Monday 11 August 2025 The Rich Flora of the City of Chichester Leader: Nick Sturt
Twenty nine members, a good number, met Nick Sturt and his wife Elisabeth in the Cattle Market car park. It was still very warm and we only had a few drops of rain otherwise strolling along the streets only occasionally getting in the way of the traffic. We gently meandered along heading west. I had no idea mainly weeds (or should I say wild flowers) could be so interesting and that we had so many knowledgeable members in our midst. Nick even checked with them at some points as to his classification.
We gathered around to sniff Stinking Iris, view Pendulous Sedge, Sweet Violet and Greater Celandine. We wended our way still west and saw Mexican Fleabane, Groundsel and Prickly Lettuce whose leaves apparently point along the north/south axis (one learns something every day). In fact Elisabeth told me a number of interesting facts as we walked along. Into Cawley car park glancing at Hedge Mustard, Broad-leaved Plantain, Yarrow, Smooth Hawksbeard. (Apparently there are Scented Violets growing in the Spring.) Standing under a very brown Horse Chestnut we observed the narrow leaves of Ribwort Plantain.
Crossing the road into South Pallant car park (please note weeds love car parks, narrow alleyways, kerbsides who needs a garden?) Elisabeth told me it was Oxford Ragwort we were looking at- unusual in that it started in the Oxford Botanic Gardens and then when railways came along it spread along the railways, not just people then who could travel. Also saw female Annual Mercury, Black spleenwort fern, Red Valerian on wall. Into North Pallant Sow Thistle growing, Lesser Hairy Willowherb in kerb apparently it is an arable weed and likes broken soil so not doing well when farmers use pesticide rather than breaking the soil up.
We disappeared down a very narrow alleyway. I was amused to see the tail enders of our group bending down fascinated by some plant. We emerged to continue our circular walk returning on top of part of the East Walls. Nick Sturt and Elisabeth provided all the botanical knowledge and we must all thank them for a lovely evening stroll and their kindness in making two recces beforehand for us.
Daphne Flach
In excess of 130 species were seen during the meeting, inevitably not by everyone in a large and lively party. Some of these species had not been noticed on two recces, for example Red Deadnettle and the ferns in the narrow passage behind All Saints Church in West Pallant. On the other hand Elisabeth and I had previously found Daisy (which I had to put on the list anyway!) and one or two others which eluded us on the 11th. At this time of the year quite a number of species have already been through their cycle and disappeared from view (Snowdrops and Lesser Celandine for example, and the elusive and declining Rue-leaved Saxifrage which maintains a tenuous roothold here); and quite a few more were casualties of the prolonged hot, dry Summer, especially those growing on walls.
There were other areas we could have sampled, notably around the Lavant and the Canal Basin, Priory Park, and the wastes of Terminus Road: we could have cleared with some ease a total of 200. As it was we remained within one monad (1x1km square) and almost entirely within the walls. The idea of surveying Chichester’s plants goes back some 30 years to the late George Forster who led a series of four walks for CNHS in different parts of the city. His first walk started, like ours, in the Market which at that time had not been paved and still had some of the cattle market buildings standing. In those days Mexican Fleabane had only just arrived in town (a couple of plants on the wall of the canal basin) and we had yet to be invaded by the waves of alien Fleabanes and the now almost ubiquitous grass Water Bent. The flora of our city goes on changing.
Nick Sturt
In the following list Elisabeth and I do not include species seen on our two recces beforehand… except Daisy. The suggestions of frequency derive from observations at the time and should be treated with caution.
