2005 Avon Gorge 23 April One Day Meeting
We met at Seawalls on Durdham in rather wet conditions which made the going very slippery and difficult for the first part. Iberis sempervivens (perennial candytuft) was seen on the cliff top with Lunaria annua (honesty) and Erysimum cheiri (wallflower) quickly following as we moved to the woodland gully. Here the narrow wet 'paths' were a problem but we were rewarded with Potentilla neumanniana (spring cinquefoil), Carex humilis (dwarf sedge), Arabis scabra (Bristol rock-cress) and Cerastium pumilum (dwarf mouse-ear). Polypodium cambricum (southern polypody) was added on moving towards the gully. Getting down and back up the gully was very difficult but we were rewarded with some fine tufts of Carex digitata (fingered sedge).
After this we moved to the area by the Observatory where we found two good plants of Arabis scabra. The cliff top here gave us Allium roseum (rosy garlic) A. carinatum (keeled garlic) and Nectaroscordum siculum (honey garlic) but unfortunately not in flower. Trees and shrubs here included a fine Quercus x crenata (Lucombe oak), which was planted, and Cotoneaster frigidus (tree cotoneaster) probably bird sown.
The weather here was improving so we moved over the Clifton Suspension Bridge to Leigh Woods. Sorbus anglica and Lathraea squamaria (toothwort) started this section off well. Further along the path were Ulmus procera (English elm), Sorbus bristoliensis (Bristol whitebeam), Sorbus aria (common whitebeam) and a fine show of Helleborus viridis (green hellebore) with its strange 'flowers. Moving towards the Avon Gorge were many clumps of Cardamine impatiens (narrow-leaved bitter-cress), not yet in flower. Sorbus porrigentiformis and S. latifolia were also found here. On a slightly different route back to the road more Lathraea squamaria was found.
The meeting lasted from 10.30am to 5pm and Peter Hilton our leader is to be congratulated for his patience and giving everybody a superb selection of rare and interesting plants.
TONY BUTCHER