The Dandelions of Cardiff

Introduction

The National Taraxacum collection is now being used to look at the local dandelion species in the Cardiff area. An amazing diversity has been discovered even in small areas — 14 species have been recorded on the lawns at the National Museum Cardiff site alone.

The list of 102 species recorded to date from the Cardiff area is given below. Coverage of Cardiff so far is very patchy, and it is hoped to expand the list over the next few years. Approximately 46 species have been recorded for the first time in Vice-county 41 (Glamorgan) between 2008 and 2010, several of which are also new to Wales.

Thanks go to John Richards for patiently naming the material, and to John Owen, Sally Whyman and Catalena Angele for helping deal with the collection.

Provisional List for Cardiff

With the exception of the National Collections Centre at Nantgarw, all records are from the County of Cardiff. All are from vice-county 41 Glamorgan.

The following list has been compiled from the Welsh National Herbarium (NMW) and the National Taraxacum database (maintained by A. J. Richards & A. Reid). All specimens collected by T. Rich (2008-2010) have been determined by A. J. Richards, and most of the National Taraxacum database records determined by A. J. Richards or C. C. Haworth. Other herbaria cited are the Natural History Museum (BM) and Oxford University (OXF). The accession number is given for all NMW specimens, and a ‘T’ number before the accession relates to my Taraxacum collecting numbers.

Nomenclature follows Dandelions of Great Britain and Ireland, BSBI Handbook no. 9, by A. A. Dudman and A. J. Richards (1997). Brief notes are given on its distribution in Britain and Cardiff, and its status as native, introduced or endemic. The records give the locality, grid reference, collector and date and the specimen references in brackets.

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