A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



under varying circumstances and conditions ; added to this is the fact that successful Chara- 

 hunting makes large if not exclusive demands on a botanist. The plants do not appear above 

 the surface of the water, and hence the collector requires to be provided with a drag or rake, 

 sometimes both. They cannot survive exposure to the air, and so necessitate a fairly air- 

 tight vasculum ; they are exceedingly fragile and brittle, and are thus unfit to be carried in 

 a collecting tin with other plants ; they grow in ditches, pools, and marshes, most happily on 

 a rich mud bottom, and so necessitate stout boots, sometimes wading boots, and not seldom 

 a boat where it may be had. 



In these circumstances it is not surprising that the Characeae of our counties have not 

 received the attention which is required to supply anything like a complete record of their 

 distribution. 



By far the most interesting of the Suffolk Characeae are Chara connivens, Braun, and 

 C. canescens, Lois. The latter was first collected in Suffolk in 1896 by Messrs. E. S. and 

 C. E. Salmon in Easton and Benacre Broads, previous to which its only known habitats were 

 two stations in Cornwall and Dorset, right away in the west of England. Three years 

 later it was found by the Rev. G. R. Bullock-Webster in Hickling Broad in the neighbouring 

 county of Norfolk. C. connivens, an equally rare plant, was only known to have occurred in 

 three stations in Hampshire, Devonshire, and Norfolk, until it was collected by Mr. Bullock- 

 Webster in Benacre Broad in 1897. Both these species are brackish-water plants, and the 

 near neighbourhood of Benacre Broad to the sea, with occasional inundations at exceptionally 

 high tides, is favourable to their growth. 



Chara contraria, Kuetz., has also been found in Benacre Broad and at Livermere. The 

 latter locality also produces Tolypella intricata, Leonh. ; and T. glomerata, Leonh., has been 

 found near Yarmouth South Town. 



Lychnotbamnus stelliger, Leonh., which occurs so abundantly in the Norfolk Broads, has 

 not so far been recorded from Suffolk, nor yet Nitella tenuissima, Kuetz. or Tolypella proUfera, 

 Leonh., both of which have been collected in the marshes of the Waveney Valley on the 

 Norfolk side, the former near Diss, and the latter near Becclcs. 



There is evidently much work to be done in Suffolk before anything like a complete 

 record can be compiled. 



Characeae Characeae (con/.) Characeae (con/.) 



Chara fragilis, Desv. i Chara contraria, Kuetz. Tolypella intricata, Leonh. W. 



var. Hedwigii, Kuetz. — hispida, L. I 



W. I — vulgaris, L. — glomerata, Leonh. 



— connivens, Braun. E. 4 var. longibracteata, Nitella translucens, Agardh. 



— aspera, Willd. Kuetz. E. 5 



var. desmacantha, H. var. papillata, Wallr. — flexilis, Agardh. E. 5 



& J. G. W. I — canescens, Loisel. E. 4 — opaca, Agardh. 



— polyacantha, Braun. W. i 



Thus far full lists have been given of the Phanerogams and a portion of the Cryptogams, 

 the Filices, Equisetaceae, &c. ; there remain the numerous species of the Musci, Hepaticae, 

 Lichens, Algae, and Fungi. 



Before enumerating them, however, it will be well to give a short account of what has 

 been done thus far with respect to the Suffolk records in these orders. I believe there are 

 very few, if any, counties where they have been formerly so carefully collected as in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, and the Suffolk early records will bear favourable comparison with those of 

 almost any county. 



At the beginning of the last century there were a good number of botanists in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk who diligently collected these Cryptogams ; among the best known of these were 

 Sir James Smith, Sir William Hooker, Rev. G. R. Leathes, and Mr. Dawson Turner, all of 

 whom resided in Norfolk, but who have contributed very many records of Suffolk plants. 

 Cryptogams and others. At the same time there were good Cryptogamic botanists residing 

 in Suffolk, as Sir Thomas Gage, Mr. Woodward, and others. These have recorded their 

 observations in the Botanist's Guide, English Botany, Hooker's British "Jungermanmae, &c. 

 Even before this time many Cryptogams had been observed by Sir John CuUum of Hawstead, 

 near Bury, and recorded by him in his journal for the years 1772-85. 



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