The dale of plenty

Botanists from across the world descend on Teesdale to study a unique mix of plant species found only in this corner of England

- LINDSAY WADDELL

When I arrived in Teesdale many moons ago, one of the things that struck me was the number of plants I had never seen before.

What I now know as the Teesdale Assemblage is a unique mix of plant species in what is also a unique environment. Our interests are one of the things that mark us out as individuals and I have always had slightly more than a passing interest in the plants I saw and walked among on a daily basis.

Teesdale was then something of an eye-opener as well as a mystery to me. Even in early Victorian times, Teesdale was well known as early travellers had discovered plants living together here that they had not seen anywhere else in England. The plants which grow in a particular place are almost always there because of the climate, geology and, more often than not, man’s hand in the history of the area.

Teesdale is no exception to all of those. Millions of years ago, there were some small areas of limestone that had been superheated and forced through other rock until close to the surface. Sugar limestone, as it is known, looks very much like sugar and around it is a community of limestone-loving plants.

Spring gentian

The spring gentian is perhaps one of the most widely known, but there are scores of others, including the Teesdale violet, which is found in only a few other places in the world.