A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



such as those into which the brambles have been recently divided, that 

 persevering collecting would probably be rewarded by nearly twenty addi- 

 tions to our list ; while it is not unlikely that an additional twenty species 

 of plants may in the not far distant future also be added to the plants of 

 the county. 



An advance in our knowledge of the distribution of plants through 

 Great Britain was marked by Mr, Hewett Cottrell Watson in his Cybele 

 Britannka and in his Topographical Botany^ ed. i, 1874, and ed. 2, 1883, 

 the latter edited by Baker and Newbould.^ For the purpose of tracing 

 plant distribution through Great Britain Mr. Watson divided the counties 

 of Britain into 112 vice-counties, of which England had 59, Wales 12, 

 and Scotland 41, this number being made by dividing some of the larger 

 counties, such as York, Devon, Lancashire, Hants and Inverness into two 

 or more vice-counties, but with the exception of Lincolnshire all the 

 counties bordering on Northamptonshire remain undivided, while Rut- 

 land is included by Mr. Watson with Leicestershire. If we look closely 

 into the distribution of the British flora we shall find that no fewer than 

 100 species are found in every Watsonian vice-county, that two are 

 known to occur in 1 1 1 vice-counties, and about 180 more in upwards of 

 100 vice-counties ; so that out of the 1,750 native British species over 

 300 are so widely distributed as to be found in 100 or upwards of these 

 vice-counties of Britain. Of these almost ubiquitous species all but one 

 have been recorded for Northamptonshire, the absentee being the marsh 

 violet {Viola palustris). The round-leaved sundew [Drosera rotundifolia), 

 that interesting carnivorous plant, is, it is to be feared, now extinct, 

 although there is no doubt it formerly occurred on Dallington Heath. 



Of the plants which occur in no fewer than 80, or are at present 

 recorded for not more than 100 vice-counties, several with this wide range 

 of distribution have not been recorded for Northamptonshire. These 

 absentees include the climbing heath fumitory {Corydalis claviculata — 

 Capnoides claviculata, Druce), which may possibly yet be found, as it 

 occurs locally in Bucks, Oxford, Beds, Warwick, Lincoln and Leicester ; 

 the water avens (Geum rivale), which occurs in Beds, Cambridge, Lincoln, 

 Leicester, Warwick and Oxford, and in the latter county very near to 

 the Northants boundary ; the poisonous water dropwort [CEnanthe crocata), 

 which, although found in Oxford, Bucks, Warwick and Lincoln, is absent 

 from several of the eastern counties ; the blaeberry {Vaccinium Myrtillus), 

 which is locally abundant in Bucks and Beds, and is found also in 

 Leicester, Warwick, and very rarely in Oxfordshire ; the creeping for- 

 get-me-not {Myosotis repens), found in Bucks, Lincoln, Leicester and 

 Warwick : the shore-grass [Littorella juncea), which is found in Oxford, 

 Bucks, Lincoln, Leicester and Warwick on the muddy margins of ponds, 

 often completely submerged, is another plant we may hope to add 

 to our list. The following plants are also absent from Northampton- 

 shire : the sweet gale {Myrica Gale), recorded for Lincoln, Cambridge, 

 Hunts, no doubt in former times occurred in our area, but with fen 



1 London : Bernard Quaritch, 1 883. 

 48 



