The Adur & Worthing Wildflower Trail

At Heene Cemetery, volunteers carry out extensive monitoring of the species that can be found there. Below is a comprehensive list, supplied by the Friends of Heene Cemetery, of all the flowering plants that have been recorded there to date.

American Willowherb
Annual Meadow-grass
Ash
Atlantic Ivy
Barren Brome
Bay
Beaked Hawk’s-beard
Bittersweet or Woody- Nightshade
Black Medick
Bladder Campion
Borage
Bramble
Bristly Ox tongue
Broad-leaved Dock
Broad-leaved Willowherb
Butterfly Bush
Carnation
Cat’s-ear
Cleavers or Goosegrass
Cock’s-foot
Columbine
Common Bent
Common Bird’s-foot- trefoil
Common Comfrey
Common Dog-violet
Common Ivy
Common Mouse-ear
Common Nettle
Common or Black- Knapweed
Common Poppy
Common Ragwort
Common Soft-brome
Common Sorrel
Common Spotted Orchid
Common Toadflax
Common Vetch
Corn Marigold
Cornflower
Cotoneaster sp.
Crab Apple
Creeping Bent
Creeping Cinquefoil
Creeping Thistle
Crested Dog’s-tail
Cultivated Daffodil
Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill

Daisy
Dandelion
Deadly Nightshade
Dog-rose
Early Dog-violet
Elder
Enchanter’s- nightshade
English Elm
Evergreen or Holm Oak
False Oat-Grass
False-brome
Feverfew
Field Bindweed
Field Forget-me-not
Field Maple
Field Wood-rush
Flax
Fool’s Parsley
Fox-and-cubs or Orange-Hawkweed
Foxglove
Garden Grape Hyacinth
Garden Privet
Garden Strawberry
Garlic Mustard
Germander Speedwell
Glaucous Sedge
Goat Willow
Great Willowherb
Greater Bird’s-foot- trefoil
Greater Plantain
Grey Sedge
Hairy Tare
Hawthorn
Hazel
Heath False-brome (Tor Grass)
Hedge Bindweed
Hedge Woundwort
Herb Robert
Himalayan Honeysuckle or- Flowering Nutmeg
Hoary Willowherb
Hogweed
Holly
Honeysuckle
Hybrid Bluebell (H. non-scripta x hispanica)

Indian Strawberry
Ivy-leaved Speedwell
Lady’s Bedstraw
Lady’s Mantle
Large-leaved Lime
Lesser Celandine
Lesser Yellow Trefoil
Lords-and-Ladies or -Cuckoo Pint
Love-in-a-mist
Marjoram
Meadow Buttercup
Meadow Crane’s-bill
Mexican Fleabane
Michaelmas Daisy
Montbretia (C. aurea x pottsii)
Musk Mallow
Nipplewort
Oxeye Daisy
Pedunculate Oak
Pendulous Sedge
Perennial Rye-grass
Perforate St John’s Wort
Prickly Lettuce
Prickly Sow-thistle
Primrose
Purple Toadflax
Quaking Grass
Ragged-Robin
Red Campion
Red Clover
Red Dead-nettle
Red Fescue
Red Valerian
Ribwort Plantain
Rose Campion
Rosebay Willowherb
Rough Meadow-grass
Scarlet Pimpernel
Selfheal
Sheep’s-fescue
Short-fruited Willowherb
Silver Birch
Smooth Hawk’s-beard
Smooth Sow-thistle
Sneezewort
Spear Thistle

Spindle Tree
Spring Crocus Square-stalked St John’s -Wort
Square-stemmed -Willowherb
Stinking Iris
Summer Snowflake
Sycamore
Thale Cress
Three-cornered Garlic or -Leek
Thyme-leaved Speedwell
Trailing Bellflower
Tutsan
Viper’s-bugloss
Wall Barley
Wall Lettuce
Water Figwort
Wavy Bitter-cress
White Campion
White Clover
White Comfrey
White Stonecrop
Wild Carrot
Wild Onion or Crow Garlic
Wild Teasel
Wood Avens or Herb-Bennet
Wood Dock
Wood Forget-me-not
Yarrow
Yorkshire-fog

Heene Cemetery is located on Manor Road, Worthing. Within the now closed cemetery (burials no longer occur there) there is an extensive wildflower meadow that is managed by the Friends of Heene Cemetery group. A team of volunteers carry out maintenance of the land by removing invasive species and replacing them with suitable native species, such as Common Bird’s-foot- trefoil, Meadow Crane’s-bill, Primrose, Wild Teasel and Yarrow. A comprehensive list, supplied by the Friends of Heene Cemetery can be found here: Heene Cemetery Flowering Plants List

Volunteers celebrating their 5th anniversary

Access to the site is normally restricted to the public, however voluntary work is carried out on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons between 2pm-4pm during which members of the public are allowed to enter. New volunteers are welcome to visit on these working days and learn what the group does and where help is needed. Throughout the year volunteers run 4 open days and several tours. Visits by arrangement can be organised with the Friends of Heene Cemetery.

Mats are available to place on the paths suitable for wheelchair and impaired access.

The last year has been challenging, but Friends of Heene Cemetery have managed to keep the basic maintenance of the grounds under control with dedicated volunteers attending in pairs throughout lockdown by working in isolation and adhering to social distancing rules.

Even with the restrictions that have continually been changing this year, as a team they have managed to maintain, record, research and begin many different projects:

A new website was launched in July 2020 where the group celebrated 5 years of working together with a picnic.
Green Flag Award judging by Keith Percival
Two publications in the local paper, Worthing Herald.
A visit by Kate Greening WBC Cemetery’s manager and Harriet from Caring for God’s Acre
Rescued slow worms and lizards were introduced
Survey of mosses etc by Sue Rubenstein from Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre
Survey of Fungi by Nick Aplin from Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre
Introduction to identifying headstone materials by West Sussex Geological Society

The best time to see the wildflowers is from February to October.

For more information please visit Heene Cemetery – A closed cemetery in Worthing, West Sussex