Ranunculus tripartitus meeting

Field meeting reports

Meeting date: 6 May 2000

(Leader: Helen Proctor)

Twenty SBRS and Plantlife members met in Hailsham to look at sites where Ranunculus tripartitus agg. (Three-lobed Crowfoot) had previously been recorded. A pond near Hailsham had a wonderful display of Hottonia palustris (Water Violet), flowering profusely. Three minute non-flowering plants of  R. tripartitus were found. One tiny plant had a niche on a log in the water. Another pond nearby produced Potamogeton berchtoldii (Small Pondweed).

At Hooe Common Nature Reserve  R. tripartitus was growing precariously in cattle-trampled mud by a path. Three plants were found in separate locations on the reserve.

The next site visited was a pond on Milton Hyde near Arlington. Impromptu conservation work was carried out by Nick Stewart in order to prevent the four plants here from being choked by Glyceria (Sweet-grass). Nick explained that R.tripartitus has sparse long hairs on the receptacle but no hairs on the carpels. The sepals are often violet, but this is not a reliable character. A search for the plant was also made by the lake in Abbots Wood, but no more was found.