Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

216Alopecurus geniculatus. Marsh foxtail.Common on the Forest IHall 1980).Scattered in wet flushes and pastures.Frequent and locally common in Sussex and increasing in England (Rich & Woodruff1996). Widespread in Britain and Europe except the extreme south. North Asia and NorthAmerica.4 5Alopecurus aequalis. Orange taxtail.Between Wych Cross and East Grinstead, E. Ellman; Ashdown Forest, 1901, T. Hilton (BTN; Wolley-Dod 1937).Probably extinct. This beautiful grass is an annual and numbers can vary enormously from year to year so theabsence of records in our survey may not mean that it is truly extinct in the area. Salisbury (1970) gives detailedecological information.Nationally it is declining but it is still known from several sites around Crawley and occurs just outside the Flora areaon the edges of Weir Wood reservoir. Widespread in Europe, temperate Asia and North Africa.Alopecurus myosuroides. Black~grass.Tetrads 42N and 42T IHall 1980).Disturbed ground near Marden's Hill 1499.325), pH 7.6, 1993, TR; fields near Friar'sGate 1499.334), 1987-88, PW.An annual grass usually of heavy clay soils, and -sometimes a pernicious weed. LocallyJ -++------'-+_ frequent in Sussex and in south~east England. Possibly native in south and west Europeand temperate Asia but widely introduced elsewhere.4 5Phleum pratense sensu lato.Now split into two tolerably distinct species (Stace 1991). P. pratense is a tall, erect robust species with long heads andlarge spikelets (4 mm or more longer). P. bertolonii is smaller, usually with spikelets up to 3.5 mm long.Phleum pratense sensu stricto. Timothy.Recorded in meadows, verges and in car parks, and probably mainly of cultivated origin.Recorded in 90% of the tetrads in Sussex (Hall 1980). Widespread in Britain and Europe.Phleum bertolonii (P. pratense subsp. bert%niij. Smaller cat's~tail.Frequent on the Forest (Hall 1980).Frequent in short, open grassland and on verges. A number of records in 1993 were probably unnecessarilyrejected.Frequent in Sussex and Britain on a range of soils. Uncommon in north.ern Europe.Ph/eum pratense s.l. Ph/eum pratense s.s. Ph/eum bertolonii34 5Bromus hordeaceus. Soft~brome.Common on the Forest IHall 19BO).Scattered on verges and in open pastures.Very common in Sussex and increasing in England (Rich & Woodruff 1996).Widespread in Britain and Europe and western Asia.