15
received an assisted passage into the garden,
was Sticky Groundsel, but in this instance it
probably arrived on the soles of my shoes from
the beach at Bradwell - a regular haunt of mine
- as it appears to be uncommon locally. Pride
of place in the summer of 1988 went to a Common
Amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus) . which
eventually reached a height of four feet or
more arc produced what seemed like millions of
seeds, none of which, strangely' enough,
succeeded in germinating.
The monsoon of 1988 was followed by the drought
of 1989 and the long hot summer encouraged a
flush of exotic grasses whose origin, I
suspect, was the bird seed thrown down in the
winter. Millet, Cockspur, Yellow Cat Grass
and Large Quaking Grass not only flowered but
set seed as well and, in addition, both a
Crucifer and a tare appeared, neither of which
I could identify. The Crucifer, which
attained a height of eighteen inches, had
mealy, multi—branched, grey—green stems;
deeply cut, pinnafitid leaves, both above and
below; three inch long racemes of tiny white
flowers and seedpods that resembled those of
the Field Penny Crass, only smaller. The tare
was of vigorous growth, had densely hairy stems
and leaves; small, pale lilac, occasionally
white flowers and inch long, deep bodied,
glabrous pods. Both presumably originated
from the same warm climes as the grasses.
Whilst all this was going on one group of
plants - the mosses were quietly colonising
the garden; the house and shed roofs yielding
species such as Tortula muralis, ruralis and