Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

A special large oak at Chuck Hatch, the Holy Oak {473.331}, sheltered open air chapel meetings in the early 1900s(AFN 22: 9). This used to be in a completely open area on the edge of the Forest, but is now surrounded by densewoodland. Oak Plat and Lone Oak Hall are local names.On 24 April 1995, a severe frost in an otherwise very mild spring caused many oaks to be frosted just as they werecoming into leaf and flower - those on slopes and on open areas seemed worst hit. Many trees were still brown a monthlater, but slowly recovered and put out new leaves which were very variable and quite uncharacteristic in shape, rangingfrom very deeply lobed to others reminiscent of Q. petraea (and indeed could have easily been recorded for it or the hybridin error). Similarly, acorn production in these frosted plants was very low in an otherwise excellent year for acornproduction (one frosted tree at Strood Green, West Sussex only produced one acorn, TR). Such frost damage is quitefrequent in some parts of Europe and causes the trees to grow slowly, giving a dense, hard, much~valued wood, but seemsquite rare in Britain.There are also other causes of leaf loss - for instance in about 1990, tortrix moths did a lot of damage to oaks on theForest, and defoliated some completely at Friar's Gate; under the trees it rained caterpillars {B. Hoath & A. Main, pers.comm. 1995}.51*Quercus rubra. Red oak.3 -+-h....----'--t-This oak is easily distinguished by the large leaves with long teeth, which turn a brilliant red inautumn. It occurs naturally in North America, and is widely planted in Britain, either forautumn colour, or as a broad-leaved forestry tree. The records we have are for planted treesaround ehelwood Vachery, the golf course at Forest Row, Wych Cross, Nutley, Fairwarp andFriar's Gate, but no seedlings or saplings have yet been reported. Increasing in England (Rich& Woodruff 1996).4 5BETULACEAEBetula. Birches."A heath, with here and there a few birch scrubs upon it, verily the most villainously ugly spot I ever saw in England",1822, W. Cobbett; some things do not change, but there is now more birch.Birch from the Forest used to be an important source of domestic and commercial fuel, one of the rights of estoverswhich is still exercised by a few commoners. Faggots were used for brick~making, and some even for making brooms.Broomyard still remains as a name in Forest Row, the yard still being in operation until well after the last war. Birchesfigure widely in names on and around the Forest - Birch Grove House, Birch Wood, Birchfield Farm, Great Birch Wood andThe Birches. In the 1990s, branches were cut by permit and woven into baskets and containers and examples were onshow at the Forest Centre. Arnold (1907) gives a recipe for birch wine made from the sap, which is still made locally andapparently is potent!The ecology of both birch species has been described by Atkinson (1992), They have broad climatic tolerance inBritain although in Europe B. pendula is more southerly and B. pubescens more northerly. In genera!, B. pendula occurs onlighter drier soils and B. pubescens on wetter ones, but both have a broad tolerance on Ashdown Forest (as in easternEngland) though B. pubescens is solely dominant on the wettest soils over Sphagnum and Molinia. On the Forest bothbirches are quick to colonise bare areas even on nutrient-poor soils (pHs measured were 2.3, 3.4 and 3.5) and regularlyneed to be cleared from the heathlands. They have regenerated particularly well after the storms, and there are manydense thickets with impenetrable stands of birch, especially associated with rushy flushes. However the trees areintolerant of shade and although growing rapidly are eventually overtaken by more shade-tolerant, slower growing speciessuch as oak, which in turn is replaced by beech.The two species can be told apart from the leaves, though both are quite variable (avoid leaves from suckers orshaded conditions). Betula pendula has quite triangular leaves with teeth on the teeth, and young twigs rough with manyresinous warts. Betula pubescens has hairy, more rounded leaves with single teeth, and often hairy twigs.Birches are the main cause of spring hayfever in people sensitive to tree pollen (Rich 1994b).Betula pendula Betula x aurata Betula pubescens3 3 -++...--__ -'--1-34 5 4 5 4 5