OF A CAMBRIDGESHIRE WOODLAND, 349 
Woods are almost identical with those in this wood ; they are developed оп 
wet heavy calcareous clays which are poor in humus and phosphoric acid. 
That part of the wood which occupies the loam area is of quite a distinct 
type. None of the calcieole or Ash Wood type species occur here. The wood 
belongs to the Oak series mentioned above, and to that part of it on deep 
soils ; this part of the wood is what is known as a Quercus Robur wood, and 
is of the same kind as those occurring on the non-calcareous clays and loams 
belonging to the Weald Clay and to non-calcareoas clays and loums generally 
in this country. 
Thus Gamlingay Wood really consists of two distinct and separate plant 
associations developed close together. 
Gamlingay Wood is situated on the extreme western border of the western 
area occupied by the Oxlip, Primula elatior, as defined by Miller Christy *. 
Primula elatior is confined to the Ash- Oak association, and is quite absent 
from the Oak wood on the loam—and this agrees with the general distribution 
of the Oxlip in East Anelia. 
Trees.—The wood is of the type known to foresters as * Coppice with 
Standards " f. The trees, as in so many of the woods of this country, are 
small-sized and not of any great age; they stand at considerable distances 
apart and rarely form a closed canopy over the lower layers of vegetation. 
The cutting period for the standards, in this particular wood, is quite 
irregular ; they are cut at intervals according to the size of the trees and the 
demand. ‘The trees reproduce themselves naturally, and no records of 
planting occur so far as І have been able to ascertain. 
The dominant tree all over the wood is Quercus Robur (= Q. pedunculata 1), 
which occurs equally on the two types of soil. Q. sessiliflora ix quite absent 
from the wood and does not occur on the clay or the loam, although it is 
abundant in a wood 3 miles distant on the Lower Greensand. Populus 
tremula, Aspen, is very abundant in parts of the wood, especially the wetter 
parts. The trees belong to the variety villosa, Lange. In parts the Aspen 
does not seem to flourish ; after reaching a certain size the trees become 
* stag-headed ” and die off. Suckers are produced freely in the loam region 
and to a less extent on the clay. А few seedlings were noticed. 
Fravinus excelsior, Ash. As mentioned above, this is not common now as a 
standard tree. The few full-grown trees are situated near the edges of the 
wood. Most of the ash standards that occur in the wood proper are small 
trees that have grown up from coppiced stools by one shoot getting ahead 
and not having been cut. ғат occurs in small quantity on the loam. 
Ulmus $, Elm. Elms occur in some quantity in parts of the wood usually 
* M. Christy, 1897 (map). + Schlich, 1904, p. 99. 
I Moss, 1910 а, р. 6. $ Ley, 1910, p. 66. 
