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Very rare species are not considered axiophytes; for a species to be a useful indicator of quality habitat it must be relatively frequent in those habitats, but scarce elsewhere. A typical example would be dog's mercury ( Mercurialis perennis ), a plant slow to colonise new sites, but common in ancient woodland and old hedgerows.
Providing that the area has remained as woodland, the stand is still considered ancient. Since it may have been cut over many times in the past, ancient woodland does not necessarily contain trees that are particularly old. [1] For many animal and plant species, ancient woodland sites provide the sole habitat.
The plant is widely distributed in Britain and much of mainland Europe, although it is absent from the Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland. [3] It favours fertile, well-drained soils in old lowland deciduous woodland and hedgerows, occurring up to 425 m. [ 5 ]
Aller and Beer Woods are outstanding examples of ancient, escarpment woodland managed in a traditional coppice-with-standards system. The woodland is a variant of the calcareous ash /Wych elm stand-type, with pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur ), and ash ( Fraxinus excelsior ) the dominant canopy trees throughout, and with scattered concentrations ...
The antiquity of the woodlands is reflected in the very high number of ancient woodland indicator species recorded within the site. Over fifty such species occur, including a number of rare or local plants such as tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum) making it one of the botanically richest woods in Hampshire. [1]
The plant is an ancient woodland indicator, as the ants rarely carry the seeds more than a few yards, seldom crossing a field to go to a new woodland. The Latin specific epithet pratense means "of meadows". [2] Melampyrum pratense is a food plant of the caterpillars of the heath fritillary (Melitaea athalia), a butterfly. [3]
Gillies Hill hosts a large array of plants native to Central Scotland. The hill is home to at least 38 Ancient Woodland indicator species from the AWVP – Europe/National/Scotland list and 21 from the AWVP - Scotland list, a record Scots Pine, a record Rowan, and an abundance of wildflower, lichen, fungi, moss, and grass species.
A total of 65 Ancient Woodland Indicator plants have been recorded in the woods. Of special note is the population of narrow-leaved lungwort (Pulmonaria longifolia). This nationally scarce species is the rarest known vascular plant on the reserve and in Britain is limited to ancient woodlands on the shores and tributaries of the Solent.