BSBI News No. 20
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December1978 B.S.B.I.NT.WS No.20 EditedbY EDGAR D. WIGGINS 1I gRD CowpastureFarm , Felixstowe, Suffolk IP Cvtisusstriltus seePages 7 and \2 ADMINISTRATION GeneralEnquiries from membersshould be addrgssedto : HON.GEN.SEC. Mrs. M. Briggs,White Cottage, Slinfold, HORSHAM,West Sussex, RHI3 7RG. Changesof addressand subscriptionsshould be sentto : BSBI, flarvestHouse, 62 l,ondon Road, READING, Berks.RGI 5AS. Mattersconcerning field meetings,should go to : HON. FIELD SEC. MissL. Farrell Nature ConservancyCouncil Godwin House,George Street, HUNTINGDON, Cambs.PE18 6BU. RECEIVING EDITOR Dr. C.A. Stace, llatsonia Adrian Building, University Road, LEICESTER LEI 7RH. ANNOUNCEMENTS Nominations to Council Nominationsfor vacancieson Council,in writing, signedby two membersof the Society and accompaniedby the written consentof the candidateto serve,if elected,should be sentto the Hon.General Secretary, White Cottage, Slinfold, Horsham, West Sussex RHl3 7RG, to arriveBEFORE FEBRUARY lst 1979. Mary Briggs.Hon. Gen. Sec. Rules of the Society - important reminder At the 1978 Annual GeneralMeeting an alterationto Rule28 concerningpayment of Annual Subscriptionswas approved.This Rule is now "Any memberwhose subscription shallbe in arrearsfor five months on the first day of Junein any year shallcease to be a member".This meansthat any memberwhose subscription is unpaidon JUNE lst 1979 will NOT receive llatsonia 12 (4), BSBI Abstracts 9 or BSBI l,{ews22. Subscriptlon renewalforms are sent with this mailing,and memberswho do not pay by BankersOrder areasked to renewpromptly. BSBI News - back numbers BSBI News No. 2, would be gratefullyaccepted by the Hon. Gen.Sec. if any members no longerrequire their copies.Also any sparecopies of Nos. I I and 11. BSBIly'ews is distributedonly to members,is not on sale,and Back Numbersare not held as stock items. lilatsonia, Proceedings, BSBI Abstracts, back issues seeunder PUBLICATIONS o.18. Index to Watsonia Volume l1 This is now being compiled,will be publishedin l9l9 and mailedto memberswith Watsonia12 (4). This is plannedfor July or August1979. Mary Briggs. 2 EDITORIAL SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW - an Honour for our Secretary The Byelawsof the PharmaceuticalSociety of GreatBritain provide for the occasional designationof Fellowsof the Societyand I am suremembers will be delightedto know that our HonoraryGeneral Secretary Mrs. Mary Briggswas recently honoured in being designatedas a Fellow. This award is made to Memberswho have attained special distinctionin Pharmacyand in the last 12 yearsonly 2l women havebeen rewarded in this way. In the caseof Mrs.Briggs, her work for the professionof pharmacylinked with servicesto botany hasbeen recognised,so continuingthe historicalconnections between the two disciplines.She hasbeen part-time Pharmacist at HorshamHospital for l6 years and in addition to honorarywork asgeneral secretary of the B.S.B.I.,during the summer monthsleads botanical parties for mountainflowers in Europe.In 1978she led toursto Creteand to Norwayas well asto the Pyrenees,the Alps and the Dolomites. HON. GEN. SECRETARY'SNOTES We apologisefor the late despatchlast year of l|atsontol2 (2)andBSBI Abstracts8. This was due to two monthsdelay at the printers,and mainlythrough the breakdownof their binding machine.ln particular the specialoffers for Reprints of lncal Floras(sent with the Journals)which closedon October lst 1978, did not reachmembers until October2nd at the earliest.Our Agentsat Oundle l,odgehowever were aware of this situation and orders sent to them on receipt of the mailing were honouredat the offer price. Fortunately the late arrival of the Black NightshadeNetwork ResearchSurvey card and instructionswas offset in most areasof the BritishIsles by goodgrowing weather in October.The floweringof Solanumnigrum was extendedinto this late seasonenabling many membersto take part in the recording.The Surveywill be carriedon until the end of 1979.We would like to complimentDr. JenniferEdmonds on the clarityandformat of the surveycard which sheherself designed and drew. NO VISITORS PLEASE Gageabohemica (Zauschn ) J.A. & J.ll. Schultes,has been recordedin Walesand it is hopedthat the site is to be declareda NationalNature Reserve, when access wili be by permit. For the time being howevermembers are particularlyrequested NOT to visit the sitewhile this is under negotiation.The main reasonfor this is that it is a very sensitivehabitat, and other rare plantsmainly bryophytes and lichensare threatened and could very easilybe damagedunwittingly by visitorsnot knowingexactly where their feet can safely tread. ThrsGagea flowers very eariy in the year;in Britain,from Januaryto Marchwhen the rocksmay often be dangerouslysurfaced with ice. Very few