Eryngium campestre
Eryngium campestre (Mike Ingram)

Taxonomy

Eryngium campestre (L.), Field Eryngo, is distinctive member of the Apiaceae and is an uncontroversial taxon. It has local names of Daneweed, Watling Street Thistle, Hundred Headed Thistle and, in Wales, Ysgallen Ganpen. It is one of five species of Eryngo which are known to occur in Britain (Stace 1997). There are no known synonyms for this species or information on  hybridisation.

2n =14.

Identification

It is a rigid, pale green,glabrous, branched perennial that grows up to 75cm high and has distinctive spiny leaves and ovoid umbels. It is superficially similar to E. maritimum and the two can occur together e.g. in sand dune habitats but the latter species is often smaller with a blue capitulum rather than green in E. campestre.

Distribution

It is native to Spain, France, Germany and Greece and other scattered localities in Europe, and is also found in Africa and Asia.

In Britain there are sites in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Kent, and it has been recorded as far north as Northumberland, in Wales and in Southern Ireland (Preston et al. 2002).

 

Ecology

E. campestre is a plant of dry, open grassland but also disturbed habitats such as waste places and roadsides and often shows a preference for calcareous soils (Stace 1997). The sites in Devon include semi-improved and improved grassland on acidic soils as well as disturbed areas (Ingram 2007).

It is not mentioned as a component of any grassland or other open habitat National Vegetation Community (Rodwell 1991-2000) nor in earlier works on vegetation communities (e.g. Tansley 1939).

It is a hemicryptophyte perennial and is insect pollinated, but has also been noted to reproduce vegetatively (Ingram 2007). It flowers from July to September.

Status

In Britain E. campestre is currently considered to be an archaeophyte (Preston et al. 2002) but it has been thought to be possibly native in Kent and Devon (Stace 1997). It was first recorded in 1662 by John Ray in Devon.

It is a rare plant in Britain being recorded in just twelve 10km squares in the period 1987-99 (Preston et al. 2002) and is listed in the British Red Data Book as Critically Endangered (Cheffings & Farrell 2005), but with the comment ‘cannot distinguish between casuals and established sites.’

In Europe it is often common and locally abundant and sometimes considered an agricultural weed (Salva and Bermejo 1987).

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Further work

Whether this species should be considered native in Britain or not is open to question.

Studies of its genetics in relation to populations on the continent might help to determine the origin of the plant in Britain.

In Southern Europe there are known parasitoids of E. campsetre (Kaydan et al. 2006) which, if also found in Britain, might help to confirm native status (Preston 1986). It would also be useful to know if it occurs in any semi-natural vegetation communities.

References

Ingram, M. 2007. The Management of Eryngium campestre at Scabbacombe, South Devon. National Trust.

Kaydan, M.B., Kilincer, N., Uygun, N., Japoshvilli, G. & Gaiman, S. 2006. Parasitoids and Predators of Pseudococcidae (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) in Ankara, Turkey. Phytoparasitica 34, 331-337.

Preston, C.D. 1986. An additional criteria for assessing native status. Watsonia 16, p83.

Salva, A.P. and Bermejo, J.E.H. 1987. Floristic composition and agricultural importance of weeds in Southern Spain. Weed Research 28, 175-180.

Tansley, A.G. 1939. The British Islands and their Vegetation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Webb, D.A. 1985. What are the criteria for presuming native status? Watsonia 15, 231-236.

Citation

Ingram, M. (date accessed). Species account: Eryngium campestre. Botanical Society of the British Isles, www.bsbi.org.uk.

Send us your comments and Feedback

Mervyn Brown (3/6/2009): I agree with Stace that the plant is native at least in its Kent locations. The reason for its rarity in Kent derives from its reluctance to germinate in the wild. At the Darenth site it rarely flowers without proper habitat management. When it does flower the seed is viable, but inspection of the site showed that none of the seed germinated even in potentially microhabitats. At Darenth the plantlets seem to derive fron a single clone and all spread is by rhizomes. A major problem occurs at this site in that heavy rabbit grazing has caused the plant to decline drastically and has caused extinction of many other plants on this SSSI and a great reduction in invertebrate fauna. I have a plant of this clone and it has grown readily for over 30 years without need for special care. It grows quite readily on acid shingle of the Blackheath beds in its current location and flowers readily. It has been growing in my garden for the last 20 years and again shows no sign of natural germination. Again it readily germinated in a mixture of one part sharp sand and one part fine gravel with just a trace of organic compost. At the Darenth site there is no evidence of the plant this year and I shall make proposals to the owners of the site (Dartford Council) as it is more likely that the rhizomes have become dormant which does occur with this plant if damaged by excessive grazing. Invertebrate grazing I have observed to be a minor problem from Arion ator and Helix aspersa. Neither of these species is present at the Darenth site and invertebrate grazing from polyphageous lepidoptera has been observed, but is very minor. Rabbit grazing is a severe potential threat to this plant and could lead to decline if the site management is conducive to large rabbit numbers. I have visited this site with Eric Philp some years ago and have shown him the extent of rabbit damage. I shall contact Natural England with proposals for appropriate intervention to avoid extinction of the plant.

Brian Laney (26/11/2009): Regarding Mervyn Brown’s interesting reply on the Darenth population of Field Eryngo, it is sad to hear it has not appeared this year. When I was there a few years ago with Dave Shute we saw the population was surrounded by high scrub and a high hedge. Is it possible to get this cut right down to get better light levels in onto the population? I have been lucky to see this species in many of its UK locations and all of them were in open sunny areas except the Darenth population. Regarding the problem with the rabbit population maybe it would be worth caging the plants during the growing season to give them a chance as the population is small and vunerable. The cages can be removed between October to April as to let the rabbits back in to graze the vegetation back short again. Then the cages can be replaced during the growing season and so on. I understand if you are wary of using cages because of attracting attention but it would be a great loss if this population became locally extinct at this fabulous site.

Mervyn Brown (24/12/2009): Brian Laney's comments regarding scrub are entirely correct and emergency action has been taken. The result is that the main area of the plant has produced juvenile leaves and without further adverse events should recover. His approach to control of rabbit grazing is a worthwhile approach and differs from current measures which is to fence a horseshoe leaving direct sunlight from the south and east. If any BSBI members or their associates require 2009 seed I have some 3000 surplus which arise from the Darenth clone. I am happy for the coordinator to pass on my email to interested persons. The progress of current measures will be monitored and if there are signs that rabbit grazing persists a caging approach could be tried subject to the agreement of interested parties.