Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

101Geum urbanum. Wood avens.Primarily recorded from woods and hedge banks around the edge of the Forest, but alsooccasionally along the road verges in the more wooded areas where it seems to be associatedwith deer tracks (the achenes have a hooked barb which may catch on fur or clothing).Absent from the heath, acidic soils and waterlogged sites.Recorded in 93% of the tetrads in Sussex (Hall 1980), and widespread in Britain, Europe,Asia and North Africa.Agrimonia eupatoria. Agrimony, Church steeple.Frequent on tracksides and road verges, especially on the road banks.Recorded in 93% of the tetrads in Sussex (Hall 1980). Widespread in lowland Britainand Europe though rarer in the north; Asia Minor and North Africa.Agrimonia pro cera rA. odorata}. Fragrant agrimony.Tetrads 42T, 43G and 43W (Hall 1980).Verge east of Wych Cross (41.31),1995, TR & HP; track, Streeter's Rough (423.293),e 1994, TR; entrance to The Birches (446.329), 1993, PW et a/.; verge, Poundgate (481.285),1995, AK; less common than A. eupatoria and often growing with or near it.Probably most frequent in the Weald in Britain, but generally much scarcer in Britain andEurope than A. eupatoria. Decreasing in England (Rich & Woodruff 1996).Differs from A. eupatoria in the much more fragrant smell from the abundant yellowglands, the notched petals, and the strongly reflexed bristles on the fruits which is the bestcharacter; if it is uncertain whether a plant is A. procera, then it is probably A. eupatoria.Alchemilla 'vulgaris'. Lady's mantle.On the Forest Ridge (Hemsley 1875) - presumably Ashdown Forest as this was for the Medway district.Alchemilla is a critical group widespread in northern Britain, but there are only likely to be two species to which thisrecord could refer, A. filicaulis or A. glabra. Both species are now apparently extinct in East Sussex although still commonand widespread in north-west Britain. Any sparsely hairy plants in natural sites should be examined carefully.A. glabra was last recorded in the Flora area on trackside near a cottage west of Crowborough (486.304), 1968, P.C. Hall and Furnace Wood (475.263), 1970, J. Milner (tetrads 42T and 43V, Hall 19801. Other East Sussex records wereHorsted Keynes 1958, Newick 1962 and Kingsfold 1966.A. vestita was recorded on the way to Mills Rocks, East Grinstead, 1913, P. Stockdale (BEX; Wolley-Dod 1913), justoutside our area. The other East Sussex records are Ardingly 1934 and Holebrook 1956.*Alchemilla mol/is. Garden lady's mantle.A typical plant regularly thrown out of gardens and established on rides; for instance tworoots were reported by B. Willard in topsoil imported to repair a track (AFN 16: 16-17).Interestingly, much more widely established on Ashdown Forest than elsewhere in Sussex, butpossibly increasing in Britain in general.It is native in south-east Europe and Asia.--++--""---"e'----'-IAphanes aggregate.The two species of Aphanes are difficult to distinguish from each other except in flower or fruit, and some have beenrecorded only to the aggregate, which is widely recorded in open, dry places throughout the British Isles.Both species are annuals which germinate mainly in the autumn and flower in the spring and early summer. In themild autumn of 1995 after the hot summer there was abundant germination of plants in places where they had not beenpreviously noted on the Forest, so they may be more widespread.