Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

65Hypericum humifusum. Trailing S1 John's-wort.Frequent on the Forest (Hall 19801.Frequent and most characteristic of rides, especially in woodlands, where it may bevery abundant after disturbance from clearance or co pp icing . It was more frequent in thedry summer of 1995. Plants will flower in their first year, and the flowers open mid-morning3 and close mid-afternoon.Widespread in Britain but decreasing in England (Rich & Woodruff 1996), Widespreadin Europe south of the Baltic, and it occurs in North Africa.4 5Hypericum pulchrum. Slender 5t John's-wort.On the Forest (Firmin 18901. Common on the Forest (Hall 19801.We have found it in most of the squares. It is a calcifuge which often occurs in dryplaces on banks and hedgebanks, in woodland, on the dry banks of streams and in openheathy places. The flowers often change from yellow to orange-red as they get older, andcan be quite striking in co[our.Common in the Weald (Hall 1980) and widespread in lowland Britain but absent frommuch of the Mid[ands. Endemic to north-west Europe.Hypericum elodes. Marsh St John's-wort.Bogs on Ashdown Forest (Coleman 1836). In a bog near Gills Lap, 1911 (Done 19141.Ashdown Forest, many observers (Wolley-Dod 19371. Chelwood Gate (42.30), 1955, R.Mackechnie & E. C. Wall ace (BRCI, Near Nutley, 1957, R. A. Bonilace (BRCI. Frequent onthe Forest (Hall 19801.] -++_-.,.""---4- Abundant round a lake at Smocklarthing (401.315), 1995, DB; one clump on dry4 5stream bank on golf course where it survives strimming (429.338), 1992 +, NM; flush ingrazing experiment, expanding after grazing reintroduced (445.297), 1992 +, NM; northeastof pond, Ridge Road (446.328), and also one large clump in pond on south side ofheavily shaded pond (447.328), 1995, PW; Lower Misbourne near where path crossesstream (456.277), 1994, RN & ER; several plants round edge of newly made pond in heath, Pippingford Park (454.305),1993, SBRS. Also recorded in a wet ditch west 01 Millbrook west car park (437.297), c. 1980, PO, but gone in 1994.In Sussex, this is much reduced in frequency since Wol[ey-Dod's (1937) flora. It is now mainly recorded onAshdown and St Leonard's Forests, and is very rare elsewhere. It is a typical heathland plant of boggy, wet places, andmay once have been more widespread on the Forest. It is tolerant of grazing and smells musty which may deter animals,and in the New Forest forms large sheets in boggy ground and ditches in heavily grazed areas. It is also surprisinglyshade-tolerant and can survive under trees as at the Ridge Road ponds. [n Britain and Europe it is strongly western indistribution possibly because of sensitivity to frost; aerial parts of plants in cultivation at Forest Row were badly hit inNovember 1995, though those under water survived well.The flowers open for one day only, opening mid-morning and closing at c. 5 p.m. The flower structure suggeststhat it should be se[f-incompatible as the structure is designed for out-breeding (N. K. B. Robson, pers. comm. 1995). Toinvestigate this, five flowers on one cultivated plant were se[fed and good seed was set in a[I, ripening about 6 weekslater. Also one isolated plant on the golf course at Forest Row was observed to be setting good seed in 1995. It isc[early self-compatible.It is endemic to western Europe, northwards to north-west Scotland and eastwards to Germany, [taly and extinct inAustria.TILlACEAE* Tilia platyphyllos. Large-leaved lime.Kidbrook by the Park pales (Jenner 18451; this record could reler to T. x vulgaris.Six trees of various s'lzes with a few seedlings with the'lr characteristic five-fingeredcotyledons on the edge 01 a ghyll in Southbank Wood (431.3141,1995, TR, probably plantedas part of Ashdown Park, This area of woodland is amongst the best in South bank Wood] -t-t------'-+_which is otherwise exceptionally dull, and the limes were growing over bracken with bluebellsand wood anemones. No limes are currently known at Kidbrooke.In Sussex this has now been recognised as native in the woodlands along the foot of the4 5 north-facing scarp of the South Downs where it was probably one of the canopy dominants inthe original woodlands. It is one of the rarest native trees in Britain, but has also been widelyplanted. Its ecology and conservation are discussed by Pigott (1981). It occurs in central and southern Europe north toBritain and south-west Sweden. [t also occurs in eastern Europe, Asia Minor and the Caucasus.