Searching for a Neotinea in a haystack

Sussex is one of the few counties to contain populations of Neotinea ustulata (Burnt Orchid). It is a plant of chalk and limestone regions though has suffered a dramatic decline in recent years. Of 265 hectad squares in which it has ever been recorded in Britain, it is now to be found in about 50 such areas, amounting to maybe 75 populations. The orchid was first described by Fuchs in 1543, and the first British record was from Yorkshire in 1650.[1] Named as Orchis ustulata by Linnaeus in 1753, it was assigned to the current genus in 1997.

The largest population in Sussex is on the downs near Lewes where hundreds of plants have been recorded. A week ago Dave Steere of the Kent Botanical Recording Group found thirty plants, and over the Bank Holiday weekend we visited to see what we could find too. However, despite two visits and a total of four hours searching we only found two plants, within about two metres of each other.

Nevertheless, it was interesting to find other species of this grassland community, including Festuca ovina (Sheep’s Fescue), Rhinanthus minor (Yellow Rattle), Centaurea scabiosa (Greater Knapweed), Sanguisorba minor (Salad Burnet), Primula veris (Cowslip), Briza media (Quaking Grass), Blackstonia perfoliata (Yellow-wort), Hippocrepis comosa (Horseshoe Vetch) and Tragopogon pratensis (Goat’s Beard). There was also abundant Cruciata laevipes (Crosswort), and Polygala, which mostly seemed to be Polygala vulgaris (Common Milkwort).

[1] Tali, Kadri, Michael J. Y. Foley, and Tiiu Kull. “Orchis ustulata L.” Journal of Ecology 92, no. 1 (2004): 174-184. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2004.00858.x.