BSBI News September 2012 No. 121 Edited by Trevor James & Gwynn Ellis ISSN 0309-930X Stems and lower leaf surfaces of Bupleurum tenuissimum collected at Allhallows-on-Sea, Kent, on 6th August 2011, blistered by sori of Fig 1. Diminutive spring-flowering form of the rust Puccinia bupleuri. The sori contain Gentianella amarella s. l., Aberffraw, Anglesey dark brown teliospores, one of five spore types (v.c.52), 9th May 2012. Note the size relative produced by this rare fungus. to rabbit pellets and the compressed internodes. Photo © Martyn Ainsworth (see p. 62) Fig 2. Multiple flowered bushy form of spring-flowering Gentianella amarella s. l., Aberffraw, Anglesey (v.c.52), 20th June 2012. Note shoots arising from base and lengthening of some pedicels relative to internodes. Both photos © I. Rees (see p. 43) Ian Bonner (President, BSBI) (r) receives his copy of the Flora of North Lancashire from the author, Eric Greenwood. Photo A. Wright © 2012 (see p. 63) The BSBI stand at Birdfair, Rutland Water, August 2012. Photo J. Saddington © 2012 (see p. 66) Clive Stace (centre) at Birdfair 2012, with (l to r): Louise Marsh, Kevin Walker, John Bailey & Rachel Benskin. The BSBI stand at Birdfair, Rutland Water, August 2012. Both photos J. Saddington © 2012 (see p.66) CONTENTS Important Notices Aliens.................................................. 58–60 From The President....................I. Bonner 2 Invasive alien – Pentaglottis sempervirens Commentary on the Society’s new .............................................N. Miller 58 constitution.........................A. Timmins 2 Plymouth has more than Pear Trees Minutes of 2012 AGM..............L. Farrell 5 .............................................P. Pullen 58 Special General Meeting Agenda. L. Farrell 5 Contemplating your Navelwort Notes from the Editors T. James & G. Ellis 7 ......................................G. Hounsome 59 Notes........................................................8–57 Requests............................................. 60–62 Common problems with identification Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank: completing experienced by the Norfolk Flora Group coverage of the UK flora........S.Miles 60 – 2.........................................R. Leaney 8 Juncus bulbosus......................M. Wilcox 61 A possible pollinator of Orobanche rapum- Rusty Slender Hare’s-Ear..M. Ainsworth 62 genistae ..........................J.H. Bratton 18 Offers.................................................. 62–64 Hybrid violets and a search for the Flowering plants and ferns of Angus............. Teesdale Violet..................M. Wilcox 19 ..........................................B. Hogarth 62 Investigations into a previously unknown Flora of North Lancashire population of Black Poplar at Formby .....................................E. Greenwood 63 Point, Merseyside Two Teesdale items available .............P.H. Smith & P.A. Lockwood 23 ...................................M.E. Bradshaw 63 The serpenticolous, dodecaploid (endemic?) Notices....................................................63-64 ‘Shetland Mouse-ear’...D.J. Hambler 35 Dates for your diaries Do you know where your vice-county 2013 AGM, Anglesy, 11-14 June..........63 boundary really is?...........R.M. Walls 37 2013 Welsh AGM, Anglesy, 14-15 June A capital idea, but please keep all the ...........................................................64 hyphens............................R. Bateman 38 News of Members..................................64-65 More on English names........J. Presland 39 Presidents’ Award, 2011......J. Swindells 64 Sorbus devoniensis: the ‘Otmast’ of On becoming an honorary member of Heligan..................................D. Cann 41 BSBI.......................................J. Croft 65 Sorbus devoniensis at Little Haldon, Obituary Notes..........................C. Liffen 65 Devon....................................D. Cann 42 Publicity & Outreach...........................66-67 Spring flowering by Gentianella amarella “BSBI? Why haven’t I heard of you s.l. in Anglesey........I. Rees & T. Rich 43 before?”...............................L. Marsh 66 Another Bee Orchid mutant?....M. Smith 45 Recorders and Recording.................. 67-68 William Powell – recording and collecting Panel of Referees and Specialists during the Great War..............G. Hall 46 .......................................M.C. Sheahan 67 Trifolium scabrum new to v.c. 59 Panel of Vice-county Recorders .............P.H. Smith & P.A. Lockwood 51 ........................................D. Pearman 68 Observations on the decline of Saxifraga Notes from the Officers........................... 