Flora of Ashdown Forest - Botanical Society of the British Isles

79aphanus raphanistrum. Wild radish.Tetrads 42U and 43M IHall 1980).We have four records from waste ground and arable land, usually as single plants.It is mainly a weed of light soils in Sussex and is widespread but scattered in Britain. Italso occurs in Europe, North Africa, Australasia and the Americas.3 -++-----'+-4 5RESEDACEAEReseda lutea/a. Weld, Dyer's rocket, Greenweed.Recorded in tetrad 42N in Hall 11980).One plant on a bareish area on the north side of the bridleway east of Nutley (451.277),1995, RN, the same tetrad as recorded by Ha)1.It is commonest on the chalk in Sussex and on railway land, and is widespread in3 southern Britain, Europe, western Asia and North Africa.Formerly cultivated for the yellow dye from its leaves,4 5ERICACEAE*Rhododendron ponticum. Rhododendron.Common on the Forest IHall 1980).On the Forest rhododendrons are spreading into woodland from adjacent privateproperties where they were planted (AFN 17: 14-16). So far from their original home in southwesternEurope and south-west Asia, they have largely escaped from their native pests and3diseases and their thick, waxy leaves are virtually untouched by our native fauna. TheAmerican lace bug, another alien, is feeding on them in parts of southern England. Fewinsects seem capable of exploiting the flowers, though honey bees are known to collect thepoisonous nectar.Plants with wilted leaves were very noticeable in the drought of 1995, though adjacentbushes could be growing apparently normally. There· were authorised sales by the Wood Reeve in 1980-1981 ofrhododendron tips for flower arrangements.The Conservators are fighting back to reverse the rhododendron invasion, by digging them up by the roots, or by theuse of herbicidal sprays which include a strong wetting agent to penetrate the wax. Though some rhododendron can befound on the open heath, this has yet to reach the epidemic, hill-covering proportions found in other areas, such asSnowdonia. They are widespread in Britain and increasing (Rich & Woodruff 1996).*Rhododendron luteum. Yellow azalea.A large bush well away from houses, east of Dalingridge Farm (399.322), 1987, AK (Briggs1990), and still there in 1994; one in Broadstone Warren 1423.324), 1995, flora meeting; oneon the boundary bank below the Ashdown Forest Centre (434.325) and one in the woodlandopposite Hindleap Warren entrance (419.319), 1995, CM.Inconsistently recorded in Sussex as an obvious garden escape (e.g. frequent onBlackdown, West Sussex but not previously noted, 1995, Rod Stern), and it can sometimesbecome established in abundance on acidic soils as at Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire. Itis a native of Asia Minor and the Caucasus.4 5