Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

103osa x pseudorusticana fR. arvensis x sty/asa).Plants in a hedge west of stile, south-west of Mudbrooks House (402.337), 1995, PW looklike R, arvensis but have very sparsely hairy leaves and conical discs, with variable fruits. Thisis the first record for East Sussex, confirmed A. L. Primavesi.*Rosa g/aucB. Red~leaved rose.Planted and spreading by seed and suckers on the edge of Maskett's Wood (428.285) to formlarge patches but scarcely naturalized.Only rarely recorded as naturalized in Britain (usually bird-sown from gardens). Native incentral Europe.Rosa sty/asa. Short-styled field-rose.This rose may be quite overlooked in Sussex and south-east England, and will no doubt befound elsewhere too in hedges and wood edges - check hairy, upright bushes for united stylesarising from a conical disc at the top of the fruit.We have seven sites mainly on the clays; one bush in hedge east of Monkshill Farm(394.339), 1995, AK; Toll Lane, one bush outside farm (459.263) and another in hedge1452.266), 1995, TR; two bushes occur in a small unimproved field south-east of FairwarpFarm, 1993 +, PO 1473.265); several on south side of Furnace Wood (479.260), 1995, TR;single plant in woodland on roadside near Chuck Hatch (471.332), 1995, PO; one plant onwoodland edge by road near Fagot Stack Corner (488.324), 1995, PD. Also recorded fromtetrad 43G (Broadstone Warren - golf course area) in Briggs (1990) but not refound and an unexpected place for it.Mainly in southern Britain north to the Midlands, and locally distributed in south and west Europe.Rosa canina. Dog-rose.The commonest rose on the Forest (as it is in Sussex and Britain) on wood edges, hedges andverges, but absent from heath areas. One plant in woodland near Priory Road was about 6metres tall.Glabrous roses with free styles are likely to be this species, though it is quite a variablespecies and often has a few small glands on the leaves and sometimes hairs on the midribsunderneath (Group Pubescentes = R. dumetorum auct. non Thuill.); these hairy plants arequite widespread but have not been mapped separately.Widespread in Europe south of the Baltic, south-west Asia and North Africa.Rosa x dumetorum Thuill. (R. canina x obtusifolia).Three specimens of this hybrid collected by TR in 1995 (as R. obtusifolia or hairy R. canina !)have been named by A. L. Primavesi and are the first records for East Sussex: one bush bytelegraph pole in hedge on south side of track to Hunter's Farm (448.264); one on north sideof old railway line, Forest Row (437.348); several in a hedge at Quabrook 1444.343). Thishybrid is quite frequent where the parents grow near one another, and it shows a bewilderinggradation of forms between the parents.Rosa obtusifolia. Round-leaved dog-rose.Recorded from near Crow borough Warren by Wolley-Dod (1937) and possibly still around but not refound. It is said to befrequent in southern Britain in hedgerows and scrub, but we have very few recent records in Sussex. It is also found incentral, southern and north-west Europe.