of the plantsflower and in some years none at all. Without local guidancea visit to the site could well be both unprofitableto the visitorand very damagingto the habitat,so pleasedo not attemptto visitbefore the permitarrangements have been announced. A full report of the discoveryin Britain, and the Europeandistribution of Gagea bohemicawill be publishedin llatsonia. Hon.Gen. Secs. Notes Cont'd. ELODEASELUCIDATED EVENTUALLY ? At the very enjoyableand successfulAquatic qnd MarshPlant Syntposrarnheld at Brathay Field Centre,we were pleasedto hearfrom ProfessorC.D.K. Cook that he has recentlybeen awarded a ResearchGrant to work on l-lydrocharitaceaeand that he will, duringthe next two years,be makinga specialstudy of the very puzzlingElodea spp. on a world wide basis.Prof. Cook tells us that the taxonomyof Elodeospp. and Hydrilk spp. cannotbe determinedon fernaleflowers alone (the branchingof the stigmasis not a constantcharacter). As, so thr in Britain,only femaleflowers have been recorded from 'invading' the recentlyreported Elodeaspp., Prof. Cook asksthat membersshouid NOT sendhim specimenso{ Elodeasfrom Britainwhich arenot flowering,or haveonly female flowers.BUT il anyonecan find a male flower (thesebecome detached and float on the surfaceof the water) he rvould welcomeand repay costsof an inrmediatetelegram or telex nressage:if. nroreover,any nrenrbercould find SEEDonan Eltttleaplant in Britain, a worthwhilereward is ol'fered. Communicationsshould be addressed: Prof.Dr. C.D.K.Cook, Botanischer Garten der Universitat, Zollikerstrasse107, 8008 ZURICII, Switzerland. Telephone (010 41.1) 32 3670 No Telex. On excursionsat tl'rerecent Synrposiurn. with the aid of divers,specirnens of Elodea from severalCumbrian krkes were examinedand provisionallydescribed as two species, one "text book E. cattatlettsis"and the other as"not E canadensisand not E- nuttallii'. It is pt.rssible,that we nray now havetwo lelativelyrecently recorded species ol Elodeain Britain,but we canboth look forwardto a definitivereport by Prof.Cook in 1980on the statusand identity of theseproblem plants. T0 menrbersattended the Symposium; abstractsof the papersand a reportof the rneetingwill be publishedin llatsctnin. FLOWER STAMPS from the Post Office On March21st 1979Spring will be heraldedby a stampissue featuring wild flowers. The four stamps will show Primroses,Bluebells, Snowdrops and Wild Daffodils in paintingsof a countrysidescene. A specialF'irst Day Coverwill be sentto memberswho sendfl.00 with their nanteand addressntarked lst Day Coverto F. & N'1.Perring, Oundle[.odge, Oundle, Peterborougli PE8 5TN beforelvlarch lst. It is hoped also to arrangethat the post cancellatlonslogan used by somesorting officesat the tinte of the stampissue will carrya conservationmessage such as "Please leavewild flowersl'or othersto enjoy". and talking of stamps . A reminderplease to sends.a.e. with enqiririesto membersat a privateaddress, and to non-membersas for exampleMr. L.P. Burgesswho offered pollinationrecords (B,tBl rVewsl9 p.20).Mr Burgesstells me that only 50fl of his BSBIcorrespondetrts have to dateenclosed s.a.e. rvith their enquiries. ]\4ARYBRIGGS BSBI NEWS 2l Contrlbutionsfor thisissue nlust reach the Editor BEFORE17th FEBRUARY I979 EASTERN ENGLAND RARE PLANT SURVEY It wasthe turn of Hertfordshireto be surveyedthis year.and, though poor in nation- ally rare plants,the County provedto be rich in documentarymaterial. Much of the winter was spentin readingJ.E. Little's 12-volumeDiary, and looking through other materialnow at the HitchinMuseum. About 35 of the specieslisted in the RedData Book usedto occur in the county; 12 becameextinct duringthe 19th century,a further 15 were lost between 1900 and 1945. Since the war only 3 specieshave vanished, (all cornfieldweeds) and the last plant of Sese/ilibanotis was seentn 1914. Out of the 35 nationally rare speciesonly Bunium bulbocastonum,Hypochoeris maculata and Phleum phleoidesstill occur,so 6 locallyrare specieswere added to the survey,(of which only 3 were found to be still extant).Despite the lack of success,it wasa pleasureto work in Herttbrdshireand receivesuch friendly and invaluablehelp from localbotanists, and in particularfrom John and ChrisDony. Brian Sawford,Trevor James,the Darlingsand Mr. A.W. Graveson. Sincethe surveyof a County is limited to one year,it cannever be complete.Plants havetheir good and bad yearsand this l.rasperhaps not beenappreciated enough in the past.I was iucky to be able to work in Norfolk in 1971,when conditions for plantssuch as Liparis (and the surveyor)were very good I This year only a few plantsof Liparis were seenand it would havebeen very difficult to spotthese little plantsin nervsites under the soddenvegetation. Fortunately, through lack of time,a systematicsearch for Orobanche purpureahad to be postponedto