52 Dr. H. Franklin Parsons on the 
6.—On tHe Fora or Hayes Common. 
By H. Franxuin Parsons, M.D., F.G.S. 
(Read November 8th, 1902.) 
In a paper which I read before our Society—then the Croydon 
Microscopical and Natural History Club—on Feb. 21st, 1899, I 
made the suggestion that the Club should compile for future 
reference lists as complete as possible of the flora of each of the 
commons and open spaces in the neighbourhood of Croydon. 
Arrangements were subsequently made by the Botanical Section 
for carrying this suggestion into effect, and the cataloguing of 
the floras of Hayes and Keston Commons was assigned to me. 
As an instalment of the work I submit this first report, on the 
Flora of Hayes Common. 
With Hayes Common [include for this purpose West Wickham 
Common, for, though the two commons are in different parishes, 
and under different management, yet they form one continuous 
tract, and the plants of West Wickham Common are with few 
exceptions found also on Hayes Common; so that to enumerate 
them separately would be mere duplication. (West Wickham - 
Common is the part to the right of the road going up Coney 
Hill, and extends on the same side of the road nearly half a mile 
beyond the top of the hill. The steep wooded slope is noteworthy 
for a number of venerable pollard-oaks, mostly in various stages 
of decay, but some still vigorous, and for the abundance of blue- 
bells in spring. On the brow of the hill are some ancient bar- 
rows and intrenchments. ) 
The united area of the two commons is some two hundred 
acres in extent, and constitutes an oblong tract rather over a 
mile in its greatest length, viz. from N.W. to 8.E., and about 
half a mile in its greatest breadth from §8.W. to N.E. The N.W. 
and N.E. borders are irregular, being encroached on by enclosed 
grounds, and there is another enclosure in the centre of the 
common. The surface forms an elevated plateau, sloping gently 
to the N.E., and bounded on the N.W. and §S.W. sides by an 
abrupt escarpment. At the W. corner West Wickham Common 
extends down the slope of the escarpment nearly to the foot of 
the hill, and Hayes Common proper also extends part of the way 
down the escarpment at its S. end near the ‘ Fox Inn,’ but for 
the most part the S8.W. border of the common extends along the 
brow of the escarpment. The elevation varies from about 
230 ft. O.D. at the foot of West Wickham Common to 400 ft. O.D. 
near the ‘Fox.’ Geologically the common is practically wholly 
