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ISLE OF WIGHT PLANTS. 

 By Frederic Stratton, F.L.S. 



The Isle of Wight having been included by Mr. Townsend in 

 his Flora of Hants (second edition, 1904), there is little probability 

 of a separate flora of the island being published. An account 

 of the flowering plants and ferns and their allies, which I wrote 

 in 1908, was published as part of A Guide to the Natural History 

 of the Isle of Wight, edited by Mr. Frank Morey, F.L.S., in 

 February, 1909, and these notes may be taken as an appendix to 

 that account, and also to Mr. Townsend's Flora. 



The districts in which the plants occur are those of Townsend's 

 Flora, namely : IV. North Wight, 1, 2, 3, 4, and V. South Wight, 

 1, 2. These districts are bounded by the water partings generally, 

 but in at least two instances this is not so; the portion of the 

 southern slopes of the chalk downs west of Freshwater Bay belong 

 strictly to subdistrict V. 1, and not to IV. 1, and the eastern 

 boundary line of subdistrict IV. 3 does not quite follow the water 

 parting between Arreton Down and Budbridge. For convenience 

 sake the order of Townsend's Flora has been followed. 



Clematis Vitalba L. Mr. Townsend says of this, " not con- 

 fined to the chalk," and this is so, but in the island it is confined 

 to the chalk and limestone. Wherever it is seen in the island off 

 the chalk it is a sure indication that limestone comes to the 

 surface there. Is this the case in other parts of England ? 



Thalictrum flavum L. There is a strange error in Townsend's 

 Flora as to this plant. It has always been extremely rare, and 

 no island specimens, as far as I know, are in existence. The 

 entry under "IV. (N. Wight) (1) Totland Bay, abund. B. 

 (Stratton) " must be a slip, for which I am not responsible, for 

 some other plant. I fear the plant is extinct at Wootton, as I 

 have repeatedly searched in vain for it. In Major Smith's copy 

 of Bromfield's Flora Vectensis, there is a MS. note, " ^rmerly in 

 Lee meadows but now extinct, E. M." 



Banunculus sceleratus L. This plant has a very striking 

 resemblance to a Batrachian Banunculus when it is seen growing 

 in water early in the year (February 7th in my specimens) with 

 only floating leaves, which much resemble very large leaves of 

 B. tripartitus. 



B. Flammula L. The procumbent rooting state, pseudo-reptans 

 Syme var. radicans Nolte, is a very different plant from B. reptans 

 L., which throws out rooting stems in all directions, whilst the 

 stem of B. pseudo-reptans roots in one direction only. (See Journ. 

 Bot. 1869, 315.) 



Helleborus viridis L. The entry in Townsend's Flora under 

 H. foztidus, " near Blackbridge Haven Street," belongs to H. 

 viridis, which plant may possibly be a relic of cultivation both at 

 Blackbridge and also in the locality at Alverstone Whippingham, 

 but in the latter locality I saw it in 1868 and 1869 growing in 

 great abundance over a considerable area in Woodhouse Copse. 

 Journal of Botany. — Vol. 51. [Oct. 1913.] z 



