4 FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 
True forests in the Temperate regions (excluding conifers) are 
mainly made up of deciduous trees, the regions of winter following the 
fall of the leaf. The leaves, their texture, form, and position are all 
adapted to meet the necessary conditions of light. Below the tall 
trees are shrubs and bush, and below these a characteristic ground flora 
of plants with broad, flat, smooth leaves, as in Wood Sorrel, Wood 
Anemone, Wood Balsam, Enchanter’s Nightshade, Moschatel, Dog's 
Mercury, Lily-of-the-Valley, &c. 
Woods are especially characterized by the predominance of some 
one species which grows there at its best, e.g. Beech, Cak, and Birch. 
The Beech wood forms a dark wood where the ground is bare or 
strewn with leaves, and the soil may be mild humus or sour humus. 
In the first one nds Woodruff, Wood Sorrel, Wood Anemone, Sweet 
Violet, Dog’s Mercury, Melic Grass, Millet, Ivy, Great Stitchwort, 
Lungwort, Sedges, Poa nemoralis, Winter Aconite, Moschatel, Wound- 
wort, Enchanter’s Nightshade, Herb Paris, Lily-of-the-Valley, Solo- 
mon’s Seal, Helleborines, Twayblade, Bird’s Nest Orchid, also Coral 
Root, Monotropa, Afzpogum, &c., Gagea, &c. Ona sour humus one 
finds Deschampsia flexuosa, Trientalis, May Flower, Cow Wheat, 
Ling, Whortleberry, and so on. 
The Oak forest or wood lets in more light between its branches 
and neighbouring trunks. Amongst the oaks are found Lime, Maple, 
Aspen, Elm, Ash, and Hornbeam. The ground flora is abundant, and 
there are numerous shrubs forming a bush of Hazel, Hawthorn, Maple, 
Sloe, Hornbeam, Spindle Tree, Willow, Guelder Rose, Bramble, 
Honeysuckle. Amongst the ground flora are the Wood Anemone, 
Violets, Vetches, Meadow Vetchling, St. John’s Wort, Cinquefoil, 
Bluebell, Milfoil. The Common Brake Fern forms dense brakes here 
(hence the name). 
True Birch forests are not prevalent in Britain, being found in 
gher latitudes, and they are often planted here. Ashwoods occur 
on limestone and chalk soils. 
The Sylvestral, or Septal plants as they are also called, are a large 
section of the British flora numbering some 300, including some dry- 
hi 
soil heath plants which survive from a former woodland association. 
We have included some 42 of the woodland plants here, some 
of which are common to Beech, some to Oak woods, some found on 
ordinary humus, some on sour humus, and so on. 
In the shaded depths and open clearings amongst hazels and 
sallows the shy and delicate Wind Flower finds a shelter in the 
woods. Here, too, Goldielocks lurks in the shade, seldom having all 
