10
Chenopodium urbicum (Upright Goosefoot) at Langdon Hills, 1995
Those of you whose principal encouter with the Chenopoiaceae consists of an ongoing
battle in the garden with Fat Hen (C. album) will doubtless look with incredulity upon
the excitement raised by the discovery of Chenopodium urbicum on Langdon Hills in
October 1995 (can one get excited about a Goosefoot?). Surely one goosefoot looks
much like another, and all qualify as scruffy weeds of the disturbed wayside, unworthy
of much more than a casual glance.
However, cognoscenti will appreciate that Chenopodium urbicum is now a decidely
rare species nationally. It is one of those species that prospered better in the past,
courtesy of traditional systems of agriculture that have since given way to modern
farming techniques. During the nineteenth century it was not uncommon, and many of
the herbarium specimens in Britain date from that time, or from the first half of the
twentieth century. By mid-century it had become decidely scarce and localised, with
records few and far between.
Langdon Hills has already yielded up several other non-scarce species that were
apparently more numerous under earlier systems of farm management. Most come
within the category of arable weeds and make their appearance when major soil
disturbance causes long-dormant seed to germinate. Over the past few years such
species as Corn Buttercup (Ranunculus arvensis), Broad-leaved Spurge (Euphorbia
platyphyllos), Larkspur (Consolida ajacis), Field Gromwell (Lithospermum arvense),
Wild Pansy (Viola tricolor), Rye Brome (Bromus secalinus), Nitgrass (Gastridium
ventricosum) and Winter Wild-oat (Avena sterilis ssp. ludoviciana) have all made their
appearance under such circumstances. Similarly Mousetail (Myosurus minimus) has
grown quite plentifully in some years on one particular farm. This all points to a quite
remarkable legacy from earlier years, preserved in an area where intensive systems of
modern agriculture have made only limited inroads into some parts of the Langdon
Hills ridge.
Chenopodium urbicum can be seen as part of that legacy. The clearance of the long-
established secondary woodland, much of it hawthorn, over the past two years was the
prelude to its appearance. The site had once been an area of unimproved pasture, and
the appearance of a considerable number of C. urbicum plants within some thirty or so
metres suggests that livestock may once have congregated in what was probably an
attractive south-facing and sheltered hollow, giving rise to relatively nitrate-rich
conditions underfoot.
The plants germinated during the winter of 1994-5, and they appear to have been
spurned by the rabbits that nibbled down many of the other species that grew up in the
suddenly exposed site (Trailing St. John's Wort - Hypericum humifusum - was another
species avoided by the rabbits). They also managed to survive the stresses of the
August drought, despite being in a decidely exposed and warm location. Their identity,
of course, could only be established once the plants had flowered and set seed, and the
chance to collect a piece for this purpose came on 1st October when I was out on a
chestnutting walk and raid with the rest of my family. Lengthy deliberation there and
then would have strained the patience of said folk to an ill-advised degree: this was
clearly a situation that called for the gathering of a representative fragment of a plant,