Little light penetrates to the woodland floor in the most wooded places and large areas of the wood are devoid of either shrub, field or ground layers of vegetation. Consequently, parts of the wood can present a dark and gloomy appearance in the summer months. Nevertheless, in the few glade areas, caused by the collapse of an occasional canopy tree, or by more recent coppicing, the flora is of considerable interest. Pill sedge hangs on in its only known Haringey site, and tiny populations of cow-wheat, slender St John's wort, wood anemone, and heath speedwell manage to survive, though they seldom flower.