Nowadays recorders, conservation and research bodies require records made at a much better mapping resolution, especially for highly localised or rare species, or species of conservation concern, than previously made. Therefore the Botanical Cornwall Group has initiated a survey, which will take at least 5 years to complete, to record the flowering plants and ferns in the many 1km x 1km squares (monads) in Cornwall that have no records (or very few or very old) at that resolution. A major boost to this recording was the recently successful application to the Cornwall County Council ‘Biodiversity Improvement Grant’ for £7500 towards recording in at least 400 of these monads. The majority of the grant money is available for recorders to cover travel costs for visiting these monads, at 30 pence per mile and all surveying of these 400 monads needs to be done by the end of 2008. If you would like to be involved in the survey please contact Ian Bennallick (details below) or Colin French (12 Seton Gardens, Weeth Road, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 7JS - Tel: 01209 613942 - email: cnfrench at talktalk.net) for further details AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

We still welcome detailed records of Cornwall Rare Plant Register species so if you need forms or need to know which species are on the Register please see http://floracam.co.uk/bcg/rare_plants.php - it is hoped that a published register will be produced soon.

Note: records are welcome at anytime of year, in any format, but must have a DATE (e.g. 2 April 2008), a RECORDER NAME, NAME OF SPECIES found (scientific name is preferable to common name), LOCATION NAME with OS Grid Reference (e.g. Lower Polmorla, south of – SW975643). Additional information is welcome, especially of abundance, number of plants, habitat notes and any threats.

Botanical Cornwall Group Co-ordinator – Ian Bennallick Lower Polmorla, St. Wenn, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL30 5PE – Tel: 01726 890384 or 07968 113675
email ianbennallick@btinternet.com

The 2008 Meeting Programme is in preperation and will be avaiable on the website from mid-March.

During 2005 to 2007 the Botanical Cornwall Group is undertaking a project to inventory rare species of vascular plants in Cornwall and publish a Register of them. This will have the support of the local Records Centre (Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly – ERCCIS), which will eventually publish the Register, and the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI), who through the local vice-county recorders will be organising the project with a small steering group of interested local botanists. The project has three phases.

For more information follow link on the menu.

About 50 plants of Lavatera cretica have been refound along the roadside immediately east of Tesco Store, in the Chyandour area of Penzance, near the entrance to Eastern Green chalet park, SW48131.

It was first seen by Tony Butcher on May 28th 2005, and the plants were checked by I.J. Bennallick, P. Green and M.J.Stribley on May 29th 2005. Material was checked by R.J.Murphy. It is good to see it back in Cornwall especially after it was thought to have disappeared under a concrete wall a few years ago! Efforts will be made to stop the local council from cutting the plants which grow alongside a hedgerow and the pavement. The plants are flowering and fruiting at the moment.

In the next few days look out for Dwarf Cherry Prunus cerasus and the next few weeks other rosaceous species in your hedges now!

Treve Opie has sent me the attached photos of Dwarf Cherry Prunus cerasus, from Trevenson, near Redruth, which show the 'jizz' characters quite nicely - the dark bark, fresh green leaves that eventually turn dark green and the bright white flowers. This shrub is now coming into blossom in Cornwall and is easy to see so worth recording. In Review of Cornish Flora 1980 (Margett's and David, 1981) it is stated as not as common as
it once was but still frequent in mid-Cornwall. I saw many good bushes whilst driving around St.Newlyn East, St.Columb Major and Newquay/Truro areas (mid-Cornwall) last year in the wonderfully blossomy dry spring we had, and was easy to spot from the car. A lot of new records and updated ones made.

I have also seen it elsewhere in Cornwalll and i am sure it is more common - hence the reason why i have sent the photos. Wild Cherry is only common in east Cornwall, and even there it is difficult to know what has been planted. Although Dwarf Cherry it is not native it is a welcome sight at this time of year and we need tosee if other parts of Cornwall have as much.

