Surrey Rare Plant Register

Last week saw the publication of the Surrey Rare Plant Register, a work that has been long in planning and execution. Jointly funded by the Surrey Botanical Society (SBS), the Surrey Wildlife Trust and the late Jean Combes OBE, it is a soft back book some 280 pages thick. Being a member of the SBS and a contributor to the project I could be accused of bias, but it is a truly first-class publication.

Way back at the turn of the millennium there was an upturn in my Surrey botanical recording, mainly due to long periods of ill-health and the need (and want) to stay closer to home. In between visits to hospital I would force myself out onto the streets and nearby footpaths to identify and record the plants that I found there - it was educational and oh so helpful in keeping up my spirits as well as maintaining a level of fitness - sometimes I'd forget myself and end up walking miles regardless of my precarious health! These results were then uploaded onto the MapMate database where they could be gathered by the SBS recorders. I did in fact volunteer for a while to help digitise the societies old paper records - it helped pass the time between treatments as well as give me some feeling of worthiness. It was about this time that I first became aware of plans to produce a register of the rarer plant species to be found in the county.

For several reasons, the gestation period of the project took far longer than planned. However, the time has been well worth the wait. What I now hold in my hands is a fine testament to the work of the editors (Ann Sankey, Caroline Bateman, the late Paul Bartlett, Giles Groome, Roger Hawkins, George Hounsome, Susan Medcalf, Bill Stanworth and Peter Wakeham) and the hundreds of recorders who have spent many thousands of hours in the field. 

There are three main chapters: Criteria for inclusion; Guide to species accounts; and Species accounts. There are seven appendices: List of species by vernacular name; List of recorders; Excluded taxa; Species not included but pending revision; Surrey rare plant register (2024 version); Extinct species (presumed lost from the county); and Species listed by conservation category. There are also 16 colour plates of species and habitats, all taken within the county by Surrey botanists and of a high standard.

Most people will head straight to the species accounts, the meat of the book. Here, each species opens with Scientific and Vernacular names, origin status within Surrey (VC17), conservation categories, plant family and rarity status within VC17. There then follows a narrative account which includes life history, habitat requirements, first date recorded, county population trends, causes of increases/decreases, distribution in the British Isles and importance of Surrey populations. For the 'commoner' species a distribution map appears, with an open square for a record pre-2000 and a smaller black square post-2000 (thus a black square can sit clearly within an open square where needed and be easily identified). For the rarer species tables take the place of maps, with each site and/or colony having the following information - site name, OS grid-reference (normally six-figure), last year in which recorded (recording goes up to 2020), recorder initials, abundance (this can be a figure of the number of plants) and further notes. These further notes can be very useful in pointing field workers to the precise spot to where the species can be found and also hold a mine of further useful information. All of this is clearly and professionally laid out.

As a county resident and keen (if not highly proficient) county botanist, the book is a delight to look through. Even though it is a reference work I have read it from cover to cover. I thought I knew 'my' part of Surrey well, but a number of times let out gasps of surprise and making mental notes of going to check on these 'discoveries' next year (banks of Herb-parts in Merstham, Pennyroyal on the grass in an Epsom Park). Of course, there are other pieces of information that hurt, those of the species that are decreasing, that have been lost, or of sites that used to hold so much more. I was staggered by the bog flora that used to exist on Reigate Heath - if only that was still present...

At £25 this is tremendous value. It can be ordered from Summerfield Books, from the Surrey Wildlife Trust bookshop or why not become a member of the SBS and come along to the AGM that is held at Box Hill each March, where you will be able to pick up a copy. Order a copy today - you will not regret it.