CHAPTER IX 



THE NEW FOREST FLORA 



IT is not surprising that the flora of the New Forest 

 is a rich one. The large extent of its area, much 

 of it untouched and unenclosed since the days of William 

 the Conqueror, the diversity of its natural conditions 

 the shore of the Solent and of Southampton Water, the 

 extensive woodlands, the wide tracts of open heath, 

 the streams and water-courses, the spacious bogs and 

 swamps afford ample and suitable shelter to the 

 various orders of British plants. 



The geological formations of the Forest somewhat 

 diminish, it is true, its wealth of wild flowers in com- 

 parison with the adjoining districts. There is no chalk 

 in the Forest, and consequently the chalk flora, so 

 abundant in parts of Hampshire and in Wiltshire and 

 Dorset, is almost entirely wanting. Although the yew 

 appears to be indigenous, yet most of the chalk-loving 

 species are absent. The wild Clematis or traveller's joy 

 is seldom seen ; the bee-orchis, so characteristic of the 

 chalk downs, is unknown ; so are the fly, the rare green- 

 man (Acer as) and the dwarf orchids. We might per- 

 haps have expected to find in some of the hollows of 

 the Forest the dwale or deadly nightshade, but this, too, 

 is wanting, and we shall seek in vain for such attractive 

 woodland species as the herb-paris and the fragrant 

 mezereum. 



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