BSBI Scottish Officer checks out 'The Rhum Plants'

'Rhum Plants' mascot on Arthur's Seat, where Jim
leads BSBI training meetings most years.
Image: courtesy of Mangonel Theatre

These pages reported last month on a new play, headed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was based on an article in BSBI journal Watsonia.

The play, called 'The Rhum Plants', was written by Phil Baarda who combines his playwriting activities with a day job at Scottish Natural Heritage, where he is a woodland ecologist.

Now the play has opened and is playing to near-full houses, including some big names in Scottish botany! BSBI Scottish Officer Jim McIntosh and Jonny Hughes, CEO of Scottish Wildlife Trust, have both been spotted in the audience and here is Jim's review:

'Rhum Plants' mascot by the roof garden on top
of the National Museum of Scotland
Image courtesy of Mangonel Theatre 

"Botany rarely features at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. So it was great to see Phil Baarda's "The Rhum Plants". This is the story of Heslop-Harrison on Rum and the subsequent investigation of his botanical activities by John Raven. 

"The small cast, clad bizarrely only in long-johns and with men suitably moustached, as befits botanists of the era, give a very amusing and light hearted account. 

"The actors playing Raven and Wilmott are by far the strongest while Heslop-Harrison was less so. But perhaps that was because I saw the play just after its opening night. 

"If you are a keen Fringe goer then I'd definitely recommend catching this play (even if you don't sport a 'tache!). Free drams on arrival and moustaches on departure!!"

Jim & BSBI Membership Secretary Gwynn Ellis
at Kew for launch of England Red List
Image: L. Marsh

Many thanks to Jim for these comments! He has been spending so much time in the field and also at his computer recently, whether co-ordinating recording activity on Scottish field meetings (as on the recent BSBI Recording Week on Shetland), or supporting Scottish County Recorders as they work towards Atlas 2020. 

Jim is working incredibly hard to help deliver the Scottish element of BSBI's strategy on 'Recording the British & Irish Flora 2010-2020'. 

So it's great to see him taking an evening off to go to the theatre! Mind you, it was a play about botany so a bit of a busman's holiday for our Scottish Officer ;-)

Of course there are different sides to every story, and the Raven vs Heslop-Harrison story is no exception. Check out this article for a new slant on this fascinating botanical story. 

Botanising on Shetland 3: Perring-Farrell reunion

Emma, Lynne and Martha on Yell
Image: I. Denholm

A nice postscript to the BSBI Shetland Recording Week from BSBI President Ian Denholm:

"The primary aim of the recent BSBI visit to Shetland, like a lot of our current field meetings, was to record for the Atlas 2020 project, building on the foundations laid by the pioneering Atlas of the British Flora published by Franklin Perring and Max Walters in 1962. 

"It was therefore fitting that the BSBI team should be joined briefly by Franklin’s daughter Emma and grand-daughter Martha, who live on mainland Shetland. Emma and Martha joined Lynne Farrell (co-author with Franklin of the original British Red Data Book) and Ian Denholm to record a square on the southwest coast of Yell, which yielded interesting plants including the attractive Sheep’s-bit (Jasione montana). 

Jasione montana on Yell
Image: I. Denholm

"Emma pointed out that Shetlanders refer to this species as ‘Lucky Minnie’s buttons’. According to Shetland folklore, Lucky Minnie was an old hag who lived in a cottage by a burn and terrorised the local children. Her name also lives on in the local name for bog cotton-grass (Eriophorum): ‘ Lucky Minnie’s oo' (try googling it – the spelling is correct but the derivation seems obscure)".

Many thanks to Ian for this, You can find out more about the influence of BSBI's 1962 Atlas of the British Flora in this paper for New Journal of Botany by Chris Preston. Our maps and data page and Atlas 2020 page explain the why and how of BSBI's mapping projects and our Atlas recording. For details of all our national field meetings, whether aimed at recording, training or general interest, this is the page you want.

Botanising on Shetland 2: Arctic Sandwort and Heath Fragrant-orchid

Alex photographs "his" Arctic Sandwort on Unst
Image: I. Denholm 

Great to hear from BSBI President and Orchid co-Referee Ian Denholm with another update about last month's Atlas 2020 recording week on Shetland.

We left our intrepid botanists on Unst, fitting in a little plant-spotting while they waited for the rest of the party to assemble.

