21
now thought to be a probable native in its more persistent localities,
so any recent data on the long established colony at Shoebury would be
welcome.
Finally, our magnificent Orobanche crenata, a broomrape from southern
Europe that established itself sometime prior to 1975 on a colony of
Smooth Tare (Vicia tetrasperma)— at the edge of a reed-bed in Cranham
Harsh, - should I feel be added to the Red Data list, if only in
admiration for its tenacity in surviving our climate! In a good year up
to 200 spikes appear, despite herbicide spraying and stubble fire damage
from the farm next door.
3 ESSEX VICE-COUNTY RED DATA LISTS
The idea of drawing up 'red data lists' for each Vice-county came from
the realisation that many of our plants, though generally thought to be
still quite common nationally, are nevertheless rapidly decreasing in
abundance and are beginning to be isolated in scattered localities. In
order to detect those that might be heading for the National Red Data
Book in time to do something about it, V.c. recorders have been asked to
draw up lists of plants for each of their V.c's that are now only found,
or are thought to occur, in 3 or less of the 1 x 1 km squares within
each Vice-county. When the draft list was compiled for Essex (V.c's 18 &
19), in cooperation with Derry Heath, John Fielding and John Skinner, a
staggering total of 87 species on our lists for North and South Essex
provided ample confirmation of a dramatic decline over the last decade.
Furthermore, several such as Filago gallica and Filago lutecsens had to
be left out as they are believed to be extinct. We also have grave doubts
about Ceterach officinalis, Gnaphalium sylvaticum, Potamogeton compressus,
Valerianella dentata, Lithospermum arvense, Scandix pecten-veneris; and
what about Corn Crowfoot (Ranunculus arvensis), does this still appear
regularly in the cornfields around Tollesbury ? These and several others
are prefixed by a ? in the list. Recent records of any of them would be
very valuable. Many of the plants on the list may still occur sporadically
as casuals, or occasionally long-lived seed may be elevated by deep
ploughing as has happened in the case of the Cornflower on two occasions
in recent years, - but stable populations of this and a number of other
species now no longer exist in Essex.
On the other hand new discoveries of additional localities for our
rarest plants keep on occurring, and occasionally new plants are added
for the county. A new site for Fritillary, somewhere in the Coggeshall
area has been reported this year, - does anyone know exactly where ?
Jasione montana, Trifolium suffocatum and Alopecurus bulbosus have
recently been reported from the Shoebury area by John Skinner and Jerry
Heath, all three 'new' to Essex although they have clearly been around a
long time as a glance at Gibson's Flora will confirm. Similarly, the finding
of a large colony of Carex laevigata in Holdens Wood by Brian Coombes,
and more recently smaller ones in Friday Wood by Jerry Heath, and in the
Little Baddow area by Geoffrey Pyman, highlights the fact that many parts
of our county have been less than well scutinised. On the other hand John
Fielding's discovery of a large colony of Centaurium pulchellum in the
centre of a wood close to Stansted Airport is a genuine plus for the county
list, as is ths large colony of Harsh Violet discovered by Les Cloutman
in Epping Forest. The discovery of Monotropa in Grays Chalk Pit, and a new
Man Orchid site in another Grays pit (Fred Rumsey); fourteen clumps of
Luzula forsteri in the Claybury fragment of Hainault Forest (Peter Ellis)
— where Forster originally discovered it new to science; the Carex elata
from Harts Wood (Tim Pyner, and conf. Clive Jermy), together with the large
colony of Helleborus viridis discovered by Pincey Brook — all suggest that