Overnight we had received shocking news from John Poland's girlfriend (yep, Ghostie is good friends with the girlfriend of the Veg Key's author!!) Two days ago we had attempted to find Jo-jo Weed Soliva sessilis in one of the New Forest campsites, finding lots of Chamomile and Parsley-piert in the short-cropped turf, but no sign of the Jo-jo Weed. Well, John Poland himself had been to the campsite yesterday and declared the Soliva to be widespread across the site. He also mentioned that it looked very similar to Chamomile, which also occurs on site. Bugger!!
Ghostie and I looked at each other and jumped online in search of better images of the weed. I noticed one seemingly consistent feature that seperated Chamomile from Soliva - in Chamomile each petiole has leaflets running down towards the basal parts, though they are massively reduced near the bottom of the petiole. Soliva, in direct contrast, completely lacks leaflets in the basal half of the petiole. The other obvious difference of course is that Soliva has tiny burs that are sharp enough to puncture skin, making walking across it barefoot a painful exercise. Annoyingly (or maybe thankfully), at this time of year the burs are absent. We checked a lot of websites, the leaflet/petiole feature seemed good. Armed with this new information, we decided to return to the campsite and try again.
But first, we had gen (again from John Poland's lady) for Slender Marsh-bedstraw. Ghostie had seen this plant before, but it would be a lifer for me. We headed to Hatchet Pond and pretty soon found ourselves stooped low over the wet turf in search of teeny, tiny bestraws. I think it was by sheer luck, but within about 90 seconds I found it.
Slender Marsh-bedstraw Galium constrictum
I think Thread-leaved Bedstraw would be a better name for this miniscule rarity! The books say it can grow up to 40cm in length, but there's no chance of it achieving that size here. Anything that pokes up more than about 4mm above the sward will soon be grazed off by the ponies. The key feature that differentiates Slender Marsh-bedstraw from Common Marsh-bedstraw, aside from size, is the shape of the leaf tip. Both species occur together here, and this allowed us to undertake a very useful side-by-side comparison. The New Forest area is the national stronghold of this diminutive plant, though I reckon there's a very good chance that it's true distribution is larger than currently known, it's very easy to overlook!
A nearby site has White Forget-me-not Plagiobothrys scouleri, again we had detailed directions to the area in question. Neither of us have seen this plant before, and January is probably about the worst time of year to try to identify it. Nevertheless, we spent quite a while on hands and knees, peering at the cropped turf for signs of it. I quickly realised that Ribwort Plantain is a master of imitation, it fooled me time and time again. Finally I started seeing something different
Pretty happy these are side-by-side young Ribwort and Buckshorn Plantains
Also young Ribwort Plantains. But what of the paler leaves emerging through them???
I suspect these could be White Forget-me-nots. Maybe.
In the end we gave up, I couldn't convince myself one way or the other. Ghostie remarked it was beyond his botanical abilities and said he'd come back later in the season when they were in flower. Assuming they escape the attentions of the ponies, which in fairness seems unlikely.
We had an abortive wander across Beaulieu Heath in search of the Cotoneaster divaricatus bushes that occur there. Or rather, that used to occur there! We've seen these plants in the past, we knew where they were. I followed my memory whilst Ghostie followed his GPS. Between us we drew a complete blank. Arse, I thought that would be a gimme species! A bit puzzled, we quit and tried Goatpen for the Bayberry bush that has been growing a lonely life out on a hillside since at least the 1930s. We wandered back and forth, we scratched our heads in puzzlement, we moved a little and searched again. Nada. Again. Ghostie has a sneaky suspicion that, as part of a New Forest project, various alien species are being removed. Certainly the Venus Fly-traps and Purple Pitcherplants have all been dug up in recent years. Personally, I'd rather they tried tackling the Rhododendron, Crassula and various self-seeding conifer species first and tackle individual plants afterwards. Fair enough, if a Giant Hogweed suddenly sprouted up, drop everything and eradicate it. Otherwise, tackle the big issues first.
The other possibility is that Ghostie and I are inept and simply missed the Cotoneasters and Bayberry bushes. Let's face it, it wouldn't be the first time we've been numpties.
We had one more plant to try for today, the one that John Poland himself had seen just yesterday and had provided a TEN figure griddie for it. Hell, if we couldn't find the Soliva in a single square metre we needed to quit this botany mallarkey and take up something easy, like cloud watching or playing cymbals.
Walking across the empty campsite towards John's grid reference, I couldn't help but notice the many hundreds of Chamomile plants in the short grazed turf that I'd noted on our earlier attempt. Sod it, I knelt down to study them. I checked the lower petioles for signs of reduced leaflets - there were none. Fucksakes, this was our plant, this was the Soliva sessilis, and it was everywhere! In fact, I couldn't find any Chamomile at all until we were heading back out of the campsite. Holy cow, I really wouldn't want to pitch my tent here. In fact, I'm amazed the owners haven't made any attempts to eradicate it. They will soon, I'm certain.
The curiosly named Jo-Jo Weed Soliva sessilis, positively abundant across the campsite
I joined Ghostie at the appointed ten-figure grid reference to find lots of the same - Soliva sessilis all over the place.
Well at least we ended the day on a high, it was looking decidedly iffy in the middle part of our day. The number of ponies in the New Forest is approximately twice the historical number and grazing pressure has never been as intense as it is now. Consequently, huge areas are actually relatively depauperate. It's not an easy place to botanise in the middle of the winter period. On any number of occasions I found myself comparing the visible plant diversity here to that on Skye, I have to say that Skye came off better time after time, something I really wasn't expecting! However, look closely and there are still hidden gems to be found in the mercilessly cropped turfs of this landscape.
Talking of decent turfs, here's one I haven't heard for a few years now. Hope you enjoy!
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