FLOWERS OF THE HEATHS AND MOORS 



189 



heath which are made up of a characteristic 

 type of vegetation. They are more or less 

 ancient pastures that have not, owing to the 

 sandy, rather sterile nature of the soil, been 

 cultivated or turned into arable land. Conse- 

 quently they are distinguishable from ordinary 

 pasture or meadow. 



Though typical heath plants are found upon 

 the grass heath, they may be entirely absent. 

 As the name denotes, this type of association 

 is largely characterized by the predominance 

 of Grasses. The following plants are also typi- 

 cal of the grass heath : Climbing Fumitory, 

 Whitlow Grass, Teesdale's Cress, Dog Violet, 

 Milkwort, Field Chickweed, Sand Spurrey, 

 Pearhvort, Grassy Stitchwort, Pretty St. John's 

 Wort, Perforate St. John's Wort, Purging 

 Flax, Jagged-leaved Crane's Bill, Stork's Bill, 

 Furze, Broom, Creeping Rest-harrow, Sub- 

 terranean Trefoil, Hare's Foot Trefoil, Bird's 

 Foot, Narrow - leaved Vetch, Silvery - leaved 

 Tormentil, Parsley Piert, Burnet Saxifrage, 

 Ladies' Bedstraw, Heath Bedstraw, Least 

 Cudweed, Heath Ragwort, Hawkweeds, Au- 

 tumnal Hawkbit, Carline Thistle, Sheep's Bit 

 Scabious, Harebell, Ling, Bell Heather, Cen- 

 taury, Dwarf Forget-me-not, Eyebright, Wood 

 Sage, Wild Thyme, Knawel, Sheep's Sorrel, 

 Field Spike Rush, Vernal Grass, Bent Grass, 

 Sheep's Fescue, &c. 



Vestiges of Heaths. Indications of heath or 

 grass heath are occasionally to be found amidst 

 meadow and pasture of a less special type, or 

 purely neutral grassland. It may be that the 

 one has invaded or obliterated the other owing 

 to induced or artificial conditions. This is an 

 interesting problem for the pupil, and will 

 show how one type of formation may influence 

 another. 



The flowering plants that may be found as 

 vestiges of former heathland or grass heath 

 are more likely to be discovered, and are easier 

 to distinguish than cryptogams. Such vestiges 

 may, however, as in the case of bogs, be indi- 

 cated by the occurrence of certain ericetal 

 mosses or other cryptogams that are perhaps 

 the only indication that is left of the former 

 occurrence of a heath flora. 



Furze itself, may in some cases indicate 

 heath conditions, especially when associated 

 with Grassy Stitchwort, Heath Bedstraw, 

 Water Pepper, Procumbent St. John's Wort, 

 Sieglingia decumbens, &c. 



Commonland, Furze, and Heaths. A feature 

 that may be pointed out in studying the con- 

 ditions of heath vegetation is the association 

 of commonland with a certain type of soil 

 which is suitable for the latter, and which is 

 largely colonized by Furze, and the plants 

 that usually grow with it. 



Commonland is not only land that has been 

 devoted to the general needs of the community, 

 but has other characteristics which cause it to 

 be left uncultivated and unenclosed. It is usu- 

 ally poor, sandy, or gravelly soil, which is 

 suitable only for grazing. Commonland is 

 also largely developed upon the slopes or 

 summits of hills, where the ground is littered 

 with stones, and unfit for cultivation. In 

 this way it is especially favourable to the type 

 of heath vegetation where Ling, Furze, Pine, 

 and the usual ericetal plants occur. 



Furze frequently grows on the sides of 

 paths, where also ants may be found. Indeed, 

 it is an interesting fact that ants to a great 

 extent disperse the Gorse, finding nutriment 

 in the elaiosomes or oily appendages of the 

 seeds. Amongst the Furze will be found many 

 plants common to the grass heath, and a 

 common may, in fact, be made up largely of 

 grass heath. 



Wooded Heathland. Though heaths most 

 often are open treeless tracts, they may be 

 wooded, or have a scrub association. Much 

 of the heathland in the south-east of England 

 in fact is wooded, and elsewhere wood and 

 heath are found to alternate. 



The type of wood associated with heath con- 

 ditions is the dry Oak Wood, and a scrub may 

 also develop made up of Sloe, Gorse, Haw- 

 thorn, Rose, Bramble, &c. The heath flora 

 occurs in open parts of the dry Oak woods, 

 with Whortleberry, Ling, and Heath Hair 

 Grass. 



Oak and Birch are the prevalent trees, but 

 sometimes Beech or Pine, associated with 

 Bracken and Ling, or White Beam, may be 

 dominant. There is generally a good deal of 

 light, so that the ground flora may be rich and 

 made up of large associations, as Holcus mollis, 

 Bluebell, Wood Sorrel, Wood Anemone. 



The ground flora in the dry Oak wood con- 

 sists of heath plants, in addition to members 

 of the true dry Oak wood formations, many 

 Grasses, and plants of the grass heath. There 

 may elsewhere be a Birch heath characterized 

 by a dominance of Birch with Bracken. 



Open Character of Heaths. The heath, ex- 

 cept where dominated by trees, is, as a rule, 

 a very open association. The wide stretches 

 of Ling, Heath, or Whortleberry are frequently 

 unvaried by a single bush or tree over wide 

 areas. The same may be said relatively of a 

 Furze common, but it is often studded here 

 and there with a scrub of taller shrubs or trees, 

 as Hawthorn, &c. The grass heath also is of 

 a very uniform open type. 



This openness of the heath exposes it to 

 severe conditions, which cause the ericetal 

 plants to be modified accordingly. In the first 



