Pulsatilla vulgaris (L.) Mill. - Plantlife

the sward and thereby determining the relative abundance of hemicryptophytes such as
Pulsatilla vulgaris.
(a) (b)
Figure 7 – The effects of competition on Pulsatilla vulgaris. (a) The relationship between
depth of soil and above-ground biomass on the density of Pulsatilla vulgaris at Barnsley Wold,
Gloucestershire. Means based on 50 samples at each soil depth. (b) The relationship between
sward height and the % of Pulsatilla vulgaris plants in flower in a grazing exclosure at Barton
Hills, Bedfordshire. Each dot represents a year with overall numbers increasing from 138
following the withdrawal of grazing 1964 to 654 in 1969. Both figures adapted from Wells &
Barling (1971).
3.1.9 Herbivory, parasites and disease
Pulsatilla vulgaris is a plant of sheep and rabbit grazed downland and is well adapted to
grazing by herbivores. The plant is dormant during the winter, and at other times the
vegetative and floral buds and leaves are generally at ground level and therefore not readily
available to grazing animals. Occasionally whole flowers are grazed by rabbits, or the flower
or part of it are eaten by caterpillars, pheasants (Bowen, 1997) or small mammals (wood
mouse Apodemus sylvaticus, field vole Microtus agrestis) (Carter, 1967). Although the leaves
contain anemonin they are eaten by sheep, rabbits, slugs and snails. Caterpillars of two leafmining
moths of the genus Cnephasia have also been recorded on leaves in the UK (Database
of Insects and their Food Plants, accessed August 2010). At least two other leaf-mining insects
have been reported on the continent and nematode worms of the genus Meloidogyne have
been reported to cause root galls in the Netherlands caused by (Wells & Barling, 1971).
In Sweden achenes are attacked by the larvae and pupuria of a range seed-boring flies
belonging to two Diptera families, the Agromyzidae and Cecidomyiidae, and are a potentially
serious factor reducing seed production by up to 36% (Widén & Lindell, 1996). Many small flies
have been reported visiting flowers of Pulsatilla vulgaris but no evidence of attack of seed has
so far been observed (Warden, 2001). Parasites on Pulsatilla vulgaris include Cuscuta
epithymum, which has been recorded on plants at Barnsley Wold. The fungal rust
Coleosporium pulsatilla has also been recorded on Pulsatilla species on the Continent (Aichele
& Schwegler, 1957), but it is not known if hosts include Pulsatilla vulgaris.
4 Habitat requirements
4.1 The landscape perspective
19