With the dreaded flail, many Cornish hedges are now becoming much more 'square' in profile and flailed to the quick, but some rosaceous shrubby species of interest still survive and may be present but don't get the chance to flower. Other species that appear to cope with light flailing is Wild Service Sorbus torminalis which is probably more common in hedges than we think, and Medlar Mespilus germanica both of which i refound in several places north of Wadebridge and Bodmin last year. A lot of records for these species were made a long time ago (see Davey, 1909). If anyone is in the E or NE of Cornwall, also look out for Sorbus devoniensis.

Another species that appears to like inland Cornish hedges, especially in the areas north of Wadebridge and Bodmin is Burnet Rose Rosa pimpinellifolia, which is at its best in June. A good deal of it grows on the hedge between Preeze Cross and Blisland, Bodmin Moor, re-recorded by Mary Taylor in 2003 after a long gap of many years - it was always there - how did we miss it? Plants examined are not hybrids with Rosa canina, sowhere else in inland Cornwall has it?

Any records for these shrubs would be welcome.

Editor R. J. Murphy

The twelfth issue of Botanical Cornwall is now available.

About 30 pages of notable records are included, as well as notes about new species and the rarer plants found in Cornwall, such as Silene gallica, Romulea columnae and Cystopteris diaphana. There is also information concerning non-native aquatic plants with distribution maps for four of the most invasive. A progress report of the Fumaria purpurea survey is given as well as brief notes from Botanical Cornwall Group trips.

Articles include the following:

The difficulties of identifying the sub-species of Vicia sativa (with illustrations of each sub-species and distribution maps) by R.J. Murphy.

Hypericum montanum found new to Gear Sands by E.C.M. Haes.

The relationship between hybridization in Epilobium and Cornish China clay and other mining waste by G.D. Kitchener.

A report on the rediscovered x Asplenophyllitis jacksonii in Cornwall by
Dr. C.N. Page

The generic status of Phyllitis by Dr. C.N. Page.

A review of the records for Chara fragifera in Britain (with a full list of records and mention of other stoneworts) by N.F. Stewart

There are plenty of illustrations, both in colour and in black and white, including Romulea columnae from cliffs at Polruan, Hypericum montanum at Gear Sands and Epilobium brunnescens hybrids. Scanned herbarium specimens of Gymnocarpium dryopteris, Vicia sativa sub-species, Rorippa islandica and Rorippa palustris are included.

Copies of Botanical Cornwall No. 12 are priced at £6.50 (includes post and packing) from -
Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly,
Five Acres, Allet, Truro, TR4 9DJ

Back issues are also available

– Please contact Ian Bennallick on 01827240777 or ian@cornwt.demon.co.uk for more details.

Saturday 10th January 2004
10am to 3pm (approx.)
Fraddon Village Hall, Fraddon (SW911578)
(Close to the A30 at Indian Queens in mid-Cornwall)

Tea and Coffee will be available from 10am, and bring a packed lunch
(or a plate of nibbles to share!)

Please join us for our informal yearly get together. We will review the field meetings and workshops held in 2003 and there will be an opportunity to see slides and digital photos of plants from the meetings held. The meetings programme for 2004 will be discussed, as well as the organising of the final visits for the BSBI Local Change Survey. We will also discuss an exciting new project for 2004, the preparation of a Rare Plant Register for Cornwall.

Bring any material collected during the year for identification, herbarium specimens, photos, books/magazines/articles to swap, give away or sell, and anything else that you would like share with others. Copies of Botanical Cornwall 12 (2003) may be available to buy (see reverse for details). If you have any records for the Vice-county recorders bring them as well.

If you have any posters or displays to exhibit bring them along. If you have any other topic or ideas that you think should be addressed, please contact the co-ordinator before the meeting.

To members and contacts not able to make the meeting (including those not based in Cornwall) - sorry that you aren?t able to come this time but please keep in contact with the group. We look forward to seeing you sometime in the future. REMEMBER to send records from your visits to the BSBI vice-county recorders (East Cornwall, West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly - contact details are available from the co-ordinator).

Much has happened within the Botanical Cornwall Group since the website was set up last April, with several successful meetings organised, new plants being found and workshops attended. One thing that should have been done on a regular basis was updates to the website in the news section. I am pleased to inform you that from March 2003 the website will be updated from the middle of each month, on the 15th.

Two newsletters have also been produced and these will be published three times a year rather than four as had previously been planned ? February, May/June and October. Hopefully there will not be too much duplication of information on the website and in the newsletter.

The website is a better place to mention news of species flowering times, what to look out for etc. So if you have noticed anything on your travels around Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly let me know and i can put it on straight away. For instance if anyone is driving along the A30 through Cornwall at the moment (mid-March) there is a ?ribbon? of Danish Scurvy-grass (Cochlearia danica) along the central reservation of the dual carriageway stretches. Any records gladly welcome. Also there is a feeling that the flowering of many species is about two weeks behind than usual ? (although what is usual in Cornwall!!!).

Of course other news will be added here such as changes to events or news of other events being organised.Looking forward to hearing from you!

The Botanical Cornwall Group's third Newsletter (February 2003) is now available for download.

David Pearman from the BSBI has contacted me recently about the apparent recent decline of Illecebrum verticillatum (Coral-necklace)in Cornwall. David has been very busy over the last few years working on the forthcoming updated Atlas of the British Flora (to be launched in May 2002). During the compilation of records from 10km squares for Illecebrum verticillatum, David noted that it was found in five 10km squares since 1987 in Cornwall as opposed to being recorded in seven 10km squares since 1970, as shown in Scarce Plants of Britain
*(Stewart et. al, 1994). This is a loss of records from two out of seven 10km squares in just 17 years. David wants to know if the decline is real or is it just a case of date classes clashing.

In the Flora of Cornwall *(French et. al, 1999)it is stated that "due , almost certainly, to loss or change of habitat, this Nationally Scarce species has seriously declined in Cornwall". The maps in the Flora of Cornwall (1999) show that the species has been recorded from fifty-nine 1km squares within twenty 10km squares in total. Since 1980 it has only been recorded from ten of the fifty-nine 1km squares within five of the twenty 10km squares. A decline indeed!

The decline of Illecebrum verticillatum from sites appears to be very real. However the Flora of Cornwall (1999) further states that " it is still locally frequent at edges of streams and ditches on Bodmin Moor (SX17C and SX17E)and West Penwith (SW33W and SW43I)".

Maybe the habitat requirements of the species can explain its decline. French et. al (1999)also states that "it can also be a coloniser, as in china clay runnels in a disused quarry on Tredinney Common (SX32Z, 1991, C.N. French,) and in pools and moist gravels on disturbed ground associated with a disused railway on Brynn Moor (SW96W, 1998,I.J. Bennallick). Indeed at Brynn Moor Illecebrum verticillatum appeared in quantity in ditches dug out in the late 1970s - early 1980s as part of a miniature railway complex which has since been abandoned. As these ditches have become more overgrown and shaded the number of plants have declined. Also many of the older records are from those areas associated with mining and where low level disturbance (and also cattle poaching) kept conditions open for colonisation.

As these industries or land uses have declined so has the level of and intensity of disturbance. It appears that species which exploit temporarily open habitats, such as Illecebrum verticillatum, have therefore also declined in number and have also disappeared from sites.

YOUR HELP NEEDED
During 2002 it would be especially helpful if recorders look out for Illecebrum verticillatum in suitable habitats in those areas where there were historically concentrations of records. The areas to target are - West Penwith, Carnmenellis/Camborne/Redruth mining areas,Mid-Cornwall moors (especially China Clay areas)and Bodmin Moor. Old and recent records of Illecebrum verticillatum appear to be concentrated on the granite areas of Cornwall, or on the metamorphic aureoles that surround the granite where most of the mining and tin-streaming (and disturbance) took place.
Please contact either Rose Murphy (BSBI VC2 East Cornwall recorder) or Dr. Colin French (BSBI VC1 West Cornwall recorder) if you find any Illecebrum verticillatum in Cornwall in 2002, as new records, refinds and updates of its known sites will be particularly useful in establishing its present status in Cornwall.
Happy hunting!

*French,C.N., Murphy,R.J. & Atkinson,M.G.C. 1999. FLORA OF CORNWALL,Wheal Seton Press, Camborne.

*Stewart,A.,Pearman,D.A. & Preston, C.D.1994.SCARCE PLANTS IN BRITAIN, JNCC, Peterborough.