Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

plants in the autumn; we have not recorded it doing so during our work. It is likely to reappear in areas where there is soildisturbance, for instance on woodland rides.Montia fontana is very uncommon in Sussex but is widespread in Britain and temperate parts of the world, Thecommon name is a modern invention, but is appropriate because the plant is so small that one blink and you miss it!CARYOPHYLLACEAEArenaria serpyllifo/ia subsp. serpyllifolia. Thyme~leaved sandwort.Tetrad 43V (Hall 19801.We have three sites in the centre of the Forest but do not remember specific details ofany of them!It is a winter annual and requires open sites and relatively high levels of soil moisture. It] -++--I----'_+_ varies in abundance from year to year and is able to form a persistent seed bank.4 5Widespread in Sussex on calcareous soils and walls, but rare elsewhere and not on heavyor acidic soils. It is widespread in lowland Britain, Europe, temperate Asia and North Africa.A. serpyliifolia subsp. leptoelados has been reported in tetrads 43H and 43M (Hall 1980).It is probably over-recorded in Britain in general and requires confirmation from measurementsof the seed sizes (Rich & Rich 1988); it seems to be a plant of dry sandy ground in the Breckland, and TR has yet to seeconvincing material from anywhere else.Moehringia trinervia. Three-nerved sandwort.Frequent on the Forest (Hall 1980).Most frequent in old hedges and woodland, typically on damp soils on banks, but widelydistributed and with no strong distribution pattern.Unusually for a woodland species, it is an annual which tends to exploit the slightlybetter illuminated and warmer sites in woods, though it may get droughted if the sites are tooopen (Grime et al. 1988). It is often in disturbed, open places in secondary woodland, andcan form a persistent seed bank to exploit such temporary habitats. Leaf litter may prevent itbecoming established on the general woodland floor.Common in Sussex, and widespread in lowland Europe, western Asia and Siberia.Stellaria media sensu stricto. Common chickweed.This species is a nitrophile and weed, often in gardens, dung areas in pastures and on richalluvial soils on river banks. Most of our records are from roadsides or near habitation, and itis absent from the acidic, nutrient-poor areas.Arthur (1989) gives a Sussex folk remedy for rheumatism as crushed chickweed laid onas a poultice.Ubiquitous in Sussex in 98% of the tetrads (Hall 1980), widespread in Britain, Europeand the world.There are no records for the segregates S. neglecta and S. pa//ida, but both could occur;the former is a rare plant of damp woodlands and the latter a plant of open, dry grassland.Stellaria holostea. Greater stitchwort, Brandy snap, Easter flower, Miller's star, Snapper flower, Snowflake, Star-flower.,-,-:==:---,--, Frequent on the Forest on the richer soils. It occurs in the hedges, verges and hedge banksaround the Forest edges and in the older woodlands, but is absent from the heathy areas andthere are oddly few records in the Hindleap and Broadstone areas. Grime et al. (1988) notethat it is most abundant on moist, mildly acidic, moderately infertile soUs. Although it is3sometimes considered to be an ancient woodland indicator it does not tolerate deep shade.Recorded in Sussex in 90% of the tetrads (Hall 1980). Common in Britain butdecreasing (Rich & Woodruff 1996), and widespread in Europe except in the north and south.45Also in North Africa and the Near East.55Stellaria graminea.Lesser stitchwort.Common on the Forest (Hall 1980).Recorded from every square. It is mainly on road verges in the centre of the Forest butelsewhere the most characteristic habitat is in damp, unimproved pastures where it isfrequent.This species has flowers of two sizes which may confuse the uninitiated.flowers are hermaphrodite, and the smaller ones are wholly or partly male-sterile.summer of 1993, a smut fungus infecting the stamens was frequent.Widespread in Britain, Europe and Asia.The largerIn the wet