Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

110Lotus corniculatus. Common bird's-foot-trefoil, Boots-and-shoes, Cuckoo's stockings, Eggs-and-bacon, Lady's fingers, MiI~maidens, Pattens-and-clogs, Pig's pettitoes, Shoes-and- stockings and many more!iWe have it from every square in car parks, along rides and in pastures. It seems tolerant 0\quite wet ground.iUbiquitous in Sussex (Hall 1980) and Britain, probably the most ecologically wide-ranginglegume in Britain. Widespread in Europe, Asia, North Africa and the East African mountains.Large continental forms of this plant are often sown on road verges in so-called ' wild,flower seed mixtures'. An upright form was noted on the verges of the A22 north of Nutley,(44.29), 1994, TR but its ongin is unknown.Lotus pedunculatus (L. uliginosus). Greater bird's-foot-trefoil.Common on the Forest (Hall 1980). Locally abundant on wet soils and in the flushes;sometimes forming quite large clumps, usually in ungrazed or lightly grazed sites.It has nitrogen-fixing nodules in the roots with the bacterium Rhizobium lupini, as havemost legumes. Grime et al. (1988) note that legumes may be rare in wetlands as the;nitrogen-fixing processes need oxygen which is in short supply in water-logged soils, and this:species is the only common wetland legume in Britain. It tends to occur in the drier parts ofiwetlands, and it is fairly sensitive to ferrous iron toxicity.Widespread in Sussex and Britain. Widespread in west, central and southern Europe,North Africa and the Canary Islands.Vicia cracca. Tufted vetch.Widespread but never common on the Forest, and usually on verges or climbing up hedges;the purple tufts of flowers are more readily spotted in hedges than the low-growing plants onroads ides which are often mown and do not flower. It needs other vegetation for support, andmanages to pull itself up by the tendrils at the ends of the leaves.Ubiquitous in Sussex (Hall 1980), and widespread in Britain. Increasing in England (Rich& Woodruff 1996). Widespread in Europe and Asia; in Japan and Greenland.Vicia hirsuta. Hairy tare.Records in Hall (1980) for the Flora area are confined to tetrad 42T (not refoundl, although itWe have found it in four sites: tens of plants with Filago minima on road verge near Goatcross-roads (397.332), 1992, AK and seen there until 1994; lawns at Isle of Thorns(449.265), pH 5.3, 1994, TR; sandy field north of Old Lodge (458.303), c. 1990, OK but notThis plant clearly prefers sandy rather than clayey soil and is relatively common on the Lower Greensand in Westbeen seen recently near the coast in the far south-east and in Buckhurst Park. Nationally its distribution is concentrated inthe south-east but it is less common in Sussex than in the adjoining counties, and is decreasing in England (Rich &Ornithopus perpusillus. Bird's-foot.is recorded for two further tetrads in 42L and 42X just to the south of Ashdown Forest.3-+~--~~--~- (418.304), 1995, Flora meeting; abundant on the north side of a track to Hunter's Farm4 5refound in 1994/5, OK & TR.In the site near Goat cross-roads it appeared after clearance of a road verge, but by 1995had disappeared as a result of the area becoming very overgrown. In November 1995numerous seedlings were found at the Hunter's Farm locality on bare ground created by the summer drought.Sussex. In East Sussex it only occurs in scattered localities where, apart from the sites in Ashdown Forest, it has onlyWoodruff 1996). Mainly western in Europe.3-4~-------..-L+-4 5Seven tetrads on the Forest (Hall 1980).Forest Row, verge of old railway (436.347), 1995, PW; soil dumped on roadside oppositERadio Station (473.292), 1994, SBRS; verge with disturbed soil, Marden's Hill (499.325), p~7.6, 1993 but gone by 1994, TR.The white to very pale lilac flowers of this species contrast with the distinctly pale blUEflowers of V. tetrasperma. Both V. hirsuta and V. tetrasperma are distinctly rare on thEForest, with the latter being relatively more frequent despite being reported from fewer tetrad~in Hall (1980).Common and widespread in Sussex, lowland Europe, western Asia and North Africa.