160 



The map of Herefordshire has been divided into fourteen districts, somewhat 

 arbitrarily perhaps, for, natural divisions being impossible, convenience suggested 

 them. 



The total number of flowering plants and ferns as yet satisfactorily ascer- 

 tained, is somewhere about 750. This does not include such doubtful natives as 

 Castanea vesca. nor plants, which, like Hesperis matronalis, have been met with 

 in clover fields and cultivated ground. Neither are the forms of Rubus fruticosus 

 separately reckoned. Of these, 702 are recorded in Mr. Purchas' own district 

 (No. 2), the remaining 48 are then scattered irregularly among the others. This 

 number, he thinks, ought not to satisfy us : when we consider the variety of soil 

 and geological formations within the boundary of the county,the number of species 

 which it may be expected to produce must be nearer 800. The districts i and 2, 

 comprising the part of the county bounded by the Newport and Abergavenny 

 Railway on one side, and the road from Mordiford to Lea on the other, have been 

 fairly examined, although neither of them can be said to be exhausted — especially 

 the northern parts. From each about 700 species are recorded. No. 3, adjoining 

 No. 2, and running south from Tarrington, produces some of the rarer plants of 

 the county, e.g., Lathrsea squamaria, Convallaria majalis, Potentilla vema. It 

 has been chiefly examined by Mr. Lingwood, when resident at Mordiford, and on 

 the occasion of the first excursion of the Club, a considerable number of species 

 was catalogued. The district about Tarrington, Putley, &c., still requires exam- 

 ination. Of No. 4, which may be ca'led the Ledbiury district, the eastern part of 

 which comes within the limits of Mr. Lees' " Malvern Botany," a reference to that 

 interesting little book establishes many species as natives of our county, but there 

 is still a large tract of ground, comprehendeng the parishes of Bosbury, Canon 

 Frome, Castle Frome, Munsley, &c., which remains, so far as we know, unexplored. 



No. 5, which we call the Bromyard district, distinguished as containing the 

 habitat of the most remarkable plant in the county, Epipogon Gmelini, has been 

 very imperfectly examined. Lees' " Malvern Botany " gives some help as to 

 the plants of the south part, and Messrs. Purchas and Hutchinson catalogued as 

 many species as they could (between 200 and 300), on the occasion of their 

 search for the Epipogon last summer, which I regret to say was unsuccessful. 

 From No. 6, extending right and left of the road from Bromyard to Hereford, a 

 few plants are recorded, but the parishes of Pencombe, Ulhngswick, Cowarne, 

 Marston Chapel, and Moreton Jeffreys, have not hitherto been examined with a 

 view to forming anything like a complete list. 



From No. 7, the Hereford district, Mr. Davies has collected a good number 

 of species, and Mr. Purchas has marked down others from the prize bouquets of 

 the Horticultural Society, and from his own visits, to the number of 400 or more, 

 but it is clear that examination is needed. 



From No. 8, bounded on the north by the road from Leominster to WiUersley, 

 Mr. Blashni, who was very careful and accurate, has recorded 463 species. 



No. 9, extending to the north from Leominster to Orleton and Brimfield, has 

 been very diligently worked by Mr. Hutchinson, who, in the course of last summer, 



