Durham Rare Plant Register - Botanical Society of the British Isles

Local Authority areasMost of the area covered in this register lies in the modern county of Durham. There arealso six smaller local authority areas, in the more urban areas. These are Gateshead,South Tyneside, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Stockton and Darlington. Each has its ownselection of plants that are national and county rarities.South TynesideNational• Blue Moor Grass Sesleria caerulea and Purple Milk Vetch Astragalus danicusare found on several magnesian limestone sites, though the latter seems tohave declined.• Perrenial Flax Linum perenne is abundant at its longestablished HartonDownhill site, and occasional on the nearby coastal cliff grasslands.• Tubular Water Dropwort Oenanthe fistulosa is frequent at its Boldon Flats site,and has established well at several other sites where it was introduced bytransplanting Boldon Flats turves around 1990.• Mudwort Limosella aquatica was reported by an ecological consultancy, andhas not yet been confirmed. This would be the only county site.• Wall Germander Teucrium chamaedrys has been known for over a century atMarsden Old Hall Quarry.All of these sites with national or county rarities are SSSIs or LWSs.SunderlandNational• Blue Moor Grass Sesleria caerulea, Pale St Johns Wort Hypericummontanum, Frog Orchid Dactylorhiza viride and Purple Milk Vetch Astragalusdanicus are found on several magnesian limestone sites.• Dark Red Heleborine Epipactis atrorubens was formerly recorded at HighMoorsley, a site which has subsequently been in unfavourable management.• Downy Currant Ribes spicatum is present at Herrington Hill Wood.• Good King Henry Chenopodium bonus-henricus has several records.County• Common Broomrape Orobanche minor is present at two brownfield sites.All of these sites with national or county rarities are SSSIs or LWSs.