BOTANICAL FEATURES. 29 
rare, and five or six do not occur in Normandy at all. Ophdoglossum 
lusitanicum and Jsoetes Hystrix, for example, do not grow nearer 
than the coast of Finisterre and Cétes du Nord, and Mtdium scabrum 
is not known to occur anywhere within a radius of one hundred and 
fifty miles, its nearest station being on the shores of the Bay of 
Biscay. 
Add to this the fact that no vestige can be found in Guernsey 
and the smaller islands of many continental plants which are more 
or less plentiful on the coast opposite, and it will be perfectly 
apparent that the flora of this little archipelago is much less closely 
related to that of Normandy than would at first. sight be imagined. 
If we run through the /lore de Normandie and the Flore de l’ Ouest 
de la France, and pick out the species noted as common or very 
common in those portions of Normandy and Brittany which lie 
nearest to Guernsey, we shall find quite a long list of plants of which 
no trace whatever occurs here, so that in comparison our seventeen 
continental species are a very small number indeed. And so the 
question suggests itself: Was Guernsey detached from the mainland 
before these plants had spread into the north-western corner of 
France? Difference of geological formation does not account for 
all the absentees. 
Considering its small size, Guernsey possesses an unusually high 
percentage of British rarities. Taking merely those plants which 
have a comital census below ten (¢.e., plants found in less than ro 
out of the 112 counties and vice-counties into which England, 
Scotland, and Wales are divided) according to the last edition of 
the London Catalogue, it will be found that they comprise some 
of the very rarest wild flowers of south Britain, about half a dozen 
being confined each to a single locality on the English mainland :— 
Matthiola sinuata. Orobanche coerulea. 
Polycarpon tetraphyllum. Herniaria glabra. 
Hypericum linarifolium. ciliata. 
Lavatera sylvestris. Polygonum maritimum. 
Ononis reclinata. Euphorbia Peplis. 
Arthrolobium ebracteatum. Spiranthes aestivalis. 
Tillaea muscosa. Romulea Columnae. 
Callitriche truncata. Allium triquetrum. 
Lythrum hyssopifolium. Juncus capitatus. 
Eryngium campestre. Arum italicum. 
Bupleurum aristatum. Cyperus longus. 
Cicendia filiformis. Carex punctata. 
Myosotis Balbisiana. Mibora minima. 
Echium plantagineum. Polypogon monspeliensis. 
Scrophularia Scorodonia. Cynodon Dactylon. 
Sibthorpia europaea. Briza minor. 
Orobanche amethystea. . Bromus rigidus. 
