12.) POLYGALACEAE - Milkwort family
POLYGALACEAE
POLYGALA L.
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Polygala vulgaris L. (Common Milkwort) / Grassland Scarce Well distributed but highly localised in calcareous to acidic species-rich grassland, hill pastures, dry banks, heaths and fen meadows. It has declined significantly since the turn of the 21st century due to the degradation of its prime habitat. Produces both blue and pink flowers in our area but rarely white. Murray (1896) gives the alternative name: Cross-flower.
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ssp. vulgaris / Grassland Scarce The nominate form. Most plants recorded at species level refer to this..
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ssp. collina (Rchb.) Borbás Grassland Rare In the same situations as ssp. vulgaris but rarer. It is mentioned by White (1912) [under var. oxyptera] to occur on "Clifton Down. Rodway Hill. Near Tockington. Tortworth. Leigh Down. Furzy hillside between Ursleigh Hill and Pensford; D. Fry...Weston-super-Mare; Mrs. Gregory. Englishcombe; and hillsides above Bathampton, beyond Bath." Marshall (1914) also has it from Uphill and Riddelsdell (1948) from Yate Common; I.M. Roper. It still occurs at some of these locations; including on the south-side of the Gully, Avon Gorge where its flowers carpet a magnificent display of blues and pinks. It differs from the typical plant in its smaller inner sepals (4-6 x 2-3.5 mm as opposed to 6-8.5 x 3.5-5 mm) which are distinctly narrower than the capsules (as wide as them in ssp. vulgaris) and fewer numbers of inter-veinlet areolae [the spaces between veins which divide and then join up again, like the cells on a flies wing] (with 4-8 as opposed to 6-20) and fewer distal corolla lobes [the frilly part] (8-16(22) instead of 14-32). It also generally has a "more diffuse and prostrate habit; narrower leaves and narrower wing-sepals;...smaller, more distant and more deflexed flowers, and [a]...more elongated style." (White, 1912).
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Polygala serpyllifolia Hosé (Heath Milkwort) - Grassland Rare Once scattered over the region but now rare and highly localised in species-rich acidic grassland, damp heaths and commons. It was much more frequent in the past and is now sadly lost from the North and East of the region due to habitat degradation such as has happened on Siston Common which has become sterile amenity grassland. In a once more floriferous time, White (1912) mentions plants "with white flowers" at Yate Common.
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Polygala calcarea F.W. Schultz (Chalk Milkwort) - Grassland Very Rare Very rare on oolitic limestone on a hill pasture "near Fortnight, between Bath and Combe Hay; where it was first noticed by Mr. F. Samson in May, 1909. The plant grows with Hippocrepis [Horse-shoe Vetch] in close brilliant patches which are rendered conspicuous at some distances by the beautiful bright blue tint of the flowers. How it escaped recognition by all the capable Bath botanists of past generations is a mystery." (White, 1912). In the past it was also queried from Sandford Hill; recorded by W.B. Waterfall but "There has been some misunderstanding. I was assured by Mr. Briggs that he remembered the plant being sent to him, but that he had not ventured to name it." (Murry, 1896). But White (1912) added "The Mendip locality, however, is not an unlikely one for this species." The specimen is untraceable and to this day it remains unconfirmed. 1930s record from North of West Littleton by ? [BSBI record] and recorded close by in the 1980s record from North of Marshfield by D. Green [BSBI and also on NBN]; 1990s record from Colerne (might be just within the region) [BSBI record]
[There's also a 2011 record from Alverston - highly suspicious and a 2013 National Trust record from Middlehope on NBN - no doubt a mistake]