52 Plant-life of the Oxford District 



its ancient winter-flood habit, and tend to run out entirely in the summer 

 months. In 100 or 200 years it is probable that the ruins of all the local 

 buildings would be represented by grass-covered mounds and rubble-heaps, 1 

 as are the sites of the earliest quarries at Headington. The suggestion of 

 re-afforesting Bagley Wood with Larch and other alien conifers in close order 

 implies the practical obliteration of the woodland as it has existed for at least 

 many centuries. Yet the isolation of a tract of land at Cothill for purposes of 

 Natural History, and the special study of the local fauna and flora, equally 

 implies the production within a few years of an impenetrable undrained 

 jungle of reeds and scrub, unless it can be intelligently 'preserved ' from the 

 standpoint of the organisms it is desired to perpetuate. The first law of all 

 autotrophic life is growth, in response to certain conditions of the environ- 

 ment. If these last are changed, the response is altered or the plants dwindle 

 and die out. The indigenous flora in the immediate vicinity of the town is 

 in a state of rapid deterioration in response to the increasing difficulties of its 

 struggle for existence ; the utmost that can be done is to attempt to retain 

 it as little altered as possible. How to ' improve ' it in a botanical sense is 

 beyond speculation, though foresters, agriculturalists, and gardeners may 

 have their own special views on the subject. 



From such general consideration of the condition of the earlier indigenous 

 flora and the effect of human activities, as also of the introduction of new 

 types of plant, largely replacing the old in some stations, sub-dominant in 

 others, or still wholly secondary and assisted, it follows that many of the 

 most characteristic features of the landscape and ecological formations may 

 be the effect of compromise and mingling of these different factors. It is 

 therefore convenient to consider them separately, as they give rise to com- 

 munities of special biological interest, of which the component factors may 

 not be obvious at first sight. 



As such special cases may be distinguished : 



(1) Woodland and Copse. 



(2) Underwood, Forest-plots, and Clearings. 



(3) Hedgerows and Hedgebanks. 



(4) Regressive and Derelict Woodland. 



(5) Grassland and Pasture. 



(6) Roadside and Waste. 



(7) Crops and Weeds of Arable Land. 



(8) Allotment-areas. 



(9) River and Ditch Flora. 



(10) The Regression of Derelict and Cultivated Ground. 



1 The finest mediaeval building in the district was Osney Abbey, with its accessory buildings 

 rivalling any Oxford College of to-day. Built in 1129, it was dismantled at the Reformation. 

 Much of the stone-work, as also the big bell (' Tom ', commemorating Thomas a Becket), were 

 transferred to Christ Church. No trace now remains of this great building. The site was ploughed 

 over in 1718. 



