TOPOGRAPHY. XVll 



dotted over with large masses of rock, affording congenial habitats for 

 some Fit ices, and other plants that flourish in an atmosphere abounding 

 in moisture. This tract has many peat bogs that support tufts of 

 Sphagnum, and yield Drosera rotundifolia, D. intermedia, Pingui- 

 cula lusitanica, Narthecmm^ and other uliginal species. Immediately 

 south of this portion of Dartmoor are several large commons that suit 

 plants of an ericetal character, and some of those minute species, such as 

 Sagina suhulata, Radiola, CeMunculus, &c., that affect open turfy 

 places. Near the moor long stretches of aboriginal copse-wood often 

 skirt the streams issmng from it, and afford suitable spots for certain 

 sylvestral plants ; whilst further south meadows and woods border the 

 rivers and are the means of giving additional variety to the botany. As 

 we approach the coast the numerous estuaries and tidal inlets materially 

 add to the number of the species, and influence in some degree the 

 character of the vegetation to a considerable distance from their waters. 

 About their shores such plants as delight in a salme soil or atmosphere, 

 but shun the exposure of the open coast, find congenial stations. The 

 coast itself, with its long and varied line of cliflF and beach, ofiers all the 

 conditions required by many maritime and rupestral plants. The quantity 

 of arable land is more than sufficient to add a considerable number of 

 agrarian weeds. On the other hand, the cultivation of the surface has 

 not been so much extended as to alter the features of the flora to so great 

 a degree as in the very highly cultivated and more exclusively arable 

 portions of the kingdom. The plough has certainly greatly reduced in 

 numbers many of our species, but very few seem to have been lost to 

 us either through its action or by man's mterference 'oith the surface in 

 any way. In some spots the nature of the ground absolutely forbids 

 cultivation, whilst m others its natural character is such as to make it 

 most profitable to the owners to allow it to remain in its original state, 

 either as grazing ground or for the production of wood. Still, looking at 

 the whole area, the extent both of aboriginal wood and virgin sod is 

 gradually diminishing. When portions of open ground are enclosed it 

 often happens that the hedge-banks, usually formed in this part of Eng- 

 land, preserve on then- sides much of the original vegetation, to the 

 advantage of the botanist. Thus, in a locality only a few miles from the 

 town of Plymouth, Viola lactea, Ulex Gallii, Galium saxatile, Agrostis 

 setacea, &c., still grow on the hedge-banks where a common was enclosed 

 about fifty years ago. The many deep cuttings at the sides of the roads, 

 rendered necessary by the hilly nature of the country, supply, especially 

 when the soil is of a somewhat friable nature, very congenial spots for 

 many species, such as Epilohium lanceolatum. Cotyledon umbilicus, 

 Sedum anglicum, Jasione montana, &c. The hedge-rows above the 

 hollow lanes support amongst their bushes climbing plants, intermixed 

 with Bosce and Buhi to delight and often puzzle the botanist. The shade 



