BSBI NEWS67 Shouldreach the Editor Before JULY 2E1994 Conrnrcnt
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BSBINEWS April1994 Editedby R. Gwynn Ellis No.66 Dept. of Botany, NationalMuseum of Wales Cardiff CF1 3NP fifrm EMfr 9VP l'hluspiulliuceunr ex-cult. Maldon, Essex. del. Brian Wurzell @ 1994(see page 33) Adminislration ADMINISTRATION HON. GENERAL SECRETARY (GeneralEnquiries) MrsMaryBriggs,MBE. 9 Arun Prosoect-PITLBOROUGH. West Sussex RH20 lAL Tel 0798-873234 HON. TREASURER (Paymentof Subscriptionsand changeof address) Mr MichaelWalpole, 68 OutwoodsRoad. LOUGHBOROUGH, Leics. LEI I 3LY Tel.0509-215598 (Pleasequote membershipnumber on correspondenceconcerning membership or subscriptions your membershipnumber is on the addresslabel of your mailings,in the List of Membersin B^\81 YearRook 1993or for changedaddresses and 1993new membersin YearBook 1991\. HON. FTELDSECRETARY (Enquiries on FieldMeetings) Mrs ElinorWiltshire 62 CarrollHouse. Craven Terrace. LONDON W2 3PR IMPORTANT NOTICE BSBI WALES QUADRENNIAL MEf,TING and 32nd ANNUAL GENERAL NIEETING, 1994 Notice is herebygiven that a meetingof membersof the Society,normallv resident in Wales,will be heldat NormalCollege, Bangor, Gwlnedd on SaturdayJuly 9 at 4.30p m AGENDA I . Electionof Chairmanand memberto sen'eas Reoresentative on BSBI Council 2. Election of Hon. Secretarv.Hon. Treasurerand membersof Committeefor Wales 3. Any other business Nominationsof membersfor electionas Chairmanand Representativeon Councilmust be in writing, signedby two membersnormally resident in Wales,and accompaniedby written consentof the candi- dateto serveif elected.Such nominations, and nominationsfor membersand officersof the Commit- tee for Wales,should be sentto the Hon. Secretarvof the Committeefor Wales.Mr R.G.Ellis, Departmentof Botany,National Museum of Wales,Cathays Park, CardiffCFl 3NP, to arrivenot laterthan May 30th 1994 MARY BRIGCS. Hon. GeneralSecretary CONTRIBTJTIONSINTENDED FOR BSBI NEWS67 shouldreach the Editor before JULY 2E1994 Conrnrcnt COMMENT BSBIAND CONSERVATION John Patmore asked in the last edition of B.\Bl Neu's (65. 27) what the role of the BSBI in conserya- tion should be His question is timely becauseof recenl developmentswhich will affect our role in the future. There is no doubt that the Society'spriorities are now, and alwayswill be, to gatherinformation on the flora of our islandsand to alert the active conservationagencies - the NCC in its various lbrms (now calledthe CountryAgencies). the Wildlif-eTrusts, the NationalTrust and so on - of threatswhich are developingto speciesand their habitats.This meansthat the publicationof the ScurcePlants in Rrilain Atlas is perhapsthe most eagerlyawaited publication of the Societyin the last decade,and why we believethat the preparationand publicationof a new .4tlas shouldbe our most importantcontribution between now andthe end of the century. Many membersare also cunently assistingwith the new Red Data Book Projectand in preparing CountvRare Plant Registers These priorities were clearly identified in the Society'sStrategy .for the ('onservatiotrof Wild L'ascularPlants adoptedby Council in November 1991.But that Strategt also recognisedthat the preventionof further lossesto our flora can only be effectedthrough a co-ordinatedeffort by all the conservationagencies. The Strategy recomrnendedthe setting up of a secretariatwithin the Joint NatureConsenation Committee (JNCC) to reviewthe dataproduced by BSBI to determineprio- rities and initiate action for protecting and acquiring sites, lor strengtheninglegislation and for mountingan educationalprogramme. Thoughthis idea was welcomed there was no immediateprospect of it beingput into effect(the new JNCC/four country agenciesbureaucracy was not designedlor quick decisionmaking) so the BSBI setup an informalStrategy Working Party which members of otherconservation bodies were invitedto join. This hasmet frequentlysince December l99l and hasinvolved on a regularbasis. JNCC, EnglishNature, Plantlife, RSNC, RSPB and WWF and,more recently,the NationalTrust. Amongstissues it hashandled have been Guidelines for the Preparationof the County RarePlant Registers,Growing Wild Flowers from Seed,the Conservationof Biodiversity,the wider use of the BSBI'sTranslocation Panel and, perhaps above all, hasstimulated participants to producetheir own PlantConservation Strategies. Plantlifehas now commissionedHugh Syngeto preparea I'rospectus.fora IIK Plant Consemq- lion Strateg/ which is expectedin May, whilst MargaretPalmer of JNCC hascompleted a Strategic ltrameu'ork .for the (.onsen'qlion of Wild f'lants in (]reat Britain and Northern lreland on behalf of EnglishNature, the CountrysideCouncil for Wales,Scottish Natural Heritage and the Departmentof theEnvironment for Northernlreland (the Country Agencies). For the BSBI this last