Grass Wood, Wharfedale

The original woodland would have been ash Fraxinus excelsior dominating over the limestone soils, with Wych elm Ulmus glabra and oak probably Quercus petraea and with an understorey of hazel Corylus avellana.

An extensive remnant upland woodland area of this size is uncommon on limestone in the Yorkshire Dales, hence the notification of Grass Wood as a SSSI.

These include the ancient woodland indicators of lily-of-the-valley, herb paris and ramsons, but also the uncommon in angular Solomon'-seal (Polygonatum odoratum) as well as the common in bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and lord-and-ladies (Arum maculatum).

Early-purple Orchid (Orchis mascula), another geophyte, is found under the lighter shade of sparser woodland cover in Grass Wood.

The conditions in Grass Wood would also seem ideal for a rare and highly endangered orchid, the Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) that is known historically to have grown in the limestone area of the Yorkshire Dales.

While the virtual extinction of the Lady's-slipper orchid from its historical range is often blamed on uprooting by gardeners and botanists, it is also the case that its preferred habitat shrunk markedly with human clearance of woodland from the limestone landscape, and the grazing of sheep will have finished it off.

[13] Other woodland species found in Grass Wood include Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca), Red Campion (Silene dioica), Wood Cranesbill (Geranium sylvaticum), Primrose (Primula vulgaris), Bugle (Ajuga reptans), St John's wort (Hypericum hirsutum), and a few Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) are found at woodland edges.

The grassland species of Lady's-mantle (Alchemilla glabra), Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium helenioides) and Goldilocks Buttercup (Ranunculus auricomus) are found in clearings.