Ian takes up the story: "Recording work by the BSBI visiting northern Shetland included a lot of routine square-bashing but also attempts to relocate or update on some particularly rare plants on the islands of Unst, Yell and Fetlar. 

Close-up of Arctic Sandwort found by Alex
Image: I. Denholm

"One important target was Arctic Sandwort (Arenaria norvegica subsp. norvegica), which is well-known on the Keen of Hamar nature reserve but hadn’t been recorded recently at the Hill of Clibberswick on Unst other than as a single plant in 1989. 

"Alex Twyford (co-ordinator of ‘An eye for eyebrights’ project) proved he has an eye for sandworts also by finding a single diminutive flowering plant on a bare area of serpentine at the latter site. 

Heath fragrant-orchid, Keen of Hamar
Image: I. Denholm

"Following this, it was possible to identify a number of non-flowering plants indicating a reasonably healthy, if extremely localised, colony.

The fragrant orchids (Gymnadenia spp.) are represented on Shetland by a single small colony of Heath Fragrant-orchid (G. borealis) growing close to the foot of the Keen of Hamar. A survey of this colony disclosed 25 flowering and non-flowering plants, a slight increase from c18 plants recorded on a previous BSBI visit in 2006".

Thanks Ian! Will I sound like an absolute toady if I say how lucky BSBI is to have a President who is happy to travel to the limits of BSBI's geographical range (at his own expense, not on expenses!) to find wildflowers? And who shares with "ordinary members" the same child-like glee that all botanists feel when they see a new plant? Well it's true so I'll say it anyway! 

One more Shetland Recording Week report from Ian to follow - watch this space!

Dr Mark Spencer on Radio 4's Infinite Monkey Cage

I tuned in to the Infinite Monkey Cage, Radio 4's science programme, earlier today only to hear the dulcet tones of the fabulous Dr Mark Spencer talking about botany! 

Mark (on left) & Fred promoting Orchid Observers
Big Nature Day 2015, Natural History Museum
Image: L. Marsh

He was wearing his Natural History Museum hat but of course Mark is also a BSBI member and an active botanical recorder, as well as being one of the people behind Orchid Observers. 

If you don't know about this citizen science project, aimed at finding out when orchids come into flower nowadays compared with flowering times extracted from historic herbarium sheets, then click here to find out more.

Today on Radio 4 Mark was talking about brambles, forensic botany (including how hard it is to commit murder without detection!) and "weird green stuff". It was all very entertaining but with lots of Proper Science in there too, and Mark made forensic botany sound like a very cool cutting-edge career option. Excellent work Mark!  

Is Mark Spencer the Brian Cox of botany? He has the hair for it... check out this Orchid Observers video and see what you think  ;-)

If you missed today's programme, you can catch it again on iPlayer here.

Launch of the Burren Botany Bubble

Later this month, Ireland's National Heritage Week takes place and it's gratifying to see how much botany there is in the programme. 

These pages have already reported on the various events commemorating Ellen Hutchins, Ireland's first female botanist, but Heritage Week isn't just about looking backwards! 

So it was great to hear from Mary Bermingham at the Burren Nature Sanctuary in Kinvara, Co. Galway, about the recently-opened 'Burren Bubble' which is being officially launched during National Heritage Week. 

Mary says: "The Burren Nature Sanctuary is the interpretive centre for the natural history of the Burren. We have a unique location with five Burren habitats- pavement, orchid-rich grassland, hazel scrub, ash forest and a tidal turlough (fresh water that disappears twice every 24 hours). 

"The carefully designed paths around the habitats show the visitor, who may be casually interested in the Burren botany, many of the Burren plants in situ as an alternative to walking across fragile pavement on the Burren in search of, for example, the famous Gentiana verna (Spring Gentian).

"We are a new visitor centre (open since 2013 and fund aided by Galway Rural Development) and have won awards for 'Leave no Trace' and Visitor Interpretation with the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark in 2014.

"We have just opened the 'Burren Bubble' which contains the National Collection of Burren Flora, which is being developed at the Burren Nature Sanctuary with Botanical Gardens Conservation International following the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation as an educational resource and plant bank for conservation".

Mary invites botanists living in or visiting the Burren to drop in to the Burren Nature Sanctuary and see the Burren Bubble for themselves. Find out more here.

Tarspot on sycamore: we need your infected leaves!

