[July, 1863.] 577 



ON THE BOTANY OF MALHAM. 



The little village of Malham, in Yorkshire, has long attracted 

 visitors by the wonders of its natural scenery and the rare in- 

 terest of its flora. Kay, Willisel, Curtis, Dillenius, and Richard- 

 son are only a few of the older botanists who have left accounts 

 of their discoveries at Gordale and the neighbourhood. For 

 nearly two centuries the limestone rocks of that strange locality 

 have been explored by an almost uninterrupted succession of 

 British naturalists, nor have their pains been ill bestowed. There 

 are few parts of England where the number of rare plants bears 

 anything like the proportion to the extent of ground which those 

 of Malham bear to its comparatively limited botanical area, and 

 our knowledge of its botany may be said to be almost co-exten- 

 sive with the number of species itself. Indeed, Britain on the 

 whole is a well-examined country. Its botany is in a forward 

 state of development, and few w^ell-educated Englishmen are un- 

 acquainted with its chief centres of natural beauty. Whatever 

 may have been said in the past respecting the folly of posting 

 over the Continent and leaving our native land unexamined, we 

 are not now prone to that fault. There is no necessity in the 

 England of 1863 for an oration " de necessitate ijeregrinationum 

 intra patriam." 



Malham is situated at the head of Airedale. The river which 

 gives its name to that valley rises at the southern end of Malham 

 Tarn. After flowing about half a mile, it sinks, reappearing at 

 the foot of the Cove, a distance of more than a mile. Another 

 stream, equal in volume, rises from the heights and " clowders " 

 north-east of the tarn, rushes through the precipitous cleft of 

 Gordale, and under the name of Gordale Beck joins the other 

 rivulet between the villages of Malham and Kirby Malham. A 

 third tributary flows from Kirby Fell and Scosthrop Moor, 

 uniting itself to the Aire about a mile below the fork. 



The general aspect of this remarkable spot may be roughly 

 indicated by the resemblance it bears to a staircase of grey lime- 

 stone clifis, alternating with grassy slopes, reaching nearly 2000 

 feet at various points along its upper ridge, and descending to 

 650 feet above the sea-level in the valley below. The last 

 irregular descent forms an arc of a circle, which, if completed, 

 would have a radius of some Ave miles. lu this arc of about 30° 



N. S. VOL. VI. 4 E 



