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A SELECTION OF MRS. IRENE VAUGHAN'S RECORDS OF THE WILD ROSES OF SUFFOLK E. M. HYDE Early in 1979, at the age of 90, Mrs. Vaughan moved to Woodbridge from Wales, where she had lived for many years. She was no stranger to Suffolk, having made frequent Visits over the years to her father's family home in Blaxhall. She joined the Suffolk Naturalists' Society in 1981. She brought with her a great Store of botanical knowledge and a particular interest in wild roses. She had been a Rosa referee for the Botanical Society of the British Isles from 1975-1984. Within a few years she increased our knowledge of the distribution of several of the less common Rosa species in Suffolk. Much of her recording was done in the course of long walks into the countryside within a few miles of Woodbridge. Every year until 1987 she sent me lists of the plants she had found. Many, not necessarily roses, were rare or uncommon species, and several were new to East Suffolk, or to the County as a whole. In 1987 she summarised for us her Suffolk rose records, no mean task for someone of her great age. Accounts of the non-botanical events of her life have appeared in obituaries in the national and local press and in Watsonia (the journal of the B.S.B.I.) (Connoly, 1994). She read history at Oxford in the days when women were not officially granted degrees. She served in the First World War, first in Serbia as an ambulance driver, and then in the W.R.N.S. in Gibraltar, where she met and married Captain H. R. H. Vaughan, R.N. Having settled in Carmarthenshire, they worked for many years for the conservation of wildlife and there began Mrs. Vaughan's major contribution to the botany of Wales. She was a kind and generous friend, a wonderful correspondent and an inspiration to all who met her. We were fortunate to have her, if only for a few years, in Suffolk. Rosa canina L., Dog-rose. Almost ubiquitous. Mrs. Vaughan particularly mentions its occurrence in harsh ecological conditions, such as 'boatyards in Woodbridge' or 'river or estuarine banks'. Rosa arvensis Huds., Field-rose. Again very frequent, and believed by Mrs. Vaughan to be much under-recorded. Rosa pimpinellifolia L., Burnet Rose. Mrs. Vaughan knew of the Dunwich site for this species. She also recorded: Shingle Street, on fixed dunes near Coastguards, 1986. Little Blakenham Chalkpit N.R. DĂźring a joint expedition, "Debbie', from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, spotted a tiny plant, which Mrs. Vaughan recognised as this species. Rosa stylosa Desv., Columnar-styled Dog-rose. Listed as 'rare or overlooked' in Simpson's Flora, this species was indeed found by Mrs. Vaughan to have been overlooked. Kesgrave, lane hedge near Grange Farm, 25/5/1977. Woodbridge, Haugh Lane, 16/10/1984. Monewden, M a r t i n s Meadows, 8/8/1986 and waste ground by Church, Oct. 1981. Dallinghoo, abundant between Church and Pound Corner, 20/5/1981.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 31 (1995)