FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 



In this section we have a group of shade-loving plants or Hylo- 

 phytes. Each plant is influenced by the juxtaposition of other plants, 

 and so the woodland plants are bound together. In extended form a 

 wood with scattered trees tends to assume the character of a meadow 

 of the type included in Section II. The hedgerows which divide fields 

 and roadways give shelter to a few such woodland plants. The wood- 

 land plants are Mesophytes with regard to water requirements. 



Several alterations in the surrounding conditions are brought about 

 by the association of trees, which influence 



Light (woods are shaded and dark), 

 Warmth (woods are cold and dank), 

 Moisture (woods are moist and attract moisture). 



In a wood, moreover, plants are exposed to greater enemies, 

 such as: 



(1) Fungi. 



(2) Animal pests. 



There are several types of woodland which may be briefly re- 

 ferred to. 



First of all there is what we may call bushland. This is not the 

 result of a low temperature, as in Polar tracts, but of cultivation. There 

 are numerous districts where the borders of virgin forest are repeatedly 

 cut down and treated as plantations with saplings, which are meso- 

 phytic bushland. 



Then wherever fox coverts as in the shires are planted, or coverts 

 for game are made, there is usually a mixture of bush, deciduous wood, 

 and coniferous woodland put down artificially which may answer to 

 this type. Here we find Sloe, Hawthorn, Brier, Dogwood, Barberry, 

 Bramble, &c., which sometimes form locally a distinct feature. They 

 may also be the normal result, as in Blackthorn coverts, of leaving 

 country to return to a wild state. There is a characteristic ground 

 flora of meadow or pratal species depending on altitude. 



