The woodland flora of the Forest of Writtle and surrounding area
have been present since at least 1981 - and a further 8-10 occur on the edges of both College Wood
(TL624016) and King Wood (TL669035).
Rubiaceae Bedstraw Family
Fen Bedstraw Galium uliginosum: Recorded from Writtle Park in Gibson and, remarkably, re-found
there by Stephen Wilkinson in 1999, when a small group of plants were located in a marshy hollow of
Great Edney set-aside field.
Common Marsh-bed straw Galium palustre: Fairly common and widespread along streams and in
other damp areas of woodland, both on acidic soils and the boulder-clay. Absent only from the drier
woods. All the woodland plants so far identified appear to belong to ssp. palustre, the more robust ssp.
elongatum being confined to stream-banks and marshy areas elsewhere.
Heath Bedstraw Galium saxatile: Confined to acidic soils. A species that responds well to coppicing
and which has benefited from the increase in this practice in recent years. It appeared in large numbers
in Deerslade Wood, following coppicing work in 1997-98, and in the heather-grassland at Mill Green
Common a year or so later, after it was cleared of Gorse and scrub. It has also been recorded in small
quantity in Stoneymore Wood, Great Edney Wood and set-aside field, Birch Spring, Barrow, Furness,
South, College and Fryerning Woods, on a heathy bank at Howlett's Hall and in Fryerning Churchyard.
Caprifoliaceae
Honeysuckle Family
Guelder Rose Viburnum opulus: Confined as a native shrub to alkaline soils in the north and west of
the survey area - where it is occasional on woodland margins - but also widely planted elsewhere.
Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus: This popular garden plant is well established in parts of South Wood.
It is sometimes introduced my gamekeepers as the berries are readily eaten by game birds.
Honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum: Recorded from every wood in the survey area and is common,
occasionally abundant, in many of them, particularly those in the main Forest complex. Unfortunately,
it is seldom seen in flower in the deeply shaded areas of neglected coppice where it often occurs.
Adoxaceae Moschatel Family
Moschatel Adoxa moschatellina: This denizen of damp shady woods and stream banks is fairly common
in both Park Ponds Spring and The Grove and has also been recorded from two areas on the banks of
the Heybridge Brook (TQ614995) in the extreme south of the survey area.
Asteraceae Daisy Family
Marsh Thistle Cirsium palustre: More a plant of damp grassland in this area - such as Great Edney set
aside field - than woodland but will readily move between coppice and other open areas in woods and
has been recorded from such sites at Edney and Mill Green Commons, Birch Spring, The Mores,
Writtle Park Wood, Hockley Shaw, Parkponds Spring; Barrow, King, Bosmore, South, Well, Osborne's
and Fryerning Woods, The Grove and The Hyde Lake. Less common on the boulder clay but present in
The Moors (Cooksmill Green).
Hairy Hawkweed Hieracium umbellatum; One of the few hawkweeds that is easy to identify as it is
the only member of its sub-section, Hieraciodes. A plant of sandy heathlands and other dry places it is
thinly scattered on the acidic sandy gravels of the Fryerning-Mill Green ridge, having been recorded
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)
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