These plants were present in 1991 according to H.H. Fowkes and P. Coxheads’ “Flora”.
If anyone finding these plants, could let us know, giving an 8 figure grid reference, we would be very grateful.
(Alternatively, a GPS tagged photograph.)
The beautiful Bell Heather Erica cinerea, was recorded in 1971 in heath in SP0896, 0995, 0996, 0997, 0998 and 1097 but seems now to have completely disappeared. (Don’t confuse it with Cross-leaved Heath Erica tetralix, which has more delimited heads of paler flowers, beset by long hairs with glands at their tips, and leaves in groups of four (three in Bell Heather)
Quite a few species in the mires along the two brooks seem to have got scarcer. We have still to find Deergrass Trichophorum germanicum which was present in the Erica tetralix mires at least until the 1970s. It resembles the spike-rushes, but all their leaves are reduced to scales. In Deergrass the uppermost leaf at the base of the stem has a green blade.
Quite a few species in the mires along the two brooks seem to have got scarcer. We have still to find Deergrass Trichophorum germanicum which was present in the Erica tetralix mires at least until the 1970s. It resembles the spike-rushes, but all their leaves are reduced to scales. In Deergrass the uppermost leaf at the base of the stem has a green blade.
There is a great scarcity of submerged aquatics – there are a few in Bracebridge and (sometimes) one or two in Keeper’s Pool, but most of the water-bodies lack aquatics. This is Broad-leaved Pondweed Potamogeton natans. Still quite common in canals, it seems to have gone from the Park.
Do not confuse Broad-leaved Pondweed with Bog Pondweed Potamogeton polygonifolius, a smaller plant found mainly in springs and flushes in the mires. The leaves lack the rubbery joint just below the blade which is present in Broad-leaved Pondweed and keeps its leaves flat on the water.