Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

159Sibthorpia europaea. Cornish moneywort.Found by RN et ai, in full flower, July 1995 at Old lands Hall {476,2751, About seven largepatches of the moneywort were growing in damp grassland and on shaded banks by therockery stream where they may have been introduced, but from where? The rockery stone is3 ++-----LIprobablylocal sand rock from Heron's Ghyll, or it could have been introduced with some of therockery garden plants such as Lysichiton or Osmunda. It is known as a native a few miles to4 5the south in tetrad 42S (Hall 1980). Further investigation is required.Sibthorpia is one of the small group of plants like Wahlenbergia hederacea andHymenophyllum tunbrigense which is confined to the west of Britain except for a few sites inSussex. It is a Nationally Scarce Species recorded in 74 10-km squares since 1970 (Stewart,Pearman & Preston 1994). Colonies are reduced in size during summer droughts but grow back from surviving fragments,They may also be defoliated by severe winter cold. Its world-wide distribution is disjunct with populations along thewestern edge of Europe, Greece and Crete and the mountains of tropical Africa.Me/ampyrum pratense subsp. pratense. Common cow-wheat.Ashdown Forest, 1895, T, Hilton (BTN), Fisher's Gate (as var, lanceolatum), E, C, Wall ace(Wolley-Ood 1937), Common on the Forest (Hall 1980),Locally frequent in open woodlands and wood edges where there is more light, forinstance along the edge of the Royal Ashdown golf course, and by paths and road banks such3 -++-ll..'L---L+- as along Priory Road or Kidd's Hill. It is able to colonise secondary woodland from older4 5woodland and our map may show a slow process of invasion into the Forest from the edges.It is sensitive to grazing and is virtually absent from Pippingford Park where there are deer.M. pratense is an annual. The seeds germinate at low temperatures in the spring, andsheets of seedlings may appear in some years, as in 1995. The plants are hemi-parasites,their roots attaching themselves to the roots of other species and absorbing water and nutrients. Plants can grow withoutparasitising other species but are usually poorly developed and much smaller.The seeds have a small oil-bearing body, an elaiosome, which is attractive to the ants, who pick up the seeds andcarry them off (experimental removal of the elaiosome significantly reduces their attraction to the ants). Seeds are shedduring the day when the majority are removed, leaving few to be eaten by small mammals at night. Studies of anAmerican species M. lineare show that seeds dispersed by ants survive and grow better than if they fall at random,possibly because the ants move them into better-lit places (Gibson 1993). This presumably explains why the plants are somuch more frequent along tracks and banks where the microclimate is more suitable for the ants.It is a widespread and very variable species in Europe and western Asia.Euphrasia officina/is aggregate. Eyebrights.On the forest (Firmin 1890),Eyebrights are a critical group and can present considerable difficulties in identification inareas where a number of species occur. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your4 5point of view!) only two species of Euphras;a have been seen recently on the Forest and theseare relatively easy to separate; E. anglica is readily distinguished from E. nemo rosa by thelong-stalked glandular hairs, which are easily visible in silhouette with a x 10 lens on themiddle and upper leaves. Records for E. micrantha (E. latifolia var. gracilis), Ashdown Forest,1901, T. Hilton (BTN) may be E. nemorosa but need confirming by an expert.Eyebrights are declining due to agricultural improvements (Rich & Woodruff 1996),Euphrasia anglica. Eyebright.Chelwaod Gate/Chelwaod Common, 1934, A, H, Walley-Oad, det H, W, Pugsley (TLS); NearWych Cross, E, Ellman; Ashdown Forest, T, Hilton, det H, W, Pugsley (Wolley-Dad 1937),•• Occasional on the Forest (Hall 1980).Found mainly in short grass, often on road verges and rides. Our records are thinly45scattered across the Forest although in some places it is locally common, as for examplealong the verges on the south side of the road between Nutley and Camp Hill, where it can beseen growing with Spiranthes spiralis, an unusual combination.Possibly endemic to the British Isles, locally frequent in England and Wales and morerarely in Ireland.