hastwo importantimplications. First, our role asinformation gatherers is formally and significantlyrecognised, whilst there is an understandingthat somefinancial support is necessaryfor all organisationsinvolved in suchwork Second,JNCC will now establishand service a PlantConservation Working Group with representativesfrom the CountryAgencies and from Plant- life Link: BSBI will be representedon thatGroup So we haveachieved one of our mainaims and our Strategvof l99t is now out-of-date.The ConsewationCommittee has asked a group of our memberschaired bv Clive Jermy,to preparea ner'l' Strategyand reassess the prioritiesofthe Societyin the lightofdevelopments in the statutoryand the voluntarysectors. and to takeaccounl ofchanging environmental threats and opportunities presented by thingslike thegovernment's road-building programme. set-aside and the EC HabitatsDirective. It mustalso review critically the monitorinsneeds olthe conservationagencies in the2lst centuryand, with the RecordsCommittee, discuss how the Societv'srecording might change to meetthose needs. Ultimatelythe prioritiesfor consen'ationaction ofall the otheragencies depend upon the sound fbundationof informationwhich the BSBI alonecan deliver. let us be prepared FRANKLYN PERRING.President Dian / Edrtorial DIARY N.B.These dates are supplementary to those in the 1994 Calendar. r994 APRIL 2'l London Natural History SocietyMeeting (see page 42) MAY 20-30 NationalFarm Walk Week (seepage 43) JL'LY 'at 2-3 Franklyn& MargaretPerring home'(see page 4l ) 24-AUG. 5 International ()ompositaeConference, RBG, Kew (seeBSBI News65. 47) Seealso page 68 for datesof 1994Botany Tours at homeand overseas EDITOR EDITORIAL Confusing Fitr[g/Gleratds. I have been askedto point out that membersshould take extra care when writing to an R. Fitzgeraldin lreland. Thereare two ladieswith muchthe samename who are conlinuallygetting eachothers mail. Letters intendedfor Miss RosemaryFitzgerald (note the lower caseg), who is the recorderfor v.c. H7 S. Tipperaryshould be sentto 606 River Forest,Leixlip, Co Kildare, Ireland,whereas letters intendedfor Lady RosemaryFitzGerald (note the capital G), who is the recorderfor v.c Hl2 Co. Wexford should always be sent to her English address:Beggar's Roost, Lilstock, Nr BRIDGE- WATER SomersetTA5 1SU Lady Ro saysthat the forwarding serviceis very efficient and she alwaysreceives her mail addressedin this way Typography. I am most grateful to those memberswho wrote in responseto my queriesabout punctuationand use of initial capitalsin my last editorial. All consideredthat Englishnames looked betterwith initial capitals,at leastwhen usedin a formal sense,and most thoughtthey shouldalways be spelt this way. There were somevery eloquentarguments in lavour of this. More on this in the 'After next issuebut I could not resist includingnow a little story liom Arthur Chater.He wrote . readingyour editorial and John Palmer'sarticle in BSBI News65 I had a confusingdream and I am still not surehow many speciesof ('erastium I sawin it. The khaki-brownmouse-ear was scatteredin the field I was walking through,but the grey mouse-earin the field was the commonmouse-ear. The common mouse-earon the wall I passedwas a sticky mouse-ear,and this wall mouse-earlooked quite unlike the field mouse-ear,which was a little mouse-earbut not nearly as small as the dwarf mouse-eaion the Shetlandsand-dunes I then found myselfin. This Shetlandmouse-ear was obvious- ly a seamouse-ear, but it suddenlylost its hyphenand I woke with a start when I realisedthat a Sea Mouse hasno ears.Ifany more hyphenshad got lost and I hadgone on dreaming,I supposethe next thing I sawwould havebeen snow in summer.' Apology, Due to pressureof work, I was so late in organisingthis issueof BSIil Nevs that I had no time to sendsome proofs or evenacknowledge some contributions. I apologiseto thosecontributors affectedand acceptresponsibility for all errorsthat remain. BSBI MembershipSurvey. The resultsof this surveywere to be publishedin thisissue but I ranout of space!They wilt appear,in full, in September EDITOR Hon. General SecretaN's Notes HON. GENERAL SECRETARY'SNOTES Congratulationsto. ProfessorRobin Sibson, on being appointedVice-Chancellor of the Universityof Kent. BSBI His- 'probably torian, Dr David Allen writes only the secondmember to rise to such an illustrious aca- demicheight.' ProfessorWilliam T. Stearn, on the award of the Engler Medal in Gold by the lnternationalAssoci- ation for Plant Taxonomy,at the IntemationalBotanical Congress in Yokohama.This was the first medal in Gold, which will be awardedonce in six yearsfor outstandingcontribution to Taxonomic Botany. Replyrng,Prof. Stearn spoke about Engler, mentioninghis reputation for being a slave driver, addingthat althoughvery honouredto receivethis medalhe was thankfulthat he did not have to