We've had a request from Amanda Clay, a 3rd year student at the University of Derby, who is carrying out research into tarspot fungus and needs our help with sample collection. BSBI members have been very helpful in providing Oli Ellingham with leaves afflicted with powdery mildew so hopefully we can also help Amanda, who says:

"Rhytisma acerinum is a fungus found throughout the globe, most commonly in Europe and North America. It grows in the U.K on sycamore leaves and causes the disease known as tarspot. It is easily identifiable as it presents as very dark, black, tar like spots with a fine yellow rim. Although it does not harm the plant it is unsightly and a high infestation of the fungus can affect the leaves' ability to photosynthesise.

It has long been thought that Rhytisma acerinum has been an indicator of pollution levels. Associations between the fungi and  the annual average concentration of atmospheric sulphur dioxide, which can be estimated by calculating the number of tar spots per unit area of leaf surface, have led to this conclusion (Bevan & Greehalgh,1979).

New theories are beginning to suggest that this may not be the case. When leaves infected with the fungus fall during the Autumn, urban areas clear away the leaf debris, removing the source of inoculum before the following Spring. 

Rural areas, especially sheltered ones, have been seen to have higher concentrations of infection, as they leave the fallen leaves on the ground, allowing the fungus to wait in the soil ready to re-infect the trees in the next season (Leith & Fowler, 1988).

 In the U.K there has not been any genetic research done into R.acerinum. All current data on the Genbank website has come from papers written from other countries around the globe, like the U.S and Asia. As such it is not known whether there is a variance in the genetic information found in varying locations throughout the U.K.

A project I am undertaking at the University of Derby is hoping to gather as many samples as possible from around the U.K, and do some molecular work on the fungus. We hope to see if there are any spatial variances in the pathogen, or if there is more than one pathogen causing the same immune response from the host".

If you come across any leaves showing signs of infestation, please send them to Amanda, attaching the GPS co-ordinates of where the sample was collected. They can be sent in a regular envelope, folded if needed, and sent to:

Amanda Clay, 43 Station Road, Langley Mill, Notts, NG16 4DS

Email Amanda here if you need more info.

References:

Bevan, R.J. & Greenhalgh, G.N. (1976) Rhytisma acerinum as a biological indicator of pollution. Environmental Pollution, volume 10, issue 4, pages 271-285.

Leith, I.D. & Fowler, D., (1988) Urban distribution of Rhytisma acerinum (Pers.) Fries (tar spot) on sycamore. New Phytologist, volume 108, issue 2, pages 175 -181.

Hunting Eyebrights 2: Snowdonia

Euphrasia rivularis
Image: F. Rumsey

Following their successful trip Eyebright hunting in the West Country, Chris and Fred left Helena Crouch, North Somerset County Recorder, behind and headed north to meet up with Wendy McCarthy, County Recorder for Caernarvonshire. Chris takes up the story:

"If the weather was kind to us in Cornwall, it was spectacularly good on the first day of our visit to Wales.

We were joined by Wendy and caught the early train up Snowdon to visit the locus classicus for Euphrasia cambrica – Clogwyn Du'r Arddu. 

And within five minutes of arriving at the site we had found it, all 1.5cm of it, together with much E. ostenfeldii and the hybrid between the two. 

Chris & Wendy in Snowdonia
Image: F. Rumsey

It would be an easy plant to miss however, as one's eye was drawn to the huge numbers of E. rivularis also present with its huge flowers compared to the small size of the plant, like jewels in the grass.

E. cambrica is a truly diminutive plant, rarely more that 1.5cm tall, but quite strongly branched so that it looks just like a tiny bush which has been subjected to extreme bonsai treatment. The flowers are tiny too, usually about 4mm or so, with very small lower lips. 

Apart from its habit is differs only somewhat slightly from E. ostenfeldii and, although we had no trouble in finding it, intermediates between the two species appeared to be even more common. 

Euphrasia cambrica
Image: F. Rumsey

We had plans for the Black Ladders on the following day but Fred and Wendy had to go it alone due of the failure of the clutch on my car, leaving me stranded in the Euphrasia-free zone of Bangor Services".

Don't worry botanists, Chris made it home ok, then headed up to Shetland for a week of Atlas 2020 recording with Ian Denholm and other members of the Euphrasia Study Group, and is now back at home in North Northumberland (where he is County Recorder). 

Let's hope that Chris is hard at work on the Eyebright Handbook, due for publication next year. Some of us can hardly wait for this new addition to the series of BSBI Handbooks!