Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

37BLECHNACEAEBlechnum spicant. Hard-fern.On the forests, abundant, E. Jenner (Arnold 1887). Ashdown Forest, 1897, T. Hilton (BTN).Very luxuriant in Crowborough Warren (Done 1914). Common on the Forest (Hall 1980).Our records also show it is widespread but rare or absent from the clays along thesouthern edge of the Forest. This matches the pattern in Sussex where it is clearly shown to3be a calcifuge like Athyrium, avoiding the chalk and the pure Weald clay (Hall 1980).Common in western Britain and Europe and becoming rarer eastwards. It also occurs inMorocco, Japan and western North America.45GymnospermsForestry trees are widely planted around the edges of the Forest, but there seems little point in recording them exceptwhere they regenerate naturally from seed, usually in or by their plantations. The records we have are shown on the maps,but they have probably not been recorded as systematically as other species. Christmas trees are often planted out on theForest but they rarely survive for long.The only conifers of special note are the Sequoiadendron giganteum and Sequoia sempervirens planted in 1984 nearCripp's Manor (401.319), Goat Cross-roads (401.325) and Lavender Platt (401.334) on the Meridian Line which runsthrough the Forest; these were apparently chosen to contrast with the other trees when seen from the air (AFN 30:5).*Pseudotsuga menziesii.Douglas fir.* Tsuga heterophylla.Western hemlock~spruce.* Picea abies.Norway spruce.3 -++-----'-\--3 -++-----''"'-/-3 -++----"'---'-1-454 545*Larix decidua.European larch.*Larix x marschlinsii (L. x eurolepis).Hybrid larch.*Larix kaempferi.Japanese larch.3 -+-I~--"'--"""'r3 -+-1--""-----1-1-3 -+1-----'--1-4 54 545* Pinus nigra subsp. laricio.Corsican pine.*Chamaecyparis lawsoniana.Lawson's cypress.* Thuja plicata.Western red-cedar.3 -++-------'+-3 -++-------'-11-3 -+f-----'-l-4 54 54 5