70 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1912 



Harford Sands are not fonnd south of the Cheltenham and 

 Bourton district, and Heather seems to be still more scarce on 

 the Cotteswolds to the south of this. It is found on Pains- 

 wick Hill, but here, according to Messrs Skinner and Coley, it 

 was planted some years ago. Also, it has been fonnd spar- 

 ingly in Cranham Woods (Mr Coley). 



The Rev. G. W. Sandys, about 1840-50, found it at Cran- 

 ham and Stroud ; and the Painswick locality was mentioned 

 in the Painswick Parish Magazine list published many years 

 ago. There were two small clumps of heather near Puckham 

 Wood, and James Buckman, in 1841, fonnd it at Leck- 

 hampton. 



In the Cirencester district Heather grows in the fields on 

 the West side of Oakley Park, and also near Bagendon (Mr 

 Greenwood). This is on the Great OoHte series, and its occur- 

 rence here may be due to the presence of certain beds of the 

 Forest Marble, which, according to Mr Richardson, weather 

 into a sandy soil. A portion of the Heather in Oakley Park 

 is railed off to protect it from grazing animals, and this 

 enables it to grow to a greater size than we usually see it on 

 the Cotteswolds. 



The only locality for Heather to the south of the Stroud 

 Valley, that I know, is on the top of Cam Long Down, near 

 Dursley. Here it grows on the Cotteswold Sands, and is asso- 

 ciated with the Autumn Gorse {Ulex Gallii Planch.), a plant 

 we do not find on the North Cotteswolds. Miss Roper, of 

 Bristol, says she does not remember ever having seen any 

 Heather on the southern portion of the Cotteswolds. The 

 Rev. H. P. Reader, however, has found it in a wood near Uley. 



The Lower Lias of the Severn Valley is still more unfa- 

 vourable to the growth of Heather and its associated plants, 

 and though there are deposits of sand near Cheltenham, and 

 elsewhere in the Valley, I have never seen any trace of an eri- 

 cetal vegetation. The case is different near Moreton-in-the- 

 Marsh. This hes on the Lower Lias, which, in parts, is covered 

 by a sandy deposit known as the " Northern Drift." There is a 

 bit of uncultivated ground near the Four Shire Stone, where a 

 typical Heath vegetation flourishes. The county boundaries 



