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west had just been freshly coppiced.
Bryologically the flora was poor, due to
the dry open nature of the wood. Dicranella
heteromalla and Isopterygium elegans,
typical London Clay species, carpet ed the
ground in small patches, while Hypnum
cupressiforme (var. cup. and var. resup.)
and Isothecium myosuroides together with
Plagiothecium curvifolia and, less abundantly,
P. denticulatum, occurred on tree bases and
stumps. On the base of an old maple in
the ditch at the north-western end of the
wood a patch of Neckera complanata was
probably the most "exciting" find of the
23 mosses and one liverwort recorded.
Several small ponds in the wood were located
but all were found to be stagnant and silted
with leaves. The largest of these at the
western end of the wood had a dry island of
leaf litter in the centre surrounded by a
halo of damp ground. Here were found
colonies of Narrow Buckler fern, distinguished by
its creeping habit and concolorous basal
scales, (growing with some Broad Buckler fern)
and a relict patch of Sphagnum palustre,
about to expire.
Out in the sunshine at the western end of the
wood a delightful display of primroses was
located on ditch banks extending into the
distance, and in the ploughed field immediate-
ly south-west of the wood numerous pottery
fragments were found, one large one being
apparently medieval with large, circular,
finger-tip impressions.
Hyde Wood, Canewdon was very different. Its
rather large old maples and huge coppice