Flora News Newsletter of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Flora Group No. 57 Autumn 2019 Published September 2019 In This Issue Forthcoming Events ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Reports of Recent Events .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Features Wood Burdock (Arctium nemorosum Lej.) – does it actually exist in Hampshire? .... Martin Rand ...................12 Atlas 2020: the last push ............................................................................................ Martin Rand ...................14 Recording in the field: an app for phones and tablets ................................................ Martin Rand ...................19 Floral extinctions from the commons of the New Forest: 1876–2000 ........................ Clive Chatters ................19 Lichen extinctions in the New Forest ......................................................................... Neil Sanderson ..............22 A proposed new vascular plant indicator list for lowland dry acid grassland ............. John Norton ...................24 Recording Hampshire Lichen Report 2018–19 ........................................................................... Neil Sanderson ..............31 VC12 Records ............................................................................................................ Tony Mundell .................36 Membership and Recording Information .................................................................................................................. 44 Dear Flora Group member In this issue we have details of events to be held during autumn/winter 2019. Martin Rand has kindly arranged a visit on Saturday 2 November to Portsmouth City Museum to see the important herbarium and hear a talk about the museum and the history of its collections. Please see the forthcoming events section of this newsletter for further details about this event. On Saturday 16 November 2019 we will hold our ever-popular, annual Flora Group/BSBI Exhibition Meeting at Testwood Lakes Education Centre, so do join us for this sociable opportunity to catch up with fellow botanists during the dark days of winter and look forward to botanising in the year ahead. Please note that this year the Exhibition Meeting is being held in November rather than December. We are very grateful to everyone who helps to organise Flora Group events and, as usual, we welcome your suggestions for Flora Group activities. Please raise your ideas with any of the Committee members – Sarah Ball (Chairman), Catherine Chatters, Clive Chatters, Andy Cross, Isobel Girvan, Gareth Knass, Tony Mundell, John Norton, Martin Rand or Neil Sanderson. We are always keen for more people to provide contributions to Flora News on any relevant botanical topics. If you have enjoyed any of the Flora Group events and would like to write a report we would be very pleased to receive it. Please send your articles, notes or reports to Catherine Chatters (Flora Group Secretary) at [email protected] or to her home address which is given at the end of this newsletter. Catherine Chatters John Norton Flora Group Secretary Editor Cover photo: Adder’s-tongue Spearwort (flower and foliage) and Starfruit (fruit, left hand side of picture); both victims of the shrinking open Forest. Photographed in cultivation in a Hampshire garden, May 2019 (Clive Chatters). See article, p. 19. Forthcoming Events several tasks you might like to become involved in subsequently, including cataloguing specimens onto Please note that for some Flora Group events prior computer, checking identifications, and repairing and booking is required. If so, this will be stated clearly in remounting material in poor condition. the text relating to that particular event. It would be useful if you could let the leader know if you are intending to If travelling by car, please come to the gate at the east participate in an event. The leader would then be able end of the site and park at the back of the museum to inform you if the event has to be cancelled or let you building. Note that this is the City Museum; don’t make know about any other unforeseen circumstances. Bring for the Natural History Museum (Cumberland House). a packed lunch and suitable footwear to all meetings. Portsmouth and Southsea Station is about 1km away on foot, and numerous bus services run nearby, including connections with the National Express coach Saturday 2 Nov 2019, 10.15am–3.45pm to Portsmouth Harbour. On arrival, come to the main Herbarium Visit Portsmouth City Museum, Museum Road, PO1 2QQ Leaders: Martin Rand and Christine Taylor This is an opportunity to get to know Hampshire’s other public institutional herbarium; it has an important collection of specimens from Sussex and Hampshire, some of great historical interest. Please book with Martin Rand (details on back page) so that we have an idea of numbers. The day will start with a talk by Christine Taylor, Natural Sciences curator at Portsmouth Museums, on the museum and the history of the collections. There will then be a chance to examine material at leisure and learn some new skills. Volunteers to support the curation of the herbarium are always welcome, and there are Flora News No. 57, September 2019 2 www.hiwwt.org.uk reception desk and say you are there for the meeting We then discussed what to collect for any particular plant. with Christine Taylor. Martin stressed the importance of carrying an ID guide in the field, to check identifying features of the genus or There is a small café on site serving sandwiches, drinks species in question. We should then pick all the parts and light lunches; otherwise bring a packed lunch, or – but no more than necessary – essential for making make use of food stores a short walk away. We suggest a diagnosis. He urged us to photograph plants as well a donation of £5 to support the work of the museum. as collecting them, taking care to show the ID features; and recommended Adrian Davies’ book ‘Digital Plant Saturday 16 November 2019, 11am-4pm Photography’ for tips and GIMP software (see https:// Flora Group/BSBI Exhibition Meeting www.gimp.org) for editing photos. Referees sometimes Testwood Lakes Education Centre, Totton, SU 345 want photos as well as samples, but it is important to 155 check each one’s requirements in the BSBI Handbook We will continue this traditional winter get-together/social before sending anything – and whatever you do, don’t event, so please bring along cakes and other goodies to post samples in plastic bags or with any moisture as eat, or sandwiches for us to share, plus your specimens, they’ll turn into a soggy black mess before they arrive! photos, material for display boards and any other On to pressing. Martin showed us different presses and botanical talking point. This is a splendid informal event materials available. He then demonstrated how to place a for meeting others interested in Hampshire’s wildflowers. specimen in a ‘flimsy’ of newspaper and pack it between A digital projector will be available, so please can you sheets of blotting paper and corrugated cardboard, which bring a few digital photos to show us (but only British allows air to circulate and helps dry specimens quickly. plants and preferably species found in Hampshire). Note The press straps are then tightened. Martin emphasised that we will start showing the plant photos at 1pm. the importance of undoing the press again, within a day If you don’t wish to talk about your photos then please at at most, to check specimens and rearrange any folded least bring a few prints of photos (or pressed specimens) leaves. Pressing then continues until the plant is dry and that you can put on the display tables – ideally annotated relatively rigid. with where the photo was taken. Failing that, bring a few Tony then entertained us explaining his idiosyncratic but biscuits, etc and help us munch them! highly successful pressing methods. He does not use Testwood Lakes Education Centre is reached from Brunel a proper plant press, improvising instead with heavy Road, a turning off the A36 at a roundabout between books to provide pressure. He showed us how he packs Totton and Ower. After entering Brunel Road, look for a specimens between newspaper sheets interleaved small turning on the left after the block of industrial units. with kitchen roll paper and corrugated cardboard. He Go along this track, ignoring the first (public) car park and sometimes temporarily uses copper coins to persuade the Sea Scouts’ building on your right, until the Education leaves to lie flat, before removing the coins and quickly Centre comes into view above the lake. There is plenty placing layers of kitchen roll and newspaper on top. Then of parking there. No need to book a place. the cardboard goes on, followed by some old metal fridge shelves, all topped by weighty books. He presses most Contact: Tony Mundell (details on back page). of his plants on the floor of a warm room but, for a few that demand rapid pressing, like dandelions, he uses a Reports of Recent Events shelf amongst the household linen in the airing cupboard. Then it was time for us to practise wrestling with an Herbarium Workshop – Saturday 9 assortment of oddly shaped uncooperative specimens, February 2019 packing bulky parts with tissue and trying to arrange leaves that just