Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

198CYPERACEAEEriophorum angustifolium. Common cottongrass.Bogs on Ashdown Forest (Coleman 1836). Found in bogs on the Forest in summer(Firmin 18901. On the Forests around Crawbaraugh (Done 19141. Near Rifle Butts,Forest Row, Miss P. Stockdale (a specimen in BEX is labelled East Grinstead, September1913 but presumably relates to this site); Ashdown Forest, Miss K. Pickard; near PoundGate, A. H. Wallev-Dad and A. G. Gregar (WalleV-Dad 19371. Baggv heath(and,4 5Ashdawn Forest, 1940, D. P. Young IBM). Frequent on the Forest (Hall 1980).Widespread on the boggy, open parts of the Forest but rarely common and oftenvegetative. It is often found in the wetter boggy pools amongst other vegetation on wetpeaty soils. It can be quite difficult to see as the leaves often go reddish and blend inwith the Sphagnum. As it can become dominant when grazed in bogs elsewhere in Britain, it may have been morewidespread formerly than now.Common in north and western Britain and often dominant on blanket bog vegetation which is either overgrazedor burnt, but less frequent in the south and east. Widespread in Europe but rare in the south. Also in the Arcticregions of North America and Greenland.Eriophorum vaginatum. Hare's~tail cottongrass.Ashdawn Forest, A. H. Wallev-Dad IWallev-Dad 1937; no specimen in BM). As reported in Rose (1995), it used tooccur in several places on the Forest (FR has never seen it on Ashdown Forest). It is likely to have been in wet, open,acidic heathland on peat, possibly with E. angustifo/ium.Widespread in north and western Britain, with a number of localities on Lower Greensand wet heaths in WestSussex and Surrey and formerly reaching its south~eastern limit at Broadwater and Ashdown Forests, but now extinctin East Sussex. A plant introduced to Hothfield Common in Kent has survived for many years (Philp 1982). Northern,north~east and central Europe.Trichophorum cespitosum subsp. germanicum (Scirpus caespitosus). Deergrass.On Ashdown Forest (Coleman 1836). On the Forests, very common, E. Jenner (Arnold1887). Ashdawn Forest near Gills Lap IDane 1914). Ashdawn Forest, TWNH(presumablv the same record as 1932, G. E. Shaw, TLS); near Paundgate, A. G. GregarIWallev-Dad 19371. Frequent on the Forest (Hall 19801.Locally frequent on the Forest, the yellowish tufts standing out in late autumn. Itoccurs on wet heaths and along the sides of small paths through the heath, usually ondamp peaty soils. A good place to see it in abundance is north of Poundgate car park(483.286). This species is often frequent along paths and tracks where soil compactionby trampling results in low aeration of the soil (Rod well 1991).Ashdown Forest and the Lower Greensand heaths of West Sussex are its mainheadquarters in Sussex. It is widespread in northern and western Britain and locally distributed on acidic peaty soils inthe south-east. This subspecies occurs in western Europe, whilst subsp. caespitosus is more widespread but has notbeen confirmed in Britain. The species is also recorded in the Himalaya, North America and Greenland.E1eocharis palustris. Common spike-rush.Ashdawn Forest (Farster 1816). Tetrads 33V, 42N and 43K (Hall 1980).Very local on the edges of ponds around Kidbrooke, Chelwood Vachery andPippingford Park and Ridge Road. The few natural populations which have beenexamined have been subsp. vulgaris (e.g. pond on Ridge Road, pond in Mill Wood), and3 seem to be this uniformly.Plants in the ornamental pond bV Old lands Hall (476.2751, 1995, TR et al. havemany smaller flowers with glumes 2.7-3.5 mm, and are subsp. palustris (confirmed by S.M. Waiters); these could have been introduced with other pond plants such as the water4 5 lilies but we have not been able to visit the adjacent lakes to see what grows there.This was the first confirmed East Sussex record; a second site at the Tidemills between Newhaven and Seaford hasrecently been found.Scattered in Sussex, and widespread in northern temperate regions.E1eocharis quinqueflora (Scirpus pauciflorus). Few-flowered spike-rush.On the Forests, here and there, E. Jenner lAma Id 18871; on a bog on the Forest near Quabraak, between Hartfieldand Forest Row, E. Farster IBM; Wallev-Dad 19371.This species of open calcareuous or basic flushing has not been refound and is presumed extinct, Quabrookhaving been drained many years ago. It is also extinct in Sussex. Locally distributed in Britain, most commonly inScotland. Found in much of Europe but rare in the south. Also found in temperate Asia, North America andGreenland.