Germanic Plants 213 



Hampshire, and chalk downs abound, yet in these counties 

 there are about half as many of the dry Germanic group as are 

 found in the Cambridge district, and further to the west there 

 are still fewer. To the north in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire 

 there is also a decrease. Sands and Limestones are found 

 all over England, yet this group of plants in its fullest develop- 

 ment is restricted to the South Eastern portion of the island. 

 This restricted distribution cannot therefore be entirely due 

 to soil ; climate must play its part. 



The climate of eastern England and of the Cambridge 

 district in particular is drier and more sunny than that of 

 any other portion of England. 



Combined with this we have a chalky soil overlaid in 

 many places with sands and gravels, the whole forming a most 

 perfect filter-bed which absorbs water exceedingly rapidly; 

 nor should it be forgotten that on this soil natural woods 

 are extremely scarce ; what trees there are have been largely 

 planted. There is but little to hold the water in the soil 

 and in consequence evaporation is rapid ; these conditions all 

 working together tend to produce a state of affairs which 

 would encourage xerophytic plant life, and the great hairyness 

 of Verbascum pulverulentum, Filago apiculata and spathulata, 

 the depressed habit of growth combined with a long tap-root 

 of Linum perenne and Artemisia campestre and the very 

 small leaf-surface of Iberis amara and Silene conica are 

 examples of this. 



The dry Germanic plants might confidently be expected to 

 show modifications which enable them to exist in the east 

 whilst elsewhere in England they are choked out by a more 

 water-loving vegetation. 



Growing with them should be found other species, possibly 

 less specialised and so fitted to resist greater variations in 

 moisture and situation, yet all showing some xerophytic modi- 

 fications, being less restricted in their distribution. These do 

 not come under Watson's heading of Germanic, although with 

 the true dry Germanic plants they may be regarded as forming 

 a loose association. 



