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Since 1973, when recording closed for the Flora of Essex,
recording of both higher plants and bryophytes has con-
tinued, and recently cataloguing of material in the Essex
museum herbaria has been started. In this article, I
shall mention some of the new and interesting records
that haue been turned up as a result of field recording
since 1973 and searching of herbarium material.
Jerry Heath at the Colchester Museum has begun to catalogue
the Carex species both at Colchester and in the Saffron
Walden herbarium, and the specimens haue been where
necessary authenticated either by Clive Jermy or Dick
David. The specimen of Carex dioca collected in the 1860's
by J. Clarke at Galleywood has been located and confirmed
as a new county record, as haue specimens of Carex elata
(often confused with forms of C. nigra) he collected from
a pond at Wimbish in 1862. A specimen of Carex echinata
and material of C. hostiana collected at Ashdon make one
wonder whether these plants still survive somewhere in the
Ashdon area. Carex echinata appeared to be heading for
extinction in Essex at the time the Flora was written, but
it has appeared in some quantity in an area cleared by fire
in Lords Bushes, Epping Forest, and in the bog at Galley-
wood Common cleared by ENT volunteers in 1977. Attempts to
rejuvinate some of our acid bogs haue met with considerable
success in recent years. Lesser Skullcap, Scutellaria
minor, has reappeared on Danbury Common, and in the newly-
cleared bogs at Galleywood and Woodham Walter Common in
some quantity. Given plenty of light and wet feet, this
plant seems to recover rapidly. An added bonus on Danbury
Common was the apprearance of the Bog Pimpernel, Anagallis
tenella in one of the clearings.
Two plants that haue been rediscovered in Essex that were
thought to be long extinct are the Fly Orchid, Ophrys
insectifera, found by Brian Adams, and Forster's Woodrush,
Luzula forsteri, found in two separate but nearby locations
by Tony Boniface and Janet Adams. The Codham Hall Wood
site has since been bulldozed to make way for the M25.
A number of other species thought to be extinct at the time
of writing of the Flora of Essex have since been refound.
The fritillaria meleagris, last seen in 1964 according to
the Flora, has turned up in several places around Warley,
and the Sickle-leaved Hare's-ear, Bupleurum falcatum, was