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The Atlas 2000 Survey - a review of TL60
leaved Kickxia spuria Fluellens while Dwarf Spurge Euphorbia exigua, Corn Mint Mentha arvense.
Field Penny Cress Thlaspi arvense and Long-headed Poppy Papaver dubium seem to be holding
their own and both Fig-leaved Goosefoot Chenopodium ficifolium and Cut-leaved Deadnettle Lamium
hybridum show signs of increasing throughout the area. County-wide, three very rare arable weeds
- Broad-leaved Spurge Euphorbia platyphyllos, Corn Buttercup Ranunculus arvensis and Shepherd's
Needle Scandix pecten-veneris are all reputedly enjoying something of a mini-renaissance and so it
was pleasing to find a couple of sites for each of these. The rarest cornfield weeds in the square
would appear to be Field Gromwell Lithospermum arvense, Cora Spurrey Spergularia arvense,
Treacle Mustard Erysimum cheiranthoides, Shining Cranesbill Geranium lucidum and Field
Pepperwort Lepidium campestre with but a single record for each.
When I first began botanising (about ten years ago) I assumed that pasture would be richer in wild
flowers than arable land. Disillusionment was swift. Agro-scientists seem to have decreed that the
ideal mix for meadows and hayfields consists of around six species of grass and because it is relatively
easy to eradicate broad-leaved weeds from grassland crops that is exactly what you get - a botanical
nightmare! I still recall with pain criss-crossing around one hundred acres of pasture near Blackmore
without even finding a patch of White Clover Trifolium repens let alone anything as exotic as a
Common Mouse Ear Cerastium fontanum! Even semi-improved pasture (the improved grassland of
twenty years ago) with its mix of grasses such as Meadow Foxtail Alopecurus pratense, Sweet
Vernal Anthoxanthum odoratum, Timothy Phleum pratense and Perennial Rye Lolium perenne and
broad-leaved plants like Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus acris, Common Sorrel Rumex acetosa.
Black Medick Medicago lupulina. Yarrow Achillea millefolium and both White and Red Clovers
Trifolium pratense are in serious decline.
As for natural grassland, the discovery of even the tiniest of unimproved meadows is cause for a jig
nowadays; mentally if the site is overlooked by houses, literally if it is not! One such, at Ingatestone,
is dominated by Tufted Hair Grass Deschampsia cespitosa but the rabbit-cropped areas are thick
with the likes of Pignut Conopodium majus. Marsh Thistle Cirsium palustre and patches of Sneezewort
Achillea ptarmica while the wetter patches support Devil's Bit Scabious Succisa pratensis. Brown
Sedge Carex disticha, Marsh Foxtail Alopecurus geniculatus and swathes of Greater Bird's Foot
Trefoil Lotus pedunculatus; another, at Norton Heath, contains many of these together with Marsh
Bedstraw Galium palustre, Jointed Rush Juncus articulatus, Ragged Robin Lychnis flos-cuculi,
Imperforate St John's Wort Hypericum maculatum, Common Fleabane Pulicaria dysenterica and
Lesser Spearwort Ranunculus flammula,
Churchyards arc often a rich source of unimproved grassland although here, as on farmland, the
current obsession with tidiness holds sway, even where a more relaxed mowing regime would be
unlikely to cause offence. Of the nine churchyards in the square those at Fryerning, Highwood and
Ch ignal St James have the best floras but only the first named is actively managed with wild flowers
in mind. Typical plants of the acidic grassland at this site are Betony Stachys officinalis, Mouse Ear
Hawkweed Pilosella officinarum, Ox Eye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgaris, Cat's Ear Hypochaeris
radicata, Knapweed Centaura nigra and Field Wood Rush Luzula campestris but it also supports
Weasel's Snout Misopates orontium, Chamomile Chamaemelum nobile, Sheep's Fescue Festuca
ovina and a few stunted Green-winged Orchids Orchis morio, none of which, as far as I know, occur
elsewhere in the square. This site is complemented by a small area of damp acidic grassland at
nearby Mill Green Common, owned by Lord Petre and currently managed by Brentwood District
Council. Ling Calluna vulgaris, Green-ribbed Sedge Carex binervis, Oval Sedge Carex ovalis,
Bulbous Rush Juncus bulbosus, Early Hair Grass Aira praecox, Purple Moor Grass Molinia caerulea
and Heath Bedstraw Galium saxatile are among the more notable plants to be found here. Such
areas are even rarer on the sweeter soils to the north and west and arc largely confined to a few
roadside verges, particularly along the A1060. An exception is the remains of an old, grassed over
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)