12 February 2010

Ivy Broomrape at Oxwich

The persistent dead flower spikes of the parasitic Ivy Broomrape (Orobanche hederae) enable it to be identified throughout the year. This species is restricted to the coast where it can be frequent on Ivy growing on limestone cliffs and dunes in Gower, but is scarce elsewhere in Glamorgan. The image below shows the dune woodland between the Oxwich Bay Hotel and the main beach car park where the species is frequent.

2 comments:

Joek Roex said...

There used to be quite a few stems in the car park of the Cayo Arms, Cathedral Rd, Cardiff, but numbers have decreased over the past few years.

Barry Stewart said...

There are no Cardiff records on the Glamorgan Rare Plant Register, so worth contacting the BSBI recorder Julian Woodman (CCW). Cheers Joek