Fig. 1. Disc florets, immature and mature achenes of
Tripleurospermum maritimum. Sea Mayweed
('Droopy Boobs'). St.Osyth. 2006.
clumps of Suaeda vera, the
Shrubby Sea-blite, were duly
mapped, and periodic sorties
were made onto the saltings to
look at the Sea Lavenders and
Spartinas. Although some of the
Sea Lavender clumps looked as
if they might have some
Limonium humile genes in their
makeup, it was decided that none
of them were pure enough to be
recorded as such. Tim Pyner
however, was able to show us
substantial colonies of our only original Cord-grass, Spartina maritima. This was
impossible to map in detail, as unlike its paler half-child S. anglica, it has olive-green
foliage that is difficult to spot among the other salt marsh vegetation. It was however
present in considerable quantity along the edges of minor rills quite close inshore, virtually
all the way along the saltings from a point level with Pincushion Island to Stone Point.
Spartinas have a dense fringe of hairs instead of a membranous ligule, those of S. maritima
being less than a millimetre high, as opposed to 2-3mm, and the anthers are only c.4mm
long, - compared to those of S. anglica which can be up to 10mm.
At Stone Point, a substantial patch of around twenty Suaeda vera clumps was encountered,
and on the gently shelving shore a small colony of Elytrigia juncea. Sand Couch was
spotted. In front of the bungalows and chalets by the second flexure in the wall off the
point, a linear thicket of the Tree mallow Lavatera arborea was noted, plus a single plant
of Rumex crispus var. littoreus, and right by the concrete path, a large bush of Rosa sherardii
in full fruit. A new tick for most of us. Rounding the point to the western shore, we were
encouraged to see a substantial colony of Sea Holly, Eryngium maritimum on a raised
beach right in front of the houses, and further along a thriving patch of Sea Spurge,
Euphorbia paralias. What everyone hoped was to be a suitable finale, a patch of putative
Hordeum murinum var. leporinum fooled us all, and turned out to be just the common var.
murinum. Nevertheless it taught us the lesson, that when observing the triple florets of
this species, they should be viewed from the inside, otherwise the two sterile outer florets
mask the base of the fertile inner one and give the impression of a shorter pedicel.
Most entrepids were demob happy by 5o'clock, and vanished on returning to the Mill
Dam, but an investigation of an earlier find by Tim Pyner revealed that the concrete
balustrade on the inner side of the causeway, walling off the lake, had clumps of very
dead and dried up, but nevertheless distinctive clumps of the BSBI Scarce grass
Parapholis incurva, growing in the angle between the cappings and the uprights, rounding
off the day. despite being a very odd place to find it.
26
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 52, January 2007