1996 South West Scotland 9th to 10th July Main Meeting
The car-park at Newton Stewart was the meeting place for the 17 members who met Mrs Olga Stewart on 9 July for the first day of this two-day meeting. Our first call was to a small lane near Minnigaff Church where Senecio doria (Golden Ragwort) was well naturalised on waste ground; and nearby Borago pygmaea (Slender Borage) still thrived despite several attempts by the landowner to eradicate it. Different sites visited during the morning gave us a number of other naturalised plants, including the pretty Rosa multiflora, and Dicentra formosa (Bleeding Heart) covered a woodland bank at Strathmaddie. A disused quarry at Creetown had Juncus foliosus (Leafy Rush) with its dark line on each side of the tepal midribs. Then, up on Cambret Moor, we found a delightful flush with Parnassia palustris (Grass of Parnassus), Eriophorum latifolium (Broad-leaved Cottongrass) and Gymnadenia conopsea ssp. borealis. Four different Euphrasias (Eyebrights) were demonstrated by Dr Alan Silverside, including two hybrids: how many of us will recognise them again? A highlight for everyone was Polystichum x bicknellii, the hybrid Shield-fern which Olga had had determined, in woods at Kirkdale with both parents present for comparison. The banks of the River Cree were the final call of the day where we saw many more naturalised species, including Onoclea sensibilis (Sensitive Fern), Sanguisorba canadensis (White Burnet) and both Day Lilies, Hemerocallis fulvaand H. lilioasphodelus.
The following day, again warm and sunny, began at Anwoth where we were shown Hypericum forrestii with its long styles and yellow anthers. From the Tarff Water, Olga fished out for us Potamogeton praelongus (Long-stalked Pondweed), and the hybrid Potamogeton x zizii (Long-leaved Pondweed) both first recorded here a hundred years ago. An extensive piece of waste ground at Castle Douglas had many garden escapes, notably Alchemilla conjuncta (Silver Lady's mantle) and Saponaria ocymoides (Rock Soapwort).
Finally we visited the beach at Southerness. Elytrigia x laxa, the hybrid between Common and Sand Couch, was on the mudflats, while on the grassy dunes we saw Coincya monensis ssp. monensis (Isle of Man Cabbage), Carum verticillatum (Whorled Caraway) and some hybrid Equisetums. But the most eye-catching plant was Genista tinctoria (Dyer's Greenweed) which splashed gold over the dunes. Artemisia stelleriana (Hoary Mugwort) was our final plant, this time making a lovely silver splash, as it has here since 1979. The sea air had given us all a keen appetite and back at Mr and Mrs Stewart's house at New Abbey a wonderful tea had been laid out for us. Heartfelt thanks to Olga and Frank from us all for the considerable amount of work and preparation put in for us for a thoroughly enjoyable two days.
WENDY MCCARTHY