Chalk Knapweed
I surveyed the south-western part of Newtimber Hill that falls in TQ2611, which includes the western part of the child pit (separate post)
I used the Plant List Survey function on the iRecord App. Here is my list:
Photographs of some of these species with some notes
By far and away the most abundant plats in flower were the autumn purples (Devil's-Bit Scabious
Greater Knapweed and Brown and Chalk Knapweed) and the autumn yellows (Cat's Ears, Autumn Hawkbit) and the autumn whites (Common Eye-bright, Burnet Saxifrage and Yarrow)
Succisa pratensis Devil's-bit Scabious
Centaurea scabiosa Greater Knapweed
Centaurea debeauxii Chalk Knapweed
How to differentiate Chalk Knapweed from Common Knapweed
The small scales right under the flower are the best way to tell it apart from common knapweed (Centaurea nigra). In chalk knapweed, the central dark part of the comb-like bract is lance-shaped (lanceolate—narrow and more than three times as long as it is wide), and the fringe teeth are longer than the width of the central strip. Because the dark upper part of the bract is narrow, more of the green base underneath shows through compared to black/common knapweed Knapweeds: improving our recording – Stuart Hedley
Hypochaeris radicata Common Cat's-Ear
Scorzoneroides autumnalis Autumn Hawkbit
Euphrasia nemorosa Common Eyebright
Pimpinella saxifraga Burnet-Saxifrage
Achillea millefolium Yarrow
Wild populations of common yarrow can sometime naturally display a slight pink, mauve, or purple flush on rare occasions.
Vervain Verbena officinalis
Introduction, archaeophyte, relict of cultivation, .... Eurasian sothern-temperate, but widely naturalised in both hemispheres and now discontinuous circumpolar. V. officinalis is a locally common plant of S England, widespread northwards to The Wash and with scattered localities as far north as Yorkshire. It is also quite frequent in S Wales and SW England, but only thinly scattered elsewhere and almost entirely absent from N England and all of Scotland (New Atlas). Verbena officinalis - Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland
Common Gromwell
Common Gromwell
A shortly rhizomatous perennial herb of undisturbed places in grassland, hedgerows and wood margins, mostly on base-rich soils. Lowland. Many of the losses in Scotland and northern areas of England occurred before 1930, but it has continued to decline throughout its range due to habitat destruction. Lithospermum officinale L. in BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020
Heath false-brome Brachypodium pinnatum, a tough, perennial grass that thrives on dry, chalky limestone soils and open grasslands Tor grass agg. | NatureSpot
