Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

213Deschampsia cespitosa. Tufted hair-grass.Common on the Forest (Hall 1980).Locally frequent in clayey pastures, roadsides and damp woodland. It is a very variablespecies in Britain, both genetically and phenotypicaliy. We have not investigated which ofthe subspecies occur in our area.3It grows in a wide range of grazing, temperature, light and soil conditions, but does not4 5tolerate intense competition and thus is most abundant in shaded, seasonally water-loggedor infertile sites (Davy 1980). It is self-incompatible and a good clump can produce up tohalf a million seeds a year.Common in the Weald, again on clayey soils and in woodlands. Widespread in Britainand in Europe though rare in the Mediterranean region, and widespread in temperate regions of the world. The closelyrelated D. antarctica is one of two Antarctic flowering plants.Deschampsia flexuosa. Wavy hair~grass.Ashdown Forest, 1893, T. Hi)ton (BTN). Common on the Forest (Hall 1980).Found widely on the Forest, on rides, in amongst heather and in open areas of brackenand acidic grassland. It is also often found on banks, on the Forest pale and on raised soilsaround the base of trees in woodland, but usually absent from the flatter areas probablybecause the leaves are evergreen and cannot tolerate being covered each autumn by deepleaf litter. It was probably very much more common when the Forest was grazed as it isgenerally unpalatable and it may have been one of the dominant grasses.Studies at Headley Heath, Surrey by Shaw et al. (1995) found that soil eutrophicationcaused by dog fouling along paths resulted in a change from vegetation dominated byCal/una to one dominated by Deschampsia flexuosa. Similar patterns can be seen near some of the more popular c,arparks on the Forest.Locally common on acidic, nutrient~poor soils in Sussex and widespread in Britain, especially in the north and west.Widespread in Europe except the south and south~east, in northern Asia and the Americas.Holcus lanatus. Yorkshire fog.Recorded in every square, on verges, grassland and open woodland. It has a broadecological tolerance in Britain and tends to occur on the more nutrient~rich soils. It can be arapid colonist of fire sites.Recorded in 99% of the tetrads in Sussex (Hall 1980). Widespread in Britain andEurope.Holcus mol/is. Creeping soft~grass.Common on the Forest (Hall 1980).Locally frequent around the Forest, sometimes on open heaths, more often inwoodlands. It forms creeping patches and, in contrast to D. flexuosa in woodlands, occursin places where the leaf litter lies on slightly more nutrient-rich places.Common on acidic sands in Sussex and occasional elsewhere. Widespread in Britainand most of Europe, and in temperate Asia and North Africa.Hybrids between the two Holcus species have not been found yet on the Forest.Aira caryophyl/ea. Silver hair~grass.On Ashdown Forest (Coleman 1836). Tetrads 42T, 43K and 43W (Hal) 1980).Recorded only on both western and eastern halves of Wych Cross Reservoir (420.315)on freely drained soils, 1995, TR & Emma Goddard.Occasional in Sussex, often on dry acidic soils. Decreasing in England (Rich &3 Woodruff 1996). Scattered but widespread in Britain and in south, west and central Europe,Africa and Asia.4 5