1996 Surrey 13th July Local Meeting
Not for the first time, lan and Paul Green set our season off to a fine start with a meeting on 10 March in the Quantocks of Somerset to which 22 people came. lan writes that the cold weather turned out in fact to have been lucky as two of the very early specialities were a picture to see, Leucojum vernum (Spring Snowflake) and the snowdrop Galanthus plicatus ssp. byzantinus. The Green Hellebore and the Snake's Head Iris each produced one flower and Chrysosplenium alternifolium(Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage) a few. In a small stream, a few plants of Aponogeton distachyos (Water Hawthorn or Cape Pondweed) were seen; lan does not say whether or not they were in flower! In the case of the last special plant seen that day, the question of flowering hardly arises: it was Hymenophyllum tunbridgense(Tunbridge Filmy Fern) in a steep, wet combe in the Quantock Hills.
A three-month gap separates this meeting from the next one reported to me, though I think there are others to fill it and I hope I may be able to report on them later. On 24 June Pippa Hyde led 16 people in a joint meeting with the London Natural History Society along the Thames towpath and nearby meadows in the neighbourhood of Richmond in Surrey. This walk is always enjoyable, producing a fair show of the to-be-expected water-loving plants, and the one 'dry' rarity, Knotted Bur Parsley Torilis nodosa. Later in the day the walls of Ham House did not fail to display their special hawkweed, Hieracium speluncarum. Prickly Poppy Papaver argemone and Hairy Vetchling Lathyrus hirsutus were other nice finds.
The Green brothers had another crowd-puller - 20 people - in a different part of Somerset - the Mackrells, Charlton and Adam - on 30 June, and a fresh set of exciting plants. The Green Down nature reserve had butterflies as well as many uncommon plants; the former, to quote Paul, "had a few people running around". There was of course a dock hybrid, R. cripus x sanguineus, and a very recherche rose one indeed - Rosa micrantha x obtusifolia, determined by Mr Primavesi. lan completed an excellent day vith Althaea hirsuta, one plant in a new site for the county.
July 13 was the date of a downland meeting in Surrey led by Noreen and Roy Sherlock. There were a number of orchids still to be seen - Bee, Frog and Pyramidal - also Phyteuma orbiculare (Round-headed Rampion) and the hybrid between Hedge and Lady's Bedstraws, Galium x pomeranicum. Garden escapes, to be applauded and appreciated when well established, included Cephalaria gigantea (Giant Scabious) and Japanese Lanterns Physalis alkekengi. Fifteen people enjoyed the day.
It is very difficult to write summarily about Nick Rumens' day in the New Forest on 28 July; the whole area is so full of rare and special plants, and the party of eight saw so many of them. For my part, the 'best' of them are perhaps Rhynchospora fusca (Brown Beak-sedge), Hammarbya paludosa (Bog Orchid), Utricularia minor (Lesser Bladderwort) and what Nick describes as "an apple green sward ofEleocharis acicularis" actually with visible flowers. But I cannot omit to mention Cicendia filiformis (Yellow Centaury), Elatine hexandra (Six-stemmed Waterweed), "the cherry-red flowers looking absolutely exquisite under the lens", and Pillwort Pilularia pilulifera, pills and all. What a day!
I do heartily recommend these one-day excursions. New members, as I think I have said before, do join them.
EDITOR: Mrs E Norman