Cae Comin Coch

Also within

Powys County

Description

Description A small, but species-rich, unimproved pasture of a type now rare in mid Wales. Grasslands of this kind were probably more widespread in the past, but due to land improvement are now of very limited extent. At least a hundred species of flowering plants have been recorded from this site. The freely drained south-facing slopes of the northern half of the site, with many mounds of the yellow meadow and Lasius flavus, support an unusual mixture of both lime-loving and acid-loving plant species. Lime-loving species include cowslip Primula veris, not known now from any other pasture in north Brecknock, fairy flax Linum catharticum and quaking-grass Briza media, whilst more acid-loving species are represented by great burnet Sanguisorba officinalis and betony Betonica officinalis. Species of more neutral soils include oxeye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare and burnet-saxifrage Pimpinella saxifraga. The southern part of the site is damper, with wet flushes supporting such species as devil's-bit scabious Succisa pratensis, pale sedge Carex pallescens, heath spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza maculata subsp. ericetorum and ragged-robin Silene flos-cuculi.

Species mentioned