BOTANY 



have been discovered in recent years ; e.g., several Batrachian Ranunculi, 

 Cardamlne flexuosa, Neckeria claviculata, Viola permixta, V. sihestris and 

 V. ericetorum, Polygala serpyllacea and P. oxyptera, Stellaria umbrosa, Ulex 

 Gallii, Agrimonia odorata, Callitriche stagnalis, C. obtusangula, and C. 

 truncata (the last-named a very remarkable and interesting addition to 

 our flora, first found by Mr. H. Fisher in the Rainworth Water), 

 Epilobium angustifolium and E. adnatum, Carum segefum, Arctium majus 

 and A. minus, Arnoseris pusilla, Hypochaeris glabra, Gentiana baltica, 

 Mentha alopecuroides and others, Polygonum mite, Rumex limosu;, Habenaria 

 chloroleuca, Orchis incarnata, Potamogeton coloratus, P. falcatus, P. prae- 

 longus, and P. Cooperi, Scirpus Tabernaemontani and S. maritimus, Carex 

 curta and C. binervis, Agrostis nigra, Glyceria plicata, Bromus erectus, 

 many Rubi, Roses, a few Hieracia, Willows, etc. 



If we compare the flora of Nottinghamshire with that of Great Britain 

 and of the counties bordering upon Nottinghamshire the result is at first 

 sight somewhat disappointing. The number of species of flowering plants 

 and vascular cryptogams enumerated in the ninth edition of the London 

 Catalogue of British Plants is 1,930, but thirty-eight of these are confined 

 to Ireland or the Channel Islands, leaving 1,892 species for Great Britain 

 proper. But of this number between 230 and 240 have no claim to be 

 regarded as native plants, and if we neglect these we are left with about 

 1, 660 species indigenous to Great Britain. If now we turn to the counties 

 forming the boundaries of Nottinghamshire we find the recorded species of 

 ' wild ' plants (including true natives, colonists, and denizens) to be as 

 follows: West Yorkshire, 1,042;* Derbyshire, 91 1; 2 Leicestershire, 

 825 ; 8 Lincolnshire, 1,040.* In Nottinghamshire the number of species 

 which come under the same category is 854. In attempting to account 

 for this apparent poverty in our flora it must be borne in mind that of 

 the i, 660 or so vascular plants which occur in Great Britain in a wild 

 state about 350 species are either purely maritime or are confined to high 

 latitudes or mountains, and are therefore necessarily absent from Notting- 

 hamshire. This reduces the number that could possibly be expected to 

 occur in the county to little more than 1,300 ; but, as we have seen, we 

 actually possess barely two-thirds of this number. The reason for this 

 is to be sought in the comparative lack of variety in the physical con- 

 ditions of Nottinghamshire combined with the highly cultivated state of 

 most of its area. There is scarcely any uncultivated ground with the 

 exception of parts of Sherwood Forest, and this being situated on the 

 dry and arid Bunter sandstone possesses only a poor and scanty flora : 

 even in the wooded parts of the forest the undergrowth consists almost 

 entirely of bracken. There are few or no large sheets of water save the 

 trimly-kept artificial lakes in the principal parks, and there is an almost 

 complete absence of bog, so that lacustrine and bog-loving plants are 

 largely wanting. Moreover, the Carboniferous, Jurassic, and Cretaceous 



1 Lees, Flora of West Yorks. ' Linton, Flora of Deri. * Flora ofLeic. 



4 Lond. Catalogue, marked for Lincolnshire by Rev. E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock. This number is 

 probably excessive, as some of the species marked must be aliens or casuals in Lincolnshire. 



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