6 members of the Botany Group recently visited 2 interesting sites near Ripon. Burton Leonard Quarry and Quarry Moor nature reserves are both (as their names suggest) former quarries on the narrow band of magnesian limestone which runs north to south in that area of Yorkshire. The underlying geology contributes to an interesting flora.
Many of the lime-loving plants were of course familiar to us (such as Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus, Salad Burnet Poterium sanguisorba, Common Rockrose Helianthemum nummularium, Lady’s Bedstraw Galium verum and Small and Field Scabious Scabiosa columbaria and Knautia arvensis.
Some of the familiar plants surprised us by their profusion (Fairy Flax Linum catharticum forming a delicate white lacework over the yellow backround of Rockrose and Birdsfoot Trefoil; Common Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii and Common Twayblade Neottia ovata growing “like weeds” at Burton Leonard; Agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria and Common Knapweed Centauria nigra similarly at Quarry Moor; both plants dwarfed by the thin soil and enthusiastic grazing by rabbits).
Other plants were much more typical of lowland or southerly conditions. These included Greater Knapweed Centaurea scabiosa, Black Bryony Tamus communis, Burnet Rose Rosa pimpinellifolia, Common Centaury Centauria erythraea, Yellow-wort Blackstonia perfoliata and Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis all growing in abundance.
We were enchanted by the pretty pink veined petals of Squinancywort Asperula cynanchica occupying the niche inhabited by Limestone Bedstraw Galium sterneri in our Dales grasslands.
Our final botanical treat was seeing hundreds of plants of Thistle Broomrape Orobanche reticulata at Quarry Moor. Although more common in other areas of Europe, its UK distribution is restricted to a few sites in Yorkshire on this magnesian limestone belt. Seeing it so “at home” here was a lovely end to our trip.
Liz Beaver
Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis
