Ashdown Forest 2022
After visiting a local nature reserve and discovering I had found and pictured a rare wildflower in the UK, I thought looking at some of the rarest wildflowers in Britain’s woodlands would be an interesting adventure for us to share.
This search has taken me all over the UK to many woodlands, nature reserves, and even some private woods. Every one of them has been fascinating and wonderful to explore, but only some visits have succeeded. Far from it, in fact, but I have managed to discover more of the achingly rare plants.
So join me as we search for rare, often endangered wild plants with curious life cycles, secretive habits and particular needs.
The first plant on our search is now an Island native. As far as I am aware, it isn’t present on the British mainland. It’s called;
Wood Calamint (Clinopodium menthifolium) Picture Credit Dawn Nelson
As I set off to catch the ferry to the Isle of Wight, I wondered if I were fortunate enough to find the elusive Wood Calamint – would I be able to identify it?
As its name suggests, this scarce plant is very similar to Common Calamint, which is pretty easy to find still in Britain.
The differences are slight unless you are a trained botanist. We need to check the petals up to 25mm. These would be nearly double the length of the Common Calamint.
Then we would look at the leaves. Oh yes, the leaves, let me just check to be sure; yes, the leaves are longer, up to 6cm; the common Calamint leaves grow to around 4cm, and then check the number of teeth on the edge of the leaf. We must find up to ten; Common Catamint has at most eight.
But that wasn’t everything; no, to be sure I had found Wood Catamint, I would need to check the Corollas, which are much longer, and a final check would be to check the purple spots on the underside of the leaves that both plants have, again the Wood Calamint has more prominent purple spots.
Although a woodland edge plant, Wood Calamint is now found in hedgerows and scrubland.
One plus is that in common with other ‘mint’ family plants, I could be sure I had found one of the Calamints simply by rubbing a leaf between my fingers and taking in the minty aroma.
In the 1950s, the Wood Calamint was virtually extinct due to the loss of its woodland habitat and the need to grow on calcareous or chalky soil.
Only five patches remained until locals took up the challenge to help save it. I do love a bit of citizen conservation, especially when here I am around 70 years later and still able to see these native wildflowers; that couldn’t have happened without their hard work all the decades ago.
Today, although still restricted to a small area of the Isle of Wight, thousands of Wood Calamint appear each summer, and although rare and endangered, most choose to bloom along a roadside verge that runs alongside a woodland.
It always makes me smile when you set off on an ‘adventure’ and can find locals just going about their daily business or walking the dog, with these scarce plants being no more than a colourful verge at the side of the road.
Today, we are visiting an old wet woodland in the west of England. This is the perfect habitat to find today’s rare woodland wild plants.
Yellow Bird’s Nest (Monotropa hypopitys) Picture Credit Dawn Nelson
Yellow Birds Nest only emerges from the soil to flower, so it is very much about timing. It’s a parasitic plant that has no leaves.
It shares many resemblances to fungi; it grows fast but has a very short time in flower above the soil. Flower may not be the best description of this plant; fruiting body, as applied to fungi, is a better way to describe it, not that it looks like most fungi.
It resembles asparagus as it has a spear-like form that can grow up to 30cm tall, but you should be looking for it when it is around half of that size. When it isn’t fertile, the ‘flower heads’ always hang groundwards in the shape of an umbrella handle. It grows in what looks like several short ‘telescopic’ sections (something like the old-style car aerials if you are old enough to remember them!), but these are scale-like ‘leaves’ up to 13mm long.
Yellow birds Nest is a saprophyte. This means that it gets its nutrition from dead or decaying organic matter. This can be dead wood, fallen leaves and even the bodies of dead birds and animals.
Its similarity to fungi continues with its complex relationship with the mycorhizal network of woodland. Yellow Birds Nest is a heterotroph which relies on dead or decaying plants or animals for energy and nutrients. The term stems from the Greek words hetero for “other” and trophy for “nourishment’.
It is classified as vulnerable and in decline. Sadly, I wasn’t able to find it on this visit and due to its fleeting appearance above ground, I will have to wait until next year before I can return to try again.
Okay, this may be the most challenging plant to find in Britain, as very few people have ever seen the elusive.
Ghost orchid (Epigogium aphyllum) Picture Credit Unknown
The Ghost Orchid was declared extinct in Britain in 2005.
The Ghost Orchid is beautiful and incredibly elusive. It’s also pale, diminutive and can wait more than 30 years between flowering on a given site. This is going to be a massive challenge!
The Ghost Orchid was found in 2009, and there have been very few sightings since then. So with a very reliable tip-off, I decided to make the trip to the old and shady woodland as the word was that Ghost Orchards just appeared above the soil – Exciting.
The Ghost Orchid often appears only once in any given location. They have a preference for Beech, Oak, but in recent times. Pine and Spruce woodlands have a rich soil base, meaning they have been woodlands for centuries. New Pine or Spruce plantations that may last 80 years are not around long enough for the Ghost Orchid.
The ghost orchid doesn’t use sunlight to produce chlorophyll through its leaves as most plants do. Instead, it relies upon a kind of fungi. Ghost Orchids do not have leaves.
It was thought that Ghost Orchids were saprophytic. Still, we now know these hardy plants are obligate mycoheterotrophs which means they are dependent on fungi that obtain nutrients from mycorrhizal networks. These carbon metabolites have usually lost chlorophyll as a result. The mycorrhizal networks, in turn, rely on a symbiotic relationship with the roots of various species of coniferous trees.
So, Ghost Orchids only grow from an underground, burrowing stem which lacks chlorophyll. The branch has ephemeral leaves that are small scales. They are generally only found after a wet summer to add to their mystery. So in our climate change-affected world, the sightings are likely to be even more infrequent and elusive.
Ghost Orchids have the highest protection possible throughout Europe and even for scientific study. These plants are scarce and should never be removed from their habitat or disturbed.
The Ghost Orchid cannot be cultivated outside of laboratory conditions, as they require specific fungal symbionts and specific host trees with which these mushroom species form mycorrhizal relationships.
On the plus side, those lucky enough to have seen Ghost Orchids talk of tall plants with multiple flower stalks, each one bearing three or four flowers to create a stunning visual display.
You won’t be surprised that I could not find the elusive Ghost orchid on this visit, but I do live in the hope of seeing an incredible bloom of Ghost Orchids one day.
Our next adventure of discovery is to find another elusive orchid species that, fortunately for me, is to be found much closer to home. That is the
Red helleborine (Cephalanthera rubra) Picture Credit Unknown
It’s thought that only 30 individual red helleborine plants survive in the UK.
Firstly, let me clarify that the plant we are looking for today is an orchid, not a hellebore. That is an entirely different plant.
They have been found in broad-leaved woodlands, with thick canopies providing shade. They also don’t like competition from other plants and prefer chalky, free-draining soil.
They are now considered to be critically endangered in Britain and vulnerable throughout their whole range within Europe.
As far as I know, they can only be found on three sites in the South of Britain.
I’m heading to one of those sites today. But I want to be clear that even when in flower, these orchids are difficult to spot, but most of the time, only the leaves are showing, making it even harder to distinguish from other long-leaved woodland plants.
These are quirky plants. Their delicate pink flowers don’t produce nectar. Instead, they attract pollinators by their colour, but the primary pollinator is a bee species not present in Britain. Like the Bee Orchid, Botanists continue investigating how the plant reproduces in this country.
Red Helleborine Orchids can grow up to 60cm in height and have slender, wavy-looking stems with seven to ten flowers. The greyish-green leaves are long and narrow.
Once again, I couldn’t find these elusive orchids, but I have enjoyed visiting a stunningly beautiful woodland, and I have had more success than failures, as you will soon find out.
The best places to find the next rare woodland wild plant are generally along the Welsh border, but today, I am visiting one of the sites in southern England where they have been present.
Today we are looking for the
Spreading bellflower Campanula patula
I can already hear the gardeners among you saying Campanula or bellflowers aren’t rare, you can find them in many nurseries and garden centres, and You indeed can. Still, Campanula patula is a native wildflower in Britain, and whilst most of the finds are garden escapees, there remains a small native, wild population.
The spreading Bellflower was named after the way its petals spread.
It is known that this plant needs disturbed soils to germinate, although it is unclear why. The careful management of woodlands through coppicing and selective thinning could be critical to the survival of this delicate wildflower.
Currently, it appears in different areas each year but always on a sunny woodland edge and gives the impression of being biennial, although it is considered an annual wildflower. The leaves are crowded at the bottom of the long stems, where they are sparse. The flowers are the classic bell-shaped upon opening, but the petals soon spread wide, which is how it got its name.
Although the Spreading Bellflower is currently endangered with a high risk of extinction in Britain, I found them.
We’ve reached the end of part one of our look at Briatins rarest woodland wildflowers, and the plant we are ending with has an unusual name – that I hope will not offend – for today, we are looking for the
Bastard balm (Melittis melissophyllum)
I don’t know how or why the plant got its name because it is a fragrant, pretty plant that produces plenty of nectar for pollinating insects. It is not poisonous or associated with witchcraft, often the source of a plant’s name. A genuine mystery, but if anyone can enlighten me, please leave a note in the comments.
It is a member of the mint family and is a shade-loving plant that thrives in coppiced woodland and along hedgerows.
Its strong scent attracts pollinators which are guided to the rich nectar by the bright pink tongue of each flower. The flowers in England are white, but in France and Europe, they are entirely pink. Another mystery?
Bastard Balm is now scarce in Britain and is threatened by habitat loss, mainly due to the loss of hedgerows and the loss of older woodland.
Traditionally the leaves and flowers of the plant were used to make herbal teas, tinctures, and ointments that were said to help ease respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis.
I was lucky enough to discover several patches along a woodland edge and have used my pictures in this blog post.
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Further Reading
Country Life Magazine: A Simple Guide to Wildflowers
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