Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

Material which initially looked like this subspecies has been collected from Chelwood Gate by TR and several othersites but is subsp. oedocarpa (deL A. O. Chater).Carex paJlescens. Pale sedge.Forest near Wych Cross (Whitwell 1902). Near Coleman's Hatch, C. E. Salmon;Ashdown Forest, Miss K. Pickard (Wolley-Dod 1937). Tetrads 42T and 43R (Hall 1980).Scattered around the Forest usually in only small quantity, though locally frequentin Pippingford Park. It occurs in open woodland and on tracks.3 Occasional on the clays in the Weald. Locally frequent throughout Britain, andquite widespread in Europe. Also in temperate Asia and North America.2054 5Carex caryophyl/ea. Spring sedge.Tetrads 43A, 43K, 43M and 43W (Hall 1980), and another four tetrads added in Briggs(1990).We have recorded it quite widely and our map shows a distribution strongly related3 -+-I'"-.....----"L.J.-/-to roads. It usually occurs in short, dry grassland on road verges, in churchyards and onlawns, on weakly to strongly calcareous soils (pH 5.6~7.4 has been recorded in oursites). It is probably under~recorded, overlooked perhaps because it flowers in late45spring. It is sometimes only 5 cm high, usually amongst grass that is growing strongly atthe time, and fruit set is often the victim of the first mowers of spring.It is similar in size to C. pilulifera with short, stiff stems, a sheathing lower bractand club~shaped male spikes. Vegetatively it creeps through the turf and the laxly tufted or isolated rosettes havedark green shiny leaves with black lines on the underside. C. pilulifera has curved, wiry stems and is densely tufted.Widespread but probably still under~recorded in Sussex despite the extra records in Briggs (1990), many of whichwere from churchyards. It is commonest in short chalk turf. Widespread and decreasing in Britain (Rich & Woodruff1996). Widespread in Europe.Carex3_pilulifera. Pill sedge.4 5Common on Ashdown Forest (Done 1914). Occasional across the Forest (Hall 1980).Widespread on the Forest on tracks, in open secondary woodland, on heath land, inacidic grassland and sometimes in disturbed soils, and probably one of the commonestsedges. It is one of the first sedges to flower, usually from March onwards. The leavesand shoots tend to grow sideways ralher than erect, and later in the season they looklike discarded mop heads.Frequent on acidic soils in Sussex and Britain. Decreasing in England (Rich &Woodruff 1996). Endemic to Europe east to Leningrad and the Carpathians.Carex nigra (C. goodenowii). Common sedge.Newbridge, Miss K. Pickard (Wolley-Dod 1937). Occasional on the Forest (Hall 1980).Scattered in wet flushes, ditches and sometimes drier acidic grassland. Plants maybe tufted or rhizomatous and quite variable in appearance, even when growing next doorto each other as in the ponds adjacent to Ridge Road.3 Occasional in the Weald, and widespread in Britain. Decreasing in England (Rich &Woodruff 1996). Widespread in Europe but rare in the south, Asia, North Africa andNorth America.4 5Carex pulicaris. Flea sedge.3 -++----"'-~'-t--4 5Ashdown Forest, E. Jenner (Arnold 1887). South of Chuck Hatch, 1950s, FR. NearNutley, 1957, R. A. Boniface (BRC). Tetrad 43L (Hall 1980). Near Bowling Green northat Coleman's Hatch (447.328), 1986, R. Tallack, destroyed by a fire lit by ConservationVolunteers, and on ride south of Stonehill car park near Anagallis tenella (45.28), Flushnorth-east of Forest Centre (442.331), 1983, AFRR.Bog pool east of Old Lodge (466.301), 1990, CM & NM, our only recent record.A rare plant in Sussex in flushed grasslands. Locally common in northern andwestern Britain, but now very uncommon in the south~east, Endemic to north, centraland western Europe.