Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

66*Tilia x vUlgaris. Lime.3 +f--------'-j-Five tetrads on the south side of the Forest, hardly naturalized (Hall 1980).Our trees are probably all planted near habitation, but only two match Hall's tetradrecords indicating it has been variably recorded by both his and our recorders. One saplingwas found in Forest Row (43.33), 1993, TR. We agree that it is not really naturalized.The hybrid has been widely planted in Britain and Europe since the middle ages (Pigott1991 ),4 5MALVACEAEMalva moschata. Musk~mallow.Five tetrads in Hall (1980),Scattered around the Forest on grassy verges, car parks (e.g. abundant at ChurlwDod,417.311), hedge banks and pastures. It avoids the more acidic soils, and is still frequent inunimproved grassy places in England, though decreasing (Rich & Woodruff 1996).Widespread but mainly western in Europe, and found in North Africa.It is a very pretty plant, and is sometimes grown in gardens. Hanbury (1917) grew a4 5locally-collected white-flowered form in his garden at Brockhurst, but we have not seenwhite musk-mallows on the Forest. He also noted that seeds collected from it gave somewhite- and some pink-flowered plants.Ma/va sy/vestris. Common mallow, Cheese plant.Four tetrads on the south side of the Forest (Hall 1980).We have recorded it as scattered mainly around the edges of the Forest. If you havetime on a sunny day it is worth watching this species, as the leaves track the sun. Thesignal is detected in the pulvinus where the leaf joins the stalk, and movement seems to be3 initiated by the blue component of sunlight only.4 5Hall (1980) notes it is almost absent from the High Weald and the Wadhurst clay whichis interesting for a plant otherwise widespread in lowland Britain. It is widespread in Europesouth of the Baltic.*Ma/va neglecta. Dwarf mallow.Recorded once on introduced soil in Pippingford Park (444.302), 1993, SBRS.It is quite an uncommon plant in Sussex, and grows mainly on light soils. In Britain itoccurs mainly in the south-east, and is widespread in Europe except the north. Also foundin Asia and North Africa.J -++---''''--~---L+-4 5* Alcea rosea. Hollyhock.Recorded as a garden escape south of Nutley (44.26), 1994, TR, but scarcely naturalized.Occasionally naturalized in Britain. Its origin is obscure, but it may be from China.3 -++-~~~-----'--+-