BOTANY GROUP MEETING - AUDLEY END
Ten members turned up for a leisurely stroll around the grounds of the Audley End
Mansion on rather a hot day. The original incentive for the meeting was to try and refind
Squinancywort, reported there in 1990 during a botanical survey for English Heritage,
and to see the only known site in the county for Wall Bedstraw. Our initial investigations
were concentrated on the marshy area to the north of the mansion where in all 33
Southern Marsh Orchids were located, along with Carex spicata,
C. acutiformis and C. riparia. Flora keys were put to the test on what we finally decided
was just Symphytum X uplandicum and came to the conclusion that in this case Clive
Stace's new key characters just did not work as well ass the old CTW! To the east of the
mansion a grassy bank sloping down to the ha ha produced Stemless Thistle, (Cirsium
acaule), Koeleria cristata, and the grass Helictotrichon pubescens, which is close to, and
easily overlooked 1 or Arrhenatherum, but has slightly larger brownish florets and hairy
leaf sheaths. Under a tree on top of the ha ha Tim Pyner spotted another unusual grass
Poa angustifolia which has narrow leaves like those of Festuca ovina. This grassy bank,
(which on Joan Mummery's advice is not cut until the end of the flowering season), also
produced 26 spikes of Common Spotted Orchid.
Having reached the end of the ha ha, the party then explored the outer wall for the very
rare Wall Bedstraw, Galium parisiene, but we were unable to find any new colonies. The
original colony found by Tim Pyner in 1992, occurs on the top of the wall, just east of
where the ha ha meets the outer wall. Unfortunately when he found it, English Heritage
were having the top of the wall rebricked using new bricks and cement instead of lime
mortar. Joan Mummery was able to intervene in time to ensure that an open box was
created on top of the wall to contain the original colony, but the rest of the wall is now an
unsuitable substrate.
Returning to the car park for lunch we had great difficulty in finding a spot on the grass
sans Canada Goose droppings! - and concluded that any Squinancywort that had come
up this year was probably flying overhead. Similarly the lake was heavily polluted with
goose droppings, and Zanichellia palustris was the only macrophyte in evidence.
Exploring the gardens to the west of the boathouse however we found quite a large
colony of Wall Lettuce, Mycelis muralis, this also turned up in quantity on the rocks of
the waterfall bridge. The large liverwort Conocephalum conicum was evident in several
places on stream banks, and Tim Pyner found the moss Trichostomopsis umbrosa on the
damp walls by the waterwheel. The alien waterweeds Lagarosiphon major and
Myriophyllum aquaticum were noted in a fountain pool to the west of the old mill bypass
channel.
Members of the party resolved to return in the winter to look for aquatic bryophytes in the
watermill area and to search the outer walls more thoroughly next year for Wall Bedstraw.
Ken Adams
Mark Hanson will be leaving his present address (and giving up his present phone
number) in November 1995. Any correspondence should be sent to his parents' address at
160 Princes Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex IG9 5DJ. He would like to acquire EFC
bulletins Nos. 2,3,5,9 and 11 in order to complete the set he has and will pay for them and
the postage. Any offers please contact Mark at the above address.