One to look out for

In New Zealand, JAC informs me Griselinia is not particularly coastal, it is also the less common genus for the Physalacria.

https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=griselinia+littoralis#tab_mapView” class=”bbcode_url”>https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=griselinia+littoralis#tab_mapView

The commoner hosts are Pseudopanax crassifolius & Ps. arboreus:

https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Pseudopanax+crassifolius#tab_mapView” class=”bbcode_url”>https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Pseudopanax+crassifolius#tab_mapView

https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Pseudopanax+arboreus#tab_mapView” class=”bbcode_url”>https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Pseudopanax+arboreus#tab_mapView

Pseudopanax is a member of the ivy family, Araliaceae. It has an interesting growth form, starting with the lower leaves being strap-like and armed with vicious teeth.

http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/trees-native-botanical-names-m-to-q/lancewood.html” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/trees-native-botanical-names-m-to-q/lancewood.html

When the tree gets to a certain height the leaf form changes; the reason for this was an adaptation to discourage browsing by Moas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa” class=”bbcode_url”>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa (no large native terrestrial mammals in NZ remember).

Pseudopanax crassifolius is grown in this country: https://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/plants.cfm?pl_id=3487” class=”bbcode_url”>https://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/plants.cfm?pl_id=3487 though much less commonly than Griselinia. If the fungus only occurs on the older, broader leaves, then the plant would have to be fairly old and have survived quite a number of winters – so a bit of a challenge to find the fungus on that. I would suspect that keeping ones eyes open in Southern botanical gardens and arboreta is the best bet – especially some of those splendid ones in Cornwall.

I used to work in museums so am hard-wired to love how these stories can spiral out and inter-connect. Interesting winter study – plus the bonus of a fungus which can be found at this time of year. (Come on Mike! this must be around in coastal Lancashire . . . .)

Chris

Bonsoir Hervé

Magnifique! Je pense qu’il ne fait aucun doute que vous avez trouvé cette espèce.

Amitiés

Chris

Is it everywhere where there is Griselinia? but no-one has looked for it before.

As I said in a previous post:

It would be interesting to know how the fungus spreads, I would suspect that it survives as an endophyte. From the RHS website it would appear that Griselinia littoralis is propagated by semi-hardwood cuttings, so the fungus could well be moving around with the plants and we are dealing with a series of cloned populations.”

The lesson to be learned is that when you import exotic plants into the UK then you don’t really know what else comes in with them and what effects they might have everything else. . . .

Of course New Zealand, the natural home of Griselinia, is extremely hot on biosecurity. It’s very tempting to wonder (at the danger of getting a wee bit political) what the effect of Brexit and an increasing desperation to do deals with all and sundry across the globe – at whatever cost – may have.

Chris

Since the last update I’ve found it in a couple of other 10km squares in the Scarborough/Filey area, and it’s also been found in Whitby, further up the Yorkshire coast.

Today I found it in Shepley, near Huddersfield, so the distance from the sea has been increased to around 52 miles, and this find was at 188 metres above sea level.

So here is the current distribution map, based on the data I currently have. (Actually now – updated – in the following post).