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SOME MORE NOTES ON DOVEDALE PLANTS. 

 By the Rev. W, H. Purchas. 



The remarks of Messrs. Baker and Newbould in their interesting 

 " Notes on the Flora of Matlock " (Jouni. Bot., Nov., 1884), as to 

 the absence of certain species from Dovedale and the immediate 

 neighbourhood, give me the opportunity of making a few comments 

 by way of additions to, or in confirmation of, their statements, 

 which I might not otherwise have judged it worth while to set 

 down ; and whilst doing this I will farther take occasion to record 

 such few additions as I have latterly made to the Derbyshire list of 

 species, together with some more localities for those already 

 recorded. 



It was a matter of much regret to me that the stay of Mr. Baker 

 and his friends at Matlock, and more especially their visit to 

 Dovedale, should have occurred at a time when I was absent from 

 home, and that I thus missed the pleasure aiid advantage of 

 meeting them. I can only hope to be more fortunate should their 

 visit be repeated, as I trust it may be. 



A residence of over fourteen years within a mile and a half of 

 the upper end of Dovedale (although actually in Staffordshire) will 

 necessarily have given me the opportunity of visiting this celebrated 

 Derbyshire Dale at all times of the year and during a succession of 

 seasons, some of which have been more favourable than others to 

 the appearance of certain plants, and thus of becoming acquainted 

 with stations of plants which would scarcely be met with in a 

 single visit. 



I have not, indeed, recorded all the common species on the 

 Derbyshire side of the valley of the Dove with the same care with 

 which I have those of the Staffordshire side, on which I am living, 

 but I have carfully noted the more uncommon ones as I have found 

 them. The present paper will only have reference to such species 

 as seem to call for some comment, or for which the mention of 

 additional localities or further statements as to their occurrence 

 and conditions of growth seems desirable. 



Like Mr. Baker, I have been much struck with the absence of 

 many species from Dovedale and its immediate neighbourhood, 

 more especially of such as occur freely in the valley of the Wye 

 between Buxton and Matlock. Thalictrum monUmiun, Myasotis 

 fidustris, and Geraniuin saiuiuineum are examples. 



The scanty clothing of soil on the steep rocky slopes of Dove- 

 dale makes it difficult for plants to withstand the effects of 

 drought, especially on the more sunny Derbyshire side, which 

 ,is less clothed with wood or scrub than the Staffordshire side. 

 To this cause I attribute the absence of some species. I was 

 informed on good authority that I'uhjpodium robertianum, &c., grew 

 in some quantity on one of the exposed stony slopes, but that 

 it disappeared after the hot dry summers of 1868-70. Certain 

 it is that it has not since been to be found on the Derbyshire 