69 hirculus in the north Pennines From the Plant Unit................K. Walker 69 ........................................L. Robinson 53 From the Scottish Officer ....J. McIntosh 70 John Ray and the discovery of Eryngium From the acting Scottish Officer campestre growing in Plymouth ..........................................A. Hannah 70 .............................................P. Pullen 56 Diary......................................................... 71 Baldellia ranunculoides in the Kintyre Deadline for News 122............................. 71 Peninsula...........................I. Teesdale 57 2 Important Notices – From The President / Commentary on the Society’s new constitution IMPORTANT NOTICES From The President IAN BONNER, Cae Trefor, Tyn y Gongl, Anglesey, LL74 8SD (01248 852651; [email protected]) As another field season draws to a close, I feel I completed shortly and that we can take this must mention the weather....we had some very forward after the next issue of News. wet days for our flora group meetings on Angle- We have been raising our profile this sey, and I expect this was reflected over much of summer, with participation at the Big Nature the country. However botanists, being stoic, still Day at the Natural History Museum, BBC turned out and generally enjoyed themselves! Gardeners’ World Live in June, the British In the April BSBI News, we introduced the Birdwatching Fair held in Rutland in August dull but important subject of updating the and our own Biological Mapping Conference constitution of our charity to that of a in Edinburgh in September. A big thank you Company Limited by Guarantee. This was to all members and staff who have helped with discussed in some detail at the AGM in these events (see p. 66). The BSBI has Reading, and officers and staff, with legal provided maps and data for the Channel 4 advice, have now been progressing this to a six-part series ‘Wild Things’, being screened draft of the Memorandum and Articles of in September/ October. It will be very good if Association in advance of the Special Meeting our efforts in these events are reflected by an planned for 24th November in Cambridge. increase in our membership. This will put our Society onto a much firmer A warm welcome to Dr Maria Long, who, by footing and more detailed information about the time you read this, will have started as the this appears below in a commentary by Antony BSBI’s Irish Officer. More details about this Timmins, our Honorary Treasurer. and many of the other activities of our Plant We consider keeping our members informed Unit are outlined elsewhere in this issue by to be vitally important. In addition to commu- Kevin Walker. nicating through News and our excellent Also elsewhere in BSBI News is an outline of website, we would like to speed this up by the programme for our 2013 AGM in June at establishing email contact directly with all Beaumaris on Anglesey. Please put the dates those willing. However this requires us to in your diary – it would be good to see you all install a new server and I hope this will be there! (see p. 63). Commentary on the Society’s new constitution ANTONY TIMMINS, 154a Warley Hill, Warley, Brentwood, Essex, CM14 5HF Background contracts we enter into in relation to the New Readers of previous articles in BSBI News and Journal of Botany and the various agencies. those attending the AGM will know that, in We are now quite a complex business, even early 2012, the officers became aware that the though we remain both a membership organi- BSBI had been outgrowing its constitution and sation and a charity. Accordingly, our Council that, judged against criteria provided by our took the decision to consult with a firm of principal regulator, the Charity Commission lawyers and to start the process of converting for England and Wales, we had become too the BSBI to a Company Limited by Guarantee. large and complex to operate as an unincorpo- The essentials of this process were presented at rated members’ club. Factors leading to this the AGM on 12th May, where members situation include the scale of our investment approved the outline of certain proposals (see portfolio, the number of our employees and the the minutes of the AGM on page 5). Further Important Notices – Commentary on the Society’s new constitution 3 details of our proposals, as at the current date tors, they can be dismissed by the Company at (22nd August 2012), are covered below. a general meeting. We had also been mindful for some time that The Board will be balanced by a reconsti- our decision-making and consultation tuted Council (of up to 20 people, including processes were becoming confused and ineffi- Country Representatives), which will be cient, so we are taking the opportunity to responsible for the scientific direction of the modernise those at the same time. BSBI. The Council will therefore be liberated General observations on