is from High Beach. Chaffweed (Anagallis minima), now gone and more properly a species of wet
sandy heaths, was known from a bog near the King's Oak at High Beach growing with Ivy-leaved
Bellflower (EN XIX p.229). Perhaps the most enigmatic records of bog plants to occur in the Forest
are the three species of Vaccinium listed by Gibson (1862). These species - Bilberry (V. myrtillus).
Cowberry (V. vitis-idaea) and Cranberry (V. oxycoccus) are rather more typica! of boggy moorland in
the north and west of Britain. They are extreme rarities in south-east England. It is clear they were
always rare in the Forest and the records, apart from that of Bilberry (reported from the Lower Forest),
were never adequately located. Bilberry, however, survives today as a presumed introduction in the
grounds of Wansfell at Theydon Bois, just outside the boundary of the Forest. The rare Bog Pondweed
(Potamogeton polygonifolius) was recorded from a bog near the Wake Arms in 1951. It was last seen
in 1963.
A number of typical bog species still survive precariously in the Forest today, not always in their
typical habitat. Bog-bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) is known from several ponds in the Forest. It was
at one time more widespread. It was known 'from a bog on Wanstead Heath' (EN XIX p.232). Royal
Fern (Osmunda regalis) was recorded from the Lower Forest (EN XIX p.230) and from Monk Wood
in 1919. It is found today only as a deliberate planting, but well established, by Knighton Pond. Bog
St. John's Wort (Hypericum elodes) was known from various Forest bogs from the late 18th century
onwards (EN XIX p.81). It is best known today from the boggy margins of the Wake Valley Pond.
Richard Warner (1771) provides us with the first record of Round-leaved Sundew in the Forest 'Found
on a boggy part of the Forest... opposite the Bald-faced Stag'. It was widely reported from the Forest
by Edward Forster (EN XIX p.234). Today Epping Forest is its only known site in Essex. It was known
from about 10 sites outside the Forest from which it has since disappeared. It is occasionally seen in
large numbers, 500 plants being noted on recently burnt ground on Sunshine Plain in 1969 and in
1970 about 1,000 plants were noted on the Lodge Road bog, along with abundant seedlings. By 1973
no trace was found of these plants. The Long-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia) is also sporadically
recorded from the Forest, never in such numbers as its previous mentioned relative. Bernard Ward
found 20 plants in 1970 after an apparent absence of some 40 years.
In 1951 Marsh Andromeda (Andromeda polifolia), a species of upland bogs, was introduced but
did not survive and in the following year Great Sundew (Drosera anglica) was also deliberately
planted, again not surviving. The nationally rare Marsh Fern (Thelypteris palustris), a species of fens,
marshes and bogs, was introduced to the Forest in 1973. Several plants were translocated from
Coopersale Common into some 15 sites, the original site being destroyed by the construction of the
M11 motorway.
3) Aquatic
Marsh
Epping Forest does not have any extensive areas of marshland, nor does it appear to have had any
in the distant past. Marsh is a transitional phase in the passage of open water to dry land. It is not a
stable habitat when developing over a small area. Marshy areas have arisen in a variety of ways in
the Forest. For example, where deltas have arisen from the deposition of silt from a feeder stream, as
has happened in Baldwins Hill Pond. Sometimes old gravel workings have accumulated much detritus
of vegetable origin and have dried out extensively, forming a marshy area. On other occasions, pits
or hollows near brooks receiving an occasional waterlogging as the brook floods have developed a
marshy vegetation. Marsh plants may also be found where the geology permits a spring line to form.
Typical marsh plants can also be found on the margins of many of the brooks and streamsides (slades)
in the Forest and also on the margins of ponds. Some neutral grasslands with impeded drainage can
also contain a marsh element in their flora. One such area is the ground immediately north-east of
Fairmead Pond. The name Broadstrood, referring to an area east of Monk Wood, is said to be derived
from Old English, meaning a wide marsh, probably referring to the wet margins of the brook which
runs through the area.
Common plants of marshy areas in the Forest include Reed Grass (Glyceria maxima), Water Mint
(Mentha aquatica), Gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus), Hairy Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) and
Woody Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara). Much less frequent are Meadowsweet (Filipendula
ulmaria), Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris), Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga), Comfrey
(Symphytum officinale), Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia), Water Forget-me-Not (Myosotis
scorpioides), Skull-cap (Scutellaria galericulata), Hemp Agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum) and
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