Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

164Galium mol/ugo. Hedge bedstraw.Occasional on the north side of the Forest (Hall 19801.We have found it in 12 of our squares scattered on the Forest but the match betweenours and Hall's distributions is rather poor. It is usually found either on verges in the centralarea, or in hedges and hedgebanks around the Forest edges.Common in Britain south-east of a line from the Humber to the Severn and again in aband from the Lake District north-eastwards. The European distribution is unclear because ofambiguities in the treatment of G. mol/ugo and G. erectum (G. album) although plants fromthe G. mol/ugo group are found across the whole of Europe.4 5Galium saxatile. Heath bed straw .On the Forest (Finnin 18901. Common on the Forest (Hall 19801.Our survey found it in all but two squares on the extreme western edge of the area. It isa characteristic plant of heathland and acidic grassland and may often be found in acidic areaswhere the number of species present is rather low. Young plants often have the leaves inwhorls of four rather than six, but have reflexed hairs on the leaf margins.Common throughout Britain but strictly calcifuge. Present in most of Europe except forsome areas in the south, and found in Newfoundland.Galium aparine. Cleavers, Goo5e~grass.Common on the Forest (Hall 1980) and almost ubiquitous in our survey.An extremely common plant of road banks, disturbed and waste places, and even locallyfrequent along the sides of paths among bracken and bramble on apparently quite poor soils.Also on alluvium in wooded areas but rarely growing to maturity and presumably washed in.As well as being common it is very easily found by botanists; its leaves become visible veryearly in the season and it continues to be easily identifiable until the autumn. It may thereforebe that it really is absent from the two missing squares on our map.Abundant throughout the British Isles and found over the whole of Europe except the farnorth, and in northern and western Asia.Cruciata laevipes (Galium cruciata). Crosswort.Six tetrads around the edges of the Forest (Hall 19801.We have recorded it from very few sites: small stretch of riverbank on the Medway nearForest Row which straddles two squares (440.349), and on adjacent drive to Emerson College(438.3481, 1995, TR & PA; verge of lane, Coleman's Hatch (457.3371, 1995. PW; Five3 -++_----L+_ Hundred Acre Wood (491.331), 1987, PW & RW, not seen recently. Its rarity is quitesurprising given the amount of 'edge' around the Forest, but is perhaps related to whateverfactor determines the puzzling distribution in Sussex as a whole as referred to by Hall (1980).Widespread in most of England, East Wales and southern Scotland but with some4 5strange gaps. Its fine-scale distribution in the south-east indicates that it tends to avoid theusually drier, more open sites where Galium verum occurs, and they tends to be mutually exclusive plants (FR, pers. comm.1996). It occurs in most of Europe north to the Netherlands and Germany, and in western Asia.CAPRIFOLlACEAESambucus nigra. Elder, Eller, Ellet.Common on the Forest and especially around the edges near habitation and farms, usually onnutrient-rich soils with Urtica dioica and Galium aparine. Spread by birds and badgers.Recorded in 99 % of the tetrads in Sussex (Hall 1980), and also very common throughoutBritain except in the Scottish mountains. It is widespread in Europe but has been widely3cultivated for its fruits and the native range is difficult to establish. Also in western Asia andNorth Africa.4 5