BSBINEWS January 2005 Edited by Leander Wolstenholme Gwynn Ellis Crataegus persimilis, Brickenden Lane, Hertford, del. Ruth Freeman © 2005 (see page 42) 2 Administration and Important Addresses ADMINISTRATION AND IMPORTANT ADDRESSES PRESIDENT Mr Richard Pryce Trevethin, School Road, Pwll, Llanelli, Cannarthenshire, SA15 4AL Tel. & Fax: 01554 775847; [email protected] PRESIDENT-ELECT Dr Richard J. Gornall Director ofthe Botanic Garden, Biology Dept., University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 ?RH Tel.: 01162523394; [email protected] HON. GENERAL SECRETARY & BSBI PROJECT MANAGER Mr David Pearman Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA Tel.: 01872 863388; [email protected] HON. TREASURER (All financial matters except Subscriptions) Mr Michael Braithwaite 19 Buccleuch Street, Hawick, Roxburghshire, TD9 OHL Tel.: 01450-372267; Fax: 01450-373591 BSBI NEWS RECEIVING EDITOR Dr Leander Wolstenholme The Herbarium, Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL Tel.: 0161 2752671; [email protected] MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY (Payment of Subs and changes of address) and Mr Gwynn Ellis BSBI NEWS GENERAL EDITOR 41 Marlborough Road, Roath, Cardiff CF23 5BU Tel. & Fax: 029-2049-6042; [email protected] (Please quote membership number on all correspondence, see List of Members in Year Book 2005 and address label of your mailings). HON. FIELD SECRETARY (Enquiries on Field Meetings) Mrs Jane Croft 12 Spaldwick Road, Stow Longa, Huntingdon, Cambs. PE28 OTL [email protected] BSBI CO-ORDINATOR Mr Alex Lockton 66 North Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY1 2JL Tel. & Fax: 01743 343789; Mobile: 0585 700368; [email protected] BSBI VOLUNTEERS OFFICER Mr Bob Ellis 11 Havelock Road, Norwich, NR2 3HQ Tel. 01603 662260; [email protected] WATSONIA RECEIVING EDITOR Mr Martin N. Sanford c/o SBRC, Ipswich Museum, High Street, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 3QH Tel.: 01473 433547; Fax: 01473 433558; [email protected] BSBI SCOTTISH OFFICER Mr Jim McIntosh c/o Royal Botanic Garden, Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR [email protected] RESEARCH FUND APPLICATIONS Dr Pete Hollingsworth Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR [email protected]. BSBI YEAR BOOK (General comments to the Editors:) Mr Gwynn Ellis & Mr David Pearman Addresses, etc., as above BSBI PUBLICATIONS Mr Jon Atkins c/o Summerfield Books, Main Street, Brough, Cumbria CA17 4AX Tel.: 017683 41577; Fax: 017683 41687; [email protected] BSBI WEB SITE ADDRESS www.bsbLorg.uk Important Notices 3 IMPORTANT NOTICES COUNCIL MEMBERS There are vacancies for three for the three-year period from May 2005. Please send any nominations to me, in writing, with consent of nominee to serve if elected, by mid February. DAVID PEARMAN (Hon. Gen. Sec.) Algiers, Feock, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6RA FROM THE PRESIDENT I hope you had a good Christmas, but the New Year is now upon us and, at last, after many months of negotiations with prospective funders, a BSBI Development Officer has been appointed. Dr. Gabriel Hemery will be taking up his post at the end of February with the task of enabling the Society to meet the changing and ever-increasing demands of the future. BSBI has relied in the past mainly upon the services of a few volunteer officers but in spite of their dedication and proven competence, in recent years has outgrown its capacity to develop in this ever more challenging environment. The Society is rather late in following in the footsteps of some other similar societies which, in taking this major step, have never looked back and I hope that the future of BSBI will now be assured by being able to keep abreast of the pace of change. BSBI in the plant world has often been likened to the British Trust for Ornithology as the corre­ sponding body in the bird world, in providing reliable and accurate data for many purposes, not least of which are inputs into wildlife legislation and Biodiversity Action Planning, as well as the distributional and phytogeographical infonnation for which it is more usually associated. Whereas BSBI has been largely self-funding or in receipt of limited grants only for specific projects, the BTO has been able to develop over the years by tapping into major funding sources. In the future I hope that the BSBI might also draw on these resources and the appointment of our first permanent staff member will rncilitate this ambition. Gabriel comes to us from the Northmoor Trust for Countryside Conservation having developed and managed their broad-leaved forestry research centre. He also has considerable experience in working collaboratively with partners, managing multi-disciplinary teams, strategic planning and developing business plans. Most of you will have your first chance of meeting Gabriel at the BSBI AGM at Ferryside, Car­ marthenshire, in May. I hope that he will