Cleeve Wood, Hanham

Hanham

Hanham is a village on the eastern outskirts of Bristol, England, situated on the A431 between Bristol, Bath and Keynsham. It is in the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire. It became a civil parish on April 1, 2003....

is a is an 8.9 hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...

, notified in 1966.

Cleeve Wood is situated on the steep south facing slopes of the River Avon

River Avon, Bristol

The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...

 valley
near to the City of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

.

The primary scientific interest of the wood is the particularly large population of Bath Asparagus (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum

Ornithogalum pyrenaicum

Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, also called Prussian asparagus, wild asparagus, Bath Asparagus, Pyrenees star of Bethlehem or spiked star of Bethlehem, is a plant whose young flower shoots may be eaten as a vegetable, similar to asparagus.The common name "Bath Asparagus" comes from the fact it was once...

) which it supports. The Bath Asparagus in Cleeve Wood represents what is considered to be the largest and most stable population of this plant in this its centre of distribution.

The wood is derived from the calcareous Ash

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

-Wych Elm

Wych Elm

Ulmus glabra, the Wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese in Greece; it is also found in Iran...

 (southern variant) type but has been much planted with non-native species mainly Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) but with some Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) and Cypress trees Cupressus

Cupressus

The genus Cupressus is one of several genera within the family Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for the others, see cypress. It is considered a polyphyletic group...

. In the more natural areas of the wood Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is dominant with occasional Pedunculate Oak

Pedunculate Oak

Quercus robur is commonly known as the Pedunculate Oak or English oak. It is native to most of Europe, and to Anatolia to the Caucasus, and also to parts of North Africa.-Taxonomy:Q...

 (Quercus robur) standards. In such places the shrub layer is dominated by Field Maple

Field Maple

Acer campestre, common name Field Maple, is a maple native to much of Europe, north to southern Scotland , Denmark, Poland and Belarus, and also southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains...

 (Acer campestre), Hawthorn

Common Hawthorn

Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia. It has been introduced in many other parts of the world where it is an invasive weed...

 (Crataegus monogyna), Elder (Sambucus nigra

Sambucus nigra

Sambucus nigra is a species complex of elder native to most of Europe.It is most commonly called Elder, Elderberry, Black Elder, European Elder, European Elderberry, European Black Elderberry, Common Elder, or Elder Bush when distinction from other species of Sambucus is needed...

), Hazel

Hazel

The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...

 (Corylus avellana) and young Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra).

The field layer in many areas is dominated by Ivy

Hedera helix

Hedera helix is a species of ivy native to most of Europe and western Asia. It is labeled as an invasive species in a number of areas where it has been introduced.-Description:...

 (Hedera helix), especially on the
disturbed slopes. Other common ground flora includes Dog's Mercury

Dog's Mercury

Mercurialis perennis, commonly known as dog's mercury, is a woodland plant found in much of Europe, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland. A member of the spurge family , it is a herbaceous, downy perennial with erect stems bearing simple, serrate leaves. The dioecious inflorescences...

 (Mercurialis perennis), Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima

Iris foetidissima

Iris foetidissima , is a species of Iris found in open woodland, hedgebanks and sea-cliffs....

), Traveller's Joy (Clematis vitalba

Clematis vitalba

Clematis vitalba is a shrub of the Ranunculaceae family.-Description:Clematis vitalba is a climbing shrub with branched, grooved stems, deciduous leaves, and scented greeny-white flowers with fluffy underlying sepals...

) and Slender False Brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum).