158 ^ Catalogue of Plants in the Neig-hboiirhood of Bristol. 



we reached the beach about four miles from Hedea. We now pushed for 

 Point Venus, tlie celebrated point on which Cook established his observa- 

 tory. On the beach between Hedea and Matavai, the sea had thrown up 

 immense boulders of basalt, many of which weighed several hundred weight, 

 and which, by the constant attrition, were being reduced to pebbles of all 

 sizes, from the finest sand to the size just mentioned. At one o'clock p. m. 

 we rested at Mr. Wilson's house, Matavai. 



1 should have mentioned that when the sea sets in heavily to Matavai 

 Bay, a bar of sand is thrown up and chokes the mouth of the river ; the 

 water is held back until its weight overcomes the bar of sand, and the 



mouth of the river is again formed. 



S. S. 



A CATALOGUE 



OF THE 



MOST INTERESTING V^ASCULAR PLANTS GROWING WILD 

 IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BRISTOL. 



BY MR. H. O. STEPHENS. 



It is only from a conviction that it is the duty of every individual, who 

 possesses the power, to add his portion of information, however small that 

 may be, to the general stock, that the writer has been induced to publish 

 this catalogue. He is aware that it is imperfect, in some genera especially, 

 but it was thought desirable that a catalogue of plants growing in the 

 neighbourhood, should appear in an early number of this Journal ; and as 

 no one else came forward in this department, the writer has endeavoured 

 to supply this deficiency to the best of his ability. 



A classification of plants according to their geological localities, has been 

 proposed, and would no doubt exliibit some very striking peculiarities, if 

 applied to the botany of a large continent : such a plan is not, however, 

 so applicable to the botany of a single district, in which vegetation is as 

 much affected by change of temperature as by variety of soil. There 

 exists, no doubt, a distinction, and the same plants are not found in the 

 same proportion upon the carboniferous limestone of Clifton and the in- 

 ferior oolite of Dnndry ; but this distinction is scarcely sufficiently obvious 

 to obtain in a local catalogue. The Linnean or artificial classification has 

 been followed rather than the Jussieuan or natural one, because, although im- 

 perfect, our circumscribed knowledge of the plants o the globe renders the 

 latter no less so, and because it is that generally used in the schools of 

 medicine, and more especially in that of Bristol, for the benefit of which 

 many plants, by no means peculiar to this district, have been introduced. 



The writer has to acknowledge the kindness of Mr. G. Rogers, by whom 

 lie has been furnished with the habitats of many rare plants, and again to 

 apologise for the incompleteness of some genera, a deficiency which he will 