be able outline how he intends to implement the BSBI's development priorities over the next year or two. I, and I am sure, you too, welcome him to his new post and will assist him in every way possible in shaping the Society's future and wish him success. Also at the AGM, Bob Ellis will be able to update us on progress with Local Change. I hope that, by now, all field records have been sent to him as I know that he intends to start data processing in earnest in January. Bob has been very encouraged by the very high proportion of data that has been sent electronically, a great step forward from the majority of records received for input during the New Atlas scheme. This will allow him welcome additional time for analysis of the data and the production of the final report. A booking form for the Ferryside AGM is included in this mailing, together with BSBI Year Book 2005 detailing the wide range of other BSBI meetings which should be attractive to all members as they cater for varying degrees of botanical expertise. I look forward to seeing you during the season. RICHARD PRYCE, President 1sI January 2005 CONTRIBUTIONS INTENDED FOR BSBINEWS99 should reach the Receiving Editor before MARCH 1st 2005 Diary I Editorial DIARY N.B. These dates are often supplementary to those in the 2005 Calendar in BSBI Year Book 2005 and include dates of the BSBI's Permanent Working Committees. Permanent Working Committees 25 Jan Records Committee, London 10 Feb Publications Committee, London 2 Feb Training & Education Committee, Birmingham 24 Feb Executive Committee, London 2 Feb Meetings Committee, London 16 Mar Council Meeting, London 7-9 February Barcoding of Life Conference, Natural History Museum, London (see p. 50) 18-25 June Excursion to the Catalan Pyrenees (see p. 49) 21-26 August rvth International Congress ofEthnobotany, Istanbul, Turkey (see p. 51) 14-16 September Atlantic Oakwoods Symposium (BSS), Oban (see p. 50) EDITORS EDITORIAL Leander's whereabouts: The BSBI News Receiving Editor has moved from Liverpool to Manchester. It is IMPORTANT that all articles for publication in News be sent to Leander at his new address which can be found inside the front cover. During his move from Liverpool Museum to Manchester Museum most correspondence was forwarded to him but a glitch with emails resulted in some sent to him at Liverpool during the last 2 weeks of November and the first two weeks of December being lost rather than forwarded. If anyone sent an email during those dates and has not received a reply would they please accept his apologies and send the message again to: [email protected] Congratulations to Peter Benoit our vice-county recorder for Merioneth (v.c. 48) who has now been in post for 50 years, our longest serving vice-county recorder. Correction to BSBI News 97 Colour Plate 3 The photograph numbers 1-7 and captions illustrating the life history of Primula farinosa were unfortunately 'shuffled' by the General Editor and therefore present a somewhat garbled picture to the possible puzzlement of readers. The author David Hambler, to whom profuse apologies are due, has provided the following brief replacement captions, each incorporating a date: Plate 3 top row: (1) Dormant, 15 March. (2) Early vegetative, 9 May. (3) Late vegetative, 3 September. (4) Flowering, 5 June. Plate 3 bottom row: (5) Post flowering (Beginning of fruiting), 7 July. (6) Fruiting, 19 September. (7) Senescent, 19 November. Note: all but one of the photographs, are of the same plant on a vertical cliff; the exception is that 00 September (on a Sesleria tussock). Important Stonewort Areas report: Amanda Miller, Species Recovery Officer for Plantlife Interna­ tiona~ informs us that their report, mentioned by David Pearrnan in BSBI News 97, is available from Plantlife's web page http://www.plantlife.org.uk/htmllgoods/goodsyublications.htm. The full version of the report can be obtained by contacting Plantlife on 01722 342730 or [email protected] Colour section (centre pages): Plate 1: Ophrys omegaifera dyris (p. 25); Leucanthemum paludosum (p. 47). Plate 2: Asplenium marinum, Phyllitis scolopendrium, Asplenium trichomanes, Ceterach officinarum & Asplenium adiantum-nigrum on walls (p. 28). Plate 3: Green endophytes in roots of Lemna trisulca (p. 34). Plate 4: Iris graminea var. pseudocyperus (p. 46) Update to members list in Year Book 2005: Rather than have the members list out-of-date even before it is published; an update will appear at the back of every BSBI News ifspace allows EDITORS Development Officer It must be some years since this was first mooted, though certainly under a variety of names (Executive Officer, Executive Secretary, Chief Executive). Whatever title the job description has been the same - to assist the Society's volunteer officers in dealing with the outside world (govemment, Agencies, NBN) and to help them to better present our data and to try and bring more people into botany.