Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

Cory/us avel/ana. Hazel.Recorded in 91 % of the tetrads in Sussex (Hall 1980), and we have it in most of our squaresexcept a for few remote heathy areas. Also common and widespread in Britain, Europe andAsia Minor as it probably has been for the last 10,000 years. The name TNutley' ispresumably derived from hazel nuts.It occurs widely in hedges (sometimes the hedges were double-planted with hazel on oneside and hawthorn on the other) and also as an early colonist of heathland. It appears fairlycatholic in its soil requirements and will occur on some quite damp soils. Many plantssuffered badly in the drought in 1995 and the leaves curled and turned whitish beforedropping early in August.Hazels were once cut regularly in the woods around Nutley (e.g. Hollybush Wood) for bean poles by the locals, andthe bluebells used to flourish. Now that this no longer happens, the woods have become very over-grown and dark andthe bluebells have declined (J. Waiters pers. comm. 1995). The young wands were also used locally in the late 19thcentury and up to the 1980s as a base for Christmas wreaths, and also for constructing small baskets to contain primrosesor polyanthus in Sphagnum moss at Easter. Coppicing has been re-introduced to the woodland in Toll Lane with pleasingresults (AFN 22: 18-19 and 25: 4-6). Hazel has long been an important crop in the countryside and there are at least fourdozen ways in which the wood has been used (Howkins 1994).Observations of the nutters in Horney Common indicate that collecting nuts has declined with the local bus serviceover the last 25 years - nuts falling on the lanes are now more likely to be run over by cars than squirreled away in pocketson the way to the bus stop. 1992 and 1993 were average years for nuts, 1994 had a very poor crop, and 1995 was thebest year for many years.Hazel nuts are an important food source for wood mice and dormice (e.g. AFN 26: 17-18), though dormice were lastseen on the Forest in the 1980s.CHENOPODIACEAE*Chenopodium bonus-henricus. Good-King-Henry, Mercury goosefoot.Tetrad 42U (Hall 1980). Not found, and presumed extinct. This is an old pot herb which has fallen out of flavour, and isnow declining. It usually occurs around old farms and near buildings in nutrient-rich places.Widespread in Britain though now mainly in northern England, and probably native in central Europe and western Asia.*Chenopodium rubrum. Red goosefoot.Occasional on the Forest (Hall 1980).Scattered around the Forest. It is a classic nitrophile of nutrient-rich mud and dungheaps. It is also surprisingly frequent along the road verges beside the tarmac and someecotypes may be salt-tolerant. Seed production ranges from 5 to over 500,000 seeds anddepends on the size of the plant (Salisbury 1970).Widespread in Sussex, though oddly rare in the west (Hall 1980), and predominantlysouth-eastern in Britain. It is increasing in England (Rich & Woodruff 1996). It is also45 widespread in central Europe but rare in the north and south. Also in Asia and North America.~-------"53Chenopodium po/yspermum.4 5Many-seeded goosefoot.Frequent on the Forest, especially on the heavy soils (Hall 1980).This is the prettiest of the Chenopodium species on the Forest, with the dark greenleaves often edged in red, and a mixture of black, white, green and red in the inflorescence.Single plants occur scattered on waste ground and along road verges, and it is often found onwoodland rides. It is generally more frequent on the Weald Clay soils than the AshdownSands.In Britain mainly south-eastern in distribution from the Humber to the Severn, and only arare casual elsewhere. It is widespread in Europe and Asia.*Chenopodium ficifolium. Fig-leaved 900sefoot.Tetrad 43K (Hall 1980).We have many more records than HaiL but it rarely occurs as more than a few plants ata time in gardens, nurseries or on disturbed road verges. It has also been recordedoccasionally in the road gutters with other Chenopodium species.] -+-f'"-----'-+__ The Atlas of the British flora (Perring & Waiters 1990) shows a strongly clumped4 5distribution around London and in the Fens, but it has since either spread or is more widelyknown, having been overlooked due to its resemblance to C. album (Rich & Woodruff 1996).The oblong leaves with strong lobes are quite distinctive once seen, and the plant tends to begreen and not whitish or mealy. It is scattered across central Europe but does not seemcommon anywhere (possibly under-recorded there too), and in Asia and North Africa.