30 Pasture Problems 



The gorse is JJlex Gallii except occasionally at the lower elevations 

 where U . eurojpaeus also occurs. 



Lotus corniculatus and Lathyrus montanus are slight contributors 

 to the herbage but together never exceed 2 %. The grasses are the 

 same as on the mountain type but have decidedly different distributions 

 as the following cardinal figures show : 



Festuca ovina (15. 32. 49), Agrostis vulgaris and A. jpumila (7. 14. 25), 

 Trioda decumbens (5. 9. 20). The most noteworthy feature of this 

 type is, however, the number and abundance of characteristic herbs. 

 These are given together with their average specific frequencies in 

 Table I. 



Semi-natural Types 



A. Untended: under crops 50-100 years ago. 



1. Upland disturbed heath fescue pasture (600-1300'). This type, 

 as well as being generally recognisable by vestiges of the narrow lands 

 in vogue a generation or so ago, differs in its herbage from the undis- 

 turbed fescue pasture in several diagnostic respects. 



Gorse and bracken are abundant and frequently contiguous over 

 large areas, Ulex europaeus being, especially at the lower elevations, as 

 plentiful as, and locally more plentiful than U. Gallii^. The Leguminosae 

 are here appreciably represented in the ground herbage; Lotus corni- 

 culatus and Lathyrus montanus are of general occurrence. Trifolium 

 repens is frequent and sometimes contributes as much as 8 % to the 

 herbage; T. pratense is an occasional and local plant. The cardinal 

 figures for the four leguminous herbs together are (1. 4. 10). The 

 chief grasses are again Festuca ovina (18. 28. 50). Agrostis vulgaris 

 (10. 20. 48) and Triodia decumbens (2. 5. 16), from which it is seen that 

 the average contribution of Agrostis on this type is but Uttle short 

 of the Fescue. Gynosurus cristatus sometimes occurs in appreciable 

 amount and is frequently a distributed grass, whilst Festuca rubra 

 finds a suitable habitat amongst gorse bushes and under the shade of 

 distributed bracken. The miscellaneous herbage gives a decided 

 character to this type ; for not only do the heath herbs proper give 

 strikingly different frequencies on the disturbed and undisturbed 



1 The greater local abundance of U. europaeus may be due to the fact that the seed 

 of this plant has been largely sown in the past; this is the more likely since sporadic 

 plants of Echium vulgare are sometimes met witli amongst the Ulex. Tiie seeds of this 

 plant may, in the first instance, have been introduced with the Ulex. 



