South Gower Cliffs - Gower - page 87

Various species of non-native cotoneaster have become naturalised along the coast. It is likely to be-
come an increasing problem in Gower as there are now some 80 species being cultivated for their orna-
mentalfruits,allofwhichareveryattractivetobirds,whicheatthefruitsandthenexcretetheseeds,often
somedistanceawayfromtheoriginalplant.Cotoneaster isalsoplantedextensively aspartoflandscaping
schemes in urban Swansea. On Pennard cliffs, a particularly species-rich area of cliffs where many rare
native plants grow, entire-leaved cotoneaster Cotoneaster integrifolius , Diels' cotoneaster C. dielsianus ,
Himalayan cotoneaster C. simonsii and wall cotoneaster C. horizontalis have all established themselves
andarespreading,havinginvadedthecliffseitherfromnearbygardensorfromalready-established popu-
lationselsewhere.ThesamespeciesalsooccuronMumblesHill,aLocalNatureReserve,andatonetime
the reserve was covered with a deep cotoneaster scrub (Fig. 45). This was scraped off with a bulldozer
and burnt in order to allow the limestone grassland to recover, but it will be a continuing task to keep it
clear as it will grow back from the smallest remnant. The plants are also well established on the steep
slopes of the hill, where management is impossible. As elsewhere in Gower, on Mumbles Hill there is an
interesting distinction between the limestone grassland on the summit with autumn gentian Gentianella
amarella and autumn ladies tresses Spiranthes spiralis and the maritime heathland growing on the lower
slopes on pockets of windblown soil. Autumn ladies tresses also frequently occur on the short grassland
thatiscutregularlyforamenitypurposesonthemoreurbanareasofthecoastaroundMumblesandLang-
land. Unfortunately this grass is often mown just as the plants are coming into flower.
YELLOW WHITLOW GRASS
The cliffs between Thurba and Deborah's Hole are a stronghold for yellow whitlowgrass, an attractive
alpine flower which occurs nowhere else in Britain and which is now the 'county flower' of Glamorgan
(Fig. 46). In 2002 Plantlife, the plant conservation charity, launched a campaign which it hoped would
lead to each county in the United Kingdom adopting its own wildflower emblem. For Glamorgan the
original voting list in 2002 included fen orchid Liparis loeselii , dandelion Taraxacum sect., yellow whit-
lowgrass, dune gentian Gentianella uliginosa , sea stock Matthiola sinuata and monk's-hood Aconitum
napellus. Thetoptwoflowersfromthisroundwereyellowwhitlowgrassanddandelionandthefinalvote,
announced on 5 May 2004, confirmed whitlowgrass as the chosen species. The whitlowgrass family gets
its name because the plants in question were alleged to cure 'whitlows', a painful inflammation of the
finger or toe, especially near the nail.
Yellow whitlowgrass is locally common in narrow crevices on the upper cliffs between Pwlldu Head
and Rhossili. The plant is, however, widely distributed in continental Europe, where it extends from the
PyreneesthroughtheAlpstotheCarpathians.IthasbeenclaimedthattheGowerpopulationsareverydif-
ferent from those in continental Europe and that it is therefore native to Britain. Molecular studies indeed
show that the Gower population is genetically distant from any single European population and it seems
most likely that it is again a late-glacial remnant, which passed through a bottleneck of small population
size before subsequent diversification within the isolated relict area. Yellow whitlowgrass is a variable
species, however, and most of the varieties appear to grade into one another geographically and morpho-
logically.