Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

116plants were photographed by Peter Wakely for the Nature Conservancy Council in June 1974 (see Plate 1).On Mary'gnext visit, the plants were almost under a pile of logs constructed for a horse jump, and this was to be the death of thejplants. On 10 March 1975, David Coo,m,be found the site severely ~am~ged by pony jU,n;ping, one, plant ~a~ at least a thirdlof its branches damaged and the survIving part was about 20 cm In diameter. Ran vIsited the site again In August 1976"the furzy ground between the road and the main ride has been burnt this year and the fire came within a few feet of theiplants. The plants appear to be doing well but no sign of the fruits. There are two main clumps with a number of separateplants in each, very prostrate here" and again in June 1977 "we found three plants this time, two very prostrate and hardlYIgrowing well with no flowers, the third on the edge of the ride just a few inches from last year's burnt ground - thisflowering sparsely. The Genista pilosa seems to be in a precarious situation". This appears to be the last recordi(incorrectly cited as 1978 and 1979 in 8riggs 1990) and despite repeated searches it has not been seen since. InSeptember 1979 David Coombe failed to refind it, noting much erosion and pony jumps. Searches by the SBRS in c.11982, 70 botanist hours by Lady Rosemary Fitzgerald and co-workers for the Nature Conservancy Council in June 1987,Ron Groom in 1993 and a Flora meeting in 1994 also failed. For the record, the plants occurred 202 paces along the track:from the edge of the road, opposite the lay-by with the post box by Heasman's Lodge Farm entrance.The loss of this Red Data Book species is perhaps one of the most significant losses from Ashdown Forest, and theplant is now extinct in south-east England. Attempts had been made on several occasions to draw attention of severalrelevant authorities to the plight of the Gills Lap and Black Hill plants, but no action was taken (Streeter 1961). Even aslong ago as 1915 a local botanist W. E. Nicholson hoped N. Charles Rothschild and his recently formed Society for thePromotion of Nature Reserves would be able to provide 'some form of protection' for Genista pilosa which had suffered,'grievously' from Forest fires started by soldiers camped where it grew (pers. comm. P. Marren, 1996). The plant can beincredibly difficult to see when not in flower as it often grows prostrate forming mats amongst other vegetation, but the'large, bright yellow flowers for a short period in May-June are more obvious, and it looks like a small prostrate broom, quite.different from petty whin. It could still lurk somewhere on the Forest - the old records indicate it was once quite'widespread, If dormant seed is still present in the soil it could reappear again if disturbed, as legumes generally have a longseed viability.Genista pilosa is an interesting species with an odd distribution and ecology in Britain. Its main and most familiarhabitat now is sea cliffs in west Cornwall and Pembrokeshire, where it may often be abundant on the tops of cliffs andslopes on generally open ground, on serpentine or base-rich soils. It has also been known for many years on ledges out ofthe reach of sheep on the weakly basic soils over half-way up Cadir Idris at altitudes of 1300-2000 ft in mid Wales, andwas found more recently growing on limestone pavements in the Brecon Beacons. It was last definitely reported on thedry heaths of the Breckland prior to 1866. In south-east England it has been recorded in Ashdown Forest, and fromWrotham Heath in Kent in 1831, Prof. Henslow (BM). Details of an unconfirmed locality at Broadwater Forest (Wolley-Dod1937) are lacking; a letter from A. H. Wolley-Dod to FR in 1943 "My notes say the late E. D. Morgan found it onBroadwater Forest. No other details ...". These widely scattered sites with markedly different climates and soils indicate arelict distribution from more widespread occurrences earlier in this interglacial period.It is likely that plants from different parts of Britain are ecotypes adapted to different soils. Plants grown fromcuttings from plants on basic soils in Cornwall have grown well in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden on acalcareous sandy loam for over 30 years, and retain their prostrate, mat-like habit. On the other hand, rooted cuttingstaken in 1975 from already damaged Ashdown Forest plants, growing on acid podsolized soils, grew for about two yearsat Cambridge but suffered severe chlorosis (presumably lime-induced) and did not survive as unfortunately they were nottreated with sequestrene. Not only were the last-seen Sussex plants more straggly and upright than western cliff-topplants and possibly less silky-hairy, but they were probably physiologically different too. It is notable that in central Europeit can grow to 1 metre tall, and is almost certainly different from the coastal plants in north and west Europe.In Europe Ellenberg (1988) classifies it as a sub-oceanic plant indicative of fairly warm conditions which usually occurin open well-lit places and sometimes in partial shade. It is described as a calcifuge, usually on soils poor in availablenitrogen but variable in soil moisture, and it occurs in a similarly broad range of habitats. It occurs in the dry lowlandCalluna heaths of northern Germany near the Baltic which are presumably similar to our Breckland and Ashdown Forestsites. In the sandstone hills of Rhine Palatinate, C. D. Pigott noted it abundantly in dry heathland with Cal/una and also inthe more open parts of Quercus - Castanea scrub. At Fontainebleau near Paris, FR noted it abundantly in patternedheathland on the acidic soil stripes with Calluna and Erica cinerea, but absent from the calcareous soil stripes which havePulsatilla, Veronica spicata, etc. It occurs in sub-oceanic Quercus robur - Pinus sylvestris woods with Fagus on the acidsoils on the northern plain of central Europe which are possibly similar to the original woodland type of Ashdown Forestbefore it was cleared, and in the Pinus nigra woods on limestone with calcicoles on the eastern edge of the Alps ataltitudes of 700-1200 metres which may be similar to the Brecon Beacons site. In Bosnia it ascends to 1950 metresaltitude, and in the eastern Alps well above the tree line (Hegi, Ill. Flora Mittleuropal, and in the Czech Republic it grows ondry continental steppe heath with Veronica spicata and Carex humilis. In this context, the sea cliff sites in Cornwall andPembrokeshire are the odd ones out!