74 



admirable botanizing ground. I have seldom seen a 

 parterre in any garden more %Tlvidly coloured than the 

 banks of the Dee below Parkgate, where the Bloody 

 Crane s-hill and the Yellow Horned Poppy line the shore 

 for nearly a mile with a glowing border of crimson 

 and gold. 



I have endeavoured to mention the principal fields of 

 our district for botanical excursions. It must not, how- 

 ever, be supposed that all the plants in our local Flora 

 are to be found in the course of a few visits to these 

 likely localities. Some plants seem to disappear for 

 several seasons in succession, and I have often returned 

 from a vain search in a station of the liighest character, 

 and on my Avay home have found a long sought prize in 

 a spot where it was little expected. 



It may be interesting to compare the various propor- 

 tions in which some of our more distinct botanical fields 

 contribute to our local list of flowering plants. This can, 

 of course, only be done approximately. Woods and 

 woodlands afford 56 species ; pastures and meadows 45; 

 corn-fields 29; peaty soil, heaths, and bogs 40; purely 

 aquatic localities 36 ; ditches, marshes, and wet places 

 not distinctly peaty 123 ; walls, banks, hedges, road-sides, 

 and waste places 254 ; sand-hills 69 ; the Dee shore 13 ; 

 banks, rocks, and broken ground near the sea 38 ; salt- 

 marshes 14 ; plants supposed to be not indigenous 62 ; 

 plants that have been met with on only one occasion 28 ; 

 species concerning the occurrence of wliich within the 

 district there is doubt 28 ; making a total of 835 species 

 out of 1561 flowering plants described by Hooker and 

 Arnott in theii* British Flora of 1855. 



Of Ferns and their allies our local list contains 32 

 species. The species in the British Flora are 60 in 

 number. 



The unwearied zeal with which Mr. F. P. Marrat has 



