Fallopia dumetorum
Ecology
A climbing annual of hedges, thickets and wood-borders on well-drained soils. Erratic in appearance, it sometimes occurs in quantity following the felling, thinning or coppicing of hedgerows and woodland. Lowland.
Status
Trends
This species has always been local in distribution. It seems to have declined since the 1962 Atlas, probably due to a lack of woodland management. In Oxfordshire, however, where it was first recorded between 1968 and 1973, it has now been found in at least 12 tetrads (Killick et al., 1998).
World Distribution
Eurasian Temperate element.
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Broad Habitats
Light (Ellenberg): 6
Moisture (Ellenberg): 5
Reaction (Ellenberg): 6
Nitrogen (Ellenberg): 7
Salt Tolerance (Ellenberg): 0
January Mean Temperature (Celsius): 3.9
July Mean Temperature (Celsius): 16.4
Annual Precipitation (mm): 784
Height (cm): 200
Perennation - primary
Life Form - primary
Woodiness
Clonality - primary
Count of 10km squares in Great Britain: 69
Count of 10km squares in Ireland: 0
Count of 10km squares in the Channel Isles: 0
Atlas Change Index: -0.33
JNCC Designations
Scarce Atlas Account
Fallopia dumetorum (L.) Holub
Copse-bindweed
Status: scarce
This is a plant of woodland margins, open woodland, coppices and hedges on well-drained soils.
It is an annual and probably largely self-pollinated. Plants produce an immense number of fruits which appear to remain viable for many years, Germination is stimulated by disturbance of the soil, and the species can appear in quantity when woods are felled or coppiced.
This species has always been local, but it has probably decreased in Britain over the last 30 years. The reasons for this are obscure, but the decline in woodland management may be partly responsible.
F. dumetorum occurs over much of Europe northwards to northern Sweden, but is scarce over much of the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean region (Jalas & Suominen 1979). It extends eastwards across most of Asia. F. scandens (L.) Holub from North America may be conspecific.
J. R. Akeroyd
Atlas text references
Atlas (176c)
.
1986. Atlas of north European vascular plants north of the Tropic of Cancer. 3 vols.
Jalas & Suominen (1979)
.
1981. Docks and knotweeds of the British Isles. Botanical Society of the British Isles Handbook no. 3.
.
1965. Vergleichende Chorologie der zentraleuropäischen Flora. Volume 1. 2 vols.
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1994. Scarce plants in Britain.