90 



THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Head, and thence (with a few breaks) east to the Mumbles, near 

 Swansea. In the neighbourhood of the Head there is Httle sand ; 

 high tide covers the foot of the chlTs. 



The Head itself is a very desolate stretch of land, shaped like 

 a long peninsula or island, which in turn comprises three parts or 

 islands connecting by short necks of rough sea-blackened rocks ; 

 the whole is joined to the mainland by a very rough and tiresome 

 passage-way of boulders and rocks, exposed only at half tide. 

 Some parts of the Head are precipitous ; the largest " island," 

 which is also nearest to the mainland, is precipitous on one 

 side, the other forming a gentler slope. The outermost "island" 

 rises steeply to its extremity, and then drops sheer into the sea. 



All over the Head the limestone is too near the surface for 

 cultivation to be possible : it is a great breeding-place for gulls. 

 Sheep are pastured during part of the year. 



I examined the flora of the Head and neighbouring cliffs, not 

 in order to get a complete list of the native plants ; the list given 

 below does not pretend to that. I wished rather to test the 

 question as to whether some of our well-known species are native 

 or not. The conclusion that is forced on my mind, more and 

 more in proportion as I study the plant associations of such out- 

 of-the-way spots as this, is that we have full right to treat, e. g. 

 Malva sylvestris and Anagallis arvensis, as real natives of Britain. 



Some parts of the land about Ehosili and the villages near are 

 cultivated. Ploughed land comes down in places to within two 

 hundred or three hundred yards of the sea. But there is none, 

 and I believe there can never have been any, within about a mile 

 of the Head, or within two miles of its extreme point. Of course, 

 as birds frequent the Head, and men and animals find their way 

 on to it, the chance of plant introduction is by no means absent ; 

 a remark which applies equally well to any part of England and 

 Wales. 



The Worms Head is set forth here only as an excellent ex- 

 ample, more free from complicating influences than others in the 

 neighbourhood, of the occurrence of some species' of disputed 

 status. Many localities from the cliffs close by, or from cliffs in 

 other parts of the county, or from wet hollows in sand dunes, &c., 

 could be cited for some of these species. The evidence drawn 

 from the data under consideration is, I believe, strongly in favour 

 of their being native. It is not indisputable ; nothing is. 



Species were massed variously on different parts of the Head. 

 The outermost island was almost entirely given up to Silene mari- 

 tima and Statice maritima. The portion of the middle "island" 

 nearest the mainland, stood out red, to the distant observer, with 

 masses of sorrel. The largest " island " had quantities of gorse 

 on the more level parts, the higher ground being occupied largely 

 with Helianthemum, Silene, &c. Scilla verna was scattered over 

 most of the surface, sometimes so thickly as almost to exclude 

 other vegetation. 



Ranunculus acris, B. Ficaria, Cochlearia officinalis ; C. danica, 

 in large quantity. Helianthemum canum, which likes the rockier 



