Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

200*Cyperus longus. Galingale.A couple of plants introduced with other aquatics to a pond on the golf course, ForestRow (436.3421 and rather eaten by deer, 14 August 1995, TR. The very next daydiscovered quite independently by PW I just as a bulldozer was clearing out the pond; it3 -+-1-----'--1-survived, but looked even worse for wear.As a native this plant is confined to a few marshes and wet pastures near the southand west coasts between Anglesey and Chichester. It is widely available from garden4 5centres and has been introduced to many ponds in southern England (Stewart, Pearman& Preston 1994), It is native in southern, central and western Europe, north to southernEngland. It also occurs in Asia and North Africa.Rhynchospora alba. White beak-sedge.Ashdown Forest, 1805, E. Forster (Wolley-Dod 19371. On all the bogs of AshdownForest (Forster 18161. On the great bogs of Ashdown (Cooper 18351. Forest Bogs onAshdown Forest (Coleman 18361. Near Mareslield, 1852, W. C. Unwin (Wolley-Dod19371. Near Forest Row (Deakin 18711. Ashdown Forest, W. Borrer (Arnold 18871.3 -++-''"-:..-I--r-l- Ashdown Forest near Nutley, July 1889, Nutley, Dr Trentler (BTNI. Ashdown Forest,4 51901, T. Hilton (BTNI. Ashdown Forest (Whitwell 1902). Bog on Ashdown Forest nearLutby (Done 19141. Ashdown Forest, 1932, L. M. Child (TLSI. Bog near DuddleswellToll Gate, E. Jenner; near Forest Row, E. Jenner; Chuck Hatch, rare, Miss K, Pickard;Ashdown Forest, A. H. Wolley-Dod (Wolley-Dod 19371. Frequent in bogs at Kidbrookeand east of Broadstone Warren, 1948, and near Nutley, 1957, R. A. Bonilace (BRCI. South of Chuck Hatch, 1950s,FR. Frequent on the Forest (Hall 1980), the only East Sussex sites.Very restricted and localised on the centre of the Forest, usually in wet, acid peaty places where the peat islightly disturbed. It often grows with Drosera spp. and Eleocharis multicaulis. The sites are as follows: hundreds ofplants on trampled ride east of Isle of Thorns (423.303), 1993, AK; ride north-east of Millbrook Farm (438.292),1994, PW; Millbrook (442.2931, 1993, AFRR; flushes north-east of Ashdown Forest Centre (439.329, 441.327,441.325,443.3281, 1993-1995, NM, AK, PW, etc.; Misbourne, two patches in valley bog at 451.275, and at455.278 and 457.274,1993+, PW, NM et al.; west of Ellison's Pond (461.289), 1986, PW; small patch in bog andodd ones near pond east of Old Lodge (468.2981 and to north (465.301, 468.3041, 1988-1993 +, PW; north ofPoundgate (478.288 to 480.2871, 1993, AFRR; boggy area by ride south of New Pond Cottages (481.293), 1995,RN & ER. Also seen at 422.307,443.332,439.291 and 449.289, 1990-1991, FR.Very rare in West Sussex on the Lower Greensand but common in the New Forest and at Wool mer in Hampshire.Locally distributed in Britain, most common in western Scotland, Most of Europe except the Mediterranean region andthe south-east, and found in North America.Carex. Sedges.Full details of this large genus can be found in the BSBI Sedge handbook (Jermy et al. 19821.Carex paniculata. Greater tussock-sedge.In some of the bogs on Ashdown Forest (Coleman 1836), Plentiful in a bog south ofColeman's Hatch (Done 19141. Ashdown Forest, Miss K. Pickard (Wolley-Dod 1937).Tetrads 42N, 43L, 43M and 43R (Hall 19801.Most frequent in the Newbridge-Pippingford area, and a few plants near Old Lodge3 -++---"""''"---'--1- and in the wet woodlands by Pooh Bridge. The extensive stands at Newbridge Bog inthe alder coppice grow in a thick iron 'soup', Where the coppice is very dense the plantscan no longer stand the shade, stop flowering and produce few and fewer leaves untilthe tussocks die; the dead tussocks remain under the alders for some years like little4 5gravestones. However, after coppicing of the alders in 1994, seed germinated inabundance in the open areas, and plants flowered from their second year. The development of the inflorescence atNewbridge is very variable; inflorescences may be dense or lax in the open and sparse in shade, branched qr simple,usually without but sometimes with bracts, and the fruits can be broad or quite narrow.Very locally frequent in Sussex in the Weald. Widespread in lowland Britain often in peaty, medium-rich,seasonally wet soils. Fairly widespread in Europe, Caucasus and western North Africa.Carex x boenninghausiana (C. paniculata x remota).Newbridge Bog, P. C. Hall (Hall 19801. Searched for in 1994 and not found but as manyof the big Carex tussocks were not flowering in the woodland due to dense shade itwould have been very difficult to spot; it could still survive.One large plant was found in amongst C. remota in an alder flush in Pippingford3 Park just south-east of the Centre Bridge (451.3161, 1995, SBRS/Kent Field Clubmeeting, although there was no C. paniculata anywhere near (confirmed A. O. Chater);the plant looks like C. paniculata but has narrower leaves and long bracts.4 5