Germanic Plants 215 



being alone suited to a comparison dealing solely with a dry 

 county flora. It was then found that 17% of the English 

 flora consisted of hairy plants inhabiting light soils, 21 % of 

 the Cambridge flora were hairy, and for comparison the flora 

 of Berkshire was taken as being a county where there are 

 abundant chalk downs and sandy places ; this flora showed 

 19 % hairy; this slight difference would seem to represent the 

 different effect of the climate in the two districts Cambridge 

 and Berkshire. 



If this test of hairyness be applied to the Cambridge dry 

 Germanic plants alone, it is then found that 50 % are hairy ; 

 this seems to show that the Germanic species are the most 

 specialised members of this dry association. 



There are numerous objections to this test ; plants probably 

 not xerophytic have been included, and the mere fact of taking 

 county boundaries at all is artificial, including as they do wet 

 and dry land in different proportions; yet here again one is 

 held down by lack of data and lack of time. To make what 

 would be a fair comparison, an estimate of the number of hairy 

 plants to an acre of dry land as similar as possible in compo- 

 sition and position in a series of districts stretching north, 

 south, and west would be necessary. Under the circumstances 

 this is impossible. 



In spite of these objections to the comparison given above 

 it has been thought well to let it stand as probably repre- 

 senting, very imperfectly, the true condition of vegetation in 

 this and the other districts mentioned. 



What has been said of the dry Germanic group applies 

 equally to the other two groups mentioned. The shade 

 Germanics and the fen Germanics have growing with them 

 other species of wider distribution. 



In the case of the woodland plants it was found that their 

 restricted range was due to a diversity of causes. There was 

 no one influence, such as climate, which affected the whole 

 group. The relation between the shade Germanics and the 

 other shade plants with which they live differs from that 



