Flowers and Margins - Assessment

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Methods

Plants found on Saffie Margins

Most uncommon plant: Rye brome
Rye brome( Bromus secalinus) has become increasingly rare

The most common grass was Red fescue (Festuca rubra and sub species), and the most common broad leaved plant:Yarrow (Achilliea millefiorum)

Grasses:

The following grasses were found on every site all were planted except couch.

Cock'sfoot, Common bent, Common couch, Crested Dog's-tail, Meadow Fescue, Red fescue, Timothy, Yorkshire-fog,

These least common grasses were found at one site only. None of these had been sown.

Marsh Foxtail, Meadow oat-grass, Rye Brome, Six-rowed Barley, Smooth Meadow-grass, Wall barley,

Broad-leaved plants

Broad-leaved plants found on every site were:

Black knapweed, Cleavers, Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, Common Sorrel, Field Scabious, Hedge bedstraw, Lady's bedstraw, Meadow Buttercup, Meadow Crane's-bill, Musk-mallow, Ox-eye daisy, Red campion, Ribwort plantain, Tufted vetch, Wild carrot, Yarrow,
Of these cleavers was the only wild (non sown) plant

Broad- leaved plants found at one site only were

Alsike Clover (this may be a volunteer from a forage crop), Amphibious Bistort, Autumn Hawkbit, Beaked Hawk's-beard, Black Bryony, Black Nightshade, Bugloss, Burnet-saxifrage, Canadian Fleabane, Common vetch, Cow Parsley, Fool's Parsley, Greater Bird's-foot-trefoil, Greater Burdock, Hedge Bindweed, Hoary Willowherb, Ivy leaved speedwell, Lesser Burdock, Lesser trefoil, Mugwort, Penny-cress, Petty Spurge,Rosebay Willowherb, Rough Chervil, Sharp-leaved Fluellen, Small Teasel, Spear-leaved Orache, Swine-cress, Traveller's-joy, Welted thistle, White bryony, Wild Mignonette, and Winter-cress. None were sown.

Trees

The plant group with fewest members were trees ;ash, beech, sycamore and wych elm were present

Volunteers

Some crop plants were found self seeded in the margin

Wheat, rape, sugar beet, potato, peas and barley

Woody Plants

Woody stemmed plants are usually associated with hedgerows, but did seed into the margins:

Blackthorn, Brambles, Common broom, Dog-rose and Hawthorn

Crop Weeds

Wild (non sown) plants were found at every site. The most common were the broad leaved plants; Broad-leaved dock, Cleavers, Common couch, Common Field-speedwell, Creeping buttercup, Creeping thistle, Cut-leaved Crane's-bill, Dandelion, Groundsel, Prickly ox-tongue, Prickly Sow-thistle and the grasses: Rough Meadow-grass, and Annual meadow-grass.