Cynodon dactylon - Bermuda-grass
The recent construction of sea defences at Longrock initially reduced the population of Bermuda-grass, but it has recovered well and the sandy banks between the railway and the beach, from Eastern Green to Marazion remain its Cornish stronghold (SW43V & SW53A). This Red Data Book plant can also be found within the inner harbour at Portreath and on sandy banks by the river, where it is much reduced. The creation of flower beds in the outer harbour of Portreath (SW64M, 1994, C.N. French) demonstrated that this can be a pioneer species. After the bedding plants, which were not salt tolerant, had died, these flower beds rapidly filled with
Cynodon before
Festuca rubra took over. Bermuda-grass has been searched for at Hayle (SW53N) but not refound, and it is not known whether it remains at School Green on Tresco, Isles of Scilly.
Click here to see Aphotoflora images by David Fenwick
Source:
French, C.N., Murphy, R.J. & Atkinson, M. 1999. Flora of Cornwall. Wheal Seton Press, Camborne.