Drawings of plants we found within a 200m walk from South Bank train station in July 2019.

Black Path Press July 2019 Introduction

The many different wildflowers of the Black Path grow together here as a legacy of our industrial past.

In 1853 the first maps of the area show a double railway line; the land to the north is a vast expanse of mud flats that was the River Tees Estuary, to the south is farmland split into long rectangular fields and there is a single roof tile factory using the heavy clay dug from the ground.

When we follow changes through the years using different maps brick works appear and disappear, line after line of railway track is added, housing built for workers, and then by 1913 the estuary mud flats are covered with slag, the stony waste product of the local Iron & Steel Industries; factories stand on top of it producing concrete, tarmac and, of course, dealing with more waste slag.

Crushed and weathered slag is poor in nutrients, free draining, and with a high calcium content so only certain plant species will grow on it. These wildflowers arrived on the scene in part through the limestone delivered from elsewhere for use in iron & steel foundries, in part blown as seed along the new railway system, in part from dumped ship’s ballast, in part escaped from local gardens, and more recently, planted shrubs around the station boundaries.

As a botanist I notice each species that lives here, separately within the crowded and diverse community, but I wonder how many others who walk this way see what I see?

Martin Allen Common Toadflax Crown Vetch Linaria Vulgaris Securigera varia Common Knapweed Perforate St John’s Wort Centaurea nigra Hypericum perforatum Ribwort Plantain Wild Teasel Plantago lanceolata Dipsacus fullonum Bee Orchid Red Valerian Ophrys apifera Centranthus ruber Note: Spotted along the side of Tilbury Road (not along the black path). Common Poppy Mugwort Papaver rhoeas Artemisia vulgaris Common Ragwort Common Mallow Senecio jacobaea Malva sylvestris Plants identified in South Bank, July 2019 Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill (Geranium dissectum) Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense) Field Maple (Acer campestre) Herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum) Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Wood Avens (Geum urbanum) Creeping Bent (Agrostis stolonifera) Ivy (Hedera helix) Alder (Alnus glutinosa) Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) Hoary Mustard (Hirschfeldia incana) Barren Brome (Anisantha sterilis) Yorkshire-fog (Holcus lanatus) Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) Wall Barley (Hordeum murinum) Burdock (Arctium sp.) Perforate St John’s-wort (Hypericum perforatum) False Oat-Grass (Arrhenatherum elatius) Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata) Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis) Black Horehound (Ballota nigra) Great Lettuce (Lactuca virosa) Daisy (Bellis perennis) White Dead-nettle (Lamium album) Soft-brome (Bromus hordeaceus) Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis) Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium) Hoary Cress (Lepidium draba) Fern-grass (Catapodium rigidum) Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) Purple Toadflax (Linaria purpurea) Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) Common Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) Common Mouse-ear (Cerastium fontanum) Perennial Rye-grass (Lolium perenne) Rosebay Willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium) Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) Fat-hen (Chenopodium album) Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris) Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense) Black Medick (Medicago lupulina) Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare) Sand Lucerne (Medicago sativa nothosubsp. varia) Hemlock (Conium maculatum) Tall Melilot (Melilotus altissimus) White Dogwood (Cornus alba) Ribbed Melilot (Melilotus officinalis) Himalayan Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster simonsii) Red Bartsia (Odontites vernus) Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) Smooth Hawk’s-beard (Crepis capillaris) Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum) Ivy-leaved Toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa subsp. sylvestris) Cock’s-foot (Dactylis glomerata) Canary Grass (Phalaris canariensis) Wild Carrot (Daucus carota subsp. carota) Smaller Cat’s-tail (Phleum bertolonii) Perennial Wall-rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) Timothy (Phleum pratense) Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Common Couch (Elytrigia repens) Annual Meadow-grass (Poa annua) Hoary Willowherb (Epilobium parviflorum) Knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare) Square-stalked Willowherb (Epilobium tetragonum) Aspen (Populus tremula) Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) Grey Poplar (P. alba x tremula) (Populus x canescens) Red Fescue (Festuca rubra) Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris) Hedge Bedstraw (Galium album) Wild Cherry (Prunus avium) Cleavers (Galium aparine) Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum) Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens) Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea) Weld (Reseda luteola) Black Path Press is a community publishing project, Japanese Rose (Rosa rugosa) producing books with people in South Bank, Middlesbrough; Rose (Rosa sp.) an area surrounding the historical route known as the ‘Black Bramble (Rubus fruticosus) Path’. The publications made will explore subjects big and Curled Dock (Rumex crispus) small, past, present and future. Broad-leaved Dock (Rumex obtusifolius) Together, these books will form a collective document of the Goat Willow (Salix caprea) area – given out to local libraries, museums and individuals. Sallow (Salix sp.) They will also serve as a research and design tool for a Elder (Sambucus nigra) public artwork, led by artists Foundation Press, on the site of Elder (yellow leaved) (Sambucus nigra) the Black Path in Autumn 2019. Crown Vetch (Securigera varia) Hoary Ragwort (Senecio erucifolius) This book was made with botanist Martin Allen (who Narrow-leaved Ragwort (Senecio inaequidens) introduced us to the just a few of the plants of the black Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) path) and Martha Jackson (who created the drawn outlines Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus) for each plant). The pattern on the inside cover is a flower Charlock (Sinapis arvensis) motif made from the curve of South Bank’s distinctive ‘Dutch’ houses. Smooth Sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) The Tees Valley Local Nature Partnership recognises this Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) type of disparate mix of wildflowers, both natives and Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) non-natives, as special to our area and of high biodiversity Dandelion (Taraxacum sp.) and cultural value. The selection criteria for designation Goat’s-beard (Tragopogon pratensis) of a Local Wildlife Site for such an Urban Grassland Flora Hare’s-foot Clover (Trifolium arvense) requires there to be at least 10 species present from a list of Hop Trefoil (Trifolium campestre) 37 found in the Tees Estuary industrial areas. The Black Path Lesser Trefoil (Trifolium dubium) either side of South Bank station had 15 when we visited, Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) and a total of 125 different wildflowers, grasses, and shrubs White Clover (Trifolium repens) were noted. We’re sure there are more to discover. Scentless Mayweed (Tripleurospermum inodorum) Yellow Oat-grass (Trisetum flavescens) Colt’s-foot (Tussilago farfara) Common Nettle (Urtica dioica) Common Field-speedwell (Veronica persica) Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca) Slender Tare (Vicia parviflora) Common Vetch (Vicia sativa) Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium) Field Pansy (Viola arvensis) Rat’s-tail Fescue (Vulpia myuros) Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris)