THE FLORA 1 



IN addition to a numberless host of spore-bearing plants 

 (it is said that there are 40,000 kinds of fungi alone), more 

 than 100,000 species of flowering plants, from all parts of the 

 world, are now known to science. Investigations into regions 

 not previously fully explored are still adding to the number. 



Over 2000 species (besides varieties) of flowering plants 

 and vascular cryptogams, grouped into 97 natural orders, 

 are enumerated in the latest (tenth) edition of the London 

 Catalogue o f British Plants. A careful computation by the 

 writer of plant records, furnished by Mr Arthur Bennett, 

 F.L.S., has resulted in a total of 900 species of flowering 

 plants and vascular cryptogams for the whole of the 

 "Western Isles. 



The Colonsay list of plants, including Messrs Grieve, 

 Miller, and Somerville's records, now amounts to 580 

 species and 70 varieties of flowering plants, ferns, and fern- 

 allies. The proportion of varieties to species in the latest 

 edition of the London Catalogue is, roughly, 3:5; in the local 

 list, 1:8. Without considering a quota of common kinds 

 possibly still overlooked, it is very probable that the island, 

 as a " field " for the critical botanist, is not yet exhausted. 



Martin, in the account he gives of Colonsay in his 



1 Head (in part) before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh at their 

 meeting on 10th June 1909. 



