xl FLORA OF BERKSHIRE 



composed of the Reading Beds, but on this rests a thick deposit of 

 London Clay. This hitter forms Bowsey, Ashley, and Crazey Hills, 

 wJiere the London Clay attains its greatest altitude in the county, 

 namely 454 feet on Bowsey Hill. These hills form striking objects 

 which can be seen for many miles off, and are rendered more con- 

 spicuous and beautiful from their being covered with wood up to the 

 top. Both Bowsey and Ashley Hill are capped with pebble gravel. 



The vegetation of the London Clay is rendered more varied than it 

 otherwise would be by the drift deposits of gravel, and by the peaty 

 gi'owth with which it is in places overlaid. Its situation in many 

 cases at the base of the Lower Bagshot Sands again helps to increase 

 the variety of species. Equisetum sylvaticum, Carex pallcsccns, C. elongata, 

 C. elata, Osmunda, Pulicaria vulgaris, Scutellaria minor, Drosera longifoUa, 

 B. rotundi/oUa, Narthecium, Scirpus cae^pitosus, Bidens cernua, Polygonum 

 minus, P. Bistorta, Rosa systyla, Viola lactea, Millegrana, Centuncidus, 

 Sieglingia, Polygonatum multljloriim, Scirpus fluitans, Epilobium roseum, Typha 

 angusfi/oUa, Oenanthe crocata, Oe. Phellandrium, Orchis latifoUa, Hottonia, 

 Carex pulicaris, C. Jlava, C. echinafa, C. pianiculata, C. vesicaria, C. Pseudo- 

 cyperus, Mentha Pulegium, Alopecurus fulvus, Juncus compressus, Ranunculus 

 sceleratus, Daphne Mezereum, and Potamogeton fluiia'ns, have been found on it, 

 but the occurrence of many of these species appears to be independent 

 of geological causes. 



Bagshot Beds. In its upper part the London Clay grows sandy 

 and passes up into a very variable group to which this name has been 

 given. It consists of alternations of sands, greensands, pebble beds, 

 and clays, and is subject to many local variations in composition as it 

 is traced from place to place. This formation tends to form sandy, 

 barren, and heather-clad hills. Its junction with the London Clay is 

 marked by springs, the water of which has percolated through the 

 porous Bag shots till it is thrown out by the impervious clay on which 

 they rest. 



The Bagshot Sands form the high grounds of Cold Ash Common, 

 Hartshill, and Bucklebury Common, which are thickly covered with 

 drift gravels. South of the Kennet the Bagshot Beds extend from 

 Inkpen Common, by Pebble Hill and Newbury Wash to Greenham 

 and Crookham Commons, and the commons of Brimpton, Tadley, 

 Silchester, and Burghfield, Here a gap ensues, the beds having been 

 removed by denudation in the valley of the Loddon ; they I'oappe'ar, 

 however, near Risely Common, and the main mass rises up to form 

 the beautiful Finchampstead Ridges, and covers a considerable tract 

 of the country which extends from Wokingham ^nd Sandhurst to 

 Ascot Racecourse, Sunninghill, Blacknest, and the border of Virginia 

 Water. The more clayey beds in the neighbourhood of Wellington 

 College, Broadmoor Bottom, and the boggy part between Easthamp- 



