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Saturday 10 October 2009

10/10/09: Kidbrooke produces Pear plus Greater Periwinkle

This post covers the ground either side of the footpath from Tudway Rd to Eltham Green Rd, east of Kidbrooke railway station in the Borough of Greenwich.

The strip of ground to the north of the footpath is bounded on the north side by the Bexleyheath railway line. There are several indications that this has been gardened in the past, with a cultivated variety of Apple in fruit, as well as this impressively well laden Pear.


There is also a considerable amount of what appears to be a non-native Euphorbia that is different to those I am familiar with. Although there were two shoots coming out under the footpath fence, the remains of the flower haeds were too far away to winkle out a sample. All that can be said at this stage is that the flowering stems reach about 3' tall and have narrow leaves, the lower of which had by now fallen off. There were also some Parsnip-type plants, some quite small though still with a few yellow flowers. The leaves didn't look quite right for Wild Parsnip, and they may be descendants of a cultivated variety.

I searched the rough ground to the south of the path for the remains of the Meadow Vetchlings I had found here earlier in the year, because I wanted to collect a few seeds to grow, but there was no sign of them. A plant was later found back towards the station on Tudway Rd.

Another sign of some previous cultivation, at the east end of the fence on the south side, was a small patch of Greater Periwinkle (Vinca major) under an Ash tree.

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