Botanical rarities (1)

The last 20 hours has seen some of the wettest and windiest weather that I have had the misfortune to experience here in Banstead. There has been windier, and there has been wetter, but not sustained over so many hours. As the weather quietens down, there are signs of its passage everywhere - a downed fence panel, water incursions on the south-westerly corner of the house, overturned pots in the garden - but compared to floods, bush-fires and drought these are mere trifles, I know.

So, as an antidote to this misery I have been looking through some old botanical rarity photographs, those that pre-date the second coming of this blog, all pre-2010. I might be able to milk a few posts out of this. I have already posted about my time on Ben Lawers here, so will not feature any images from that wonderful site. All the species featured will be out-and-out rarities.

Alpine Milk-vetch (Astragalus alpinus), Ben Vrakie, Perth 15 July 2008
Recorded in fewer than 15 different 10x10km grid-squares within the British Isles since 1987. According to Stace 4, found in only four locations in central Scotland.
The view from the ledge where I saw this rather fine plant wasn't bad either (see below)

Alpine Woodsia (Woodsia alpina) Meall nan Tarmachan, Perth, 13 July 2008
Recorded in fewer than 15 different 10x10km grid-squares within the British Isles since 1987.
I was quite lucky with this plant. I had very vague directions on where to look, and on arrival bumped into a ranger, who knew where the plant was but refused to help me locate it, not even giving me a clue as to which part of the cliff face to search. I joined three other hopeful botanists, one who had been searching for several hours. We split up and within an hour I located it. Cheers all round! 
Coral-necklace (Illecebrum verticillatum) 25 June 2002 Pilley Pond, Hampshire
Recorded in fewer than 15 different 10x10km grid-squares within the British Isles since 1987.
There are few more pleasurable botanical moments than when you stumble across this delightful species. A rare denizen of damp sandy ground, particularly in the New Forest. It can often be found growing alongside Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium)
More will follow as and when...

Comments

Stewart said…
Even I saw Coral Necklace on your tip off when I visited the New Forest... we have a similar looking thing that lives on Holy Island on the edge of dunes and saltmarsh but I forget its name, its in good numbers at this site too...?
15 January 2020 at 20:33
Steve Gale said…
Did you see the necklace at Pilley Pond Stewart?
16 January 2020 at 09:42
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