Download the plant list Scientific name | English | Notes | Acer pseudoplatanus | Sycamore | scattered | Achillea millefolium | Yarrow | frequent on verges | Aegopodium podagraria | Ground Elder | Cawley Priory car-park | Aesculus hippocastanum | Horse Chestnut | a few seedlings | Agrostis capillaris | Common Bent | frequent | Agrostis stolonifera | Creeping Bent | apparently scarce | Alliaria petiolata | Garlic Mustard | frequent | Alopecurus pratensis | Meadow Foxtail | East Walls | Anisantha sterilis | Barren Brome | ruderal | Anthriscus sylvestris | Cow Parsley | in places | Arabidopsis thaliana | Thale Cress | Spring annual still visible | Arctium minus | Lesser Burdock | Cawley Priory car-park | Arrhenatherum elatius | False Oat-grass | East Walls | Arum maculatum | Common Lords-and-ladies | scattered | Asplenium adiantum-nigrum | Black Spleenwort | car-park and | Asplenium ruta-muraria | Wall Rue | W Pallant All Saints passage | Asplenium scolopendrium | Hart’s-tongue Fern | W Pallant All Saints passage | Asplenium trichomanes | Maidenhair Fern | W Pallant All Saints passage | Atriplex patula | Common Orache | East Pallant car-park | Atropa belladonna | Deadly Nightshade | scattered plants | Ballota nigra | Black Horehound | East Walls | Bellis perennis | Daisy | strangely difficult to find | Brachypodium sylvaticum | False Brome | East Walls | Buddleia davidii | Biddleia | scattered | Calystegia sepium | Hedge Bindweed | frequent | Capsella bursa-pastoris | Shepherd’s Purse | occasional | Cardamine hirsuta | Hairy Bitter-cress | Little London | Carex divulsa subsp. divulsa | Grey Sedge | East Walls and elsewhere | Carex pendula | Pendulous Sedge | not frequent | Castanea sativa | Sweet Chestnut | one sapling | Centaurea nigra | Common Knapweed | East Walls | Centranthus ruber | Red Valerian | occasional | Chelidonium majus | Greater Celandine | apparently scarce | Circaea lutetiana | Enchanter’s Nightshade | East Walls | Cirsium arvense | Creeping Thistle | frequent | Cirsium vulgare | Spear Thistle | apparently scarce | Convolvulus arvensis | Field Bindweed | East Walls | Conyza (Erigeron) floribunda | Bilbao Fleabane | very frequent | Conyza (Erigeron) sumatrensis | Guernsey (Sumatran) Fleabane | occasional | Corylus avellana | Hazel | occasional | Crataegus monogyna | Hawthorn | occasional | Crepis capillaris | Smooth Hawk’s-beard | occasional | Cymbalaria muralis | Ivy-leaved Bellflower | common | Dactylis glomerata | Cock’s-foot Grass | frequent | Dryopteris filix-mas | Male Fern | apparently scarce | Echinochloa crus-galli | Cock-spur | occasional alien | Epilobium ciliatum | American Willowherb | occasional alien | Epilobium hirsutum | Great Willowherb | frequent | Epilobium montanum | Broad-leaved Willowherb | East Walls | Epilobium parviflorum | Hoary Willowherb | occasional | Epilobium tetragonum | Square-stalked Willowherb | occasional | Erigeron karvinskianum | Mexican Fleabane | frequent | Euphorbia lathyris | Caper Spurge | West Pallant | Euphorbia peplus | Petty Spirge | frequent | Festuca rubra agg. | Red Fescue | frequent | Fraxinus excelsior | Ash | occasional seedlings | Galium album | Hedge Bedstraw | East Walls | Galium aparine | Cleavers | apparently scarce? | Galium verum | Lady’s Bedstraw | East Walls | Geranium molle | Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill | apparently scarce | Geranium robertianum | Herb Robert | occasional | Geum urbanum | Wood Avens (Herb Bennet) | occasional | Hedera helix | Ivy | common | Hieracium pollichiae | a Hawkweed with blotchy leaves | E Walls, long known in city | Helminthotheca echioides | Bristly Oxtongue | frequent | Heracleum sphondylium | Hogweed | occasional | Holcus lanatus | Yorkshire Fog | occasional | Hordeum murinum | Wall Barley | common | Hyacynthoides x massartiana | Spanish Bluebell | East Walls | Hypericum androsaemum | Tutsan | W Pallant All Saints passage | Hypericum perforatum | Perforate St.John’s-wort | East Walls | Hypochaeris radicata | Cat’s-ear | frequent | Ilex aquifolium | Holly | occasional | Iris foetidissima | Stinking Iris | occasional eg Cawley Priory | Knautia arvensis | Field scabious | East Walls | Lactuca serriola | Prickly Lettuce (Compass Plant) | frequent | Lamium album | White Deadnettle | apparently scarce | Lamium purpureum | Red Deadnettle | apparently scarce | Lapsana communis | Nipplewort | occasional | Lepidium didymum | Lesser Swine-cress | apparently scarce | Leucanthemum vulgare | Oxeye Daisy | East Walls | Linaria purpurea | Purple Toadflax | occasional | Lolium perenne | Rye Grass | frequent | Lotus corniculatus | Bird’s-foot Trefoil | East Walls | Malva sylvestris | Common Mallow | occasional | Matricaria discoidea | Pineapple Weed | occasional | Medicago lupulina | Black Medick | apparently scarce | Mercurialis annua | Annual Mercury | occasional | Mercurialis perennis | Dog’s Mercury | Cawley Priory car-park | Mycelis muralis | Wall Lettuce | frequent | Origanum vulgare | Wild Marjoram | East Walls | Parietaria judaica | Pellitory-of-the-wall | abundant | Pentaglottis sempervirens | Alkanet | frequent | Persicaria maculosa | Redshank | apparently scarce | Petasites fragrans | Winter Heliotrope | East Pallant car-park | Plantago lanceolata | Ribwort Plantain | occasional | Plantago major | Rat’s-tail Plantain | frequent | Poa annua | Annual Meadow-grass | frequent | Poa trivialis | Rough Meadow-grass | occasional | Polygonum arenastrum | Equal-leaves Knotgrass | occasional | Polygonum aviculare | Common Knotgrass | abundant | Polypogon viridis | Water Bent | common alien | Portulaca oleracea (sativa) | Common Purslane | East Row pavement | Potentilla reptans | Creeping Cinqfoil | occasional | Pseudofumaria lutea | Yellow Corydalis | occasional | Pteridium aquilinum | Bracken | rare | Quercus robur | Pedunculate Oak | occasional | Ranunculus repens | Creeping Buttercup | frequent | Rubus caesius | Dewberry | East Walls | Rubus fruticosus agg. | Bramble | common | Rumex crispus | Curled Dock | occasional | Rumex obtusifolius | Broad-leaved Dock | occasional | Rumex sanguineus | Wood Dock | occasional eg East Walls | Sagina procumbens | Procumbent Pearlwort | common in paving | Salix cinerea subsp. oleifolia | Grey Willow | a few seedlings | Sambucus nigra | Elder | occasional | Scorzoneroides autumnalis | Autumn Hawkbit | occasional | Senecio jacobaea | Common Ragwort | frequent | Senecio squalidus | Oxford Ragwort | frequent | Senecio vulgaris | Groundsel | occasional | Sisymbrium officinale | Hedge Mustard | occasional | Solanum dulcamara | Bittersweet | occasional | Solanum nigrum subsp. nigrum | Black Nightshade | apparently scarce | Sonchus arvensis | Corn Sowthistle | corner by Pallant House | Sonchus oleraceus | Smooth Sowthistle | frequent | Stachys sylvatica | Hedge Woundwort | apparently scarce | Stellaria holostea | Greater Stitchwort | East Walls | Stellaria media | Chickweed | occasional | Taraxacum agg. | Dandelion | frequent | Trifolium repens | White Clover | apparently scarce | Tripleurospermum inodorum | Scentless Mayweed | occasional | Urtica dioica | Common Nettle | occasional | Viola odorata | Sweet Violet | Cawley Priory car-park |
 Prickly Lettuce - note the north south orientation of its leaves.  Purslane  Oxford Ragwort
Marsh Harrier, perched in the tree
Chichester, West Sussex
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