Species Details
Labrador-tea is a very rare established shrub of high moorland. All current records are scattered across the Bleaklow Moors in the Dark Peak [Torside Grain SK0897; Barrow Stones SK1396]. First recorded in 1949 as a mature plant either in or near Derbyshire, their origin has been much debated (Yalden 1996) and some have even considered them native. However they appear to be the North American subspecies XXgroenlandicum, and not the European subspecies XXpalustre. Plants can be extremely hard to locate, but they are known to regenerate after severe fires. In recent years the Barrow Stones plant was found to have small daughter plants to the north-east, suggesting self-seeding down-wind. UK plants may have originated from bird-sown seed or be the relicts of planting for game cover around 1900 (Capper 2001). It was also known until 1981 at Old Rowsley (Whitesprings SK2865), where it was a survivor from a nursery.
Follow thee links or images beore and after a moorland fire.
Further Image Link
Further Image Link
Some uncertainty recently arose as to whether the first plant discovered in 1949 came from Barrow Stones or Wessenden Head Moor just north of the modern Derbyshire boundary.
The following interesting correspondence was recently discovered in papers given to Derby Museum & Art Gallery, dated 19 July 1949 onwards, between L.J.Watson and Professor A.G. Tansley in which the former writes:
"The Duke of Devonshire is puzzled by the presence of an unusual plant on the moorland near the N.W. boundary of the Peak District National Park. One of his gamekeepers had sent him a piece of the plant which the Duke showed to me last week at a meeting of the R.H.S. Unfortunately the plant’s identity has not yet been confirmed, but there is reason to believe it may be Ledum palustre L a native of the Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and America. . . . It is therefore rather surprising to find it quite well-established (a patch of several square yards) in the middle of Wessenden Head Moor, a considerable distance from any human habitation. The Duke has sent the specimen to John Gilmour for identification, and has promised to let me know any further information which comes to light. I do not wish to trouble you to reply to this, but should be very interested to hear your comments when next we meet... Yours sincerely L.J.Watson"
In replying to the Duke of Devonshire on 15 Sep 1949, L.J.Watson writes: "I mentioned this recently to Professor A.G.Tansley who is Chairman of the Nature Conservancy, and he was most interested, but said he had never come across it in a wild state in Britain, and could only think it must somehow be a garden escape. He thought however it was worth investigating l lest by some extraordinary chance it had been missed from the recorded flora of this country. As he put it 'stranger things have happened'."
Copy of a reply from Duke of Devonshire: "The Ledum has definitely been identified by Kew as Ledum groenlandicum. The suggestion that it is a garden escape will not hold water, for I do not think that in the whole length and breadth of England there is a spot more remote from any garden than that where the plant is growing. I gather that it has been found on other occasions in Westmoreland, Cumberland and Stirlingshire, but always as an isolated plant. Dr Raven and his son Professor Raven from Cambridge are coming to see the plant next spring, and I will try to arrange for Professor Clapham to come with us.
The plant has clearly been growing for very many years and seems to be increasing at the expense of the neighbouring vegetation - mostly cotton grass and Empetrum nigrum. If it is not a genuine native I can only imagine that some freak botanist has made it his business to try and establish it. Yours sincerely, Devonshire."
In 2008 this story is still unfolding as previously it was believed that the plant at Barrow Stones was the one discovered by a gamekeeper around 1949. No plant has yet been found at Wessenden Head Moor (West Yorkshire) in modern times. What does emerge is that if a gamekeeper has found a plant that he doesn't know, it is unlikely that the scattered moorland localities for Labrador Tea could ever have originated from the relicts of plantings for game cover, as the gamekeepers would surely know what they were already.