XXX. 



V DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES IN SUFFOLK. 



fTRODUCTORY to the detailed enumeration of the plants of Suf-. 

 folk, the following remarks, chiefly gathered from the notes of 

 Dr. Babington, are offered. As the County contains no very 

 marked natural divisions, it has been necessary to fall back on 

 purely arbitrary districts. These have been found ready to hand, in 

 the five nearly equal portions into which the County has been divided' 

 for political purposes. Something, if not much, may be said of the main 

 botanical features of these parts. The North. East and South-East, take 

 in the whole of the sea-coast, which is very rich in maritime plants. The 

 North also contains the principal broads and lakes. The North-West 

 includes the Breck district, which largely consists of a light driving 

 sand, lying open and used as rabbit warrens. It has a marked Flora, 

 and furnishes a large proportion of the rarer plants of the County, 

 among them various maritime plants, though at a distance from the 

 coast. The South for the most part has a stiff clay soil, and its surface 

 is more sharply undulating than in the other districts. As the Geology 

 of the County is more fully treated in a separate paper, it is sufficient 

 to mention that the County rests on a bed of chalk, occasionally near, 

 and in other cases very much below, the surface ; that the natural 

 drainage is provided by three considerable boundary rivers and various 

 other rivers, most of which have an Easterly fall, and that there are 

 large tracts of marsh and fen, of which a considerable portion has been 

 drained. 



The plants, which more especially belong to East Anglia, will be 

 found in a paper in which these are compared with those of Holland. 



Having regard to the distribution of plants in Suffolk, this is 

 largely dependent on the nature of the soil, though in not a few cases 

 plants seem to be indifferent to its influence, and flourish on nearly all 

 soils alike. The effect of soil, or more truly, of soil washed by or im- 

 pregnated with sea-water, is plainly seen on the coast, where the Flora 

 is markedly distinct. Some of the more remarkable sea-side plants in 

 Suffolk are, Brassica oleracea ; Lepidum ruderale (usually on chalky 

 soil) ; L. latifolium (salt marshes) ; Frarikenia Icevis ; Sagina maritima ; 

 Althcea officinalis (salt marshes) ; Lavatera arborea (sea cliffs) ; Geranium 



