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Lists of ancient woodland indicator species among vascular plants were developed by the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England) for each region of England, with each list containing the hundred most reliable indicators for that region.
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.
[4] [5] [6] It is a predominantly lowland species that inhabits moist, base-rich, shady habitats including; broad-leaf woodlands, hedgerows, limestone pavements, pastures, and riverbanks. [7] It has been used as an indicator of ancient woodland in East Anglia. [8]
The woodlands of Bedfordshire cover 6.2% of the county. [2] Some two thirds of this (4,990 ha or 12,300 acres) is broad-leaved woodland, principally oak and ash. [3] A Woodland Trust estimate of all ancient woodland in Bedfordshire (dating back to at least the year 1600), including woods of 0.1 ha (0.25 acres) and upward suggests an area of 1,468 ha (3,630 acres). [4]
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. Eight of the top ten Scottish plants listed on the Scottish Biodiversity List (a ...
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.
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]
In Britain Tilia cordata, traditionally called pry, is considered an indicator of ancient woodland, and is becoming increasingly rare. [9] Owing to its rarity, a number of woods have been given SSSI status. Cocklode Wood, part of the Bardney Limewoods in Lincolnshire, is the best surviving spread of medieval small leaved limes in England. [10]