Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

wet mud, small streams, ditches and ponds, often in temporary water, and in open and disturbed habitats (Webster 1988),It may grow in more base-poor, oligotrophic habitats than R, hederaceus in Britain, but overall the habitats of the twospecies overlap ICook 1966).The flowers are usually pollinated in bud before they open (Cook 1966), The flowering heads produce an average ofabout 38 achenes per head, which are either pushed down into the mud by the pedicel {as in R. hederaceusl or may bedispersed in water where they float for up to 3.5 days ISalisbury 19701.In Sussex it mainly occurs in 5t Leonard's and Ashdown Forests (Hall 1980). It has a very restricted distribution inwestern Europe, being reasonably widespread in western Britain and Ireland where it is very characteristic of rills andstream heads at moderate altitude (Rodwell 1991), western France (Brittany and Normandy)' Spain, Portugal, southern Italyand Sicily. It also occurs in the coastal mountains of Algeria.43Ranunculus peltatus. Pond water-crowfoot.Recorded in tetrad 43L in Hall 11980).The only water-crowfoot currently known in the Forest, occurring in ponds and also inrunning water in the stream from Pippingford Park, though we were unable to find it in thelakes themselves. It completely covered the pond at Wrens Warren 147.321 in 1995, PW, and3 -++_-'"-------'-+_ was reported to have been brought in by ducks. Plants from Boringwheel Mill Farm 145.261were recorded as R. aquatilis sensu lata, and probably also refer to this species.It occurs in shallow water and on drying mud, where the water levels fluctuate. Seedsgerminate in the autumn and plants flower from May onwards. It is often found in temporary4 5or disturbed habitats, but sometimes occurs in more permanent water. It is widespreadthroughout the lowland British Isles, but absent from much of Scotland and parts of Wales and Ireland. It is also found inmost of Europe and North Africa.The water-crowfoots are notoriously difficult to identify, and the best identification guide is Webster (1988). Thecharacters used to distinguish this species from the following are: the pedicel in fruit longer than the petiole of theopposing leaf, and petals 11-22 mm with a pear-shaped nectar pit (pedicel in fruit shorter than the petiole of the opposingleaf, and petals less than 10 mm with a circular nectar pit in R. aquatilis). If in doubt collect flowering/fruiting plants forverification.[Ranuncu/us aquatilis, common water-crowfoot, was recorded in tetrads 43K and 43L in Hall (1980), the latter recordedalso for R. pe/tatus. We have found no records during our work although it is more a plant of ponds, and assume that asthese species have been regularly confused in the past the records are in error; we would welcome voucher specimensdemonstrating otherwise!}Myosurus minimus. Mousetail.Formerly in great abundance in a cornfield near Wych Cross, Mr Turner (Deakin 1871). The same record in subsequentpublications reads "Formerly abundant at Wych Cross, E. Jenner" (Arnold 1907) and "formerly abundant in a cornfield atWych Cross, Furness in Flora of Tunbridge Wells" (Wolley-Dod 1937). We assume this site is to the east of Wych Cross inwhat is now the Ashdown Forest Farm, recently home to rare breeds but not rare plants. It is now very rare in EastSussex, and confined to south and west England but widespread in central and southern Europe, south-west Asia andNorth Africa.Mousetail is generally an annual of fertile broken ground which may be trampled and seasonally wet, and occurs in theedges of arable land, riverbanks, poached gateways and tracks. It is still found in the New Forest in this type of habitat,and could have occurred as a native in a similar habitat on Ashdown Forest too. It is somewhat salt-tolerant and evenoccurs on roadsides (it was found in abundance on the heavily salted Peterborough ring road in 1987, TR & DE). It issporadic in appearance, and appears to be declining, especially in its former arable sites (Chatters 1994).*Aquilegia vulgaris. Columbine, Two-faces-under-a-hat.Tetrad 33V IHall 1980), probably not in our area and not native.All our records are garden escapes which occur near gardens on dumped rubbish. Theflowers vary in colour from pink to white and purple, and none are the deep blue native form.As a native it seems widespread in chalk and limestone areas in England and Wales but3 never common. It is widespread in western Europe, where its taxonomy is more complex; acomparison of native and introduced plants might help clarify the status of many populations.4 5