SPECIES LIST

Water Violet

Pevensey is a Sussex stronghold of this now vulnerable water plant. It is not a violet though but a type of primrose. It needs clean water to grow and is found in ditches in scattered sites all over the Levels. When open water becomes reeded up it can survive in shaded areas if not too choked by other plants. The flowers are unmistakeable spikes growing a foot or so up above a water surface whorl of finely divided leaves. The large pale lilac-pink flowers have five petals around a small yellow “eye”. Some sites can support attractive drifts of this aquatic floating perennial running for many metres along ditches.