Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

Origanum vu/gare. Marjoram.Near Fisher's Gate, one large plant, A. H. Wolley-Ood; Ashdown Forest, Miss A. B.Cobbe (Wolley-Dod 1937).Hall (1980) has records from tetrad 43A only in the south-west of our area. Our3 --++-----Ysurveyshows a rather wider distribution with records from five squares. Origanumvu/gare is even more closely associated with chalk than is Clinopodium vu/gare so the4 5presence of both plants in four of its five locations is strongly indicative of thepresence of introduced chalk in these places.The distribution in Britain and Europe is broadly similar to the preceding species.Common in the south but becoming less so in the north, widespread in Europe exceptin the far north, and in north and west Asia. Decreasing in England (Rich & Woodruff 1996),[Thymus praecox. Wild thyme. We have no records from our survey but it was recorded from tetrad 43P in Hall(1980). However, this is probably an error for T. pulegioides which is the commonest thyme of heathlands in thesouth~east.lThymus pulegioides. Greater thyme, Large thyme.Thyme is mentioned in a poem about Broadstone by J. Hayward in 1865 (AFN 16: 9-11 I. but it was either poetic licence or has gone. Tetrad 42T (Hall 1980).Recorded from the south of the Forest in three 1 ~km squares, two of which lie in3 --++------'-+-42T: wall of Fairwarp Church by gate (465.2671. 1995, TR; bank at B2076 entranceto Spring Garden (465.270), pH 7.8, 1993, RN & ER; road bank opposite45Duddleswell tea rooms (468.2841. pH 6.7, 1995, RN & ER.Although T. pulegioides is commonest on the chalk in Sussex there are a numberof records from the heath lands on the Tunbridge Wells Sand to the south and southeastof the Forest (Philp 1982). Our pH measurements indicates that they may oftenstill be on calcareous soils! It is found in southern and eastern England, and widely distributed in Europe with theexception of the far north-west.Lycopus europaeus. Gypsywort.Common on the Forest (Hall 1980).Widespread in the northern part of the Forest. Our records are from a variety ofwet places, including marshes, stream banks and the edges of ponds but not themore acidic boggy areas or wet heath. The absence of gypsywort from the more3acidic areas can be seen very clearly by comparing its distribution with that of4 5Narthecium ossifragum, which is a characteristic plant of wet, acidic places. Despitethe fact that Lycopus is recorded in eighteen 1-km squares and Narthecium in 28,there are only two 1-km squares on the Forest where both plants are present.Common in the south of Britain but becoming scarce in the north, widespread inEurope, reaching as far north as southern Sweden, north and central Asia and North Africa.Mentha arvensis. Corn mint.Pressridge Warren, Summerhayes & Redhead (Wolley-Dod 1937). Common (Hall1980).Only slightly less common than M. aquatica and generally found in damp ratherthan wet places, often along the edges of rides in woodland.Widespread in Britain and Europe but absent from the north~western extremities;North Asia to the Himalaya.149Mentha x verticil/ata (M. aquatica x arvensis). Whorled mint.Tetrad 43R (Hall 1980).We have two records, neither of which is for Hall's tetrad: lane to ChelwoodVachery (434.303), 1994, PD et al., growing with fertile M. arvensis; ornamentalpond by Old lands Hall (476.2751. 1995, TR et al., possibly planted.A sterile hybrid widespread in Britain where the parents meet.3 --++--""-~~--'-+-4 5