2023 County Report for South-east Yorkshire

Rohan Lewis

Field work has confirmed that Milk-parsley Thysselinum palustre, Marsh Gentian Gentiana pneumonanthe  and Greater Butterfly Orchid Platanthera chlorantha  are still clinging on in their sole remaining sites in this heavily-farmed county. Baneberry Actaea spicata survives in two, while some guerilla botany has actually increased the known sites for Herb-Paris Paris quadrifolia from two to three.

An ecologically-minded Colonel invited Hull Natural History Society (HNHS) to survey his army base, used for tank training, and this uncovered a hitherto unknown population of Pennyroyal Mentha pulegium, believed extinct in the vice-county since its loss from an unrelated site over 50 years ago.

In the urban areas of Hull and its environs we have had first vc records for three aliens – Balkan Spurge Euphorbia oblongata, Spreading Mouse-ear Hawkweed Pilosella flagellaris ssp flagellaris and Jersey Cudweed Laphangium luteoalbum.

            Perhaps the most surprising find of all was also made within the city of Hull, where an HNHS member spotted Grass Vetchling Lathyrus nissolia, a plant with a single previous vc record, at a different site, 60 years ago. It was in flower among grass in a “railway triangle” (photo credit Africa Gomez)