41 



furze {Ulex nanus) and the black bryony (Tamus communis), &c., falling mthin it. 

 Here, I think, it is we first approach the position of our county. The Hatteral 

 hills, on its western border, certainly lie within this zone (if they do not attain to 

 the one above it) ; and possibly a narrow tract along their base may also be 

 included, as the proximity to a hilly district always influences the climate and 

 vegetation of comparatively low tracts. The globe flower (Trollius Europaeus) 

 llustrates this : it is a plant which never, I believe, comes below this zone ; it 

 occurs in some plenty about Cusop hill ; but it also descends to low ground about 

 Monnington (as Dr. Bull informs me) ; while it is absent from the east of the 

 county. I am not sufficiently familiar with the Malvern range— the eastern 

 boundary of Herefordshire— to be able to say whether they fall within this zone 

 or not. But at equal altitudes it is possible that their climate would be higher 

 than that of the Black Mountains, on account of their isolated position. In this 

 place it is well to remark that the short distance to which cultivation can be carried 

 up these hills is due, not to the deterioration of climate, but to more special 

 causes, such as the scantiness and infertility of the soil, and the conformation of 

 ground, &c. 



The lowest, called the "infra-agrarian zone," embraces all the country south 

 of the Dee and Humber, excepting the mountainous tracts of Wales and the 

 higher hills and moors of the south and south-west of England. The plants 

 mentioned as commencing in the mid-agrarian zone become more frequent in this ; 

 and one or two are absolutely confined within its limits ; Clematis Vitalba, the 

 common Traveller's Joy, is one of these. It is in this zone that the greater part 

 of Herefordshire lies ; and the Clematis occurs frequently in the hedges and 

 woods of the southern part. The vegetation generally may also be considered 

 very characteristic of this zone. 



Let us now see what kind of flora we might expect to meet with in Hereford- 

 shire, when all its peculiarities are taken into account. Situated in the south-western 

 portion of the kingdom, our county seems most likely to produce chiefly plants of 

 the British English and Atlantic, together with a small intermixture of the less 

 strict examples of the Scottish and German types of distribution ; further, as it 

 constitutes an undulating tract sloping from the hilly district of South Wales 

 towards the vale of the Severn, from which it is separated by the Malvern and 

 Abberley ranges— rarely, moreover, rising into eminences of considerable altitude, 

 and exhibiting an almost unbroken series of rich pastures, arable lands, and dry 

 woods, the most abundant species from the above-mentioned types will naturally 

 be those least restricted to heathy and upland tracts, and which evince the 

 greatest readiness to adapt themselves to the alterations produced in soUs by 

 culture. On the other hand, the rarities of our county will consist of rock, heath, 

 bog, and mountain plants. Water plants are not likely to be found, because only 

 a few species find a congenial home in the waters of the Wye, on account of the 

 rapidity of its shallower parts— its uncertain height, and violent floodings. These 

 anticipations will, I think, be borne out when Herefordshire botany shall have 

 received the attention which the interests of science render desirable. My re- 

 marks on the physical character of the county relate chiefly to its southern half, 



