Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

Trumpet length(mm)454035302520••+ +~., ++# +++++Oak Plat.Half Moon'&'Millbrook22515105o+----+----~----~--_+----+_--~o 10 20 30 40 50 60Leaf length (cm)Figure 15. Graph showing plot of leaf length against trumpet length for three populations of Nardssus pseudonarcissus.Ruscus aculeatus. Butcher's-broom, Knee holm.Ford's Green near Nutlev, abundant (Deakin 1871).One clump in hedge on the north side of the track to Hunter's Farm (448.265), pH 5.8,1994, TR; six clumps in one patch opposite Ford's Green (446.271) and clearly no longer]-++-----'-t-abundant (cf. Deakin 1871 above), pH 4.3, 1995, TR; two patches in one clump oppositefarm, Toll Lane (459.263), pH 4.3, 1995, AFRR, onlv noticeable once the woodland had been4 5coppiced; four clumps in one patch bV sunken track, Toll Lane (461.263), pH 4.4, 1992 +,NM; one plant on west side of B2026 about 100 metres south of Fairwarp Church (465.266),pH 4.4, 1995, TR - part was moved to Fairwarp Village Hall (467.263) in about 1980 by B.Hoath when it was thought to be under threat from road widening, and is surviving well underanother beech tree; two clumps (apparently native) occur in wood edge north of track 100 metres to the east (468.264),pH 4.1, 1995, B. Hoath.Plants were just coming into flower in mid-November 1995. Every bush has been examined and all appear to befemale; no berries have been seen. There may be more .in the Cackle Street - Fairwarp area. With the exception of theHunter's Farm plants, all are on acid woodland litter pH 4.1-4.4, but it will grow on chalky soils too.Locally common in Sussex, and sometimes planted for ornament, pheasant cover, and perhaps even for butcher'sbrooms. Probably native in southern England and Wales, but widely introduced elsewhere presumably by butchers.Widespread in western, central and southern Europe north to Britain.IRIDACEAE*Sisyrinchium montanum (S. angustifolium). American blue-eyed-grass.In an old grass road near Chelwood Gate, 1913, J. A. Dell (Wollev-Dod 1937). Naturalized in Furnace Wood, tetrad 42T,1972, J. Milner (Hall 1980), but not refound.Occasionally naturalized in Britain. Native in North Amer'lca.Iris foetidissima. Stinking iris, Roast-beef plant.Tetrads 42T, 43H and 43M (Briggs 1990).Not refound. It is possible that vegetative plants of Iris pseudacorus in quite dry sites on Ashdown Forest aresometimes recorded as this species in error. Locally frequent on the chalk in Sussex and usually in woodlands. Native andincreasing in England and Wales (Rich & Woodruff 1996). It occurs in western and southern Europe and North Africa, andBritain is its northern limit.