Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

227ORCHIDACEAEEpipactis purpurata. Violet helleborine.Tetrad 42T (Hall 1980). Five Hundred Acre Wood, 1987, SBRS (tetrad 43W) (Briggs 1990),and two other tetrads -see below.Two plants on Twyford Lane verge north of Suttons Farm (403.314), pH 4.0, DB,where four plants first found in 1988 were still present in 1994 but eaten off by deer or3 slugs; south-east side of Priory Lane (413.339), several years up to 1990, AK, but not seen1993-1995. Another possible plant occurred at Faggot Stack Corner, 1983, CM & R.Tallack, where 'funny' plants have also been seen by PW.Quite variable in colour, and not always dark purple. More shade tolerant than E.4 5 helleborine and often found in deep shade; usually considered an ancient woodland indicatorbut 2/3 of our 10cal'lsed records are in secondary woodland.Scattered in Sussex, mainly on clays and somewhat calcicolous. It occurs most abundantlY in Oxfordshire, Berkshireand Buckinghamshire, with the Weald as a second stronghold. It occurs in southern and eastern Britain to the Welshborders. An endemic of north-west and central Europe.Epipactis helleborine. Broad-leaved helleborine.Five Hundred Acre Wood near Fishers Gate, 1914 (Done 1914), recorded again in Hall(1980), and still present in abundance in a shaded hollow on the south-east side of pond(490.331)' 1994, ER & RN.3 -+--1"'----,-Our other records are as follows: three spikes by track to Press Ridge Warren (407.318).1987, PW & RW; Wych Cross Reservoir car park (419.315), 1987, CM; four plants on4 5woodland edge, outside Isle of Thorns (416.303}, 1995, Flora meeting; one plant in scrub bypond (423.338), 1995, PW; one plant in gully on Ridge Road (443.326) mown in 1995, PW;Wood Reeves Car park (475.309), 1993, C. Sutton; Faggot Stack Corner (48.32), 1983, CM& R. Tallack, and 1987, PW & RW. So we have it scattered in quite a few sites, but rarely inabundance and rather of the 'here one year, somewhere else the next' type.Elsewhere in Sussex it is also typically a plant of verges and the edges of wood or scrub, and it is locally frequent.The colour may be very variable and it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish it from E. purpurata; if in doubt this specieshas rough calluses at the top of the epichile, whilst they are smooth in E. purpurata. It is pollinated by Vespu/a wasps andflowers at about the time the drones leave the nests.Widespread in lowland Britain, and in Europe, Asia and North Africa. An introduced widespread and problematicalweed in North America.Neottia nidus-avis. Bird's-nest orchid.Near Nutley, frequent by roadside, H. Wheeler (Wolley-Dod 1937). Tetrad 42T (Hall 1980).Friar's Gate road (477.311), 1983, AFRR. In the 1970s it used to occur under beeches onthe south side of Ridge Road near Ashdown Park (428.323-432.323) but the beeches wereremoved and replaced with' a broad verge. A few plants also occurred regularly at the3 entrance to Spikey Brown's Cottage (425.324) but have not been seen recently.Twyford Lane (406.316), pH 5.1, 1992 +, NM and before (accidentally mown in 1995);A22 verge north of Wych Cross (419.325), 1992, CM, and 1 huge plant and 2 small ones atbase of sign where it got mown (419.323), 1993, and 2-3 plants also occur regularly in4 5 another site to the north from the mid-1980s, PS; Priory Road, two separate clumps (c.411.337L pH 6.2, NM, 1994 - it was also seen on the north-west side of Priory Road about409.336,1986, AK, and at 413.339, c. 1985 and 413.338 c. 1990, PS, CM, but not seen again in 1993-95 andobviously crops up at more than one spot; Pippingford Park (c. 445.299), one plant eaten by deer, 1995, A. Morriss.Commoner in West Sussex than East, and usually in old deep beech leaf litter on the chalk, but as on Ashdown Forestalso scattered across the less calcareous soils in Surrey and Kent. Apparently it can set seed whilst still underground aspollen may be carried by creepy crawlies (D. Lang, pers. comm. 1995).It is scattered through lowland Britain, especially in the south and east, but is decreasing in England (Rich & Woodruff1996). It is widespread in Europe except the far north and occurs across Asia.Listera ovata. Common twayblade.Occasional on the Forest (Hall 1980).Our distribution map shows two main areas, one in the north-east where it occurs as afew plants on verges, and then common in Toll Lane Coppice and Fairwarp areas where itprefers the richer clay soils. One group appeared in an area where birch had been cleared3-+--I"'------~~ after the Great Storm near Hindleap, CM (AFN 15: 2-4). Occasional plants also occur onroadside elsewhere, forming lines by the creeping rootstock.4 5One of the commonest Sussex orchids, but decreasing in England (Rich & Woodruff1996). Widespread in lowland Britain, and widespread in Europe and Asia. 1995 was a goodyear for it.