260 PLANTS OF ROUEN. [September, 



PLANTS OF EOUEN. 



A List of Plants growing in the vicinity of Rouen. 

 By E. Marcus Attwood. 



Juli/ 13, 1859. 



Sir, — I send you a list of the most interesting plants I have 

 gathered near Rouen. I fear you will find it very meagre, but I 

 had no botanical friend to point out the localities, and conse- 

 quently my list only contains plants that attracted my attention 

 during my walks ; such as it is, however, I think it will show 

 that this district is well worth the attention of English botanists. 

 In the ' Flore de la Normandie ' there are vast numbers of 

 curious plants mentioned as growing near Rouen. 



I am unluckily not a geologist, but judging from a map I 

 have of the Seine Inferieure, the country round Rouen is com- 

 posed almost esckisively of the upper chalk formation and super- 

 ficial beds. The chalk differs from the Kentish chalk : the flints 

 are grey; sometimes they are in small quantities and some- 

 times in such abundance as to form continuous beds of flint, 

 sufficiently solid to serve as a roof to the quarries, whence is 

 procured some sort of stucco. Near Caumont the chalk is so 

 hard as to form valuable building-stone ; they even make horse- 

 troughs out of it. It has but few flints, and these are very 

 large. 



Just behind Rouen there is a little of the lower chalk. The 

 superficial soil is in some places rich and loamy, in others sandy, 

 and in some of the forests almost entirely composed of flint 

 stones. There 'are several places where there are valuable beds 

 of clay. 



The forests and woods are very large. Close to Sottiville the 

 forest district commences, and extends nearly without interrup- 

 tion for twenty miles ; in some places it is five miles across. In 

 this district there are still wolves, which last autumn did much 

 mischief to the sheep and heifers ; they are not considered dan- 

 gerous to human beings. 



The country may be described as a table-land, varying from 

 400 to 600 feet in height. The river Seine winds very much, in 

 a deep valley. It is a very beautiful river, full of islands, and 

 in one or two places half a mile wide. The alternate sides of 

 the river are hilly and low ; the hills are very dry and steep, and 



