THE FLORA OF HANTS 



SOME twenty years ago a Flora of Hampshire, in- 

 cluding the Isle of Wight, was brought out by Mr. 

 Frederick Townsend, assisted by several well-known 

 botanists. A new edition of this work has lately 

 appeared, giving a more complete record of the plants 

 of the county, with regard both to species and to 

 localities. Of new species there are upwards of fifty 

 now given, among the most interesting of which are 

 the adder's-tongue-leaved spearwort, the coral root, 

 the beech fern, and the yellow star of Bethlehem ; 

 while the number of localities of the rarer species is 

 greatly multiplied. " It is sad to think," says Mr. 

 Townsend in the Preface, "that our native flora is 

 suffering much, even to the extinction of species, by 

 building and enclosures in the neighbourhood of our 

 larger towns, whereby the localities of many plants 

 have been lost entirely. Marshes have also been 

 extensively drained, and much land laid out in pleasure 

 gardens, market gardens, and for recreation purposes. 

 It is the recognition of such facts which renders the 

 existence of local floras doubly valuable, not only as 

 catalogues and guides to existing localities, but as 

 records of the disappearance of many of our native 

 plants, the history of which would be lost to science 

 were it not for the existence of works like the pre- 

 sent." We further hope that the appearance of this 



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