJ2721), Lockgate Bridge (SJ3630),Maesbury Marsh (SJ3124), the Rednal Basin(SJ3527) and Queen’s Head (SJ3326).Newbold saw it at the latter site in 2001 andrecorded it in the Aston Locks reserve from Derbyshire to the Scottish border.Rare Plants of Shropshire 21432109872 3 4 5 6 7 8Allium oleraceum L.Field GarlicNative. Rare.This species has always been rare in thecounty. George Jorden recorded it in the WyreForest in 1856, but did not say on which side ofthe county boundary he had seen it. Otherwise,the first record was in 1880, when WilliamBeckwith found it by the road from Cressage(SJ5904) to Cound Moor (SJ5502). A dot forSJ42 (1950+) in the 1962 Atlas isunsubstantiated. In 1977 Winifred Huttonfound it in a field at High Grosvenor (SO7793),but this site was ploughed by 1986. In 1973Mary Fuller recorded it in Blakeway Hollow(SO6099), on Wenlock Edge, and there wereabout 25 plants in 2001 (Whild & Lockton).This remains the only known site for it in thecounty. A. oleraceum is a plant of dry,unimproved calcareous grassland. In the past itwas considered an introduction to Britain, butin the New Atlas it is listed as native in 145squares. It is most common in Worcestershireand the lower Severn Valley, and northwards