The woodland flora of the Forest of Writtle and surrounding area
Heath-grass Danthonia decumbens: Recorded in Jermyn from Mill Green; not re-found there but a
small quantity was discovered in a coppiced area of Barrow Wood (TL631027) in June 2000. A local
and declining species in Essex.
Purple Moor-grass Molinia caerulea ssp. caerulea: Confined to Mill Green Common and its environs,
where it proved to be a ready colonist of cleared areas of headier-grassland and is now dominant over
a fairly large area. Also recorded elsewhere on the Common and from a nearby coppiced area of
Stoneymore Wood.
Liliaceae Lily Family
Lily of the Valley Convallaria majalis: Recorded from the Ingatestone area by Robert West's pupils at
the end of the nineteenth century; from Mill Green Wood and Stoneymore Wood by Jermyn and from
Mill Green Common by English Nature in the early 1990s but despite regular searches T have been
unable to re-find it at any of these sites and establish whether the native or more robust garden variety
is involved. A few planis which occasionally appear with the Garden Solomon-seal in Hockley Shaw
certainly belong to the latter.
Solomon's Seal Polygonatum multiflorum: The only record of this species, which is not considered
native to Essex, is of two plants found close to the footpath in Bushy Wood in July 2000.
Garden Solomon's Seal Polygonatum x hybridum: A large patch of this popular garden plant has been
present close to the footpath in Hockley Shaw for at least two decades.
Herb Paris Paris quadrifolia: A species that was among those found in the Ingatestone area by Robert
West's pupils at the end of the nineteenth century but which could not be re-found during the present
survey, either there or in the copses on the chalky boulder-clay.
Star-of-Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum: Another garden species that occasionally becomes
naturalised in the wild. It was recorded in Gibson from Writtle and in Jermyn from Mill Green and a
roadside verge at Highwood but was not re-found during the present survey.
Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta: Common and widespread throughout the area, not only in woodland
but on roadside banks and field ditches. Bushy and Osborne's Woods arc the two classic 'bluebell
woods' in the area - where this species dominates all other vegetation in the spring - but it occurs in
small quantity in the eight Forest springs and all ancient woodlands in adjacent parishes. Less common
in the smaller copses on the boulder-clay but present in most of them.
Spanish Bluebell Hyacinthoides hispanica: Recorded from South Wood and its environs, a road verge
alongside Birch Spring, Elmfield Farm Copse, The Hyde Lake and Skreens Park Wood; also the hybrid
between this and the above in the last two sites.
Three-cornered Garlic Allium triquetrum: Long naturalised in Elmfield Farm Copse, where up to a
dozen plants flower each spring.
Ramsons Allium ursinum: Recorded in Gibson's time from Daffy (Nightingale) Wood, where it is still
plentiful, and during the present survey from three sites at Hylands Park, including the Writtle Belt
extension to South Wood.
Snowdrop Galanthus nivialis: Naturalised on Mill Green Common, at Hylands Park, The Hyde Lake
and in Elmfield Farm Copse; scattered records elsewhere, mostly on roadside verges, but absent from
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)