VOL. XVII. (I) THE BOTANY ROUND BUILTH WELLS 57 



THE BOTANY OF THE COUNTRY ROUND 

 BUILTH WELLS 



(CoTTESWOLD Club MEETING, I2th to 15th July, 1909) 



BY THE 

 Rev. H. J. RIDDELSDELL, M.A. 



The botanical character of the district covered is singularly 

 uniform : perhaps chiefly on account of the absence of lime- 

 stone of every kind. The geological formation is Silurian and 

 Ordovician (for botanical purposes identical), with intruded 

 igneous rock near Builth itself. The only variation introduced 

 into the uniformity of the botanical aspect of the country is due 

 to the presence of water : in the form of hill bogs, streams, 

 rivers, lakes. The flora is at once enormously enriched by this 

 ■ new feature : more particularly, the banks and rocks of the 

 Wye afl[ord a wonderful series of rare and interesting plants. 



The ground examined on the 12th by a small party which 

 arrived early, was the hill Carneddau, close to Builth, in 

 Radnor county. The igneous rock referred to above forms the 

 main part of the hill. The flora is characteristically of the 

 heath-type, and reminds the botanist strongly of that of 

 the Malverns, though it is apparently less rich. The only 

 parts of Gloucestershire which we can compare with such 

 a country are the coal-fields of Bristol and the Forest of 

 Dean, together with the tail end of the Malverns, which 

 comes into the county near Bromsberrow. The Cotteswold 

 Hills and the Vale of Gloucester nowhere show such an asso- 

 ciation of plants, many of which only occur there with 

 the utmost rarity, while a few are probably absent altogether. 

 What has been said of Carneddau applies also to the other 



