no broken parts, but this is only because Patrick thought the whole fruiting bodies made
a better picture than the half eaten ones higher up.
The second thing we saw was a distorted native Bluebell (see plate 2). The leaves were
all normal, as you can sec in the picture of the whole plant. But one flowering stem was
most curious; it was nearly 3cm broad, but the normal thickness, but ridged, as though
about 10 stems had been partly fused together. The flowers on top appeared almost
normal, in spite of the broad wedge-shaped tip of the stem. We immediately suspected
polyploidy, i.e. too many sets of chromosomes, but it was only in one flowering stem.
Someone suggested a virus had probably caused the aberration, and one localised in the
flowering stem only. Later, we noticed another one not far away, with a stem about the
width of 3 stems, not so badly afflicted as the first one, so that tended to confirm our
theory of a virus attack. Does anyone out there know anything further about this?
I learned something else that day too about tree growth. We discussed the habit about 2
centuries ago of planting trees in bundles of 5 or 6 together, to get increased growth and
produce trees that looked much older than they actually were. I have seen a double line of
Oaks planted like that near Wanstead Flats. But, another advantage, if trees were to be
planted in places where deer or other big mammals were around, was that these bundles
were more resistant to the bark being chewed off. We all know that destroying a whole ring
of bark destroys the tree, as there are no transport vessels in the inside wood, only near the
bark. But with bark inside too, these ones can still survive and grow, albeit more slowly.
Inside my garden shed one day I found a strange-looking cluster of tiny golden yellow
bits, which scattered as I moved towards them: they were tiny spiders, about 1 mm long,
and there must have been hundreds of them. I got my hand lens to have a further look.
When I returned, they had all gathered together again, but as before, they scattered as I
got near. This time I could actually see several individuals, all identical, with a glistening
golden body, a dark brown/black blotch on the tip of the abdomen, and 8 legs speckled
brown and gold. They were very attractive, but I expect most will be dinner for a small
bird or a big insect, or even the female spider who was their mother.
Our garden is always full of surprises. Now you have to realise that, just as we are not
birders, we are not gardeners either. Real gardeners never stop gardening, but we do it in
fits and starts. Today we discovered some plum suckers that were well over 2 metres
high, hiding behind some Holly, then we found some Garlic Mustard that was 1 1/2 metres
tall hiding behind a Cydonia, and a Dandelion (in fruit of course, we were too late again!)
1 metre high also near the Cydonia. The weeds - ooops, sorry, the unwanted wild flowers
- have enjoyed the recent warmth and rain and shot up more than usual this spring; we are
more used to a drought at this time of year. But then we really concentrate our efforts on
preserving the Bithynian Vetch, the Moth Mullein, tire Tree Mallow (not the garden one,
but the one that grows on the slopes behind the beach at Clacton and Frinton, i.e. Lavatera
arborea), our blue Scarlet Pimpernel, and others.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 51, September 2006
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