2020 County Report for Berkshire

Mick Crawley

Berkshire’s rarest plant, Bituminaria bituminosa, continues to flourish.  It was first recorded in June 2014 in gravel at the base of an east-facing wall at Silwood Park, probably introduced on a car arriving from Spain. It struggled along for two years, then decided to perennate properly, and grow to full size.   Now, in January 2021, we have a plant with 10 stems, 1m tall, that retains some of its leaves right through the winter and flowers magnificently throughout the summer.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were no additions to the flora recorded during 2020, though doubtless several occurred but went unwitnessed.