Botany in Northumberland

Saxifraga tridactylites, Rue-leaved Saxifrage, at Corbridge Train Station

Attracted by its humble, dainty white flowers and succulent-like leaves, Rue-Leaved Saxifrage has always been a plant I have wanted to see. Spurred on by recent posts for the Wildflower Hour Challenge on Twitter, whereby botanists of all abilities post their weekly findings on the Sunday of each week, I decided that I too would like to track down this plant.

Rue-leaved Saxifrage is a rare plant in the county and was thought to have been extinct from the region until it was rediscovered, as a colonist, at Corbridge train station in 2011 and was last recorded in 2015 (Groom, Young and Richards, 2020). So, it seems like Corbridge was my best bet to track down this plant.

It was on the 5^th March 2023, a sunny day albeit fairly windy, when I was accompanied by my dad, who I hadn’t managed to organise an outing with for what seemed like months, set off to Corbridge in the hopes of locating the Rue-leaved Saxifrage.

This plant is not particularly fussy and finds its home on disturbed ground, walls, and cracks in the pavement. As such, we had set our eyes on the pavements and mason walls, the latter, a common sight within this beautiful village, as we headed towards the train station from the car park. The station itself was not particularly hard to locate and not far from the car park, unless, you have a poor sense of direction such as I, as I led us down the wrong path out of the two to choose from.

Saxifraga tridactylites at Corbridge Station — *Saxifraga tridactylites* at Corbridge Station

As we backed tracked towards the train station, we noticed signs of spring flowers were popping up along the hedgerows. Leaves of Alliaria petiolata, Garlic Mustard, and Arum maculatum, Lords and Ladies, had already emerged.

We searched outside the train station, at the coordinates NY989635, where the Rue-leaved Saxifrage was last recorded in 2015. Despite looking at walls, pavements and the disturbed grounds surrounding the area, we could not seem to find our target. Slightly disappointed, I looked towards the train station below the bridge on which we stood. There were mason walls running along the platforms to either side of the tracks. I thought, if we were to find them in this area, it could be there.

The walls on platform 1 were covered in lichen, they didn’t have enough gaps between the bricks for plants to take hold. However, as I looked down by the bench, I suddenly realized right next to our boots, were around 50 succulent-looking plants of varying sizes. Rue-leaved Saxifrage. We had found our target species growing on top of small cushions of moss.

To get a good view of these tiny plants, we had to get down on our hands and knees and that attracted strange looks from passengers on the train that just arrived on platform 2, but it was worth it. The leaves of the Rue-leaved Saxifrage are mostly three-lobed and are slightly curved downwards at the edge, giving it a flesh look, not so dissimilar to succulent plants at garden centres. The leaves are also covered in short and very sticky hairs, making it quite distinctive from other plants that occupy the same habitat such as Erophila verna, Common Whitlowgrass. Hopefully, given time, this local population, can spread around the village.

By Ho-Yin Wong, local naturalist.

Helleborus viridis at Rivergreen Mill

I have never seen Green Hellebore in Northumberland, or indeed anywhere else since I was a teenager, so I decided to check out the Rivergreen Mill site (on the River Wansbeck) on March 1st 2023. Swan lists at least seven sites in south Northumberland, but most of these are clearly escapes from cultivation and most seem to be extinct. It was first recorded in 1568 in ‘the Westparke, Morpeth’ by William Turner, but may not be native this far north as it was grown for medicinal purposes, probably as a vermifuge. The decorative plant occasionally grown in gardens today is a different subspecies (subspecies viridis, our plant subsp. occidentalis is much less showy), so our plant will be an ancient introduction from apothecaries.

Of the Rivergreen Mill site, Swan writes in his Flora of Northumberland (1993) ‘but perhaps now extinct’. However, it has since been recorded there by Mark Welfare and others.

The grid reference reported is NZ140848.

