Problems in elm and rose Identifications
Reproductive strategies
Each year the elms flower- sometimes prolifically - and produce masses of empty, winged 'fruits'.
Spring 1997 was an exception however, and the seeds were well developed. Seeds were collected
and, within a day or two, some nine were sown into pots. They were laid on the surface of damp
compost, and seven healthy seedlings resulted. Germination was rapid, but seed sown later, or
covered by compost, failed. No two seedlings were alike. They ranged from a very short albino
specimen to a very tall, branching and vigorous plant. These trees were grown on, and three have
been planted in Markshall Estate.
If elm seed can be so easily germinated, why are no seedlings found in the wild? Is it because they
arc immediately eaten? It is always assumed that all young growth is the result of suckering, but this
may not always be so. During this study young elms were found growing in about 7cm of leaf mould
covering a World War ll-age concrete floor.
Results II
Roses
For the original, tentative dating of the 'hedge1 that was once part of Florie's Wood, the roses were
all recorded as Rosa agg. However, it was soon obvious that there were wide differences between
one rose bush and the next. From very early spring, the roses differed in the time of first leafing, as
well as the colour and thominess of the stems, and the overall height of the bushes
On the grounds of habit alone we identified Rosa arvensis Huds., with fine blue-grccn shrubby
stems, emphasised with crimson on sunlit sides, scrambling along the bottom of the hedge. By June,
the bunches of relatively small flowers, in their dairy colours of white and cream with butter-yellow
anthers, make this species easily seen at a distance. The long flower stalks are covered with glands,
and, as the rounded hips develop, the styles form a long slender pillar with a knob of stigmas on the
top. The small dark sepals soon fall. The leaves too are distinctive, usually having seven small,
toothed leaflets on a rachis that has glands and pricklets.
The other roses were less easy to differentiate. The stout, strong, and numerous prickles on some,
contrasted with the scattered prickles of others. As the leaves began to unfurl, it was obvious that
some were dull, soft and hairy, R. tomentosa Sm., whilst others were glossy, bright green and gla-
brous. On sunny days, one or two bushes advertised their presence by their scent of warm apple, or
a rather sharp, almost chemical, aroma.
The common dog-rose, R. canina L., is indeed common, but it exists in many forms. The glossy
mid-green leaves have toothed edges, either simple, or bearing smaller teeth on the petiole side of
the larger teeth. The flowers are usually pale pink, and the long, frilly-edged sepals bend down over
the developing hip and then soon fall. The hips vary in shape, with the stigmas forming a small,
brown, rounded knob in the middle of the disc, like an old-fashioned china tea-pot lid. There are no
glands on the pedicels.
R. canina Sub-Groups
The group Lutetianae is the most typical - without any hairs, and, at most, glands only on the edges
of the stipules. Thirteen of the individual plants in the 333-metre hedge, belonged to this group.
Group Dumales had only one representative - stipules densely edged with shiny red glands which
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 18 (2001)