Welsh Journals

GAGEA BOHEMICA A NEW BRITISH RECORD Fred Slater With the exception of Diapensia, which was discovered in Scotland in 1951, few non-critical native plants have been found in Britain this century. Therefore, the fairly recent discovery in Wales by Ray Woods of a new Star of Bethlehem species, Gagea bohemica (Zauschn.) J.A. and J.H. Schutt., which is featured on the cover of this edition and which will be fully documented by Rix and Woods (1980), is something of a botanical landmark. It is not known to grow wild anywhere else in Britain. The plant grows in shallow pockets on ledges facing between south-east and south-west at an altitude of 210-240m. The flowering plant (Fig 1) reaches a height of about 5cm with each of its 1-4 flowers per stem being about 2cm in diameter with a bright, shining yellow interior. The plant Figure 1. rhe first published photograph of Gagea iohemica growing wild in Britain. The olant was recently discovered in Mid Nales. owes its previous lack of discovery to the fact that it is a very shy, early spring flowerer producing very few blooms for every thousand vegetative plants; in some years no flowering takes place at all. Because of their vegetative similarity to Sheep's Fescue (Festuca ovina) with which Gagea often grows, the mature leaves frequently escape detection. By late April or early May all the leaves are dead and no trace of the plant will be found until the leaves start to reappear in the late autumn. REFERENCE RIX, E.M. & WOODS, R.G. (1980) Gagea bohemica (Zauschn.) J.A. & J.H. Schutt., in the British Isles, and a general review of the G. bohemica species complex. Watsonia (in press). Uysdinam Field Centre, UWIST, Newbridge-on-Wye, Uandrindod Wells, Powys.