Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

77* Thlaspi arvense. Field pennycress.Tetrads 43K and 53B (Hall 1980).Dumped soil in Pipping/ord Park (444.303), 1993, SBRS.Once a frequent weed of sandy ground and heavy clays, but now less common due toherbicides. It is still reasonably widespread in lowland Britain, Europe, Asia and North Africa.3 -++--""----'-1-4 5*/beris amara. Wild candytuft.Near Poundgate, Crowborough, doubtless imported with rubble, E. D. Margan (Wolley-Dod 1937).This is a Nationally Scarce Species in Britain (Showier 1994L which has always been rare in Sussex. Its occurrenceon imported rubble is of interest but where did the chalk come from? Firmin (1890) noted chalk was brought to spread onthe fields by a team of twelve donkeys from Short Bridge to the Warren Estate up to three times a week at one time (AFN27: 18). Short Bridge was the end of the Ouse Navigation where chalk was brought by canal from the South Downs.Leppard (1980) also noted that chalk was brought from Lewes to East Grinstead. However, Iberis is only a rare casual onthe South Downs and is unlikely to have come from there. Coleman (1836) recorded Anthy//is was probably brought toImberhorne with chalk from Godstone so we know chalk for roads was brought some distance, but Iberis is also rare inSurrey and occurs mainly in the Box Hill area. We will probably never know.It is native in west and southern Europe and North Africa.*Lepidium sativum. Cress.3 -++---"'--~-4-One plant at Home Farm, Pipping/ord Park (443.304), 1993, TR & PD. The cress 0/ 'mustardand cress', but more likely to have come from bird seed than out of a sandwich.A rare casual in Sussex but possibly under-recorded, and frequently mi5-identified as otherLepidium species. Scattered in Britain and Europe, and probably native in Egypt and westernAsia.4 5*Coronopus squamatus. Swine-cress, Star of the earth.Four scattered records, from clays around Nutley, imported with soil in Pippingford Park and aroadside near Faggot Stack Corner. It usually occurs in gateways and waste ground, often onclay soils.It is probably native in south-east England and much of Europe.3 -++----'''-----~-'-t-4 5*Coronopus didvmus. Lesser swine-cress.Five tetrad records on the Forest (Hall 1980).We have it scattered around in gardens, waste ground, car parks and on dumped soil. Ithas spread widely in Sussex and the British Isles since first introduced in the early eighteenthcentury, and is still increasing (Rich & Woodruff 1996); it has even reached the remote islands3 off the south-west Irish coast.Nobody knows for sure where in the world this plant originated from, but it is now acosmopolitan weed.4 5*Diplotaxis tenuifolia. Perennial wall-rocket.Recorded in Hall (1980) in tetrad 42N (Nutley, which must be from our area), 43H (old railway line at Forest Row outsideour area) and 53A, probably Crowborough.Not refound. It is doubtfully native in Britain usually being associated with commerce and habitation, and probablyoriginated in southern and central Europe.