At the entrance of the lane down to the Mill is a ‘road closed’ notice, so I parked there, but in fact, one could park lower down. The notice seems to be a subterfuge; it is a cul de sac anyway! The footbridge is hidden behind the mill house. Turn right over the bridge and walk on a good path 4-500 m until the path and river briefly run N/S. Here a haugh with sparse coppice (see picture) lies between the path and the river. There is a faint path along the haugh. Besides this, I found two clumps of the hellebore 5 m apart, and a seedling. Although I searched fairly widely I found no more plants, but I understand from Mark that at least one other subsite exists, probably where several large trees have fallen, slightly to the north.

As will be seen, the site looks completely natural in what is almost certainly ancient and remote (although managed) woodland. However, it is possible that the site floods and seeds might have been washed down from habitation in some previous century. The future of the plants seems far from secure, and it might be a good idea to propagate from seed and introduce established seedlings.

By John Richards, VCR for South Northumberland (VC67)

Flora at Walker Riverside

It is no secret that I am a big fan of the messy, post-industrial yet incredibly diverse riverside park at Walker. Visiting for a few years now, I’ve already amassed a fairly respectable plant list for the site yet somehow, each visit continues to turn up something new. Things were no different on a visit this weekend with local botanist, Ho-Yin Wong.

Heading first for the marina at St. Peter’s Basin and it wasn’t long before colossal fleabane caught my eye growing in no-mans-land by the side of the road. Up here, Canadian Fleabane (Erigeron canadensis) tends to be the common species, so much so that I often walk past them without checking. That’ll teach me, this one turned out to be Gurnsey Fleabane (Erigeron sumatrensis) identified by its hairy phyllaries.

Guernsey Fleabane (*Erigeron sumatrensis)*

Reaching the basin itself, it was pleasing to see that the various areas of pavement and wasteground here had not been ‘tidied’ as so many places around here often are. Lots more Guernsey Fleabane was found, alongside two more invaders: Russian Vine (Fallopia baldschuanica) and Narrow-leaved Ragwort (Senecio inaequidens).

Rummaging around further, Canadian Fleabane (with glabrous phillaries) was eventually observed, alongside Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus) with its conspicuous black bracts. As for the highlight among the native species, it was nice to catch Small-flowered Crane’s-bill (Geranium pusillum) still in bloom.

Making our way down to the track that runs along the North bank of the Tyne, the usual riverside flora remained conspicuous. Here, Black Horehound (Balotta nigra) remained in flower and several self-sown Italian Alder (Alnus cordata) were seen. Much more interesting, however, were two new additions to the ‘Walker list’ in Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) and better still, White-stemmed Bramble (Rubus cockburnianus). The latter a Chinese endemic long known from the riverside here yet annoyingly, one which I have struggled to find, until now.

White-stemmed Bramble (*Rubus cockburnianus*)

Moving on to the site of the old tar works and a real hotchpotch of interesting plants appeared in quick succession. Clustered Bellflower (Campanula glomerata) remained in bloom, as did Wild Thyme (Thymus drucei), though sadly, the same could not be said for the Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) which grows here too. The Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) dumped on site last summer also appear to be thriving, much to my surprise, and it was interesting to note Grey Alder (Alnus incana). Slightly further on we also encountered Hoary Ragwort (Jacobaea erucifolia).

Back down by the riverside and it was exciting to record both Hoary Mustard (Hirschfeldia incana) and Flattened Meadow Grass (Poa compressa) – both scarce species locally. As a matter of fact, it was thanks to the aforementioned grass that we chanced upon what would turn out to be the highlight of the day – a great clump of Blue Fleabane (Erigeron acris). More on that one in an upcoming post.

Soon it was head off, though not before a quick excursion along the wooded cycleway further up the bank. Here, Chinese Bramble (Rubus tricolor) was a bit of a curiosity as was what I think is Box-leaved Honeysuckle (Lonicera pileata). Having watched it with frustration for two years now, I was also happy to make some headway with the ‘unusual’ spurge that grows here. Looking closer, it appears this might be Balkan Spurge (Euphorbia oblongata), identification made easier by the presence of fruit on this occasion.

By James Common, BSBI Vice-County Recorder, VC68