A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



limestones which bear so rich a flora in the neighbouring counties do not 

 extend into Nottinghamshire, and their absence is only partially com- 

 pensated for by the Permian Magnesian Limestone which occupies the 

 western margin of the county, and, while possessing a moderately rich and 

 varied flora, cannot compare in this respect with the more highly calca- 

 reous Chalk, Oolite, or Mountain Limestone of the counties around us. 



West Yorkshire, with an area of 2,760 square miles, is more than 

 three times the size of Nottinghamshire, and with its numerous hills 

 many of which are over 2,000 feet in height possesses an extensive 

 alpine or true mountain flora which could not exist with us ; while the 

 ' pavements,' terraces, and scars of the Mountain Limestone region, and 

 the wide expanses of peat bog, are tenanted by numerous species which 

 for lack of suitable conditions are absent from Nottinghamshire. The 

 same remarks apply in a less degree to Derbyshire, which possesses a 

 considerable number of montane plants on its high northern moorlands ; 

 the flora of its limestone dales also is a very rich and varied one. 

 Lincolnshire, with an area greater even than that of West Yorkshire, 

 with its long line of sea-coast, its salt-marshes, its chalk wolds and 

 Jurassic limestones, has an enormous advantage, botanically, over Not- 

 tinghamshire, and it is not surprising that its flora is numerically so 

 much stronger than that of its inland neighbour. Leicestershire has a 

 slightly smaller area than Nottinghamshire, with a very similar flora, 

 except that the Archaean rocks which form the high ground of 

 Charnwood Forest support a few species which are not found with us. 

 , In order to indicate the geographical distribution of our native 

 plants throughout the British counties, Great Britain is divided up for 

 botanical purposes into 1 1 2 areas consisting of counties and vice-counties, 

 the latter being formed by sub-dividing the larger counties into two or 

 more parts. 1 Taking the London Catalogue of British Plants, ed. 9, as 

 our authority, we find that of our 1,930 species of native vascular plants 

 seventy-nine have been recorded as occurring in every one of these 1 1 2 

 counties and vice-counties, and no fewer than 300 species are found in 100 

 or more divisions. Of these 300, 299 are recorded for Nottinghamshire, 

 and the single unrecorded species, Potamogeton polygonifolius, is almost sure 

 to be found, although up to the present it has been searched for in vain. 



There are 102 species with a census number between 90 and 100, 

 i.e., occurring in from 90 to 100 counties and vice-counties, and of these 

 we have all but the following : Oenanthe crocata^ Narthecium ossifragum, 

 Juncus Gerardi, and Scirpus pauciflorus. It is probable that the Narthecium 

 once occurred, but it has not been seen for at least a century. 



Of the eighty-five species with a census number between eighty 

 and ninety, six are apparently wanting in Nottinghamshire, viz. : 

 Cochlearia officinalis (a maritime and montane plant recorded by Deering, 

 but probably in error), Hypericum Androsaemum (has occurred as a casual 

 or garden escape), Habenaria bifolia (the species recorded under this name 

 by the earlier Nottinghamshire botanists is H. chloroleuca, which was 



1 For a list of these divisions see Watson, Top. Botany, ed. 2. 



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