VOL. XVII. (3) 



APPENDIX 381 



REPORT (No. 4) ON THE PROGRESS MADE IN CONNECTION 

 WITH THE FLORA OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 

 By Rev. H. J. Riddelsdell, M.A. 



Mr T W White of Bristol has just published a new edition of the 

 Flora of Bristol and its neighbourhood. The area covered by this work 

 includes most of our county district 5. which will thus be provided ^^ath 

 a complete and well-digested account of its Flora. It is a great gam to our 

 work to have so large and important a part of the county Flora critically 

 studied. 



It has taken Mr White and his helpers 25 years to finish this work. 

 This fact will give some guidance to us. Many who are interested m the 

 county Flora want to know when it will be published : some are even dis- 

 posed to press for publication and to lose heart at delay. It is to be re- 

 membered, then, that Gloucestershire has a much larger area than that 

 covered by the Bristol Flora : that for the greater part of it there is no 

 sound basis of past work to build upon : and that much of it ha^ never been 

 touched. If therefore the county Flora is to approach Mr White s work 

 in thoroughness and in critical knowledge— and only so can it be worthy of 

 the Cotteswold Club and others responsible for it— many years must be 

 spent in its preparation. To hurry the work is to leave it undone. 



This conclusion is strengthened by a consideration of details. Some 

 facts have been arrived at by an attempt to summarize the results already 

 achieved in a typical order, viz.. the Ranunculacea. These are here given 

 in outline and deductions are drawn afterwards, in order that we may 

 have a sounder estimate of the time required for publication. 



Clematis Vitalba. District i. Plenty on the hills : no knowledge of the 

 lower ground. 2. Records for the three towns and their immediate neigh- 

 bourhood : and only one other in the whole area. 3- Newent and North- 

 wards ■ Gloucester neighbourhood, and two other spots only. 4- Eastern 

 border unknown, and one or two other parts. Not certam whether absent 

 from the Woodland of the Forest. Rest of district known. 5 Bristol and 

 immediate neighbourhood : a.n6. two other records. 6. E. and W borders 

 no evidence, -ja. Large parts unknown. 7&. W. border and N.E. part 

 unknown : rest known. 



Thalictrum minus. Scattered: Symonds Yat, Dursley, St. Vincent's 

 Rocks, Crickley Hill. Form not always known. 



T flavum. Left- bank of Severn down to Elmore : the Avon, Bristol 

 and Avon. Thames and Upper Colne Waters. Upper Windrush. Sy- 

 monds Yat and Lydbrook, on the Wye. And scattered records away from 

 the rivers (Hempstead, near Lydney, Bream, Stroud Valley). 



Anemone Pulsatilla. Numerous spots on summit of the Cotteswolds, 

 from Campden, through Snowshill. Bourton, Dowdeswell, etc to Colesborne 

 and Barnsley on the East, and Stroud neighbourhood on the West. No 

 records for Districts 2, 3. 4- 5- Most frequent env. Stroud. Records pro- 

 bably complete. 



A.nemorosa. 1. General on the hills : lower ground doubtful. 2 and 

 3. Verv few records. 4- Frequent. 5 and 6. Pretty much as records of 

 Rannnc'ulus acris. 7. Scattered records : fairly numerous m 76. 



