Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

125,UPHORBIACEAEVlercurialis perennis. Oog's mercury, Snake's-bit, Snake's victuals.Frequent around the Forest, but notably one of the few places in Sussex where it is notubiquitous outside the urban areas (Hall 1980).Most of our records are from the more calcareous soils around the edge of the Forestand in the older woodlands, but in some places it is established in secondary habitats as on3 the A22 road embankment over Millbrook (442.286).4 5This is a rhizomatous perennial of shaded places in the lowlands on moderately tostrongly calcareous, generally freely-draining soils. Brewls, Bowman & Rose (1996) note thatit does not withstand trampling. It is one of the first plants to flower in the spring and isdioecious. The two sexes are reported to have different ecological requirements, the malesbeing more commonly recorded in well-lit places and higher pH soils (Grime et al. 1994). Five colonies investigated in themore open parts of the Forest in spring 1996 were exclusively male, suggesting colonisation from the surrounding woods.Widespread in Britain except in the far north and in Europe south of the Baltic, Caucasus and south-west Asia.*Mercurialis annua. Annual mercury.Tetrad 43V (Hall 1980). Not refound. A weed of gardens and cultivated ground usually on calcareous or nutrient-rich soilsin southern Britain, but not established in the Forest. Native in Eurasia and North Africa. It is an unusual species withdioecious diploids and monoecious polypi aids; to date only the former have been recorded in Britain.Euphorbia helioscopia. Sun spurge.Tetrads 42E, 42T and 43H (Hall 1980).On the Forest it is an annual weed of arable fields and gardens. It is in five scatteredsquares and is especially associated with the villages.In Sussex widespread on the chalk in arable land, and similarly widespread in lowland3 -++_--'~----L+_Britain, Europe and central Asia.4 5*Euphorbia lathyris. Caper spurge.,-,--;:==,---,.---, Recorded once as an escape from cultivation outside houses at Streeter's Rough (423.292)'1993, TR. It was once planted on the green in front of Duddleswell tea rooms as a moledeterrent; the plants have gone but the moles obviously still like the local food source.A garden weed scattered in Sussex and increasing in England (Rich & Woodruff 1996).3 -+h..------L+_ Probably native in east and central Mediterranean region.4 5Euphorbia pep/us. Petty spurge.Common around the Forest (Hall 1980).We have also found it common around the Forest edges, the exceptions being two siteson soil introduced to Pippingford Park. It is much more frequent as an arable weed in thevillages than E. helioscopia, possibly because it has broader soil requirements, which may also3 explain its wider distribution in Britain.Widespread in lowland Britain and Europe to Siberia.4 5Euphorbia amygdaloides.3 -+--ia _____ --4 5Wood spurge.Frequent around the Forest (Hall 1980).Our records largely match· the pattern in Hall (1980) where it occurs around the Forestedges with a few records in the middle. It is most frequent in the Toll Lane woodlands wherethe soils are more calcareous clays, but is also surprisingly frequent in parts of Pipping fordPark. It seems to be largely uneaten by deer.This is a classic plant of coppiced woodlands on moderately to strongly calcareous soHs,and is quite widespread in Sussex. It is locally frequent in southern Britain north to theMidlands, and in central, southern and north-western Europe, the Caucasus and the Algerianmountains.