I had to take someone for a regular appointment at Singleton Hospital today so, rather than spending my time in the waiting room, I took a short walk in the adjacent Singleton Park and the grounds of the university. There has been some clearance within the wooded gardens immediately north of the university, and I chanced upon about half-a-dozen plants of small balsam
Impatiens parviflora, a particularly unspectacular member of the balsam family (photo of flower below). I estimate the grid ref to be SS631921 and it was found along a path some 20ft or so approximately westwards of a large clump of
Gunnera, and with a large man-made decorative rock outcrop in the background (in case anyone wants to re-find it).
Elsewhere in the park, I noticed water bent
Polypogon viridis (a grass that is rapidly spreading in the Llanelli area of SE Carmarthenshire) and grey sedge
Carex divulsa, the latter at the base of railings edging a pathway where the university grounds meets the hospital to the west.
It was good to see the more biodiversity-friendly management of the park grounds, with areas of uncut grass (presumably to be cut, hay-meadow style, in due course) and sizeable dead tree stumps which will provide a niche for deadwood invertebrates. Full marks to the park authorities!...and I wish that Carmarthenshire would do the same, rather than removing old trees in public areas, with sometimes very dubious justification.
3 comments:
It sounds like the Impatiens may be the same patch reported to me by Jo Mullet last year, so good to know it's persisting. We only have one other post 1999 record, so clearly a very scarce plant locally. Another Carmarthenshire botanist, Richard Pryce (ever heard of him!), found West Glamorgan's first Polypogon viridis whilst waiting for his dental appointment. I'm beginning to wonder if the NHS does not operate in Carms! Anyway, it's botanists are always welcome here, especially if they continue to find interesting plants.
Impatiens parviflora persisted on the Tennant Canal near Cadoxton for at least 20 years, then suddenly disappeared.
These individuals may well have come from seed from plants grown at the botanical gardens. A mulch of compost from there was spread over the borders of the ornamental gardens.
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