182 Sub-formation of Marls and Calcareous Sandstones 



The general ecological conditions are in many respects 

 closely similar to those of the damp oakwood, but the 

 floristic composition usually shows greater variety. 



The shrubs of the ash-oakwood are as varied as those 

 of the ashwood and consist of most of the 

 same species. The hazel (Corylus Avellana) 

 is commonly the dominant shrub, and the flora includes 

 such characteristic calcicole plants as Viburnum Lantana, 

 Euonymus europseus and often Clematis Vitalha. Such 

 species as Gornus sanguinea, Ligustrum vulgare and Acer 

 campestre are generally more abundant in individuals 

 than in the damp oakwood. 



Very much the same is true of the herbaceous ground 

 flora. " The general list is mainly the same 



vegetation ^® *^^^^ '-'^ *^^® damp oakwood, but such 



plants as Carex digitata, Paris qziadrifolia, 

 Colchicum autumnale, Iris foetidissima, Helleborine media, 

 H. purpurata, Viola sylvestris, Primula elatior (an East 

 Anglian species), Lithospermum purpureo-cseruleum (a 

 south-western form), and Campanula Trachelium, which 

 are almost or quite absent from woods of the oak type, 

 are characteristic of the ash-oak association. Dog's 

 mercury (Mercurialis perennis) is much more generally 

 dominant in the ground vegetation, and [various] other 

 species, such as Hypericum hirsutum . . .axe more generally 

 abundant^" 



Some ash-oakwoods {e.g. many of those on the cal- 

 careous Upper G-reensand of Bast Devon and of the Isle 

 of Wight) have been left in an almost natural condition, 

 and the close relationship of these to the ashwoods, into 

 which they sometimes pass imperceptibly, is obvious 

 enough. But the great majority of the ash-oakwoods of 

 the southern halt of England are treated 



Asll— 03.1f— llfl.S'Pl 



copse. ^s coppice with standards, the oaks being 



left as standard trees, while the ashes and 

 1 Moss, Rankin and Tansley, 1910, p. 139. 



